mattp

quote: Originally posted by AlpineK: we need an schedule maker without a stake to set a shedule for which area we are meeting in. Bad idea. This is just too important of a decision to leave to somebody of unknown and untested qualifications. We don't want somebody "without a stake" who might not know Denny's from Hatties Hat. Or worse than that, they might decide we'd all be healthier if we stayed home and followed Dr. Jay's advice to drink in our own back yards -- they might set the pub clubs for Forks or something.

Way to go, ChucK. ChucK was one of two climbers who showed up for an Access Fund trail project at Darrington this past Summer. On that day, he was "subalpine buddy."

James - Click on the " " icon just above that post, and it will be reproduced in its entirety, with the proper html to display it in bold, labelled as a prior post. You then cut out what you did'nt want to highlight, being careful not to change the html, and you follow the whole think with your reply.

Climbing at night may indeed produce less of a spectacle than doing so during the daytime because I would assume it is not quite so noticeable when the ski runs are brightly lit and the adjacent woods enjoy some of the overflow lighting. You may be reading more into this than is intended. I don't think anybody here wants to be the ice police but I see the potential for conflicts with the ski area and I am just suggesting that climbers be mindful of this. I suppose it is possible that the management will think, gee -- this is an exciting bit of entertainment for our customers and maybe we should promote ice climbing in the ski area. But I doubt it. I think it much more likely that they will find a problem with climbers straying too near to the ski run, with skiers who are gawking at the climbers standing in the way of those who are trying to ski, with a potential liability concern, or with some other issue. Meanwhile, have fun and climb safe.

Climbing ice right next to a ski run certainly is "making a spectacle." That doesn't mean you shouldn't go there, but the suggestion that it might be a better idea to go when the ski area is closed than when it is open is, in my view, a good one. Short of that, I would think it prudent for anybody who goes there to try to be as low-key as possible. I don't know that particular piece of ice. Maybe it is truly something unique and there is a reason to go for that particlar piece of ice rather than something else like the flows 1/4 mile up the valley.

I'm with Jens. If you make a spectacle out of ice climbing right next to a ski run, they will almost certainly look for a way to shut it down.

I believe there was once a rescue initiated when a pilot reported a group of stranded climbers on the summit -- but they turned out to be elk.

I believe it was a portion of the summit block that fell off - if I am correct, one pitch is gone but the rest of mountain was not changed by that event. The routes on the south face are some distance away. Your point about old beta is well taken, however. I believe that the surface level of the lower Tasman Glacier had fallen something like 500 feet in the forty years prior to my visit. Who knows, maybe "The Clit" has come and gone.

I was there in about 1986 and there were two climbs, "Wet Dream" and "White Dream" on the face at that time. These routes began on a rock face with water ice or mixed climbing followed by more moderately angled alpine ice higher up, joining what must have been the SW Ridge several hundred feet below the south shoulder of the mountain. I believe these two climbs took a line left of center in the photo below, with the starts being partially obscured by a snowy ridge in the foreground. I don't believe I heard about "The Clit," but I suppose it wouldn't be unlikely that someone would have continued with the theme. [ 02-04-2002: Message edited by: mattp ] [ 02-04-2002: Message edited by: mattp ]

Once the trail to Blanca Lake is at least partially melted out, I might try it as a day trip. This time of year, I'd head up there with Daniel Boone and Sacajewea and plan for an overnight. Do you have your eyes on any particular line?

Whew! Now we can go back to work or move on to browsing that Britney Spears web site.

So we have Tacoma and Issaquah at the same time. And Hikerwa will almost certainly be found at the Alki. Maybe you guys should bring your laptop computers and video cameras and cordless modems so we could have a cyber-pub where everyone could attend.

I think the problem may lie in the URL for the image. I tried copying it through checking "image properties" and I could not get it to load. It looks to me as if street may have used the abbreviated address as it appears when he is viewing his own account, or something like that.

Daniel Boone and Sacajawea are on my team.

Dru - you are correct that these peaks are in BC, but I believe the North Cascades are the North Cascades, regardless of which side of the border you are on, so it makes sense to me to have a route report on Mount Rahm (almost entirely in Canada and approached from the north) in the same section as Mount Spickard. Don't be selfish -you guys have plenty of great mountains up there.

Have you been up that road recently? I've been wondering if that might provide access to Keyes Peak for a mid-winter ski trip.

I like digital. They were discussed here two weeks ago, and some said that they quality just isn't there for digital cameras yet, but I have been climbing with buddies carrying digital cameras for the last two years and it seems to me the small ones are very easy to carry around and take quite adequate shots for most of us (I have published one of my photos only once and I rarely blow them up to hang on the wall, so perhaps I am not the guy to ask if you are truly into quality). I recently purchased one and yes, there is some learning involved - but no more than learning to use a new rangefinder or even a point and shoot (all cameras have their quirks). It is fun to be able to look at your shots while you are still in the field, and you don't have to wait for them to be developed when you get home - just download to your computer. And even a 2megapixel camera can take remarkably clear photos that blow up to 6x9 with results that my eyes cannot tell from a slide reprinted at that size. It depends what you are into, and if you have aspirations of selling your photos, if you are going on an expedition, or if you are going out into the real cold you may not want a digital (for backcountry skiing I just tuck the camera into my coat and it works just fine) . But for casual shooting I doubt I'll go back to analog. Here is the recent thread: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=9&t=000260

About a month ago I was climbing Lover's Lane and some skiers started following our tracks up the gully. One of them skied from about half way up the thing, where it broadens after the first narrow passage.

I note that both Matt and Fairweather list ther actual e-mail addresses in their "profile" and that both addresses contain their real names. Both appear willing to take personal responsibility for stating what they believe.

http://www.inlandnwclimb.homestead.com/inlandnwclimb.html

quote: Originally posted by Dru: Osama bin L. is (was) a Saudi multimillionaire... I dont think your argument is very persuasive there... I'm not sure that Ladin's status as a multimillionaire negates Matt's analysis. We're such nice guys, I don't know why he doesn't like us, but he may well misunderstand our benevolent objectives when it comes to power and politics in the Middle East. Anyway, he appears to me to be a meglomaniac that derives a lot of power from promoting terrorism and I bet that many of his followers do indeed belive as Matt suggested.

Climberbro - A cheap and effective alternative is to carry both waterproof and breathable pants. I carry totally breathable nylon windpants and lightweight waterproof rain pants, and the combination weighs no more than some of my friends' goretex pants from TNF (but a little more than some of the lighter alternatives). If it is cold or clear I leave the waterproof pants at home. The wind pants provide much greater breathability than goretex and they shed snow or light rain just fine (even wet Cascade snow), and when it really rains or I'm going to wallow in wet snow such as when building a snow cave, I'm usually better off in my waterproof pants than are my friends wearing goretex. -Matt

Chain padded up with washers so someone could avoid buying hangers are stupid. It is largely a matter of expense. Bolt hangers cost real money, whereas washers cost pennies. And regardless of cost, some people just want to build their own anchors rather than buy something from an outfit they perceive as a commercially motivated gear manufacturer that sponsors the ruination of our sporst. But you are right: washers piled up to pad a piece of chain suck. If you are going to add hardware to the rock, you should take the time and spend the money to do it in a fashion that others will recognize as safe and well done. Having said that, I should add that when challenged on this point, a certain local climber who has installed a lot of those stacks of washers made an effort to test them, and although he did so in a non-standard manner, I believe the results were encouraging.

Mr. Berdinka - Did you see the "Ice near Crystal" thread, last week? Check out Jason Martin's posts. http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=28&t=000059

Kathy - I'm not quite sure I understood your post. Are you saying that two 3/8" bolts should be placed 2 3/4" apart, or no less than 2 3/4" apart, or what? I have never seen anyone place them that close, and I have never seen any anchor setup, whether made by Fixe or anybody else, that would call for that. There has been a great deal of discussion over the years about the orientation of the bolts, and a lateral orientation has been criticized because it leads to "the American death triangle." If a station is to be set for slings, I think the current recommendation is to set it up with the bolts about 10" apart, with a nearly vertical orientation but maybe 3" lateral offset between the two. Is this the 2 3/4" that you refer to? I believe the Fixe ring anchors, or the Metolious rap hangers, or similar devices without chains, or stations consisting of two independent chains, are all supposed to have the bolts installed on the same level, something like 8 to10" apart. As to the weakening of the nuts by torquing/retorquing them, I am fully prepared to believe that the danger may be less than what I suggested. It does make some sense to me, however, that the most stressful time in the life of a nut is the moment it is tightened, though in my experience there is greater danger of breaking the bolt - if you crank too tightly you can easily break a brand new bolt right off. Do you have any information about testing of these ideas? -Matt [ 01-31-2002: Message edited by: mattp ]