erik

this is the winter climbing party...and i climb a couple of days during the week so i like the weekend idea. i have already done my laps on drury and let me tell you....thats one hard track to run on. the 10th doesn't sound to bad- i'll keep you all posted.

mike i am upset that i missed it. i guess i'll have to stop running and monitor the board constantly. dan i don't hate you. sounds like everyone is gettin' fired up over a comment. remeber sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. is that still true though? i read some report....never mind. wether you have an elitest attitude or not, dan's ability to get you mad with one comment is pretty strong. we should all sit back and re-evaluate what dan said that really does effect us. sure he might have called most people gapers...but who gives a shit. i don't. we are all gapers. dan, me ,you and that other guy in the corner with the new rope. climb for your own reasons, not matter what you do or enjoy. because in the long run, when i am a 112 yrs old. it don't matter. did i say that yet? it doesn't matter. have fun and be safe jah

sounds like it is starting to shape up, nicely now. so what kinda date do you all want. weekday, weekend.....blah...blah. mike stout sounds good, since thats the way all cascadeclimbers climb. house rulez: 1. no fighting until the host kisses your old lady. 2. no fightting until there is at least a $100 kitty. the house get 75% 3. no fightting if you are beating up the host 4. no guns, knives or ice tools....the house will provide all weapons 5. no fighting because the other guy doesn't eat red meat 6. if you spill beer...be ready to fight 7. if want to drive drunk....be ready to fight 8. if you are wearing a lycra tights be ready to fight 9. all must have tons of fun if we can agree to these rulz then it will be a good party. i know that most seattle people don't like to come to tacoma and i know that i don't like to go to seattle. i have a friend who owns a compound in maple valley right off 18. we will all have to watch his slide show of wilderness whitewater kaykaing and listen to his i just climbed el cap after ten days of rock climbing. he also has a hot tub and a bbq. i can car pool from tacoma with whoever wants to go with me. lets get it on

fun

sounds like we don't have enough interest. i'll give it a another week and then i'll shelve the idea until later. jah

putting out feelers if anyone is interested in having acascadeclimbers.com slide show, kegger, spray fest. or something of the like. i can offer up my big empty house in tacoma and an insasiable appetite for beer. as well as some slides. obvious themes could included the CASCADES! or trips abroad. just wondering. let's see what we can come up with. anyone else have ideas or a good location.

mike, avy conditions are about as tame as they can be with snow. i have been out and have found b/c traveling is easy. the weather outlook appears to be spectacular. though onsite assesment is the only way you can be sure. though if it is as nice as it is right now, then just the approach will be wonderful. though i imagine that the route should be awsome as well. one can only dream. be safe jah erik

as i sit here and plan my next adenture, i was wondering how does everybody else go about selecting a route to climb, river to kayak, trail to run? for local climbing i obviously peruse becky's books, then maybe cross reference nelson's books, then whitelaw's books, eminger's books and so on. then look at topos and what not. what, if any thing makes a person choose their desired route. i know in winter it goes alot by conditions, as that dictates what is relitivly safe. so it seems that people flock to the goods. i now personally use creativity as my guide, that it gives me more of an adventure experience. the fear of the unknown. just wondering, you know.

nuff of this. first of all i'm not sure why someone who states that we are beginners are climbing a difficult line such as the cable. last time i was there that route was not up to leadable standards, especially two parties. i have always worked off the mantra don't climb something you can't lead. with ice it is twofold statement, because the possibilty of injury or death is greater as we can't always depend on our ice protection. it sounds as if buddies are leap frogging the pitch, that might be an accepted practice on rock, but here in temperate maritime climate zone washington where the cable or any other route is going to crash down on us next weekend, that practice shouldn't be used. you can lead ice or you can't; don't get yourself over your head. easy to say(i know) but a real climber is proud enough or smart enough to know when he should or shouldn't be on a route. so when you are leap frogging a route or lowering down, then going back up to finish it, then maybe it is time to concede and move on to another route. using you better judgement is the only way that something is going to be resolved. we all know what is right and what is wrong. sounds like there is no inncocent party in this situation, not to say that anyone is guilty either. we all deserve to climb any route we choose, but use your brains and choose the right one. be safe cause anyone climb above me, if that is possible beware. I'M FROM TACOMA!

read 'challenge of the north cascades'. fred becky's autobiography. not only do you get the story of helmy, but a good history on cascade climbing. the book in my opinion really majes you want to get out there do do some real climbing.

i have a pair for sale. $35.00 in the package never been used. cash only.

it sounds as if poor banks lake is becoming a zoo. too bad.

right now it looks like a sick drytool fest, with no ice. drury is the only thing in the drainage thats in right now.

goat dome comes through again. good for you ray, anytime we can beat the man all climbers are better off. you are right that ranger was in the parking lot, who would want to leave the comfort of their air conditioned pu to issue citiations.

dave parker and i climbed drury 15 hours car to car on 1/15/01. we snowshoed all the way to the base of the climb. soled the lower falls and dave led the upper falls in 2 pitches w/ 70m rope. made seven raps in the dark to reach the kayak at jolanda. this route is spectacular. perfect ice, perfect weather and perfect position. PERFECT! thanks eric murphy for the post. go get it. jah erik

Erik "edited" forwarded to me your rant about the AAC on a website somewhere. I'm the disfunctional section chair that is supposed to be running things here in the Northwest, but never seem to have the time to do so. The AAC is a volunteer organization so everything that happens is a result of people who want to step in and make it happen. If you want to see the AAC put on shows with people like Bradford Washburn give me a call. I could use some help. My phone number is "edited" Steve Swenson aparently my original emails about me wanting to help orgainze events must have slipped through the cracks......oh well. people don't get me wrong the aac does publish fine periodicals and annual journals, i don't discount that at all. but if i wanted to join a book club or get another insurance policy i would have done just that. CLUB.......people that is what i am talking about. where is the comraderie? the desire to climb with new people and share dreams? i do enjoy that same wretched stink from my partners' feet, but i'm not marrried to them and can only grow as climber by mixing it up with others. p.s. i once tried to get good ole' slade to push a bill through called summits for everyone. have you ever had the problem trying to seeing crags, ice flows or mtns, well i propose that we clearcut all forests and strip mine all mtns, then we can put little plaques where the summits once were, with a diesel powered moving sidewalk to the top. think of the money we can make. ......SUMMITS FOR EVERYONE!!!! [This message has been edited by erik (edited 01-10-2001).]

to stay on track with some good ranting.(see fee use, and mtneers or wac) it just rekindled that sick burning pit in my gut called the aac. after years of loyal membership, i started to wonder why i joined this esteem club. i remembered that i had joined to hopefully meet new faces and network with many greast climbers throughout the country. i started to review past newsletters and journals. i noticed a pattern. in the great and wonderful cascade mtns we had a branch of the club. but i never heard anything of them. none of these great bradford washburn slide shows and dinners, none of these climber festivals held in pristine mtn locations with loads of superb climbing to be done by all. i saw that other sections had wonderful events all the time. so i set out on a mission, to find these reclusive and maybe just as lost members of the cascade section of the club. i tried all avenues from the sections president all the way to the club vice president. all repsond, and with no suprise with great delay. paump and circumstance is what i was fed. after months of trading emails with these high powered super alpinest all across the country, i started to see what the aac was. nothing. i had finnished where i had begun no longer a member of the club. afterall club does mean "a group of people associated with common purpose." and i held no common purpose with any of the poeple i corresponded with. "edited" if anyone else has had similar or exactly the opposite dealings with the aac i would love to hear them. and if you know someone in the lcub please tell them my story, as it should be heard by all section memebers, if you do exist? anyone.......anyone..........

two things: tim you worked for the nps that is a different beauracacy then the deforest service. each makes money or loses it in different ventures. nps sells concessions and the ability to drive around and see the attractions, the backcountry is just a side issue for them. i went into the yos b/c w/o a permit last year as big brother does not need to know what i am doing and had no issues. i personally practice no trace camping and travel almost excelusivly cross country, better chances to see the limited wildlife. the nps really only runs a small prtion of yos, the delaware north company runs the show. all the nps does know is collect the entrance fee and busts people having to much fun. the alos run the zoo which includes the poor abused bears and deers and squirrels. how can you manage wildlife? oxymoron? yes. the deforest service is the whore to the mining and logging companies. they build roads at taxpayer expense across public land so international super companies can access their holdings. the they spend millions and millions to show that their willingness to let super companies rape the land is affecting it in a negative way. then they set up little micro projects that always have positive results(if i remember right in school not all of my experiments didn't always work, especially when i didn't really know what i was doing or working with.)so the uninformed public can say geez that forest service trail fee program really works. but all the while they are wiping out salmon habititat and other precious wildlife building roads to lose money. last time i checked weyerhauser didn't need any goverment subsidies, i think the bell jet ranger helicopter they have parked out on the front lawn gives it away or the private planes they have parked at their private terminal at seatac. anyone ever flown in a lear jet? i think if you read the back of your trail pass you can turn the voucher in for a sight seeing tour of the destrcution that they bring to our precious b/c. the forest service currently maintains more road in the world then any other single country, even the u.s. dept of transportation. sounds pretty b/s to me. then they let the logging companies control the roads until they are done destroying the land and then they return the road back to public in worse shape then they got them. the deforest service collects trail fees to put pretty pictures at trail heads and builds toilets. they also use the money to bust people who have not or cannot afford the ridiculous fees that they impose. it seems kinda of weird that they are so strict in enforcing a demonstration project that is used as a study to find if trail use fees are a good thing. so everytime someone buys into the program by purchasing a trail pass, it says to the deforest service, i don't mind being double taxed. if i remeber my history right didn't we dump a whole bunch of tea into boston harbor over a similiar situation a couple years back? the sad thing is that the deforest service loses money in 90% of their ventures. i should stop ranting now before my head explodes. jah erik

ray, i agree with you. there a few things that i refuse to pay for, one is camping and the other is tromping around in the woods.

it's raining at the pass as of 9:30pm 1/04/00 of that helps at all.

remember wac will have your car towed if park near their sacrd grounds in the alpental valley. truly climber brethen.

i have bd b/p and had to replace my old picks w/ the new cobra ones. i am impressed w/ the new cobra picks. it doesn't shatter ice like you may think. i found good techinque cleans tools easily and does not shatter the ice. remember tap...tap...scratch.. replacing tools because of picks!? wowsers!!!!!!!!! just remeber to get the bd lock down leashes as everything else seems contrived and difficult to remove your to place pro. i personally like a bigger shaft(!) as i find myself overgripping on the little guys and pumping out faster.

sorry but i do support bd. i have been through the factory and spoke to several reps.(brain washed probably, a free t-shirt sure can do alot.) about bd's r&d cost, i would expect that it be higher then most other co's. since the bent shaft no one has come up with a new cutting edge design. now bd has introduced carbon fiber tools. cheap no. sweet hell yes. if you also notice that bd tools have gluded heads opposed to screwing them on like the rest. glue takes testing and mixing. and reduces vibration and there is never a loose tool head or sripped bolts. they also have sick biner's, everyday i replace a oval or d with a 36g neutrino i think man i will be able to climb 5.11 in the mountains. someday. it takes alot of time and energy to design and test a light biner that is strong.(i know kong makes the helium but something about that little flexy biner that says sketch.). though i dont have much experience with most euro co's. just the ones that market heavily over here. the only companies that i seeked out because i thought that made quality stuff was petzl and grivel(rambo crampons). metolius prices are as high as bd and no one seems to be trashing them.? and in the end if you don't like it don't buy it.

went out to vantage yesterday and climbed running gear death wall and some little thing next to it. fugs is gone and vantage falls is gone plus the little thing left of vantage falls is gone. the running gear death flow was thick but grey. there was signs of previous climbers- friends from e-burg. with god as my belayer i climbed the pitch twice. opinion puts it at 3+ with a good rest before the steep section. about 55' long. the little thing was just that. saw some other stuff north along the east side of river to lazy to run over there as it is pretty far up. [This message has been edited by erik (edited 01-02-2001).]

tg [This message has been edited by erik (edited 02-06-2001).]