mattp

I agree with the Heather Ridge and Mount Rainier Park recommendations. I believe the feature that most of us call "Heather Ridge" is in fact "Skyline Ridge" if you check the topo maps, but it is accross the street from Stevens Pass ski area and it is a good place for an intro overnight tour. Another Highway 2 destination is the Lichtenwasser Lake on Lichtenburg Mtn., approached from the Smith Brook trailhead with a tour that is largely flat road, a bit through the woods, and a couple hundred feet where you'll probably take the skis off and doggie crawl. The result is that you will reach a remote-feeling lake that is not likely to see other visitors and is actually close to the road. A very do-able summit climb lies above, though it can be hazardous in avalanche conditions. At Snoqualmie Pass you can head up from Gold Creek snopark to get to Kendall Lakes and you'll get a mountain lake that is pretty close to logging-road skiing. You might also park closer to the pass and head up into Commonwealth Basin, from where there are some pretty good peak climbs. Source Lake is not a bad choice but it is a popular area so this may be a deterrent depending on your taste. At Paradise, or really just about as accessible from the Narada Falls parking lot below, is the road to Reflection Lakes. From Paradise, ski out the back end and follow the road that drops downhill; from Narada do the doggie crawl up through woods left of an avalanche slope to reach a road that heads right. Either appraoch will lead to Reflections Lakes, and you can camp "roadside" ( 2 miles from the car in winter) or head up toward Pinnacle and Castle peaks on the right or onto the ridge to the left. In good weather this will offer great views but will also have other visitors. At Chrystal Mountain, you can head up behind what I think is called Chair 4 (Quicksilver?) into a backcountry basin that is pretty damn scenic and close to "development" as well as probably avalanche controlled. White Pass also offers some possibilities. I think to the North is "Cramer Lake" or "Dumbell Lake" that are off the highway, remote enough to feel isolated, and really only a few miles from the road but requiring a climb of one steep but fairly modest hill. From there you could tour as far as you want on a high plateau with some small hilltops, all safe from an avalanche perspective. At Mt. Baker you can head out toward or beyond Table Mountain but I don't know the area well enough to suggest any particular destination and I think most of what you will encounter there is avalanche prone during high hazard conditions.

I agree with the post above noting that "fast and light" has become stylish and speed climbing is not always necessary or even a good idea but on most mountain rock routes over grade III you are going to have to do some simulclimbing or simply "moving together" or you will end up overnighting it.

For Mt. Washington in January, I would guess it will not be warm. You will want to be able to layer your clothing so that you can "strip down" if you are hiking and it is not windy, but wet weather is probably not likely to be an issue. Assuming you don't go when some kind of warm weather event is predicted, I would take a light weight base layer that includes some kind of wool or synthetic long underwear, a wind shell for both top and bottom, and full on down for the top half. Maybe some kind of sweater garment would be good as well and if it were me it would be a thin wool sweater with a low or v-cut neck. You might also want some kind of pile pants or similar garment for your legs, but I bet you'd get away without. I'd also bring a scarf, and a serious balaclava type hat and ski goggles. Serious mittens, too, should not be overlooked. You want some light weight gloves, some real insulating mittens (I like wool), and some shells. You don't need expensive gear: army surplus or discount long underwear and a jogging suit, combined with the cheapest down coat you can find are sufficient. But it better be thick. A down "sweater" will probably not cut it. Good luck. Mt. Washington can be tough!

Pilchuck, I'm not sure what you have been trying to do. To link a photo you have to use the URL with the actual .jpg file name. Here is one of your recent photo's: I clicked the "photopost" icon, the one with a little picture of a picture, and "pasted" the URL.

Yes, nearly all Darrington routes require a 2nd rope for rappels. You can rap from at least one or two Three O'Clock Rock routes without two ropes, Dreamer was for years treated as a walk-off-the-back-side outing and, from the looks of it, I think folks are rapping the West Slabs route on Blueberry Hill with a single rope (but it means rapping from single bolts on Westward Ho). You need a 2nd rope but do they have to be "doubles?" No.

Good luck with Regence. My wife and I have had coverage with Regence for a few years and as soon as we developed significant health issues that threatened to be ongoing we found out our coverage was not at all what we thought we had purchased and what do you know: our premiums went up substantially as well. The co-pays and limits to what services they covered became very significant when we started useing the coverage and on medications our coverage was particularly poor even though my wife had shopped very carefully and thought we had good coverage. On one very expensive medication that my doctor inquired in advance to learn it would be covererd they covered 10% of a year's expense. On another, slightly better but still low. With a recent antibiotic they covered 25% of the cost of inexpensive medicines and then they denied coverage because they said my doctor was recommending a "non-preferred medicine" when my doctor said that, based on lab tests, I should switch to something else that just happened to be about 10 x more expensive. I got it anyway and it did the trick, though. Regence is probably better than some companies and worse than others but, in general, individual insurance plans may take care of broken legs and stuff just fine. Be sure not to become chronically ill.

Fairweather, I believe it was YOUR argument that first suggested a Constitutional amendment would be necessary or appropriate if Congress wanted to enact health care. Tvash, as I read his argument, simply stated that all other so-called advanced nations DO consider having access to health care to be a fundamental right. I'm not entirely sure, but I think Thomas Jefferson might have agreed had he been alive today: Healthcare was not an issue of the day when they wrote the Constitution, but they did include the 9th amendment in the bill of rights: Joseph Healy is right: we're talking about taking care of people here and we will be more competitive if we have affordable healthcare for all our citizens. Arguments that those who seek decent healthcare in this country are trying to turn us into a communist nation or that Congress must amend the Constitution if they want to enact healthcare legislation are absurd.

Tvash: I'm an attorney and he's right. The U.S. Constitution allows the government to build Interstate highways, clean up toxic waste dumps, and regulate safety in the workplace but they have no business getting involved in health care. The Supreme Court resolved this question in the 1896 case of what's-wrong-with-these-people vs. say-what. Get a clue.

I'm not sure what you are recommending there, Tvash. I agree that insurance companies lie. My wife spent a lot of time comparing insurance offerings and selected a plan that was not cheap but which offered strong coverage of prescription drugs and then, when we later turned out to actually HAVE prescription drug needs, denied coverage. But I would not suggest anybody lie on an insurance application. You would only be giving them a free pass to deny coverage.

I think there is an old church camp site (or something like that) across the Creek and upstream of the Bridge Creek bridge that may be available as a group site but I don't know much about it. Perhaps because it is not a campground it is subject to different rules. As I understand it, this is the turn-off immediately across the bridge that is normally gated on the right - not the dirt baggers campsite up the hill a little way and left.

I have had two pairs of 8.5 Edelweiss Sharp ropes and I will not buy another pair of them. The sheath has slipped more than any rope I have owned in 40 years' climbing and they are too flexible for my taste - causing knotting and clusterfk more than a stiffer rope. In addition, I see signs of wear on these ropes much faster than other ropes in the same category (although I realize that visible wear may not exactly be an indicator of loss of strength but it just makes me uncomfortable). For my purposes, I think the prior Edelweiss Stratos was much more durable and a better rope, albeit .5 mm thicker and a little heavier. I believe the Sharps are rated to hold a fall over an edge, and I think the Sharp's are a good rope if you are looking for light weight and strength and value these over other aspects of their performance. I don't know the ropes you've listed, but I would say that the one completely crap rope I have owned was a Beal (the rope was soft and tied in knots all the time and the sheath showed major wear in less than five days' mountaineering and ice climbing with no falls). I've never had a Petzl rope, but Mammut ropes have generally been good and I used to think Edelweiss was a good brand and it probably still is but I was not happy with the 8.5 mm Sharp (perhaps I bought a pair of rope that werne't made for what I do and it was simply a mismatch).

Otto: I thought long and hard about this project for fifteen years. I have climbed that way at least 20 times without incident but the fact is that I have found it scary myself and nearly all parties who have not rehearsed those pitches have found them frightening. This includes climbers who climbed 5.11 rock to get to that point. I held off on this for a long time for what I would guess is exactly the concern that you must feel. After a long deliberation my buddy and I decided that these few bolts would add more than they would detract. To have climbs that were relatively comfortable in terms of protection all of the sudden become scary and turn back the vast majority of parties two pitches short of the top just for the lack of literally two protection bolts on 5.7 rock did not make sense to me and the addition of two chain belays for two pitches of climbing did not seem excessive. Pilchuck: If you are headed up there with Smedley I'd like to go with you.

I often go the way that AlpineDave describes but it is a little messy getting from that tree on the Blueberry Terrace over to the Westward Ho route. One nice thing is that it avoids the equally messy traversing back to the base of the West Buttress or Dark Rhythm from where the rap routes I describe empty out. If you know where to go, traversing back around is simple. After Subaru visited the area there was a nice path around the base. If you don't, it can be a bit of a nuisance. There is a nice easy scramble from near the base of Rainman to the base of DarkRhythm, but it is not completely obvious. Alternatively, if you drop to the base of the apron slabs beneath the wall directly below Rainman rather than being tempted to stay high further toward where you want to go it is fairly easy to walk back around, with about a 30 foot climb back up just as you near the sidewalk. You may not find the best way your first time up there. If climbing Dark Rhythm or the West Buttress and planning to descend this way, leave packs at the bivy site off to the left of the granite sidewalk, 3/4 of the way up.

Trip: Exfoliation Dome - Blueberry Date: 9/13/2009 Trip Report: On Sunday, my buddy Mark and I went up the Blueberry route and added two pro bolts and two belay stations to the exit pitches above the west north end of the Blueberry Terrace. These are now going to be far more enjoyable for most parties than they used to be. To go to the summit from Blueberry Terrace, do not head up the corners as shown in Smoot's book and the older Brooks/Whitelaw guide or you will end up climbing bushes and loose blocks and likely fighting your way through a thicket when you could be on clean slab and then a short heather slope. Walk north along the Blueberry Terrace from any of the routes that end there to find the stainless steel chain at the top of Jacob's Ladder (I often take a tip-toe traverse maybe 20 feet above the lowest part of the terrace and bypass the JL anchor). From the chain, head up and left about a half rope length, with some blocky scrambling. Belay from the highest point easily scrambled to -- a comfy ledge with a short 3/4" crack just below your feet and a bush reachable above. A bolt is visible 20 feet up. Climb up a seam, pass the bolt, move around a bush and then left and up and back right to a belay. This is a 30m pitch but stop at the chain. For the second pitch, climb up a short crack and blocks, then up and left past a bolt into a vertical crack, soon heading left under a diagonal overhang and then up again on slab and corners to the 2nd belay. 50m. Climb over a rock hump 15 feet up and left of the belay and down a corner system into the bowl above 23rd Psalm; leave the rope here, and walk to the summit and back or else take the rope to the top and descend the W. Slabs rappel route. We met some climbers who were using my description of a now defunct combination of Dark Rhythm and West Buttress rappel route. From the Terrace it is now easier to take the old Chris Christenson rappel route from a heap of slings on a Pine at mid length or the Jacob's Ladder rappel route. I prefer the Jacob's Laddder rap route but the lower terrace is reached with one less rappel via the CC route. Christenson's rap route is very steep and since it does not even loosely follow a climb it would pose quite a problem if you got a rope stuck but the raps are pretty clean (after the start of the first one where you can easily kick a rock on your buddy) and I have never heard of anybody having a problem. It could also use some new bolts and chains at the stations.

I did that route in the Winter, Josh, and it was an excellent climb. I'd be curious to learn how those ramps on the SE face are without snow on them.

I'm not entirely clear on this ABC business but when you use a munter hitch to belay a follower or to lower somebody, with the rope in and out of the hitch coming from the same direction, you don't get the twisting that you do if the feed and load come from different directions. For lowering somebody, in particular, the munter is really more foolproof than an ATC.

You follow the overgrown logging spur up from the road for 15 minutes or so to where it ends up very close to the creek and there is a sharp turn to the right, away from the creek. Follow this extension away from the creek for a couple hundred yards, and then turn left. It soon travels fairly close to the creek for a bit before a switchback heads uphill and rightward, well before you see any sign of the wall, and then you cut back left and it continues to climb for a bit through relatively open woods before leveling out and exiting onto the boulders again quite close to the creek. For most of the way you neither hear nor see the creek.

Let's see some of you folks at OR tonight!

I rarely ever made it to the start of Dreamer in anything much less than an hour and a half when we could drive to the end of the road. You must be running, TurnOne. Dreamer and Safe Sex are good climbs, and the two central pitches of Dreamer area as good as any two 5.9 pitches around here whlie that corner pitch on Safe Sex is also fantastic, but they are not "easy" approaches. Blueberry is easier to get to by a large measure and well worth it. Jacob's Ladder West Buttress routes The routes get generally steeper and harder and more varied from right to left. Westward Ho (not shown in the picture below) is pure slab climbing. West Buttress is slab and crack. Dark Rhythym has some face climbing mixed in. Rainman and Jacob's Ladder have the odd bits of real crack climbing and Jacob's Ladder has the most edging.

I went in there with another friend yesterday and we got the rope, rack, ice axe and crampons left up at the base of the Sherpa Glacier. Any serious booty hounds are out of luck. We didn't see Bug's cache, though. Another search and retrieval mission is still in order. Pack and camping equipment, right?

I've been up there this time of year and the stream Fox refers to was dry on that occasion. However, 30 minutes below, and below the base of the boulderfield where you exit the woods, is a stream that should be plenty big. The Gunstone memorial trail will be hard to locate if you haven't been up there and a key switchback in the woods in inobvious. It is not a bad approach altogether, and in fact probably easier than getting to Dreamer right now, but be prepared to have to look around a bit.

I intend to go up there and retrieve their stuff some time over the next few weekends. If somebody does so before I do, please post here so I don't waste a trip. If you want to partner for a daytrip to the Sherpa Glacier, let me know. It goes without saying that I'm glad Mark is gonna be OK and I salute these two gents.

Along the lines of what Tvash suggested, you might check whether the weather forecast appears better north or south immediately before your trip. You could make a decent trip out of Mt. Adams and the Goat Rocks area if the weather forecast suggests the south would be better than the north. These will involve a higher rubble-to-rock ratio than the more classic peaks on Dan's list, though.

Yes, the author's conclusions were clear to me as well. However, I don't think this article supports the argument that the entire debate is false. I believe that the medical profession's "entrepreneurial spirit" is an issue just as that same dynamic is a blight in my own profession (the practice of law). But I ALSO believe the private health insurance companies are organized criminals just as our friend Prole has argued here. They have taken my premiums for my entire life and when I need actual health services they don't want to pay. And I'm not talking about cosmetic surgery. I'm talking about treatment that makees the difference between my being able to walk and stand and work for a living and my not being able to do so. And while I'm sure that at least a couple of posters here will argue that the current anti-Obama-care outrage is based on genuine belief, I think there is no doubt that insurance companies are major players in the anti-reform effort. That is no surprise. They make a lot of money with the system as it is now. Unless "healthcare reform" means government mandates with subsidies and no effective standards of care imposed but maybe actual limits to how much they have to pay out, health insurance companies don't want it.

We've had a rat chew a whole slew of hoses under our dishwasher in the last week. Apparently some of our neighbors have been having a problem, too. According to what I have learned on the matter the problem seems to be caused by neighbors on one side who have a compost pile and put kitchen waste in it and neighbors on the other side who have a bird feeder that spills onto the ground. We don't supply the rats with food but they are living in our crawl space because they have handy food nearby and we provide a good shelter for them. I've tried to fence them out but so far have had no success. We've been having this problem since last year. I have trapped and killed a couple of them, and our kitty (RIP) did his part too, but the kills only result in temporary relief. If you kill one rat but still maintain a food supply, his cousins will take up his residence.