plexus

Not saying that the reporters aren't lame or don't have an idea about their topic, but I can tell you when I write articles about climbing, mountaineering, backpacking,etc. I have to dumb it down. I am writing to a general audience (so I have to explain what a cam and carabiner are) and also at a 5th-grade reading level. I've had that battle for years with my editors about writing for those in the know, use the jargon of the activity, etc., but still I have to explain every little thing to people ranging from great grandmas in retirement centers to hardcore alpinists to 17-year-old pregnant girls. When you do that, something is definitely lost. Just a viewpoint from a reporter

Cavey, Your's is Boston.

Damn Dru, Keep giving writing tips like that and I'll be out of a job

I thought that was the Pickets but wasn't sure enough to answer (plus I didn't know what peak). Philfort, could that be Golden Horn?

Bill, Your second shot is of the Twin Sisters. Proper, I want to say Eldo, but that isn't knife-edged enough of an arete...

Just remember, nobody unties from the rope and everybody lives. Assuming you're talking about multi-pitch It's a quick and easy job on easy simul-climbing terrian having everybody on the same rope. I've done three people, we had two 10.5 ropes. One led, one seconded, cleaned up most of gear but kept some pieces in on traversing sections. Once second got there, belayed leader up on a gigi and belayed the second in as well on an ATC. Only a few times second had to lock off the last climber, wraps around the leg, and physically belay the leader on sketchier parts. Took a little longer than a pair climbing but not much. If you have the twin ropes and the reverso, that is the way to go. But sometimes you make do with what you have.

So in conclusion we have come to two definitives: 1) Ptarmigans = hardasses 2) We are all gapers

Yup it looks like he is off route, it looks like he's too far left on the second pitch. On the way down, from that climb, I had to speed rappel and scream at a couple of that were investigating our packs. that tries to steal my !!!

I have to agree with Dru that the two main rags in the US are becoming more irrelevent for climbers outside of Colorado and California. There are hardly any interesting feature stories anymore and as one of my climbing parnters said one time, there is hardly anything about the alpine, except for those $20k himalaya trips. Two things I have liked that R&I has done are the Climbing Accidents and also the classic faces part (kind a rehash of their three star feature). What I liked but unfortunately was discontinuted was Pack & Paddle. It was a great source for some beta on obscure peaks and also road & trail conditions. Whatever happened to it? It seemed to disappear while I was living in Mexico.

Hey Jordo, Where's that at? Looks kinda fun...

Whatcha ya doing putting gear in way over yer head...you're supposed to put it at chest level always, and never, ever give somebody a hip belay I never cared for Met's cams that much, especially for the price. I own two Aliens, and I must admit, I never thought there was a whole helluva lot difference in cams (ease of contraction, trigger type, etc), but it seems like you can't make a bad placement with the Aliens. I've used them in spots I wouldn't thing a cam could work and hold a proper fall, but after testing them, they held. So another check for Aliens

I'm looking through some old notes and stories for research on the ASAP program and the Mtn Education Center up at Mt. Baker ski area. And it's pretty friggin depressing reading about people getting buried out there in avalanches on days that if anybody had a rudimentary understanding about avalanches, wouldn't put a ski out there. (IE Rumble Gulley in 1999 - three victims) Now I know avys take the best of them, and some of the most versed, but it's the blinking-neon lights conditions that really tick me off. Where the hell is the common sense? Or is this just Darwinism?! OK, deadline is approaching, back to work.

1) Ptarmigan Traverse 2) Pasayten Peak-bagging trip (Lago, Robinson, Osceola, and the other one near there) 3) Hell, I'll put in my upcoming climb, W Ridge N Twin in Feb

NbyNW sez: I think that answers your question right there. If not, hack of your arm (the one without your brake hand) and shove it in a crack and boom, you got your anchor, ala Verm.

Slightly on the thread but I'd thought I'd let posters know that on Feb 5 at the next Skagit Alpine Club meeting, Bob Kandiko will be doing a presentation on Alpine Traverses. Hearing from ppl that have been to his slideshows before, they are supposed to be pretty good. I guess he did the Picket Traverse this past summer. PM me for me details.

Of the four that are planning on going this summer, two are probably going to only climb Mixup and then hike. Myslef and my friend who did it last year (but only made two summits) plan on hitting four peaks. So we are all going to do the traverse part of the "Traverse". And why the hell does this area get more rain than everywhere else in the Cascades it seems? I would think late July, early August would be the best time to do the trip...is this true? I'm probably putting the whammie on myself by saying I'm going to do it...but WTF, I plan on being a climbing bum for two months next year. I usually accomplish about 25% of my tick list each year but get other climbs in instead....so according to averages, if I say I'm going to climb every peak between the Whack and Snoqualmie Pass, I'll have a pretty good summer!! That blizzard on 4th of July, I was getting snowed on at Ragged Ridge by Easy Pass, first time I ever got snowed on in July.

Dale, you ben climbing Willis Wall again haven't you? I just wish I would bring a neck pillow when giving a belay in the mountains...those pitches last forever sometimes...

What you would see in two days..your feet, the crevasses on the upper Cascade glacier, where the hell the red ledge is.... I'm researching on doing the traverse with a few friends this summer, including one that did it this past summer. True the crux of the whole trip is getting five (hell even three) days of no rain, but just don't understand why anybody would want to blaze through that area...it truly is a once-in-a-lifetime trip if you do it right. What I'm looking forward to is getting Mixup again and Dome and Sentinal...

Opps!! My bad...forgot the setup we were talking about. This is where graphics come in better....that or ADHD is really bad for me. Anyways, I agree with GregW's setup...that is usually what I do...If I'm at the base of a climb and I have one bomber piece in, usually I'll just clip into that and have it for both upward and outward pull. Maybe it's risky but that is usually how I do it.

Don't know why you would cut off a foot from your 3' pickets. It's not like they are that heavy, so you'd save what 6 ounces on each picket? Just keep them as they are, who knows you might need that extra foot one day. Capt. agree with the need for pickets on the volcanos...or any glacier that has suspect parts or with newbies. Maybe I'm a little gunshy since falling through a snowbridge

Got this from the Web...should stir things up a little bit. A first wave of mainly Western volunteers will leave London this weekend on a convoy bound for Iraq to act as "human shields" at key sites and populous areas in case of a U.S.-led war on Baghdad. "The potential for white Western body parts flying around with the Iraqi ones should make them think again about this imperialist oil war," organizer Ken Nichols, a former U.S. marine in the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites), told Reuters.

You can equalize the two pieces with a sliding knot, if they are not that far apart...

Doh!! Just realize I can't go that weekend. My sister is visiting from Chicago and I have to take her skiing and do that family thing

Will they have a spot for beginning ice-climbing gapers like myself and my fiancee at ice fest, like what Ouray does? If so maybe wwe will come.

Mine are gone...but I'm not in dire straights like Erik though