mattp

Looking out my window and considering the weather forecast, I would not think the avalanche hazard likely to be extreme at the Big Four ice caves this week. It rained to the summit on Saturday night, and the freezing level is expected to be steadily dropping through the end of the week, with intermittent showers but no big dump expected. It might not be nice weather, but I think one could probably go to the ice caves without getting buried. That having been said, the Forest Service is absolutely right and those orange warning signs are 100% accurate. Don't blame me if you die.

Good questions, ScottP. It could be that they didn't complete the climb in a day, and that his partner felt sorry for him gave him all HIS extra socks. Who knows? Please don't shred this wonderfull tale 'cause its inspiring and I, for one, want to believe it. Now who is going to go for that first sock ascent of Lib Ridge?

And didn't he have something to do with the pig?

Check out Mount Aspiring, too:

Feeling pretty cocky after climbing a big wall early in our climbing careers, my brother and I went over to Middle Cathedral Rock to climb the standard first five or whatever pitches of Central Pillar of Frenzy. We had been celebrating ouir success the night before and we didn't get there early. A husband and wife team from Britain, who appeared to be moving rather slowly, were already on route when we got there and we talked about maybe we should try something else. So we sat around for a bit, and two other guys showed up -- Jim Bridwell and a partner of his who were also feeling pretty cocky. We agreed that it would be cool to climb together, and that more would make merrier if we had to wait for a slow party. So we set off, two leaders at a time, climbing one just above the other, sharing pro sometimes, placing separate gear other times. Joking and jiving the whole way, we would pull up at the belay each time the husband lead out, and tell jokes to the wife while we belayed our partners up ("hey, don't step on my fingers, you numbnuts... but seriously, what about that elephant in the whorehouse--what'd he say to the bartender??"). She wasn't real impressed with our brand of humor, but we had a good time...In the bar that evening, Jim announced that he had been celebrating his wife's just having given birth to baby Layton. He should have brought cigars on the climb.

And Mr. Parker indicated some interest, too. Hope U Dist isn't too far from the ferry....

Schultzy's was pretty good, and though they close early it is not a big stumble accross the street to BigTime.

"thin ice, when you find it, isn't of good enough quality to take a decent short screw" Often true if you are talking about the popular ice climbs at relatively low elevations like LowQuality Pass or Icicle Creek but not so true if you are talking about alpine routes higher in the Cascades. I like to have at least one on my rack when going for a technical peak climb.

A good two or three day "tramp" can be had in Tongariro Park on the N. Island. Shuttle busses serve the trailheads and between them is a great day-hike over Tongariro that combines well with a climb of Ngauruhoe. The weather is better here than the Southern Alps, the volcanic scenery is way cool, and there is even a small hot spring.

Is that a glass of "Bitche's Brew." Whatd'ya say? A classic?

Ah, you could be right, DFA. Lots of the early efforts at reproducing the classics to CD were not that good. But you similarly misunderstand my post -- more than "arguing" with Redmonk's "premise" (in a rhetorical manner I asked if that was his premise), I wrote to celebrate the brilliance of the release in question. So we end up quibbling with each other when what we really mean is high fives. Perhaps this is what has gone wrong in the political threads and you and I actually agree with the "GregW types" ???

"considering their original production dates" ??? Bitches Brew is one of the classics. Look at the list of musicians on it: Miles, Herbie Hancock, Chick Korea, Joseph Zawinal (Weather Report), Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, Bennie Maupin, Jack DeJonnette, Billy Cobham, Airto Moriera, John McGlaughlin ... just about anybody and everybody who made it big in Jazz-Rock for the next ten years (did I forget anybody?). It was initially panned by lots of critics but it completely changed both Jazz and Rock. Are you of the impression that music that is thirty years old is not likely to be any good?

Wool works real well if you wanna be truly hardcore. I saw Germans trekking in Nepal who wore Birkenstocks for the entire Annapurna circuit. On the pass, they pulled their socks over the sandals to get a grip on the few snowfields. Maybe you could climb Liberty Ridge in socks and make the first shoeless ascent (I think somebody has already done the top few hudred feet with only one boot after dropping the other from their bivouac but didn't they then have to be rescued? that probably doesn't count).

It's supposed to be a warm year. Maybe JJ will get lucky and it will rain up to 9100 feet just a few days before the trip.

Law Goddes: you really are impatient. Last time you were complaining about our absence at a safety break and I swear, nobody left the place for more than ten minutes. This time you must have waited all of one minute because I was there at 7:01. I ordered a burger and a pitcher and calmly waited for the person to show up.

I wouldn't be surprised to see someone ski Thermogenesis. After all, I don't think it is any steeper than the North Face of Mount Robson, and probably not all that much steeper than Liberty Ridge or Mowich Face. The only problem with it is that it lies beneath a calving icecliff.

I agree with the others: this weekend would be a little early in the season for that one and probably not a particularly good weekend for any alpine route. Even on the east slope, there will be at least a foot of new windblown and unconsolidated snow in the mountains that will cover the rocks but offer nothing of any substance to climb on and predicted ongoing storms are likely to mean zero visibility as well. In these conditions, even a boulder field is treacherous and any technical climbing will be at it's most difficult. Triple Couloirs, while not an extremely demanding technical route, would be damn hard right now and difficult or impossible to protect. That's not to say that you couldn't scratch your way up it if you were really determined to do so, but this weekend I'd opt for something only minimally technical or short enough that you will have plenty of time to wander around looking for the route and for pro while you spin your wheels on snow-covered rock or, in gullies, wallow your way upward.

Greg - you should be proud to be a "type." Think about it -- you could start a whole new genre and you'd get sponsors and peaks would be named after you and ... There is no insult inherent in observing a pattern in the connection between stated positions on war and on bolting unless, of course, you are not so proud of your position on one of these issues.

Would any of you George Bush fans or promoters of the war against Iraq care to answer my questions about what has been and what should be our role with respect to arms proliferation? I know you probably think it was cool to seize the scuds headed for Yemen, but I'm curious what you think about these matters in a broader context.

Question: do you guys think the U.S. sells weapons to countries with possible ties to organizations involved in terrorism? Second question: if we are contemplating a war in some part of the world, do we have a right to intercept weapons shipments in the region? Perhaps Yemen agreed not to purchase weapons from N. Korea, but what if they hadn't made any such agreement? Are we expecting to be at war with every nation in the area? I'm not against seizing weapons that are being shipped illegally (if they were), but what are we actually doing about weapons proliferation if you look beyond this incident and review our history and our foreign policy?

If I am not confusing it with another place in the area, I was recently talking about this with someone who has put up some climbs there and he expressed some concern about the private property issue. I don't know whether he has had some contact with an unfriendly land owner, but in any event caution is in order. I'd be hesitant to promote the place, or even to visit, until someone attempts to resolve the issue (not out-and-out against it, but hesitant). My thinking is that there are plenty of places to climb and if this one is a good addition to the mix, someone should see if they can arrange access; if not, I don't need to go there. If you do go to check it out, don't park in the way of, say, some apparently unused side road, keep a low profile, and respond respectfully if you meet the land owner. If you actually have to walk along someone's driveway or pass through their yard or on their nature trail or something, you oviously should ask permission.

I don't know what the "G3 or BD/Skye Tip-tail kits" look like, but in my opinion the ONLY way to go is the "Canadian" system where the front of the skin has a wire loop over the tip of the ski, and the tail has a strap sewn on it, which wraps around the tail of the ski (small groove needed here) and then has a loop of elastic which leads to strap and a "D" ring that slips over a screw. If your glue is working well, it doesn't matter what strap or clip system you have but the tension from the rear of the ski is crucial if not. Any system that has the elastic pulling on the front of the skin rather than the rear will allow the tail clip to slip off if your glue is starting to fail and you change angles or slip around much.

Skiing downhill with skins on really DOES suck and, unless you are on some kind of tight trail with a deep track where you can't get out of the rut to slow down, I don't know why so many people think it is easier than simply traversing and crashing once in a while. I almost never have to resort to skinning downhill, the lowest form of cowardry in the entire backcountry universe, but I once used the skins turned around backward so we could simply walk down hill on an extremely broken up glacier in zero visibility. With a little help from some duct tape, it worked like a charm! And nearly full coverage was helpful on the few wind-blown bare sections. For ski mountaineering, I would recommend shaped skins cut to leave just a tiny bit of the edge exposed – just enough so the edges can bite. One downside of shaped skins is that when you fold them over on theirself to put them away, it is a little more difficult to get all the glue surface covered up.

Looks like we're about to take a direct hit. radar loop

Clean taps?????? Is that an issue???? Too small??? Nobody's ever gotten sick there and Hatties has not yet been too small for us -- not even close I don't think -- but we keep hearing about how small it is. What is this anti-Hattie's Hat strong-arm conspiracy?