mattp

I have spent several almost complete months of may in the Sierra and would agree with what you found there, Mr. Veld. It can be cold and unstable with late winter storms cycling through. I have also had some damn nice weather and it can be a good month in the Valley.

Chirp, Keeping an idea alive is a good thing and I don't blame you for getting defensive if you see a problem. I also agree that the Dawg has a point. Given ten years' history, however, the current status of these topics in the cc.com ethernet, and his status on this site, I think that Dwayner is beating a dead horse more than spreading any important idea. I'd like to see maybe you take up the reins, or I'd hope the Dawg could figure out a way to make his real point without his personality becoming the focal point of "the discussion" every time he posts. Dawg is showing more restraint now than he did in the past, and I appreciate that. But the basic posturing remains. (I include myself in this last statement, by the way. My basic posture has not changed much in ten years.)

Many years ago I got a ticket driving a little too fast down the hill into Sultan, and I thought I'd drive out to court in Monroe and see if I could get out of it. I didn't have much of an argument, though, or at least the Judge didn't think so, because all I could really say was that I missed the change in speed limit because it was raining buckets and I was busy watching the road. I managed only to get $8.00 shaved off my ticket. It barely paid for my gas. The best advice is to obey the speed limit. You can drive like an idiot and you might get to the ski area ten minutes quicker but no matter what you do it won't be a lot more than that. If you are driving to California and keep it 5 mph over the speed limit for twelve hours you will pick up an hour or a little more. Not so much if you are speeding through Gold Bar or hitting 70 for that brief interval of open road on a straight away further up toward the pass. What adds to your travel time are the stops along the way - drive there without stopping for gas, coffee and deli sandwiches at Safeway and you'll save a half hour.

I'm with Wallstein here. If you are talking about a situation where a follower cannot or does not want to climb the crux, and by this I think we are talking about a short crux as opposed to a lengthy stretch of hard climbing, just have them batman up the rope. The belayer is going to have to be ready to hold their weight for this brief period of time, but the belay was already supposed to be able to do that, right? No equipment and no communication is needed. The follower simply pulls on the rope, moves past the crux, and the belayer then takes up slack. There is no need to fix the rope, break out jumars, or do anything else. Assuming there is a relatively short crux instead of a lengthy section of batman involved, this is the easiest solution for everybody. And it is almost certainly both less strenuous and less time-consuming that having the leader fix the rope so that the follower can jumar. I have typically used this technique where the crux was not longer than what I thought would expose me (when I was following) or the other party (who was the follower) to a large fall. If there is an extensive bit of hard climbing involved, or if the hard part is significantly overhanging, maybe it would be safer or more efficient for the leader to set a fixed rope (assuming they can communicate with the follower).

The "moat" around a boulder that Gene refers to may be more akin to thin ice that often is found around the perimeter of frozen lakes. Very often, you will find that you fall into a lake when entering or leaving the ice but the actual main body of ice is plenty strong. I think this is probably because the ground around the perimeter of the lake is closer to the surface, and to where the ice would or did not form. Ground is warmer than freezing and the ice is therefore not as thick when it is formed near solid ground. The same kind of thing happens around rocks. A buried rock, which either has some intrinsic warmth itself or maybe due to a transfer of heat from the ground below, seems to have a tendency to melt the snow around it and thereby create a void that lies beneath the surface that is not detectable from above-surface observation. In the case of both the buried rock or the shoreline around the lake it may be that the phenomenon has to do with a penetration of sun rays through the snow or ice surface, heating the buried rock or the shoreline. Anybody have information or theories?

Sandy, Hike, snowshoe or ski through the woods in a heavy snowpack area and you will find deep holes around the conifer trees. I think these occur because snow falling on the trees remains on the branches and does not reach the ground. With our sub-alpine trees having downward sloping branches to shed rather than carry snow, some snow may be "shed" outside the profile of the tree but much is also melted as it sits on the branches and never reaches the ground. Either way, spaces between the trees are more deeply buried than are the areas immediately around tree trunks. These tree wells can be deep, and often have very steep sides. You may find a wind scoop around rocks that may be exposed to wind. This is the result of the fact that when the wind hits that rock, some of its effect can be diverted downward. I'm not sure about how someone would have been trapped by "falling through" as mentioned in your post. Perhaps "falling in" is a better descriptor. Taking shelter in a tree-well is not a dangerous proposition. Skiers and boarders sometimes fall in and are caught there as a result of how they fell in (their skis may be hung up in tree branches or they may have been injured when they hit the tree trunk or something). Taking shelter behind a rock is not particularly dangerous either, though I have nearly been injured falling into a wind-scoop next to a rock when skiing in whiteout conditions.

What I remember is "It's after the end of the world. Don't you know that yet?" Sun Ra was quite something. I am told he and the Arkestra used to live in a communal house in New York City where there were strict rules: no women and no drugs. In the 1970's his shows were full of pagentry and the ethereal. You sure as hell wouldn't have gotten the impression that he was not into either women or drugs from their stage production! I enjoyed his live performances and I have some vinyl that I enjoy even more: straight up Jazz that kicks butt.

Shuksan and Silver Star Mountain are two high peaks with easy routes to the summit that include a bit of glacier travel. Responding to your earlier question I'd suggest that if it was me and I was taking time off from work and buying airplane tickets and such I'd probably want to increase my odds of success by going late July or early August instead of June.

June is typically unstable. Last year it started out with REALLY bad weather and then a lot of folks climbed high alpine routes, even rock routes, later in the month. This was rather unusual. You should be prepared with an alternate plan that does not include alpine mountaineering. If you fly out here and find yourself with some time in Seattle, might you be interested in hiking on the Olympic coast, perhaps? Even if it is rainy you can still enjoy the sea-stacks and the seafood that can be harvested from the tidepools. Are you interested in Seattle tourist sites, or Vancouver B.C.? Rock climbing in the eastern Washington desert? Camping on the Cascade River Road (leading to Eldorado) will probably be had at the Mineral Park campground. The campground on the way to Mount Adams' south side may well not be open yet (Morrison Springs). I've had good luck just driving up a forest road and looking for a place to park, though.

Loveshack is giving good advice but aren't the more traditional lines skied on the N. Sister on the NE side? May in the Sisters can be excellent.

White Salmon route on Shuksan would probably be the way to go in April - assuming that it had rained to 8,000' the week before you go or you had an unusual stable weather period or .... there was other reason for N. facing slopes to be in shape.

In response to this thread: my goals for the year are to (1) take advantage of improving health to climb with my friends, and (2) to enjoy a climbing season. Tick list? (1) Finish my 4 year project with a 5 pitch crag climb; (2) climb a new route on a significant Cascade peak over-looked by local hardmen because it appears easy; and (3) enjoy barbeque at tailhead upon completion of more than one climb that I think deserves a celebration.

Nice one, Rad. The NWMJ has been a major "tick" of CC.COM posters, for nearly ten years, and keeping it going is on both yours and my 2011 tick list. Anybody who doesn't know what we are talking about should check here: Northwest Mountaineering Journal Look at last year's edition and check the "archive" link to see what you've been missing. This is a project that has been fed by cc.com and the broader community of Northwest climbers for many years but is now in particular need of contributions.

Nice!

Nice, Tyson. I went to AAC events Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Indoors. Good times, though.

Glacier Ice, by Austin Post, is on my coffee table. It is not just a climbing or climber's book but a book of stunning images that my non-climbing friends find compelling. It is a large format book, horizontally oriented, and the dust jacket image is exciting.

I headed down there. We spoke briefly about the Wall of the Early Morning Light and some other early bolting ethics history including Roper's 1957 removal of bolts on Shiprock, Chouinard's 1960 article and how these issues have played out in Washington. He was quite friendly and I bought one his books, too. Royal is Royal.

I've been too busy working to respond to this but you are posting utter nonensense, Jay. The Wisconsin public employeess unions offered to take the hits proposed by their Governor. He declined to accept their acceptance of his demands. Instead he says he needs to break the union or unions just because he thinks this is the political moment to do so. Nobody in public employment is arguing that we should not pursue measures that might make the delivery of public services more cost-efficient, arguing that they should receive massive boosts in pay and benefits, or seeking to gut public services. I'm sorry if you've explained these claims in 5 pages of spray over the last day but, seriously, what are you really trying to say, Jay?

That's interesting, glasgow, though not really new. Entitlements and "defense" are what we need to cut, while busting unions or cutting NPR and heating oil for the elderly will not get us there. But one correction should be added. Social security is not part of the deficit. The budget hawks who voted for massive tax breaks and two very expensive wars hate social security but it is not part of the problem. It is part of their "solution" because it is part of their solution to - wait, what was the problem again? Jobs? Economy?

We have a little information on this at the WCC site. Mt. Erie profile. Snag Buttress and climbs to the right are open as are the Cirque and Power Line Wall. This is a slightly revised copy of the original closure photo. After I called and asked John Lundsford at Anacortes Parks, they said it was OK to climb ZigZag and revised the photo with that little zig zag at upper right.

Many years ago I climbed and camped with some friends who "dirtbagged it" as I think you are suggesting the term be applied. In all cases, I think, these individuals either moved on to something else (working) or I lost track of them. I have had friends who lived what I would call a minimalist lifestyle for many years on end but even these had at least some kind of seasonal employment or an independent source of wealth. I'm not suggesting that anybody who seeks a minimalist lifestyle is misguided. To the opposite, I would say that I applaud it. But I don't think it is easy. Particularly if you want to engage in an inherently expensive activity like mountain climbing. It need not be extremely expensive, but the costs of our hobby are not inconsequential.

I played it. I balanced the budget. I'm not sure how I did it but I did select a bunch of options including maintaining prior tax levels on the rich, cutting military staffing to a prior benchmark, cutting Iraq and Iran invovement, and raising social security to age 68 (note on the latter I am not at all sure if social security is insolvent as presently funded). I might have selected a cut to health care, but not much. My take away? We can balance the budget if we are willing to cut military spending and maybe some of the entitlements as well. But if we simply erase the Bush tax cuts to the rich who don't need them and adopt a sensible foreign policy, we have no problem with the deficit, regardeless of whether we revisit wellfare policy or not.

Pure diarrhea. Where on earth do you get this stuff? Seriously. I'm sure given the vastness of the internet as well as the frequency and stridency of this oft repeated, if "seldom referenced", claim you can find ample examples of leftist intellectuals making this argument. Please enlighten us! Diarrhea indeed. Jay can spin a good tale some times, but this is not even close.

Steve, A few random thoughts: In my opinion, ski boots hike "OK" in walk mode but on dry ground, at least, it is well worth the extra weight to hike in sneakers or some kind of light hiker and carry your ski boots. If they are somewhat flexible in the sole, telemark boots may offer a more natural and more comfortable walking boot than an AT boot but many of the modern boots are so stiff they don't much bend in the ball of the foot anyway. The AT boots do not allow the foot to flex but some have a sole with a "rocker" which is a concave shape that is at least a little more natural than a straight footbed. The duckbill on a telemark boot really impairs any kind of rock climbing. If you add a pair of rigid crampons they will perform OK on ice, though, and telemark boots do just find for step kicking.