Mike

It seems like the descents are usually more epic than ascents. Worst Descent: Descending the N. Brother after a failed traverse attempt (from the North to South peak) due to 100' visibility and sleet. One guy talked the other two of us into descending via the great basin which you can see from Seattle, instead of going out the way we came in. There is only one way down through all the cliff bands; we eventually found our way after searching for 5 hours in the rain, sleet and wind. Honorable Mention: Using Rat Creek to descend from the Enchantments is worth avoiding - we'll stick to Toketie in the future. I haven't tried Johannesburg, but I've never heard a story about a good descent off this mountain. Has anybody ever found the "obvious" trail/ledge system/whatever that Becky mentions in CAG? -Mike

We checked out castle rock last weekend. Give it another two or three weeks. The rock was mostly clear of snow, but enough snow remains to keep things wet.

You might be able to get part way up Cascade River Road and do something in Boston Basin - Eldorado, Sahale, Snowking, something. Probably be fun with skis. Keep a close eye on avalanche conditions.

I've climbed with Jeremy - he gets out alot and he's a super nice guy. That being said - spray away! Nobody posts on this site unscathed! Since they're giving away food, does the original post count as spam?

The single climbers forearm pump! Left hand, right hand, palm up, palm down...

Anybody been up to the Enigma Gully lately? Current conditions? Would anybody care to wildly speculate? I was hoping that the snowpack has consolidated and refrozen in the last week so that we can step-kick our way up this Saturday. Thanks for any replies - useful or entertaining. -Mike

I assume that you already have a beacon and shovel? And you'd use the probe to retrieve dead bodies - e.g. your friends who didn't have beacons? I definitely want to "second" the advice about practice. "Keep it Simple" is another good motto which is why I bought a DTS tracker - way better than a grid search!

Yeah, the Canadians celebrate Veterans day also. In fact, the Canadians have a holiday each month - totally kicks butt! If you need some local Smith beta, swing by Redpoint Climbers Supply on your way in. You can buy the T-shirt which lists the classic best routes.

N Twin Sister/West Ridge goes a lot easier with a mountain bike, especially on the way out. If your group is fairly solid, you shouldn't need a rope (or bring a light, scramble rope.) Then bike in, scramble the w. ridge, glissade down the N. face (before mid-July) and bike out. Lot's of fun and a GREAT glissade! -Mike

Mt Fury - center of the bushwacking universe. You're right in the middle of the N. Cascades, surrounded by incredible peaks and three very gnarly cirques - Luna, McMillan and Goodell. It's a hard call since there are so many great summits! -Mike

I was up there last weekend. Conditions are great. There are a few easily avoided crevasses. Consider doing it as a car2car with a car camp and an early start. The bugs were pretty thick, so an early start from the cars was a great way to avoid them.

I agree that we have to keep this site fun. Irreverence is a climbing tradition along with dirtbag humor. Lots of good post that are funnier than hell but draw plenty of fire.

We did it in two days as well. It's pretty easy to find the turn-off from the PCT up to Boulder Basin; there's a sign for an outhouse on the trail pretty close to the turn-off (within 100'). So cruise up from Kennedy hotsprings, take the left on the PCT and keep your eyes open for the sign at about 4100' ASL.

One more vote for Tinuba. I've had giardia twice - once in India, once in Nepal. Tinuba cured it with one dose both times. The symptoms were pretty clear - explosive diarhea and sulphur burps. It's a shame you can't get Tinuba in this country unless you have friends who've stocked up while overseas.

More support for Mattp. It's possible to be witty and courteous at the same time. A lot of flaming is based on religious differences (e.g. bolting), and not everybody understands the issues. I'd actually like to hear a little more positive stuff - people do actually put up good, new routes. All I ever hear about on this site is bolt chopping - never credit to the people who spend serious time and money to put up routes for the rest of us. If they put up 20 good routes and one questionable route, we get 5 pages of flames. It makes us sound like a pack of assholes with no redeeming value.

We did the Sitkum about two weeks ago. The glacier was in good shape. There were some open crevasses near the top of the lower Sitkum. Route finding was very easy and you could just follow the cattle track. Once you hit the talus ridge after the upper sitkum (about 9300'), you can unrope and scramble to the summit if you stay on the talus. The steep gully that Nelson mentions just before the summit was no problem since there was a worn track across it that was very secure. Have fun. We camped in the basin; the upper camp sites at the foot of the Sitkum looked pretty mediocre.

Don't even have to do hard routes to get away from the crowds - a little hard core bushwacking thins out the crowds too.

Just did N Twin Sister last saturday - snow conditions were almost perfect. My friends were grinning from ear to ear at the bottom. Only 2200' though, but I'm planning to do the Kautz in early June so maybe I'll have a chance to check-out the Camp Hazard glissade.