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Thilly me. I'll try to conthentrate on my work. Or maybe go home and drink thum whithkey!

This is very helpful, but makes me think I've been taking unnecessary chances. For several years I have climbed with a lone 9mm Stratos (a "1/2 rope") on everything from alpine 5.8 to slab routes like On Line. For harder routes I use the single 9.4mm Beal Stinger. If long rappels are expected, we carry a second rope in the pack, which makes belaying simpler and cleaner as you only have one rope to worry about. I have not been concerned about tying a 9.4mm to a 9mm for rappelling, and have even used the overhand knot (aka "European Death Knot"). Perhaps this has been foolish. What do you think? Thanks, John Sharp

Unthical or unethical? Or ith it whimthical? Or muethical? Anyone got a popthical? I confuthed too. Thory.

This goes to show what a dry year it's been! The chockstone is partially exposed now, but you walk right past it. I have been up the gully twice to get to the start of the S.W. Rib rock climb, once in late June when the chockstone was still mostly buried in snow, and once in early August when the gully was totally melted out and you had to climb up and around it. Right now it's no problem. The lower portion of the gully before the "Y" could certainly be skied now, but skiing the upper portion would be borderline suicidal unless more snow were to fall. In several places, the hard snow/occassional ice patch was about two-three feet wide, with plenty of exposed rock on both sides. Not hard to climb up or down, but most folks probably wouldn't ski it now. Sounds like you guys hit ideal conditions! [This message has been edited by MrGoodTime (edited 04-03-2001).]

Andy: A friend and I went into the Southern Pickets via the Goodell Creek approach in the third week of July 1987. I suspect the "trail" is better now. We found the mountains after 2.5 days of bushwhacking in a driving rain and thick clouds. I'll never forget the sight when the clouds finally parted and the peaks were right across from us. Totally made up for the effort to get there. We climbed McMillan Spire, W. Peak, W. Ridge (II Class 3-4) as a warm up, then took a day off instead of climbing Inspiration. We should have done it, but it was nice to nap in the sun and read. The next day we climbed the Chopping Block via the N.E. Ridge (II 5.5). This required crossing the notorious Barrier. It went fine, but the Barrier can be a pain. The Chopping Block was great fun and I recommend it. We left the next day and made it to the car in one fairly long slog. My partner says his knees have never been the same since that trip. My take is that it's worth going in there, but try to travel reasonably light and give yourself some time not only to get in and out, but also to enjoy the area once you've arrived. There are probably more people making the effort these days, but you will likely still find this to be a wild and relatively lonesome place. Have fun! John Sharp

I'm unclear of the meaning of spray. Is it bragging or is it negative, meaningless commentary or what? I'm confused. Thanks, John Sharp

Here's a short report of a fun and straightforward outing. This past Sat. (3/31), Bob Davis and I drove over Highway 20 to Mazama. By late afternoon/early evening, there was about 6" of new light snow on the road at Rainy Pass, a little less at WA Pass. We stayed at the lovely Freestone Inn in Mazama rather than camping at the Blue Lake trailhead, for we are soft city boys. At the Inn, we savored a fine pasta dish and a precocious California Merlot, then I hit the hot tub. This was rough duty. Sunday morning, after a stack of fluffy French Toast, fresh-squeezed O.J., and a latte, we skinned up from the hairpin to the ridge that joins S. Early Winter spire. We then skied down a bit to the start of the S.W. Couloir route that is described in the first edition of Nelson/Potterfield. The route is very straightforward. A bit of ice and rock under the snow, but nothing tricky. One axe and aluminum crampons worked fine. No rope needed going up. On top we watched two ravens dance and cackle on the cornices overhanging the East Wall. Very cool. Going down the gully, we did a few boot axe belays with the 30m rope for good measure. Our rock pro stayed in the pack. Once back at our skis, we climbed back up to the ridge, then dropped down to the hairpin in nearly knee-deep light powder. A real treat for 2,000'. I suspect that anyone going up this week will enjoy similar fine conditions, for Old Man Winter has made one last appearance. Go get it. John Sharp Bellevue [This message has been edited by MrGoodTime (edited 04-02-2001).]

I love the Camp StarTech. Very light yet feels reasonably protective. The BD weighs a lot, doesn't it? The light clips on the Camp aren't great, but if you have a small headlamp (such as a Petzl Tikka), just wear the helmet over the headlamp strap. It worked fine when I did this recently. That's my two cents. John Sharp

I took both the Kelly Turner and the Tom Clausing courses. Kelly's was wicked hard, bur excellent. Tom's was excellent, as well. What else you need to know?

I have heard that the bright colors of the Ice Floss tend to attract bees. True? John Sharp

Scott: I gathered from River's friend whom I chatted with at a belay that he and River had recently spent time in Australia and Fiji (I think) surfing and travelling. They had a woman with them on the climb who I believe they met while travelling, and who I believe is Japanese. River's friend said River is in construction. Does this sound like your the River you knew? John

My wife Kirsten and I climbed the S. Face on Thursday, 3/22, in beautiful weather. We saw only one other party (three people led by "River" who we passed on our descent). Nice folks. We were in no hurry all day as it was so gorgeous, and still made it car-to-car in 6.5 hours. All in all, the route is great right now, though probably wet this week. John Sharp [This message has been edited by MrGoodTime (edited 03-26-2001).]

I'm in Dan's camp on the XGK insofar as it's bomber and a flamethrower. I'm in Phil's camp on the light butane stoves. I bought a Snow Peak Giga Power titanium stove last summer without the cheap starter attachment (special order from Return Every Item ("REI"). About half the price of the Primus equivalent, as I recall. It weighs 2.5 ozs. and puts out 10,000 btu. With a 1.3 liter titanium pot (Evernew, I think, also from REI), it's a slick little system for light- duty cooking/boiling in moderate conditions. It worked fine at 10,000, but I've not tried it in winter or at high altitude. John Sharp

Don't buy without checking out the La Sportiva Hyper Guide. Jim Nelson has them. My wife just bought a pair. They will be fine for approaches, scrambles, easy rock climbs, and for use with our Stubai aluminum crampons for things like getting across the Stuart Glacier to the upper north ridge. I have a five-year old pair of Garmont Sticky Kevlar Climbers (the high top version of the Sticky Weekend). Great shoe, but apparently discontinued. Jim has few small pairs left on sale. I hear good things about the Lowas, but have heard that the Guide Almighty wears out rather quickly. It's pretty light duty. Have fun. John Sharp

Ron was nice enough to mail me the topo. Looks like a fun one. Thanks everyone. John

Thanks, Dru. I missed it the first time around, and will go back to find it. Sorry for being dense. John

There is a topo and route description for this route in Leavenworth at the Redmond Vertical World. I contacted one of the route's creators, and he was nice enough to mail me a copy of the topo. It looks like a great route. It's on Condor Buttress, way up there. Seven pitch, 5.10b, all bolts. Has anyone out there done it? Thanks, John Sharp

In my opinion, these comments by Jason are exactly why this web-site is so valuable. There is a lot of junk on here (and I'm guilty of some of it), but Jason has given solid and detailed beta to those wanting to know. Good job. John Sharp

For the record, Matt was smart enough to avoid the neck-deep snow sections on Big Four. I was not. It would have made an amusing video. John Sharp

Thanks, Mike. But this one showed me to be the weak suburban househusband that I really am. But I do want to go back in a month or so. Mr. Softy

Matt Perkins and I tried the North Face of Big Four on Friday, 3/9. The forecast had called for the freezing level to drop to 3,500 for the 36 hours before we arrived, and we hoped to catch the face in good (cold and firm) shape. We were not expecting an ice climb, but rather a good early-season snow route. We left the car at 5:40 a.m. and hiked the short trail to the base. The face has seen considerable avalanche activity in recent weeks and we negotiated around the broken blocky snow that fans out around and below the ice caves. The ice caves themselves are partly exposed this winter. The first tactical decision was whether to make an end-run to the far west end of the lower basin (which Beckey shows as the start to the N.W. Ridge route), or whether to remain more or less on the intended 1942/1947/1973 lines and tackle the headwall straight on. After reaching the top of the snow finger that meets the waterfall on the left of the rock face, we opted to give the face a try. The holds are often down sloping, the rock was wet but not icy, and the snow covering much of the rock was soft and in places quite thin. What fun. We belayed seven or eight pitches, with tied off scrub cedars, KBs, and cams to 2" for protection. Matt did a great job leading all but the easiest pitch here. The face kept pushing us up and right because the rock was too wet to tackle straight up with mountain boots and our heavy packs and numb hands. We topped out at 1:50 p.m., but not after engaging in considerable death-defying bushwacking and comical tree climbing on the face. Frankly, it was worse than anything I remember on Johannesberg or getting to the Pickets. We decided the rock was about 5.2 at the hardest. Retreat would have been difficult as there are not enough trees on the lower wall for single-rope rappels to the base, and the lower wall has few places for pro as it is highly polished. Suffice it to say, we were relieved to find the top. Once up the headwall, we hoped for a straightforward 3,000' snow climb. However, we were disappointed to find very soft snow. On most steps we sank to our knees, frequently to our waists, and a few times to our armpits. Finally, after swimming about 800' vertical feet up the 1942 North Rib route (heading for the tower that is marked with an arrow in Fred's book), we found a few hundred feet of avalanche scoured snow, which was much firmer. We followed this to its conclusion, and reached the point where you either continue up the rib proper or move left into the wide gully to the east of the rib. The gully appeared to be much firmer snow, and possibly alpine ice in places. It is a major drainage for snow sliding from above; an O.K. place to be if you are sure the slides have all come down, but a death trap if you guess wrong. To us it looked safe enough. It was then 4:00 p.m., and the weather was still O.K. (broken clouds with sun breaks). But we were wasted. At least I was. We were wet, tired of laboring under our heavy packs, and wondering if the mountain would ever cut us any slack. The ridiculous thing is we had gained a mere 2,500' all day, and were standing at only 4,000' with 2,100' to go. I felt too tired and shaky to get in the gully (a slip would be hard to stop) and we had only two hours of light remaining. The decision then became whether to spend the night there, or bail. Matt was game to stay (despite having forgotten his gaitors and having water running in his boots all day and having no bivi sack; he is tough). I was better off in terms of gear, but my head just wasn't in the game any more. Just getting off the mountain was going to be enough work, and I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to spend a cold night in the mist without a tent, then take much of Saturday trying to get to the top then safely down. Matt kindly agreed to head for home, but he would have stayed had I been up for it. So down we swam, still sinking to our knees or deeper, and headed for the far end of the basin (the "end-run" as we called it). We down climbed as far as we safely could in the dense forest, then made six or seven rappels from small trees in the dark. We made it to the bottom and trudged back to car, arriving at 8:30. Obviously, conditions were terrible and the weatherman had erred. There was no ice to provide different options for getting up the headwall, and the snow was mush. We could have fought our way to the top on Saturday, but I for one was damn glad to be in a warm dry bed by midnight Friday. Matt did allow as how he'd rather cuddle with his fiance than spoon with me in the snow, and I can't say I blame him. On reflection, we concluded this route (or anything on the north side of the mountain) should be done either as a fast and light (and long) day climb, or one should take bivi gear, stove, etc. as we did and camp at about 4,000 in the last sizeable trees, then tag the top and descend on day two. If the latter option is chosen, you might skip the headwall unless it is dry. The rock climbing would not be too hard with a full pack if the rock was dry and snow-free, or maybe if it was colder and ice was present next to the waterfall on the left side. But in the conditions we found it, carrying a full pack sucked and we couldn't move fast. The end-run still calls for about 500' of ugly bushwhacking, but no rock climbing to speak of. As evidence of the amount of grovelling we did going up and coming down the mountain, a pile of dirt, brush, and cedar twigs fell on the bathroom floor when I took my skivvies off to shower. For those of you interested in Bart and Doug's route (the Spindrift Couloir), I suspect it was firm in the upper portion, but soft down low. It's a beautiful line, and I hope our pictures of it come out. John Sharp Bellevue [This message has been edited by MrGoodTime (edited 03-12-2001).]

"But your honor, she SAID she was 18 . . ."

Aidan: My advice is to quit school right now. It can only lead to more school, then gainful employment, which is highly overrated. If you'd like to trade places, I'm happy to sit in your class and think naughty thoughts about the young fresh girls while you sit here in a suit and tie pretending to be the company's lawyer. Want to trade? This job is really fun. Honest!

Sorry. I just loved seeing "HELP" so much I had to start a "HELP" thread of my own. But seriously, sitting at this desk in a shirt and tie while the sun shines is a terrible form of torture. You other desk monkeys know what I mean. John Sharp

Like the Wicked Witch of the West, I'm told it's melllttiinng.