klenke

From Hard Mox on Monday (the same day these yahoos were doing Redoubt) there was definitely something high and snowy off to the northwest in Canada. Since it was a peak in Canada, I didn't bother photographing it . It was not too many degrees of angle north of Vancouver's position, or so it appeared to me.

Your only approach now is really only via N. Fork Bridge Creek from the trailhead near Rainy Pass (North Cascades Highway). This is because the road north out of Stehekin is too badly damaged for the shuttle van to be operable. You could still go the Stehekin way but it's 10+ miles of extra road walking. Might as well go the NCH way at that mileage. Other than that, I know nothing of recent reports.

Then of course there's the Vantage area (Frenchman Coulee) near I-90. That's not far from Tri-Cities. Just take Highway 240 out of town to the NW to Highway 243 toward Vantage. Maybe 100 miles.

There is a rock climbing area I've never been to but is apparently growing in popularity in the Tieton area just east of White Pass in the Southern Cascades. Surely that wouldn't be more than a two-hour drive away. The rocks are someplace south of Rimrock Lake. If you do a websearch, several Tieton hits come up. Here is one.

Horseheaven Hills. Hardest Class-2 climbing you'll find anywhere in the state, what with the rattlesnake dangers and all!

Ken is right, you can rap in two rappels from the standard rappel point, so no need to carry two ropes. There might even be another party in the general area with which you can team up to combine ropes for a double-rap. This is what we did. It saves time in the long run if the other team is only two people. If they're six or so, then the extra waiting for them all to rap to get your half of the ropes back is not worth it (you can do two singles quicker). Doug, knowing your technical climbing level (as you've described it to me), I would say the Lower Exum is not the route for you. You'd only want to do the Upper Exum. Traverse in from Wall Street to do it. The airy step across from the end of Wall Street to the beginning of the Upper Exum is not really all that difficult. It protects well enough and the belay anchor is solid. Much to my chagrin I only got to lead the cheesier pitches (the unluck of the draw when you're a team of three). The friction pitch I didn't lead but imagined it would be freaky for a beginner leader. The climbing's not really hard but the protection isn't good (the rock is mostly featureless with little nubbins for holds). I agree that going on a weekday (also when T-storms not imminent) would be best. The route is a real cluster#$%& on a weekend. When we were there, we even had a ranger team free-climb the route past us. My buddy was on the friction pitch half-sketched when these three rangers breeze right past him.

I can't answer your question as to which way is better but I was in Glacier Basin yesterday and can tell you the couloir/gully leading up to the base of E. Wilmans Spire is still snow-filled. The constriction has some moating issues but apparently you traverse into the gully above the constriction. Gully is steep. Crampons and ice axe are probably mandatory.

Well, nobody's perfect... Oh, and I'm not a Republican, Double_E.

Ah, ya got me, Double_E. I don't know what I'm talking about where as you do. Thanks for clarifying things for me.

Josh, you missed the point. No matter.

It wasn't a long article, just a brief. I've bolded the part that doesn't jive with what IG told us above. Hmmm? Source Firefighters rescued two unconscious dogs from a house fire and resuscitated both with oxygen. Firefighters were called to the house in the Ballard area just before 7 p.m. Thursday, spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said. The owner of the home went to the store and returned to find her house on fire. Inside were two boxers, Fitzpatrick said. Firefighters pulled both dogs from the home and administered oxygen to revive them. They were treated by a local veterinarian and recovered, she said. Fire investigators found that the cause of the fire was a kitchen light fixture. Damage was estimated at $100,000.

JoshK, the liberal wank. JoshK said: "I imagine it will be the standard method of attacking the entire message by concentrating on one or two small points you can argue over and over." Then he mentioned one small point once: "fool me once...I wont be fooled again" Then he mentioned that one small point again: "Fool me once, shame on you......it fool me...I won't get fooled again" Damn it, Josh, quit arguing over and over about the small points! My opinion: I'm not going to dislike a guy just because he screws up his speeches in minor vocal flubs from time to time. Heck, have you ever had to give presentations to large audiences? I have and can aver I've messed up/stuttered/drawn blanks often enough and I'm actually pretty good at giving presentations for the most part. John Kerry is a better speaker than Bush, but Kerry too has messed up here and there. Dislike Bush for his policies, focus there....or don't try to chop him down for bad speaking while simultaneously propping someone up like Clinton, who had some fat chick suck him in the Oval Office.

Ah, so "these days" is different than "historically speaking." Of course, it's not the American Civil Lawyers Union, but I see your point. Legislators are comprised of just as many lawyers as the ACLU, so, in a way, lawyers both take away AND restore freedoms. We could all do without lawyers, couldn't we? Right Matt?

That's a good point, j_b. But what is the relativistic multiplier between dictators that would distinguish one as more evil than the other? It's an interesting question for sure. x10? x100? x1000? To an American, would an arab dictator who slaughters 10,000 innocent Westerners be worse than an arab dictator who slaughters 1,000,000 of his own people? Good question. Both dictators are bad, but, as Huey Lewis has said, "sometimes bad is bad." Or, as George Thorogood has said, "badder than bad."

Historically speaking its the LAWYER that gives us these freedoms. Huh? Don't you mean legislator? The soldier above is just as symbolically valid as the legislator.

The dogs can stay at my place; Icegirl will have to find other lodging.

Well, glad the dogs are all right and that you're all right (that the Ice girl didn't get melted in da fire). Sounds like the ballast blew in the fluorescent light fixture. It happens from time to time.

The Goat Rocks are close. It's a nice alpine area to explore for a few trips.

Say what? Was about to log off. This is just too crazy not to inquire about. Were you brewin' up a fresh batch of Spray spray and it got out of hand?

Rhetoric.

3. Do not slog up the Muir Snowfield.

I just want to echo Icegirl's comment. {The world is going to hell in a 2-dollar handbasket.} Duran Duran: "I'm on a ride and I wanna get off But I can't slow down the roundabout."

Oil: let's get off of it. Then we as America could care less about what could or could not fester in a region of the world that has no value to the rest of the world other than the commodity they supply. For that matter, Afghanistan doesn't even have oil. What do they have that we need? Should we have or should we not have gone in there to depose the Taliban and rout (more or less) Al Quiada? If we had not, wouldn't this whole terrorism threat from Al Quiada be the same--not more, not less, but the same?

The first one from |I1|1! was classic in his/her/its response to Dru: Click here.