sobo

Thanks, but no thanks, Paul. Ben There, Don That.

Now that's good beta! ^^

Should be warm enough by the early afternoon at the Royal Columns if you stay on the routes to climber's right of the main rap gully. That will keep you in the sun most of the day. If you go to The Bend, stay way around to climber's right so you stay in the sun. Temps should be in the mid-40s by early afternoon on T-day, warming to low 50s on Friday. It will get cooler again by the weekend, or so the forecast sez...

Ah! I thought it looked like the "big top", but I wasn't sure. Thanks. RobBob: For a little while after I graduated VA Tech, I worked as a bridge inspector out West here. That was 15 years ago, so we had to wear the "monkey tail", but weren't required to have nets. The most fun I had was one day I intentionally slid, side-saddle and face-first, down the longest (shallowest angle) cable of the Tri-Cities' cable-stayed bridge over the Columbia, from the top of the tower to the sidewalk. I think I musta caused about 50 people driving across the bridge to shit their collective pants that day.

hmmm, loaded in less than one second. Must be that T1 line... lance, what exactly is the point of the picute? Is this guy rigging a comp wall, demonstrating a rescue technique, or washing windows?

Jonah, Might I also add that it is strictly verbotten in this state to climb any roadcut along an active highway or byway. The WSP will have your ass in a sling in no time, and I don't mean Spectra.

mkay, thanx leithal.

Hmmmm, so didja see Dave Schuldt's question above...? This is getting interesting. A park ranger that bolts... more study is required.

Yes, this one. It's from about 2 weeks ago.

Helluva story. Goes well with your autosig...

Didja check with the guys at MountainGear, like we discussed a coupla weeks ago?

No, about half that much, or even less. Changing a diaper is not as bad as everybody makes it out to be. Pretty simple and painless, actually. I'd rather do that then try to give them medicine.

Mutually exclusive proposition. You either climb hard, or you have a full life with your children/partner. Look at folks like Messner, Lowe, etc. They climb(ed) hard, but they had to leave their families regularly to do that at a consistently high level. You won't be able to have it both ways. Scale back your climbing, be with your family, and come back in a few years. That's where I'm at right now, and I thought nothing would change. Your kids/wife will never regret that you did, and you won't either. Seeing my little boy grow and develop and do things just in the last 9 mmonths is not something I ever will regret or forget. Kids are just too cool to miss out on, once you've gone and done it.

Don't mention it. Good thing you stayed put; looks like you had fun at the Rap Wall.

This is interesting... what kind of work do you do that requires this? Just curious... I've only drilled in granite, limestone, and diorite, so I'll let someone who's done basalt comment.

Rode a column from about 30 feet up almost all the way to the ground at Vantage about 12 or 13 years ago. Jumped off a la Superman-style swan dive to the talus before the big piece hit. It rolled behind me, chopping the rope about 3 feet from my harness. Partner said it was as big as a VW bug. Rolled over my fleece jacket and turned it into a mass of fused/melted plastic. Bill Robins and Paul Certa were on an adjacent climb. Bill was purported to have commented, "OMG, we finally killed somebody!" before the dust cloud cleared. Needless to say, they were both shocked and pleased to see me stand up and walk out of the debris. All I got was a full-body left-side strawberry, an elbow as big as a softball, and a severely bruised lead-head. Sat most of the rest of the day out, and "got back on the horse" at the end of the day on some 5.7 that ended up scaring the shit out of this 5.10c (then) climber. Haven't had a lot of use for Vantage since then. I just noticed that this is in the "freshiezone" forum. Perhaps this belongs in another forum...

Has anyone been there recently? What's in, if anything?

... NOT! So Cragg and I decided that we had to go in yesterday. Not content with using the familiar Preston/Nevers approach, I thought we'd give the Motherlode approach a go. There's a bit of compact snow on the roads above the 1201 intersection and past Kloochman's, but nothing a 4x4 can't handle. Be careful on the way down, tho, as ice on the washboards can (and did) cause a loss of control. Oh, the "609" sign is still there, but you gotta be looking for it. It's just under 3/4 of a mile after you pass the "parking area" (looks like an old gravel pit operation) for Kloochman Rock. Anyway, after realizing (too late) that we weren't following geordie's, J-WOO's, and BigWave's footprints from the week before, we endured serious schwackin' that ultimately brought us to the extreeeeme left end of the Motherlode area. So much for the "only 30 minutes away" promise. Our fault. Nothing to the left of First on the Left is in, or even near that. The big yellow drip (Third or Second on the Left??) is forming, but is a long way from touching down. First on the Left itself is very thin and discontinuous. Not climbable at the advertised grade. Sudden Change of Plan is not in. Sab Ce'bu *could* be climbed if you were desperate for ice and wildly serious, but it's not worth the trudge in. It's a freakin' shower, and we got rained on by shit while we were standing under it looking at it and deciding. The shitfall made our decision for us. "Run awaaaay!" Right Stuff: fageddaboudit. Dropline looks the best of all of the Motherlode climbs way up high (the top two columns are forming, but only the upper column has made it to the rest below it), but the first pitch has yet to form. This could be the year for Dropline's FA. Nothing between Dropline and Ice Dreams is in. Ice Dreams is running like a garden hose. It's building, but it's a long way off before it becomes continuous and climbable at the advertised grade. We started over to Split Rock Camp to take a look at First Ice on the Right, but Cragg was bitchin' so bad about the scree/boulder field and all the near-misses of sprained ankles and broken legs, that we bagged it when we were just around the corner from the Septum, so no beta there. Rather than trudge out the way we came in, we decided to follow the published directions for the exit, and headed due north out of Separation Gully and hit Road 609 a bit east of its terminus and a little more than hour from leaving. Lessons Learned: Wait a bit longer (till after the end of this month), and be prepared for longer than advertised approach times due to low snow and a lot of treacherous boulder-picking. As of this writing, leave the skis/snowshoes in the truck. It's a better boot trek than anything with floatation right now. Bring ski poles, tho. You'll be glad you did when you hit the boulderfields. All in all, it was a great day to take the gear for a walk.

Kramar's 1991 guide gives it a 5.8+. His 1996 second edition ups it to 5.9+. No wonder you thought it was a sandbag!

Bullshit, you pussies. You are a bunch of whiners. Index ratings are just fine - everywhere else is soft. I remember the old days when Angel was 5.7, while Damnation, and Outer Space were rated 5.8 -- those were ratings! And whadayameen about Toxic Shock. I see kids going up there, climbing the 5.5 Even Steven start, liebacking the handcrack, and saying they climbed 5.9. Climber's these days... Couldn't resist the temptation, mattp.

The Vikes! Third in the list.

See fredrogers's first post, above. All will be revealed.

Like you, I've made several trips out there and thru there, but a buddy of mine who lived in JH for 10 years said it best when he told me it's "Poverty, with a view." And he worked for a petrochemical company doing siesmic surveys (paid pretty good).