mattp

I suffered a groin pull in a large aid fall in Yosemite some years back and it healed after a month or so. I was out of commission only relatively briefly.

I carried some of those for a few years and never actually used them before I bought something better. I guess I got lucky.

Thanks for the info! The traverse is a very exciting place to be and a traverse in the moat might make a big difference in the level of skill required as well as the level of fear -- both for leader and follower.

Last time I went up there the "core" zone was full but the ranger lady pointed out that we could get a permit for camping at Snow Lake. It meant hiking up the hill to get to Prusik Peak two days in a row, but we still got to go.

damn, tom. Too bad about the gear. Nice job getting out!

I agree that it is confusing to have such widely different rules in different areas, KK, but I don't think that I would agree with any one-size-fits all approach. For example, at 10,000 feet on Mt. Rainier, where campers are setting their tents on snow, the 'issue" to the extent that there is one is simply one of raw numbers. In Boston Basin, it is about impact on the vegetation and the number of parties may well be more significant than the raw number of climbers. Similarly, there may be good reasons for variance in how long in advance you can reserve permits based on concerns including the staffing available to manage the system and the degree to which the permit area draws visitors from outside the local area (I presume that locals are more able to go next weekend if they phone in to find out that there are no permits available this weekend but that might not be true). For maximum group size I think there may be reasons to have different limits for different areas. A group of 12 on a peak climb like Forbidden completely ruins anybody else's day but a group of 12 on the Easton Glacier probably hurts nobody.

So sad, Jason. Pets are HUGE. I've had dogs and cats nearly all my life, and visit the grave of our most recent on a regular basis. (He lies beneath the path from the bus stop.) I hope it helps that so many of us here on the interweb are saying good stuff to your relationship with your buddy. I like the pictures of him in the camp chair. I don't think I ever met your pup. Dogs rock.

Thanks, Jon. I knew there had to be a way. It may be just as easy to select a couple of your favorite pictures and post them on the cc.com photo gallery and then link them here.

Goatboy, I've posted this before so I apologize to those who think I am repeating myself: you do not get twists in the rope using a Munter hitch if you pull the rope out of the knot immediately parallel to the rope going into it. If you understand this basic point about the Munter you can find a lot of ways to use it without causing the twisting problems that we all associate with it. Belaying a follower is a snap. Lowering someone? The Munter is much smoother than a belay device.

The normal munter works very well for belaying a second as long as you have the belay point set high enough so you are pulling the "break hand" rope downward. I have not found need for the additional security of an autoblock modification.

I agree that it is a matter of principal. Public lands should be public. And when you add up all the fees involved, a simple three day trip to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, with a night in the campground before the hike in and a permit to camp at Colchuck Lake, costs a serious chunk of change. But Mark is right too: it is fact that the government is broke and most of us who are spending our time complaining on cc.com can afford to purchase passes for all the different public lands we visit. My own approach is to simply swallow what little pride I may have invested in the issue and buy the pass, but write letters to my representatives, show up at public meetings, and vote. Where given an opportunity, I will work against the pass at every turn but meanwhile I realize that they need the money.

Watching the sunrise is nice, Oly, but generally we don't sit around and watch the sunrise when on any kind of climbing outing. If out and about at sunrise we're usually on the march and likely don't take more than a brief halt to greet the day. When ski mountaineering in particular, knowing the descent may be pretty quick, I have many times lingered high in the Alpine zone to catch the last rays of the sun.

I understand the advantages of starting early on an alpine climb, Kurt, and I've left my camp in the dark many times. However, that has usually been when climbing large objectives or where we thought conditions would be better earlier in the day. I've had a couple of friends who just plain LIKE to get up at 4 a.m. or whatever, and have at times insisted that it was somehow noble or wise to start early for early's sake -- even when heading for a half day climb. I've always thought these individuals were nuts, but I've had some good friends so afflicted. The first time I went to climb Mt. Adams with my ski-buddies we left the car at 10:00 and on our way up passed over a hundred climbers coming down but had the summit and the ski down all to ourselves. Late is great.

You're getting good advice and don't need more commentary from the naysayer's club, posielski, but I'll chime in anyway. First of all, let me say that I started out with an inexperienced and by some standards brash set of companions and we read books and practiced stuff and figured it out. There was some luck involved, but you can learn to climb that way. I'm pretty sure that in asserting what sounds like some kind of fatalistic philosophical viewpoint you are expressing reverence for the mountain kingdom but don't mean to suggest that you don't think you need to be careful. However, I once knew somebody who used to say "if the mountain truly wants to kill you it will find a way" and guess what? The mountain found a way. I would echo the suggestion that a slightly smaller and tamer objective might be a better first "technical" glacier climb. It'd be a good idea to obtain some instruction or a guide (maybe both) but I suspect that you will most likely survive your planned attempt at climbing Mt. Rainier though, as you know, a lack of experience and technical knowledge is not an asset there. Meanwhile, as to a comment offered by Rad: I was once told that the rangers have no interest in deciding whether someone is "qualified" to climb on the upper mountain and no authority to make such judgments. Whether that is true or not, I can guess that they don't want that kind of responsibility. Mr. poseilski is going to have to figure that one out.

My experience with "whiplash" injuries has been that it slowly got better and I could not clearly tell if any particular treatment helped. I've been through it twice, once from a car accident and once from skiing, and I did everything possible to heal: steroid injections into the spine, physical therapy, shiatsu, acupuncture, massage, drugs, ice, generally laying low, etc. etc. In the case of the auto accident I had much better insurance coverage and more options. A training injury may be different somehow, but I bed I'd follow the same approach: I'd try anything and everything.

I might actually lend ropes and harness to somebody for a climb on Rainier, thinking that there is zero chance that anything that goes wrong would be due to the equipment. Would that be, in any way, encouraging somebody like the original poster to take risks or something like that? Clearly, any of us who have climbed very much or even those of us who have not climbed very much but have practiced crevasse rescue know how, particularly in a small party, a "simple" crevasse fall where nobody gets hurt could easily result in fatality. Similarly, anybody with an ounce of common sense or a scintilla of snow climbing experience knows that simply roping up does not insure safety on steep snow or ice slopes. But, why would companies rent boots but not ropes for a climb of Mt. Rainier? Has a rope ever broken on a glacier climb? Is there anyone who thinks that it would be any kind of possibility?

Bill, I think in large measure I agree with you. Plum sauce or gravy?

Bill, I think you might want to get back to that Sooty Grouse barbeque. You are not making sense. You'd rather do Bachman than Palin, OK. Whatever. But train wreck or vat of acid? I think we are doing all of the above but that doesn't answer any question about what your vision for this country might be. It is hard to say what the next election will bring but Bachman vs. Obama is not altogether unlikely. Both suck will not be on the ballot. Sign me up for a drumstick and thigh, though. I'll have the "wild greens" and the potatos au gratin.

Good stuff. Now, KK, who would you vote for if we had Bachman and Obama as candidates in the next presidential election?

Bachman vs. Obama. How would you vote, KKJK?

I didn't mean to introduce uncertainty as to which Palisades we are talking about. I agree with Andy that as a general rule we should look to practice our particular hobby not on landmarks or at in-your-face locations. Not all others share the enthusiasm for human movement over vertical stone that we do and some may even be offended by our mere presence in the landscape.

Wow. How many "Palisades" are there? I've climbed at some column's called the "Palisades" in the NE corner of Rainier park but you have a different "Palisades."

Sorry. I tried to make one of the photo's appear but it looks to me as if Flickr is set up to block hot links. You may have to load a photo onto the cc.com gallery in order to display it.

Nice one. A shot of the Vulgarian. On my first lead I fell off Gaston, one or two pitches below this on the link-up we did that day. Shokley's is an amazing climb.

Nobody ever did pick these up. I still have 'em and am looking to get rid of them, still. Still free to a good home.