RRC Archives

This is a bit long, but bear with me.

I headed back to Oil Crag yesterday and had a chance to do Crazy Game of Poker. I sent the thing, but am kind of confused on how I feel about the route itself. The opening boulder problem is pretty cool. It's techy and thin and with a little hocus pocus with the feet it's not too bad. I would say 11b/c to the first bolt (11d with yesterday's humidity). Past the first bolt, the climbing is ok except that it's ONLY 10 MORE DAMN FEET OF CLIMBING...or so it seems. On top of that I was never really sure of what route I was doing (BPS vs. CGoP). Every time I reached for a hold, I would have to look over to make sure I was still on route. Squeeze job? Probably. One star? Yeah. Anytime you can climb past the first bolt and drop the rating a whole number, that's bad in my book.

That leads me to the second part of the title "flying things with pointy butts". Near the 12 wall at Oil Crag sits the biggest damn hornet's nest I have ever seen. The thing looks about a foot and a half or so across and two feet tall. It has actually grown since the last time I was out there and has broken the branch holding it. My question is: How far will those things go to defend their nest? I put my draws on John Henry before I went on vacation and the nest wasn't that big so I didn't worry too much. When I went back out there yesterday (to get back on it for the first time SINCE hanging my draws ), the nest had doubled in size and I was afraid to go within 100 feet of it. Do I need to organize a posse to go burn that thing down? Shoot it out with a shotgun? How do you deal with something that big?

Mj

chop them both.

The shotgun idea is pretty good, just be ready to run like crazy and stay away for a day or so.

Sandy wrote:chop them both.

I second.

E-mail my x-girl.She's an entemologist(?)(a person who deals with bugs).She's working on her master's thesis with bee's.She's an expert!
Plus she's coming down on the 5th of Sept. she's gonna need a partner during the week.She'll be staying at Miguel's.Check your PM.

I've got an ex-girlfriend you could use to throw at the nest

Good ideas....but why can't we just leave it till fall/winter when all the bees leave and it's empty. As with the snake issue, I believe we should leave the bees home alone and work around it, they were there first.

I know a proabably sound like a nutty enviro freak but I just think that would be the way to 'tread lightly'

You do sound like a crazy enviro-freak!!! you should censor yourself.
Just go"well,I think that---------------------------------------------.And another thing,You should---------------!!!!"On top of that "------------------!"
See it works everytime for me!

Rhunty Rhunty Rhunty.....if only it were that easy.... Seriously though, for me, leaving that hornet's nest alone and staying away until fall/winter would be like totally admitting defeat at the hands of something I despise and uh, it ain't gonna happen. Hornets/wasps/bees have caused me more pain in my 30 years of living than anything else I can think of, so I will kick their ass whenever the opportunity presents itself. Also, they are near my damn project and I am pretty damn confident it will go on my next RP try and their ain't no bug going to keep me from that.

Mj

That's the spirit Sik! Now just start carrying an epinephrin pen in your chalk bag and youwill have no worries!