mattp

Today, I received the following via e-mail: MIDNIGHT AND NOONTIME ROCKS AND VICINITY CLOSED TO ENTRY APRIL 1 TO JULY 31 To Protect Nesting Raptors. By Order 36 CFR 261.53 (a). Violations are punishable by fine and imprisonment. Attention Climbers Raptors have been observed on and between Midnight and Noontime Rocks. To protect these birds during the nesting period these rocks and the area immediately above and between them is closed to all entry. During the nesting period, the site will be monitored and if conditions warrant, some restrictions may be lifted. Climbers are not the only creatures drawn to Leavenworth's rock faces. The walls are also crucial breeding areas for birds of prey. They are sensitive to human disturbance during their nesting and roosting cycle. People who stray too close to a nest can scare off parent birds or elicit an attack. Even if the nest is not abandoned, disturbance can cause nest failure. Eggs need to be constantly incubated so they do not become too hot or cold. Newly hatched raptors can not regulate their own body temperature and frightened juvenile birds may attempt to fly before they are ready. It is critical that everyone abides by posted seasonal closures in order to protect the birds. Thank you! Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests, Wenatchee River Ranger District, Leavenworth Ranger Station (509)548-6977

And Kurt's going to go out and buy all of the CD's he can find of String Cheese Incident.

I'm having a problem with my scanner, and can't seem to get the TWAIN software to reset so I can scan some slides. My show and tell offering will have to wait. You got a picture of the London Tower or sumptin?

I may have some cool pictures to share. Anybody else got something for show and tell? Gary?

If you can, I'd go to the store and try them on. Ask them to let you actually hang in the thing and see how it feels. Padding and wide webbing are probably going to be big plusses for you but I think you'll find that the actual "fit" or the length of the "rise" or other factors that pertain to just how the harness fits your body are going to be quite significant. You also get to check which ones have some clumsy buckle or something.

Sorry to misunderstand you, Undermind, but your original post said nothing about using it inside a tent or under a tarp, either. In these settings, I think you may find that the addition of a goretex sleeping bag cover will cause moisture to condense inside the shell and it may sometimes actually makes your sleeping bag wetter than going without --- assuming you ventilate your tent and set a tarp well. If it is water coming in from outside the perimeter of the tarp that is getting your bag wet, the extra pound that your sleeping bag cover will add would probably be better spent in carrying a slightly larger tarp.

I've said this before on this site, but please forgive me for repeating myself: what you want is a tent or a tarp. Seriously: I don't use a sleeping bag cover or bivy bag, but I've always used a down bag. I've done most of my climbing and hiking in the ever-wet Northwest, and I've been on dozens of trips lasting three weeks or more. For eight years, I worked for Outward Bound and spent over 100 days each year sleeping under a tarp or in a snow cave. I know everybody uses bivvy bags, but I don't really see the utility. Two bivvy bags weigh no less than a tarp or lightweight tent, and the tent or tarp are far more comfortable. It takes a little bit of care to keep your down bag dry in wet conditions without a waterproor cover, but it realy only takes a LITLE bit of care.

Pentax is coming out with a new waterproof pocket-camera. There are no user reviews that I can find yet, but if the image quality is good this would be a pretty sweet little toy. Pentax Optio WP: 5 mp with 3x optical zoom, a super small body with the zoom internal, and waterproof.

Vandeman's view is shared by a large number of conservation minded people here in Washington. Where we see a recreation area, many people would like to lock us out in the name of "preservation." I'd argue that the current human impact is pretty small on, say, the Glacier Peak Wilderness. I'd also say there is a heck of a lot of wilderness area and land otherwise managed as wilderness in the Cascades. Does that make me part of Fairweather's "right wing horde?" I agree with him on some issues, and I agree with Vandeman on some issues too, but I think its a question of balance.

Open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Wednesday Do we get to have our burgers delivered by train?

Would that be this place? It sounds worth a visit.

I think the yellow pads are supposed to be higher density than blue foam - as in smaller cells, not as in heavier. I think this is supposed to render them less likely to compress to a thinner dimension under a hip or shoulder, thus providing slightly better insulation for a given thickness.

I don't think any anchors are missing on Westward Ho. Safety man and friends rapped that way last week and he said it was all in good shape.

The Trust for Public Lands seeks to purchase some property in Icicle Creek that contains several popular climbs, including Ski Track Cracks, Groping Oprah’s Naval, Don’t Forget Arete, and Fridge Boulder. The land will be developed and climbing access will disappear if they can’t raise the needed funds. YOU can help. The Washington Climbers Coalition seeks to raise at least $8500 toward the purchase. If just 350 climbers contribute $25 apiece, we can reach our goal. That’s less than many climbers spend on gas and food for a day of climbing! There's one hitch: we must raise the money by April 28th or the deal they've cobbled together will fall through. For more information, go to www.washingtonclimbers.org. There’s a pointer on the front page.

I'm not sure you can see the Norwegian Buttresses from there. The way I heard the story was that he said "the hardest route in Washington is accross the street."

if I remember right, there are some old pitons in that seam nearby, and there were once some slings on bushes in the corners above, but I don't think there is much else that anyone would call a route beyond that point -- though in the old guidebook I think the route is shown as going on for a few more pitches up and right.

I climbed the headwall in January or February 1978, the day of what I believe was probably the first winter ascent of the route -- but so did at least two other parties ahead of us the same day. There had been a rainstorm to the summit the week before, followed by clear cold weather. Everyone got the same idea at the same time and there was quite a party in the Kulshan Cabin the night before. The FWA was made by at least eight people.

Yes, it is tongue in cheek humor, Catbird, but there is also some reality to it. The "sub-message" is that the guide needs to guard against the worst possible mistake or inattention on the part of their client - that is their job. Also, guides can get complacent about their own safety, scrambling up and down cliffs to set fixed ropes or neglecting to anchor themself or sit in a safe place, out of the way of rockfall, when they are using the rope to hasten their client along or whatever, and "humor" like this is intended to convey the idea that what you may do on your day off, with your friends, can be VERY dangerous and completely inappropriate when "on the job."

Yes, in a way, the bio-zones are similar. Rainstorms sweep accross from the west accross open water and the mountains form a similar barrier, with rainforest at the foot of glaciated peaks, and bare or semi-bare valleys in the lee of the New Zealand Alps. The west coast is as wet as the Olympic Penninsula, the mountains wet and snowy all year around kind of like southeast Alaska, there is an area like the Chilcotin Plateau on the east slope, and along the east coast it feels like California or something. It has more variety and probably more extremes than we have (though I'm not sure there is any true desert), and the mountains don't get the same dry season that we have, but in many ways it does "feel like home," However, as mountains the New Zealand Alps are more like those in southeast Alaska than anything in Washington. Mount Cook stands nearly 10,000 feet above a 25-mile long glacier immediately below. The climb, from the glacier (most parties fly to a hut half way up) is kind of like climbing Mount Johannesburg, in the Spring, ON TOP of climbing some other major cascade peak. And the glaciers there are, like Alaska glaciers, something to worry about. Crevasse falls are common.

However, the link-up I described would not, properly speaking, be "The Kone." Catbird Trog may have just made the first "winter" ascent. Another one for the record-books.

For The Kone, I think a better alternative is to climb the first three (short) pitches of "Till Broad Daylight, then switch to The Kone just before the long leftward traverse on the fourth pitch. This provides more varied climbing, and what I think is probably the best 5.8 pitch in Darrington. It often has a drip in the middle of what is shown on the topo's as pitch 2, but rarely is this a problem.

The White Salmon is overall probably a less serious ski descent than the SW Chutes. It is a glacier, and there are some crevasses, but the danger from an unchecked fall down the Chutes is probably greater than the danger of a crevasse fall on the White Salmon (I've done both). The South Spur (the standard or "south route") is quite steep for the upper several hundred feet below the false summit. You've got big plans for a first backcountry ski trip. Have fun!

Bring a mountain bike.

Reading this thread, I get the impression that everyone assume that greater snow cover will always mean less rock fall. I don't think this is quite right; in my experience the rocks start to roll when things are warming or when the sun hits a slope or when a slope goes into shade or when it rains or whenever a climber kicks them. Comparing my mid-summer experience to all of the reports from those who climb the route in May or June, I think there was actually LESS rockfall when I did the climb than most early season parties report. The difference may be that, when I climbed it, the weather had been stable for several weeks and this tends not to be the case in May.