sobo

Ya know, I just must be too old or too out of the loop to know what "steaksauce" and "the steaksauce" mean. Stefan, would you or someone else care to elucidate? I'm just so last year on the latest vernacular.

Googled up Seiko - I have something almost exactly like this one. Except mine doesn't have the day indicator (does have date, tho) and there are no little numbers on the outer ring above the numeral markers. Mine also cost only ~$50. HTH

Wanna buy mine? I just put a brand new leather strap on it today at lunch. Seriously, I have a Seiko, it's small/thin, has hands, a sweep second hand, and a date window. No alarm, none of that other crap that everyone sticks in a watch today. Got it at Costco a coupla years ago for ~$50 or so. Check them out.

Not the same guy. Spotts is a different story, although tragic.

A quick call to my sheriff's office indicates that he is indeed alone, is a backpacker, but it is still unclear if he was intending to climb anything or not. The deputy also said that he was contacted this morning by the Seattle PI about another lone backpacker who went overdue last Saturday near Lake Chelan. This other guy was found in the Lake Chelan/Sawtooths between Boling and Bernese (sp?) Lakes area.

Wellllll... can you? I'm just funnin' ya, iain.

It hasn't been 10 days yet, guys. See my post ^^ Although the prognosis does not look favorable...

He's been overdue about a week (since last Thursday). The sheriff's office located his vehicle at the Colchuk TH last Friday a.m. A team (or two?) was dispatched Saturday to search the area around Stuart Lake. The same team (or another? - hence the earlier parenthetical statement) searched the area around Colchuck Lake. As of yesterday evening, he was still not located. He is being described as "an experienced backpacker". It is unknown if he was intending to climb anything. Freeman probably has more info. Or he may be out looking for him... chucK: Don't think so. This guy is apparently alone, and was not listed as overdue until the 16th.

It's called "French freeing" (or mebbe Freedom freeing now ) and seems to be becoming more popular every time I go out. It's also known as aid to us old skewlers. It's also a personal choice. BTW, welcome to Yakivegas. Where/what do you teach?

My first unplanned bivy was on WR of Stuart about 15 years ago. I was fresh out here from Virginia, and looking for an alpine adventure. Phil and I had planned to do the WR "in a day". At only 5.4 to 5.6, we figured, "This'll be a great introduction to Cascade alpine climbing. How hard could the WR be, anyway? Piece o' cake!" We had yet to learn of the intricacies of what was later to be explained to us as "Beckey Time." After starting out in sun and getting headwalled a few times, and watching my partner almost slide off the snowfield below LJ Tower, we got hailed on, then a lightning strike as we made the move onto the north side at the notch, then snowed on at the summit, we figured, "Well, we're (half) done. How much worse can this really get?" Folks were bivying at the standard south side bivy spot below the summit. They tried to cajole us into staying. We didn't figure we had the gear for that - shorts and t-shirts, with a fleece jacket and nylon wind gear for the outer layer. We headed down what we *thought* was the Cascadian. Later learned it was Ulrich's. Came back up about 300 feet and met the bivy-ers again. They tried a little harder. We were still deaf. By now it was full-on snowing. Found some cairns and headed down, but too much east. Later learned that we were following cairns down Sherpa. Somewhere in the dark we (finally) broke out the headlamps at the top of a headwall. It was after 10 p.m. now, and I announced that we were going to have to spend the night up here. My partner, recently wed, had been stammering all night that he was not going to spend the night on the mountain, but rather with his new wife. The headwall convinced him otherwise. All night long we huddled on a ledge, roped to a little larch, clothed in everything we had. We watched the storm clouds roll in and out over the half moon, waiting for it to rain or snow again. Phil had one of those chintzy little REI-type thermometers you wear on your zipper. It read about 35^ at about 2 a.m. I leaned over to Phil and profoundly stated, "Ya know, if it rains, we're dead men." Phil's response: "Thanks for the fuckin' weather report!" I thought I would die laughing! We toughed out the night, and felt like popsicles right before the dawn. We finally began to move, like lizards when the sun gets on them. We spent a while traversing from one side of our bordering ridges to the other, trying to find a way off the headwall. It was too tall to rap and retrieve the rope, and I wasn't going to leave it. After about an hour, I made the decision that we were going to cross the eastern ridge at our headwall, which we did. It dumped us in a gulley where we leapfrogged down, taking turns hiding from the beach ball-sized boulders we kept trundling down upon each other. Ultimately we made it down to Ingall's Creek, and hiked up and over Long's and out. It was my first trip to Stuart, and I still think of it as my best one, or at least the most fun. Someone recently stated in another thread that just about everyone who tries to do Stuart in a day gets to enjoy an unplanned bivy. I think I can agree on this. Oh, and

Hey glen, Almost forgot to mention: Appalachian Trail and Shenandoah National Forest for hiking/camping. Also the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area in WV and the Monangahela NF, too. Lots of WW kayaking in your new area as well. And you could find yourself becoming interested in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars battlefields/history. You will be very near to Manassas National Battlefield Park just outside of DC on I-66, and just short day trips to Gettysburg, Antietam, Sharpsburg, Harper's Ferry, Fort Valley, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, etc. etc. National Air & Space Museum and Museum of Natural History (both a small part of the larger Smithsonian), The Met, Wolftrap, etc. It may sound like I'm trying to put the hardsell on the place, but my aim is to indicate to you that while it does indeed suck there for many reasons, I try to find something good about the area so that you might, too. Whatever you do, enjoy. If you need guidebooks to Seneca and Stone Mtn., I have old ones (15+ years) you could borrow, as well as a shitload of 7.5" topo quads for both VA and WV (I'd like to get them back for sentimental reasons).

Huh? This is so untrue it makes my head spin. where did you hang out, the mall at Tysons Corner? The people I hung out with were from all over the country and the world and had huge diversity of backgrounds and view points. Contrast to here where apparently you get issued your green suburu with a dog and a "free tibet" sticker when you get your 206 phone number. Oh, I soooo have to agree with you on that one J_Fisher! Although you must admit, there is still a racial bigotry thing going on there once you get outta town a ways...

glen, I lived in Front Royal for several years from late high school thru college. Front Royal is about an hour’s drive out of DC on I-66. There is climbing, albeit meager by our standards, at Great Falls of the Potomac and at Carder Rock in nearby Maryland. However, for real fun, head inland towards Sperryville and hike into Old Rag Mountain for some Pre-Cambrian (pink) granite trad. There was an article on the area in one of the climbing rags (R&I??) several years ago (15+) that gave good directions and route samples. Just watch out for bears! Other areas in VA include Peaks of Otter (granite), down I-81 a ways to Danville. Also Dragon’s Tooth (limestone??) and White Face (Tuscarora Sandstone) near VA Tech. Also, five miles from my folks house, is a small (two-pitch) sandstone cliff in the National Forest that has some routes on it (some put up by yours truly). It is off State Route 55 between FR and Strasburg. The area is called Fort Valley, and the cliff faces west. Can’t miss it, just look up and left as you’re driving in along the creek. There are other small crags that I know about as well, one nice one near Harrisonburg on the grounds behind a VFW post out of town a ways, called Chimney Rock. Seneca Rocks is by far the best and most concentrated climbing close to DC, only an 1.5 hour drive from Front Royal, so it’s 2.5 max from DC. GREAT climbing there. Gunks is quite a far drive. Consider heading down and west into NC for Moore’s Wall, Whitesides, Looking Glass, and Stone Mountain for your longer weekends. Or head into West VA for New River Gorge sandstone at Fayetteville. RE winter stuff: Not much at all in the way of “real” BC skiing, but good lift-served groomers are available at Snowshoe in WV. Anything else is either too far to drive or just a bunny hill by our standards. Ice climbing can be had during cold winters in VA, WV, and NC. I started there, but it is about as elusive a beast as it is here in WA. It’s a long day’s drive to NH for Huntington/Tuckerman’s Ravine at Pinkham Notch, but well worth a trip if you have a few days this winter. Be prepared for some SERIOUS (I mean fahqin serious) cold. 20 to 30 below is standard operating temps for climbing there b/w Christmas and President’s Day. Beware of avies in those ravines; folks get the chop up in there almost every year. Also there is other really classic stuff up there like Cathedral Ledge and Frankenstein Cliffs. An ice climber’s dream. I wasn’t into biking when I lived there, so I can’t comment on that. One last word of caution: The drivers on the East Coast all suck. Everyone’s in an incredibly huge hurry to get stuck in traffic. If you think you’ve seen gridlock in Seattle, think again. I went back last summer to visit the folks, and I count my lucky stars every time I think about it that I live out here now. For more info, send a PM to RuMR, RobBob, or ryland moore. They can confirm or deny all that I’ve said.

Works now.

Yes. They're called "snowmobilers".

I like that one the best!

Perfect! Thanks, Rudy!

Thanks Jopa and Rudy. Either of you guys have a phone number and/or address for them so I can get them shipped off this weekend?

OK, so I’m need of some shoe repairs. I’ve got a week-long trip planned for early October, so time may be an issue. A search of this site wasn’t really forthcoming with much info on who blows and who doesn’t (with respect to shoe repairs, at least ). I’ve used Dave Page in the past, but he was kinda snotty, but reasonably priced (then) and on time. So, with a month left before the trip, who do I send my dogs to for new rands and half-soles? Barrabes? Rumatas? Dave Page? TIA

I bought some of those and retro-fitted them to my old BDs and Smileys, thinking that the "express feature" would be great. IMHO, they suck. They kept coming unscrewed, and superglue didn't help. And they futz up the racking sequence, so I just went back to my old skewl racking system of Trango holster clips and beefed up my screw placement technique so as not to get sketched while placing. FWIW, I carry: 3~17s, 4~13s, 2~10s, and one or two FRPS (irbus) leavers. And whatever my partner shows up with.

True dat. I'm still using my old HP-15C from my college daze. I don't know what I'm gonna do when it kicks it.

You guys and your TI-85s crack me up! I learned how to use a slide rule in 1972 in the 7th grade (Dad, an engineer before me, skewled me on it, and I read library books on the subject), and used it right up until I got a handheld TI-55 or something like that in the late 70s. My slide rules occupy a place of honor in my office now: In a little red wooden box mounted on the wall, with a plate glass front, and a little hammer on a chain attached to the box. A note on the glass sez: "In case of battery failure, break glass." And just for perspective, my dad bought his HP-45 when they first came out in the early 70s. It could only do five functions (+,-,*,/, and %) and that little fokker cost over $450! Crikey!

The latter - mook, as in "book", as you surmised.

Yeah, you're right. I should just STFU. Alcohol levels are dipping again.