genepires

there is a falcon closure as of 2/1/11. Not that familiar with the area where the closure is but skyline, friction slab and neighboring areas are the falcons home. There was a photo on the trail which shows the locations but not cliff names so you gotta use yur brane! So don't trespass of falcon property. They are there now. powerline wall is not in the closure area. I think snag was not in closure either. Can someone with a clue state what is out?

that is probably the best condition it has formed in a long long time! Where is all the snow on the face? I guess lots of rain is good for WA ice. go figure.

does Tom get reception with those antennae that are strapped to his backpack? Full stereo on route. Nice job. I suspect there are not lines because we all suck and you don't. (come on, if you take a lead fall and get leg cramps, what hope is there for the most of us?) and some of us were sport climbing at erie.

amazingly low snow and then it dumped on you guys?

is there any tingling, numbness, hand weakness, or pain shooting to elbow? (signs of carpal tunnel)

3rd night in the winds and we get a freak nighttime summer snowstorm. Waiting for the snow to melt and with a late 10am start, my at then girlfriend and I left camp to climb the wolfs head in the cirque of the towers. The guidebook talks of something like 6 pitches up the ridge, then 4th class across the top to the descent walkoff. Sounds good for a short day. After the ridge we were greeted by lots of snow on the n facing 4th class terrain. We had to pitch out the entire traverse. On the last pitch and at the rappel down to the 3rd class bits, I watched the sun go down. 3 hours of pitching out snowed over slabs in 3rd class and pitch black terrain, I resigned to the idea of waiting out the remaining 4 hours till sunrise. Stumbling around in the dark was an accident waiting to happen. Made a little bivy by sweeping the snow off a flatish rocky area and got the big lumps out. So we bundled up, put our feet in our packs and commenced to spoon. Half way through the night I realized she was a tough gal and asked her to marry me. The things a girl has put up with and do when dealing with a nutcase like me.

go ahead and post it on this thread. Nothing says "hello" like "look at what I have done!"

welcome, come aboard and prepare for the slime.

????? no one cares. we like to think we climb too much to bother with chest beating our accomplishments but the reality is that your level of spray in spray forum is the true test of your manliness and power.

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/IMG_02211.JPG I think your couloir is in this photo from the NBC/CBR TR from the E WA forum.

maybe they have a 10ft rope.

Where exactly is the pain? What movement exactly causes the pain? Do you still do construction? What is the movement that created the last flareup? It sounds like you need a long term cure and not just waiting it out. The next one may be the final straw. Sounds like your previous treatments where anti inflamatory and not a solution to the original problem. Have you explored the idea of severe muscle imbalance? Sounds like the contra to the gripping of hammer work is expansion of hand. If there is no pain, then try either: 1- fill a bucket with sand, insert hand and spread fingers apart 2- for less resistance, go to someplace like staples and buy the biggest rubberband they got. (very cheap) Place one band around all fingers tips and thumb and expand the fingers. Do 50 reps or till the forearm muscles are tired. Swinging a hammer involves some ulnar deviation. (the little wrist flick at the end like when ice climbing) Where the pinky gets closer to the forearm via bending at wrist. If this is true for your hammering, then the contra to that is radial deviation and the way to work that is: get a wooden dowel and a small weight. Use hose clamps to secure weight to one end of dowel. Grab other end of dowel with the weight out in front of you and hold the dowel horizontal. Adjust grip on dowel to increase or decrease leverage. Again avoid if any pain. The forearm muscles is a very complicated place. (second to shoulder) A simple diagnosis of wrist tendonitis is probably BS. If it is a strained tendon, you have many tendons and have strained one of them. The task is to learn about the forearm, find the one you strained, and work the other muscles. Building the other muscles hopefully will increase blood flow, build balance, make you tough as nails as a by product. Also try to get the blood flowing in the body. Places like tendons don't get much blood flow so healing is slow. Try to maximize the blood flow by doing cardio regularly (walking is superior) and keep the wrist warm for much of the time. (fuzzy wrist warmers or tie a cat to your wrist?) What about carpal tunnel? (an inflamation problem) BTW, I am not a doctor nor a expert by any means, just someone who has had interests in this area. I suspect that if Layton stumbles across your question, he will ask the first two questions. If interested, I could help you with some forearm based exercises and bio feedback to guide the process. (not as complicated as it sounds)

dirtbaggin is relative. The dirtbags of yesterday are a different dirtbag of today. You just have to adjust to current condition to still be a dirtbag. That means you need more money and can be a dirtbag for less before having to succumb to "real world". I think indian creek may be the last well known climbing are that one can still be a cheap dirtbag. J tree, red rocks, city of rocks and squamish all had decent free camping but all have modern pay camping. Smith is slowly losing it too. I would think that bouldering is a good sport to go and be a dirtbag still.

jackass. take the attitude to the spray forum. technically, any 5.whatever is usually belayed as that is what the definition of 5th class is.

Assuming that you will have the option of going when the weather is good, you really only need the pants for either wind protection (maybe..maybe not still) or for a freak (probably short) shower. Chances are the pants will stay in the pack the whole trip. Climbing all day in waterproof pants is not that desirable in the lower 48. So I would suggest something that is very light, easy to put on and very very cheap. Emphasis on the light and cheap. I would use your 40% for a good pair of softshell pants and get something like a full zip Marmot precip pants. It has been a while since I had a pair but I think they are about $90. Maybe even a pair of nylon pullover pants like sierra designs that ran for about $30. (I forget the name) Maybe not even bother with shell pants at all? I can't even remember using shell pants in the WA summer time in the last 7 years. There was that one rainy august in 04............. Better yet, go knickers. See DPS tip for making them. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1004784/Re_purposing_soft_shell_pants#Post1004784

Lets see, Dan shows how to make a pair of knickers for about $30 and some old pants and you bring up a site that sells knickers for $150! And you accuse him of posting for the intent of driving up a blog count. Really relevant. Nice idea Dan. Gaiters cover up any exposed skin for snow travel too.

Is this a optical illusion or is his R arm/hand all messed up? It looks like a foot.

how can a spring sale start in winter time? Don't you got a month to go till spring? (granted it feels like spring but forecasts call for some coldness on the way)

oh yeah. Damn fine climb you guys. Proud for any point in a climbing career but extra fine as a first winter climb.

bucketz=jackass same number of letters same position of vowels and consonants same 3rd and 4th letters Coincidence? I think not.....

Bob Kandiko is a legend. He taught my basic climbing class for the belligham mountaineers back in the day. Him and Karen are some really cool people!

page count: bolting cerro torre = 3 pages of flames, yelling and somewhat cordial discussion bolting beacon rock = 7 pages of inferno, screaming and full on hatin' this makes sense due to the obvious supreme importance of beacon over cerro torre. carry on gentlemen!

where do I get a permit (or verbal permission) from JoeH to climb in beacon rock? Does JoeH hand out annual permits for washingtonians to climb there?

While not a meteorologist, I would imagine that the muir hut gets hit by a cat 4 hurricane winds force way more frequently than we generally think about. I bet that roof has had high winds many many times. MIght need ear plugs though!

would have been real cool to be stuck in the camp muir rock shelter today. Just to see and hear what that wind feels like!