After two weeks’ delay in my arrival in Ouray owing to socializing, a girl and pneumonia* (see Advice Column – Issue #1 below) I’ve finally gotten around to taking the tools down from the rafters and hanging ‘em on some rocks and icicles instead, and it turns out that climbing ice and mixed is more fun than doing pull-ups and running. Things are looking to be in great shape for this time of year. There’s a ton of ice all over the place making for a lot of fine tool-swinging and a few cool thinner pillars and smears. 
The only downside at the moment is that some icicles at the top of mixed routes are pretty delicate (Geoff and I knocked a few man-sized chunks off Jesus Built my Fingercrack) and some bolts on popular routes are still covered. I think we got all of them clear on Seamstress which is in great M8 shape with some friendly ice at the top, but as of yesterday there are still two bolts buried on Tic-Tac and the ice covering the holds definitely puts it in earnest M7 shape. Either way, things are in and ice season in Ouray is here! Get to those pull-ups and sharpen those picks!
On that note, I’m going to be looking to get rid of a pair of Black Diamond Fusion tools if anyone’s interested. They’re in great shape and have a pretty fresh pair of Fusion picks on them. I’d love to get $250 for them, so shoot me an email if you’re interested.
*Chris’s Advice Column, Issue #1 of 1 – Don’t try to follow your uber-athlete roommates when they want to go running for hours upon hours in Oregon November rain. Don’t do it. Even if they say it’s going to be casual, don’t believe it. It will take hours. It will rain and snow. You will be covered in mud and your puny un-VO2-max-tested legs will cramp and get tired, and then they’ll make you have beers and then they and your other friends who don’t give a shit about your tired legs will keep you up all night. If you meet a girl, forget about it. You’re done. You’ll get a cold and you’ll try to act like you didn’t. You’ll go running anyway because you’ve been drinking enough beers that you need to validate yourself by at least mimicking the professional motivation these masochistic friends of yours have, and it might work out, 
oh it might work out for a while, but eventually you’ll slip up. Eventually you’ll go out when you’re already tired, you’ll go out and you’ll get sandbagged by some casual route recommendation and you won’t be wearing enough clothes when it gets cold and you’ll still have an hour to go before you get home and you know what? That 34 degree rain will get into your lungs and say hello and you’ll get pneumonia. That’s right: pneumonia. It’s not just for the old and infirm or inhabitants of the eighteenth century anymore buddy. It’s for you. Yeah. You. You love green phlegm. You love hacking. You hate fun. Yeah you. I bet you like melodrama too. Whiner.
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