Pencil_Pusher

Or for more info on Rainier, refer to Alex Van Steen's Climbing Rainier book or ask the dude himself. E-mail unknown but I bet the guy has a bit more experience than G-man. Alex is a guide though, so getting ahold of him may be harder than the dude sitting in a shack with a shitter (with appropriate khaki/green MRNP attire)

You can add Mt Adams to that list. Something like a trail park pass, a volcano pass, camping fee, and climber's permit. Rainier you can get around all the fees by getting there before the entrance people do and then not register, even if you climb. REI was selling the annual national park pass for $40 a while back... saves you ten bucks. I think the Mounties did a good job of keeping the annual climbing fee down for MRNP. I could be wrong, but I thought the Gauthier-types wanted to raise it to $60. So long as they double the parking lot and put in a tram to Muir (so that toilet with a folding wheelchair can be put to use), raising the fees ten times over is fine by me.

The Mounties should have an Intermediate equivalency test. I'd argue for it, but it's like shouting into the wind. Boealps has an intermediate course which lasts six months for every other weekend covering the same stuff and there's no commitment to teach the basic class. It's a bit more laid back in that the club is much smaller but there are plenty of anal-retentive and frat-pack 90210 members. The class culminates in a student-chosen graduation climb (unless the instructors wuss out) and if you bring a six-pack for this, make sure everyone drinks. Five out of six drinkers leaves one narc.

Good job, Norman and skykilo! Shee-it, nine hours after leaving the car you two were on the summit? Right on. Did you hit your projected time? The WT has your name written all over it. It'll be better than Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier...

Radon, Good job doing the WT in 52 hours! I've heard that if you're over 40 years old and you wake up in the morning with nothing hurting, you're dead. Did you wear your "Boeing Sucks" label for the trip?

I'm not sure how this post wound up in Spray but... I'll be heading out east next month and was wondering if any of y'all knew of some fun routes I could do at the Gunks? I can lead 5.7 trad here, so whatever that computes to out there...?? 50 or 60m rope and are there rap points for a single rope or is it a walk off?

How about one of those bike racks that fits over the trunk of a car? It sort of rests on the lid and the bumper, with straps and u-shaped brackets sliding underneath the trunk lid to keep the thing on. If someone will let me in on the secret of how to post pictures here, I'll post one to help visualize the confusing description above. What I'm describing is about 50 bucks new and holds two or three bikes.

I use a Jansport pack(~3000ci) for the small one and a Kelty pack (~4200ci) for the big one. The Jansport was about 60 bucks while the Kelty was 52. Check out those two brands for some cheaper packs. The Jansport has been one helluva pack, too bad they don't make it anymore. It is now sewn together with plenty of dental floss. Dental floss holds up well if you think you can sew that shoulder strap. Big 5 Sporting Goods has some good, cheap, alpine packs too.

How about www.barrabes.es? Or bring avy poodles.

Mt Princeton in Colorado has a plaque dedicated to a woman killed by lightning up there, some years ago. That was sobering enough for me to beat feet straight down versus traversing on the trail, when storm clouds approached. Why are there so few lightning strikes around here (Seattle/PNW)?

Herbert Kornfeld rules. Too bad he quit writing for the onion a couple years ago.

Damn, I need to either grow myself a pair of tits or get myself a female avatar to get this kind of beta response.

Jesus, tits and casserole you whiners! Here's a dude from the government offering for climbers to get involved in a project and all he gets are three people who 'might' be interested? So we see who's all show and no go. Keep whining, this thing will be built with or without your help. Roadway particulate, my ass.

To the top because this is a sick and twisted trip report. Where the hell is hacim?

Y'all haze newbies? "THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?!"

I recall several groups: A group of four, two guys and two gals, climbing the furthest right, with helmets. A strong dude with a blonde mom and daughter (both with helmets) but I think they left before Stim went up the center. A strong dude with two good looking women going up next to us. I'm guessing though, that my Americanski cc.commies were amongst that group of four on the right? Ida be the guy in the orange t-shirt, my bud and I went up the left side. If so, and I was just curious as we were leaving, why'd y'all leave the quickies on the bolts during the TR? Nice to meet you, Figger_Eight That was a pretty crowded day, eh?

I was at Exit 38 today and saw (amongst the 30 kids and instructors from Stone Gardens) this 85 year old guy lead a 5.6 and then later a 5.9 on We Did Rock, the center route. Holy frijoles! Stim said he'd been hiking all his life but got into rock climbing at 70. He said that while coordination, speed and reaction times decrease with age, practically none of that is required for rock climbing. He said so long as you keep your bodyweight down and have good forearms, the techniques of rock climbing stay with you as you age. That was super-impressive! He did a couple other routes too while we were there, so he wasn't a one-hit wonder. Here's to Stim "Dave, get back on route!" "But it's so tempting to go this way!" (Cute girl on other route ) Got a ton of ripe raspberries too on the way out... mm,mm good!

FREE You can pay for the stuff, but why?

Become a human burrito by wrapping yourself up in a space blanket. Or... one bivy bag for two people

Or you can just sleep in the hut on the summit. It's a bit on the worn side...

I'd like to do the walk-off on the north side, I've heard it's pretty simple.

Fence Sitter, that effing cam is still in GNS! WTF? I thought you were going to remove it? The cam that beat FenceSitter... never thought I'd live to see the day

Belay device? Munter hitch. Norm, screw solo, let's do the phone thing. I may be a lard-ass nowadays, but I might be up for a three day climb. I could go in with Flying_Ned early and wait for you at the Blue Glacier.

Toenail polish really accelerates toenail growth. Better yet, just have some milf to help out your crippled-butt. Lovely foot photos, btw.

This is the best climbing book I've ever read. Unlike some other authors whose critique and egos leave a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth, this dude keeps it all in check and does a good job of it. He looks like a geek in a few of the pictures but is just a climbing animal! Lots of pictures throughout and some fascinating detail, without going too in-depth, as well he talks of his formative years. Very impressive. ISBN 0898865735