Rusty_Biner

quote: Originally posted by Pencil Pusher: Anyone interested? Take the blue pill and turn on the Tikka. pencil_pusher@hotmail.com My father was an early member of a small, demented climbing club in Tacoma known as the Summit Alpine Club. Every year, the club hosted the "Mt. Olympus Bash," which had as its objective a car-to-car trip of Olympus in under 24 hours, most going in solo. I have been told that Gary Fredericksen (first winter ascent, Nisqually Icefall) logged the fastest time, in under 16 hours. And that was long before Marc Twight discovered that suffering was the divine path to knowing one's inner being.

Who was the guy in the red outfit leading the N.W. Corner of NEWS Sat? Smooth lead. Four in your party, but it almost looked as though you did the only lead -- like you left a trailing rope after the first follower came up? If so, how do you do that?

quote: Originally posted by Rodchester: Curious did they say why the denied you, and or what the look for in approving a request?[/QB] large denomination currency accidentally falling out of your envelope to the NPS. (I'm not entirely sure of the thinking behind the application process. If you're going to solo, you either: (a) have the requisite experience and skill to assess the risks yourself and can go for it without the District's head saying o.k.; or (b) do crazy shit no matter what people tell you, in which case you're probably not going to ask for permission from the Park Service's head beaurocrat. That being said, if I were going, I'd highly value the informal advice/opinion of rangers like M. Gauthier.)

After parking my skis at the base of Chair Pk., I looked up at the little snow gullies running up the s. shoulder, half wishing I had an ice axe, when the glint suddenly caught my eye -- an axe laying flat in the snow. Describe the ice axe (color, make, approx. length, leash), and it's yours. Next time, I'm going to hike up and wish for a new pair of skis.

All conclusions about precisely what happened are pure speculation, but I have to say that Hood/South Side was the only place in the Cascades I have ever seen teams of 5-8 short roped together on one line. I don't know if local guides do it, but I assumed they had a reason for it. (Sort of reminded me of old pictures of Mountaineer trips on Rainier).

You're wrong. Quite a few people are FROM Tacoma (e.g., I was born there); very few people, however, go TO Tacoma. Get out while you can.

I tentatively plan to go this June (I recently posted on "rec.climbing.useful" asking for beta on Bolivian Mountaineering. I got great advice from a few regulars that I'd be happy to forward to you.) I get the sense Bolivia is a mountaineer's paradise because of its remarkably easy access to to a wide range of spectacular Andean peaks, everthing from altimeter trophies (21k) to ice, ice, baby. However, because it hasn't been caught up in the avalanche of "classic climb" literature (yet), it's not as well known. I notice that quite a growing number of guide outfits are going there.