Jim

Was up there this weekend. Not looking good, snow was melting fast-fast. Do a rock route.

Dr. Richard Zorn, in Seattle, 206 386-2600 one of the best knee guys around, fixed up two friends of mine. Dr. Kevin Smith, UW Physicians, Roosevelt clinic, good orthopidist who fixed my shoulder, but does knee work also. He can be hard to get an appointment with, don't know the number.

Birds usually fledge about 40-45 days after hatching.

Alasdair - The amazing part was that at 45 I was the youngest in the group and was breathing hard to keep up with a couple of 50-somethings and one 48 year old. Your idea of a lightweight traverse sounds interesting and do-able. I would save a lot of elevation gain and loss. Up and down and up and down the Entiat valley is work.

Alasdair - We stashed extra food at Holden in the hiker's hut, they're pretty friendly, climbed Bonanza and came back to Holden. Then ran up Copper from a camp in Holden. Then up to Copper Basin for a camp, next day up to the pass at the head of Copper Basin and ran up Fernow. Then back down, down into the Entiat, up the shoulder of Maude to camp at Lower Ice Lake. Up the easy route of Maude and back to camp (look for the Groucho glasses near the register), then around and up to 7 finger the next day and back to camp. Big last day up and down to the Entiat, back up to Copper pass and back to Holden in time for the afternoon opening of the ice cream parlor.

I skied it last year Memorial Day weekend. Skied up while roped, unropped for the ski down. We met a soloist who was on his way up but he later fell into a crevasse (snow covered) and spent the night in it. Rescued by climbers on the way up the next day. Heads up.

Yes it was the rock route. Seemed varied, long stretches of 4th class.

Does anyone have experience witht the Hilleberg tents? They'er double wall and very light. But expensive.

It had it's fun parts last spring about this time,but it was a low snow year. Generally though I wasn't impressed. It's a wandering route, or maybe it was just me. We spent much time figuring out which way to go. Nice glissade on the way out though.

I climbed it last summer along with Maude, Fernow, Copper, and one whose name I forget - Seven fingered Jack(?). Anyway, we camped at the lake and went up the Mary Green, and took a center route through the glacier, not the route in Becky. This wasn't on purpose however. On the way back we tried to go this way but were pushed towards the center of the glacier anyway because of a mondo crevasse. The rock was very exposed, mosty 4th class (in my opinion), the lower 3/4s had alot of loose stuff on shelves. It's a great alpine peak, kinda out there.

If you sleep at the trailhead you can bag the peak in a day and get back to town at a reasonable hour via Bedal Creek trail, and that was before it was brushed out.

Actually Moab isn't too bad as long as you plan routes with the sun aspect in mind. I did Castleton Tower once in late June, once in May. I can't remember which route is better on warm days Kor-Ingall's or the North Chimney, but you might want to check it out.

I get it. No birds, no need to close. Seems simple to me. No close encounters with peregrines but did get raked by a Cooper's hawk once.

Dru - It just depends on site-specific issues. In general raptors are more sensitive to disturbance earlier in the nesting season, before eggs hatch. On the chief the climbs may be far enough away that they use a two-tier buffer zone, one early season, a smaller one later in the season. This is something that's used in other places. At midnight, it may be that there's too many climbs in close proximity of the nest so they close it until the young fledge. But I'm speculating, I'll check with the FS biologist.

Ah. Another gem from the guy with over 3,800 posts.

FYI from the USFW website. I wouldn't just dismiss the concerns of the biologists, they're just trying to do their job. Some climbers just don't know about this, the others are just trying to justify their actions. ATTENTION ROCK CLIMBERS: To protect nesting raptors, Midnight & Noontime Rocks and vicinity are closed to entry through July 31, 2002. Raptors have been observed on and between Midnight and Noontime Rocks. To protect these birds during the nesting period, these rocks and the areas immediately above and between them is closed to all entry. During the nesting period, the site will be monitored and if conditions warrant, some restrictions may be lifted.

I'll vote with Caveman on this one. I'm a wildlife ecologist for and the bird issue is a no brainer - just stay away. This is how a few losers can ruin it for the rest of us. Peregrine falcons have made a remarkable comeback because of good conservation measures. There have been problems in the Tieton, for instance, of climbers ignoring the posted signs regarding golden eagle nesting, and it just frosts the WDFW biologists. Climbers have quite an effect on the natural environment from the numerous trails, to gardening rare plants off routes, to general disturbance that keeps raptors from using areas that they might otherwise occupy. So for the limited time the resource managers recommend no climbing - please comply.

You might try the Washington Trails Association http://www.wta.org/~wta/ They do some good work with organizing work groups of kids to maintain trails. I know some folks who have worked supervising trail crews in the summer, and some folks at the USFS who work with this group. Lots of positive feedback. Good luck.

Actually we went up to the pass and returned to the Lake via the pass. So it wasn't a proble for us. We did have to cross a snow/ice bridge over the last cevasse on the way down. If it's still there is anyone's guess. You should stay towards the rock on the way up, it will be obvious where you have to detour towards the middle of the glacier, pretty early. We couldn't see the big hole on the way down until we were on top of it because of the slope. The pass is pretty dry so you'll have to hoof it a bit for water.

We did it a couple of weeks ago. The shrund is fine, a little steep ice towards the top of the glacier. The normal glacier route is blocked by a mondo-crevasse. We spent alot of time wandering about the lower glacier/ice fall. We did find a better way on the way down which skirted left, then back right on the way down. It's a big day from Holden Lake.

As an ecologist and climber I never heard this term until moving to the NW. Yes, the likely suspect is Neotoma cinerea, the bush-tailed woodrat, though its range runs into that of Neotoma fuscipes, the dusky-footed woodrat, in the Oregon Cascades. As the name implies, the busy-tailed woodrat has, yes, a bushy tail. Though a pain, especially during bivies - I've had them perch on my head- they're quite resourceful and there's some evidence that some species use eco-location in caves and in the talus jumble.

I'm soon off to the Pickets for a 9 day climbing trip. Anyone have information on crossing "The Barrier" from Terror Creek basin camp? Also, we're going to do the west ridge of Inspiration Peak and I'd like to keep the rack to a minimum. Any beta on the pro? Other peaks in the plan include Terror, the Chopping Block, Degenhardt, and the east and west peaks of McMillian Spire.