klenke

isn't that mach 1 or thereabouts? jeez btw, on edit I went and looked up mach - I quote "It is said that the aircraft is flying at Mach 1 if its speed is equal to the speed of sound in air (which is 332 m/s or 1195 km/hr or 717 miles/hour.) " So if some fukka is free diving at 600 mph, all i gotta say is good luck mutha fukka - hope your oxygen valve is operating. Ha ha. Non- engineer trying to discuss engineering matters. Note that the speed of sound in "air" [or any medium] is dependent on the altitude as well. The speed of sound (acoustic velocity) at sea level is greater than that of, say, 20,000 ft. (It is even greater in water, but that is another matter.) Whether or not you can breathe has nothing to do with mach number. Mach number is simply a ratio V^2/[(gamma)xGas Constant RatioxTemperature]^2 and says nothing specifically about air pressure. The air pressure affects the Temperature which in turn affects acoustic velocity, a = SQRT[(gamma)x®x(T)] There. There is your geeky late-night engineering homework solution.

Cadet Peak as of Monday, June 16, see here.

Pretty much what Phil said. Upper-level low pressure systems are not typically as strong as full-blown storms and they're more common in spring and summer. What you typically get out of them is more showery weather. The potential for thundershowers is higher. There's an old weatherman's adage: "A-cas in the morning, hiker take warning." A-cas stands for Altocumulus castellanous. This type of cloud comes in large groups that look like small popcorn clouds scattered about the sky at mid-altitudes. These are typical of upper level lows. They tend to presage thunderstorm growth in the afternoon, thus the adage. If a-cas doesn't drift by until the afternoon then storms probably won't happen (or I should say it has a lesser probability; i.e., never say never when it comes to weather). In this case, the setting sun will not have enough time to spur T-storm growth of any worrisome magnitude. I have used my morning sighting of these a-cas to great effect. I'll warn my friends that it "could be stormy this afternoon" upon seeing these. I won't always tell them how I know. In regard to Mt. Rainier, since this is a peak that reaches into mid-altitudes, an upper level low will have the same affect up there as a normal storm. However, the chance for sunbreaks is better.

Beckey calls Little Tahoma a "high, crumbling satellite of Rainier [standing] as an erosional remnant from the formerly larger Rainier volcano." I'm inclined to say it was not a satellite vent of the Mt. Rainier volcano mass, but the remaining part of a much larger ridge before glacial action eroded away its flanks. That's just conjecture on my part. I'm not a vulcanologist.

Yep, I own a piece of shit car for my mountain car. Sometimes I just wish someone would steal it so I can get a new one. But nooooo. It's always faithfully there when I get back from the climb. My car is such a piece of shit that when other people drive near it, their car values go down like how a shitty house on a street drives down property values on that street.

I partially disagree with those who say class rating has nothing to do with exposure or visa versa. Exposure must have a means with which to be rated, otherwise there would be no way of qualifying the distinctions of a route. Every now and then you might be climbing someplace that's on banal ground like a forested slope or a low-angle talus field. You may come to a short step that is no higher than 10 feet above the deck but is the only way to continue--like a short cliff band in the forest. You must ascend the step. At no point are you in danger of killing yourself. This step requires the use of hands to pull yourself up and over. Is this class 3 or class 4? You used your hands, so by CBS's last definition, this is class 4. Yet, there is no exposure, so it's not really that big a deal. Others would not rate it as high as class 4 because of this lack of "exposure". It is subjective to the observer at the scene. In short, my contention is that a high percentage (say 75%) of the ineffable sense of what makes a section of a climb at a certain class level is based on the difficulty of the climbing itself. The remaining percentage (25% in this general case) is taken up by the exposure, the mental part of the endeavor. The actual percentages governing the mental exposure and physical difficulty varies from person to person (based on their experiences and fortitude) and from pitch to pitch. My nine cents worth (10 cents after taxes). Climbing is not an exact science nor will it ever be. There is always going to be personal overlap in the class 2, 3, 4, & 5.0 thru 5.14+ ratings. Personal factors such as height, reach, shoe-size, etc. often dictate how hard class 4 or class 5 moves are to someone as compared to another.

If you're climbing a route and you drop your cell phone and it tumbles all the way down the mountain, it is class 4 or 5. If it only drops into a hole between boulders, it's class 3. If you drop your cell phone and then step on it right afterwards, it's class 2. If you drop it on your rug at home, it's class 1. If your cell phone call gets dropped, it's class 0.

I want to undermine VGB, so I'll tell you for $10. {Never mind the fact that I never saw this headlamp so don't know what type it is.}

Hey Stefan. Having now done Foggy and Cadet Peak, I now find I have a small new climbing wishlist: to climb all the major named peaks on Addison Ridge. The remaining ones would be Eyrie Tower (maybe), Pirate Peak, South Gemini, North Gemini, and Sheep Mountain. It looks like Pirate and both Geminis can be done in one day from the Monte Cristo area. Sheep would be a separate trip probably. You done any of these peaks?

Bigfoot?

Here will be a few clues: 1. Look for some guys with deep sunburns or deep tans with white skin for their eye sockets. These will be those who just got back from climbing Denali 2. Look for some guys beating their chests about some mundane climbing adventure they just had (as compared to those hardmen in No. 1) 3. Look for a table where the guy-to-girl ratio is pretty high (oh wait, that could be any bar scene) 4. Look for a dashing young man who is answering to the name of Paul at a table

Isn't it in Nelson's first guide, "Selected Climbs in the Cascades, Vol. 1?" I don't have the book, but I'm 70% sure it is in there. Heck, it should be in the new brown Beckey Cascade Alpine Guide. I only have the old one, and it's not in that one.

Mark I. (posts as Mark), his dad, and I climbed Foggy Peak today in the Glacier Basin/Monte Cristo area. Pretty leisurely climb on a super day. We took lots of long relaxing breaks and still made the summit and back in good time--maybe because we decided to just do the South Route. And this was a good thing, because none of the other routes (SE Ridge, W Ridge, N Ridge) appeared very interesting anyway. It was mostly class 3 scrambling. Only for the final summit block finish on its NW side did we set an ad hoc belay. It was class 4 to finish. It would have been class 3 but the exposure down the north side all the way down to the glacier bumped it up a class. We had a 60m rope but one 30m rope will complete this pitch (with practically no pro needed). It's an easy climb made fun given the proximity to Seattle. Only the timbered rib up from where you leave the trail is annoying, but this goes pretty quickly (a faint "trail" can be lost and found and lost and found and...). For the road, we used bikes, as it should be. Incidentally, I was reading somewhere that car prowls are common at the Barlow Pass T.H. Well, one of the cars parked in the parking lot up the incline was prowled while we were on the climb (broken side window). SO BE ADVISED. In talking with the gal at Green Gables Store, she said about 2 or 3 prowls take place on that stretch of the Mountain Loop Highway per week. For a little added security, it is probably better to park on the road where the limited frequency of thru-traffic may deter burglars.

What a guy.

With your mention of Capitol Hill in the second sentence, I had to read twice to make sure you didn't say 'big dick' in the last sentence. Phew!

What's the world coming to? Puget Sound native complaining about the weather not being up to snuff when the forecast is only for a few showers? Aren't we PNW climbers? Can't we handle a little moisture adversity? The BBQ will be mostly under a shelter like last time.

Yeah, that's the type of Conan humor I really like: his goofy skit ideas. Last time I watched him he had Funny Cide on the TV (in the gag where the celebrity on TV has his/her/its mouth substituted for by a real mouth). Funny Cide went off camera (out of the TV frame) and shot himself once Conan told him he had no gonads. Conan s. Interviewing technique is great, as is self-humiliation. Monologue could be a few jokes longer, though.

Come on, Kiwi. Elaborate. Conan is usually a riot, but I'm rarely up that late. What was he up to this time?

Look again, Greg. Dave tried to bury that most important piece of information in his text. The date he suggested is Thursday, June 19. Kiwi: what you have to eat at the BBQ is largely up to you. At the last one, it was mainly burgers, bratwurst, and the like (standard BBQ fare), but there were those who brought their own steaks, etc. There was ample selection of side-dishes; stuff like cole slaw, pototo salad, and chips/salsa.

Faust: based on your avatar image, I'd say I'd know when it's you. I'll be on the look out for a white-haired and white-bearded old man sitting indian style on the summit cairn. You might even be levitating.

Yeah, I placed the new register pipe on Vesper last September after the old PVC one got tossed off the North Face and smashed into smithereens. You will find the new one all very amusing since I used PVC endcaps on a metal pipe. Hey, at least I saved a pound or two in weight. I'm sure one eccentric screw on too many and the PVC threads will strip. Oh well. Faust: boy, seeing how you like to be alone at the summit, I'd hate to come up to the summit and find you there. You might toss me right back off again. Sucks to be the party to make it up AFTER Faust.

A film cannister as a register? What? Come on. And then I suppose when it gets filled up every five weeks (depending on the frequency of visitation) that it should be removed and a new one put in its place. A film cannister register is okay for a very seldom visited summit, but not for something that would see a dozen or so parties per year. I agree that a big box like that found on top of Boston Peak is a little too much, but a short metal or PVC pipe is perfectly sized. You can roll a register book up and put it in there snugly. The entries fill up the book at a pace that seems acceptable to me. Plus, it is small enough to "hide" in a crack or crevice. In regards to ruining the pristine nature of the summit, there's no such thing. While I wouldn't want to be able to spot a summit register from a mile away, a little cylinder placed in the rocks or in a cairn at the summit is pretty invisible until you're right there, at which time it's sudden appearance is not something unexpected--especially on oft-visited summits. Maybe it would be a little deflating to think you got a FA of an obscure peak only to find a film cannister register there. Sure. If you're going to complain about registers, sucks to be you to climb up to a summit only to find a big lookout building there (or the ruins of a lookout). Those generally ruin my peaceful feeling more than any register ever would. All that said, I sign registers when they're there. When they're not, I'm not disappointed.

I was under the impression that the gaging stations in the creeks are used to gauge the volume flow rate so as to know the input into a reservoir behind a dam or into a aquaduct system further downstream. I could be wrong. You do see them on USGS maps quite regularly. Josh: how was the trail from the Cascade Glacier to the S. Fork Cascade River Road trailhead (if you used it)?

I would like to know what is your stance on registers placed at summits. Please, no spray here. Registers are:A bonus thing at a summit when found; something worth havingLitter (pollution) that has no place in the outdoorsI don't sign registers; it's against my beliefs Note that registers and what's written in them is considered a historical record and is archived as such.

And when all the rhetoric around the campfire had finally died down And the crows at their listening posts in the rocky boughs finally blinked one last time When the embers of discussion one by one dimmed into the ashes of history Only then did this tire old thread get up and stagger into the corner of the clearing To tuck itself into the warm folds of its -30 degree Marmot Mountain Works sleeping bag And dream of deep bootsteps up the next morn's icy slopes. Yes, once again, Thumb Rock was a peaceful place. And all climbed and lived happily ever after...unroped to the summit of Columbia Crest. THE END.