Bronco

4 lost on Rainier not hard to find By Todd C. Frankel Herald Writer A mountain rescue team was supposed to find the four climbers missing on Mount Rainier. Fay Pullen, 60, of Kent stumbled onto them first. She was skiing alone Tuesday in dense fog and snow when she spotted the missing four, including one from Mukilteo, at an elevation of about 7,200 feet in the Paradise Glacier area. She brought help with a cell phone call to 911. Pullen, wife of King County Councilman Kent Pullen, was surprised to find television cameras and reporters when she came off the mountain. They wanted to talk to her. "You go out often enough, strange things happen," she said Wednesday from her home in Kent. Pullen goes skiing twice a week during the winter. In the summer, she takes longer climbing trips. "I'm in the inner circle of crazy people who climb mountains," she said with a laugh. Pullen woke up Tuesday hoping to ski at Snoqualmie Pass. But the pass had no new snow, so Pullen decided to head to Paradise on Mount Rainier. She found an ambulance, a rescue team and reporters in the Paradise parking lot. Two climbers -- Chris McGinnis, 50, of Mukilteo, and Quang Than, 47, of Newport Beach, Calif. --had been missing since Sunday. Rescuers didn't yet know that two other climbers -- Karen Arkin of Berkeley, Calif., and Bree Loewen of Seattle -- were also overdue. Pullen pushed out on her telemark skis thinking for a moment she might find them out there. Near Cowlitz Rocks, the fog began to fade. The snow was new and unspoiled. But she saw fresh ski tracks up ahead, skied toward them and saw four people sitting on the rocks in the sun. They didn't wave to her. They didn't call out. Pullen was puzzled. There were supposed to be only two missing climbers. "Are you the lost climbers?" she called out. Two of them replied, "Yes." The other two said, "No." In fact, they all were lost climbers. Pullen told them about the rescue effort. "They almost seemed a little surprised there was so much fuss about them," she said. She called 911 and helped coordinate the rescue effort. Pullen would go first, pressing down a path with her skis. The climbers would follow. Rescuers would begin walking up to meet them. Everyone was safely off the mountain by 8:30 p.m. They were all in good condition. Only Arkin was treated for minor frostbite of her fingers. Pullen has seen the other side of a mountain rescue. On a cold, sunny day in January 1997, she slipped on an ice field on Granite Mountain at Snoqualmie Pass. She slid across 400 feet of ice before her crampons caught in the ice, breaking her leg. She couldn't move an inch. She called 911 on her cell phone. Six hours later, she was flown out in a military helicopter. So Pullen knows how the four Rainier climbers likely feel at having rescuers called out. "They are probably very grateful," she said, "but also embarrassed."

me too, except the less used expedition/cold weather gear, it sits in an "organized" pile in the attic.

Fill me in, what's a "New-Zealand-style picket"?? and the link just incase: http://www.yatesgear.com/climbing/ice/pickett.jpg I have a couple of these guys and like them alot, they are a bit lighter than the "T" style

nice TR, good job getting up there with a new partner!

check your pm's rymac

You wont look like a gaper with this one. Good ole steel head general mountaineering axe. nice long pick for solid self arrest, flat atze for efficient chopping. Aluminum shaft with pronounced point. Wild country sewn leash, good condition. I'd estimate it's probably about 10 years old. $40.00 obo

I bought half a dozen from the REI outlet website a year ago thinking they would be the ticket for racking. They work pretty good, (except I bought 2 of those new keylocks from BD for racking my nuts on, doh!) I got the black ovals and always keep one hanging high on a shoulder strap so I look like a comando who might hang a handgrenade or rambo knife on it. People who see me certainly think "he must be Delta Force, he's tough!" PS: I usually try to leave them home when I go to dah mountains but, one or two usually stows away out of loneliness. Be nice to all your biners!

What? didn't they invade Kuwait? regarding Afganistan, the military did a good job of displacing and disrupting the terror network. Of course they are going to attempt to regroup where ever they can. And although they don't have a McDonalds or Starbucks on every corner yet, I think if you asked the average Afgani if they would prefer to have the Taliban back in control or continue the course, they'd probably answer the latter. My rant for the day. Thanks for provoking me to rethink my opinions Sexual buttnugget.

If you're doing it on a machine (not real familiar with them) I don't see any problem or have anything to add. Doing calf raises with free weights, most prefer to perform them at the top of a dead lift as it keeps the center of gravity lower than performing it with a squat. Doing calf raises with the barbell on your shoulders is a good way to work on your balance, but can be hazzardous if you tip over. Another good "compound" exercise is to hold a barbell straight over your head with elbow's locked, squat down until your heels touch your ass then try to explode up keeping your elbows locked. It seems to work my balance a lot more for the same reason (higher center of gravity) also highly recomend the "push press", it's an ass kicker. ooooh yeah and the farmer's carry.........

I agree with you there!

3 oz Dragonfly from patagonia. anyone tried it? Looks too light to be real, but, I'd save about 1.5 pounds over my Dimension Jacket and even heavier Gortex Jacket. Looks like Golite has a similar (cheaper) one. image bastards! anyone see what I done wrong?

hah! I distracted erik with an email! its on the north end of private idaho. below lookout point. between the lower wall and upper wall.

so would I erik, but I'm pretty confident it wouldn't be anything like Iraqs current policy.

Interesting website giving shedding a little light on the goverment's Human rights history, (or lack therof). Some of the stories of torture are pretty graphic, just so you know ahead of time, but, no gross photos. http://www.iraqfoundation.org/index.html

Nice TR! you make it sound like so much fun!

nice job guys! that's a cool climb/grovel with a bonus view of town when you top out.

corner flash?

I was talkin to a friend of mine who claims to have taken a few of these signs, sliced them into thirds, and put them back saying "WAR ON IRAQ" You should keep an eye on that sign bubba.

Kind of an old story but, you could do like these guys did- Some choose country over football -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Len Pasquarelli ESPN.com You never know what will touch a nerve but, for Arizona Cardinals strong safety Pat Tillman, the terrorist events of last Sept. 11 and the insidious sense of fear they engendered in all of us clearly were the equivalent of applying a cattle prod to an open wound. And so, rather than allow his sense of duty-bound responsibility to expire in a graveyard of good intentions, Tillman did something about it by depositing his football career in layaway for the next three years and enlisting in the U.S. Army, aspiring to become a member of the elite Special Forces group. It was, for most of us hearing of his intentions last week, an inexplicable decision. The free-spirited but still consummately disciplined Tillman turned his back on a three-year contract proposal worth $3.6 million for a gig that pays roughly 18 grand a year. Then again Pat Tillman, a man whose carefully sketched blueprint for life was altered by the arrival of terrorism on our shores, is not most of us. There is, it has been said, nothing sadder than the death of an illusion. But happy is that occasional man who thumbs his nose at convention, who clings to nonconformity as if it were the last piece of driftwood floating past a sunken ship, and who answers to his heart and not his wallet. Freshly back from his honeymoon in Bora Bora last week, Pat Tillman apprised friends and relatives and the Arizona Cardinals coaching staff that there were more significant things in his life right now, that his conscience would not allow him to tackle opposition fullbacks when there is still a bigger enemy that needs to be stopped in its tracks. "This is not," cautioned Tillman's agent and friend, Frank Bauer, "some kind of publicity stunt or anything. This is Pat Tillman, through and through. It wasn't some wild thought that just occurred to him. Believe me, he thought this out, and he's clear about it. This is something he feels he has to do. For him, it's a mindset, a duty. For him it isn't as big a deal as it is to the rest of us. He figures, 'Hey, I'm not the first, you know?' " Indeed, while Tillman's decision registers as incongruous for most who would sacrifice everything for a shot at the kind of celebrity he enjoyed, his own sacrifice is reminiscent this Memorial Day weekend of those made by other professional athletes. The baseball record books, in particular, are filled with examples of star players -- Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, among others -- whose incredible feats would be even more prodigious had they not trudged off to war. More recently, Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach served time in Vietnam, as did Rocky Bleier, the former Pittsburgh Steelers running back who nearly had his foot blown off by a land mine, but came back to win four Super Bowl rings. And then there's the case of Bob Kalsu, the only active NFL player killed in the Vietnam conflict. Another former NFL player, Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Don Steinbrunner, was killed in Vietnam in 1967 when the C-123 Provider he was piloting was gunned down by enemy anti-aircraft forces. His loss certainly was no less a tragedy than that of Kalsu, but Steinbrunner was 10 years retired at the time of his death, his ties to football then defined by a coaching stint at the Air Force Academy. Bob Kalsu, conversely, had just one year of NFL seniority when he opted not to contest his call-up to active service after his 1968 rookie season with the Buffalo Bills. Chosen in the eighth-round of that year's "other" draft, Kalsu started eight games at guard. "As solid a player and more important, as solid an individual, as they make," recollected Billy Shaw, the Hall of Fame member who played the other guard spot for the Bills, two years ago. "He would have been a great player, believe me, and not because he was the best athlete. He just wanted to be good, that's all, and wanted it so badly that it would have been enough." At a time when it was acceptable for professional athletes to defer military service, Kalsu felt obligated to honor the ROTC pledge that had been as much a part of his life at the University of Oklahoma as had his All-American role on the football team. And so Kalsu left his pregnant wife and young daughter to fulfill what he deemed to be a responsibility he could not ignore. In writing of Kalsu for a column two years ago, when the Buffalo Bills organization chose to honor him on its "Wall of Fame," this columnist spoke to family and friends and former teammates and gained some sense of the man. Noted sportswriter William Nack was far more eloquent than yours truly in a Sports Illustrated piece on Kalsu last summer. Doubtless many readers recall that feature, a narrative that thrust Kalsu into the public consciousness, if only for a too-brief time. First lieutenant Kalsu died on July 21, 1970, on a stretch of desolate Ashau Valley mountaintop known as "Firebase Ripcord," where his 11th artillery unit of the 101st Airborne Division had been pinned down for weeks by relentless enemy fire. The legend was that he was shot as he sprinted across an open field to a helicopter, one he felt was delivering news of the birth of his second child. His colleagues and family have debunked the legend, but Bob Kalsu Jr. was born within 24 hours of his father's death, and took years to accept that the dad he never knew would perish in a war that seemed to mean so little. Years later, the junior Kalsu claims to have heard his father's voice during a reception for the wedding his sister, Jill. The voice, Kalsu Jr. suggested, was his father telling him to substitute for him during the wedding dance. "It was clear and unmistakable," Kalsu Jr. said. And so, apparently, was the voice that spoke to Pat Tillman in recent weeks. Since he has deflected all interview requests and seems intent on allowing his actions to speak for themselves, it is difficult to precisely define Tillman's motivation. But on the weekend reserved for honoring those who sacrificed careers, lifestyles, relationships -- and, yes, even their lives -- one of Tillman's teammates offered a pithy but profound explanation for his reasoning. "He is," said Cardinals free safety Kwamie Lassiter, "a man who loves this country." Have a nice weekend!

Interesting to hear chipping considered aid and the connection between damage from using pins compared to chipping. Not sure if I buy it, it's a little too black & white. So are copperheads smeared on a little divet in the rock considered clean or ?

embrace the stench and dirt! Don't wash it!

what a shocker! And you seem like such a good, hardworking employee!

I wonder if anyone has gone from Paradise to Sumit to Paradise to Summit to Paradise (sumitted twice) in less than 24 hours.

I shave my pink ass every day!

Call off the search, my gloves were rescued late last night from under my tuff tote full of fasteners in the garage. Thanks for your help!