klenke

This panorama of mine made a few months ago will be helpful:

Sorry, I didn't pan right far enough on first picture. Yes, "I" --> Baring. In second picture, "I" is neither Bonanza nor Big Snowy. However, Stuart lines up correctly. But I doubt it is Stuart. Besides, you can't even see whatever "I" is in the pic, so why even conjecture?

No, it's not that bad/dangerous for a middle-man (or middle-men) to clip through an intermediate piece. It's more a pain in the arse than dangerous. If you're really slow, yes there is a moment spent unprotected as a middle-man by that piece. But there should be other pieces in anyway (if allowable). And if it's so steep that fall potential is increased then maybe that terrain should be belayed from a standard anchor anyway. Albeit, this is not always practical. And yes, there is a slick way to clip through quickly almost without breaking stride. It takes a few times to figure out. Easier shown than described in words but... It involves taking up both the trailing strand (the one going to the end/last-man) and the leading strand (the one going to the leader/man-ahead) in one hand at where the strands leave the area of your gear loop (i.e., right in front of you where they are knotted into your harness). With both strands in your palm, the idea is to bend at the wrist so as to create a bend in the lead strand while the trailing strand stays straight as they leave your fingertips. Then, simply clip both strands through the piece's biner simultaneously. The lead strand will form a small bite once through the gate and pull out of the biner. The trailing strand will then simply be running through the biner after it gets clipped through the gate. I'm sure there's a diagram out there somewhere. Anyone?

Definitive answer... FIRST PICTURE A --> Jumpoff Ridge, Pt. 5280+ B --> Jumpoff Ridge, Pt. 5360+ C --> "Gunnshy" (Pk 6218) D --> Gunn Peak E --> Pk 5842 F --> Merchant Peak (main summit) G --> Merchant Peak, SW Summit H --> Eagle Rock I --> Mt. Baring SECOND PICTURE Not the clearest shot to work with so some of these answers will be approximate. L --> The massif is that of "Ten-Four Mountain" (Pk 4384) A --> Mt. Index massif B --> Gunn-Merchant-Baring massif C --> Frozen Mountain D --> Tolt-N. Fk Snoqualmie Divide (~4,400 ft) E --> Red Mountain (5,447 ft) F --> Not clear enough to tell; something in this area near Mt. Cleveland G --> Mt. Phelps (mislabeled and misspelled as McCLain Peaks on the map) H --> Little Phelps to me (and Beckey for what that's worth); McLain Peak (note spelling) to Roper (see here); Pk 5162 either way I --> Not clear enough to see (there's nothing significant there anyway) J --> Lennox Mountain (or vicinity thereof) K --> "Canoe Peak" (Pk 5706) with Bare Mtn in front

Climb: Bald Mountain-South Ridge Date of Climb: 4/9/2005 Trip Report: Taxes. I hate doing taxes. So here's a nice respite for the desperate. Last Saturday must have been Mountain Loop Highway Day. Several people I know and have climbed with headed up that road that day to climb something. Mike Collins and I had either a Long Mountain-Bald Mountain loop, Gordon Ridge, or Wiley Ridge in mind. I had received an invite from John Roper and his party to do Pk 4513 just west of Barlow Pass. John called Pk 4513 "St-auk Mountain." Here is his trip report. The next day I would get an email TR from Greg Koenig of his solo climb of "Beaver Peak" (Pk 5113 west of Stillaguamish Peak). In the end Mike and I opted for Long-Bald. But if the bunch of us had coordinated correctly we could have saved all that pricey gas for our lawnmowers. Oh well, I suppose the grass will have to grow wild this summer. Joining Mike and me was Mike's cardiologist friend Peter. I had thought about an approach to the Bald-Long saddle from the west via Marten Creek but seeing how far we could drive up Deer Creek Road, the latter became our route. We managed to drive to about 2,600 ft at the western foot of Devils Peak at where a spur road goes right. With modest blue skies at about 9:00AM we set out hiking the road to the first switchback half-a-mile east of Bald. The skies would not remain so blue. Here is Bald from the road: At the switchback we took an old overgrown road straight west to its end then went through nice woods for a hundred yards or so. The conifers ended and the alder began. We traversed too high on the way in and this took us straight through the worst of it. The bad news was it was thick. The good news was that it was without foliage. The better news was that there was just enough snow to make the route through easy to locate. The worse news was all the air holes under the branches under the snow. All of the recent snows had not sifted through the branches. Instead the one to two feet lay on top of the laid-over branches. So when we stepped through the snow we invariably continued down through the branches another foot to the ground. This happened all day but I'll not belabor the exasperation. Once we crossed the avalanche-alder slope and negotiated two minor ravines we climbed up through a gully to pass the lower cliff band. To our left were the Viking Horns and behind us were Devils Peak and the road we had come up from. We could also see an easy way off of Long to get back to the car. Meanwhile, our up-gully was not so bad but the snow covering was wet and minimal over steep grass and heather. Fortunately there were ample green belays as the top of the gully was pitched up at 45 degrees. We then crosses westward for another 100-200 yards and found another gully going up and right through a propitious gap between Swauk Formation slabs. It is amazing to think Brian Hench (catbirdseat) soloed these slabs in January 2004. I suppose with more snow they might have been easier and/or more fun. Our gully was a shortcut to Bald. The going was sometimes steep but this was all the better for the snow had sloughed off leaving a firm avalanche track to climb up through. Where the avy track was lacking it was knee-deep. Eventually, in about 150 minutes from the car, we reached the ridge crest and followed the ridge north to Bald. The snow was nice and firm on the crest. Here's Mike on the crest (Helena Peak in the distance at right): Things were going well until we got to a 12-foot notch. It wasn't quite jumpable but also not formed in such a way to work down by green belays or otherwise. There was an "easy" way down to the left but it was frightfully exposed (at least for the drop in to the notch; for the climb back out it would be easier). At any rate, I was glad we had brought harnesses and my 30m rope. Peter opted out of the summit bid (he's not a peakbagger) while Mike and I did the shortest rappel we've ever done: 12 feet! Once past that "crux" the rest of the ridge went pretty easy. Here's me at the summit of Bald Mountain (4,760+ ft, 680P): As you can see, the mountain's head isn't completely bald. More like Homer Simpson bald. It had taken us just about 3.5 hours to make the summit. Here is Mike at the summit. In various reports the summit has been described as a precipitous spine of rock or snow. For us it was the latter, kind of a weak attempt at Eldorado Peak's narrow snow arête. The weather was moving in. Dark clouds to the west. We had already been snowshowered on once and it looked like more of the same advancing. However, we did get some views... Gordon Ridge (Pk 5050) to the WSW looked cool: Exfoliation Dome to the north: Helena Peak from Bald (with Jumbo Mountain in the distance at left): And what was to be orphaned by us--Long Mountain (5,113 ft) to the south: Due to the advancing crap and the steep, wild nature of the final spine to Long's summit, we decided to leave it for another day. Since we had scoped the route from Deer Creek Road from the switchback, we feel it would be an easy climb in the fall. Mike and I got back to the notch and did the shortest belay we've ever done (20 feet) using the easy bypass we knew we could use for the return. After that, we followed our route back for the most part except we swung low to the valley bottom to avoid the alder traverse. We arrived back at the car in just about 7 hours round-trip with 4 miles and 2,200 ft of gain. Gear Notes: Ice axe. 30m rope (or shorter) Rappel gear or prussik for possible technical sections. Approach Notes: Take Deer Creek Road off of Mountain Loop Highway (turn off is about a mile past Silverton). Drive DCR to the prominent switchback at 2,834 ft. Hike west from the switchback (at first an old overgrown road but then brushy) into the head of Deer Creek.

Excuses excuses.

I guess what I'm trying to say about the sky windmill device is this: You would still need a kite/sail/wing to create a lift force to counteract the downward force of gravity. The power generated by the turbines would not be enough in and of itself to hold the turbines up. You need the lift force else the thing will fall out of the sky. That's what I meant by something for nothing. As long as the device was designed in such a way that the energy required to keep it up did not exceed that which was generated by the device it could be done. The problem created with the lift device is how one would disengage it and/or the turbines in a controlled manner (fold the sail, for example) so as to safely bring down the device for maintenance. You couldn't simply turn it off else it will fall out of the sky and/or sail away and/or break the tether/cable. Regarding a perpetual motion machine: all it is is a device that outputs more energy than it consumes, an impossibility by the First Law of Thermodynamics. In theory it can still use an outside power source to generate more power than that outside source.

Re: Monte Cristo buildings: From Harry Majors' Monte Cristo book (p. 23): "Monte Cristo has become a ghost town. The buildings have collapsed, rotted, or have been torn down. Mine entrances have been blockaded; and a dense stand of second-growth timber now occupies the site of the town. And what was once the forty-foot-wide main street of Monte Cristo is now but a narrow path in the forest." A lot of the wood material was probably used as scrap for other construction projects elsewhere or used as firewood.

and by cairns on summits that you thought were unclimbed, too and by trails and logging roads and bolts and rappel slings and steps chopped into walls and bootpath highways up glaciers, and radio towers at summits, and powerlines, and dams, and... Candy wrappers are there (usually) because people aren't careful with their garbage or are deliberate litterbugs. Hey Thinker: Okay, no more thread drift, back to ANSWRING THE ANWR THING.

So now: How big is the delta? How much of it was littered with these barrels? Did you spot the barrels and drop down to them specifically or are they everywhere and just happened to be where you landed? In short, what conclusions do you want us to draw from your pictures? And are those conclusions based on generalizations or specifics? ***I'm playing devil's advocate here. I agree the barrels are unsightly (I get turned off by the minutest piece of candy wrapper trash in the woods).***

Be more specific. What are we looking at there? I see the barrels, yes, but where is it, why is it, when is it?

Interesting idea the sky turbine. Thanks for the link, Dru. Seems at first blush like it would fall out of the sky (something for nothing like a perpetual motion machine). It would have to be a balance between weight, energy, aerodynamics (drag considerations), and structural integrity (at lowest possible weight). It would have to be like a kite in structure (to catch the wind) for purposes of keeping it up there with light-weight turbines taking in the additional energy to feed to the ground. Because simply having turbines up there and taking some of the turbine energy and putting it into flight maintainability is not possible (i.e., is a something for nothing scheme).

induction

Ho hum. How many variations have I seen in that mathematical "proof" over the years? This time it's to do with Women. Last time it was probably about Power.

Sort of related to rivers and stupid people: My 3rd Grade teacher told our class that all rivers flow south. I knew she was full of it but she didn't want to listen to the skinny punk in the back of class who always goofed off and didn't pay attention.

I read P9. All he talks about is climbing ("vaulting"?) over toilets. Am I missing something?

I printed out a coupon for myself and another for someone else. Anyone else can too (a piece of paper and printer ink is cheaper than $1, so do it). Here is the coupon to print. Big Time is still at 4133 University Way. Still practically across the street from Schultzy's.

I may have to come tonight to relive some of my own England experiences through your pics. I have witnessed all of the above except the classical music thing. Back when I lived in England in the early 80's you could walk in amongst the stones of Stonehenge. There was a grass or rudimentary gravel parking lot and maybe a toilet and that's about it. Now the monument is off-limits, fenced off (sort of), and it is a spectacle (or so I've heard).

CALL THE LEAVENWORTH RANGER STATION. Sheesh!

What about "Klenke?"

Telescope Peak from Furnace Creek in Death Valley.

I don't know about Slesse (I always say it with a long 'e' at the end). Goode is supposed to have a silent 'e' but just about everyone I know uses a long 'e' probably because with a long 'e' it sounds more jolly. Plus, there can be no doubt which peak is being talked about. If you say it with a silent 'e' as in Mt. Good it kind of has less power behind it. As for Beebe, I don't really know if it's supposed to be a silent or long 'e'. I guess I should find out. Without the long 'e' it would sound kind of funny but one never knows.

Whatever.

Try cross-posting to the summitpost message board too.

Anyone who flies off the handle by making a thread about other people being morons or assholes in another thread when they were not being morons or assholes in the first place* is either a moron or an asshole or both. My first comment regarding Roshalt's climb of the route was peripheral to the second comment, which was a legitimate question. Why did he go to Vegas? If he went climbing then your search area might be the wilderness. If he went gambling then you wouldn't necessarily look in the wilderness. I don't know the man. But it would help those who do if they had some idea of his intentions for his trip. Information is golden in these cases. * I don't speak for Billygoat for all of his comments but he did make some good points.