Bronco

Were the roads washed out or something? That is kind of a bummer. There is a big washout on the road to Three Fingers that there is no funding to fix and the road to Persis is generally gated at HWY 2 due to knuckleheads vandalizing the logging equipment and leaving garbage up the road.

Yeah, Baring is a good one, pretty much straight up the hill from the trailhead. Unfortunately, Three Fingers and Persis now involve several miles of logging road walking to get to the former trailheads.

I'm always curious about where folks go to get a good, quick 4,000-5,000' training hike with-in a 90 minute drive of Everett. I mean besides Mailbox or Mt. Si. Mt. Pugh is a good one. Dickerman is pretty crowded. Whitehorse to Lone Tree via the Niederprum is ok but the mile of road walking is pretty boring. Labyrinth Mountain is good but a longer drive.

What about JERRY UNDERSCORE SANCHEZ? Did he ever find the caps lock key?

Finally! Awesome work on the photos Jason, thanks for posting up the TR.

I'm curious about the total mileage and elevation gain. Am I right that just the trail in to Access (17mi) and out from Beaver Pass (24mi) is 40+ miles?

I feel like I need a safe space after reading that!

Glad to hear you're ok. Your story is certainly worth consideration of folks bivied on the TFT. I remember the W. Ridge Notch being tough to see until we were right on top of it and realized we could be above other climbers. Thanks for posting your story.

Just FYI - there's currently a fire up the Suiattle River road and intermittent road closures. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/mbs/alerts-notices/?cid=stelprdb5150570&width=full

Good to know, Juan Sharp says "hi" and thanks for the intel.

Which approach did you use on Challenger? Trying to plan something for later this summer.

Lots to climb in the Silver Star/Wine Spires area as well with no permits.

Interesting the gully of doom is so melted out, would've thought it would still be plumb full of snow. Isn't there a new road in to ride on? Those cobbles don't look particularly great for biking much less with a full day's worth of climbing gear on your back.

Pretty sweet. I'd be interested to see more details, such as the total mileage and vert. How does this compare with other big ski traverses done in the lower 48?

My feeble minded understanding is that if you have to pull harder due to the increased friction, you're introducing more force on the anchor.

Here's a vid with a little more info. Rip is not a doctor but sounds authoritative [video:youtube]

Jason, sorry to hear bout the tendonitis. A couple of years ago, I had it in my right elbow so badly that I could hardly shake hands without tearing up. This will sound strange but doing 20 sets of 3 chin-ups (rest 1-2 minutes between sets) every 4-5 days has some magical powers that cleared up my Tennis Elbow a couple of years ago. Took about two weeks for me to totally heal. Heard it referred to as "pin-firing" or "Starr rehab protocol" or something like that. I know it sounds crazy but it worked well for me and it works on horses so, you know... Learned of it here: http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/mark-rippetoe-q-and-a/60057-tennis-elbow-pin-firing.html *not a doctor but play one on the internet

Thanks for posting that Jason, I hadn't seen it. Great to see he's posting some of his radness again!

solid thread bump

Like JasonG, I've never climbed the West Buttress on Denali so I may not be qualified to comment on this question. However, I have climbed some other less extreme buttresses and I've been pretty happy in the mountains with a vey light wool base layer and this wind shirt here: http://westcomb.com/product/crest-hoody/ I've used this combo for a few years of infrequent soft man climbing and ski touring. I bet you can find the jacket on clearance somewhere online.

Not even worth starting a new thread for the 2017 chumps. Forgot they were playing early on Sunday and stopped in Roslyn at the Brick for lunch. Game was on in the 3rd inning and it was 9-1. One look at the scoreboard and I ordered up an Irish Death. There's always next year....

Sounded terrible, good job!

http://www.pacificinsurancegroup.com I believe I have a much higher chance of dying of disease or day to day life so when they asked if I participate in any "extreme activities" I said no, just some off trail backpacking/scrambling and skiing. They did not pursue the question further. Frankly, I don't think my occasional mid-fifth class climbing qualifies as "extreme" and I'm a lot more likely to be killed in a car wreck so that's the important coverage. In the unlikely situation where I'm actually killed in a catastrophic climbing accident, there may be a dispute with the insurance provider. That being said, our kid is out of the house and my wife makes a decent income which factored into the decision.

Regarding the Term vs. Whole, I prefer to look at life insurance as having a completely separate purpose than my investments. You can get a lot more coverage for less premium with a Term policy. We recently replaced our old policies and they were more concerned with my cholesterol and BMI than my climbing and bc skiing. I ended up paying about $1,100 annually for $500k of coverage, wife was $850ish for the same coverage.

Motorcycle racing probably feels safer than climbing routes like that.