Fairweather

Trip: Mount Bretherton - Milk Lake Date: 9/11/2011 Trip Report: Climbed to Lower Lena Lake on mountain bikes late in the morning and hiked onward among flowers and waterfalls to Upper Lena which is now snow-free. The short and easy XC route to Milk Lake was largely snow-covered--in September! Milk Lake is still 90% snow-filled and the snowfield basin above the lake is still spring-white. We climbed the largest gully to the low point between the false summit and the main peak running into extremely loose and dangerous 4th and low 5th class below the crest. Another TR posted here a couple years ago indicated that recent rock slides may have altered the route and I believe this poster was correct. Not sure if we had this thing right in any event, but we climbed back down without touching the top and took in the beauty of this neat little basin as we washed down Snickers bars with cold unfiltered water from a nearby stream. Milk Lake below with The Brothers and the fire beyond: Gear Notes: Mountain Boots Approach Notes: Mountain Bikes to Lower Lena

What an incredible trip! Yours is the first TR I've ever read for West Peak. Did you find evidence of past ascents? How was the rock? Also, I noticed you took route 2 on Mount Anderson (East peak). Was this because route 1 via Flypaper Pass above the remnants of Anderson Glacier looked impassible? or because you didn't want to take a chance on the Eel bergschrund being too wide to cross? Again, great trip. The stuff of my workaday dreams.

Our dad hung out at the Icefield visitor's center while Steve and I climbed. He took a telephoto picture of us on the Skyladder that's kind of neat:

Nothing's changed in ten years. In fact, I think those cords in your picture are the very same ones we rapped off of--just a little less faded and worn. (Just joking.) (I think.)

Falling apart? That's what it always looks like in the summer--for the last 30 years anyhow. The ice depth at the base of the Blue Icefalls is between 900 and 1100 feet. It's gonna be a while before it melts. If it does, the crossing from Cactus Meadows to The Dry Dome is gonna be a bitch! Great TR! Nothing like dipping feet in Elk Lake after a great climb. That trail washout ladder is amazing.

Maybe if the USFS would set up some car prowl sting operations like MRNP recently did they could show fee payers a ROI. Reopening the Middle Fork, Stehekin, Suiattle, White Chuck, Sauk, Dosewallips, etc, etc, etc, would be a strong demonstration of fee utility and good will too.

Well done, MRNP staff.

Goofing off with music, pictures/videos of the climb, and YouTube: [video:youtube]http://youtu.be/K3_W3SRtKew

Humility: "During a lull in the storm we had made an improbable lead into the ice gully. Fifteen leads of ice climbing in continual storm brought us to the summit ridge at dusk. Now all we had to do was find the col that gave us access to the valley. At mid afternoon we headed down a dip in the glacier. Just then we heard an unmistakable sound: a helicopter was circling in the valley below. They were looking for us! The noise grew faint and then went away. We crossed a shoulder and plunged into a snow basin; at last we could see where we were going. Suddenly the noise returned; the helicopter shot over the col. We rushed headlong down the slope, oblivious to the crevasses. The pilot spotted us and swung the machine over in our direction. "You guys ok?" came over the loud hailer. Apparently satisfied by our shouts and waves, the helicopter circled away. As abruptly as they had arrived they were gone. The emotional impact was devastating. We realized that someone cared about us, that we were not alone. The last few days had been overwhelming. We had crossed the undefinable line. Now the tensions were released. As I walked toward the valley tears rolled down my face" --Chris Jones in Ascent, writing about he and George Lowe's climb of the North Face of North Twin. One of the most poignant passages in mountaineering literature, IMO.

Why couldn't the field ranger have simply issued the permit on-site? Seems a bit paternal, IMO.

Wow. Great story and pictures. Inspiring!

It wasn't too bad, really. We thought about the South Ridge/Columbia descent, but rumours of monster hidden crevasses sounded scarier to us than the AA route. Here is the description of our single-rope descent as I recall it: Walk down E Ridge from summit for about 20 minutes until you reach a dead end at a toe/buttress that hooks hard left. Walk/scramble out onto this very exposed buttress (about 1 foot wide) for exactly 60 meters. (Do NOT go to the very end of the buttress. :: ) Look down to your right (toward Mount Athabasca) and you'll notice a 3rd-class "path" that easily descends about one rope length to a cairn and a pile of tat backed up with a solid piton. Rappel from here--down a vertical wall for 30 meters to a wide ledge, then downclimb another easy 50 feet or so to a second anchor. This one is more solid. Rap into a snow couloir near its base and downclimb on easy snow to the closest corner of the AA Col. You are now at the top of the AA Col proper. Find 3 solid pitons and rappel out onto the wide open 50+ degree snow/ice face until you reach the end of your rope. Pickets or screws to anchor here, then face-in downclimb two-tool traverse left across steep snow/ice--we belayed as the snow was very hard and a fall would have been bad. Your goal is to get over to the climber's left side of the face where sketchy, old-piton-faded nylon rap anchors abound--but even here a double rope is required to avoid all downclimbing. Stay on this climber's left side of the face until the last rappel--where a single rope will come up about 30 feet short of getting you over the schrund. Build one final snow anchor to rap over the schrund and you're home free. Descend the easy AA Glacier to its east margin and find the climber's path that leads back to the snowcoach road. Hope this helps.

Trip: Mount Andromeda - Skyladder Date: 8/8/2011 Trip Report: My brother and I climbed the Skyladder route on Andromeda this past Monday and found great conditions with solid, belayed front-pointing on the lower half of the face and great picket placements. The upper half of the route was a bit icier with screws beneath crud for easy simul-climbing. The plod along the ridge to the NE summit was a bit soft, and the AA col descent was every bit as nerve-wracking as I expected. We brought only one 60 meter rope--where two would have made the AA descent a lot faster. Finding the way down off the toe of the E ridge to the rap stations is pretty straightforward--super-exposed class 2 or 3--but the descent down from the AA col proper required a combination of rappelling and face-in down-climbing on solid snow/ice. Note that on the final rappel, a single rope does not reach over the bergschrund and we were forced to waste a picket to rap the last 30 feet over the gap and onto the AA Glacier. A very fun climb. Pictures: Andromeda on Aug 7th: The North Bowl - beginning the climb in the morning: On the glacier: On the Skyladder: Topping out: Starting the descent off the ridge toe: Rapping the face/gully system above AA Col: Rapping near the bottom of AA Col: The T-slot anchor held. Steve expresses our sentiments regarding the AA Col descent: Gear Notes: Two Tools. (One Viper and one Venom, no problem) 4 Pickets 4 Screws Should have brought two ropes for the descent. Approach Notes: Very easy/evident--but the bridge over the schrund will only last another week or two.

I sent a couple of emails myself. I'm sure you were joking but just so ya know, threatening or implying that you intend to use a sniper-caliber bullet on public officials could be considered criminal. Posting it on a website--just as dumb.

I'm sure a lot of folks care a great deal--myself included--but I'm not sure who would want to be associated with this type of nonsense: You should do your best to distance yourself and your cause from this type of idiot.

There's no denying that the Waddington Range trip report he posted a couple years back demonstrates an extraordinary level of back country wherewithal. (I don't mean this in a smart-assed way either.) Much like my little brother can't understand why I stop to take a bearing or mark a waypoint--or ask for a rope on 4th/low 5th--I suspect Wastral's competence level leaves him scratching his head when confronted with ordinary skill-sets. No insult intended.

Not to dog-pile on Wastral here, but I was even more horrified by this statement: Even if this statement excludes fog, snow, sleet, slide alder, denies the existence of cliffs, and ignores the darkness of night I believe it is still an utterly wrong suggestion. Dangerous, even.

Your reply flips your premise upside down and does not answer the original question. Are you saying the Discovery Pass accounts for 84% of WSP budget? or that 84% of Discovery Pass revenue reaches WSP? The latter is not the same thing as the former. I'll assume this was accidental, but your posts read like a symptom of the bureaucratic doublespeak that taxpayers and outdoor users are getting tired of.

Newsflash: The "D's" are in charge here. Have been for a long, long time. This would be a fair analogy if parents and students were asked to pay for school parking in addition to the taxes they already pay for K-12. I guess in the case of higher ed, it actually is a fair comparison. Yes, absolutely. We can always drive around. The state is violating state and federal law with its plan to "pre-toll" the 520 bridge. Likewise, its proposal to toll I90--already paid for with federal dollars. I have no problem with tolls used to pay off bonds/infrastructure, but this is not the same thing as placing a toll on state parks in perpetuity. Actually, I don't either. But the slippery slope here leads climbers and other risk-takers toward the same nanny-state abyss. Obamacare, anyone? Unemployment is insurance that wage-earners pay into. We can talk about whether indefinite extensions are a good thing, but your premise here fails. I agree. Taxpayers should never pay for privately owned/controlled stadiums. Um, it shows. May I suggest some Ed Abbey...

Again, park users have already shown a willingness to pay via the $5 voluntary surcharge affixed to annual car registration ($23 million/yr). Also, in the case of local parks, ballot propositions regularly pass throughout the state. I'll say it once again: park users seem to be falling victim to their own good deeds and intentions. This fee system will continue to work--for those who can afford it. But just accepting this with a smile would simply be asking for more. We are, IMO, obligated to give push-back and advocate for what we believe is the general good. If a few here want to practice some very minor (and somewhat childish) civil disobedience toward this end, then let 'em have at it.

Do you have the numbers on this? It's shocking, if true. And if it is, how can we users ensure that the remaining core budget isn't eviscerated in lieu of Olympia's new-found ransom? As I said here earlier, I believe that Parks and EMS are convenient bludgeons that state, county, and municipal governments use to punish recalcitrant taxpayers who dare to question the status quo in Olympia and elsewhere.

+1 for Ruth. The best views-to-effort ratio in the range, IMO.

Please, don't hate your two nieces just because they're smart and come from good homes. Tell them to go out and buy uncle Rob a 2011/12 Discover Pass with the money they're saving on tuition!

Monthly salaries of WA State Parks & Rec employees(minus retirement and other benefits). Impressive. http://lbloom.net/sprc09.html

Unfortunately, you're not: Teamsters Union takes aim at Pierce County park volunteers A union has filed a complaint with the state alleging that Pierce County edged union employees out of hours and pay by allowing non-union workers and volunteers to do park maintenance work. The 8-page complaint filed by Teamsters Local Union 117 also says the county went around the union by talking directly to workers about the potential closure of Sprinker Recreation Center and employee layoffs that might have ensued. The complaint alleges that the county broke state law that governs labor practices. The (county's) actions have had the effect of chilling union activity and undermining support for the union, the complaint says. It was sent this month to the state Public Employment Relations Commission, or PERC. The county declined to talk about specifics of the complaint, although Parks & Recreation Director Kathy Kravit-Smith said she would not intentionally violate a union contract. I would never do anything contrary to the contractual arrangement, she said. PERC issued a preliminary ruling Thursday, that there could be a fair labor practice violation. Preliminary rulings don't address the validity of claims; that comes later, said Cathleen Callahan, PERC executive director. The next step is for the county to respond, which must happen within 21 days of the preliminary ruling. Teamsters Local Union 117 represents 195 county employees, including park maintenance workers. The complaint says the county: •Scheduled non-union temporary workers for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday in January, even though union employees were willing to work overtime and in the past had right of first refusal. •Allowed non-union workers, including those doing court-ordered community service, to do maintenance work during non-holiday hours without giving the union the chance to negotiate. •Allowed non-union volunteers to do maintenance work at Gonyea and Dawson parks, which was previously done by union employees, without giving the union the chance to negotiate. * Went around the union by holding a meeting in June directly with workers to discuss the potential closure of Sprinker Recreation Center. Workers were told the closure could result in up to six layoffs, according to the complaint. Sprinker no longer faces closure because the Pierce County Council has agreed to spend $6.1 million to repair the aging recreation center in Spanaway. In recent months, budget cuts have prompted the county to reduce maintenance at several parks, including Gonyea on 10th Avenue South and Dawson on 90th Street East. Kravit-Smith said the budget to hire extra workers to help with maintenance has dropped more than $240,000 since 2008. Community members have stepped up to help through the Adopt-a-Park program. People living near Dawson Park, for example, have mowed the grass and picked up garbage. The program has been around for 16 years and is included in county code, Kravit-Smith said. The county has other programs that use volunteers, including one in which they serve as park hosts, a task that includes some maintenance work, Kravit-Smith said. That program also has been around for years, she said. The County Council recently restored $80,000 in park money, which will go toward re-opening Dawson and Gonyea parks. Paul Zilly, a spokesman for Teamsters Local Union 117, said the union doesn't oppose community programs, but does want to ensure its workers aren't pushed out of hours or jobs. Zilly said Teamsters and county officials are scheduled to meet this week.