Stefan

good to hear you doing some good. surgery sux all the time.

I am immune to giarda. I have built up an immunity.

Nice little stat. But I disagree. The Karakorum is steeper than the Cascades in their last horizontal mile. But the only people who have the Karakorum probably really mapped out correctly would be the CIA or the NSA....and they probably won't share that data.

Wilderness. I know that. But lets theorize. Is it a good trail to mountainbike on?

I have been playing with the MM5 forecaster thing recently. It is the best forecasting tool out there for precipitation of where precip will happen and when. http://www.atmos.washington.edu/mm5rt/

is that trail mtnbikeable?

Marriage--it aint for everyone. Just like kids. Kids aint for everyone. Been married for 15 years. Looking forward for the next 45 years. If you are thinking about marrying someone, live with them for at least one year in the same dwelling before you get married. That way you learn much more about the person, the choices they make, and their values.

more stress = PTSD. maybe that is why PTSD happens to military fighters more often.

Nice little lucky charm you have there.

Do not kick dog shit on a hot day.

I have seen all the debates. I don't like her, Obama, or mr $700 hair cut. Those three are all just the same damned politicians. Dennis Kucinich is my favorite. I like the way Biden and Gravel answers the questions without the political B.S. spin.

Neither did my mother. But the Rolling Stones are still kicking around.

Then there is this statement: If you have nuclear weapons, then you have the intention to kill innocent children. A nuclear weapon does not discriminate. I am still trying to find why those people who believe in pro life also believe in having nuclear weapons.

Fin A. Awesome. Thanks dudes.

I will weigh in. I prescribe to the philosophy believing most people are good and make rationally correct decisions for themselves and for their communities most of the time. If I go with that philosophy then it must mean I trust others that the decision to have an abortion is the correct decision most of the time.

totally agree. I have fenders on both front and back tires. Makes a big difference.

I have hit those posts on the entrances to the bicycle paths twice and flew both times. My head was down, it was dark, and it was raining. But for some reason, I have never hit black ice. But then again, I now have tread on my tires. I have found in the past that if I go with bare tread I get more flats.

Nope. No legal drug taking here. I be a 38 yo white male.

I bike 2-3 times a week doing about 6 miles one way. Here's my motivator. God tries to throw this weather stuff at me to see if I am a wimp. When I am out there and it is raining hard, it is dark, and about 35 degrees...I ask for more...and ask God if he can throw more at me. I never quit. Plus, I take it up as training for my climbing. When I know all of us in the climbing party are soaked and cold...I just know I can take more of the weather crap becuase of the experience on the bike. Hell, the Ruskies and the Polish are hard core freaks for bad weather climbing. We Americans are wimps.

Remember, Bush believed Jesus was guiding him...and a lot of people voted for him becuase of his commitment to Jesus the Christ. I never knew Jesus was for war during the reelection.

KaskadskyjKozak would sing a different tune if he received an agressive cancer, finding out that his insurance gets cancelled becuase of the excessive cost of treating the cancer and then going into bankruptcy becuase of the ongoing costs. Yeah right. Market conditions will not reduce the cost of this type of health care. This cause of bankruptcy is more common than you think. I know two families this has affected. College education savings were wiped out for both families becuase both families had used all their money.

that sunset picture is awesome. really!

If you really wanted to be environmental and feel good stuff, buty from St. Vincent De Paul and Goodwill. Those people who work there really need the jobs. In addition, you buy secondhand and do NOT create a demand that takes as many resources. Sure the stuff is not as good, but hell, people in the 50's were wearing worse stuff than what you find at St. Vincent's and Goodwill. Do something that matters. The patagucci people live in an expensive area of California. You pay for that.

You are using electricity by posting to this site...as well as the mass amounts of electricity for the server farms to host this website. You are greatly contributing.

Here you go: Went out yesterday with Don B., and Mike C. to do Sheep Gap (5819) and North Sheep Gap (5683). We started at 8:40 from Barlow Pass on our bikes and rode them to the large washout now on the Monte Cristo road. I could not remember how far past this washout is the Weeden Creek trail, so we carried the bikes passed this washout. The trail is about 200 meters past this washout…so my recommendation is to not take the bike past the washout….but still take the bike. We started out under cloudy skies, but by around 1:00ish we had mostly sunny skies. We followed the trail and snow started in earnest around 3400 feet. At some point in time, after crossing the first major stream we lost the tracks from one set of other people and started heading up ourselves in the snow. The snow was fine but became more mushy as we got higher with less trees. We alternated between putting on snowshoes and no snowshoes for certain areas—traversing was a pain because of severe slippage with the snowshoes on. Eventually we made it to the 5021closed contour north of Weden Lake. We started traversing above the basin trying to stay at 5000 feet. Unfortunately this did not work out due to rock ribs we were going to encounter and we eventually had to drop down. From the basin it was easy up to Weden Pass (5120+). It was around 1:30 at this time and Don B. had a previous commitment with his daughter so he just opted to head up North Sheep Gap and then head home. Mike C., and myself continued to Sheep Gap. From Weden Pass you can immediately drop down and then do a traverse to the col north of Sheep Gap or you can find a SW downsloping ramp which I found at 5120 feet. This downsloping ramp (which was in snow when we were there) saves you about 200 feet in elevation over dropping directly down from Weden Pass. Here is how to find the downsloping ramp: 1) go to Weden Pass 2) go directly west up and over the first minor bump directly west of the summit (maybe about 100 meters)—this bump is probably about 15 feet high 3) after going up and over the bump head SSW to a large tree next to a cliff (estimated at 5120 feet) 4) from the large tree you can look SW for the rocky/snow ramp heading down towards Sheep Gap We descended maybe 150-200 feet and then went up to the col directly north of Sheep Gap and at the base of the north ridge. At this time, the north ridge did not look doable to me—too much exposure with wet sloughing snow on the route. So I looked for another option. I looked at the northwest face. This had very steep snow all the way to a col between the summit and the SW subsummit. We went up to the col with some minor tree pullups and then took a downsloping section of snow to the summit around a corner on the northwest face. I believe this is a first ascent of this peak on this route..but not sure. I do not recommend this route without snow because we were on snow covered on slab rock. The maximum climbing was one short section of class 4. We reached the rocky summit but the actual true summit was covered in snow. We did two rappels on the entire route. We retraced our steps back, went up easily to North Sheep Gap and then took the steps home following in Don B.’s footsteps. Back to car at 9:10. 12.5 hours round trip and about 5400 feet of gain. Map attached. Can also see trip report here: http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7959695&highlight=sheep+gap Stefan