Mike_Collins

Brad Washburn offers a fascinating vignette into understanding the Amelia Earhart saga. In his book, On High, Washburn writes about a conversation he had with Amelia and her publisher-husband, G.B. Putnam. Washburn implored Amelia to set up a radio beacon on Howland Island in the south Pacific. Quoting from the book, "I said, 'Amelia, you absolutely have got to have a radio on that island, or you're never going to hit it.' I'll never forget that moment. Putnam was sitting there, we were on the floor, and she turned her face up to him and said,'What do you think about this?'And he said: 'Well, if we wait to set up a radio transmitter, the book won't be ready for Christmas.'" The rest of course is history and the her disappearance remains a 20th Century enigma. The intrepid spirit of Earhart certainly was shared with Washburn. His death closes the living memory of that chapter of history.

John Scurlock has devoted considerable time and resources toward photographing the North Cascade peaks in winter. He has directly assisted several contributors to this website by flying them over sites for recon of climbs. We owe him the courtesy of giving him credit for photos borrowed from his on-line photo gallery. The avalanche on Sefrit is one of his encaptivating photos.

Poncho's photo shows the NW Glacier which is another route to the top. I like Recycled's idea of choosing a heavy snowfall year for a spring climb. Fording Ruth Creek was the crux manuever of the climb for us. We only forded the creek on the route out as we took a different route in for the upclimb. After hiking up and down the creek for 1 1/2 hrs we found the least life-threatening zone (distinctive from a "safe" area)and were successful.

I climbed Sefrit on 5/29/05 from Ruth Mtn and would recommend a spring date for an attempt from a Ruth Creek jumpoff. Later on the snowfield becomes steep slab which is difficult for footholds. The line up from the N Fk Nooksack might offer late season potential. Near the summit are two short sections of Class 4 rock.

Cletus. You will never be bothered if I use the cell phone because you are no where near the mountain I am on. Garfield was done as a winter climb on January 2. On Big Four I was the only party to summit that year. Chaval had been summited only 7 times in 12 years. Rainier was dayclimbed and I was the last up for the day. So I sure hope it is OK with you if I talk to my wife while you are still in bed or double-clicking on the mouse for cc.com.

Hey Cletus, you ARE preaching. In fact you are pontificating. Don't use a phone if you don't want to. My wife likes to hear from me. Maybe someday you will have a person who likes to hear from you. You can always hope. [ 09-16-2002, 07:30 PM: Message edited by: Mike Collins ]

I have had much better experience with Verizon when on summits than with my current service with Qwest. Called home clearly from Chaval, Garfield, Big Four, Rainier, and others. Some of the older phones are more powerful with 3 watts of power rather than the smaller ones out now. [ 09-16-2002, 04:39 PM: Message edited by: Mike Collins ]

Hi, I'm not really Mike but I'll play him for a minute, since he couldn't be bothered by logging off, HAHA! Nobody cares MFer! We all know you'll be back to add to your worthless list of avatars once you've been away long enough..... You cann't help your self Your Weak and You'll be back Not that anyone will notice Thanks for taking up less band width! uh, Mike? Yeah, yeah thats me (Doin' me a big favor now and logging off, before I really say some shit)

Do you specifically want to climb Sinister the hard way? Stefan lead a group of which I was a member up Sinister in July. There is a writeup in WTA.com for both Sinister and Dome. There is essentially a walkup route from the south.

A few years ago there was a problem in Colorado with some "purist" taking the summit registers because it didn't agree with his/her picture of what climbing should be about. For years there was a brass one on top of Red Mtn (Snoq Pass). A friend who recently summited it said the register is gone.

The oldest one I have heard of in the Cascades is from 1900 on North Star. It is very fragile and the climber who summitted the peak didn't open up the fragile papers of the original party.

Some of you guys think about sex so much the cascadeclimbers ten essentials should be a six-pack and four condoms. Think CLIMBING.

Lambone has said, "I am ashamed and embarrassed" and humbled himself further by calling himself "poser." Lighten up on the guy a little. Does 666 want us to tar and feather him at the UW climbing wall? Lambone made mistakes and had the courage to enter this public forum in the hopes that he might contribute to the safety of others in the future. For that he is to be commended. As for costs, if this country needs to charge people then it should charge OJ for the gas/time of fourty police cars chasing him around LA because he didn't know what flashing red lights mean. Or maybe charge the execs for the free submarine rides in Hawaii where you have the thrill of emergency surfacing manuevers. Priorities are whacked when overnight $500,000 dollars can be found to rescue a whale from the perils of ferries but Lambone and friends have to shiver and die because of their illpreparedness. What makes us human is that we are willing to help each other. Even, yes even when the other person has made a mistake. [ 08-04-2002, 06:59 PM: Message edited by: Mike Collins ]

When did they change the route? I thought Cannonball started at the Mt. Baker tunnel and then jumped onto I-90 at Issaquah. The S-2-S going over Stevens Pass adds 1,000' of gain and about 20 more miles onto the Cannonball.

"Helicopters and horses" ??? It must have been a bad cell phone connection. They were probably asking for horsecock. It won't ever be fresher.

The Death Ride is harder. IF you do all FIVE passes. If you do just three and wear the shirt I won't buy you a beer. But all five is something to tell your friends about.

Hey Dwayner, I will be calling out to you somewhere on the road up to Paradise. The heat will hopefully ebb a little. Don't whack your balls too hard tomorrow. You might need them in the future.

Common sense should be the guide here.The Downey Creek/Bachelor Creek trails have deadfall that will only be cleared by power tools. No one is going to go in with a six foot crosscut saw to work half a day to saw through one 4 foot log. Is the concern noise? The navy jets that scream overhead DAILY are more disruptive to the tranquil lives of the wildlife. [ 07-21-2002, 09:17 AM: Message edited by: Mike Collins ]

The watershed for both Cedar and Tolt are not fenced off where I have been adjacent to them. You can see signs along the perimeter though stapled onto the trees saying "NO TRESPASSING Cedar River Watershed, Source of Seattle's Water." I have one at home over the toilet in the kid's bathroom.

I crossed the log one week ago wearing crampons and then leaning onto the root ball. Once against the ball you can grab onto the various roots to find the bomber holds. It took a little extra time but wearing the crampons on the slippery log is the key. It was the only time I wore the crampons all day.

When I was on Overcoat Glacier two weeks ago there were gajillions of ice worms out there. There is a fair amount of information about them on google.com. Birds were hopping about on the snow picking them up. [ 06-19-2002, 08:58 PM: Message edited by: Mike Collins ]

The people who would know the road conditions to Sunrise Mine (I have made the same mistake) are the Verlot Ranger Station 360) 691-7791. I looked at Vesper from the top of Sheep Mt two weeks ago and the granite slab which is taken to the summit was covered entirely with snow.

Hey Scott, Are you sure that what you saw on the top of Sperry were flies. Ants have wings and use the top of the mountains as the meeting place for copulation. (Did anyone think that was an original idea?) They have chased me off the top of more than one mountain. After mating they fly off together and drop off the wings in a flash to start the nest.

The ladybug aggregation behavior exists in other areas as well. It happens in Oregon and I have seen them also at the top of Rincon Mt (east of Tucson). They seem to pick crags which will become free of snow early. The vertical migration from the valley floor occured in the fall and they have sequestered themselves beneath the snow until now.

Hey Dan, If you want to do a day trip to two peaks meet at the Dairy Queen in Bellevue, corner of NE 8th and 112 NE (right by 405)at 0900 today (Monday). Bring ice axe, crampons. No rope needed. The peaks are called Floating Rock and Galleon (Pt 5174) and (Pt 5283).