wormfighter6

I had the same thing happen to me on Shuksan. In the same spot! very similar circumstances we followed little twisties in the trees thinking they would go to the trail WRONG! We did the same thing headed back to the top and started over after 6hrs of bushwacking we found the trail right where we left it. Promtly bought a GPS after that experience I never have gotten lost since. I still bring compas and map incase GPS goes down. I am a little wiser after that outing we were in white out in May,compas and map are of little use when you can't see. Sounds like that group of guys should be OK. What happend to us was line of drift pulled us to our left as we headed down.

Climb: MT Shasta-Hotum Botam Glacier Date of Climb: 5/29/2004 Trip Report: Approach Notes: Approach was spoted snow till apr 8300. Snow on Mt was EXCELLENT!!

There were some crevases open on the glacier they were at 12000.They look like vertical lines in the pictures. We walked in there wasn't solid snow till 8300' or so.

Tried to climb hotlam bolam glacier route Memorial day weekend they weather was WINDY!! was turned back at 12000ft. Was so bad we had a hard time communicating. We had to shout in order to hear each other. We started at 3 from 9500 and am figure we turned around at 6am or so. Ther were 3 groups behind us they all turned around also at aprox the same alt. Except for the wind the conditions were great!! the snow was in perfect shape figured air temp was in teens WC was WAY below 0 we had a hard time starying warm as we were walking. I wanted to add some pictures but how the heck do I do that. I have them on my hard drive.

Climbed there a couple of years ago. Ran accross what looked like some home made hangers. Yes, home made. Looks like they were just 1/4 sheet metal that was bent at a right angle and had a hole drilled in them for you biner and the bolt into the rock. They were kinda scarry I didn't trust them. But I loved the climbing there.

Did I miss it or did they never show how the fall started? I realize their are limits to self arrest but did the group that started the whole thing not know how to SA, was there a coat of ice, anybody know the answer. From the look of the pictures, the slope, and that time of year SA shold not have been a problem?

As an X officer stationed at Ft Lewis I still have a couple years left on my IRR time. I would not happy if I was called back to active duty. Actually I wuold be Mad as Hell. But I under stood that that was the risk I took and I have no right to whine or complain about it. I am a small busisness owner now and would lose my busisness and would have to let my 2 employees go. If I was able to stay here I cold probaly continue to run my busisness but it would not be easy. If I was called up I would go do my duty to the best of my ability. Yes the IRR has been called up before in Desert Storm I a whole bunch were call up from the IRR and the IMA.

most dangerous activities in ref of percentage of accidents are from greatest to least. EOD (explosive ordnance disposal although not recreational just thought I would thought that in there) SCUBA diving when diving below 151 FT Para gliding Hang gliding Navy Pilot (landing on carriers) Bungee jumping (for competition why that makes a difference I have no idea) Student pilot then fighter followed by helicopter Sky diving (HALO or HAHO) not static line I realize that a navy pilot is not a rec activity considered by some but other would (please no spray)

July 4th weekend of 03 I was up on Shuksun and a neophite climber took a fall down the shute at the summit. The ironery was they had just gotten a ticket from a ranger 45 min earlier for staying in the wilderness area w/o a permit. He was lifted out w/ major injuries, non life threating. That never made the news. Was not dramatic enough, unlike the Rainier accident that was "story".Inka if you want the details of every investigated accident they are published every year you can buy the book for I think 20$ or so. Reading that book is a good way to learn what NOT to do.

Back to the original question about getting hired w/ or w/o certification. I would say that becoming a guide is something that happens over time. For instance starting out as a backpack bi**. Getting your WFR is very critical rember when a company hires someone they are looking at several things: a) education and certifications (keeps their liability ins reasonable) b) Experience (one of the BEST teachers are they a rock climber, ice climber etc. ) c) the companies needs ( What positions to fill seasonal full time etc.) d) Personality of potental employee (will they mesh w/ existing employees e) Pay ( what will we have to pay this person) You have to ask your self what do you want to guide? you want to know every discipline or just one? Get as much experince under your belt as possible. Becoming a certifined AMGA guide is a long process. If a rope will be involved get as much rope handling skills as possible under your belt practice, practice, practice. If you can show you know what your doing w/ a rope, have basic first aid skills and have a great personality your chances of getting hired greatly increase.

I've climbed in N cal along 101 it was OK. Just N of Eurkea there was moonstone and another location can't recall name. Make sure to rinse off all your equipment afterwords the salt in the air eats metal. There was a mix of bolted stuff and Trad.

I agree w/ Winter I saw the IMAX clip w/ a bunch of climbing buddies and we all started laughing when we saw it. Was obvious even though they tried to hide it. The spot they showed was an airy overhang with this giant plastic postive hold.

I’ll admit my climbing life style has drastically changed over the last several years. I used to free solo w/o a rope, climb at my very limits, overall had an attitude that if I was killed I died to something I love. My life has drastically changed now. I am married w/ a beautiful wife (who climbs). I still climb today but I not like I used to. I now have a career and my priorities have shifted. Although I will admit I long for the days when I had 500$ in my pocket and a tank full of gas and two buddies in the car on our way to climb for a month. I no longer push my limits and am satisfied with being a crappy climber. When I was single I climbed w/ little or no fear I was at the top of my game. I climbed just as well 30 feet above my last piece of pro as I did on top rope hell if not a little better. I was so in tune w/ my body I knew exactly what I could do and could not do. I would only say that I felt ( I’m not saying this is what everyone should do) once I was married my priorities shifted. I now have a responsibility to my wife I know that if something were to ever happen to me she could live comfortably and not have to worry about money (this always becomes a joke when she is belaying me) I do not know this climbers monetary situation but with three children will they be able to go to college if they want to do so? Will they still be able to afford their home or will they have to move in w/ Grandma and Grandpa.

The needles are only a few hours away. If you climb in the Rushmore area everything is bolted on Rap. But in the Custered state park its bolted on lead and can be REALLY run out. But there are several MUST DO's in custard. The book I,ve sent you , while not complete, has all the must do's.

I climbed devils tower several years ago, I was EXCELLENT crack climbing. Did Durance (of course) it's a horrable off width. Need BIG Cams or Tricams or Hexes. My favorate are Sol, Sunshine, Crack Daiblo, Star I have a few others that were great. Most of the routes at the tower are all very consistant. If its a 10a 90% of the moves are 10a. If you like crack climbing the tower is a MUST. There is a campground right there and a KOA just outside the park you can shower at for a buck or two. We woke up at 3 am to get in line at 4 for the Durance route. I thought the Piton travers was the scarriest part of the whole climb. You need 2 ropes to get back down. General rule, the west side is the harder side (11ish). Oh yea lots of pigons everywhere. I would recomend going in spring its 100+ in mid summer there. There is also a one month (June)were the park asks that you dont climb the tower. Have fun.

Is that for real??? it's gotta be a temp. But then again who knows??

Another one I have is a pictuer of me I know it sounds egocentristic (SP?). Its a picture of me climbing from a distance. With the "rock" and evrything tattooed on my back it turned out great. I dont have a digital camera and I dont have a scanner otherwise I would put the pic up.

I've got "YOUR NAME" tattooed on my ass I has made for some great conversations.

I appreciate all the Beta and the consern. This weekend My wife and I are climbing that route. So I will have climbed it before. Now granted it has been a few years since was payed to guide people up mountains. I was an associate AMGA guide in college but I still do several trips a year taking groups up MT Adams even Mt Rainier. I would have taken them up Adams South side but the road will be closed for the last several miles. Hence forth Hood I have already had several sessions at paradise with the kids and their parents they all know how to self arrest, self rescue, set up a Z pulley 3 and 5. This was done w/ a lot of forethought hence asking for Beta on the route. I can understand the concern trust me I have a lot of concern also. Thats is also why we are having 2 days up there to retrain and make sure EVERYONE knows what to do. I appreciate the concern. I have always said there are generally 2 classes of people who get killed on MT's the Neophytes and the VERY experienced. 1st type don't understand the risks they are taking. 2nd they are overconfident. PS If I already have said that several of the kids cant go because I didn't feel comfortable with their skills with an ice ax or rope. I'm taking this VERY seriously I have in my keep the most important thing a parent could ever have, their child. I appreciate all the Beta and the concern.

In short Alphas get screwed; assuming they have no kids at home. If they had children at home SS would pay the living spouce till the kids turned 16.( the amount would be dictated by thier income. Betas would start to collect SS at 62 and collect till the day they died. They got a great deal.

Could I get some Beta for Illum saddle. Thnx

For some reason CC put alot of 31453@#$ into my message please ignor

Ok, Here is the lowdown on how SS works. A percentage of your paycheck (7%) goes to SS otherwise known as FICA. In addition to that your employer OUT OF THEIR POCKET will match what dollars go into your SS fund. For instance if your FICA was 100$ your employer also puts in 100$, and no I’m not getting it confused w/ a 401k or a 403B. Then that money then goes into a giant ‘pot’ of money where the Gov’t puts it in T –bills, investment grade bonds etc. Because the amount put in is based upon earned income people who make more put in more. But people like me put in the most, sole proprietors, (small business owners) I pay all of my SS and half of my 2 employees. Now the gov’t then keeps track of how much you contribute. Then over the course of a lifetime of earning wages you would have contributed x amount of dollars. Now regardless of race or sex the dollars in the pot grow at the same rate as everybody else’s. (SS does not care about your ethnicity or sexor income level) Then when you want to start withdrawing monies SS will look at the total dollars you have put in (plus the dollars your employer put in)your age and determine your pay out. There is a cap on how much you can collect on SS. The problem comes from the several problems: People are living longer but retiring at the same age therefore they end up taking out more then what they put in. The rate of return that SS is getting is simply not enough to grow the money fast enough to generate enough money as the population gets older and more people draw off SS for longer periods of time. Just because you put a lot into SS does not mean you will get any more out. There are limits as to how much SS will pay you per moth REGARDELSS of how much you put in. So people who earn higher income will never reap the dollars they put into it. For example I will get just as much as Bill Gates when he is 65. In short SS pay out is determined by 2 things, how much you put in, and how old you are when you start collecting. Rate of return is the same for everyone in SS regardless of age, race, income etc.

Ok, good question point. If Alan Greenspan made an announcement on Monday saying that SS payout would be revised for the following ages I was under the impression that SS had to be invested in investment grade bonds there fore thier average rate of return is 6%ish. Now if it is 2% then you are actually losing money every year due to inflation. But here is a solution one one shape pr form had been kicked around. 55+ no changes 50-54 delayed all tables moved back by 6 months ie 62 ½ vs 62 you are able to start collection SS. 45-49 moved back one year 40-44 moved back 18 months 35-39 2 years 20-34 4 years <20 5 years. Now I’m not a satiation but underwriters etc would have info on how much longer we would be expected to live. This sort of solution while not perfect does solve MANY problems. People <20 FOR THE MOST part have not contributed to SS so they really have no say. We are all living longer there for we either have to a) save more money (because it needs to last longer once we quit working b) work longer therefore allowing more dollars to build up in our accounts for 2 reasons 1) the “magic” of compound interest even at a measly 5% the difference between 300 dollars a month invest for 43yrs vs 48yrs is $582,600 vs $695,1000 that’s $112,500 witch at 5% would create a check every month of $2,427.5 vs $2896.25 now this does not take into account inflation witch historically has be 3 %. 2) working longer will put more dollars into the account. The net result is that people have the same ratio of retire years to working years in the future as they do today. I’m sure all the 49,44,39, 24 year olds will yell foul but no plan is perfect but I think this or something similar does off a viable solution. Additionally people have to learn to save for their own retirement the younger people today have a lot more options than people who are currently retired have. I think a graduated moveing back of the retirment age would benefit everyone just about equal. People need to retire later becasue they are living longer.

Ok, I see what you saying. I’m not saying you are advocating the reduced benefits for people w/ an inheritance. I just have an issue with people being penalized for being fiscally responsible