Stefan

Road is now open to Barlow Pass from Granite Falls.

Who were the guys who made it to a significant elevation on the Abruzzi Ridge on K2 in 1937 or 1938 - even climbing the section where there is a wire ladder now. I think it was one or two years before Fritz Weissner attempted the climb. My mind thinks it is Paul Petzoldt. If it is him, then he is the most influential.

The hike into Boulder Lake is the standard approach for Frostbite-Weber. I think Beckey describes it that way too.

Looks like a great time. Nice!

It is not just that Saddam tried to kill Dubyas dad. It also has to do with these events: 1. Senior Bush was elected OUT of office and had only one term while Saddam remained in power. I believe there was some jealousy there. 2. I remember Schwarzkoppf said how "they made a mistake" meaning himself and the White House cabinet in the original war made a mistake by not demanding the ousting of Saddam Hussein in the agreements after the invasion. Senior Bush knew this mistake, so he told his son to clean up his mistake. 3. I do believe there have been only "FATHER" and "SON" talks about all these instances without anyone around -- not even their spouses. And it is my belief that Father told son: "If you do anything as President, get that S.O.B. Saddam" That is why Iraq has been number one on the White House agenda and always was. 9-11 just proved to be an excuse.

Good write up on the financials and what they mean Don. However, I slightly disagree with this statement you made: I believe the objective of any busines has to be positive cash flow, becuase a business can be profitable and still go bankrupt....

The Hardest Routes in the Cascades are routes I would never do becuase I do not have the balls to do it. Here is one. Mt. Triumph - North Face Central Rib

Now I know you know nothing about this topic--but have strong opinions. Peak fees have gone up for Nepal / Pakistan becuase those governments want cash directly to their coffers. If there were no guided expeditions, then peaks fees would still have risen becuase the governments still want cash. The goverments of Pakistan and Nepal have increased peak fees because the people who want to climb these peaks can afford to pay peak fees. If rich people didn't infect this part of the world with their greed for trophies, there wouldn't be peak fees. And for all of you that "know what you're talking about, cuz' you've been there", would it be possible for me to get one of your T-shirts? Men's medium? Sorry, I don't work for MM anymore, so I cannot get you a tshirt. In part your are probably right about peak fees...if nobody ever climbed the 8000m peaks then the peak fees would not rise. Most of the people that climb 8000m peaks ARE NOT guided. I would say less than 10% are probably guided expeditions. When you go to an 8000m mountain you will see Koreans, Russians, South Americans, and the largest contingent--the Europeans on each of these mountains. Most of these groups are NOT guided. Hell, the Russians have no money--which I have no idea how they do it. The Koreans, and Italians get paid to climb, so why would they want to guide? It is the demand of climbing these peaks by alpine enthusiasts that have risen the costs.....guided expeditions are not the result of increased fees.

Now I know you know nothing about this topic--but have strong opinions. Peak fees have gone up for Nepal / Pakistan becuase those governments want cash directly to their coffers. If there were no guided expeditions, then peaks fees would still have risen becuase the governments still want cash.

Running a small business is more difficult than climbing any mountain. Christine should be given a lot of credit for that. As far as clients/guiding. Sometimes people want to learn a new thing like playing a guitar and are willing to pay for others. In some trips like the 8000m peaks the main problem is logistics. Many clients who climb the 8000m peaks are experienced--they just did not want to have to go through all the hoops and organization of doing such an endeavor. They are/were willing to pay for other people to take care of the all the b.s. such as oxygen/permits/porters/yaks/food/equipment/sat phone/transportation getting to the base of the mountain...... I know what it takes because I have seen it first hand.

I have to disagree with some of you. I think it will be gorgeous out there both days. http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/wrhq/TotalForecast.csh?TotalForecast+WR+WA+018+033+MAPCOORDS^83^57

They changed the website: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/northcascades/pass/default.htm In addition. The road is NOW OPEN FROM NEWHALEM TO THE NORMAL CLOSURE AT ROSS LAKE TO ALL DRIVERS!

Don't just stick to hiking. Also use your mountainbike. Pushing that thing up logging roads is a great workout. Then coming down is a blast and it saves your knees. Here are my suggestions for mountain biking on logging roads: Bessemer Roads north of Lake Hancock/South of Calligan Lake west slopes of Rattlesnake

This is an excellent trip report. You told your feelings. You told your weaknesses. You told your doubts. Not many people are willing to write like this for fear of retribution or appearing feebile in a realm of chestbeating on cc.com. Here are the phrases I liked in your trip report. I hope you write more trip reports.

Climb: Razorback / The Whale (Peak 6559) / Boulder - Date of Climb: 3/13/2004 Trip Report: This weekend found Greg K., Dave C., and myself up Boulder Creek jus SE of Marblemount for an extraordianarilly unusual spring-like Saturday and Sunday typical winter weather like day. The three of us went to Hamilton and picked up the gate key for the Boulder Creek gate at 6:00a.m. Here is the info on how to get the gate keys for the Crown Pacific gates from Hamilton all the way to Marblemount: Drive Highway 20 until just before mile post 77--also just before you cross under the road trestle--and take a left. Then take a slight right on to the road coming off of the road trestle and keep heading north (Scott Paper road) for about 1/2 mile until you come to a little shack and gate. This is the guard that holds all the keys to all those gates. The guard is there from 6:00a.m. until 10:00p.m. every day. The guard will give you a key for your location for a $20 cash deposit, upon which you will receive the $20 when you return the key. It appears they have 6 different keys and each for a different area, so you better know specifically which gate you want access to. The guard has laminated maps but are general overall maps so it is a good idea you bring your map to make sure your map and the guard maps have the same road detailed information. They do not give access to all gates--not even the one up Howard Creek that gives access to the Twin Sisters range. As we were opening up the gate key for Boulder Creek along came Mike T., and Matt B. and we let them in with us. We drove to 1100 feet on the road until we were stopped by a freshly (this past summer) made berm. Mike T. had brought a motorcycle becuase the last time we were up this road it was mountainbikable/motorcycleable up until the Boulder Creek crossing. Well it now turns out there are 26, yes, 26 brand new berms on this road in less than 1 mile in distance--all made from this past summer or fall. Greg, Dave, and I were able to walk faster than Mike and Matt were able to use the motorcycle and so we never saw them again until the end of the day. The three of us headed up the road all the way until the stream crossing coming out of Lake No. 1 at about 4100. We put down all of our overnight gear and headed up for Razorback--also thinking that Mike and Matt would follow us. We decided to do Razorback and The Whale (Peak 6559) first becuase we knew weather was going to deteriorate for Sunday and we wanted to do a shorter ascent day for Sunday, AND we thought Mike's and Matt's goal for the day was to do Razorback. The snow conditions were EXCELLENT! Snow was soft in the trees warranting snowshoes but otherwise in open areas you stayed ON TOP of the snow which made for easy ascending. We made the summit of Razorback wondering where Mike and Matt were???? We left shortly and made a ridge traverse to The Whale staying on the north side of point 5995, descended to lake 5564, going up the SW ridge of The Whale at 5840+, and then traversed directly west ascending a short cliff band. From there it was ascending on excellent snow to the heathery summit of The Whale. We kept looking over at the Razorback for the two other guys and we never saw them--we figured they turned around. We left The Whale and through a series of glissades, snowshoeing in the trees, walking across Lower Granite Lake, we made it back to our campsite on the snow covered road around 4:15. At this exact time Mike and Matt pop out of the woods to tell us they made it to the summit of Boulder! Soon they were on their way down and we made camp for the night. Next morning it was snowing and we left camp at 7:30 following the footsteps of Mike and Matt for about 1/2 way up until we lost their footprints due to the amount of snow and the semi windy summit--it was a semi blizzard. This felt like winter conditions. Sometimes we put on snowshoes, sometimes we did without due to the hardness of the snow underneath. The last section of Boulder required a traverse on steep snow--but the very last section was the trickiest. Due to the amount of snow all the rock was slippery and the very last 4 feet required an aid move--we "hooked" the actual summit block with our ice axe and then shimmied on our bellies to the actual summit to touch the summit. Kind of tricky with snow blowing in your face. We soon were down back to camp by 11:00 and were down to the car by 2:30. We then drove over to the Lake Tyee area (north of Concrete) where Greg and I then walked up peak 1567 (447'P) on the Grandy Lake quad. As we were leaving the area the summits of Boulder and Jordan peaks could be seen becuase the weather had improved. Here are some pictures of Mike and Matt's trip up Boulder Peak: http://www.mtnmike.com/pics04/BoulderPk/ Saturday was excellent! If you were not out, then you missed out!

Marblemount. Rains a lot. But access is sweet. Other than that, if somebody paid for my home....I think it would be Whistler.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/northcascades/pass/spring04.htm

Mark Twight talked about a cold / hot shower cycle to flush something out of the muscless when you train. I don't remember if this is true. I believe it is the same function that some Olympic athletes do.....but I am not sure....

I know the road is plowed to just before Chilliwack Lake during the winter.... But in your opinion is the road driveable by a standard 2WD vehicle to the end right now?

Geordie told me last year that less than 5 days out of the whole year before July 10 was the quota reached for the maximum amount of people in Boston Basin. If you ever go during the week I don't think you will ever have a problem. The road does not usually open up until July 4th. Sometimes it is a pain to walk the road for a couple of miles--I recommend taking a bike if you decide to go in June which I think is the best time because of the amount of snow and less rock hopping. Although traditionally after July 4th the weather is more reliabale.

Northern Washington seems to have normal average snowpack amounts. However, southern Washington and Mt. Hood have higher than average snowpack. Here is the data: http://www.seawfo.noaa.gov/products/CLISNO

Nice. Very nice.

We did not hit snow until the very end of the road when we did it--when you leave the road to do Damnation. I also remember we did some other peak 400' prominent peak near Damnation....

You must have a higher level of tolerance for brush than me!

Hey Michael Layton thanks for your time putting this together. I enjoyed it. It adds to the quality of the site.