mattp

Dru, is that one of those things standing right above the Silver-Skagit road?

Parker, you made your point. To really know the conditions on a mountaineering route, you have to actually go try it. However, if you've been around the range for a while and particularly if you are familiar with the way conditions evolve on that mountain, you can indeed tell a great deal by looking at it and considering the last week or two's weather history. Ev was clear that he had not actually been on it, but that it LOOKED like it was in awesome condition -- and I bet he was right.

Yes, this thread cries out for spray. If you want to make a joke of it, start a spray thread. If anybody has any comments regarding access issues, or suggestions of topics that might be past on to Inslee, post here.

They called me a "left liberal." I am so ashamed.

What Retro said

It is a good tour, but be careful of a couple things: (1) Yodelin Lodge and the housing area accross the highway are private. I don't know what the legal or property issues might be, but keep in mind that we probably don't have an absolute right to go or park here. Be considerate. (2) The SW slope of Lichtenburg is a huge avalanche slope, and much of it funnels into a very narrow gully, many hundred feet high. The upper slopes are often cross loaded or otherwise subject to confusing avalanche conditions because of their proximity to the pass.

Here is a postcard showing Mt. Shuksan, backward. I have often wondered if the boat may have been cut and pasted into the image - how deep is that lake? The woman in the beer and postcard store in Maple Falls insisted this postcard was real and accurate.

I think you are asking for a picture or pictures taken from Excelsior Mountain or Church Mountain, both standing to the NW of Shuksan and Baker, so the view of Shuksan would be roughly similar to that you are comparing to. Or maybe somebody took a panormaic from Artist Point that does the trick. Run some google searches and you might come up with something. Alternatively, how about a copy of a picture from Fred's guidebook? I think he'll have the caption right.

As I understand it, he is not actually stepping down as the Washington rep. He is stepping down from membership on the national board or something like that.

I don't believe there are any ropes out there that are 8mm and rated for use as a single line, Toast. That was the assumption underlying the original post, I think. Some people will carry a full length rope rated for twin or double rope technique, and travel on the single line when on a glacier but then double it up on steeper rock pitches (so they can lead on two ropes, up to one-half of the ropelength), and I often lead easy or low-angle rock on a single 9mm stratos (not rated for that purpose). However, the discussion here is about a rope that is to be used strictly for glacier-travel. Nobody here has suggested you need a rope rated as a single rope for that purpose (or are you?).

In Nepal, yellow "boat rope" is commonly used for fixed lines - and pretty small diameter, too (certainly no more than 9mm). Standard jumars work OK on it.

Actually, Paco, first the climb has to appear in Nelson's "Select Climbs" volume III before somebody can go up there and report that it is "in"

If I were, do you think I would I have handled it this way? Shipping something to spray or deleting a post is the #1 way to draw attention to anything these days, it seems. Can you read? Just about everybody agrees with you and the point has already been made. Unfortunately, niether TTT or I have the ability to do that until we get the attention of a spray moderator and this afternoon they have had other things to do but to log on to cc.com and respond immediately to somebody's whining that some moderator made a mistake. Once it is moved, there may be some lag time before we clean up all the BS and it reappears. Hold your horses.

Cavey - where's your picture of him eating dinner with a stick?

The east wall of Three Fingers also comes up briefly in the trailer to some Channel 9 production -- an aerial shot that is real cool. I can't remember which show.

dberdinka: I didn't move it. I was asked in advance of the move, however, and I replied that I wasn't going to move it but if they wanted to do so I suppose there was a lot of spray there. Your beef is with those who turn an interesting discussion into a pissing match, not with me. I have volunteered to use the sheers on it so that it can be exported back, though.

I'm with you, Trask. It is time to take a firm stand against allowing any climbing talk in YOUR forum.

I find the shorter pins generally more useful than longer ones. I'll often bring 2-3 kb's and 2 lost arrows or something .. maybe a baby angle. It often seems to be the case that the actual selection isn't all that crucial but having a few small pins on the rack comes in handy when you are around iced up or snow-plastered rock and want to get in a good belay somewhere even on a relatively moderate snow and ice climb such as the TC's that you cited as an example; the fact that somebody used a thin KB last week doesn't mean you'll even see the crack that they placed it in when you are up there next week. I'm not trying to be snide but Cavey really told you all you really need to know the first time around because it is not a precise kind of a thing.

I would not hesitate to use a half rope for glacier travel. Be sure to have small diameter cord for the prussiks you bring to go with it, though.

The North Face of Mount Stanley, in the Rockies, was a "breakthrough" for me. I'd climbed mountains and hiked on glaciers before, but I'd been mostly a rock climber and I had a friend who said I should try alpine ice climbing, and I said OK: let's go to the Rockies AND the Bugaboos on this upcoming vacation. It was a breakthrough that eventually lead me away from rock climbing for several years. After I returned to rock climbing (with my re-activation brought on by a trip where we were supposed to go alpine climbing in Camonix but ended up in the Verdon Gorge), I had a great day leading every pitch on the Davis Holland/Lovin Arms route -- that was the first time I was the sole leader on a climb of that overall steepness and sustained difficulty, and I took from that day a significantly heightened confidence. I couldn't lead that entire climb now, but the confidence remains. Breakthrough's are as much mental and emotional as a physical leap from 5.10d to 5.11 or whatever, and these two experiences represent a couple of times where one day's climbing changed a whole lot about how I feel about the sport.

I think the "route to do" on Mount Aspiring may be the S. Face, but the ridge you mentioned is a better choice for you and your dad, probably. Mt Aspiring, New Zealand NW ridge on left, SW on right, January 1999 Low snow year...more indicative of March Photo credit: Jethro Robinson

Ehmic- What about the (in my vuiew more likely) possibility that studies might show that climbing is LESS dangerous than insurance companies may believe. We've had plenty of discussions here about how insurance company perspective seems out of balance -- such as how life insurance is difficult to obtain, or at least policies without exceptions for climbing, yet as far as I know European consumers can get such insurance because they understand and accept climbing more over on that side of the ocean. Similarly, Gary pointed out recently that organized climbing activities are discouraged by the UW, because they fear liability (obviously based on the idea that climing club outings would be dangerous). A survey might show that most people survive their college outing club trips without injury. Of course his study isn't designed to really support these kinds of findings -- I'm just pointing out that it could equally cut either way as to the issue that you brought up.

Josh - You can do it! People climb the Linda Glacier all the time and most of them live. It is a serious mountain, though, and Dru is right to point out that just getting to the hut can be quite a climb in itself (and not without its hazards). The guides are pretty good, and Mount Cook is a very cool prize. If you and your dad are attracted to Mount Cook because it is Mount Cook, Aspiring is just not quite the same (it is a very cool looking mountain in its own right, however).

That is www.cands.net, Bronco. Here's a picture either of Three Fingers or perhaps Whitehorse - with another probably unclimbed E. wall.

As a concerned citizen, I feel compelled to add: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME, FOLKS!!!! (I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to see if I can avoid ever taking a fall with crampons on my feet and tools in both hands -- and I don't think I want to climb with RBW, either, because I don't want to be around when he tries it for time #3. The way I see it, RBW's tried twice to hurt himself - and the third time's the charm, right?)