robert

Check out Alpenglow for plenty of history of the Cascades. A bit more ski focused, but Lowell know about as much as anyone when it comes to Northwest mountaineering history.

I have intuition liners and I don't think it would be any problem to get them to fill the extra half size. I would take the boots to a local boot fitter and get the final word from them, but I doubt it would be a problem. I used Martin at Sturdevants in Bellevue and the liners are working great.

Gene, Too late I know, but in case you are still looking for a good place... I have taken kids sledding on the north side of Stevens Pass along the cat track up to the cell towers on Skyline Ridge. There is a great sledding snopark at Hyak, the Hyak SnoPark. It costs $10 to park there, but the sledding is groomed and just the right angle. That the car is just a few steps away and there are bathrooms makes it a good option for groups including other than outdoor people. I have taken people sledding out of the Stevens employee lot, but you are looking at a snowshoe of half an hour or so to get to a suitable spot.

Awesome trip in the true definition of the word. If one tried to argue this was a hike they would lose. That looked like a life changing experience.

We found it wasn't just the digging, it was the digging to get to our neighbor's chickens that was the problem. Our husky is great with our kids, though now at 11 he is less tolerent of our two year old than he was when our first was that age. He does seem to take his agression out on the unfortunate wildlife that happens into his fenced yard. He has killed a racoon, a quail, a snaffle, a couple of rats and some mice. He didn't actually kill the neighbor's chickens, but he scare them pretty badly. For this an general lack of interest in staying with us we have to keep him on leash at all times when we are out of our yard.

Climbed the WI2 flow west of CYA today. The ice was pretty good with spots of rotten or wet, but it took screws well enough. The top was more snice than ice, but it made for a slighly more sporty finish. It was a good, fun if short climb. For those looking for top ropeable ice, it appears it could be top roped by climbing the trees to the right and descending down to the anchor. A 50m rope will work, but a 60 would be more comfortable.

I think that the users can take what they want from the data. If they don't want to see the photos from the route or approach, or don’t want waypoints, elevations or whatever piece of information they can choose not to consume it. I could see that simply looking at a line on a topo map and a beautiful photo taken along the route might be sufficient to inspire someone to grab their USGS map and plan a trip. Others might choose to view every photo, read every linked TR and spend hours in Google Earth going over the approach. They would each have their own experience of the trip. I would rather have the information and make a choice to use it or not than not have the information available at all.

I would love to see something map based. Maps.google.com I think is the best option. I love maps.live.com and the aerial/sat images are better in our area, but no topography yet is a huge drawback. Some modes of travel lend themselves to topographic maps better than others, skiing = great, crag climbing = harder to show much information as travel is vertical. Rock climbing or ice climbing would benefit from a topo generating tool. I would like to be able to see geotagged photos tied to the routes. I agree that that the meta data will need to be customized by mode of travel. I can see that if you pick skiing you get choices like slope angle, avalanche danger, slope characteristic (trees, gladed, clear cut, open, glacier) and some others I can't think of right now. If you choose crag climbing, you get choices like rating, number of pitches, gear required, anchors, rock quality, aesthetics, approach. I am fine with having subjective criteria as well as objective data for all entries. I think as the wiki matures the quality of the data, subjective and objective will increase and it will become a tremendous resource.

I really like the idea. I don't know if you caught the thread on this same topic at TAY, but the community was split. Those against were pretty strong in their opposition. Those for it may have been more in number, but I don't know if it will go anywhere. It takes someone to really take ownership of the idea and dedicate quite a bit of time and energy. I would love to see it happen and ideally I see it combining climbing and skiing. I would love to see a map of the state, range, region whatever, with routes and photos and information overlaid. Robert

Celebrating her first hike. Taking a break on her first backpacking trip. She actually did carry a backpack to the lake. Watchout for that hole daddy.

Eldorado/Klawatti is nice. It sounds like you want a base camp and day climbs. That trip works well. If you have time you can throw in a tour over toward the Triad. Not a base camp trip, but the Shuksan/Icy/Ruth traverse looks very nice. I have not done that one though. The area around Lake Ann/Rainy Pass would be worthy of exploration over a few days. A trip to Black Peak and touring around Lake Ann could fill the time easily.

Yodelin or Lichtenberg via Smithbrook are nice and reasonably safe. If Avy ends up being really high Yodelin is probably better. If it is moderate Lichtenberg via Yodelin Place is one of my favorites in the area. Yodelin starts from the Stevens Pass employee parking area/dorm and goes straight up the ridge above. Lots of tree skiing options. Lichtenberg via Yodelin Place starts in the same lot, but walk across Hwy 2 and then ski down the road which generally parallels 2 before turning left and ascending gently. Stay on the road all the way to the end and tour into the trees. Once you are clear of the houses you can drop down and across the creek. Once you pop out of the trees north of the creek you have lots of options. Lichtenberg via Smithbrook is access from the pull off at the Smithbrook road. Tour up the road until the hairpin and then keep going straight, eventually bending south towards the summit of Lichtenberg. Let me know if you need more details.

Not that I know of. There are ski schools and racing clubs at Stevens. I don't think there are any lodges. Are you looking for the lodge or the club?

Sounds like pretty much the same way adults ski powder, stand up, ski fast and do it on fat skis. I don't think there will be many chances for her to get into the pow this year, so hopefully next year when she will be a year bigger, stronger and on 100cm skis she will be able to handle it.

Not from me personally, but this TR on Jason's site got me fired up to take my daughter up when she gets a bit older.