http://www.missvelvet.net./

It looks like Lucky Lab is creating a beer in Velvet's honor too-

A Velvet Oatmeal Porter

It was also god to hear matty's perspective on what happened up there. Sounds like he will think twice about some of his decisions in the mountains and maybe give the cascades, especially in the winter, a little more respect.

Hopefully, their appearance on the Ellen Degeneres show will not further fuel the fire with regards to the MLUs issue in Salem and that they can now admit that they were not prepared to get themselves off the mountain safely. If he uses his statements frm his account on Ellen, then I hope he takes a stand on the MLUs, but he probably won't.

mybe it will simply be a feel-good story about velvet the wonder dog, but if it gets sensationalized, then maybe these folks will not have the gumption or ability to say on national tv that they were at fault, that they decided not to listen to the weather reports, and that they did not have the proper skills to get themselves out of the bad situation.

Glad to hear everyone recovered and also glad to hear that matty does feel responsible for putting his dog in that situation.

Finally, I am glad they are doing something for PMR. I may have to bring my pointer, Lizzie down there for that event!

hmmmm what to say???

Great that everything worked out for the folks invovled but I'm kind of disgusted by the media hype and pending legislation.

The mass media seems to run with stories that offer an oppurtunity for sensationalist reporting and run with them. Of course they do because in a free market their incentive is their consumer who doesn't give a rats ass about what's really going on in the news. News=entertainment 90% of the time.

One thing that is nice about climbing is that in the mountains there is no hype. It's only you and your experience. You come back and tell about your experience but generally you don't make the news unless you do something really cool or something really stupid. Getting lost in a white out is neither really cool or really stupid. It happens somewhat frequently in the mountains. What strikes me as somewhat demeaning to the climbing community is that we have jumped on the media bandwagon and are doing the same thing. A beer named after the dog. What's next an action figure??

Another thing that I like about climbing is that you have to be self-sufficient. It's you and your shit and you have to be prepared. There is no-one telling you what to bring or what to do just the mountains saying be prepared. Now because of this as well as other recent news we may be having people telling us what we need to be doing on the mountain. That's not right and I hope some of the individuals in the media spotlight take a stand on this.

Just my view on the thing. No disrespect to the important work that PMR does, the critical reporting going on every day during the Ellen Degeneres show, and of course the fine ales produced at the lucky lab.

Rock on! I will be there in support.

In that pic of her I thought it looked like she was eating a blue bag for a second. Made me laugh! I'm guessing it's just her collar.

Doing the right thing...

So after a long winter of watching and waiting it appeared that the correct conditions needed to bring the black spider in were going to materialize on Sunday.

Marcus and I headed up on Sat so we could get a high bivy and rest our legs for Sunday's attempt.

We were cruising the ridge climbers left of the ski area when we saw something red under a large rock. Marcus pulled out his scope and we glassed it for a few minutes... too large to be a backpack.

Fuck... do you think?

It had to be one of the bodies from the first accident this year.

So what do you do?

The black spider comes in maybe once or twice a winter. More people have climbed yocum ridge than the spider.

So what do you do?

You do the right thing... you go check it out. You take care of your own.

We descended 500' to find two red backpacks + a mini yard sale of gear. No bodies. The packs had been left end to end giving the appearance from a distance that it was a body in the fetal position.

At first we thought it was abandoned gear from the north side accident... we started looking around for birds (old mountain rescue trick... where there are birds there is usually a body). No birds...

We started looking for ID in the packs and I found this:



Fuck. But relief. But still: fuck. We just wasted an hour and 1000' of travel to find someone's garbage. Fuck.

So off we sped back up hill to try and make up for lost time. We made it to about 8.1k before the predicted storm rolled in so we settled in and hoped we could make up the lost distance in the morning. But you know how it turns out... the storm lasted till 6 am (as predicted) and we both knew our window had expired as we couldn't make up for lost time. No black spider. Again. Next year I guess.

We rolled back down hill to the yard sale.

Marcus and I were able to easily see the parking lot from the location of the jettisoned gear.

Each balancing an expedition size backpack on our head in addition to each carrying our gear from our black spider attempt (30 lbs each) on our back we were able to cover the distance from the recovery spot to the parking lot in 45 minutes post holing the whole way. 45 minutes to the parking lot.

It sucked... my neck still hurts... but it was the right thing to do.

So the unpopular part...

I don't know how to say this without making it sound like a personal attack... it's not my intention. But based on the larger ramifications (required MLUs) of this event + the north face triple fatality I feel the need to speak my piece.

Based on:

- the location of the found gear
- the TR describing the ordeal
- the contents of the gear
- the presence of the gear on the mountain this long after the event

it is apparent this team did not have the technical skill or knowledge to be on the mountain this time of year.

- There are safer, more accessible locations than Illumination rock in winter that exist to learn the art of snow caving
- Understand that when NOAA predicts 80% PoP that it translates loosely into "fucking nuking"
- Map and compass skills are not optional or designated to just one person. Everyone should have taken a compass bearing and conferred as a team.
- Everyone should have self arrest skills. Looking at the "cliff" the leader fell off it should have been easily caught/self arrested by the team... not the entire team going over.
- Having a GPS coordinate marking the parking lot as well as at Silcox and the top of Magic Mile would have prevented all of this as well as told one how close one was to the parking lot.
- Clean your garbage up off the mountain as quickly as humanly possible especially if other unrecovered bodies on the mountain still exist. I lost my attempt doing the right thing while you were busy drinking pints at the lucky lab.

I hope anyone considering Hood anytime in the future makes sure they have the skill and knowledge to avoid making these same mistakes and not having to rely on a MLU or a cell phone. It would be the right thing to do.

If you feel you need an MLU and/or cell phone for the "just in case" situation perhaps you should reevaluate your objective and skill set.

I think it is awesome the group has been raising money for PMR.

But what about the rest of us? What about the rest of the climbing community? What do we get out of the deal? As far as I can tell decreased access and new laws to adhere to.

I would like to see some of the money raised be donated to the access fund so they can attempt to fight the proposed MLU requirement.

I think it would be the right thing to do.

Why would they leave gear on the mopuntain at all? They obviously walked off under their own power and had plenty of help with PMR. Why would they not go back up and retrieve it? What were they doing Saturday that would prevent a hike up there? Weather was stellar! Out of sight, out of mind, perhaps? I cannot spec ulate as to them being prepared, as that may not have been all of their gear they took up with them, but it is sad to treat a mountain environment with leaving such trash up there for someone else to find and haul off. I feel sorry for the kids of these teachers. The thing that concerns me even more is that some of these group members are teachers. Meaning, they have a responsibility, as everone should, to practice what they preach. Do you think they allow their students to just throwtrash on the ground when on a field trip or coming back from lunch? Leaving gear up there and not returning to get it is bad juju. Thanks guys for hauling it off yourselves. You will be rewarded, I am sure. Now you just sealed a nice weather window for you on Black Spider in the future......

I'd say this is free booty and whatever gear is there is now yours. Keep it ort sell it on craigslist.

let's get down to brass tacks:

so what'dya booty and when will it appear in the yard sale forum

bummer john - luckily doing the right thing is its own reward, eh?

I'm returning the gear. It's the right thing to do.

I hope the owners follow suit and donate some money to the Access Fund.

Yeah .....but would they?

I suspect so based on my conversations with Kellie.

Then again any money donated to the Access Fund is money well spent.

Im not so sure I agree. I have friends who hate the AF. Stating they rarely do what they say they will do. I know I just spewed hearsay, Sorry. I personaly dont have an opinion. Ill shut up now.

before or after you smell the panties?

:puke:

Hey Jon, maye you can spin this into an Ellen Degeneris appearance!

I wonder how much Velvet's actual collar would fetch on ebay??!!!!

Velvets

John,

Scary I guess, and a bummer that you had to bail on your route. I do wonder what really happened because it seems a bit unusual for gear to be left behind in a rescue situation such as this, when it appeared there were a lot of people on the mountain helping out? Anyway, karma to you for hauling it out!

I think that should be your reward. You get to keep Velvet's collar (and then sell it on EBay!)

John, I'm pretty sure Wayne put that shit there as a distraction. Da curse of da black spidah! You need at LEAST 14 attempts before you can start complaining.

Do you have a photo of the parking lot and the cliff from that pack's location? It would be interesting to see.

we were of course concerned when we saw what looked to be the scene of a 'day gone bad' down below us on the mountain. the only correct thing to do was put our own plans on hold and descend to investigate. we picked up their trash only to keep our mountain clean and to keep others from also having to investigate.

normally i wouldn't choose to ramble online, but all the media attention from beyond the climbing community is really looking to have a negative impact on everyone - even competent, prepared indivuals who understand and live by the mountain's rules. MLUs will only encourage more gapers to jump into shit unprepared with the expectation of an escape hatch. if your incompetence affects my climbing life, then YOU SUCK!!!

every other culture and society on the planet understands that mountains are real, they kill people, and that you go there at your own risk. some of us go to great lengths to prepare ourselves and that, along with sound judgment and experience, is our safety margin. do not think that you can regulate,legislate or purchase safety in the mountains. it is a mistake. please just stay home and take up tennis instead.

I am not quite sure I agree that someone should be rewarded for simply doing the right thing. Sounds like John knows that and is acting in accordance with these beliefs.

Good on you, John--I respect that.

Ryan....didnt your parents teach you anything? Rule number one: Treat people how YOU would want them to treat you.

Would you want them to return the colar to you? If you answer no....you are lying.

I heard the club linked to below is presently looking for members that are willing to throw caution to the wind.
Tiddlywinks.org
Maybe it will keep some people away from the mountains if they have other hobbies...