Alasdair

I have had several, and I hated them all. Basically you spend a lot of time setting it up to be usefull and then realize that they really are not that usefull. That is until I got my current device. It is a pocket PC phone edition. It is the only one I have ever actually used. It is pretty good. Best thing about it is you can get the 512 memory card and use it as an MP3 player. Surf the web, get mail while you are out and about. The data plans are really fucking expensive. Keep in mind that I dont have to pay for these things, and if I did I would not have one.

Thats funny because I lost a garbage bag full of exactly what you describe on Foraker in 2000.

There is a big metal shovel with wooden handle(the kind you use to shovel compact dirt). Stuffed in a big offwidth crack on Mt. Hunters West Ridge. I am being totally serious here. Although it is booty, I decided I did not need it.

24 hours with a 7 hour bivy. I will have to go again so I can beat your record.

Alasdair, do as you like. Equalizing two bolts using webbing is safer than threading the rope through two cold shuts. If there are chains, no problem, use the chains. If you thread two bolts without chain and one fails, you have extension and the remaining bolt could fail from the shock load. Don't criticize people for doing what they regard as the safer alternative. Shure what ever. I personally choose not to ever rap off of any webbing I can not follow in a complete loop and be sure every part of it is intact. Not to mention the fact that the mountie death triangle is usually the anchor set up of choice. As far as the type of anchors go they are the ones that look just like bolts only much bigger and rounded and infact designed to rap off.

I agree with you erik. If any of you have ever climbed the south side of Ingalls peak you will notice the Two big Metolius Rap bolts desingned to feed a rope through that have been threaded with so much fucking webbing that you cant even follow one piece to figure out if the anchore is safe to rap off. Every time I have ever got to this anchor and there is webbing on it I cut it all off, and take it home. One time much to the dislike of some mountie shit head who had just threaded a piece through and rapped off.

So I keep this story to myself for the last 24 hours until I made sure the cat was OK before I started spraying about it on the internet. Yesterday morning about 6 AM I had finally had enough of the cats outside my window howling at each other, so I got up and looked out my window to see one of the cats (My neighbors) in the middle of my back yard staring down some other cat. All I want to do is scare it away so that it shuts the fuck up. So I grab the closest throwable thing (a hockey puck that was sitting on my window sil) and chuck it out the window aiming between the two cats. Right as I throw the puck the neighbors cat see me at starts running like hell home. Problem was it ran directly into the path of the hockey puck, and it hit it square on the skull (I know it hit it on the skull because of the sound it made). The puck flew back up in the air about three feet after hitting the cat. I quickly ducked back behind my curtain thinking I had just killed the cat and went back to bed. Couple of hours later I got up can checked the back yard for the cat. Good it at least made it out of my yard. This morning I did here the distinctive sound of the bell the cat wares on its collar so I can say the can now likely only has 8 lives. I fucking hate that cat. I do what I can to get birds in my yard and that thing eats them. Initially I felt bad but now that I know it survived I am somewhat disapointed it is not dead.

Doubt it. I need to get some exercise... Fucking desk job. And the smoke in that place is choking.

Actually we called it the Howling Pisshole because the waitress kicked us out and we were tooo drunk to remember her telling us never to come back, and when we did she went balistic and "howled" at us.

Sounds good I found the thread and it has the info I need. One more question. Probably for MikeG. Is it possible to get ranger permission to climb solo on an open weekend between the dates of XXXX to XXXXX? Basically I want to go when I know the weather will be good not get permission for a certain weekend and then have to push my luck with weather because that is the weekend I am committed to.

Any one here climbed that route. I am looking for any beta you might have. I am thinking it would be a good solo. How dificult is it to get a permit to climb solo on Rainier?

Where you thinking of going? Im up for a hung over climbing weekend. Ade, what about you?

TellTheChristiansToShutTheFuckUp4Christ

I have used several sat phones and they will work anywhere in WA that has visible site line to the satalites. The Satalites are not orbiting over washington they are farther south (texas I believe) so if you are in a deep valley you may not have coverage. Also the further you go north the worse they are. I have used them in alaska and that was almost a total waste of time. They will get reception if you are on flat ground or on a hill but they tend to drop calls a lot and get that gargled sound that you might hear on satalite feeds from Iraq reporters, but much worse. Also note that I have not used a phone in a few years so it may have gotten better, but I believe the satalites and network are all the same one that was there several years ago as it is too damn expensive to put new one up, and any one who did is now bankrupt.

I will take hell because I wont have to hang out with fuckwads like you.

I would not go out of my way to ridicule the christians if they would just understand what the fuck the constitution was talking about when it stated the need for a seperation of church and state. Until all of the bible thumbing whackos in our government stop talking about "family values", i.e. taking your kids to church, and being against abortion, etc. then I will feel free to tell every bible thumping person to fuck off.

Dont waste your money. They would never stick into snow, and would blow over at the first gust of wind. THey also are not long enough to be usefull.

This sounds identical to the problems I had/have. I would have to guess that you do not streatch prior to hiking. YOu need to start. It is your IT band, and the way to solve the problem is by streatching. I could not walk correctly for a couple of weeks after I got this for the first time. Start streatching now. I had to streatch every day for 2-3 months untill I increased my flexability sufficiently to fix the problem. In addition I still have to streach every time I hike. There are several streatches that work. your typical hamstring streach is first, and then streaches for the IT band. It took me a long time to find one that worked for me. When you get the right one you will know it because you will hate doing it. If you start now you might be able to hike again by summer. As far as going to the Dr goes... YOu will go in, they will tell you to streatch and tell you if it still hurts in two months come back.

I will put a vote in for Geeting. Lets put it this way; if you have good weather, all of the services will basically be the same(except k2, They suck). If you have bad weather and you are stuck on the glacier, you have a much better chance of getting out if you go with Geeting. In addition you have a better chance of getting a free flightseeing tour in because Doug will mix up flight seeing and climbers more than others might. Every time I have flown I got to see lots extra. If you have not been there before it is well worth it.

I was born in Paisley.

How about a comparison between rescue costs of Boaters and that of climbers, and be sure to note that there is never any talk of getting boaters to pay for their coast guard rescues. As far as fees go: I pay the climbing fee for Mount Rainier The enchantments fees from the Fuckhead forrest service rangers at Levenworth. (very grudgingly) I have never bought any other permit for climbing. I think a great story would be why is the Levenworth Ranger station so full of fuckwads while many of the other ranger stations in this state have great freindly staff who acutally seem to care. Hidden cammera on Mr. Snow creek Nazi ranger so others can see what a asshole he is.

I was in the exact position Necro was a couple of years ago. Two overdue climbers who did not show up to work the next day. I called the sherrif office to see if there car was still in the parking lot. The sherrif took over. They asked a couple of questions, such as route, when they left, when they were expected back, and it was done. If you call the sherrif to ask some questions they will almost alway initiate a rescue because that is the prudent thing to do. The faster they get there the more chance that they are not doing a body recovery. Thumbs up Necro. YOu did the correct thing by calling. And I am guessing that it was not you that initiated the rescue but the sherrif telling you that they were going. It is the climbers responsibility to tell someone when they will be back. If they are not back then make that call.

I had one and it got ripped off. It was the best peice of gear i have owned for a while. I was really bummed and decided I needed another so I went to MEC and bought an almost identical sholler jacket for $130 canadian. Dont waste your money on the Arc Teryx logo, because that is all you get for the extra money.

Too bad that basically no one here would have a chance of getting the job. That is unless you are currently employed by the govenment (with or without skills), a minority, a woman, or are being demoted from your previous govenment position because you fucked up so bad, but they cant fire you.

I like most of the suggestions. Add one VERY important item. You should take a space blanket. Not one of those shitty $1.99 ones. You want to get one of the heavy duty $9.99 ones that have the durrablity of a garden tarp. On those nice weather aclimatization or rest days the only thing you will want to do is get out of the sun. Hang this over your tent or make a vesabule if the wind is not blowing too much. See this picture... http://www.nwclimber.com/climbing/trips/hunter2002/Scan84.jpg FYI: that is wayne1112 in the picture.