sobo

The pic is kinda small on my screen. That's not Richard Simmons, is it? Oh, timmy, where art thou?

EXPERT'S CHOICE! That was it! Not French Kiss. That's somewhere else (I think - they all start to run together after a while...). Thanks Alex.

In a roundabout way, that was exactly my point. I think Mark Husbands might be better served by seeking intelligent input elsewhere, i.e. not on this board. I guess instead of adding the "wave", I should have inserted the "roll eyes". I was as dismayed as anyone with what the discussion descended into. The thread was moved to Spray, and rightly so, since that was what it ultimately became.

Well, here is as good a place as any to start. You'll have to skip through the early (topic relevant) stuff to get to the 5 pages of unabashed, unconsidered spray to get to what *you* want for your grad project.

I climbed there a bunch back in the mid-90s, two times per year each year. The trips were over Christmas/New Year's and President's Day/Valentine's Day holidays. I seem to remember the last time I was there, the ice was thin and we were in the middle of a Chinook cycle, but that was in mid-February. For the Christmas trips, the ice was usually quite fat and the weather was BF'ing cold. One year, I drove into Pincher Creek on Christmas Eve and parked at the hotel, only to find that my radiator had sprung a leak. Bummed rides to Waterton and back for two days, while the mechanics worked on it on Christmas and Boxing Day. Even installed a block heater. Great guys. They got a late Christmas present from me. $$$ Bottom line: Christmas ice should be great. Check your local listings.

I have. You can't go there and not do French Kiss and Quick and Dirty. Also, some of the one-pitchers in the gas fields are a lot of fun. And the multi-pitch behind the Warden's station is a nice way to "turn down the heat" before you leave (I think this one may be the 300m WI2+ you refer to in your post). Get JoJo's guidebook and you won't go wrong. Stay in Pincher Creek at the Foothills Motel. You can bargain a weekly rate with them (~$200CN/week for dbl occ.), and they have the only hot tub in town. And they let you bring in to the tub with no questions asked. Apres-climb can be had in the Ram's Head Lounge at the Waterton Hotel, but be prepared for trendy high-styled folks with good hair. I got a good story to tell about busting into the dining room one Valentine's Day after climbing. The music stopped, literally!

Went cragging with Carlos Buhler several times in between his trips to the Karakoram. What a nice guy.

"I gotta do laundry, man."

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...