klenke

You can find a whole lot of slabs in the San Juans. Unfortunately, they are all horizontal. Seriously... The east face of Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island has some moderate cliffs of about one pitch in height but I suspect they are chossy. At one time I was considering looking into them with a CC.com'er who lives on the island. His name is Mark (send him a private message. He is "Ketch" on the site). There is nothing I know of on San Juan Island. I haven't been on Lopez Island.

All this time I've known you and I never knew your birthday was the day before mine + a couple of decades. Pierre the Pear sings "Happy Birthday to You"...

I don't think you have to go exactly as far as the pass. The junction off to the left to Fourth of July Camp is slightly before the pass. I think it is in the flattish area just north of Panther Potholes {map}. The pass itself is pretty long, indistinct, and flat. As I stated in my January 2005 Trip Report "...It was a fairly straightforward hump up the trail to Fourth of July Pass (3,500 ft). We pulled into Fourth of July Camp (c. 3,600 ft) just west of the pass at around 3:00PM." Oh, and another warning: don't go the Panther Creek way from the car. That trail is Lame with a capital L.

This is a picture of Pt. 6040+ (200P) immediately southeast of Wahpenayo Peak. I don't believe it has an unofficial name but it is impressive. Certainly it is more prominent than Boundary Peak south of Unicorn Peak, and yet it is unnamed. This was my 3600th post, not counting moderator deletions.

These are the only photos I could get cleared by Homeland Insecurity. Enjoy. Or not. Fenzel...then some other cute climbers whom I don't know. WeekendClimberz, who's never done a climb on a Wednesday in his life. The obligatory butts shot. Let's play match the butt with the member. No not that kind of member. ToTheTop. BottomsUp, dude. Jason the Burninator, whatever those are. Off White. And Diana apparently off practicing on her pommel horse. "I am the evil organizer MattP. Look into my eyes and feel my power." Uh, nothing to see here. Nothing to taste here. Move along now.

The real question is: why hasn't Sky or Teleross or Phil skied into the crater yet?

I realize money isn't everything...but... Dude, with the money you could have raked in, you could be sailing the seven seas in a big yellow yacht. It would, of course, have to be a custom yacht. And then...and then...and then you could take photos of atolls and palm tree beaches and upload them to your site and have Google map links for them. Mai tais would replace aviation fuel. And Scuba diving gear would replace flight suits.

Nice, John. Your mountain porn site just gets better and better. You should charge a subscription.

The above panorama was taken from here on the northeast side of Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. Obviously, many of the peaks on the above panorama are not officially named on the map. A chap in Britain named Jonathan de Ferranti created a software that reads topo data to create the same kind of scene but not in a photo format (www.viewfinderpanoramas.org). His results only take into account officially named summits on the map. Click here for his results for the same location as where I took my photos

Let me sum up Wayne's get-together for the game: Before Michelle and I show up the Seahawks go up 14-0. While Michelle and I are there the Packers score on every drive until the fourth quarter, outscoring the Seahawks 42-6. Michelle and I take full responsibility for the loss. Sorry. Our bads.

New ad on Craigslist: One bicycle for sale. Like new. Only abused once.

False

Uh, Josh, did you have a point...other than you're too cool for the likes of me?

Michelle and I might be able to make this year's Holiday Pub Club. Note that you can't even sit where the table is in this photo. That spot is now occupied by the bar. The Dexter & Hayes remodel was a big improvement. And Wayne had no hand in it, I hear.

Vinemaple: The text and annotations in the photos were simply put on the images themselves using Microsoft Paint. I then uploaded these images. Nothing special.

"Two guys who selflessly gave of themselves so that 500 could protest in Olympia." No, not literally, you morons.

Two guys who selflessly gave of themselves so that 500 could protest in Olympia. There are men, and then there are men among men, and I humble myself in their memory: Iraq Medal of Honor Recipients *DUNHAM, JASON L. Rank and Organization: Corporal, United States Marine Corps For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as Rifle Squad Leader, 4th Platoon, Company K, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines (Reinforced), Regimental Combat Team 7, First Marine Division (Reinforced), on 14 April 2004. Corporal Dunham's squad was conducting a reconnaissance mission in the town of Karabilah, Iraq, when they heard rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire erupt approximately two kilometers to the west. Corporal Dunham led his Combined Anti-Armor Team towards the engagement to provide fire support to their Battalion Commander's convoy, which had been ambushed as it was traveling to Camp Husaybah. As Corporal Dunham and his Marines advanced, they quickly began to receive enemy fire. Corporal Dunham ordered his squad to dismount their vehicles and led one of his fire teams on foot several blocks south of the ambushed convoy. Discovering seven Iraqi vehicles in a column attempting to depart, Corporal Dunham and his team stopped the vehicles to search them for weapons. As they approached the vehicles, an insurgent leaped out and attacked Corporal Dunham. Corporal Dunham wrestled the insurgent to the ground and in the ensuing struggle saw the insurgent release a grenade. Corporal Dunham immediately alerted his fellow Marines to the threat. Aware of the imminent danger and without hesitation, Corporal Dunham covered the grenade with his helmet and body, bearing the brunt of the explosion and shielding his Marines from the blast. In an ultimate and selfless act of bravery in which he was mortally wounded, he saved the lives of at least two fellow Marines. By his undaunted courage, intrepid fighting spirit, and unwavering devotion to duty, Corporal Dunham gallantly gave his life for his country, thereby reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service. *SMITH, PAUL R. Rank and Organization: Sergeant First Class, United States Army For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with an armed enemy near Baghdad International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq on 4 April 2003. On that day, Sergeant First Class Smith was engaged in the construction of a prisoner of war holding area when his Task Force was violently attacked by a company-sized enemy force. Realizing the vulnerability of over 100 fellow soldiers, Sergeant First Class Smith quickly organized a hasty defense consisting of two platoons of soldiers, one Bradley Fighting Vehicle and three armored personnel carriers. As the fight developed, Sergeant First Class Smith braved hostile enemy fire to personally engage the enemy with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons, and organized the evacuation of three wounded soldiers from an armored personnel carrier struck by a rocket propelled grenade and a 60mm mortar round. Fearing the enemy would overrun their defenses, Sergeant First Class Smith moved under withering enemy fire to man a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a damaged armored personnel carrier. In total disregard for his own life, he maintained his exposed position in order to engage the attacking enemy force. During this action, he was mortally wounded. His courageous actions helped defeat the enemy attack, and resulted in as many as 50 enemy soldiers killed, while allowing the safe withdrawal of numerous wounded soldiers. Sergeant First Class Smith’s extraordinary heroism and uncommon valor are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Third Infantry Division “Rock of the Marne,” and the United States Army.

TF?

P and H (or, if you're a Beckey boy, M and K). And then behind: SS, NG, G, and A.

Here are eight (three in B.C., two in Yukon Territory, one in Alberta, one in Colorado, and one in California)

Actually, this is Sheep Mountain and it's in the United States, but only just barely (by a mile).

baaaawk bawk-bawk!

Consider this a challenge: Go and ski it this coming winter/spring! You'd be the big man on the site...for a week. The site is always looking for big men. But don't let Sky or TeleRoss beat you to it.

From a solo trip to Austera Peak on August 20, 2004: "GreenT made mention of the dubious notch crossing between the McAllister and the Klawatti glaciers, so I approached it with some trepidation (I had not taken any special gear). As it turned out, he had painted an uglier picture than what I discovered. I walked the snow ramp right of the lowest notch as we had done back in April. The place where we had managed to ski over the top of the rocks had now receded to a bouldery wall. I easily spotted GreenT's route over (12 feet of Class 4) but I didn't see much moat issue with it. The snow butted up with the rock there quite snugly. He says another few weeks and it will no longer be manageable. I wouldn't say that. I think it will last the remainder of the season and into fall. I chose a loose gully right (SE) of his crossing. My gully was easier for getting up to the bouldery crest but I had to do a mid-5th step-around to get to the other side--to his crossing--so his way was probably better anyway. The downclimb on the other side was Class 4 for 20 ft to blocky snow. I re-placed my crampons on my boots and stepped up onto the snow blocks. There was a moat/crevasse just below the snow blocks but I found a way to the left and glissaded the last 50 feet." (Source)

An extra word of note: There was no register at the two summit when I climbed them on August 5. At the south summit I did find the square tin can in which the register had been placed but there was no register inside. I thought perhaps it had been moved to the north summit. I could not find it over there either. The register may have been removed by a Leave No Trace zealot. Or it may have been accidentally bumped off the top (if it fell off the east side it could have fallen into a moat). Or perhaps it was full of entries and therefore in need of relocating to UW Archives (someone would do well to check if it was deposited there). Based on Roald's post in this thread, it appears the register disappeared sometime between mid-July and August 5. Perhaps it was removed by the party whose old tracks I followed over to the north summit. These tracks were no more than a few days old. Fortunately, in regard to the famous first entry into the register, it appears Dr. Roper and Mike Torok have at least preserved photographs of it: see the third and fourth pictures on this page.