mattp

I don't know about "THE BIG EVENT," but last year we had about 50 people show up. These indluded several Seattle area climbers who wouldn't think of spraying on this website. It was fun to share some burgers, meet some new faces and watch slides. Many climbers exchanged contact information and later hooked up for climbs as a result. As I've noted on my flier, there used to be an event called the "Climber's Picnic" many years ago. It was held in this same location, for several years in a row, until discontinued fifteen years ago or maybe twenty. As we are holding this year's event in the old location and there is lawn bowling nearby, maybe we can get some of the "old guard" to show up.

EVENT MOVED!!!!!!

No. We have to move the event to Woodland Park, near Greenlake. Otherwise, same program. Picnic and slides.

You can download Clint Cummins' guidebook at this site. Darryl's book is better, but if you just want to visit the place once, the old Cummins book will serve just fine.

As noted last week, Nason Ridge has some good stuff. You'll have to carry your skis up the bare lower slopes and the transition from dirt to skiing may be both bushy and have bad snow. For a shorter and easier trip, head up Skyline Ridge directly accross the street from the ski area. My guess (guess only) is that the approach/depproach for Jim Hill is starting to get to be a pain in the neck with tne lower snowpack melting off.

There's also a map that shows the commonly used route. It is a large display map; I've got it at home. I don't remember who published it.

It has been done and written about many times. A bit of research in the Mountaineers' library ought to get you some pretty good info.

As of Sunday, 4/18, the road was blocked by snow several miles from there -- about a mile or so before the turnoff at Beverly Creek. Some high clearance 4x4's were getting through the snow patches there and driving further up the road, but somebody in a Subaru had done this at some point and ended up having to leave their car behind. On the way out, we picked up somebody who had driven over a firm snow patch on the road toward Navaho Peak, early in the morning, and then returned to find out they couldn't get back out. I'm sure their tow bill was not small. The woman answering the phone at the Cle Elum ranger station was right on with accurate information when I called on Friday, 4/16.

Not only a kook, but he doesn't know what he's talking about. I've had Marmot mismount bindings before. In fact, they failed to tap the hole on my skis with a metal topsheet, so they delaminated the first time I skied on them. And then I had some "customer service issues" when I went back and complained. Inspite of the fact that the problem was obviously THEIR fault, they made me wait a month while they got a replacement pair from the distributor instead of setting me up with another pair of skis from their stock.

Mr. Death - Yes, beginners like you can do it. I don't know anything at all about that seminar, but the fact is that just about any "seminar" is going to be set up to accomodate beginners. Climbers with amu significant amount of experience generally don't attend seminars unless, perhaps, a clinic offering specialized training such as advanced first aid training, or aid climbing technique or crevasse rescue or something. You can do more than attend a clinic, though. With absolutely no prior experience I bet you can safely find your way up and down most mountains in this state. You'll blunder around and get lost in the bush, perhaps, and you may find yourself a little scared when your "scramble" leads you onto some exposed cliff with nothing to grab but clumps of moss, but I bet you'll survive. Sign up for a class ... or don't. Either way, get some books (Mountaineering, Freedom of the Hills would be a good choice), and head for the hills. If you can, find a way to tag along with somebody who knows what they are doing. You'll be safer that way, and you'll learn a lot. But if you are reasonably cautious and exercise just a modicum of common sense, the mountains are probably not going to kill or even maim you. If you go out and try to recreate what you've seen on the extreme sports channel, you're going to kill yourself real quick, but as long as you take it easy you should do OK. Yes, inexperienced climbers get into trouble all the time -- but in fact I think it is perfectly reasonable for a "newbie" to go out and climb mountains. Start with mountains that have trails up them, like Mount Si or Mount Persis (a little more adventurous). I'm not kidding. The guidebooks are full of descriptions of peaks that are specifically noted to be non-technical, where you can get a feel for being in the mountains and start to learn about how to keep yourself warm and dry in the face of mountain weather, how to take care of your feet so you don't get blisters, and you can scratch your head while you look at all the squiggly lines on a topo map. These are basic skills that you need to get up Mount Rainier. You're going to need some instruction in specific tecniques like how to use an ice axe, and more advance things like how to use ropes and stuff before you can climb most of the mountains people talk about on this bulleting board, but that doesn't have to stop you from getting out there. If all you want to do is climb Mount Rainier, and if you can afford it, skip all of this and simply hire a guide. With absolutely no prior experience, you still probably have a 50% chance of succeeding on Mt. Rainier with a qualified guide.

As far as I recall, we don't have many hailstorms around here. If they do a rolling slowdown once in a while to prevent stupid Washington drivers from killing themselves, it is probably not altogether a terrible thing. What really bugs me, however, is how SPD blocks off streets and controls traffic around big events like football and baseball games. What a bunch of B.S.! I grew up in Ann Arbor, where the stadium held 101,000, and was always sold out, and they never saw the need to mess up traffic with anywhere near such massive roadway closures. Ever try to drive anywhere near the U Dist/Montlake when there was a Husky game? They won't let you. Wanna go somewhere in the Sodo area when there's a Mariner's game about to start? Forget it. SPD traffic control sucks.

I've always heard it pronounced tie-uh-tin.

I somewhat agree with you about the toke and the drink, badvoodoo--I much prefer to be "on my game" when I'm climbing and I prefer that my partners are, too. However, I think you miss the point. I don't think anybody is saying they "have to" toke or drink to enjoy a fine view. Yes, there are plenty of potheads on this board who seem to want to inhale all day long starting when they get out of bed in the morning, but I don't think even they would say this is "necessary" to appreciate their power spot. For many folks, though, it is time to relax when they sit down with the beer or the bowl, and this for them is often the time when they are ready to "feel the power."

Question: What is a "power place?" Is that a place where you feel good, and want to spark a bowl or maybe just sit and enjoy a pleasant view? If that is what it is, I usually find a nice restful place to take in the view on just about every trip I ever take to the outdoors. If we're really talking about "power spots," we're talking about something more than that, and something more profound than just a place where the climbing is really cool, no? What is it to you?

Toleak Point, when nobody is around, is quite a magical place. That'd be one of those "raw earth" type places. In ElCap meadows, the sheer mass of the Captain and Middle Cathedral Rock is so overpowering, the tourist busses and gapers seem not to matter. Get out of your car and walk down by the river with lawn chair and a glass of wine. Despite all the development, Yosemite rocks!!!!!

I thought we were talking about Earth Day.

Just for the sake of argument, there, CJF, I'll say I think sunset is a better time of day, for me, for "feeling the power." Whenever I'm out and about at sunrise in the mountains, I'm on my way to climb or ski something. Usually, this means I don't feel that I have time to sit there and admire the sunrise. The power I'm feeling is the buzz from my third cup of coffee and it's time to go! At sunset, however, I'm often done with the day's big project. My secret campsite on XXXXX Mountain, at sunset -- that's the power spot!!! In response to the post asking about Yosemite, I'd say ElCap Meadows is pretty nifty place to admire the power of granite.

She said they didn't have the fire department's report yet, but they've had an ongoing problem with vandals in various parks near the University of Washington. @*%%! college kids!!!!!!!!!

Klenkle, you've probably climbed 420 scrambles in the last 420 days, right?

CRISIS CRISIS CRISIS CRISIS CRISIS CRISIS CRISIS Picnic Shelter Number One at Magnuson Park burned down last night! I'm not kidding. This is no April Fools joke. Thats what the Parks and Recreation lady said. We may want to go to Greenlake instead, because I think there is no power outlet at the other Magnuson Park shelters. I'll check on this. *&%# vandals!!!!!!!

That pictures shows Dryad, climbing on Chumstick Snag during last Fall's CC.COM ropeup. CRISIS CRISIS CRISIS CRISIS CRISIS CRISIS CRISIS Picnic Shelter Number One at Magnuson Park burned down last night! I'm not kidding. This is no April Fools joke. Thats what the Parks and Recreation lady said. We may want to go to Greenlake instead, because I think there is no power outlet at the other Magnuson Park shelters. I'll check on this. *&%# vandals!!!!!!!

Are the people who have the stays poking through the bottom of the pack doing a lot of sitting glissades? That is a frequent way to shred the bottom of a pack and a good reason to sew some extra tough fabric on there.

The bar-tacked stips I spoke of are the daisy chains you mention. You don't need anything but some cord to attach anything you want to your pack, as long as there are lash points. However, some of these features do have their value. Rodchester said he thinks the crampon patch is worth it, and that a certain type of tool tube is useful. I think most people who post to this thread (it comes up at least once a year on this site) agree with him but maybe that's only because he posts to this thread every time it comes up so I've read his opinion a bunch. Somebody else will tell you you gotta have wand pockets that double as ski tail holders. Another guy thinks the shovel pocket is the coolest thing since sliced bread. Personally, I think a specific crampon pocket or ice tool slot or shovel pocket is a waste. I carry crampons only one in six trips, and ice tools slightly less than that. Even when carrying crampons, I may be headed into some basecamp setting with a coleman stove or folding chair on the back of my pack and then I can't carry the crampons in their intended spot anyway. Or, if I'm going to be crawling through some heavy brush, I put the front end of the crampons in my cook pot and put them inside of the pack because I don't want anything at all lashed to the outside. The same goes for all the other custom slots and doohickeys. The "truth" is that any pack will work OK. The "converse truth" is that whatever you buy, you will one day be out there, looking at your friend's pack, saying to yourself that you wish you had what they have. Consider buying a couple of packs, used, for the same price as a new one at Big Bucks Camp Supplies. This may allow you to try out a couple of things and find out what works for you most often.

RURP- Your "insight" may be correct, but it could just be that the guy wanted to solo Classic Crack and some other climb nearby because he was familiar with them and he knew he could safely do so... If my memory is correct, there is nice flat ground there, so he may have thought these were particularly good for that reason. Also, it only takes a minute to scramble down there from the car; maybe the guy had only a few minutes to spare while on a grocery run from one of the campgrounds or something... or there may have been some other motivation not quite so obvious. Just as you don't like my putting words into your mouth, don't assume you know what some "other guy" is thinking. Some poeople are motivated by goals other than showing off.