Erwin

you guys who read guidebooks amaze me. I dont know if I should tell you to get another hobby or respect you for your dedication and passion of the sport. personally, i like the adventure/climbing stories but then can be repetitive. The stories are amazing, but you need a break. There are only so many stories of some crazy guys climb a big mountain, get into trouble and, at least one man makes it down to tell the story. Personally, i read anything i can get my hands on. Currently, i'm reading "a brief history of time". by Stephen Hawkings. An amazing book, a little outdated but you learn some amazing shit. Last recent books also include "The Celestine Prophecy" and "One Flew Over The Cuckos Nest". The climbing mags are for the shitter where some of them belong.

Hey, I'm looking for a pair of gore tex pants and was actually going to go buy some this week before the snow really comes. Tell me more about these pants. 2-ply, 3-ply, any tears, etc. Suspenders? How many years of deadly farts been executed on the pants? What do you others think of these pants? Rafael, let me know and I may want them.

Yanks are going to win the series for the 50th time in a row and the 1000th time since baseball has started. I'm impressed with the Mariners season, but a 17-2 lost to the Indians? Yanks are gonna destroy them as they do to every team in every season. Can you tell I'm from NY? upstate, actually

You guys should see the view from my office. Views of Mt. Hood, the beautiful Willamette River, downtown PDX, a computer and a phone. And I get paid to be here

Mens, size Large. What do you have jason.erwin@ef.com

Dave, If you would like to go next weekend, I'd be down. Just so happens I'm heading away this weekend but would like to head down to Smith for a weekend. Its been awhile since i've been done there. You live in PDX, that's where I am

Smee, check out the Portland guide of rock climbing. It has a section on what routes freeze in the winter in the Gorge. I'm out of Portland as well and looking for a cold and snowy winter (if I don't move to Steamboat which plans are in the making). Let's climb if I stay

All ya PNWesters on skis need to throw on a board. Been skiing all my life in the east coast. Tried a board one demo day with a fresh blanket and was hooked. In the east, you have an excuse to ski with the ice and moguls. Not out here. Those pot-head boarders sitting on their ass (wasting their money) watching riders rip the half-pipes give the sport a bad name. Boarding on virgin snow and in some trees will blow skiing away. So sold on the excitment for a real winter (not this rain i see in Portland, as well as the possibility of being laid off), is sending me to Steamboat. Here great things of it. Any beta out there?

All ya PNWesters on skis need to throw on a board. Been skiing all my life in the east coast. Tried a board one demo day with a fresh blanket and was hooked. In the east, you have an excuse to ski with the ice and moguls. Not out here. Those pot-head boarders sitting on their ass (wasting their money) watching riders rip the half-pipes give the sport a bad name. Boarding on virgin snow and in some trees will blow skiing away. So sold on the excitment for a real winter (not this rain i see in Portland, as well as the possibility of being laid off), is sending me to Steamboat. Here great things of it. Any beta out there?

Thanks a lot for the input. I think i'm going to take your advice and go for the mini-waterworks. Rodchester, I highly appreciate your opinion and understand your point. But next time i'm backpacking and filtering some murky, pond water w/little critters swimming around, i will be glad to not have taken your advice and carried the extra weight.

I'm thinking of getting a purifier with my upcoming paycheck. Just wondering what you guys use or think is good/bad etc. I'm looking for something: Not too expensive Not a pain to maintain Not too expensive to maintain Iodine vs. not, what do you think I want to be able to purifier mud if i need Thanks for your help.

Rednecks have confederate flags. Anyone who waves this around is an ignorant fool and should be deported from the states.

Not to beat a dead horse, as with every single posting on this site, but we don't need flags on any summits. I'm proud to be an American and I wear my proud, but do not pollute with it. And I hope the people who are leaving these flags are not the same people who criticize every bolt or rap sling or chalk mark ever made on rock. Garbage is garbage, but at least bolts serve a purpose in the outdoors. Thank god its Friday.

In relation to everything going on right now: "...I have slipped the bonds of Earth and, from my vantage point on the Moon, I stand watch over the uncharted new frontiers of Space. I have been a silent witness to all of America's finest hours. But my finest hour comes when I am torn in strips to be used as bandages for my wounded comrades on the field of battle-when I fly at half-mast to honor my Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines, and when I lie in the trembling arms of a grieving mother, at the gravesite of her fallen son or daughter - I am proud. My name is Old Glory -long may I wave. Dear God, long may I wave." -Old Glory, unknown

The Antagonizer's mom lost her cherry to a Sarge. Its on the internet at www.consumptionjunction.com The weak at stomach need not apply

I wouldn't call myself a newbie or so much a veteran climber, so being in the middle I have something to say about all this. Being a newbie is great. You get to learn much and the first times on rock, first leads, first falls, first times seeing hot girls climbing 5.12s are the best ever. Nothing beats this purity. You first climb because your buddy needs a belayer and than your hooked and that is all your mind can focus on. Its these great times as newbies that make us strive to do it again and again. Its like having sex or taking acid. The first times you do it, you want to do it again and again to reach that rush again. Go newbies, enjoy your virginity and your love for climbing before you learn what a scene climbers are involved in. Trad vs sport vs bouldering...blah blah blah climb to climb, newbies don't care

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life" and i'm working on saturday. how pathetic

I don't know where your from, but I do know that being from Oregon (Actually orginally the Northeast), I have been mocked by them Washingtonians on the few postings I've made. Oregonians unite And spelling must be off due to the Nitrous in my more youthful days.

Glacier, Good call. If we ever climb I'll be happy to belay ya. and bring a camera so you can be on faces of death. smugg's ice is nice. snowmobiles in the notch suck ass. half hour of work left. someone please say something funny.

I went to school in Burlington, Vermont. The deadheads there (and phishheads in more particular) don't need a show or a reason to get a tank, they just do. Ice climbing in Vermont: Awesome (respectively) Rock climbing in Vermont: Go to NH or NY

Gas Huffing and Sharpie Sniffing Washingtonians. You guys make me sick. Ever hear of nitrus. Hippie crack will solve all your problems, especially having an excess of brain tissue. Good to know Sharpies are fine on rope, though

Just to be safe for those of you with a microbe prone stomach: up the dosage to 900ml of hard liquor with a splash of water. Let there be snow. I'm ready to ride (oops, wrong site). Any backcountry riders out there? Don't be ashamed. Any backcountry riders from Oregon. Yes we have reason to bow our heads.

now your talking, Will. I'll be cruising in style as your peddling and I'm packing bong rippers for us.

when that earthquake comes and destroys the Seattle area, we'll see how much fun it is when you have no computers to search this site and no bars for your gatherings. what will you do then, huh? climb? uh, nevermind, i refrain my comments... Looks like i got no fuel here being new to the NW, new to Portland, and totally outnumbered on this site. come on oregonians, back me up here

I assume all you guys are just staring wastefully at your screen and waiting till time to go for the weekend begins. I'm ditching early today cause the manager is gone, taking off at 4:30. what time do you guys have to suffer till on Friday afternoons?