sobo

I have never had a bum trip due to a random partner. Maybe it's just how I look at things, but if I can get out and away from the wife and kids for a few days, then hey, that's just icing on the cake. The trips I get out for now aren't mondo expeditions or throwing up radical new lines, but they come with an understanding that you are going out to have fun doing something that both of you enjoy, in an area that you both can appreciate, at a time in your lives when this sort of thing is important to you. That's all I need for bestowing the moniker of "A Good Trip" onto an outing. My most recent hook-up with random partners? kurthicks and NYC007 at Lightning Dome last fall. I had a splendid time with these guys, and they put up two brand new lines, one of which I was thrilled to be rope-gunned up. I can only hope that they enjoyed my company as well, which I believe they did. So to answer your questions: No, I don't regret it. Yes, I keep doing it. Yes, I am happy with the results. Oh, and random

wfinley, I just came across this thread today. I feel honored still to have climbed with you all those years ago, and I remember those trips into the Eklutna canyon with you during my short stay in Anchortown and the night of Comet Hale-Bopp fondly. And I feel especially lucky that I have landed on the "positive" side of your thread, unlike so many of the other stories I just finished reading. One thing keeps coming back to me haunt me though... I should've soloed Ripple on that last trip.

Something tells me that suit might not have gone very far...

Yowzerz!!!1 I can't even imagine that on ice. Never fallen that far, even on rock, but I still can't even imagine that on ice. That's gotta hurt.

Hey, why aren't you and Fern out climbing instead of reading Spray? Enquiring minds want to know!!!!1 Did you two get anything good done yesterday and today?? Pray, do tell us! EDIT: Nevermind, I got an answer of sorts. Just saw your bloody nose in the "hot climbing girls?" thread. Ouch!

Check out the glow around the arms and head of the dude in the middle pic. It's like he's just about to vaporize after being shot with a phaser on full. Yah, I know. I'm a :nurd:

Well, not necessarily entirely the easy way... Look at your face. But the point is taken. Saw something similar happen to a bud of mine many years ago while he was warming up on Tangle Falls near the Hilda Creek hostel. He popped off on the exit move, not having placed an "exit screw". His last piece was about 15 feet below him, and since it was only WI-2/easy 3, he figured, "What the hell, I'm topped out, just pull over the lip and we're done here." You can imagine the rest. He decks on the ledge a couple dozen feet or so below, landing on one of his tools. I shout up to ask if he's all right... Him: Uhhh, yeah I think so. Me: Can you stand up and get another point in so we can lower you? Him: Uhhh, yeah I think so. Hang on a minute. Upon standing up, we all notice that there is an ice tool sticking out of his booted ankle. Him: Uhhh, I don't think this looks so good. My foot is starting to feel warm... and wet... Me: Hang on, we'll be right up to get you down. Fortunately, the pick did not penetrate his ankle bone, but had instead "arced" into his boot just under the heel, and it was the teeth of the axe that were slicing into his foot and causing him to bleed into the boot. We got him down and patched him up, although he was not into leading for the rest of that trip.

Yikes! A 30-footer on ice! I've taken several 30-footers in my career, but NEVER on ice. Gives me shivers to think of falling with all those pointy bits thrashing around. I take it he's OK.

DFlushA's pic is just a red x in a box. Won't D/L. WC: Did CBS pull any screws? That seems like a long fall, but it might be the angle of the shot, too. How far was it? I take it he's OK, although falling upside down sounds like it might be hard on the back. Where was the shot taken? EDIT: DFA's link worked. YIKES!!!!1 EDITED EDIT: Thanks for fixing the "red x in box" thingie, DFA. It shows up proper now. Still, just plain scary!

I'm with Couloir on this one. Leukemia gets my money (for reasons I cited above), and Camp Prime Time and Central Washington Mountain Rescue gets my time and sweat equity. I started donating my engineering talents to CPT about 15 years ago, figuring my professional life could be a source for giving something back. It took me a while later (like 5 years ago) to realize that my recreational talents could also be used toward a better end than just for myself. That's when I decided to join Mountain Rescue. Everybody should give a little something. You'd be surprised at what you can come up with if you take a moment to examine what you do with your life. Maybe that's why it took me so damn long to come around. YMMV.

Don't know why I didn't think of this one earlier, but... your local Mountain Rescue unit could always use a few bucks. I give of my time and experience (just like I do for Camp Prime Time) to Central Washington Mountain Rescue, but any unit near to your heart would be more than happy to see your check. And remember to send it directly to the MR unit, not to the County SAR office. If it comes in the door addressed to SAR, it is highly unlikely that the end user (MR) will ever see much of your donation. With so many SAR teams looking for funds (MR, K-9, dive, snowmobile, ORV, PLS, CAP, swiftwater, groundpounders, etc.), your donation will get picked at mercilessly. Best bet is just go the unit of your choice's website and look for a contact there. The usual suspects... CWMR TMR PMR SMR I don't know where you live, Arch, but if you were interested in donating to an MR unit near you, I could tell you which one. Or pick one where you do most of your climbing. If you ever needed "help", I'm sure they'd treat you with way more than the usual extra special kid gloves if you casually mentioned that you're a sustaining donor...

Wow, what timing. We just got an email about this at work to join the work team going up 69 flights in a bldg downtown and raising money for Leukemia research. Twice in one day--must be the right thing to do. Thank you for your input here, I really appreciate it. Another vote for Leukemia Society. I make my contribution every year on May 19. I lost my older sister when she was just 32 years old to Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. Wasn't even diagnosed until two frigging days before she died, and I was in the last final exam of my senior year at Va Tech. Didn't even have time to donate bone marrow. Also, if you're in to helping seriously/terminally ill kids, check out Camp Prime Time up near White Pass. I contribute engineering design talent and plain old sweat and muscle to renovate the old WSU Survey Camp that CPT uses as it's camping area. Water distribution/storage/delivery system design, operation, and construction; sewer collection/treatment system design, operation, and construction; building modifications/renovations, concrete work, firewood collection/chopping, you name it. Donating money is good if you don't want to make the trip over for the work parties during the spring and fall. A really good cause. The Camp is run/staffed by all volunteers, there are no paid positions anywhere, and every nickel donated goes towards giving the kids' and their parents the best stay possible at the camp.

From Google Translate: Automatically translated text: piolet rampe = ice axe crawls

not asking you

Sexy Cocoa: No one is saying that we don't appreciate what the kid can do, or that he ain't got a buttload of talent, but to have someone tell us that we are not worthy (i.e., hey wankers - this is how it's done) because we can't do the same is what sucks. In reality, yeah the kid is good, but he's doing nothing more than climbing at or a tad above his level. We've all done that. It's not news. Refresh below: Exactly! It was nothing more than a nice roadtrip for the kid. I hope he had fun. I see no flame, slam, or spray on the boy in either of those posts.

Where do you live?

03/15/02 07:13 PM 03/15/02 06:13 PM ...give or take an hour

piolet rampe

Joe Brown?? Heavy, yes, but they make/made a HUGE "Fritz" style helmet. I still have one.

Blasphemer!!!1

Hey, thanks for the (shameless) plug for the Basic Mountaineering Course and CWMR!

let's sum it up: glassgowkiss/CPB for Adam Ondra, like the kid really needs it... Exactly! It was nothing more than a nice roadtrip for the kid. I hope he had fun.

:lmao: That's definitely very funny, and not considered pr0n (not on this site at least), but I do believe you'd make more friends here if you gave it the unmistakable FDA-approved warning label before someone opens that at work tomorrow. NSFW!!!1 Oh, and

I think Junior was put up to finish what Daddy didn't in 1991. Sounds too simple, but maybe true? I agree with you that there was no global or regional terror base in Iraq prior the US-led invasion of 2003. Hussein had his people pretty much squelched with his own home-grown variety of terrorism. The real effort should have remained in Afghanistan, if that's where our intelligence told/tells us OBL and al-Qaeda were/are. We have no business being in Iraq. I support/supported the military campaign in Afghanistan against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, but never The Bush War in Iraq. I never thought we should have gone there in the first place, as "we have no dog in that fight." I remember saying to my wife the day we heard the news that we had actually set foot in Iraq again, "Oh shit, we really did it. We've stepped in the dogturd again. WTF are we doing there? No good can come from this in the long run." THREAD DRIFT WARNING Now in my mind, if we really felt like we had to invade a sovereign country, we should have chosen North Korea. The (apparent) evidence of the danger to the West from the DPRK is greater: Kim Jong-il is actively pursuing nuclear weapons technology with (perceived) intent to deploy, he's acquired and tested ballistic missile delivery capability (with a few positive results), and has a firm belief (approaching paranoia) that the US is going to pre-emptively attack his state. In short, he's a loonie! Well, maybe not totally a loonie on that last point, given the current state of affairs in the Middle East... But if we do/had invade/d the DPRK, we would have to be prepared for a much greater, longer, and bloodier conflict, much like what the world experienced during WWII. Other states would almost certainly get involved (China, Russia, S. Korea, Japan, etc.). I do not believe that Joe-Bob America is prepared for what would surely be a sustained conflict, as mandatory rationing would surely infringe upon his ready access to pork rinds, cheap beer, cigarettes, NASCAR racing, and WWF spectacles. But back in 2003, it appeared to the administration that they would not have those long-term problems in Iraq, as the underlying assumption was that "we kicked their ass in 6 weeks before, we can easily do it again." We had what was thought by many to be "an easy target", supporting UN resolutions (however which way we wanted to twist the wording), and it would clean up Daddy's unfinished business. END THREAD DRIFT Oh, sorry, not facts, just my opinion.

Wow! Almost 5 years he hath lain in his grave! That's gotta be a record.