Archive for June, 2006

White Punks On Dope: A Needles Classic!

Friday, June 30th, 2006

Victors of White Punks on Dope
The Victors of White Punks on Dope (5.9)

On Thursday night, we left Inyokern around 8pm. The drive to the Needles wasn’t bad, we listened to music on my shuffle and Walter was wide awake giving me directions. We got to the pullout at 10pm and quickly got to sorting gear for the next day. With the packs all set for the next morning, I ate a snack, braided my hair, and got my outfit all set for the early morning wake-up at 4:40am.

I was super excited about the climb the next day, so I read a little to calm my nerves. (more…)

Premier Buttress Trip Report

Sunday, June 25th, 2006

Start of Premier Buttress Mt. Whitney from top of Premier Buttress
On Sunday, I picked Walter up at 6:15am. It was already hot (85!) in Ridgecrest by then, so I was happy to be going into the mountains. Walter drove us up to the last hairpin turn approaching Whitney Portals while I tried to catch up on some sleep. (more…)

The World’s Fastest Indian

Monday, June 19th, 2006

I’m an avid fan of Anthony Hopkins. Since he’s in this movie, I figured it would be good. It’s better than good though. I’m not really a motorcycle enthusiast, but anybody into cycles, would really love this movie. See, I loved it because I can relate to the desire, the need really, to push limits. (more…)

Routefinding In The Needles

Monday, June 19th, 2006

Clare on a WPOD Scope-out Hike
Last Wednesday night, I made a grand defensive play on the Ultimate field resulting in a very bruised and battered index finger. Since it is my right index finger, I decided to forgoe the “Premier Buttress” route Walter and I had planned to do over by Mt. Whitney. It would be very painfull for me to place gear with my finger in it’s current state. SO, we headed up to The Needles-a popular summer destination for climbers everywhere. Thanks to Walter we have pics from the hike as I didn’t have a camera! (more…)

Force 10 Navaronne

Sunday, June 11th, 2006

A year after starring in the first Star Wars movie, Harrison Ford jumped right into this role. He’s a hot to trot military commander-set out with a mission to blow up a bridge in enemy territory (Germans). For the times, the special effects were pretty good. The music sounds almost exactly the same as the music from Star Wars (or ET at times!)…and in some scenes, I almost expected to see a wookie or ET pop into view!

The best part of the movie is the ending. The last line of the movie leaves the viewer in a chuckle. There are a few classic scenes throughout the movie, like when the explosives expert infaltrates the german supply shop. He needs a dolly to carry out crates of bomb material, and so he walks over to the german floor manager and grabs the dolly. Ignoring the managers abrupt german reprimands, he flips the guy the bird, and walks off with it anyways! F-U-N-N-Y!!!

My favorite quote of the movie paraphrased as follows “We better take off like ducks in a lightning storm” said by one of the Brits in the movie. I hadn’t heard that one before.