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Alpinist Mag burns down?! 13-Dec-2007 At 2:50:32 PM The Keeper

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Yeah, can't say that a Fosters is my choice for an Aussie ration - prefere VB but if it was a case of becoming a dried fig in the Nully or drinking Fosters I guess I would submit.

Simon - Things are coming along up over - we got ice (and snow and had -33C for about a week just to get us moving). Local lad has approached the city with a plan to make some ice climbing mtns down near the river - this is good - has been awhile since I donned crampons and grabbed the picks for some fun - definitely will have to find some time to thrash around on that once it is ready - he first has to come up with a plan to get rid of the melted water from the mtns. once spring arrives - we could bottle it and ship it to Aussie - make a killin I reckon in Melb where the reservoirs are typically up and down like Wallabies results these days :) Mostly thrashing around at the hockey rink these days - coaching a couple of kids teams (11 &12 year olds - inclusive of my son) and taking a few untoward love taps from three of my own staff in some ruthless Adult shinny to boot. Definitely miss old Aussie and the legends down under though - be back for some more exploits two summers from now. A few closet skeletons out at Araps so with luck I can connect with Kiwi Kate and have at a return engagement with that unfinished business as well as afew more of the classics.

Good timing on the Crux query - just got it in the mail day. A beauty, eh? Definitely, top of the line - (maybe we don't need Alpinist aferwall when we have Crux? Okay, not enough ice and snow in the pics so we will not plan a corporate takeover and leave Alpinist to move along. (Enter postscript qualifier! as he scans volume - my god it includes some pics of an Aussie lost in the wonders of ice and snow on Mt. Buller - right on, Saigon as my son would quip. A little more climate change and we could be in business down under.) Looks like some delights in this one - particularly the Tibrogargan one on the caves - a highlight of my last interlude/depredation down under was a jaunt up the Caves Route with J.J. (The Keeper of Tinbeerwah:) - so I definitely have a connection with that one. Getting up was easier than getting down - mainly on account of overly thrashed (ice hockey and too many seasons doing on your knees troweling as part of miscellaneous far northern archaeological epics) knees - but where there is persistence there are painkillers - a few extra VBs and maybe a few shots of Canadian Club and we are good to go. No retreatl, no surrender.

Issue looks ace - and I notice there actually is a"legends" page in the issue too!

Keep it going down there - I will continue to put in the good word amongst the mob on this side. Definitely should be stocking this little ripper in MEC in Vancouver and elsewhere - make sure they scoop up some of the new Blue Mtns. guides as well - I have picked up a few Aussie guides there in the past - they do not push through hundreds of copies but a sale is a sale.

Haven't been hitting the crag.com site for awhile as other things have intervened but intend to connect again before long - have about another 400 plus routes from New Brunswick to add to it - from the new guide once I get my hands on a copy.

Was out at Penticton is August and took my gear but my son's hockey school was ruthless and didn't allow me to get some routes in at Skaha. Next time you do a foray on this side you should get in there to shoot some material - you will feel at home - pine trees, snakes (rattlesnakes, beaches, good beer, and some legends eg. John Fantini who still getting into lots of trouble with rope, old rusty pieces of iron, Eddie Bauer climbing shoes etc. In any case, I hope to get back to Squamish to terrorize the locals and the routes in the spring. The "Earth to Sea" highway upgrade for the 2010 Olympics threatens some locales but the local BC access group has been doing a great job in protecting climbing interests - minimizing impacts.

Always great to see Monique's amazing crag work - China looks to have been awesome! You need to roust up some sponsors , add that ice climbing fiend Neil and go on a rampage at the Cirque or the Vampire Spires!

All the best to you and the rest of the mob down under - may the tide of recent change sweep you all to better and bigger things in the year ahead. Peace, happingess, and great climbing to you all.

The Keeper, Up Over and not far from Santa and all his little elves.