genepires

actually, everyone's opinion (regardless of skill level) is moot. climbing is a personal journey and others opinion don't amount to anything when you are getting after something, whatever your skill level or objective. Like, just have fun and be safe. F$%^ the ethics police.

awesome looking place. Could you please describe where this peak is? How do you get into there?

stellar looking line! something you can only get in AK.

washington ice is so fickle that you have to be very confident with your skills to be able to get up. Being able to "manage wi3 with enough screws" says to me that you need to be climbing wi2 or easier in washington. And there ain't that much of that around. Ideally, you have to be confident at wi4 on good ice to be attempting wi3 around here. so that leaves you with steep snow climbs which there is plenty of. maybe nbc of colchuck is a good choice for someone from spokane. But you have to have your avi skills in top form to be out in that neighborhood. Maybe you should spend that time practicing avi awareness and rescue. or drive to banff for some good ice. You could probably get two good days of climbing from your three day window. And ten times the tool sticks than in the cascades.

how do you call man-on-man gay love "resting from a cold"? sweet photos and climbs.

hell that is fairly good for washington ice.

how would you know it was good if you did not read it? "no picnic on mt kenya" is another good book. a group of english POW escape a german prison camp to climb a peak that they can see from the prison. Who stuck in a office building with a view of rainier hasn't thought the same thing. Only a climber would escape a prison but not go home.

Goeff Childs Stone Palace is a very good book.

side note.....Bens blog is great! Super photography and some of the best climber writing.

for anyone interested in taking your young-uns out to the mtns this weekend, the big 4 trail is still in good shape. lots of down trees but nothing that can't be crawled under. a few photos [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/thumbs/DSCN1855.JPG.pagespeed.ce.ti3UCnvekW.jpg[/img] [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/thumbs/DSCN1849.JPG.pagespeed.ce.nIPqIBJ7qi.jpg[/img] we don't need no stinkin crash pad for some winter bouldering. With sneakers and mittens no less.

there is a wilderness EMT program that might be more beneficial than the WFR class. WFR is a minimum standard but the WEMT would put you ahead of others with similar skills but only wfr training. It also takes longer and costs more. EMT is geared towards having a ambulance there. There are quite a different kind of guide services out there. Just because you don't have alpine experience doesn't mean you can't guide in other areas. Rock guiding at smith? Troubled youth in the wilderness? (hoods in the woods) Maybe you should find an area that really interests you (for guiding) and focus on it for a year or two. (like coldfinger suggest) Volunteer in any leadership and teaching capacity. (county and university rec program come to mind) Many companies will train you in the hard guiding skills (American Alpine Institute has a new guide training program that is very good) but the people skills have to be there first. So you have to demonstrate that you can lead a group of people, teach concepts and skills, and be able to handle emergency situations. If you could do those 3 things, I would feel good about giving you clients in the wilderness. You don't need to be a climbing bad ass to be a guide. Trust me, 5.11 and wi6 is not a minimum. More like 5.9, wi3, a1, full glacier skills, and maybe a single foray into the thin air. I think the average weekend joe with a varied experience who has been doing it a while has the climbing skills for guide training. It is the people and emergency skills that make a guide. (this does not apply to the upper end of guide population like house, blanchard, ect) If you want resume help, why not just call the offices of several guide companies and tell them your story. Ask for advice. Call them in the slow part of the day like the early morning or mondays.

I believe that workmans comp pays some fraction of the wage. I don't know how much but a fraction of guide wage is not much. Might be better off rehabing behind the counter at mcdonalds.

picture of grace my stinky ass! this is a picture of stupidity and bad guiding! This "guide" was working but not guiding. The day will come when he makes an error and takes a huge fall, injuring himself or worse. Best case condition is that he looks like a fool in front of his clients. While it may impress a client, it is a bad example for them and a just a real dumb ass move. If I owned that business, that guide would be fired. Business insurance rates! And if he was certified by the AMGA........ there are to many examples of guides running it out on easy ground and taking big falls, breaking hips and other thick bones. or worse. Guides are always teaching when with clients. What would these yos clients be learning?

"Mountaincraft" by Geoffrey Winthrop Young

yvon. his climbing ice book was a big visual inspiration for ice climbing when I started. JoJo for making the guidebook to my favorite ice climbing destination.

OUCH! lets keep this photo from circulating around our significant others.

I remember reading somewhere about strengthening the ankle region which may be of help for you. It was"writing" the alphabet with your toes by moving the foot at the ankles. This moves the ankle through every possible angle. This mobility may decrease the swelling too.

Alex is talking about crypt orchid, in case anyone is interested.

There is a type of ski that is very short (you would mount it with alpine touring bindings) that might fit your needs very well. Maybe called snow blades and are about as long as a snowshoe. PM Tvash (tvashtarkatena) as he has a pair and uses them in the mountains often. He is also a very good skier so I do not know the skill required to use them in the variable mountain conditions. I tried them but flailed miserably in nasty snow conditions. Whatever you choose to use may require some time in a ski area to learn the skill, wether you like it or not. The mountains is a lousy place to learn how to ski.

get the skis and snowboard out. It is the season for riding on chair lifts. (contrary to what we have seen so far)

This is a moonstone goretex jacket, size large. It has 2 inside pockets, 4 outside pockets, hood that can cinch down around a helmet, long side zips, and very durable fabric. Thick durable zippers and all have two sliders per zipper. Front zipper has two so you can unzip from bottom up for peeing or belaying. Waist and bottom cinches to keep the snow put. It is large enough to layer heavily underneath so it would not be good for a medium sized person expecting to layer and fill it up. Two of the front flap Velcro patches (used to cover the front zipper) fell off but they don’t do much anyway. I have to many jackets and am just clearing out some stuff. The jacket is about 8 years old with about 120 days of use. Still going strong and still using till it sells. Pm me. I live in monroe

Outdoor Research standard goretex bivy sack (green) $50 This is a OR standard bivy sack. The newer models are called Aurora bivy sacks (http://www.outdoorresearch.com/site/aurora_bivy.html) This has goretex fabric throughout. Bug netting and top zips shut if you want. I usually zipped it part way. No mold as it was dried thoroughly each time and stored in a large stuff sack instead of the tiny pack stuff sack. I used it for about 10 nights and bought it 7 years ago. Selling this because I just don’t get out for overnighters now that I got a kid. PM me and i live in monroe.

you know what they look like. You know you need them. these are in very good shape (used a couple of days) and actually they are my mom and dads. They gave them to me since they don't use them anymore. (they are too old for that kind of thing) to small for my monster calves. $30 each (retail is $65) PM me if interested.

[img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/505/thumbs/ce.11dc93f83904a7232e6aeb895203dfbe.DSCN1837,oJPG.jpg[/img] [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/505/thumbs/ce.c66c54dfc5f65d2d101cc276c4dfd5ea.DSCN1838,oJPG.jpg[/img] With no prompting, my boy was enjoying the pleasure of swinging around, hangin from a pair of daisies. Do you see now that leash climbing is the natural way to go and you all leashless climbers are all wrong? Happy holidays people! Glad mom didn't see that.

very nice. a stellar season for hyalite. Lots of WA traffic there.