Bugs/Cascades TR 2004 (long w/ dubious editing)
ant
northwest"
anthony anagnostou
I had the summer off. New england rained everytime i wanted to climb.
Everything was short. I couldnt find a partner for pinnacle on mount
Washington. Rope-soloing with a clove hitch is too slow to feel like
free climbing. I didnt feel like climbing hard, just long, and felt
like cragging was just practise for the real mountains. The gunks felt
slippery, cathedral kept getting wet, and the single most fun cragging
i did was solo top roping at hammond pond (20 ft boulder outside
boston) with boots and gardening gloves on to see how hard i could
pull in winter gear. It all let inexorably to one conclusión: NE
cragging wasnt doing jacksh*t for me. I did a little mental
calculation. Next course i had to teach was aug 25th. I had just
enough time to buy a 14 day advance ticket to seattle and still have
three weeks before work. I called leon in seattle, he said i could
stay with him. I hung up and bought a plane ticket.
I showed up in seattle on a wednesday. Burdened with a loaded pack and
a seriously weighty duffel, i lumbered through the public transport to
greenwood, and dumped 80 pounds of crap in the upstairs bedroom. Leon
had a few days off to add to the weekend. I wanted to try out the
bugs. Leon wanted to try out the bugs. We rented a car and cruised out
thursday, neglecting to find the (1) fastest way and (2) just how long
it was going to take. Battling poor forecasts and endless driving, we
debated various ways to allow us to climb on friday. In the end, there
wasnt much to decide. We ended up in the chicken wire parking after
midnight, slept in the car for three hours, and awoke at 4:30ish to
dizzily waddle uphill with heinously heavy packs. Our alpine start was
for naught. Weather was decent, but we were tired and unwilling to
walk on the wild side. we spent the day diddling around and being
intimidated by a handful of resident hard(wo)men. We noted with due
interest that no one at Appleby(sp?) climbed anything less than 5.10
trad alpine, apparently.
Saturday rained, although the second half of the day was acceptable,
and we hiked east post, figuring if it kept raining we would have
bagged one peak. Sort of. We spent the afternoon debating which climbs
seemed like a good idea. We took a gander at the BC bugs guide and
realized that it beat the living heck out of our new green book. For
an inexperienced bugs traveler like me, not having the cushy BC guide
felt like asking for an epic. Despite being intimidated by the
weather, the newbie warnings, the resident hard (wo)men, and
everything else, I slept easily with plans to fire the north east
ridge of bug spire in the morning.
Bugaboo spire
We got up at 3:30, but it was too early. The approach to the
bug-crescent col took less time than we thought, and a heavy blanket
of clouds kept the dawn light under wraps. We hiked past the
now-frozen tarns, up the crevasse-less crescent glacier, and huddled
at the base of the 4th class scramble to the top of the saddle,
unwilling to start in the dark lest we get offroute on steep terrain.
I slotted into the notch between two big boulders, sitting on my pack.
I was pretty cold, and hogged the one puffy jacket. After twenty
minutes I offered it to an obviously cold leon, saying it was his
turn. He said ‘are you still cold?'. I emphatically ‘yes-ed', aware
that it wasn't fair, but not quite warm enough to be just in the thick
cloudy dark of the wee hours. He said to keep it. Wuss-score thus far:
1.
Half an hour left us chilled and impatient. The thick clouds weren't
opening, but we decided to go for it. By headlamp, we picked what we
figured was a decent line, and threaded our way up steep exposed rock
to the top of the saddle. This was my first introduction to BC 4th
class. If someone told me the approach ‘scramble' was 5.easy I would
have nodded- thought nothing of it. We pulled plenty of moves,
downclimbing half of them when blank bits showed up above. it didn't
feel any easier than any of the easy 5th class ridge climbs ive done
in the cascades. It definitely opened my mind a bit, was definitely
new to me, doing this in boots and no rope.
The saddle came quick. Looking up, the ridge of the spire looked
immense and steep. My eyes played tricks on me, and in the dim light
it looked as if the first ten pitches were actually overhanging. I
knew they weren't, but it certainly was intimidating. We walked on and
the headlamps were doused in favor of the faint morning light. We
dawdled up to a wide crack which looked like it should be roped. We
roped up, and then went up the crack realized that it shouldn't.
arrived at the rope-up ledge, and got ready to go.
In my mind, looking at the slack angle of the ridge from applebe, and
the moderate rating, I had hoped to simulclimb most of the ridge. For
that reason, we only brought half of my double rope set, planning on
doubling it for simulcimbing. I pushed leon into the first lead,
feeling confident about the easy climbing at the bottom, and we
simulclimbed to the top of the first pitch. The climbing was nerve
wracking for me, as the moves were solid but my hands were frozen. I
have pitiful peripheral circulation, and everything felt more tenuous
than it should have. To be absolutely completely totally sure I
wouldn't fall on the back of the simulclimb I had to climb slower than
made the simuling worth it. In a nutshell, we switched over to
pitching the climb out. We started doing this on the doubled half
rope, which split many pitches into two, a slow move for what is
supposed to be a rapid climb. Newbie score = 1. After a handful of
these cold pitches and a lot more light, we simulcimbed some of the
easier ground, and switched over to single rope pitched for anything
harder. I feel safe climbing on a single half rope in terms of fall
protection, particularly on ledgy alpine terrain where a high fall
factor is impossible. However, I couldn't shake the thought of the
skinny little thing getting cut on an edge, hence so many ludicrous
half-pitches with the doubled rope. Not bringing the other half was a
big mistake. The ten or so pitches of the ridge went slowly, as I
fumbled around with cold hands and a pack with both pairs of our
enormous mountaineering boots in it, a puffy jacket, and all my other
day-gear, which jammed repeatedly on chimney moves, forcing me to
down-chimney again and again. (bringing two pairs of 7 pound
mountaineering boots ionstead of approach shoes? Newbie score = 2). I
cleaned a beautiful new stuck nut on lead, which I then re-placed. I
figured if I cleaned it and put it back it counted as my booty. Not
so, it was a tricky placement, and leon chose to forego cleaning it as
our climbing was taking longer than expected. I kicked myself for not
putting one of his nuts in instead. He would have gotten it out then.
A half pitch later I dropped one of *his* brand new walnuts, and it
fell on a ledge 12 feet below his belay, but again, for fear of
weather and darkness he passed it up. Dropping gear: Newbie score = 3.
At the top we switched over to doubled-rope simulclimbing and quick
rappels and painful downclimbing in rock shoes and finally lots and
lots of down scrambling in boots and we were suddenly at the top of
the bug-snowpatch col. This had been on both of our minds all day, for
it looked steep, exposed, and crevassed from the campsite. Another
party from the kain route was preparing to rap and offered us a ride
on their ropes. This was great, because it saved time, and kept our
rope dry. I went down first, gingerly picking through the choss at the
top to avoid kicking off anything big. I rapped off the end of the
ropes and started down, plunging boots and axe to keep me safe on the
sorry snow. The bergshrund was pretty straight forward. As long as you
stayed far left there was a straightforward filled-in bridge to cross.
Below the snow stayed steep, then a couple sections of hard ice, then
more snow, and then another crevasse, this one more thought provoking.
Slushy lips on both sides. Wide enough to slide through, not big
enough to get out of. Steep downhill jump, so I just leapt and hoped
for the best. It worked out alright. I took one more look up, and
bolted for the laid back terrain below. At the bottom, leon and the
other party were clustered at the side of the couloir at the bottom of
the rappel. I wrongly assumed they were going to pull the rope and
rappel again and decided to head back to the campsite. Apparently,
they just hung out to make sure they didn't kick rocks down on me. How
thoughtful. I stomped back to Appleby, 13 or 14 hours after I left,
burned, humbled, but ecstatic that we hadn't epic-ed. Leon got in an
hour later, after the three slowly downclimbed the couloir and took
the scenic route back. I sat in the campsite, eating as much as I
could, torching in the high sun, dressed in shorts and a polypro
draped over my head to shade my face and neck. The evening came, the
sun dipped below the spire, and it was pants and puffball jacket
within forty five seconds. Success.
The next day we got up late to climb lion's way, a 5.6 with a handful
of pitches near the camp. There was another party on it, moving at
slower than a snail's pace. It turned out it was a trio, and the
leader was on his first trad lead. I asked if we could pass, and the
belayer said that was no problem, and that I should check out his
anchor on the way up. We soloed to the ledge where he was, and I found
the poor fellow in a bit of a funk. He had made his anchor, and had
put the climbers on belay, but didn't feel really good about the
situation. Apparently, this budding trad climber sucked at anchors,
but had good intuition. His anchor was a cam with two and a half lobes
engaged in a notch , which I probably could have yanked out. His one
sling linked this cam to his harness. He didn't have any more slings.
He said it was the only placement here. His belayer had said something
about using the rope to build an anchor. He didn't know what to do. I
usually am more than pleased to take some time and help a fellow
climber learn, but I was feeling the urge to move on, so I built him a
new anchor with a bomber nut and moved the cam to a great crack and
slapped another decent nut in and coarsely tied the whole thing
together with his rope and told him he should check out a few library
books that might shed some light on the anchor thing. Leon came up. I
had him clip into our new friend's anchor, and belay me up the next
easy pitch. It was a cruise. An absolute milk run. Why? Because I was
warm. We were in the sun, my fingers felt exactly like they should,
and we cruised from pitch to pitch effortlessly, with a little
simulclimbing thrown in for good measure. At the top, it seemed that
we could have done the whole thing in two pitches, or one simul pitch,
but the guidebook thought otherwise. We snapped a handful of photos,
some stitched panaromas of the range, had a snickers and some water,
and rapped and scrambled down. We left the next morning for seattle.
It was a good climb to finish on. I plan on coming back to spend a
few weeks here next year, and if an intense frigid mistake-fest had
been my only memory I would be dreading it for months. This last
cruiser route, even if it was anticlimactic, left me thinking that
maybe the bugs didn't have to be so cruel to my ego.
The bugs were the highpoint of the trip, im afraid. Plans for the
remaining two and a half weeks in the cascades almost all fell
through. I came out to spend about half the time with leon and half
the time with internet partners, some of which were already lined up
before I got here. Of the internet dates, about 70% of them fell
through. Leon also had to bail from time to time because of reasonable
and unforeseen circumstances. This meant a lot of time stranded in
seattle with my thumb up my ass, and a lot of time posting desperate
partner requests on rc.com, and cascadeclimbers.com. downright
humiliating, really.
The next few days I sat around with nothing to do. Then I got an
internet date for a day in index. I had heard it was hard, but how
hard could it be, really? I volunteered for this easy looking 5.8
(starts at a wide crack, right by the parking lot) and scrambled up on
a ledge, put in a bomber 3camalot, and started mucking about with the
fist jams. After a minute of fuss I decided I was in a bad spot and I
wanted to start over so I just dropped off. Read: fell on purpose.
When I then got back on it turned out the move was simple, just unlike
any id done before, and I kicked myself for letting go when I could
have sent it in good style. Wuss-score=2. I then cruised up to a
flaring polished chimney above, and proceeded to get my ass handed to
me in the very worst way. I like chimneys, at least more than the
average climber, but wasn't ballsy enough to climb further out where
the moves were more solid, further from the pro. I stayed wedged in
the crack, and in the humidity of the hot morning slid down three
times to the ledge below before I noticed the blood seeping through my
white climbing pants and aided off an alien to the top. Wuss-score=3.
newbie score=ive lost count now. Ego=severely damaged. The second
pitch was really cool, but I followed it. Then we toproped (I was with
a ropegun) a hard 11 which I was proud to send pretty clean, except
for one finger tips layback move, which I absolutely under any
circumstances could not power through. All the thin blank slab
climbing went without a hitch, which upped the ego a notch,
particularly because my ropegun partner fell ten times on it (then
cruised the layback). With a little strength I coudla' had her. Then
we amble over to a secluded gully and I lead toxic shock, technically
a 5.9, and certainly one that made me think hard at the laybacks (I
have forearms like your grandmother. Undercling, layback, and overhang
are about as secure to me as low income healthcare in the hands of a
conservative administration). We top it off with another 11 toprope
and a lot of blackberries in the parking lot.
We had hit index early, and I only had five hours of sleep the
previous night. When I got back, me and leon prepped to do the east
ridge of forbidden, car to car. A nice climb. But it would have been
nicer on more sleep. I got back from a hard day (for me) at index,
packed, and we left at midnight for cascade pass. I slept an hour and
a half in the car, and we climbed to boston basin and then up to the
ridge. The most notable part of the day was descending. We decided to
take the guidebook's recommendation- the east ridge descent route,
which was described in our fisrt edition of the selected climbs as a
series of 5 single rope rapps to a ledge system: 3rd and occasional
4th class. We rapped five times, and it looked ugly and difficult and
loose. But, it was five times, and there was a picture too, and we saw
footprints on the occasional patch of dirt. This must be it, despite
the rap anchor below. Other climbers must have established more
anchors to get to the enticing enormous ledge that looked like it was
a couple hundred feet down. Well, we set out. Leon wanted to rope up,
but the pro was abomindable and it was very exposed and frankly I
thought a fall would finish us both, so I steered us to what amounted
to constant 4th class traversing with a fair bit of 5th class mixed
in. the rock was loose. The moving was terribly slow. It was very very
steep. There isn't a doubt in my mind that a fall would have put us on
the glacier. I was scared. After a hundred yards it just felt too
dangerous to traverse this crap, and I told leon I was going to climb
up the gully we were in to the east ridge and downclimb the route. He
agreed. It would take longer, but at least it would be safe. We
ascended (it feels more secure going up than sideways) to the ridge,
and simul-downclimbed the last 2/3 of the route, got to our gear, had
some water, and ambled down the snowfields, domes, and moraine to the
boston basin, and then down to the car. Whew, no epic. That's my motto
around here "one good picture, and no epic". That's all I want from
this trip. The new edition of the guidebook now says the descent is
five or *six* single rope raps, so perhaps there was a good looking
ledge another 80 feet down. Or perhaps everyone who descends this way
is a balls-out hardman. But for me, that 5th class choss traverse was
easily twice as hard as the ridge itself, and I didn't have a rope.
We drive home and I have another internet date on the line. Its
spencer, a fellow rec.climber who answered an ancient call for
partners. Turns out our schedules match up after all, and we meet up
after a lot of missed phone calls and other telephonic nonsense.
Highlight of the pre-face-to-face interaction: both of us are staying
at friends' houses. Both of us have cell phones which cost an arm and
a leg to use, so we don't want to use them. BUT: neither of us know
the actual telephone number of the houses we are staying in.
Eventually, I look up the house *I* am staying in in the whitepages
and we can finally chat like normal people. Spencer picks me up Monday
evening, we drive out to darrington that night, after banging the
bottom of his defenceless car on countless rocks. We plan to climb
dreamer, a route I got shut down on a couple years ago when me and
leon got offroute onto giant's tears on a torching hot day with not
enough water. This time, I wanted to fire the 5.11 friction pitch of
giant's tears free (stepped on a bolt last time..) but spencer said it
wasn't recommended, and we tried for the direct start to dreamer
instead. Except we had no picture of the route, and the beta for the
start was vague, and we ended up just finding an anchor and climbing
and hoping something would reveal itself, the same thing I had done
with leon two years ago. Eventually, we (read: spencer) figured out
where we were, and it was my turn to lead the crux undercling pitch. I
wussed out, whining about how I don't like undercling, hoping he'd say
‘I sure wish I could lead this pitch'. I didn't get it phrased that
way, but with his solid climbing, and my insecurity, I just lazied out
of the pitch, and whined until he offered. We restacked and he led it.
And then I did the same damn thing on the next pitch, the other 5.9.
wuss-score=really getting up there now. At the top we squeezed the
last drops of our minimal water for a hot day on white granite out of
flat platypi and rapped. Midway down, after tossing half of my almost
new double rope down, it got wedged in a crack. When I rapped down to
it, I was absolutely terrified. My rope looped down, into a flake, and
then up 25 feet to the top of the flake where the tip of the rope was
jammed in a finger crack six feet out of reach. No way I could touch
that. I threw a rappel backup on to free my hands up when needed, and
rapped to the bottom of the flake. I took deep breaths. This rope cost
a lot of money. It only had 20 pitches on it. And as I looked at its
loop in the bottom of this heinous flake I couldn't help but notice
that there were about five or six cut ropes right next to it. I could
see it all now. Despite patience and finesse my rope was finished. I
would spend ten minutes delicately working the rope in various
directions, with increasingly deliberate tugs at various angles,
slowly jamming it tighter, ending finally with one all-out heave-ho in
an effort to free the rope, and all for naught. I could feel my belay
knife glowing at the back of my harness. I tried light tugs up. I
could feel it giving slower, as the rope jammed gently tighter. No
more there. I tried down. I could feel the same. I tried out, I tried
this and that and everything else, and all with great patience,
constantly batmanning up the rap lines to get higher, and down again
to get lower. After a while, nothing worked. It was playing out just
as I had envisioned. I was finally at the all-out-heave-ho stage,
never having completely tightened it into any one position. I picked
the angle I hypothesized the rope was most likely to free itself from
and gave a really serious pull. Nothing. Just tighter and tighter.
Unwilling to pull it to the last bit of jam, I rapped down again and
tried from lower. Heave-ho. This was it. I was going to weld it in
this time. I pulled and pulled and puuuuuullllleeed. It was coming! It
was coming through! Slowly, I wrung my 8.5mm laundry through the
tighest wringer out there, and the end finally popped free. Mine! The
rest of the rappels were fairly uneventful, as I gazed about,
delighted that I had two whole ropes to call my own, and not one and
three fifths. That night we went through the selected climbs
guidebook. There wasn't a thing to do. Every climb was either too far
away. Too long. Too hard. Too late to get a permit. Spencer had plans
on it later on his trip. Or one of us had already done it. Finally, we
set on boston basin again. Id just been there, but it was the only
area that seemed to make sense. next day we hiked up to boston basin
late, planning on doing sharksfin and sahale peak the next day. The
ranger came by and I squeezed all the beta I could out of him. His
advise: we better pick one climb and stick to that. It would be too
much to do both in a day ‘unless we were really fast'.
We got an alpine start the next morning, cruised up the grassy
moraine, popped over to the glacier, and it was still early. Fuck it,
we're doing both. Sahale had to go first so we didn't have to go up
and down slush in the afternoon. The quien sabe glacier approach was
broken up and steep, but I wanted to do it unroped. We needed to keep
the speed up, and we didn't have pickets and much rescue gear. Better
to go as far as we could safe, and bail if it looked too sketchy. We
left the climbing gear and some water on a small ledge protected from
rockfall and started walking. Well, it was tricky. No boot tracks to
follow, and plenty of big crevasses under steep terrain. The snow
wasn't too good after a very warm night, but it was workable. I stayed
in front. Spencer claimed I was more experienced at snow and glacier
travel, but this was surely a ruse to make sure I find any thin
snowbridges first. I threaded my way up, past the steep and open bits,
to the far right side of the glacier, where it was an easy cruise to
the easy rock ridge to the peak. We headed up, snapped a couple shots
of the long forbidden-boston ridge, and headed down. When we were
halfway down we met another party coming up, decked out in full
mountain gear, with a picket and a deadman each, roped, making slow
progress. It was the ranger-dude and a friend. We weren't even that
fast, but we were spanking them. It would have been even faster on the
way down with functional balling plates instead of my last minute duct
tape job. Note to self.
We rolled down to the gear, threw it all back in the packs, and headed
up the steep muddy loose late season approach to the bench above the
quien sabe. Traversed right to sharksfin, and then spent twenty
minutes moping around while we tried to match the ranger's beta with
the rock. He had looked at our guidebook yesterday and said ‘no, no,
this is all wrong, the way you do it is this.. et c etc etc'. well, he
must have had some different route in mind. I was still trying to make
sense of his clear instructions when spencer got the routefinding
inspiration and we found the start of the easy 5.0 ridge route in the
book, and pitched it out on a half rope in three or four seriously
quick pitches. Our rack was half a set of hexes and a set of nuts.
Next time, id bring two mid size hexes, six nuts, and four double
length slings, and you could simulclimb it if you wanted to, though it
does have a lot of rope drag potential. Anyways, we downclimbed the
route, rapped the anchors from the normal approach (snow gone now) and
cruised down to the basin where we stashed our sleeping bags, then
rolled down the hill to the raging stream crossings, down to the car
and back to seattle.
Following boston basin, the weekend forecast was bad. I wanted to
climb the north ridge of stuart, but I couldn't find another partner
anyway. That wrapped it up for the trip. Three weeks, and six days
climbing? I am disappointed. Never again (Never!) will I go on a trip
without either (a)my own car, or (b)a normal partner. Without either
of those, I was shut down for the majority of my time in the pacific
northwest. It's really all about the car. With a partner with a car,
you can climb. With just a car you can solo. Either works, and neither
sucks.
Good looking mountains, good reconnaissance for the bugs, but I was
not sated. To be continued next summer.
Things I learned: ditch mountain boots for tennis shoes if you're
carrying over, and invest in strap on aluminum crampons. Find and buy
a light ice axe for the same. Gaitors are worth their weight. keychain
LED lamps are a perfectly reasonable alternative for emergency light
instead of my six pound BD space shot headlamp. Button-up track pants
are *still* my ideal climbing pants for just about all climbing in all
conditions. The ten essentials go out the freakin' window when you're
really trying to go light. I could carry an 80 pound pack up to the
bugs without too much fuss, so I could probably carry 100 without fuss
if I actually got in shape. I didn't think I could do either until I
weighed my pack when we got home. Don't trust internet dates to come
through. I suspect that some people are making plans as backup plans
in case their primary partner bails, or something like that. Make good
balling plates for crampons or be slow as a snail downhill. Have
access to a car. Climb more.
Over and out.
Anthony
Dawn Alguard
> Things I learned:
<snip>
> Don't trust internet dates to come through.
Are you sure you didn't learn that rec.climbing dates are more reliable
than rc.com dates?
Personally, I've never had anyone from r.c blow me off.
Dawn
DingusMilktoast
"Dawn Alguard" <m...@privacy.net> wrote
> Personally, I've never had anyone from r.c blow me off.
I have, but then again, I'm sure I deserved it.
But still...
DMT
Nate
"DingusMilktoast"
>
> "Dawn Alguard"
>
> > Personally, I've never had anyone from r.c blow me off.
>
> I have, but then again, I'm sure I deserved it.
>
> But still...
I've heard more stories of the latter, myself. I've had good luck with
people I e-mailed a few times back and forth, and they were local. I've
stopped trying to arrange things on trips years ago, though. It just rarely
works well.
I've been here almost 10 yrs, and have met up with countless rec.climbers.
In the end, I don't climb regularly with any of them today. All great
people, but too often there is too little in common. The odds of finding
someone you will get along well with online are just really low, even on a
focused group like this.
- Nate
Sketchball
> climbing? I am disappointed. Never again (Never!) will I go on a trip
> without either (a)my own car, or (b)a normal partner. Without either
> of those, I was shut down for the majority of my time in the pacific
> northwest. It's really all about the car. With a partner with a car,
> you can climb. With just a car you can solo. Either works, and neither
> sucks.
>
you should have either taken the bus to squamish (don't need a car,
can camp at climbing area) and hooked up with other climbers, or
actually posted in a cc.com forum other than the partners wanted
forum. i see you passing the buck. maybe 70% of your partners bailed
because you came across as sketchy....
ant
>
> I've been here almost 10 yrs, and have met up with countless rec.climbers.
> In the end, I don't climb regularly with any of them today. All great
> people, but too often there is too little in common. The odds of finding
> someone you will get along well with online are just really low, even on a
> focused group like this.
so if electronica doesnt work, what does? im thinking of spending
spring on the road- i can afford to spend feb, march, and april
climbing, and i was thinking how great it would be to find a regular
partner for a month in j-tree, a month in red rocks, a month.. etc.
so far my r.climbing partners have been one for two, although # two
had a really good excuse so i really cant complain. the real problem i
have with rec.climbing for partner seeking is that No One Wants To
Climb With Me. i say this without feeling sorry for myself, more of a
shrug. ive posted a handful of times looking for partners on r.c and
pretty much never get so much as a response. i dont know what you have
to do to break into the cool crowd. more TRs? TRs with *actual*
climbing? or maybe no one really finds partners here.
whatever. ill live. got a better idea for partner fishing? let me
know.
anthony
Brent Ware
> "Nate" <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message news:<2pk69cF...@uni-berlin.de>...
> >
> > I've been here almost 10 yrs, and have met up with countless rec.climbers.
> > In the end, I don't climb regularly with any of them today. All great
> > people, but too often there is too little in common. The odds of finding
> > someone you will get along well with online are just really low, even on a
> > focused group like this.
Just for a different perspective, I've been around here for a while
also, and climb regularly with several of the rec.climbers I've met.
We get along well, or so it seems to me.
I've also done the "walk up to the campground and post a note" thang
with mixed results, sometimes I find a good partner, sometimes no
partner, sometimes I find someone and am way sorry.
-bw
Nate
"Brent Ware"
> Just for a different perspective, I've been around here for a while
> also, and climb regularly with several of the rec.climbers I've met.
> We get along well, or so it seems to me.
I met a lot of people either directly or indirectly through rec.climbing
when I came here to Boulder in 1996. It was a great way to meet a lot of
people. But, like I said, in the end, the relationships that have lasted
the longest for me have been the ones where fate and interests have crossed
our paths in more ways than just a BB note or e-message.
There used to be a fairly large CO group that posted and climbed together a
lot - but no more.
> I've also done the "walk up to the campground and post a note" thang
> with mixed results, sometimes I find a good partner, sometimes no
> partner, sometimes I find someone and am way sorry.
Sure - the dating dilemma.
"ant"
> i was thinking how great it would be to find a regular
> partner for a month in j-tree, a month in red rocks, a month.. etc.
Get in your car and go to these places w/o wasting your time setting up
partners. You will find partners in these places much faster than in the
PNW.
BTW - you sound shy and slightly desperate, which can scare people online.
I rarely even post or reply to notes at campgrounds. The "formula" I use is
to walk the sites around dinner time. Pretty much a 100% success rate at
netting someone. Whether they can actually climb or I'll get along with
them or not is always the same crap shoot.
- Nate
Sue
wrote:
> > "Nate" <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
> > news:<2pk69cF...@uni-berlin.de>...
> > >
> > > I've been here almost 10 yrs, and have met up with countless
> > > rec.climbers.
> > > In the end, I don't climb regularly with any of them today. All great
> > > people, but too often there is too little in common. The odds of finding
> > > someone you will get along well with online are just really low, even on
> > > a
> > > focused group like this.
>
> Just for a different perspective, I've been around here for a while
> also, and climb regularly with several of the rec.climbers I've met.
> We get along well, or so it seems to me.
>
<snip>>
-bw
I have to second Brent's perspective on the rec.climbing partner thing.
Most of my regular partners are rec.climbers. Starting with my original
partner Grant, Spencer (whom I suspect is the same Spencer of Ant's TR,
although he is not a regular partner now, he was a while back), Andy and
Brent, The Sport Climbing Playboys, Craig, and Amanda (the most kick
ass partner in the world), are all rec.climbers, met either through
rec.climbing or rec.climbers. The random trollings from rec.climbing
including Jacek from Alaska (as opposed to the one in texas) and Brian
in SLC -excellent partners (come visit us Brian-we'd love to see you
this fall). I'm probably forgetting someone. Sorry.
I'll let you in on a secret though. None of these people I met through a
mass posting. I pick'em out of the herd and send them a personal email.
or vice versa.
S
Dawn Alguard
> I'll let you in on a secret though. None of these people I met through a
> mass posting. I pick'em out of the herd and send them a personal email.
> or vice versa.
That's the ticket, I think.
Dawn
troutboy
"Sue" <shopkin...@ucsd.edu> wrote in message
news:shopkinsNOSPAM-2F2...@news.la.sbcglobal.net...
>
> I'll let you in on a secret though. None of these people I met through a
> mass posting. I pick'em out of the herd and send them a personal email.
> or vice versa.
> S
years, I pretty much know where everyone is from. When I get a job
somewhere I personally e-mail the rec.climbers(s) I know live there (and
seem like reasonable people). I've climbed with many rec.climbers this way,
and it's worked out well. Only been stood up once.
OTOH, I've never gotten a response to a mass partner request on rec.climbing
either, so don't feel bad. Sometimes I'm somewhere where I don't know any
rec.climbers and the mass request is the only way. Unless you're a
stud/babe, rope gun, or well known, you just won't get much of a response.
Or perhaps I'm just a loser !
I'm not a big fan of just meeting someone at the crag and climbing. I'd
rather have a bit of history in my brain about that person before
committing. I will grant there are advantages to assessing your potential
partner in person, though, and I have climbed with some great people I've
met hanging around the cliff or campground. However, under this
circumstances I usually have a partner with me and I can rely on my trusted
partner to assess the third person or vice versa.
TS
Steven Cherry
>so far my r.climbing partners have been one for two, although # two
>had a really good excuse so i really cant complain. the real problem i
>have with rec.climbing for partner seeking is that No One Wants To
>Climb With Me. i say this without feeling sorry for myself, more of a
>shrug. ive posted a handful of times looking for partners on r.c and
>pretty much never get so much as a response. i dont know what you have
>to do to break into the cool crowd. more TRs? TRs with *actual*
>climbing? or maybe no one really finds partners here.
Jeez, Anthony, you sound plenty cool enough, and if there's a northeast
cool crowd, I don't know who it is. I suspect it's a bit like any
dating, the best people already have regular partners, or have
hard-to-pair-up-with situations (work weekends, live in weird locations,
etc.). Looking for a partner right after posting an awesome TR is
not a bad strategy, so let's see how you do this time around. In the
meantime, I don't have any free time soon, otherwise I'd do Pinnacle
Ridge with you in a heartbeat.
-steven-
--
<ste...@panix.com>
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Now I've got plenty of partners. Sort of. One is pregnant (Colleen),
another is blind (Sarah), another has only climbed once (a friend
of Sarah), and three are 6 years old or less. And a dog. It was not
going to be a hardcore day. -- John Peterson, rec.climbing
Sue
Dawn Alguard <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
I have to correct myself. Once I posted looking for gym partners in St.
John's Newfoundland. I did climb a couple of times with a nice lurker.
If there is someone on the group who lives there, its not obvious. Thus
the mass posting.
DingusMilktoast
and seem to get on well enough.
Jason Leibgott and I have roped up an time or three and he's good to be
around too.
So, too, I must say, was Melissa for a day of sport climbing at the Grotto.
A very nice person and easy to be around.
And of course I couldn't not mention Kellie, who pops into my world from
time to time to do some awesome climb.
I've also climbed with a couple of rc.comers. Funny, but almost universally,
they are younger, better looking and less experienced than their
rec.climbing counterparts...
JUST KIDDING!!!!!
No discernable difference actually. People are people.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention climbing with Inez, she's OK too.
So despite having some rocky relationships, or a couple of unexplained
no-shows, or what have you, my rec.climbing partner experiences have been
quite positive.
Like Nate, these rec.climbing partners haven't developed into 'regular'
partners in the strong sense. I think two factors play a major role:
climbing style/goals and physical proximity. My best regular partners have
been interested in the same sort of climbing goals as I and they are close
enough for a casual Friday night, "Hey Bro, whaddaya doing tomorrow???"
Tougher to do with someone 1000 mile away.
Cheers
DMT
"Sue" <shopkin...@ucsd.edu> wrote in message
news:shopkinsNOSPAM-F0F...@news.la.sbcglobal.net...
John Peterson
over-analyze things. I think his experiences in the cascades aren't
really representative of the "rec.climbing dating scene". First, the
PNW is a hard place to pick up climbing partners. While I'll gladly
tourguide an unknown climber at the Gunks or Ragged, I always think
twice about roping in with someone I don't know on snow or in alpine
situations. The car situation is a major problem too - it's one thing
to meet someone you don't know for a route somewhere but when you're
also serving as the taxi it gets harder to say yes. And I'd also say
that rec.climbing isn't as represented in the PNW as in California or
Colorado or the east coast.
I've never had a rec.climber fade on me at the last minute and I've
found a number of exremely good climbing partners here (Hi George! Hi
Fred!).
As the man said, you should have gone to Squamish!
John
(PS - I nominate Leon as an official member of the rec.climbing
community!).
Andy Gale
ant wrote:
> "Nate" <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message news:<2pk69cF...@uni-berlin.de>...
>
>>I've been here almost 10 yrs, and have met up with countless rec.climbers.
Me too. Including Nate.
>>In the end, I don't climb regularly with any of them today. All great
>>people, but too often there is too little in common. The odds of finding
>>someone you will get along well with online are just really low, even on a
>>focused group like this.
Most of my regular partners and two of my best friends I met thru
rec.climbing. YMMV (obviously) OTOH I have met many rec.climbers that
I have no interest in climbing with. But how will you know unless you
actually meet them? Even the ones I wouldn't choose to climb with
regularly didn't end up being psychos or anything terrible.
Andy
Paulina
<snip>
> I've also climbed with a couple of rc.comers. Funny, but almost universally,
> they are younger, better looking and less experienced than their
> rec.climbing counterparts...
>
> JUST KIDDING!!!!!
>
> No discernable difference actually. People are people.
>
You almost got me there, Dingus!
I met Lord Slime after asking him nicely to climb with me while I was
visiting CO a couple years ago. I'm still really grateful that he spent
that time with me, even though he climbs way way harder than me. And you
won't believe me, but he's a nice person ;-P.
I met Dawn, Steven, Alex, John, Marc (Fred?) and others (sorry if I
don't remember your name) at the Gunksfest a while back. That was
definitely mass-posted but it was a mass gathering.
I also met someone who doesn't seem to post here anymore and I probably
wouldn't like to climb with him again.
It is possible to find partners here for your travels, IMHO.
Cheers
Paulina
Brent Ware
> So despite having some rocky relationships, or a couple of unexplained
> no-shows, or what have you, my rec.climbing partner experiences have been
> quite positive.
>
> Like Nate, these rec.climbing partners haven't developed into 'regular'
> partners in the strong sense. I think two factors play a major role:
> climbing style/goals and physical proximity. My best regular partners have
> been interested in the same sort of climbing goals as I and they are close
> enough for a casual Friday night, "Hey Bro, whaddaya doing tomorrow???"
>
> Tougher to do with someone 1000 mile away.
I have to confess, I am one of DMT's no-shows (I called!).
It's tough to find climbing partners with the same goals, toss in the
geographical factor and it's a lot like dating.
-bw
Mike Garrison
>
> "Dawn Alguard" <m...@privacy.net> wrote
>
> > Personally, I've never had anyone from r.c blow me off.
>
> I have
Yeah, but you aren't Dawn....
DingusMilktoast
"Mike Garrison" <mike.g...@boeing.com> wrote in message
news:413609A9...@boeing.com...
That SO begs a smart assed answer, but I will resist...
DMT
Mike Garrison
>
> First, the PNW is a hard place to pick up climbing partners. While I'll gladly
> tourguide an unknown climber at the Gunks or Ragged, I always think
> twice about roping in with someone I don't know on snow or in alpine
> situations.
Yup. That's a biggie. And not just for safety reasons. You
have more gear to share, food to share, you are camping
together, and there are enough different skills involved
that the chance of a mismatch is greater. It's just so much
easier to bail from (or at least deal with) a mismatched
partner when cragging than when on an alpine trip.
Of course, there is cragging here too. But people who are
going to fly somewhere to go cragging usually end up going
elsewhere.
> And I'd also say
> that rec.climbing isn't as represented in the PNW as in California or
> Colorado or the east coast.
Yeah. There are quite a few lurkers though. Or there used to
be, anyway.
These days cascadeclimbers.com seems to be the better bet if
you want to hook up with some random climber in the PNW.
Brian in SLC
> The random trollings from rec.climbing
> including Jacek from Alaska (as opposed to the one in texas) and Brian
> in SLC -excellent partners (come visit us Brian-we'd love to see you
> this fall). I'm probably forgetting someone. Sorry.
>
> I'll let you in on a secret though. None of these people I met through a
> mass posting.
Yeah, didn't I "make" you in an elevator? Ha ha...couldn't resist...
This fall sounds great. Need to carve out a game plan. I'm thinkin'
travel to the OC is in my future and would be a short hop from
there...really need to get back to Idyllwild, JT, Needles... Looked
for Batten and co-eds at Stoney Point awhile back but no luck
there...(not that I didn't get scared on a few of them top outs,
though...). Fun stuff.
Speakin' of game plans...hey, Troutboy: what up around Philly for
post work climbing opportunities? Seems like some of the areas are
closed... I fly in next Tuesday at around 3pm-ish...shoot me a pm if
you know of anything close by (what time it get dark out there right
now? Gettin' earlier here...). And, thanks again for Rocks. No
t-showers next time would be nice...as well as post climbing adult
beverages...
I've had great luck both here, and other forums. And...although I've
had "memorable" times hookin' up with folks who place ads on the BB's
of climbing shops and gyms, its been better off the 'net. Waaaay
better.
Thanks,
Brian in SLC
melissa
It can be...I've made a mast posting a few times on craigslist and once on
rc.com and always got many, many responses from 1. guys who just wanted to hang
out with a girl...any girl it would seem and 2. people would needed to be taken
climbing if they were to climb at all.
However, my best matched partner to date came off of a mass posting. Last year
at New Years I had planned to return from Back East before New Years whereas my
SO was staying longer w/ his family. I had made loose plans to climb with a
friend in Yosemite, but the snow was so bad there that I couldn't even go (chain
controls AND 4WD), so I thought I'd go to Zion by myself...but then the forcast
got grim for there. The only place that wasn't calling for bad weather was J.
Tree...but I didn't really want to go there and party which is what all the
people that I knew who would be there would be doing. If I drove all the way
down there, I wanted to actually climb. I had a really, really bad "blind date"
for Joshua Tree once (a SheClimbs gathering), so I decided to be very specific
about what I wanted, even if it was a bit obnoxious.
So I posted this on rc.com:
Title: Asocial Partner for JT Thurs-Sun?
I wanted to avoid JT for New Years b/c I figured that it would be more of a
rager than I am usually looking for when I head to the desert. Alas, it looks
like it's raining everwhere else within driving distance, so I'm thinking about
changing my plans to go there after all.
Me: 30, woman, climbing 3-4 years. I prefer crack climbs. I'll lead up to 5.10,
but only when it's well protected and a decent size for me. I'll chicken out on
5.7 run out off widths and chimneys. My average ability lies somewhere in
between.
My ideal partner for the weekend would be ...
...safe.
...experienced.
...able to lead.
...not looking for a date.
...not planning on climbing stoned.
...willing to go for Thai or to Crossroads for chow and beer after climbing.
...more interested in climbing than partying.
...not hoping to meet up with a bunch of friends to climb in a group.
PM me if you're interested.
Within a few minutes, Kate replied. She continues to be one of my best matched
partners.
Other times I've said things like: Parnter wanted.
And had much worse results.
The best matches have been people that I've sort of come to know online and have
then met with to climb. I've had good times with a lot of folks from
rec.climbing, but highlights were definately climbing the Leaning Tower with
Jason, who has become a valued friend, and Moonlight Butress with Brian in SLC,
ditto.
Nate
"melissa"
> 1. guys who just wanted to hang
> out with a girl...any girl it would seem
> and 2. people would needed to be taken
> climbing if they were to climb at all.
This is why I don't reply to female postings (or rarely any postings). They
often tend to be either 1) Desperate 2) Really looking for a girl but didn't
state that - for some reason that probably wasn't 100% accidental. and/or
3) If it's a piece of paper on a b-board, it's usually so covered with male
names and site #'s that I probably couldn't find any contact information
even if I wanted it.
> Other times I've said things like: Parnter wanted.
Young and gregarious versus growing older and knowing exactly what you
want...
There's a joke out there about pick-up lines as you get older. I forget it
exactly, but it goes something like kids saying "Would you like to come to
my birthday party" or whatever - and people in their 30's, 40's saying
something like "Will my car be okay in front of your house?" ie, you know
what you want and can read others and pick matches much better and faster as
you get older and more experienced. I definitely get more satisfaction and
enjoyment trolling for partners now (when I actually need to...) than 10 or
15 years ago.
- Nate
Lord Slime
> I met Lord Slime after asking him nicely to climb with me while I was
> visiting CO a couple years ago. I'm still really grateful that he spent
> that time with me, even though he climbs way way harder than me. And you
> won't believe me, but he's a nice person ;-P.
Shhhhh! You're ruining my reputation!
- Lord Slime
Shilajit T Gangulee
Distribution:
Lord Slime (jbyr...@SPAMfriiPLEASE.com) wrote:
: "Paulina" <gava...@yahoo.com> wrote in
: > I met Lord Slime after asking him nicely to climb with me while I was
: > visiting CO a couple years ago. I'm still really grateful that he spent
: > that time with me, even though he climbs way way harder than me. And you
: > won't believe me, but he's a nice person ;-P.
: Shhhhh! You're ruining my reputation!
: - Lord Slime
you forgot the "fuckwit" on the end of that, dhude.
Lord Slime
> Lord Slime (jbyr...@SPAMfriiPLEASE.com) wrote:
> : "Paulina" <gava...@yahoo.com> wrote in
> : > I met Lord Slime after asking him nicely to climb with me while I was
> : > visiting CO a couple years ago. I'm still really grateful that he spent
> : > that time with me, even though he climbs way way harder than me. And you
> : > won't believe me, but he's a nice person ;-P.
>
> : Shhhhh! You're ruining my reputation!
>
>
Nope. You're the only fuckwit around here.
- Lord Slime
Mark Heyman
"ant" <dummya...@electricant.net> wrote in message
news:24c8c79e.04083...@posting.google.com...
>Don't trust internet dates to come
> through. I suspect that some people are making plans as backup plans
> in case their primary partner bails, or something like that. Make good
> balling plates for crampons or be slow as a snail downhill. Have
> access to a car. Climb more.
>
> Over and out.
> Anthony
My experience is limited, but I've had great luck here on RC, and on other
sites too.
Never had a RC'r back out. Trip strategy starts with local strategy. Make
some group postings. Meet the people. You will then find you are connected
to the people they know too. People are far more willing to make a real
effort for you if there is some connection. For the very little I get to
climb, I will go way out of my way to meet someone who has hosted me or have
connections to people I know. For pre-trip strategy hope that your local
networking pays off. Supplement with any of the other methods recommended.
Hoping Brian will want to meet Wed, thought there are closer and nicer gyms
to where he is staying. I responded to questions of his on RC.com because I
recognized his "name". Now I see he knows Tim who I met through RC.com. It's
a small world. Who knows, may the three of us will get together.
Mark Heyman