wdietsch

Hey Andy.. thanks from all the old Yakimaniacs. Been a long time since 4x4'in in Mahoney's suburban and wearing you LaSportiva's on the opposite feet. Seen any good drownings lately? Wes

Well... how was getting loose @ the Lutz? Sorry I couldn't make it, too much shit to get done around "base camp". Trask... there are no good pubs on Hayden Island. I live in Vancouver perhaps if it works out I can pick you up on the way into Portland. I still owe Will a "Wingnut Hat" table dance. Wes

go will, go

Hate to say it, but I am going to have to bail this week. Have one (or two, or three) for me Will. Wes

As pointed out, in May expect a lot of snow. This year so far is looking above average. Also this is a very common area for late spring storms. If Curtis Gilbert is your objective and you are going to be out for a week I would suggest going in thru the North Fork of the Tieton. The standard South Fork/Surprise Lake approach is more direct if you just want to go in "tag" the summit of Gilbert and head out. The standard North Fork approach with a camp in either McCall Basin, if weather is questionable, or near Elk Pass if the weather is good. A high "base" camp in Elk Pass gives you great sunrise and sunset views of Rainier. There is also a really fun and direct alternative high traverse from the summit of Bear Creek to the Devil's Horns that puts you into the Devils Washbasin, but in May you normally cannot get to Section 3 Lake and the trailhead. Like DPS pointed out, there are no real great climbing objectives. If you just want to scramble through I would suggest looking at the Big Horn standard route (class 4), Goat Citadel (also class 4) and if time permits a short trip over to the Devil's Horns (class 3/4). The traverse from Elk Pass across Old Snowy, Ives Peak, The Horns, Goat Citadel and onto Gilbert is also a lot of fun but not to be taken lightly. It takes the average joe a full day "camp to camp" with a pretty early start if you stay on the crest proper and tag a few summits along the way. If you approch Gilbert from Old Snowy and stay on the north side of the crest crossing snow fields and eventually the Tieton Glacier be sure to take a rope,axes and crampons. Depending on the number in your group a light 120' rope should do. Do you guys ski? If so, you will have a real kick ass time. As far as goverment BS, the North Fork Tieton and Section 3 Lake trailheads are in the Goat Rocks Wilderness Area and fall into the "Fee Demo" crap, make your own decision as to whether or not you buy a forest pass. The trailhead on the South Fork of the Tieton (Conrad Meadows) is on private land and I can not say enough good things about the landowners that within the last few years rebuild the parking lot with an outhouse. This approch does get a lot of horse packer traffic and a lot of heavy use. They did a great job. No "Fee Demo" BS to deal with, just park you car and start hiking. In May livestock is still pretty minimal.

dps, If you are shooting for the West Ridge.. go to Muir. I have made one (failed) attempt at this route. As far as losing "elevation and dropping below the cleaver",you never even get close to it, as soon as you get thru Catherdal Gap cross the Ingraham and your basically there. If you are looking at doing just the standard route up Little T, I really don't know what would be better, going thru Muir or crossing the Cowlitz.If you are shooting for the West Ridge, good luck and take your steel nut sack with you, your gonna need it. It is a great line, I belive Fred B at one time refered to it as the last unclimbed natural line in the area. I had the "fortune" of spending my high school days in Yakima and have heard the tale of the first ascent directly from Matt Christensen and gave it a shot myself in about '87. Man ... loose BS, difficult to protect.. you name it, it is one of those that needs the ice and snow to hold it together while you dance with death

I would also be interested in hearing from anyone who has any experience with the "Platypus Crude Spade" units that Pika Mountaining make. A while back I think Mountain Gear was dumping them pretty cheap. Wes

They definatly can be funky to say the least and like Dru mentioned one of the mfg'rs (I think CM) originally marketed them only as a "rest" piece not a desperation piece. Personally I think the boys in Salt Lake kind of turned it into a "fish" story. To Will's comment a few years back I was climbing with a buddy out at Vantage on Fug's Fall. At the top of the second (last pitch) my partner placed a Spectre in an old pick placment on a nice bulge below the mantle onto the final shelf. A fall would load the piece pretty much straight down, not much outward torque. Anyhow..... my buddy, now off the ice pitch, the climb basically done, thinking he was Greg Lowe or something decides to dry tool about a 10-12 foot vertical step that fades away at the top. About 6 feet above the shelf he's standing one foot on a 2" diameter sage brush growing out of a rotten, F#%&* ROTTEN, crack scratching for anything to tool on and the bush blows, he peels and ends up taking a 15 footer onto the Spectre and it held. The ice was thick, it was one of the best years out in the desert (winter 96-97), temps were in the 20's, my buddy came out with only a cut under his check from his tool

KeithKShultz and kris, Wallstein is in Patagonia

Hey TG, best wishes as well, surprised you had time to log on, shouldn't you be brewin' or packin' or somthing like that. Thanks again for the great hospitality this past weekend.

Wednesday sounds good but I can't commit until tommorrow. Which "watering" hole are you thinking about?

Did I ever tell you the one about the "mountaineer" that fell off the summit of Shuksan, good thing the stupid fucker was wearing a helmet

What ... you mean you don't like those "Zamfir, Master of the skin flute" lookin' gizmos that Grivel makes? [ 01-02-2002: Message edited by: wdietsch ]

Eve Dearborn Memorial

Stefan,Where are you headed? France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland? The "Alps" in general cover a huge area. How much time do you plan on for climbing. A great website to get you started is www.peakware.comAlso keep in mind what time of the year you will be over there factors BIG on the crowds. Wes

Dan.... look what you started.....again

Hey TG, Better bring your groceries with you, looks like the shelves may be empty when you get there. THis is the NY Times yesterday..... "Tensions have been building for the last four days as poor people massed around supermarkets in the cities of Rosario, Concordia and Mendoza, demanding handouts and sometimes breaking down doors to loot. But the sporadic, isolated disturbances suddenly swelled in the predawn hours across the country today, even reaching the working- class slums surrounding the capital." http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/20/international/20ARGE.html?ex=1009515600&en=d6cc4a3e75f6348a&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA

Reading Rafael H's comments on the BD Androids along with the thread on the Yates Screamers made me think about the Yates Handcuffs and M9 Handcuffs. Has anyone tried either of these? If so, what do you think

Sorry Cavey, not me. I've never made to Lillooet yet. Hope to make it up this year. Chick with a helmet ehh. Sounds more like the screamer your neighbor's are complaining about

David, Usually one of the best sources is the crew at the Black Diamond Retail Store in south Salt Lake City, however I have run into some real boneheads behind the counter here as well. When the info has been good it is normally very to update, sometimes you might even get a afternoon report on conditions that very morning. Worth a try 2092 East 3900 SouthSalt Lake City, Utah 84124 phone: 801.278.0233fax: 801.278.5544 bdstore@bdel.com H O U R S M-F 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Sat. 9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. A few weeks back Texplorer was talking about maybe swinging thru Utah on his way to Texas for the holidays. You might shoot him a PM Wes

A site that I use a lot is the WA DOT's "real weather". http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/rweather/ This fall I noticed however that they have removed a few of the weather stations such as "Indian Flat" on 410 which would give you a good idea how things in the Little Naches are doing. For those of you that have never used this site it is pretty usefull. You can get 24 hour trending on temperature, precip... for example Grand Coulee station since 10:26 AM yesterday to 8:09 this morning at has registered temps from 33 to 42, a dew point from 19 to 25, wind speed from 0 to 18 mph, no measurable precip. The site is by no means perfect, it is useful Other stations I watch are Tumwater Mt, Alpental, Green Lake... check it out gang if you have not already [ 12-18-2001: Message edited by: wdietsch ]

was it a "baby angle" or a "long dong" take a hit of your "big bong" [ 12-17-2001: Message edited by: wdietsch ]

Dru.... that gave me a headache

Hey TG, What ya puttin' in that "zip lock bag"?

This is mostly for the administrators of this site. Gents, anyway that you could set up the personal message program to allow "forwarding" and "carbon copy" functions