sobo

I'm with ken4ord. The Lipton dried pasta noodle dinners (must be a bazillion variations) in a bag. Skip the part in the directions about milk and butter. Substitute more water, or add olive oil for fat. Add some dehydrated veggies that you can make at home or buy at an Asian food mart. Toss in a can of Swanson chunk white meat chicken (in water), add some "mystery spice" (dried basil, oregano, rosemary, cracked black pepper, salt, and crushed red peppers), heat through, enjoy. Clean up the pot by twisting it in the snow upside down. The can lid from the chicken makes a reasonable simmer plate if you're using an MSR-type "single-speed" stove. Put the lid directly on the burner to deflect the flames and create "sort of" a simmering condition. It's all pretty light, and the trash packs up tidy in the chicken can, which you can then flatten. Bag it with empty noodle package to reduce leakage potential. What always bothers my partners is that while we're waiting for the main course (above) to cook, I'm already eating some soup out of my mug. Take along a mixture of dried soups (I like to go with one Cream of Chicken and one Chicken Noodle per night, or double up on Tomato or Green Pea). Use two envelopes per 12 oz. mug. Boil up water for soup and pasta dinner, pour off enough water for the double soup. Enjoy that while your partner(s) wait around for the main course, hungry and freezing, while you're delectably slurping up hot soup! It's like having appetizers that no one else gets to eat! Be careful not to get too smug, or you may end up wearing your soup.

I think I need to get a bit more up to speed -it's been a while since I've climbed ANYTHING, need to replace gear, fingers ain't what they used to be, legs mushier than I'd like etc etc -maybe next spring... sounds nice though.... Ohhhhhh, don't count yourself out that quickly! I'm no spring chicken myself anymore, ya know. Former trad hardman aging very poorly, 40-sumthin first-time Dad and all that. Ya! I get out a lot! HA!

Oh GAWD, I could go on and on about why I hate the Dry Shitties! You poor sap, mortomr. I left the Dry Shitties cuz the climbing sucked so bad. I feel fer ya, bud. Seriously, take these guys up on Spring Mtn, Vantage (Frenchman Coulee) and my stompin' grounds, the Tieton basin. FYI, a few years back (3 or 4?) the property owner behind Two Sisters rocks complained to the County about climbers there, and the County, in it's infinite stupidity and against the myriad outcries of "FOUL" by the climbing community, closed the area to climbers (only climbers! - not hikers!). Even Andy Fitz and the Access Fund couldn't get it opened back up. That back-sliding, fudge-packing bunch of fahqin county commissioners heard only one word - liability. No real reason or truth provided. It's kind of a choss pile anyway, but that wasn't our point. I've had several fun times out there when I first moved to the area 15 years ago, and that was where the local climbing club (I-MAC) used to bring newbies to the area to introduce them to the rock. I even have a photo of my then-fiance' TR'ing a route there on the front page of the local weepsheet - above the fold, no less! The place had a history, but no more. Go to Tieton or Vantage for your closest bets to good routes. Spring is next in distance. Devil's Canyon is CHOSS! It's OK if you have a strong deathwish. Check out these folks. No real hardmen there anymore, but a good place to find some local partners. And here's another link to Kevin Pogue's site (climbing home page) which gives route descriptions for Spring and a link to the map that cman already posted. PS: I'd be up for a trip to S. Fork of Clearwater (Lightning Dome) just about anytime you're interested (later in summer - too hot there right now). Three and a half hours from Dry Shitties, free camping, no trail park pass bullshit, no permit bullshit of any kind. Watch out for the locals, if'n ya know whuddahmean. Check out Location #13 on the map. I've got the topo. Not too much trad stuff there, as you can imagine from Kevin's photos, but it's a slab/face climber's wet dream.

I already did. Ignorant Pursuit at Royal Columns. RC a cragging environment? - check, Off width? - check, 5.8+ is "5.9 or so" isn't it? - check Easily top-roped by doing adjacent routes or hiking up the left-side trail - check, Has dual anchor chains/rap station - check, Can be TR'ed with a single rope - check Conclusion: Enjoy!

Another vote for Tieton (Royal Columns, exactly): Ignorant Pursuit, 5.8+, immediately left of the Render Us Weightless Roof. Inside flaring O/W. Pro really sucks, if you can find any.

Now that's got to be the best compliment of all. Spend a weekend together on a challenging route in some pretty tough conditions, and have your sufferfest buds speak highly of you to strangers. Righteous, Bruk!

I wonder if the same thing applies to SAR in other parks and National Forests. Can Seattle Mountain Rescue try to talk a climber down? What about the Chelan County Sheriff? General MRA (Mountain Rescue Association) protocol is that if the rescuers feel that it is unsafe to attempt a rescue, you abort. "Do not create more subjects" is the rule. We are all volunteers in SAR and Mountain Rescue, and no one can demand that we go after someone. Case in point: We had a County deputy here in Yakima a few years back who thought that we were at his beck and call, and ordered us into what we in MR deemed to be a dangerous rescue situation. We (CWMR) refused. That deputy isn't involved in SAR/Mountain Rescue anymore. We still are. More info here.

Hmmmm, descending from 10,670... just above Thumb. They should be fine, as long as they don't snag a crampon in a gaiter. And as long as Gator doesn't send a team their way, there's "no harm, no foul." It's just a call on a cell phone.

NEWSTIPS, I second what ketch said. People (non-climbers) need to know that. Add in my personal kudos, too.

And even then, you're only avoiding climbing accidents...

You lookin' fer a new job or sumpin'?

Hey fear, Do you subscribe to the email listserve known as This is True by Randy Cassingham? He also runs a "sister" listserve called The True Stella Awards (after the old lady who sued McD's for the hot coffee). Kinda like a snopes.com; he does the research, makes sure it's not crap, etc. I think he even links to them on his website. You might enjoy it. Check it out: www.thisistrue.com www.StellaAwards.com

Well, addie, I think jon's post ought to about do it.

Does California count? Mountain Hardware Yakima (racks) BD/Patagucci etc.

Didja wanna borrow the guide to LC?

Hey, GT, I think your favorite **ignored user** beat you to the punch on this one... See here... Hey, did you get my message yesterday about my login problems from home? There's some Richard Simmons pr0n in it for you if you can fix it...

Well, tree-spiking wasn't particularly high-profile property destruction either... I'm not saying it is ELF, just that it's not outside of their MO. And I agree with MCNate. There are better ways to spend the money that's spent on the repairs of the destruction. It's the policies that allow luxury homes at Vail, mineral extraction in the wilderness (contemplated), etc. that need to change. Not burning down the houses. They'll just be rebuilt, 'cuz these folks have bucks to burn, as it were... It'a all about being alienated, and not alientating your support base. I think that's where folks like ELF and their ilk have got it wrong. It's just another jihad, as it were. And we've all seen where that's led...

Only because that hasn't happened... yet. They're just pounding on the cost of vandalism right now, somewhere upwards of $50M, because that is quantifiable. Don't get me wrong, I abhor property destruction/vandalsim. Not much better than folks swiping your climbing gear, IMHO.

Oh yeah, that's cute. Just think for a moment that maybe their methods might not be the best way to achieve change. It seems to me that they run the risk of alienating folks instead of garnering support for their cause. What do you think will happen when someone gets seriously hurt of killed? BTW, I've got all the coffee I need, and it ain't a triple-shot grande cappucino-mocha with sprinkles and orgeat, neither.

Here, read this... From the article... ...While this makes them ready to take actions that are considered by much of society to be radical, their reverence for nature and their belief — whether articulated or not — that life in any form is sacred, keeps them opposed to intentionally harming other people, even their ideological opponents. "It is a laugh to me when they call us violent or terrorists," Lee Dessaux, a hunt saboteur said in a 1997 interview quoted in Taylor's article "Religion, Violence and Radical Environmentalism: from Earth First! to the Unabomber to the Earth Liberation Front" in Journal of Terrorism and Political Violence. "I say, if we were, don't you think we'd have killed people by now?" They still haven't either killed or seriously hurt anyone in more than 100 incidents over five years since they burned a truck at Forestry Service office in Oregon, but law enforcement officials fear it is only a matter of time. <emphasis added by sobo> "They keep saying that we're not going to hurt anyone, and I think they're sincere, but what happens is you can't control the zealots — we saw that with [Oklahoma City bomber Timothy] McVeigh," Szady said. "Our other fear is that someone is going to be killed accidentally." ... While you are correct that they haven't killed anyone yet, it's like the man said, "...it's just a matter of time." One of these days, a tree-spike, a gate pipe bomb, or arson fire is going to kill someone. Count on it. That's what I don't like about them.

Exactly! That's what we did. Ryan, listen to Distel. He may be young, but that's never stopped anyone from giving good advice.

Shut up, Winter. WTF do you know what I think? Did I say it was ELF? Fuck no! Did I say it was my opinion that it was ELF? Fuck yeah! Do you know what the fucking difference is between those two questions? Cogitate on that a bit, Zippy...

Agreed. Cut down on the packs. Not to sound like your daddy, tho..

Great guidebook for Les Calanques is called "Les Calanques". It's in French, but I knew enough Italian to be able to figger out what I could and shouldn't get on. Les Calanques is in the south of France, walking distance from the resort beach town of Cassis. My wife (not yet at that time) and I had a blast! Lemme know if you want to borrow the guidebook. I'd like to have it back, tho. Sentimental reasons, ya know...