goatboy

1 - A 2 - D 3 - C 4 - C 5 - A 6 - A 7 - A/D

Sounds like a winner! Thanks for the update. I will be there soon. goat-boy in the wheat

Wondering if any of the south-facing rock in Leavenworth is worth climbing these days? Specifically, I'm curious about the south side of Castle Rock, and/or any of the roadside stuff on icicle creek below the road closure. It's a 4 hour drive for me, that's why I ask rather than going to look for myself. Thanks in advance for any reports. Steve [ 02-26-2002: Message edited by: goatboy ]

Along the lines of this same topic ... I've suffered from what I diagnose as a sciatic nerve problem for over a year now. I have numbness and aching and tingling in my right leg and right butt cheek. I tried exercises as prescribed by a PT but gave up after a about 6 weeks or so when I had no appreciable improvement. Was I too fast to quit? Was it reasonable to expect improvement within 6 weeks? My girlfriend (who is a surgeon) recommended that I NOT do anything like chiropractic treatment, but I didn't know what else to try. What about accupuncture? I'm clueless. Maybe Courtenay or another knowledgeable person has some experience with this or advice? Thanks, Steve

Climbed Pretty Nuts and Riverview last spring, in March -- still fat then, so probably good now. Riverview was better, I thought. Did see some weird horizontal fractures, like little bergschrunds in the ice, up high. Scary. Watch out for trains on the approach to Riverview -- walking along the tracks, be wary of places to duck into if trains come!!!! No shit! I hear that Essondale Right is also a good climb. Good luck, Steve

Found a nice grivel ice ax on the traverse from Boston to Sahale, fairly close to Boston Peak ... it was barely concealed beneath the fresh snow. Nice ax!!!!!!! If it's yours, forget about it.

Anyone been up to Gibraltar Wall in the last week or two? If so, how were ice conditions up there? Thanks in advance! Steve

Sounds grim. I've barely sprinted ahead of some large groups of them on the SEWS. They were nice, but awfully slow. I assume that you mean the S Arete route for this incident report?

Thanks for the private message. Copper Creek is good when it's in -- I've been there with class III rapids flowing down the center of the falls, between barely climb-able ice on either side. But it is a lot closer, and with no border crossing concerns. What is Wizard's Lair? Where is it? Why is it?

As for parking: Drive to the end of the road and park at the gate. Just don't block other people in. Lots of folks in the methow valley do use snowmobiles to access climbing and skiing in the winter months. Of course, skiing in with overnight gear and camping up there would almost guarantee some measure of solitude . . . cold solitude!.

1) The "Rapple Grapple" route on Liberty Bell -- two pitches of steep 5.7 cracks which join beckey route higher up by the friction slab. Good alternative to crowded beckey route. 2) Cave route on Concord Tower as alternative to North Face route. Cool route which passes through a large cave to emerge on the west face for a pitch . 3) Direct Start on Outer Space -- adds more pitches and more challenge.

To add to Richard's points: True, many guides are AMGA certified, whereas only some OB/NOLS folks have that particular certification. One big difference between "guided" courses and OB/NOLS type coursesis that they can be very different in length, thus the curriculum can be different -- guided courses are often only a week long, typically, whereas OB/NOLS courses can be as short as a week or as long as three months. In other words, one might expect to learn a much deeper, wider curriculum over three weeks than over one. That's a lot of granola! The problem with these OB type courses, of course, is the cost -- but unlike any guide service I've ever heard of, OB and NOLS both offer scholarship opportunities and other types of financial aid. They do so because they are non-profit organizations. By the way, smearing your shit on a rock is no longer taught or widely accepted as effective Leave No Trace waste disposal technique. Maybe you should take a NOLS or OB course, Richard, to update your understanding of what the schools teach?

There is a difference between guiding and instruction. Although some of the better guides do attempt to instruct their clients, for the most part, guiding is about managing people in the mountains and helping them to summit safely, while schools like Outward Bound or NOLS are more about instructing people to be self-reliant without necessarily being obligated to summit anything. The benefit of going with a guide can be a small guide-to-client ratio, whereas at OB or NOLS you're usually part of a group of 8-10 students. However, at OB or NOLS, you'll learn a whole lot more about climbing. Check out the OB website at www.pcobs.org -- they offer rock climbing courses, mountaineering courses, and other courses as well. Good luck! And if it were my kid, I'd want him to go with certified instructors who have medical training, self-rescue skills, and training in teaching skills -- and probably not someone I met through a website.

Dear Jason Martin, Bad news for you! Looks like the venerable Captain Caveman has decided not to endorse your product which you haven't published yet. Does this endanger your publishing chances???

This thread began with the following statement and question: "I was wanting to feel a little safer this winter, but I'm not going to shell out $200/beacon. What's up?" My interpretation: "I want to complain about the cost of something." My solution: Don't buy one, then. Just don't expect to ski or climb with people who do have them, as you will be a useless member of the team if you can't help search for your buried teammates. Does that solve the problem? As mentioned, renting one for the occasional foray into avalanche terrain makes sense -- as does buying a used one. As for the reasons WHY they're so expensive, I think Kevin and Erik pretty much hit all the reasons I can think of.

A few of my friends and I took part in this project, which, under Andy Fitz's leadership, managed to re-seed old devegetated slopes, build a rock retaining wall for some eroding trail, and build a stone staircase leading up to one belay area. The project was well attended, well organized, and fun -- though fairly hard work! Carrying big rocks up from the talus field to the trail was not easy. We had very clear, cool fall weather for the project (though the weather kinda went south on us for the next two climbing days). All in all, a good way to give back a little to a pasttime which has given a lot to me. I hope that we can arrange some similar projects around Leavenworth in the spring -- seems that it might help improve relations with some of the local land use managers and rangers and such. Thanks to Andy Fitz for making this project go.

Why do we need to say that one disabled climb is more inspirational than another? It is definitely impressive and inspirational that those folks climbed that bizarre sandstone spire, but that shouldn't diminish what Whittaker did. Sure, he probably used seige tactics and had guides and sherpas, and I'm assuming he even used bottled O2 (!) -- but the fact is that what he accomplished is nonetheless extraordinary. The climb is not significant because it was the FIRST -- it's significant because he was able to CLIMB THE HIGHEST MTN IN THE WORLD WITHOUT THE USE OF A LIMB. My grandmother just had a leg amputated, and will have the other leg amputated in a few weeks due to poor circulation -- and I would like to believe that stories such as Whittaker's can provide inspiration for amputees to accomplish incredible things despite their disabilities. I'm not suggesting that my grandma will be summitting K2 anytime soon, however.

A note on the guidebook: The OLD guidebook (now out of print) kicks ass. The Falcon book by Todd Swain has a lot of routes, but many things (i.e. approach, pitch length, etc) are off, sometimes significantly. Remember to use your head and instincts (as always) rather than wandering around searching for a ledge at 80 feet just because Swain says there SHOULD be one. goatboy

J Tree sounds good to me! I'll be there for thanksgiving. Does Lucky Lager work as sunscreen?

I used to use a munter all the time and as long as you FEED the rope through the munter (rather than PULLING it through the munter, from the climber to the brake side of the know) you don't get the awful kinks and subsequent damage to your rope. Lowering with a munter makes the kinks unavoidable and grim. HOWEVER, now that I have a Reverso, I use it almost exclusively. It kicks ass, as a previous thread discussed. No kinks, self-locking, equally easy to self-rescue, as you've already escaped the belay. In fact, it's easier to self-rescue because unlike a munter, which requires a mule knot to tie off, the reverso is self-locking! (I would back it up anyway, but it's easier to do so than a munter/mule combination). Anyone agree with that? Steve

Joshua Tree Thanksgiving Ouray Christmas/New Years!!!! Banff in the springtime. lots of chicken wings and IPA meanwhile.

Holy shit. I can't believe this. Of course, people are innocent until proven guilty (contrary to what George Bush seems to think) but I did go to Fatali's website. Here's what he says: "No computer imaging, artificial lighting, or unnatural filtration were used as tools in the creation of these photographs. I use only natural light for all the images made for the gallery collection of handmade photographic prints. To me, using nature's light is the best way to express the wonders of natural phenomena. Waiting for hours, days, or sometimes even years for the right light is what it takes to communicate the wonder." If he is guilty of starting these destructive fires to manipulate the light all for commercial profit, the man is a liar (and a criminal) and should be locked up for a long time, in my opinion. Steve

Bronco, My picture scares ME too!

Sorry. Ouray is an icepark in SW Colorado, not too far from Telluride -- real ice, created by artificial means (a pipe which seeps water into a canyon). Supposed to be a great place, though it can get crowded in there I hear. They have an ice festival each year. I believe the site is Ouray Ice Park

As I revisit the thread I started, I notice that someone rated me as a "4". Thanks for that! But I'm still clueless about what this rating represents???? Anyone?