sobo

[sarcasm]yes, it's ok for a huge group to overrun all the best easy climbs at a crag and make things unpleasant/impossible for everyone else not in their club, because there are other, shittier, climbs elsewhere in the area [/sarcasm] I can understand your sarcasm, Pax, and also find it humorous. I'm not excusing the Mounties for hogging routes/crags, but come on, how many times have we all been chased off the rock by a herd of n00bs in our careers? Weren't we all once n00bs? If you've been climbing long enough, getting rockblocked (not to be confused with cockblocked ) is something that we've experienced, we learn from it, and move on. It's one of the many reasons I never climb at Smith anymore. Climbing there is like living in Mumbai. Personally, I solve the issue for myself by not climbing at a location where I suspect that I will have to wait (very long) to get on a route. That's just my way of climbing.

A few years back when I still lived in Yakima, I, too, ran into Tony & crew at the Royal Columns and my experience was much like yours, Jay. Nice attitudes were exhibited by all involved. And for the record, I am not a Mountie, so that didn't give me any special privileges. DonnieK- First off, while I can empathize with you for having lost your opportunity to hit a few of the Royal Columns classics that weekend, the Tieton is a huge area and chock full of other climbing venues. Just a mile up the road is The Bend with many easy and moderate trad leads to cut your teeth on, too, ya know. Secondly, I consider it a personal favor to me when a large climbing organization makes a public announcement that there will be a n00bfest at a particular crag on a particular date. I make alternate destination arrangements and it's all good. Everybody wins. You should try it.

That's gonna leave a mark... on his resume’...

Everything that Blake said. :tup: Simple, fast, and secure. Discuss the procedure with your partner (if he/she is not your regular partner) before leaving the ground so that everyone knows their role and eliminate the clusterfuck before it even happens. I used to use this approach with my first partner and mentor Frank (R.I.P.) and we romped up multi-pitch climbs in no time flat. I don't have a steady enough partner anymore that wants to do this. Don't forget to flake/stack the rope for the next lead as you take it up. Every little bit of time saved helps...

You have to know these things when you're a king, you know.

And my answer would be "No, you did not." The prevailing ethic with respect to buildering dictates that all vegetative matter is OB. Unless of course, you're climbing the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, in which case it's on...

On the 35th floor. It's in the lobby of the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange office. It's a dwarf banyan tree. Clearly, you have not done this route.

Fuck yeah, but only if I can step on the tree and still be able to say I freed it.

Did the embedded quotes function fuck-up ever get fixed? The one where after about the 4th or 5th quote, the software starts mis-attributing the quote to the previous poster? That was/is aggravating... Oh, and if we overwrite Doug, does that wipe out all previous versions of him? Or is he a trojan?

I'm having a problem with my eyes right now. I just can't see staying at work any longer...

RUN AWAY FROM DAVE PAGE!!!1 Just like RuMR and everyone else here has been saying, keep your sneakers away from this guy. He's trashed a pair of my shoes, and has absolutely no customer service skilz nor ability to relate to the public. IMHO, he can't do rock shoes, period. My first pair of footwear I ever took to him (about 20 years ago) was a pair of waffle-stomper hiking boots. He did an awesome job on resoling them. Lasted for a helluva long time. Must be his specialty. So I decided to take him my climbing shoes... He did a fair job on them, but they delaminated within two weekend trips. I called him and sent them back, and he fixed them, but wasn't too happy about doing it. I figured he'd just had a bad day or had some dumb schmuck work on them, so when I next needed another shoe tune, I gave him another chance. I reminded him of my displeasure with the previous job before he worked on the second pair, and he said he'd do the job himself. One of two things happened: either he lied and had the same schmuck fuck up my second pair of shoes, or he actually did work on them himself and he just can't do climbing shoes. I was pretty pissed off by this time. So then I started taking my shoes to Rumata. No issues whatsoever. Great job, good turnaround, pleasant peeps, great prices. I doesn't matter to me that they've moved; I have enough spare shoes lying around that shipping to MT won't bother me for the job that gets done for the price. I say it again: STAY AWAY FROM DAVE PAGE!!!1 Do a search on this board for "resole" and I think you'll see the same laments about Dave Page that others have posted on this thread. Know that Rumata's the shizzle! :tup: thread from 2003... one from 2007...

That's all they need, really. Our rattlers in the Tieton are quite well behaved. We treat them as pets, of course. Not quite domesticated, but pets all the same.

Tieton woulda been my vote...

OMFG! Those are both fuq'n hilarious! I gotta get me some of those.

I fear that's not gonna solve the problem. The little fokkuh takes a standing broad jump from the arbor vitae along the fenceline straight to the roosting bar of the feeder. Bastard sticks the landing like Nadia Comaneci every goddamned time, too. I've tried shooting him with those extra long rubber bands, since I am deadly accurate with them things. Living in an office environment for the past 20 years has schooled me so that I can put 3 rubber bands in a 2-inch group at 30 feet, time after time. Trouble is, that little fuhq'r knows it, too, and he skedaddles as soon as I open the patio door. I just need to learn how much I have to lead him, and I'll take him down on the fly...

I know exactly how he feels. I have that little :pagetop:'s cousin living in my backyard. He has taken the bird feeder to be his own private restaurant...

If that's what you believe, then STFU fer chrissakes already! Why even start this inanely stoopid thread, except to troll?

bstach and Bug nailed it. I'm speculating (happy now, 'bone?) that the 'bone is angling for a way to chestbeat about some heinous climb he recently "mastered", yet before he publicly beats his pecs here, he seeks consensus regarding the validity of the ascent as it pertains to stepping on the tree. Only then will he grant us the knowledge of which climb in particular that it was he "conquered."

Of course its in....but are you freeing it? 'bone- From your questions returned to the myriad responses to your original question in this thread, it appears to me that you are searching for a rationalization to your using vegetable matter to assist in your completion of a particular route. Get over yourself; you did not free it unless the predominant ethic for the route ways that the tree is in.

excellent!

I suppose wimpdon is better than contrivedom. Each according to his gifts...

It is simply amazing that a person can go 20 years with a turd growing out of their face and not take any initiative to rememdy the situation sooner. What was she thinking? "Well, let's give it a little bit and see if it goes away on its own." And I just can't help myself from the obvious joke... Gives new meaning to the term "shithead"...

And for this reason, along with a plethora of others, you will be forever relegated to climbing wimpdom. Try to make yourself just a bit better, by striving to do something just a bit harder. There is enough LCD rampant in this world without contributing and promoting more of it.

I agree with Gary. For the most part, all vegetative material in the alpine is in. Vegetative material at developed cragging areas follows the "Law of the Land" for that particular area. If the predominant ethic for the area says "go for it", then go for it. Conversely, if it's considered "poor form" to pull on plants, then it's out. CASES IN POINT: 1) The tree in the middle of Midnight Fright at Lightning Dome is considered "in" simply because it would be extemely difficult to get past it without touching it. Plus, it makes a great piece of pro in an otherwise difficult to protect OW. Ergo, it's in. 2) The tree one climbs and slings at Stone Mountain (NC) to access the first bolt on Strawberry Preserves is in, as expressly stated in the guidebook. Failure to utilize this tree would expose one to a serious case of roadrash (hence the name Strawberry Preserves) and a fall past the belay ledge, plus putting your belayer into a FF=2 situation, were you to skid out before the next bolt, some 60-70 feet away on 5.10+ (old skewl) terrain. Because of consequences of failure, the tree is in. From the old Dixie Crystals guidebook: "A very continuous and difficult route with lengthy runouts for extra excitement." 3) Shrubbery at New River Gorge, WV (I'm speaking of the Bridge Buttress particularly), is expressly "out of bounds" as all FAs were done without resorting to pulling on plants. The predominant ethic (at least it was 25 years ago) was not to damage the flora. Ergo, it's out. 4) Likewise at Seneca Rocks, WV. "Trees are aid." It is even written in the ancient scrolls (guidebook) for the area.

That's gonna look SO COOL in about 30 years...