Whynot's trip reports

Seneca again

2010-05-04T16:21:00.000-07:00

The best picture of the few I took. That's my climbing partner Al. He follows me up anything I hang a rope on. That's all I ask in a partner.We both fuss and complain a lot but we get to the anchor and enjoy it. I bought a cheapo camera for this trip because I tend to destroy them while climbing. The walkie talkies survived this time. My old truck didn't enjoy the miles. I kept one eye on the temerature gauge all the time and went through a gallon of antifreeze. I don't think it has any more long trips left in it. Time to trade it in.
When I got to Seneca, Al had been waiting on me for 2 hours. He already had us a choice camping spot by the river. We climbed Skyline Traverse the next day. It was hot as crap by the time we got to Broadway ledge. We were both worn out already. My plan was to do Christians next, up to the base of Humphrey's Head and across to Windy Corner to the top. It would have been 3 more pitches and I couldn't find the start of Christians so we bailed off the bolts at the end of Broadway. It's an intimidating rappel with only a 60 meter rope and a hella long way to the ground. The first rap lands you on a little ledge just big enough for 2. You hook in to another set of bolts and unhook from the rope so your partner can come down. You're both standing there on a tiny ledge on a sheer verticle rock face and you pull the rope. Of course it gets all tangled up and you have to feed it through the new anchor and rap again. The second rap lands you on a bigger ledge but you are still 25 feet off the ground.The ropes kept binding in my old rap device and gave me fits, to make it worse the gear sling had a loose bit of webbing that wanted to snag in there as well. I tucked it under something and decided to buy a new device at the Gendarme . The nice guys there fixed me up with a shiny new one that works perfectly. Now all I need is a shiny new truck that works perfectly.
More later.

Stuff

2010-03-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

If I become a Zombie, just chain me up in the basement and bring me a Mailman now and then!
Courtney

Humphrey's Head

2010-01-22T17:48:00.001-08:00

I took this from the belay notch on the way to the summit. I was tempted to climb it but I knew there wasn't time. Looks like it could crumble and fall doesn't it? It's a lot wider than it apears and much bigger. You can see the peak of the Southern Pillar in the distance. It's 300 or more feet tall.

MMM

2010-01-10T10:26:00.000-08:00

I was walking past the stove on my way to the computer and got a wiff of cookies. Yup the oven was on. Courtney was baking cookies!!!!! I just had 3 with a cup of coffeee. Yummmy stuff and a sweet suprise. Sometimes the little things in life are the best.

Christmas

2009-12-23T16:26:00.000-08:00

Turkey samwiches!!!!!

We're having a housefull tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. It's always a good time with Mrs. Ynots family. little kids running around,beer, presents and Sandy claws. and....Turkey samwiches!!!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T22:42:00.000-08:00

Turkey samwiches!!!! nuf said

Free ride

2009-11-08T16:26:00.000-08:00

Ginger Rapping off Tower rock. I stopped on a ledge and let everyone else rap to the ground so I could hang a rope on Curving crack. I got some good pics of everyone rapping by and we had a good time unlocking Curving Crack.

On Top

2009-11-01T15:49:00.000-08:00

A happy Ynot on the summit of Tower rock. photo by Tonya

Fall Colors

2009-10-28T17:42:00.001-07:00

I took this on the summit of Cavers route last Sunday. It was sweet to get out with all my climbing friends and hang a rope on something. The fall colors were the icing on the cake. Very few reds, mostly yellow maples. There was about a dozen climbers on various pitches or the descent. I noticed a mix in the Gorge of tourists ,bikers, hikers and climbers. I think they all came out just to enjoy the colors and pleasant temps. Camping was a bit chilly. There was frost on the grass in the morning. I sat up by the fire Sat. night and watched several meteors cross the starlit sky. Reminded me of John Denver's song about fire in the sky. We stopped in at the Summer Breeze Cafe for breakfast. Mmmm... country cookin and southern hosptality.

Beep

2009-09-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

Yea. I know. I haven't posted in a while. It's hard to get inspired any more. All I do is fix peoples houses. Food isn't even good any more. I want something really good like a resturaunt steak or sea food. It seems like I fix something and half way through supper I loose my appetite. Must be an age thing. I've seen it before.
We went to Mariba last weekend. I lead the scary route between The Mayor and Reach The Beach. The pro wasn't good. I dropped a line on Reach The Beach. It was very nice. It's splitter and perfect hands with a few fists at the top. The boulder problem at the bottom kicked my butt.
Mariba and the weather and the company were all choice so I'll call it a great day of climbing in spite of the erosion of my climbing skills.

The Last Day

2009-06-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

Chris at the top of Ecxtasy Jr I believe.

The last day we spent at Seneca I woke up and it was getting hot in my tent. It was strange after waking up in the freezing cold every morning before. I crawled out and noticed the sun was pretty high over the cliffline. We had slept in a bit. Climbing every day takes a toll on you but when you drive 8 hours to climb thats what you do. The plan was to do some single pitches on the South end. I lead up Candy Corner. It was fantastic. Every move was cool, the gear was tricky. A few hard moves then a rest. Mid route I looked around the arete and there was a ledge with a seat built in. I popped around the corner and had a sit down break. The route went on for 90 feet or so. Definitely the best pitch of the trip for me. I love that route.

It was Chris's lead and I thought Totem would be good but he was pretty tired, so we took a break. We took a break for hours on the rock below Candy Corner. The day was perfect and it was nice to just chill at the base of Seneca. A couple bums.

We later did the first pitch of Skyline, wich goes up the other side of the arete from Candy Corner. I enjoyed both routes emensly. Chris missed out on the second pitch of Skyline. It has the wildest easy traverse right off the anchors. Nothing but air under you with good feet. It's something he can do next trip.

If I get another chace to go ,I may just hop on Ecxtasy again. Sure it rattled my cage the first time but I have the beta now. I think about it from time to time. It would be grand to send it.

Seneca is an amazing place. It has more classics I haven't done and the people are nice, the scenery is tops, and it's just good to go on a vacation from your routine.

seriously cool

2009-05-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

I should be so lucky to do this when I'm 77.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5oN6BmIDrM&feature=channel
I really like the grins and handshakes at the top. it's just fitting

The Shmart End

2009-04-28T19:06:00.001-07:00

The North Peak from the South Peak summit

photo by Chris

Day 3

When I got up and crawled from my tent ,little ice drops fell off the rain fly. It was freezing. It didn't bother me. I stayed warmer than the night before. I believe I did better at staying on the Thermarest and I stuffed a jacket in the bottom of the sleeping bag to wrap my feet in. It's a good trick I will remember. We went to the Climber School coffee shop and had some really good coffee, hung out on the deck and talked with the guides. We tried the gear store a couple times. Still not open. Seems the season had just begun and the locals weren't in full gear yet. There had only been 2 or 3 other teams on the rock the day before. I wanted to replace some missing nuts and get some new slings. The Gendarme is one of the few gear shops that always has anything you might need. Someone assured me they would open for the weekend. We went up the road a bit and had a mediocre breakfast at a local diner. The biscuits were terrible and the gravy barely passable. The atmosphere was nice anyway. It was late morning when we hit the trail to the rock with way to much gear again. My plan was to get Chris to the South peak summit. I had done Ecstasy Jr. with Dwayne years before and knew where to start and remembered a cool bulge but not much else about the route other than it would get us to lunch ledge. We swung leads this time and the first 2 pitches went real quick. I got the one with the bulge and the cool moves. It ended on a nice ledge with another team on a route close so I had someone to talk to. He had left his atc on the ground and was belaying his second with a munter knot. We have all done that at some point. Chris came up and started up the third pitch. It was a nice looking crack and he was out of sight in a bit. Then the rope stopped moving. I radoied and asked if he was building an anchor, thinking he was on lunch ledge. He says back "no I'm in a sort of pod." that's a crack just big enough for one person to climb into. It's usually a good rest place. A while went by and still no rope went out. I had another smoke. My company had descended. The view was sweet. The fork in the road,the tiny town. I could even see our campground. Then the rope started moving again.

Chris radioed "Off Belay and On Belay". I pulled the anchor and started up a wonderfull crack. I just didn't recall climbing this pitch before. I found the pod and debated how to get above it. I found a good hand jam and swung out on the left face. It was harder than I expected but a fun thing. Lots of knoblike formations for hands and feet up to the ledge.

We had lunch and I scrambled around a bit to the top of Ecstasy to get Chris's sunglasses. I put them on and was tempted to not hand them over. We had lunch and some water, sorted gear and rope and hiked up the ramp to the base of the Cockscomb. We ran into 3 guys we met earlier who were camped across the campground from us. They were from New York and I hung out with them a bit the 3 days we were there. They always had a nice fire in the evening.

It was my lead so I did the first pitch of Old Ladies route. It ends in a windy notch that takes you to the east side. It's a great spot right btween the comb and Humphrey's head. A team of simul climbers (both climbers moving with a few pieces of gear between) went by me on the east side. They were moving fast. When Chris got to me I took a couple nice pictures of the side of Humphrey. I was seriously tempted to do a route on the Comb or Humphrey but the goal was the South Peak. So Chris got the second pitch of Old Ladies. It descends a bit from the notch with a couple weird moves and tricky pro, then crosses an easy ledge system barely wide enough for a person. When I got to his belay I grabbed the gear and kept going. A bit of routefinding and I lead up a nice sloping chimney system that I had forgotten doing before wth Dwayne. By the time I got to a big ledge system the rope drag was bad so I brought Chris up and we hiked toward the top. More route finding and Chris started up another chimney. He radioed from the top."This is wierd,there's some blocks ahead." I came up. It wasn't the South peak. I lowered and Chris downclimbed it. Then we met the Solo Guy. We hit him up for beta.(information) At the base of the final pitch I knew we needed to be quick or it would get dark on us. Chris wanted to solo up the easy slab but I suggested we do it on gear. He summited and walked the knife edge a bit untill he found the summit register and took the picture above. It's one of the coolest spots on earth that I have been to and I would like to have gone up with him but I have been there from the Gunsight Notch. I knew we needed to go down. A bit of beta from Solo Guy and we found the rapell anchors. They were about 20 feet down the west face. We discussed soloing down but its a 3oo foot drop. I downlead it ,hooked up and then the rope wouldn't pull. I got a bit aggravated and I was in a hurry because I was watching the sun sink below the mountain. We were still a thousand feet above the car. Chris was doing the best he could with a tangled rope. When it was free he downclimbed and I had one end of the rope feeding through the anchor already. The 3 raps to lunch ledge went smooth and fast thankfully.

A hike down the boulderfield to the packs, a fast pack up job and we made it to Roy gap road before total darkness. I had a headlamp and everthing was peachy in Ynot world again. Thinking about it later, Chris got all the tough pitches, most of the downleading, did a fine job on the sharp end, his gear was good, and I climbed on the Shmart end most of the day. Swinging leads speeded things up alot but we still had too much gear and the gear sling was irritating my sunburned neck most of the day. The rock was drier and the weather perfect. Not crowded but enough teams around to get beta. Seneca is easy crack climbing paradise. We added it up and climbed 7 pitches. We downclimbed 2 more. 4 pitches is my usual. I was pretty tired and happy.

We also cheated the epic again.

The prominent building in the foreground is the national park visitor center. Our camp was right center and the town left center .The river is really noisy so the need for radios.
click to enlarge

Ynot West Virginia?

2009-04-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

The Climber Gnome

pictures by Chris Johnson

DAY ONE AND TWO

It started raining on the way to Columbus.The plan was, meet Chris at his house, and take 70 to West Virginia. He worked a 12 in the ICU so I drove the 5 hours to Elkins,WV. It rained the whole way since we were going east with the rain. It was still raining when we pulled into Princess Snowbird Campground. We fished out the headlamps and set up tents in the rain. I crawled into my bag and slept OK. I was cold but glad to be back at Seneca Rocks. It was just above freezing that night. I didn't even try to make coffee the next morning. We were cold and damp so we headed to town, just across the river, for breakfast. The road was dry so we figured the rock would be too. We lounged around till 11 or so before we got to the parking lot. The visitor center is closed untill May 1 so we went back to town to fill the water bottles. It's not far. The water had a strong Clorox smell and taste. We later found the water at the climbing school was much better. For some reason we racked up at the base of my project route, Exstasy. I guess because it's one of the first ones on the south end. Totem would have been a nice warm up instead, but we started up it with Chris leading the first pitch. He belayed after the first 30 feet on a nice ledge so we broke pitch one into two. I finished it at around 100 feet off the ground. The next pitch takes off up and right. I lead again. I had good info on leading off from the belay ledge. I found the proper crack and climbed up. I liked it alot so far. Then the crack disapeared on me. There was a clear trail of chaulk going up and to the right across the face so I followed the chaulk wich luckily wasn't washed off by rain. There was gear here and there and I was OK untill Chris was no longer visible and the climbing got tougher maybe 60 feet from the belay. We had radios to comunicate with but I wasn't about to let go with one hand. The climbing was dead vertical, so moving was balancy. I got to a tough move I wasn't sure I could make. This part of the story is firmly imbedded in my memory.
I thought, I would downclimb ,rest and reconsider the moves. I looked down and left to my last piece of gear in the rock. It looked real far away and not so below me, meaning if I fall, I'm going for the scariest swinging ride of my life. I have fallen off lots of climbs but I wasn't prepared for the heart attack a ride like that would have given me. I also noticed I was a couple hundred feet off the ground or so it looked like. There's nothing but air under me. The up and right has taken me on a path above a cavelike recess in the rockface. There was no bailing off this route without abandoning an expensive rope that wasn't mine. So I'm holding onto the best holds I have with all fours and I know I'm out on a limb. The adrenaline kicks in and my heart beat goes up and now I'm pretty scared. It's easy to loose your head. Keeping your shit together is hard. I have 2 challenges instead of one. Winning the argument going on in my brain and making a hard move on not so great holds, way above Roy Gap. It's all me. I'm on the sharp end of the rope.
Controlling my adrenaline soaked brain was harder than the move because I made it and a few more untill I found a rest stance. I was still freaked out. There was a decent crack around a block right in front of me with another thin crack above it. It didn't look like the belay ledge described in the guidebook. There was supposed to be Pidgeon crap and better footing. I shoved 2 cams above the block, hooked myself up, grabbed the radio and informed Chris I was belaying. My heart was still racing but I was in a better position and secured. As I was shoving cams around the block I noticed the fracture on the bottom and other side of it. There was also a useless old piton and ring with a hole a few inches away where an old army anchor had blown out. Springy thingy cams are much better but the fracture worried me so I sank a nut in the tiny crack above to back up the anchor. My left foot kept wanting to go to sleep on me as Chris climbed up. There was only one stance so I hopped from one foot to the other and tried to get the blood going in my foot. I guess adrenaline doesn't thin the blood, just gets it pumping. Chris came up with no problems until my mood infected his mood. I wanted off this route but there was no way off without going to the top of it where there is a large ledge system. We placed another nut in the crack above to back up the anchor better. They were good but not what we call bombproof. I was on lead again and there was an obvious bulge ahead I would have to pull and another rusty piton just below it. Chris says "clip that piton!" He was anxious for me to get some gear between me and the anchor. It took me one second to look at it and say "hell no!" It was crap and there was a nice crack running through the bulge. I sank 3 good cams in that crack and aided my way through it. 20 feet or so later I found the right belay ledge. There was no pidgeon crap but it was spacious compared to the one Chris was at. Rain must have washed it away or Molly Maid had been there. One of the two. After Chris joined me I lead off on the last 40 foot pitch to the top. It was all straight up vertical climbing since the top of the first pitch. When I got to the top I tore off the helmit and rack of gear before I even hooked up and radioed "Off Belay" It was so good to be done with that climb, We sat there and had lunch while my blood pressure subsided. I have never wanted off a route as bad as that one. Maybe knowing there was no bailing from it made it worse, maybe it was a good lesson in keeping it together when the mind says, "I want to be anywhere else." The body was up to it. I didn't fall. We turned a 3 pitch route into 5 and a near epic that I won't forget. Chris lead a pitch of Le Gourmet before we hiked back to the car and a nice supper in town. The chicken Alfredo was tasty and I called home while I had service. It was nice to hear Courtney's voice on the other end.

home

2009-04-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

I'm back at home. It's good to see my old friends again. The couch the bed the coffee pot etc...
I made it to Seneca but my camera mysteriuosly didn't so I didn't get a single picture. Never occured to me to by a disposable. Chris got some pictures so I'll post up his with a trip report of my harrowing adventure on Extasy 5.7 so stay tuned. same channel, different time....

Seneca WV!!

2009-04-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

I'm counting down the days untill I roll into the tiny town of Seneca Rocks in the beautiful Shanendoa mountains. I know the climbing will be perfectly suited to my taste in routes and the food at the 4U will put me right. This time I will hook up the walkie talkies to some biners so they don't fall a couple hundred feet to thier doom, like last time. No more watching paint dry. For a few days anyway.

YUM!!!

2009-03-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

It was so delicious that it was gone by lunch today! Mrs Ynot got it right. I think she's a keeper. nuf said

cake

2009-03-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

In a couple more years I will be an antique. So will my pineapple upside down cake be delicious this year? We will see tomorrow, I suppose....... yumm .....I'm thinking about sweet pineapples..........

Hunting

2009-03-07T19:48:00.000-08:00

I went duck hunting with my brother-in-law. After several hours I had 4 ducks and he still didn't have 1, so I asked him what was the deal? He casually says, "I dunno... maybe I'm not throwing the dog up high enough??

The Cowboy

2009-02-10T15:26:00.000-08:00

So did any of you figure out that the horse's name was Friday?

Answer me this

2009-01-22T18:31:00.000-08:00

A cowboy left on Friday and returned on a Friday but he was only gone 3 days. How?

Imagine

2009-01-18T17:59:00.000-08:00

I heard someone quoting John Lennons "Imagine" today. I was just imagining a bit myself. Instead of Isreal and Palestine shooting at each other ,imagine if they all shook hands and shed tears for all thier dead. Put it all behind them and worked together. Set the example for the rest of the world. No more war. Imagine how productive the world could be without war. without the terrible loss that goes with war. Ghandi would be up there grinning from ear to ear.

almost Christmas

2008-12-23T16:03:00.000-08:00

HA!!!! I fixed the dishwasher! Courtney and I have a puzzle to do and gifts to wrap. I'm taking a little Christmas vacation and maybe I should give myself a Christmas bonus too. Because I can. Merry Christmas to all. I hope everyone is home,warm and happy for the holidays.

Yummmmm!

2008-12-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

Courtney and Mrs. Ynot made funnel cakes for dessert. MMMmmm they were great!
reminded me of Jane's waffle party. wonderful suff.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

I carved the turkey had a wonderfull dinner, just the 3 of us, packed it away to make yummy samiches for lunches, had my after dinner smoke,and now it's time to relax. Another Thanksgiving at home. It's quiet and peacefull and all is right in Ynot world. It hasn't been a bad year. At least nothing terrible happened. Oh crap. This sounds like Doogie Houser. I found a single climbing shoe in the truck yesterday. Maybe I will go hunt up it's lost mate and do a bit of bouldering out by the patio. The sun is shining and it won't hurt me to work off a few calories.
To all my vegetarian friends: Happy needless turkey murder day!

just stuff

2008-11-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

I'm back from 2 days of standing on a barn roof in a little river town called Berry Ky. My rope and I took a beating. I'm so sore I can hardly get up from a chair. My rope is soaking in the laundry tub. I felt like getting in there too. A hot tub would be sweet about now. I couldn't believe how crudy the water was from all the rust and aluminum oxide. I never use my Gri Gri when I'm climbing but it was almost ideal for the barn job. It let me move up and down quickly and made the job go quicker. I just parked my truck off to the side of the barn and tossed the rope over the roof and used the racks or bumper as an anchor. Some ones crop of Burly tobacco was stored inside and now and then I got a strong wiff of it. The smell takes me back to days of my youth spent in the tobacco fields. It once ruled in Ky. Now it's production is seriously cut. That barn once held 3 times what was hanging in it. Work aside, It was nice to drive around backroads I hadn't been on in years, see things changed. old houses gone, new ones. After the work was done, my Uncle Tom rewarded me with my pay and a monster house jack,a fence stretcher and a sledge hammer head. Tools are always cool even if they are a bit used.
I always take a minute in front of his house to admire the view. You can see all the way to Cynthiana from his front walk. His house is exactly where my grandfathers log cabin once stood. I remember it still. It was used as a barn when I was little but I remember the giant fireplace, the loft and the old organ with all the knobs. I think Uncle Tom still uses the well. The water tastes good to me. My brother I hadn't seen more than twice in 5 years just happened to be there when we pulled in. It sure was nice to see him. He gets sent all over the country doing radiation control and was on his way home to Georgia. I spent the first night at my little sisters house not far from the barn. Her kids are building a house where her husbands grandfather's house once was. It's a fine spot. At night you can see the lights all along the horizon all the way around. I woke up before dawn and saw what I think were turkeys down in the field. At breakfast my brother in law was grumbling about the crows and buzzards sitting on his barn roof. They were eying the scraps from his deer kill. Said he missed a big buck the day before.
I'm interested to learn how to butcher one. He was going to do that today but I knew I would be back here by then. He showed me once a better way to clean fish. I haven't forgotten it. I suspect he will have drank himself in an early grave before I learn how to butcher a deer, if I don't quit rock climbing and spend more time down home. I think I'll let my rope drain awhile and make some hot tea before I go back downstairs and string it up to dry in the laundry room.

Al

2008-11-05T15:44:00.001-08:00

Al rapping from Humphry's Head at Seneca Rocks West Virginia. 2006

The loss of 2 climbers recently makes me wonder about all the times I have trusted old webbing. They did and lost. I don't regret all the time and money I spent replacing old webbing around trees at the top of a trad route, if it prevented the same sort of thing. Ben and Laura will be sadly missed.

VOTE

2008-11-04T05:12:00.000-08:00

It's election day. Go vote. roll the dice. git er done

Look! a fist jam!

2008-10-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

Chris, clowning around on my project route, as a warm down after climbing 13s. I got sucked into the crack and had to rest on a jam half way up.

He just sorta floated up it like walking across a parking lot. We all had a fine day and went home happy.

chicken tonight?

2008-10-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

Chicken? chicken chicken chincken. tired of chicken. dumb bird that can't fly. freakin chicken. boc boc boc.chicken pbbblllllt. chicken chicken chicken. boc boc. stupic chicken. every day chicken. fried chicken,chicken and rice,chicken soup,chicken con carny,chicken catchatori, spicy chicken,lemon pepper chicken. stupid chicken. Gimme some beef. another dumb critter. maybe animals that dumb should be dinner. Eagles, bears, lions.now those are animals. I wonder if they taste like chicken?

Thalia

2008-10-21T16:24:00.000-07:00

Scaling imossibly blank looking cliff faces at Bob Marley crag and doing a gracefull job of it I might add.

more quotes

2008-10-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

AWWW My slinkie's busted!! Yer slinkie just won't go down the stairs if it's busted. Dario
Force propagates at the speed of light. Some climber I met at Funk rock. Sounds cool anyway.
he was trying to explain how the rope works. I still don't get it but as long as my rope doesn't pilot the space shuttle or something ,I think I'm OK.
I listen to the voice in my head. I have no idea what it says,I don't speak French. Dr. Solomon

funk rock

2008-10-16T21:01:00.001-07:00

My whole trip was planned around getting some fall color in my pictures. It was tough to get color and rock together.

ynot?

2008-10-15T15:41:00.001-07:00

Ashley's van. I need that sticker on my truck.
I'm back from 4 days of fun in the sun and under a bright moon. Good thing too. I went without my headlamp.I did the festival thing the first day,climbed trad the second at Funk Rock, Shot video on the third at the Darkside and climbed and took pictures on the 4th day. A big thank you goes to all the climbers that hauled me to the crag with them and hung out, hung ropes and hangdogged with me. I sent a sweet route that I have been wanting to do for years and then watched a rockstar dance up it for fun. good times fer sure. It's also nice to be home to family and my bed. My woodie wall is half done and the holds came while I was away. It's gonna be good to train in my backyard instead of driving to the gym. Just doing my part to save fossil fuel.

right on

2008-10-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

picture by Norma froelich

Sweeeeeeeeet. 4 days of climbing starting Friday. The leaves are turning, the pictures should be great and it's Rocktoberfest, wich means climbers from everywhere will be sending routes all day and partying in the cold half the night. Movies ,clinics,contests and Miguel's pizza. I'm all excited just thinking about seeing all my climbing buddies.

word from above

2008-10-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

God loves you
He approved this message

Courtney and friends

2008-10-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

Courtney and her best buddie, Kelsy were busy texting some boy they know. Kelsey's boyfriend I think. In her usual obnoxiuos manner she yells "why are we allways fighting?"
Courtney mater of factly, "I dunno, it's like you're the bad cop and I'm the good cop."
It just fit and it was pretty funny. So now I call Kelsey, Detective Horrowitz.

random quotes

2008-09-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

If anyone needs me I'll be in the tub with the toaster.- Anticlimber
Kiss my shiny metal a$$. - Bender the robot
I want my dirt.- Jack Sparrow

update

2008-09-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

We had a taste of the 1800's. A wind storm knocked out the power to over half a million and we did 4 days without electric. I came home from a weekend of climbing to no power. I was glad I had a camp stove to cook on but without refrigeration most of the food went bad. The gas stations that were open were mobbed and ice and batteries were in short supply if you could find them. I noticed people were learning to get through 4 way intersections. The traffic lights were out. It even made the comute to work faster than sitting through all those red lights. Everything else takes longer. Thankfully the power came on before I had to wash clothes by hand. Evenings were pretty dull. No internet. no TV. just the radio. Like the old days. Kids were outside playing instead of in front of the tube. I had to rumage around in the dark for my headlamp to go to the bathroom just like camping at Miguel's. It's really quiet when it gets dark. I dug around in the basement and found my oil lamp. Amazingly everything was still there after 30 years. Oil and all. It lit a room fairly well. We left it burn one night and it almost ran out. We depended on cell phones a lot. nice for getting the time. No alarm clock,not that I use one much. I was tempted to start up the grandfather clock. Never got around to it. I came in every evening worn out and crudy from cutting up trees for people. I think I missed having ice and internet the most.

Blue tail skink

2008-09-01T15:22:00.001-07:00

This one let me get close enough for a picture at Fortress wall. Fast little buggers.If you grab thier tail it comes off and flops around while the skink gets away.Maybe they grow a new one? not sure.

I know I have seen the fence lizards without thier tail. I suspect all the snakes feed on the lizards and mice at the cliff. On two occasions I saw snakes fall off the cliff. The lizards climb anything like pros.

On Top Again

2008-08-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

Left to right, Myself, Charlie,Norma,Rich and Sarah on the bottom. Photo by Norma. Topout of the classic Bedtime for Bonzo. I like that everyone has a big grin. We did a quick ascent imagining there was a storm coming to get everyone climbing faster. On the descent we spotted a nest of 8 copperheads. They have been there for years but never so many. I went out to Phantasia and Buzzards Roost on Friday with some other friends that let me tag along and hung ropes for me. Saturday we all did Fortress and Norma crushed Bombs Bursting on lead. It was so nice to see lots of familiar climber faces at Miguel's and the crags and just go out and climb some rock. I took some video that was a bit shaky and just followed routes for a change. I lost skills by not climbing since spring. Maybe I'll send a project this Fall, maybe not. I still like climbing and can't imagine quiting it. The rest of life is a bit dull compared to it. I'm not as obsessed with it as I once was. I can deal with that.

Yaks and things

2008-08-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

Some one wanted to know how I met Mrs Ynot. I told her that Mrs. Ynot's father was the tribe chief so I married a princess. I had to trade the chief 3 Yaks for her.
She just came home and started yelling at me for not putting away the supper leftovers. Do you suppose I can get my 3 Yaks back?

summit

2008-07-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's good to have your head in the clouds. It's something you will allways remember.

Bluegrass

2008-07-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

There'll be no tomorrow
Since she left me, today
There'll be no happy
She's left me again

It looses a lot without the perfect three part harmony, but it's stuck in my head. I just wish I could remember more of the lyrics. I never did catch who was singing it but they were really good.
No.. Mrs Ynot isn't gone.

A Day at Lower Small Wall

2008-06-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

Dr. Al fixed my #10 cam with dental floss. Hey, it works fine now. I'll take a fall on it. Then he lead almost every pitch that day. It was so hot we quit around 3 or 4 oclock. We topped out to an incredible view of Hen's Nest, Skybridge and Buzzards Roost. Getting back down was an adventure too.

After wading through impenetrable brush for 10 minutes we elected to downclimb the route to a better rappel point. Note to self: take 2 ropes next time I do Pogue's Path. It's a long way down from the summit.

Green Eggs and Ham

2008-06-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

The girls did a fine job of leading up both routes at once. All the routes at this wall are named after Dr. Suess. We had perfect weather and great company. gonna miss ya Alexis. *sniff*
I hope California is good to you and Peter.
Don't forget to Email me.

zzzzzz

2008-05-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

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Sorry, my computer was dreaming again.

ants

2008-05-28T17:26:00.000-07:00

They're baaaa-aack.

2008-05-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

Courtney is doing the dishes and singing. It's so nice. Life is good.
Ginger and Tonya took me out climbing Saturday to Dip wall. I did really well for climbing very little this year. I onsighted One Fist Two Fist. It was great! It's a right leaning fist crack. Not too long and ends on a wonderfull ledge where a lizard kept me company while I belayed my friends to the top. One of the group even took some nice video of my ascent. If I knew how I would post it up.

dagnabit2

2008-05-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

Hehe the ants must have made Mrs. Ynot crazy. She came through here like a tornado with the swiffer and the vacume. No more tiny ants. It didn't make me too crazy. I grew up in an old farmhouse with holes in it so big that one night I woke up to see a possum wandering around in my room. I beat the crap out of it with a broomstick. It was hissing at me and viscous looking. I still hate possums. Overgrown rats is what they are. In fact I like rats better. Suppose I was traumatized by the expearience?

dagnabit

2008-05-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

I was clearing the computer desk this morning and spilled cracker crumbs. Now I have tiny ants running around my desk. They are easy enough to squish ,but they just keep coming. Like stray pets,if you feed them they multiply. Now what do I do? They're so small ,maybe if I take off my glasses I won't see them.

yaaah!

2008-04-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

The new dryer is pretty sweet!!!Now I can think about installing that moat around the house ,I been wanting. Think of it as a round swimming pool.

RIP

2008-04-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

The dishwasher had a stroke on Christmas Eve. Now the dryer died of oldztimers. I took it apart and found the broken belt. I think Mrs. Ynot gets to pick out a new one tomorrow. I also suspect we are washing the dishes in the sink until next Christmas. Maybe we have a gremlin loose in our house???? The horn on my truck doesn't work either. I crawled under it and found the horn. I got my eyes full of dirt for my trouble and it wasn't coming off. I was tempted to take the sawzall to it. I still might. I'm a firm believer in the application of bigger power tools.

Climb On

2008-04-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

I'm back from a weekend at the Red. Not a remarkable trip ,most of the good lines were soaking wet. I sent a couple routes and Al, my partner, got on a bunch of routes. He took a nice pendelum out of a chimney and cranked pretty hard at Muir. We split a rather delicious pizza at Miguel's and stayed warm by a nice fire.
I finished up a bedroom bathroom remodle for my favorite client, that turned out beautifully
My flowers are beginning to bloom! Spring is springing!

birthdays

2008-03-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

All I ask for on my birthday is a pineapple upside down cake. It never happens. Mrs. Ynot came a bit closer this year,to her credit. There's a cake in a pan on the counter. Not a speck of pineapple on it. The pineapple is what makes it so good. The box the cake came in has a pretty picture of a pineapple topped cake on it. It doesn't say anywhere that the pineapple isn't included. I guess they are like batteries or something. enough ranting. It is a beautiful day outside. The sun made an appearance after a gloomy rainy week. I'm going out for a nice dinner, a new pair of jeans and to feel the sun on my face. I'm outa here

dog gone

2008-03-19T17:57:00.000-07:00

I spilled spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone.

Blizzard!

2008-03-07T15:28:00.001-08:00

It's snowing like crazy right now. I can't look anymore. 20 and 30 mph winds and 8 or more inches expected. Maybe I can hire the kid next door to shovel it for me. It's the big blizzard of 08.

Almost Heaven,West Virginia

2008-02-13T16:35:00.000-08:00

It started off like any other climbing trip. Last minute details and getting up way before daylight and my optimal time of around 9 . Fill the tank, memories of driving on empty lost in the mountains of West Virginia praying the next town on the map had a gas station. Sausage cheese croissaunte for breakfast. About an hour into the trip I get settled into driving and the tunes are handy. John Denver is singing Almost Heaven,West Virginia...Blue Ridge mountains...Shenendoa River....It's great to be headed for Seneca again. All day long climbs were you forget to stop to eat because one pitch leads directly to a dozen more, route finding adventures, sometimes the cracks are only a couple feet apart. Trad climbing heaven on bullet hard sandstone with incredible views of the river valley and tiny town far below.
I already had beta (route details) about the climb I wanted to do and this time I intended to do it rope soloing(alone with gear). My buddy that gave me beta also handed me some odd looking hooks. He grinned and said"You might need these". It was going to be a brilliant first ascent of a leaning pinnacle. Some pitches would follow an aid seam so I was prepared to suspend my body from tiny pieces of gear in a seam the width of a dime.
I camped at the Princess campground and had another breakfast that couldn't be beat at the U Motel. I needed to fill the buhda belly cause lord knows when I would stop to eat again.
The approach hike is not bad, a bit of wandering around trying to find the base of the pinnacle, for 2 hours. There went my alpine start. The first pitch was unremarkable but it sure felt good to touch white sandstone again. Hanging from hand and fists shoved into the crack and locked with a twist, super sticky rubber soles on my feet kept me on sutle edges on the rock, sometimes shoving my toes in the crack and twisting till it hurt. I got in a groove by the second and third pitches. I had my system working and everything was right in my little world up on that monolith. I knew the aid pitch was ahead. I built a 4 piece anchor and cleaned my last pitch, jugged back up the rope and broke out lunch. It was 4 oclock and the afternoon sunshine felt grand on my skin. It was 85 in the shade and I was soaked with sweat. I dried off in the breeze from the river. Somehow I manged to spill tuna juice in my shoe putting away lunch.
I got to the aid pitch and racked on the tiny gear. 3 pieces on a biner all disorganized. I'm mr.65% when it gomes to keeping things neat. Heck most of my stuff is always right where I left it the last time I used it. The trick is remembering where I used it.
I plugged a green cam in the crack and clipped my aiders in, I slowly ease my wieght onto it and it holds so I give it a small bounce test. It's good and I do the same thing 20 more times. I smell something akin to rotting fish. The tuna juice. I doused it with gym chaulk. Still stinks but now it smells like that white powder too. I look back and I'm several hundred feet from the base of the pinnacle. Funny how you get so focused on the moment while climbing that you forget to look around. That's for breaks on ledges.
It's an- in the moment- type sport and it's all about me. A few more pieces of gear up and the crack disappears. It just stopped right there. Gone. I spot some small holes above. Maybe I can exploit those to gain altitude. Then I remember the hooks. I stand up high in my aiders. My last gear is at my waist with all my weight and some additional forces on it, I reach out high and right with the funny looking hook and I just manage to snag the hole with it. I pull test it and suddenly it pops free, I'm tumbling over backward and my last piece pulls out. I'm falling awfully fast and watching as my gear unzips from the crack, going pop pop pop pop pop ,With that horrible scratchy noise they make when they blow out. The little lobes going upside down like an umbrella in a hurricane. Finaly one piece holds and I come to an abrubt halt on the rope a hundred feet below where I was. I'm dangling in space trying to collect my wits when I see the whole top of the pinnacle I'm on slowly then faster toppeling over. "That can't be good" I think to myself, and suddenly I'm headed earthwards at 28 feet per second, per second until terminal velosity. I hit the ground with a dull thud and 40 thousand tons of bullet hard sandstone hit me a few seconds later. It wasn't like in the cartoons where Tom slithers out from under all flat and kids laugh. Nope I was a goner. Deader than them 4 guys chiseled into Rushmore. Mrs. Ynot always says "Go toward the light!" so I did and soon found myself at the Pearly Gates. Looked kinda Off White to me but I'm a painter. St Peter was there checking us in. Both of us. The other fella told me he was in a horrible industial accident and half of Chicago was on fire. I looked around... there was only me and him and I wasn't flat anymore. Do you suppose 15 thousand Chicagoans went to that other place?
St Peter looked splendid in his robes and his beard was alot longer than mine. He looked me up in the Book and informed me he had all my stats and just needed to know how I bit the big one.
Well.... I pulled a mountain of rock over on top of myself. Falling didn't hurt a bit but the landing was a bit sketchy I informed him. He hardly raised an eybrow. OK you're good to go, he tells me and the gate opens. Sure enough heaven is endless sandstone with lots of people with wings flitting about.
Who needs to climb when you can fly? I made a mental note to bounce test my wings before I left the ground.

this story is dedicated to my good friend Sister Jane OBrien who suggested I write another tall tale. I was a bit leary about writing the first one but so many climber friends comment on it when I see them and laugh about it that I indulged my readers again.

breakfast time

2008-02-04T19:32:00.000-08:00

Hey! there's a message in my Alphabets cereal. It says Oooooooooooo
Oh wait it's Cheerios

Mornings

2008-01-27T09:58:00.000-08:00

I love mornings. Still grogy and getting water to make coffee I noticed the morning light coming in the kitchen window was perfect for a picture.

Happens to the best of us

2008-01-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

I looked into the mirror today and I saw Kieth Richards after a long bath. Where did all those lines come from? I want my youth back. All these aches and pains wear on the spirit. Now I know why grampa was so grumpy. I know people that seem to grow old gracefully. I doubt if I will be one of them but I have to admire them for it. I want to be 20 again, dangit!

Beeep

2007-12-30T16:40:00.000-08:00

It doesn't seem that long ago that aplliances and phones and things didn't beep at me. I wouldn't have thought much about it until my computer started this annoying beep like it's tired of waiting on me to do something. I have no idea why it does it. Then it occured to me that we are way to use to things beeping. Think about it. Every damn thing we own beeps at us.
I have decided to start beeping back. Don't be suprised if I beep at you. no not in a car. Anytime anywhere. I'm going to just say BEEEP once or twice. Just Because. If I can't beat em ,might as well join em I figure.

2007-12-14T18:52:00.000-08:00

I made this drop lid sewing center for my big sister and suprised her on Mother's Day with it. Walnut with brass hardware and a poly finish.

Well

2007-12-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

Last night on the way home from work,as I was driving by the old Crosley field, I saw about 300 crows just standing around all over the field. It was pretty wierd. Do you supose it was the ghosts of the greats that played ball there? If Bob Marley appears in your dreams and warns of 3 more rastafarian ghosts to come, you better not be a Christmas Scrooge cause kiddies need toys.

Turkeys and chickens

2007-11-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

Last year's attempt at Dicey at Best 8+

Turkey day came and went. There's enough of my bird for a couple more samiches. Brad took us out to Lower Small Wall on Monday. We did a couple pitches of Good Tang and walked over to Dicey At Best. I started up it and turned chicken above my second piece of gear. I put it up but it wasn't pretty. Brad gave it a good effort, but took a fall where I wimped out. We wandered down the cliff to a line I spotted a long time ago. Brad onsighted it and I followed. I liked it. Needs some cleaning but has lots of great hand jams and stiff moves. We took our time up on the ledge. The veiw was splendid. I have never seen another year when the oaks had better color. Admiring the fall color is way better from a vantage point above them. I went exploring the ledge while Brad set up our belay, and found another pitch to the top. I'll be back there to send and top it out. Maybe this spring when everything is green again.

post frost flowers

2007-11-08T15:17:00.001-08:00

A big thank you to a couple photographer friends for inspiring me to learn to take close up flower pictures. I think the results speak for themselves.

mariba2

2007-11-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

I climb pretty well for a fat guy with only one leg and an arm and a half.

Mariba

2007-11-05T07:03:00.000-08:00

Tearing it up on Reach The Beach. The route was so good I climbed it twice.This part was burly. Getting established on the climb is the crux of it for sure. What an awesome weekend of climbing and climbing friends, relaxing around the fire at Miguel's afterwards and hiking around in the forest. Willie's Wall and Mariba Fork are splendid this time of year.

Another Fall

2007-10-30T16:55:00.001-07:00

I love this time of year. A jacket for the cool crisp mornings, then sunshine on the changing leaves. I missed out on so many perfect climbing days but I didn't miss out enjoying the days.

2007-10-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

Rick Estes, still smiling after slogging through Rhododendrons for an hour with a heavy pack in search of new line to climb at Mariba Fork.

2007-10-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

I'm listening to a new sound at Ynot's castle. The splashing and humming of a new dishwasher. Heck yes it leaks. Plumbing always leaks when I do it. It's like a law or something. Did I mention I hate fooling with plumbing. I'm not suprised plumbers charge so much. My last plumber absconded to Shitsmanistan with his entire supply of 5/64 inch pipe that he used. The job bites. While I was at the hardware (again) I discovered the new plastic drain pipes have flexible sections. Pretty awesome. Solved my biggest problem. Everything under the sink was copper and crooked. I embraced the new technology and replaced it all. It didn't leak but the dishwasher drain tube does. I'm thinking a little silicone caulk and my problems are over.
I'll keep you posted.

Bad Moon a Rising

2007-10-20T17:03:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days when you can't find things and you drop stuff? You get to the hardware store and it just closed? Your wife or boss yells at you for something you didn't do.
I don't know what it is today but nothing goes right. I couldn't go climbing so I tackeled my To Do list. I managed everything in spite of minor glitches until the last thing, Hook up the dishwasher. I should have known better than to fool with plumbing. Sure enough it leaked and I cracked the drain pipe and the hardware closed on me. so screw it. I didn't really want to do the dishes anyway. Not under a bad moon. the couch is calling me. maybe theres something worth watching on tonight.

24 Inches

2007-10-09T18:47:00.000-07:00

OK so it's a carpenters joke. Maybe you wouldn't get it.

Doves

2007-10-06T17:42:00.001-07:00

Kenton, upside down in the near impossible wide roof crack problem called When Doves Cry. He gave it everything he had a couple times. How anyone can bat hang so long is beyond my ability.

Video Blues

2007-10-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

3 days of rock climbing. It went by so quik. We explored some of the new walls in the southern region and I sent a nice crack with an orange face next to it while wearing D's shoes that are a couple sizes too big. I kept wondering where the crux was and before I knew it I was clipping the anchors. Must have been the first 20 feet. I hung up there sock footed to get video of the next one up. I had to send D's shoes down to him. The orange wall looks amazing in the video but before my subject got close my card filled. To make it worse my media player refuses to play the sound. Do all videographers have this much trouble learning to shoot some clips?

The end of the drought

2007-09-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

Today.while I was taking a smoke break, I sat and enjoyed watching it rain. It hasn't rained since May and it's been around 90 every day. It was pleasant to see a change. This weekend I am off to the Red for 3 days of bluff scaling. I suppose I should get busy packing camping and climbing gear. I intend to enjoy sitting around the campfire with buddies and swap stories with other climbers from far away. A cultural exchange. I went out and bought a new digital camera last night so I should get some pictures and video this trip. I bought the same brand as before so my memory card and rechargable batteries all fit. It even works the same so it's easy to use. I don't know if I need 7 megapixels. wouldn't that be a poster size picture?

Hmmm

2007-09-23T19:20:00.000-07:00

If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn?

Jesse inflation

2007-09-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

It must have been a comical scene to anyone watching when another Jesse dug the splinter out of my wounded paw in front of Miguel's with a borrowed pocket knife. It was a huge relief and I needed all my digits functional for Awol and Andromeda Strain. maybe a pair of tweezers in a medical kit would be a great idea for my next rock trip. Anyway, Jesse if you read this; THANK YOU A BUNCH! Well done little lady.
Jesse

Vial of gold

2007-09-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

I awoke in my sleeping bag while it was barely dawn. My ankle was itching like mad and it was tough to get down there to scratch. I was forced to get up and crawl out of my cozy nest. It was downright chilly. Rare ,lately to need need a jacket at all it's been miserably hot. I had to stop and scratch my bug bite half a dozen times before scoring my morning coffee in Miguel's. I sat down at a table with some strange younger people and introduced myself and scratched my ankle again. The girl next to me said"Here put some of this on it"and opened a small vial of gold colored salve. It seems the distributor was parked out front, drumming up business. I dabbed a bit on and instant relief! We talked a bit and they called my name for my breakfast order. The girl asks"Your name is Jesse too? I liked her and her friends right away. It seems there were 3 Jesses there this weekend so ordering food was interesting confusion. I have been way to use to being the only one. I met a bunch of new climbers and did some good routes. I'm always amazed at how together the younger people that climb are. Most all are polite, with a great sense of humor and happy to invite me along to follow and clean routes if I need a partner. I meet new friends and get to climb something hard for me. I enjoyed the weekend immensly, made new friends, climbed an amazing crack called Andromeda Strain, roped up with Dwayne again for a day and caught the majic golden salve distributor and scored a vial of gold for myself.

It's a boy!

2007-08-26T19:12:00.000-07:00

A new grandson was born Friday around noontime. He's pretty awesome. Little tiny hands and a head of black hair already. There was a rainbow on the way to see him, and a rare sunset. Auspicious signs, I think this one is going to be a winner.

Things change

2007-08-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

It's amazing just how at home on a ledge deep in a forest this picture makes me feel. The Red river is somewhere down there,with canoeists floating by. Sorta peaceful,aint it?

The new computer is pretty sweet but it took 2 months to get most of my email adresses and pictures from my old one. I'm emailing them from Coutney's room to myself. She's all fixed up, online, printer and all with the old computer. my little jr high student.

We give our kids so much stuff we didn't have. I remember not having TV or running water when I was little. It wasn't that unusual where I grew up. The last time I saw the farm, the old house was falling in and the yard I use to mow was a new woods. even the driveway was impassable. Things change. I guess the way we live does too.

wow

2007-08-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

I drive up to the local Quiky Mart to get cigarettes. Some geeky kid behind the counter asks me for my ID. I laughed in his face. I couldn't help it. Last time I looked in the mirror there were more lines than a road map and my unshaven beard was mostly gray. I'm pretty sure I'm 3 times the age limit to buy smokes.

just barely legit

2007-07-31T15:55:00.000-07:00

Miguel's campground gets noisy so I decided to camp out in the Daniel Boone Forest and get some peaceful slumber before climbing the next day. Too my dismay lots of other people camp in the National Forest on weekends and a camp spot with a place to park was at a premium. After driving around till well after dark I settled on a likely place. No worries ,I can set up my tent and cook supper with my trusty outdoor store 30 dollar headlamp. The 10 dollar rechargeable batteries were toast. With the light of the moon I put my tent together and had a cold supper of cookies and water. The fried rice and lemon pepper chicken could wait. I crawled into my tent and 30 degree sleeping bag for a night of slumber wich came right away, with treefrogs serenading me. At 60 decibels. My blissfull slumber was interupted when what felt like a tractor trailer truck landed on my lap, crushing me and my tent. Lots of screaming and cursing and the weight was off me. I dashed out of my tent in my skivvies to see what the heck?
That's when I met the bear.
His breath was foul and we were face to face for a second. then he let out a noise I can only describe as the sound Chewbaca makes. I was ass and elbows outa there and up a maple tree.
I spent the night on a limb. I would doze and feel myself falling and wake up with a start.
This went on and on. In desperation I hung the waistband of my boxers around a knob and slept a bit. I awoke to the smell of lemon pepper chicken and fried rice. It seems Mr. bear had passed the night in my sleeping bag and was cooking breakfast while reading the saturday evening post.
I didn't wait around to see if he was going to do the dishes too.

Summertime

2007-07-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

It's hot and sticky. Makes me glad to be working indoors for a change. I have been logging a good bit of woodshop time too. I made a sweet tool caddy last night. It holds all my handtools without digging too much for the one I want. Courtney's Cherry desk is finished. Wish I had a picture of it to share. The color and grain are gorgeous.
Courtney goes swimming at every opportunity. Kids know how to beat the heat. Kelsey and Angela spend a good deal of time at our house. It's odd that Courtney's buddies are so unalike.
I guess climbing ladders will be the only climbing I get to do untill it cools off. I could go to the gym. I still have 3 passes.Want to meet me at Climbtime, Terri?

Things that make you go hmmmm

2007-07-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

The fifth dentist caved and and now they all recommend Trident gum.

Good Answers

2007-06-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

Myself: Courtney, your friend is an airhead.
Courtney: Yes ,but she's my airheaded friend

Courtney to Angela: We could play Extreme Barbie.
Myself: What's that?
Courtney: You throw Barbie on the floor and run her over with the vacume.
Angela: Or you rip her legs off and throw her out the window.
This went on and on describing ways to torture small dolls.
I even thought of a few ways.

This and That

2007-06-15T17:22:00.000-07:00

There's 3 girls in the living room. It's getting pretty loud in there. I might have to send in the Marines before it's over. I was thinking about a Big Boy for lunch but decided on a fish sandwich at the last minute. The sweet tea was great but the tartar sauce tasted of horseradish. Tartar isn't made with horseradish is it?
Lately I have been tempted to invest in more power tools. Do I buy or just rent them as I need them? I would have to use one 20 times to justify the expense.
My poor camera. Pray for it. The prognosis isn't good. It just lays there in a terminal state in a bowl in the china cabinet. Another victim of the R rating of Cavers route. We went to Fridays for family night I left Joy my card to pay the bill while I went outside for an after dinner smoke.I took my mug of coffee with me. Her and Courtney came out before I was done and I nearly walked off with thier coffee mug. It was good coffee. I forgot several things last night. Maybe I'm getting senile? I hope even when I'm 90 that I remember my girls. I hope they are healthy and happy the rest of thier days.

Old Friends,New Friends

2007-06-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

3 days of climbing! I enjoyed it. Friday I filmed Kenton working When Doves Cry and got 5 minutes of real good video. That thing is seriously hard and upside down. Saturday I took a new friend, Jo to Tower Rock and we did Cavers. I lead the first pitch up and pulled the camera out of my pocket to get pics of her coming up.The lens was jammed badly and the batteries were toast. Never go chimneying with a camra in your front pocket. It's still messed up but I may operate on it tonight. I'll let you know if the patient survives the surgery. We topped out and chilled before we did Curving Crack. I went to D's wedding after climbing and had a nice time. There was a birthday party back at the Gorge at a cabin. All the locals went and had a wild time of it from the stories I heard the next day. It tended to be the favorite topic all day. Sunday I hooked up with a new crop of Purdue U climbers. I have always been impressed with them and the days on the rock with them are good memories. Little Deserae is an unforgetable character that imeadiatly impressed me. Elliot is a tall one with a huge head of dreadlocks. We all climbed White Out. They both had to leave at noon but the third fellow stayed and followed me up a two pitch 5.5
the first pitch wasn't too bad but had sand on every face hold. The crack is perfect hands. It puts you on a ledge system where you scramble up and left through some rhodos to a beautiful right leaning hand crack that goes to the top of the cliff line. I really liked the second pitch and the top out was sweet. We sat on the edge of the cliff on a point and soaked up the sun while we talked to another pair of climbers topping out on White Out. It was the perfect highlight to my weekend. We went back to Migeul's and I hung around talking and chilling mostly because I was dreading the drive home. Conversation centered around the party and some of the culprits told tales of canoeing on a hillside into a parking lot full of cars. Seems they managed to fit 10 people in a hot tub for two and a few couldn't understand what happened to all the water in the tub the next morning. I ran into a bunch of old friends, made some new friends and came away with newfound admiration and amazement at drunken antics of young people.

FALLING!

2007-05-31T18:43:00.000-07:00

D ,following in the very spot and same stance on Big Money 5.9 at Pebble Beach

The route was called Big Money. I was up under the roof ,about 45 feet up and way past my last cam. My arms were on fire from a long layback. You know, that deep burning in the muscles that are starving for enough Oxygen. I had already fallen off the route once and D caught me just fine, but man that last piece of gear looked like it was way below me and the fall would be twice that and more. I was breathing heavy and getting nervous, but I hung on to a big hold under the roof and managed to unclip a cam. I really did not want to take that fall. It just wasn't fitting in the crack anywhere. D and Tonya are below shouting encouragements. "Come on,stay with it!" Do I fight with it or waste more energy getting another cam from my harness? I shoved it in a horizontal on the right face. It looked solid enough, So I try to yell "Take" only my throat is so dry I sound like a frog. D pulls the rope tight ,the cam holds and I'm OK, and I can rest now. Whew!!! but those seconds when I'm hanging there wasted ,fighting gear and trying to keep my crap together in my head are way better than any amusement park ride.
several of us toproped the route and I discovered a great handjam right where I was in so much distress. why didn't I see that when I was leading? Oh well. I have the beta to get the send now, and I unlocked the route myself. If I get to climb this weekend I think Big Money might just be my destination.

Up There

2007-05-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

I was watching something on TV and the leading character was sitting out on an eagle head gargoyle like thing on some skyscraper. It made me long for those high places. A ledge 200 feet above the deck, or a summit with a grand view, a mountain top, that would be sweet. Dwayne and I once sat on a boulder on top of a 2 pitch route for a long time. We stared at forest where no one goes and clifflines largely unexplored. We sat there untill we ran out of cigarettes, just talking and soaking up the Karma. the last time I went climbing, I sat on top of a route and just chilled awhile. There were too many people at that crag and I was hot and tired. You really miss things that were a large part of your life before. It only takes a visual to bring it all back.

old soldiers

2007-05-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

When I was young I was digging around in some stuff somewhere in our house and found a patch. It was a bit tattered around the edges like it had been sewn on poorly and ripped off. It had an eagles head with its mouth open was all. I thought it looked cool so I asked my mom what it was. "That was your great uncle Pepper's" she told me and then she told me how when she was a girl, her and her sister stayed awake in the loft of thier log cabin and listened to her Uncle Pepper Martin tell stories to my Grandpa late one night after he came home from WW II. He was surrounded at Bastone by the Germans and lost most all of his buddies. The Germans demanded that they surrender and the CO sent back a message to German High Command that said only "nuts." Uncle Pepper drove the jeep that delivered that message.
When I was a teen I met my Great Uncle Pepper. My mom let me hand his patch back to him. I remeber his words exactly."I never thought I would see this again." It was quiet in the room for a minute.
It wasn't too many years later I saw the movie version of what happened at Bastone. It matched what I heard as a boy, pretty well.
I drove out to see my mom today. While we were talking on the back porch about relatives she asked me what happened to that screaming eagle patch from the 101st Airborne. Her memory is fading but I still remember lots of the things she told me when I was young.

2007-04-25T19:55:00.000-07:00

WOOO HOOO! I sent Cheaper than a Movie at Chica Bonita. Finally. Yup, it was exciting, scary, and long as Sunday church. That final push to the anchors was unerving with crappy gear below me but it went. Incredible route. Now comes the search for some new route to get inspired about. I guess I should go send Grilled Steak before some route scammer jumps it. hehe, good luck finding it. I also put up a new line last weekend that Ginger,Tonya,Dwayne and I found awhile back. We puzzled over how to get on the thing but never attempted it. I stuck a big cam in it and found a good sidepull, kicked my foot up neck high and cranked up on it hard, made the throw to the jug above and then it was sketch to get past the bulge without falling off and cratering into the ground. I got a rest on top the bulge and the rest of the route was just as sweet as the beginning. it's a shame it isn't longer because the moves are sweet.
Mike and I were rewarded with a fantastic view of the lower Gorge from the summit. All in all it was a great weekend of climbing.

On top

2007-04-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Where's Waldo?

myself

2007-04-01T07:04:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to look more and more like a leprichan, or my father. I can't decide wich. The Lower Gorge just before the leaves in the spring. The creek was the oddest color green.

Clearcut

2007-03-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

I got out for 2 days of climbing over the weekend and Dwayne came along. A crew of us was supposed to go to Clearcut and do Baptist Preacher but the others with big gear never showed so we went anyway and baked in the sun all day. Really took the joy out of climbing. The next day I decided I wanted to shoot video and went to Roadside. I got 3 minutes of choice footage of Eathan sending Jersey Connection 5.12. Then the batteries quit. Thanks go to Kenton for loaning me the ascenders. They worked fine. Saw a snake in a horizontal about 40 feet up. Right where I wanted to put a directional cam. Eathan and his crew took me on a tour of the Motherload. I had never been there. It's seriously steep and hard. I did make it to the third bolt of Chainsaw Massacre. It massacred me and my camera refused to work with the cheapo batteries we got at the beer trailer so I got a few seconds of footage. I was disapointed but made the best of it. Hanging with Eathan Dana and Adam was nice. I don't get out with the sport climbers much but I think I will and I'll bring extra rechargables next time fer sure.

I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK

2007-03-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

It was the ideal weekend to cut up the tree that fell in the ice storm we had.
First I had to fix the chainsaw I borrowed. A piece of wiper hose from the auto supply made a decent gas line and it fired right up. It's been cutting like a beaver since. I managed to get the biggest limb that fell in my yard all cut up without too much trouble. the next one fell on the nieghbors yard barn. I borrowed a nice step ladder, climbed up on the roof,and went to work on it. The wind kept blowing the sawdust back in my face and I got both eyes full of it before I had sense enough to go get my safty glasses. I tossed it all off into my yard and cut it up before it got dark on me. Bright and early Sunday I got up looking forward to the final limb.
(It was almost noon before I got motivated) This one was balanced across the top of the niegbors small flowering tree about 15 feet off the ground out of reach. I had thought about what to do with it the day before and was tempted to say to hell with it. I studied the problem from my backyard with a cup of coffee. Usually I just jump into things. I devised an ingenious plan. I'll hang a pulley from the rest of the tree and hook one end to the limb where it's resting on the other tree and use a gri-gri hooked to some anchor to control it just like a climber. I dug out my retired harness and my old rope and the pulley I bought for some reason when I was a gumby but never used. I knew that thing would be handy someday. I donned the harness, rigged my pulley and rope and a couple of my good slings and a daisy to hook myself up to the tree. I climbed up to where the base of the limb was hanging close to the tree I was climbing. I had already cut it loose the day before. I'm stemming with one foot on the fence and one on the stump of a limb and under this loose limb the size of a small persons waist. I gave it a push just to see what it would do and it falls off the top of the flower tree onto a lower limb. Perfect for cutting up from the niegbors yard. Dangit. So much for all my elaborate rigging plans. It was gonna be cool. Maybe I can donate that pulley I'm never going to use to the gear auction. Nah , I'll use for something. Some day.

Gnomes and stuff

2007-03-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

My yard Gnome must have went off Saturday night and tipped a few pints. He was still sleeping it off on Sunday morning. He was back to work bright and early on Monday morning. the fountain boy hasn't even had morning coffee yet.

We went out to Fortress on Saturday and got in a few good routes and enjoyed some good company, It was a bit overcast and started spitting rain every time we got up a route. I got some footage of Terri leading route 48 and some nice but short video from the top of Bonzo.Russ lead Calypso3 and I put up Snake. After climbing we had some pizza at Miguel's and went to the party for JB. Lots of hugs and handshakes from old friends and the cake was tasty. Terri I'm sorry I forgot to slide your carseat back. I really meant to. Sorta like getting in your car after a midget or a yard gnome has been driving it. Yeah that's what happened .My yard gnome was out cruising for honeys. At least he didn't get a DUI.

Saving Mr. Bonkers

2007-02-28T18:07:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we made it out to Muscle Beach for some wide crack climbing. It was a bit chilly if the breeze hit you but the morning sun was glorious and the rock wasnt too cold to the touch. I sent a couple routes and hung a toprope on When Gravity Fails. Odd name for that route. It wants to spit you off the whole way up it.You can definitly feel gravity doing its thing. Maybe its the extra pounds I gained over the winter. Nah, it's a tough climb. That's why I didn't lead it. I went up it first and tried to retrieve the top cam we left to protect the swing. It didn't come right out so I left it. Ginger went up next, hung there and worked on it too. Stuck like a kitty cat up a tree. It was up to Tonya to save Mr. Bonkers. Armed with 2 nut tools and a cam to hang on she went up and after 15 minutes had him free just like a fireperson. My hero.

ICE

2007-02-25T15:40:00.000-08:00

The day after our big ice storm the sun would pop out from the clouds for a minute so I could get a picture, but I never timed it right because the camera was always somewhere else. This is my best shot and is totally front lit but turned out amazing anyway. We just stayed indoors and watched it all from the warmth of home. I took some video of a squirrel raiding the birdfood that I like alot too. He was pretty bold but wouldn't face me. We started feeding the birds right on the windowsill and it drove the cats crazy trying to get them through the glass.

serenity

2007-02-18T17:44:00.000-08:00

photo courtesy of Jared and Karla Hancock.
This picture just doesn't need any words. There's no other place I would rather be than sitting on top of a cliff, chilling and drinking in the view, after a long climb. It doesn't get any better than that.