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dee ee
Mountain climber
Of THIS World (Planet Earth)
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May 11, 2016 - 10:56am PT
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I found this shot of Tom Smith on our FA at the Lover's Leap, 3 o'Clock Roadblock 5.9+ R. 9/1981
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 11, 2016 - 11:34am PT
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How cool is that!
Probably not many bolts needed, if any, right? (forgot what you said up thread)
And not in any guidebooks?
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Yes, Jeff, Loose Lips.
I have a whole sequence of that lead by the Z. Money shot already posted.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
Of THIS World (Planet Earth)
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May 11, 2016 - 07:39pm PT
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Best wishes to Vickie.
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Hummerchine
Trad climber
East Wenatchee, WA
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May 11, 2016 - 08:31pm PT
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Thanks Dave!
Your response is to my email...write her, she'll dig it! (I forgot to include her email address...added it here)
(We are watching the sun set...we've had like the best spring EVER!)
Here's the email:
Hey…I’m overdue to write about something important. Sorry for the delay, but it took a while for me and Vicki to wrap our heads around it.
Vicki was diagnosed with Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia early this year. If you want more details just google it. Bottom line, it’s a rare form of indolent blood cancer. “Indolent” is the good part…that means “lazy” or slowly progressing. Although it is currently not curable it is also treatable…and likely won’t shorten her life at all. Still…ain’t exactly good either. There are 1500 cases diagnosed each year in the US…which is bad since there isn’t a ton of research.
This was found on a routine blood test. She has since had a bone marrow biopsy done to confirm the diagnosis. About half of her bone marrow cells are cancerous. Those cells no longer produce red blood cells so she is anemic (weirdly enough she has been anemic ever since I’ve known her). The cancer cells also produce a protein that is not meant to be in your blood (that’s how they found it). If you get too much of that it starts to cause other symptoms, which she does not have at this time. From what I’ve read this varies a ton from patient to patient…some get symptoms at low levels, others don’t at high levels. They can strain it out if it gets to be a problem.
Most patients they watch and wait…her anemia and blood levels of the protein are increasing so her doctors recommend treatment. She has seen Dr. Libby at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and Dr. Tucker here in Wenatchee. They have both worked together treating patients in the past…and both seem excellent. There are MANY different treatment options…the best one seems to be a combination of two different chemotherapies. Even that isn’t as bad as it sounds…it’s not the kind of chemo that makes you sick or makes your hair fall out. One drug is a monoclonal antibody specific for the cancer cells that they have had for about 15 years…thank god we live in the space age, since without this her prognosis would be poor.
She had a port installed in her chest a few days ago…they inject the chemo into that (it messes up small views….the port goes into a large one). So Monday she begins the chemo…two days in a row a month apart for 6 months. First day is 7 hours…they infuse really slow to make sure there is no adverse reaction. Then she is supposed to be in remission for years…can have the port removed if she wants.
Even though this sucks…and we have both lost plenty of sleep over it…she’s doing quite awesome, and this has brought us even closer together.
I’ve been wordy enough…I love Vicki so much! Wish her well…her email address is vicdisco@aol.com.
Tom
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Russ Walling
Social climber
from Poofters Froth, Wyoming
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May 11, 2016 - 08:54pm PT
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Hey!!
Best vibes out to Vicki! And to Chester too, though I imagine he would be about 40 by now...
Tom Michael... for sure honorary Buggerer!!
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Hummerchine
Trad climber
East Wenatchee, WA
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May 11, 2016 - 09:14pm PT
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Thanks Russ!
Chia...Chester's replacement
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 11, 2016 - 09:14pm PT
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1500 cases per year ... Keep that nasty stuff under wraps and stay strong Vicki!
Chia is dwarfing that tennis ball?!
The little pup must be monster big!
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Hummerchine
Trad climber
East Wenatchee, WA
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May 11, 2016 - 09:39pm PT
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Uhhhhh...not really, it's a tiny dog's toy. Here is a better perspective next to Petra, our daughter:
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 12, 2016 - 06:40am PT
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haha. Ball made for mini-rackets. I figured ...
Petra looks ready to lead the rads!
Exactly how we used to turn out for the crags BITD.
Petra is a cutie!
... and I like your sense of interior design.
(please pass that along to the boss, if she's the curator of such things)
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 12, 2016 - 10:39am PT
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Pope was a San Fernando Valley guy, right?
Mike Pope, standing in front of his namesake climb, Pope's Crack!
I want one of those Guinness T-shirts!
Pope now married to Sue Tonelli, living on the Eastside, with one or two kids IIRC.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
Of THIS World (Planet Earth)
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May 12, 2016 - 03:57pm PT
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A few years ago I was coming down off a peak in the Sierra and spied a fellow coming towards me. Lo and behold it was Mike Pope on a "day hike."
We visited for a few minutes and he was off.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 12, 2016 - 07:28pm PT
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Remember that Boulder problem in Humber Park, Weasels Ripped My Flesh? It traverses to the left. I was all proud that I had it dialed. Heel hook and everything.
Pope walked up and powered across, no heel hook, just brute force. This was probably 78 and my first meeting with the man. What struck me was his understated and soft-spoken demeanor.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
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May 12, 2016 - 07:43pm PT
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His excellency , Pope Michael the XXlll...A truly holy man with the demeanor and patience of Jobe...
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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May 12, 2016 - 07:47pm PT
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Heel hook?????
you don't need no stinking heel hook
but I was built more like Mike, but taller
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
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May 12, 2016 - 07:57pm PT
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Fry...Does size really matter...?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 12, 2016 - 08:11pm PT
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Speaking of Jane Sievert!
Definitely had some good laughs and good times over the years ...
We both paid our dues up at Tamarack.
photo by BVB
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
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May 12, 2016 - 08:28pm PT
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I was standing in Humber Park one morning and a van passes by loaded with an outdoor ed class....This lady was pounding on the van window and yelling trying to get my attention...I thought she was a special ed person so i pretended i didn't see her...Turns out it was Jane...Wish i hadn't looked away...Oops..Sorry Jane...That was a great crew of people at the Rack and a good winter to be up there...Rumor has it Harding washed dishes there at one time...?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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May 12, 2016 - 09:04pm PT
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One of the epic Tamarack dig outs.
All the guests were lined up in their cars, idling, because a massive deposition had been forecast, so they were trying to escape and Guerrilla Gulch cut loose before they could get out.
This avalanche completely blocked any exit strategy, other than hiking out to Old Mammoth.
Dan Asher chose the most congenial amongst us to go knock on car windows and ask people to exit their cars. Then the entire retinue of lodge and cabin guests were cabin bound so long that all of their cars became completely buried in the lineup.
We would have needed plastic shovels. Lots of bodywork got damaged in the dig out. Huge insurance bust on that one!
This was the winter that both Millis and John Ball were up there.
Also, Ramona's boyfriend, Randy. And of course, Matthew Kerwin.
This same winter, the water filter (which serviced the entire Lodge) got plugged up and Randy led Rick Thomas, myself and a bunch of other young men out into the night with our shovels. It was a good distance away from the lodge and cabins. We dug a pit 25 feet deep and 30 feet across. The location of the filter wasn't even marked. He triangulated it between familiar trees. When we got to ground, we were dead on mark!
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Ramona Snody on the left, Roy boy on the right, winter 1983.
Every available Tamarack employee was called into duty for this dig out of all of the parked cars, which were lined up right in the roadway in front of Tamarack.
Cochran taught me to use silicone spray on my shovel:
Photo, John Ditttli
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