Jedi

Greg W: I have been wondering the same thing. All these people falling. It sounds like a bolted m9 route, not a route where the majority of the route is 45 degrees at most. Lambone: Maybe "the hardest route most commonly attempted on Rainier" would have been a better way to phrase it.

Ahhh.......looked Blood from a Stone up in the 03 AAJ. I was way off base. Snow Patrol is an ice & snow line to the left (out of the pictures shown above).

I wonder if that is Snow Patrol. I can't tell from the picture and topo I have, whether that is the line that Sam Chinnery & Andy Sharpe did April 7th. Is this the South East corner of Dickey? Which Alpinist was Sean's article in? I might be able to tell from another photo. Jedi

O that would be great! When the climber sits on the rope, The rope stretch will have them loosing half a pitch. hehe he

I think I would rather take a 13oz expedition weight capilene top and 11oz bottom than 10lbs of blubber. The blubber is harder to take off when it is hot. Cheaper than having your arteries scraped 20 years from now. At a whopping 148lbs at 5'8", I get cold easy but o well. I have weighed this (plus or minus 2 lbs) for the past 20 years. I could never gain weight when I was trying too. Protein drinks, eating all I wanted and lifting all the time. I am glad I never put it on as I see others my age getting bigger and bigger. Dickdo is running rampant in these parts. ummm.....that's when your gut sticks out farther than your dick do.

Two mile rope! They have cable cars from 14K to 17K now? Damn European influence!! Silly journalist, they're so crazy. What would the rope weigh? 70gm/m at 10,400'? I'll tell ya. too heavy.

I have removed large areas of skin before. You know, the kind of road rash that does not bleed, just a constant liquid that tries to scab. A tub full iodine to soak in would be good to get it clean and give you a chance to scrub dirt and gravel out of the skin. Keeping it moist with an ointment (not cream as it seem to dry) to keep the scabbing to a minimum and covered with NON STICKING bandaging. Once it is mostly healed, I would make sure you keep a shirt on this summer to let that new skin/scar tissue heal properly. I have no medical training, I am just going by some of my past experiences (two nice motorcycle crashes with no leathers). One crash, I did go to the Dr (after trying to fix myself up at home) and this is kinda jist of the way it went. Good luck and get some proper riding gear. Cheaper than Dr bills and less painful.

Here's a photo for ya Dan. You can see it working its way up the right side of the glacier.

picture on 11,300 (see attachment). Now how do you include the picture in the body of the post? Jedi

Yeah, I stick to water while the heart rate is up. The Gu20 card drink is light enough that it does not bothe me. I rely on the gels for the carbs (and protein). Endurox R4 used as a recovery drink is used after the heart rate comes down and you are done for the day. I have not heard of any Accelerade carbo drink in choc but the R4 comes in it and is worth trying. I actually start the day out with a protein meal/shake and 1 liter with 1 serving of GU20. Then gell'n the rest of the day. It is worth tring at home as too much protein can be hard are some peep's tummys. DonnV has a good idea that I have toyed with also. On a big trip, I go all out but around home, I have more the budget of the truely unemployed guy I am. I have a big tub of whey that is tastey. Jedi

I've only been on Liberty Ridge twice (run off both times due to weather) but I see rock fall as an added danger you don't see on easier routes on Rainier. The rocks do make a weird kind of whirling/buzzing sound as they go by. Dru, then see if you can find out whether there are more accidents before or after Thumb rock. The last time I was there (2001), a ranger was hit in the chest by a rock. Jedi

O yeah. R4 comes chocolate now. I don't like the taste of the Orange & fruit punch flavors but the chocolate is really good. Accelerade now offers a gel (Accel-Gel). It tastes as good as GU but the Accel-Gel contains the same 4:1 carb to protein ratio Will is speaking of. I us to look at the R4 as "drink it down cause its good for you". Glad to see the chocolate flavor. Check it out Bronco. Jedi

I have been trying to train and climb smarter. Reading little about nutrition, hydration and recovery. Without quoting a bunch out of someones book, I will just recommend a "good read". "Optimal Muscle Recovery by Edmund Burke ($15). IT has made a difference knowing what my body needs before during and after I do cardio. Drinking Accerades R4 recovery drink after my workout. Recent study will show that it reduces muscle damage by 83%. Good stuff but pricey compared to Gatorade. Nutrition & hydration ARE the other half to training. Why would you want to waste your time training if you doing a lot of damge that is keeping you from getting in good shape? I know most of you probably know this but I have been hard headed (and too old school) about my cardio training. I have been noticing positive results and figured I would share. Jedi

I know the problem VERY well. It is also known as Golfers Elbow, of all things. Technically known as Medial epicondylist. I had it in both elbows because of my job. I let it go on for a couple years. I tried all kinds of physical therapies, anti-inflamatories, steroids packs, injections....... Problem was, I had to work. SO I never let the tendon heal. Tendons take a LOOOONG time to heal. I let the tendon get so inflamed, it rubbed the unlar nerve. Then the unlar nerve became damaged and inflamed over time. When I had surgery (last ditch effort), the surgen took photos of the nerve because he had never seem such damage. This guy was very talented as he graduated from Brown and taught at the Mayo clinic. Anyway, it took a couple years to become pain free and I still can not touch the skin located over unlar nerve (area know as funny bone). Result, I will never onsite 11d and crank 10b trad. I am happy just to be climbing again 6 years after sugery. Can climb 5.9 and that will be my limit but I try to stay away from crimpy climbs. I don't climb sport and stay away from the gym. Rest is the key thing. Stay away from straight bar curls (worst out of the curl exercises) and things that involve the tricep. Jedi

In the past, I had heard that ankle weights actually increases the impact of the foot on the ground. Harder on the knees and foot and ankle. Just "hear say" but worth thinking about.

I use to work a job that the expression "near miss accident" was something you used once a month. Worked that job for 11 1/2 years (thankfully no more). People die everyday while driving 2 ton weapons at each other at 110mph and coming within inches. Odd coecpt when you think about it. I was still motorcycle road racing when my 1st daughter was born. My wife desided it was too dangerous. I thought about my family (and everything else) until I entered the track. Then life became very simple and focused at 160mph. But I still have climbing. My wife bought life insurance for the whole family recently. I am worth 221K if something happens to me. I also have excellent health insurance which has been great over the years (BBBS has paid more than I have paid them). That does add a bit of piece of mind. But it just comes down to my passion for climbing and being somewhat selfish when is comes to climbing. Just the way I am built. Once on a route. Family does not come into my mind. If they did, I think it would cloud my mind. A distraction. No one wants to die but I think you want to better your chances of survival, stay off the road. If you lived in the mountains and took trips to drive a car, driving would seem much more dangerous. Dangerous? you know 200 kids a year die just playing baseball. I bet we would all be surprised how dangerous some NON high profile sports are. Jedi

Sad to see. It is always worse when a father or mother dies and kids are left behind. I feel for the family. I wonder what kind of helmet he was wearing?

What do you want to know about 11,300? It is a really fun route which has a little bit of everything. The route on Johnson you are inquiring about is much more difficult. Jedi

Dan, I never met Kevin & Eric. I climbed with Tom & Greg. I met Marcus & Chris, Wayne & Lance, Dave & Jeff & Sarah in the Root Canal. Joe & David, Mark & Dan on the West Fork and then more in Talkeetna & Anchorage. Odd thing is, Matt, Karen & Carl rapped before the "notch". The "traverse" before the notch is where Karen told me she got hit. You can rap the ridge proper from before rapping into the notch. It is only 2 pitches back to the Grey Rock bivy. From there it only takes 7 hours to rap to the base and get back to base camp(at a modest pace). Odd they would pick to rap that gully. We watched MANY avalanches pour down the gully. I can only figure they did it because a guide and his client bailed down that gully before we flew in but they bailed 750 below the summit. Jedi

Dag, I need a new pair of ski's but I gotta use my 404's (can't afford new bindings). I flew with NorthWest. When I unpacked yesterday, I found one of the forward ends of a ski BROKEN OFF. Now the Chouinard TUA's are offically retired since duct tape & Seam Sealer will not fix them. My skins need to be reglued so I'm in the market a pair of those also. Jedi

we had the Mega Light in Ak this year as a cook tent. It is nice and compact when packed up.It made life nicer. I do wonder how these light weight material will hold up to UV. I did sleep in a Mega Mid during a sand storm. It was not quite the tent for that situation.

I have the Alpha/Intuition combo. I went with the Alpha in the same size as I wear in a street shoe. This was recommended by the shop/fitter I bought them from. They have just enough romm for me to wiggle my toes a little. They are a little too snug across the top of my foot so I don't think I could use them on Denali but they climb damn well (once again, gear compensating for my lack of ability). The shells have been horribly distorted to fit my Fred Flinstone ping pong paddle feet. The shells do not take too kindly to crampon points. Also, the CM/P Sarkens are nice & light and climb as well as the Grivel G14's making for a lightweight package. Anyway, I am getting off topic. The Intutuion's do get wet and do take a while to dry. I don't wear a VB liner and wonder if I should not try a pair if I could find a pair thin enough. But then I would also need a supergaitor since the tongue of my Alpha's buckle in a couple spots and snow works it way in. I use to have a pair of Inverno's sized for slogging on Denali but they climbed like the pink bunnie bedroom slippers I am wearing. I did see a fella on his way into climb Denali, among other things, with a pair of Montrail's Ice 9 & crampon one size bigger than his street shoe. He was using a VB liner & some warm socks and a modified OR overboot with 2 different kinds of insulation (using the appropriate insulation accordingly). I guess the overboot has a removable close cell insulation & open cell. I plan to find out how the system worked after he returns. Jedi

Glad those guys got there shot at the route. They had to hike up from the Gateway because Geeting couldn't land up near the base of the Moose's Tooth because of winds. It had been pretty warm up there (hardly freezing at night) for 4 or 5 days before they climbed it. David, could you email me the picture you posted in the body of your post? j.fitzgerald@charter.net

And congrats to you guys on flying up the route!! Geeze, I have done the bottom half of that route 3 times now. The summit bivy was beautiful with alpinglow at night and in the morning. We came down in whiteout conditions once we got to the rock rapels, so it was a little slow going. Fun route!! That huge serac cut loose as we were summiting. We walked across the concrete like debis the next afternoon. Beautiful blue rocks everywhere. 36 hours later, it let loose again sending a cloud up that sattelite peak at the end of the ridge. Were you guys there when Karen, Matt and Carl tried it and Karen got hit with that falling piece of ice just before the notch? I saw her arm in a cast but they could not really tell if it was broken or just badly bruised. One cut loose in the Root Canal from the Bear's Tooth. Kevin Mahoney (sp?) and his wife were sleeping only to find themselves airborne (in their tent) from the windblast. Some of the tent eyelets were even torn out. Ham & Eggs was bacon. Definitely doable but it was warm. We didn't make it up far since my partner pulled a rock off on the 1st pitch. I teamed up with a couple of Pacific NorthWest locals and we tried the regular route on the Bears Tooth. Avy condition before the col sent us back down. That last week there was hot. Talked to many people who had put up new routes. Those Scots really put up a nice ice line up Dickey. Already been repeated by Ben Gilmore. Met many great people from the PNW. Nice guys to hang out with a climb with. Man, you guys were EVERYWHERE. Kudos to TAT. Great folks there. Another warm spring. The Harvard is still in my sites. Jedi

Haven't seen it. Would anything hit you in the face as it unzipped (knots & carabiners)? Jedi