mattp

And that last one, right to the summit is the sweetest finish!

I once had a big wall rack stolen from my car at First and Cherry. I suspect it all ended up in a dumpster somewhere, and I went prowling around every nearby alley in the area the next day.

Yup. I saw him tonight too. He was in a good mood, well oriented, and etc. He said you better not mess up his house or he's coming for you. It was good to see him.

I don't think the medical literature says that past experience at altitude is no predictor of future performance; I think if you read up on it you will find that they say it is not a consistent predictor. Some individuals do better than others, and if somebody performs poorly at altitude consistently you can bet they are likely to continue to do so. I don’t think anybody suffers altitude related problems at 2,000 feet, though. And Diamox is not a sure preventative. It is supposed to improve body chemistry slightly, and it helps, but I don’t think the test Catbird suggests will answer your question.

For viewing on a computer screen, you can save with a moderate amount of jpg compression to reduce file size and you won't see any difference. In photoshop, select "Medium" to "High" image quality instaed of "Highest" or whatever it is. I don't know what compression options Irfanview may offer.

For what it is worth, my brother pushed both his kids fairly hard, like taking my nephew up some climb at the Gunks when he was three and, later, making the whole family cry on some long route in the Dolomites. One of his sons has stuck with it, the other not.

You are just looking for a pat on the back there, Catbird. Of course the trail is improved! It is great! And, so far, we have not had the usual black fly explosion in Darrington. Maybe they are just going to start a little later than usual, but who knows: maybe global warming has claimed another ten million victims in the Darrington bug population. This is the first in over ten years that there have been no frogs in the frog pond on the Granite Sidewalk, too.

Oh, and I generally agree with Jens' ordering at the start of the thread. The Price Glacier route may belong higher on the list, but I too have not climbed it. I think the "overrated" climb is Liberty Crack.

I think the Direct East Buttress is spectacular for five pitches and there is not much that is distasteful getting to or down from it, but maybe that is just me. Anyway, I'll have to try the Lexington route.

When I climbed Liberty Crack, we certainly used more than a half dozen points of aid, but I agree that it is not so much of an aid climb as it is often perceived. I have not done it, but how does Thin Red Line stack up? An interesting related question is: what if any might be better choices for the Cascades. I think it is a pretty good list of some excellent climbs, though I might substitute Nooksak Tower Bertulis route for the Price Glacier (have not done the latter but have looked at it), and I think the upper half of the North Ridge on Stuart is the good part, so I'd say upper half only for that one or maybe Burgner Stanley on Prussik instead. Also, I think the Direct East Buttress on South Early Winter Spire is overall a better climb than Liberty Crack.

I'd say surviving your early days of climbing is half the battle but my friends who have been killed have been very experienced climbers, and especially when it comes to alpine climbing I wouldn't say experience = safety. Especially if you are drawn to ever bigger and more technical alpine climbs. When a friend of mine was missing in the Columbia Icefields some years back, the rangers pronounced them presumed dead, saying that with climbers of that many years' experience they were usually dead if missing so long. I didn't get the impression that from the rangers' perspective, many years' experience translated directly to safer.

Call the ranger station to verify, but my impression is that it is generally getting easier to get permits on a walk-in basis than it used to be. To me it has always made more sense to approach from the north for north side routes, though many don't like the Sherpa Col descent or other north side options.

Big Tree One is a good climb. It'd be even better if we went up there and cleaned that third pitch. If you really want to make him angry, send them up the third pich of Big Tree Two on lead. The crux moves come 27 feet out from the last pro.

As much as I agree that it is no longer what it used to be, I gotta say we should look at some of the good that comes with the bad here. For example, REI put up a major portion of the money behind the effort to reopen Peshastin Pinnacles some years back, and it is not called REI State Park. They were actively involved in the fixed anchor discussions six years ago, and they continue to support the Access Fund (I'm guessing) more than other companies of similar size. They're involved in some cool projects that actually support climbing and other recreational activities and I suppose one could say that Wallmart does the same kind of thing but never-the-less some of this is OK. Is it really a bad thing if they make hiking wear for obese people? I have not studied REI's history, and am not involved in any efforts to "reform" the company but isn't it true that at least some other successful and long-time coops have followed a similar evolution -- look at PCC for an example. Perhaps REI is in some ways a victim of its own success. Is there any possibility of somebody starting a new coop that would be more like the REI of olden times? Earlier in this thread, somebody noted that they "shut out" MEC. Are they in fact able to prevent a bunch of us from cc.com or anywhere else from banding together and getting some wholesale deals - or is it the gear manufacturers with their "manufacturer suggested retail" pricing that do so - or some combination?

in the 1970's, I believe the generally accepted answer to this question was the Troll Wall in Norway. Middendorf article. Maybe it was just the biggest cliff that had been climbed as of that time.

Great project. I see that you are logging on as Haireball, so I'm not sure about the montypiton identity, but anyway I hope you get some participation here. By the way, for what it is worth, I believe Dan Cauthorn wrote a book on this topic.

Larry is right - I've seen lots of people lose gear that is attached to the outside of a pack. But, if you are so inclined, a good way to carry a shovel on the outside of just about any pack is to put two snap hooks on the ice axe loops that are pretty much standard. Just slip the loop through the ring, and slide it over the hook and you have a square knot that will not untie. Then clip the hooks to the holes in the corner of your shovel, and use a keeper strap on your handle. You will not lose the shovel and it is very easy to stow/remove. This is more secure than simply shoving it into a shovel pocket.

Rudy makes a good point when he says that to master rock climbing, one must spend time on a variety of types of climbs. In that vein, I'd say that the climber looking to transition from the gym to outside climbing would probably learn more from first following someone on some old school trad crack climbs and slab routes and then working toward leading them than they would from simply moving to bolted climbs like the one that started this discussion: Condormorphamine. Even if they don't aspire to becoming the Index crack master or the runout slab dancer, they will learn skills that will really help on a variety of climbs including those more like the bolted gym routes they are used to - including Condomorphamine. Even if they don't want to continue chasing after climbs that wander around, require building your own belay anchors, developing rope signals to handle the possibility of not being able to see or talk to your partner from one end of the rope to another, lacing together several sketchy pieces of pro to protect some runout crux, or evaluating where to set a belay amid a pile of choss, these experiences will go a long way to teach you "what to think about" and how a momentary lapse in attention can be deadly.

Harry, do not read any thread where somebody asks for beta if you don't want beta.

I climbed it many years ago (about a week after the first ascent, in fact), and I thought it was only so-so. Maybe it is cleaner now, but I thought the original route on Snowpatch was far superior and, even though it has a bunch of squeeze chimney, I liked the McCarthy route better too.

I'd say it is a little more than that, Rudy. More than simply "using your brain," he is talking about a shift in orientation. You are right, though, that "using your brain" will go a long way...

I think the leg wraps work pretty well and are very easy to engage/disengage.

I too generally avoid tying knots in the ends of my rope because I don't want it to get stuck in cracks or bushes or whatever. However, on particularly steep terrain with an unknown destination anchor station, I generally do tie the knots. On low angle terrain, if the anchors are bomber, it often helps to have two climbers rappel at the same time, with one managing the "right hand" rope and the other manageing the "left hand" rope. I like Fern's checklist.

If they post on cc.com, you for one will belittle and insult them. It could be a good place to talk about such a transition, but for many it is not.