eriknusanet

Regarding first pitch of Liberty Crack: I think the hardest move is at the dihedral about midway, and there is usually a fixed rope you can grab if you want to. It's Index-style tricky climbing there, maybe similar in difficulty to Thin Fingers crux. It's a nice pitch.

When do the crags at Index go into the shade? I seem to recall that The Country goes into the shade earlier than the Lower Wall. Maybe 2pm? How about the Upper Wall? I'm hoping to climb there tomorrow, but seems like it will be too hot in the sun now. Thanks, --erikn@myphysicslab.com

(sorry I posted this to the Gear Critic section by mistake earlier) Here's the avalanche forecast for yesterday (Monday Mar 11)"WASHINGTON CASCADES NEAR AND WEST OF THE CREST................AVALANCHE WARNING.........High avalanche danger below 7000 feet early Monday, gradually decreasing lower elevations later Monday becoming high above 4 to 5000 feet and considerable below through Monday night." And here's a news item from today's report:"Yet another close call for this winter came at Granite Mountain west of Snoqualmie on Monday where a climber was buried without a transceiver, but managed to get a hand out of the snow after a 1500 foot ride, and survived a 20 minute plus burial." Granite Mountain has got to have some of the worst slopes I can imagine for avalanche hazard. Can anyone fathom why someone would be up there yesterday???

Here's the avalanche forecast for yesterday (Monday Mar 11)"WASHINGTON CASCADES NEAR AND WEST OF THE CREST................AVALANCHE WARNING.........High avalanche danger below 7000 feet early Monday, gradually decreasing lower elevations later Monday becoming high above 4 to 5000 feet and considerable below through Monday night." And here's a news item from today's report:"Yet another close call for this winter came at Granite Mountain west of Snoqualmie on Monday where a climber was buried without a transceiver, but managed to get a hand out of the snow after a 1500 foot ride, and survived a 20 minute plus burial." Granite Mountain has got to have some of the worst slopes I can imagine for avalanche hazard. --erikn@myphysicslab.com

I've heard there is some reasonable ice at Pan Dome Falls at Mt. Baker ski area. Can anyone say where it is located within the ski area? Sounds like it is one pitch and top-ropable. Also, any clues on other ice reasonably near Seattle? I top-roped some ice above Source Lake near Chair Peak a month ago, haven't been there since. Thanks.erikn@myphysicslab.com

Vertical World climbing gym membership for sale. Good through June 19th, 2002. Asking $200 (a good deal). Contact Ed Schwartz, 206-932-3647

Here's a simple crack machine I have on my wall: just bolt a vise onto your wall. I had to get a couple of pieces of hardwood and cut them so I could attach them to the vise (make sure the vise has screws so you can do this). I put some sandpaper type stuff on the wood to get better friction (its actually for treads on stairs). The vise sticks out from the wall which is wierd, but you can adjust it from fingers to off-fist. I pretty much use the wall as a hangboard anyway so I can throw in some finger jams to a session.-- Erik N

Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakauer is an excellent collection of stories. One of the most memorable was his personal story of climbing a remote peak in Alaska solo... at around 20 years old, he just left his construction job and set out for Alaska because it seemed like doing the climb would straighten out his life -- hair raising misadventures result, and his commentary (from age 35 or whatever) on his youthful idealism is pretty funny and real ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com

I agree, the book is really nicely done. I did Mt. Matier, Northeast Face using the book, it was a great day. I put a trip report up in the "BC" section of this website. ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com

My friend Julie REALLY wants to go to Smith this weekend. She was there last weekend and says it was "awesome... perfect..." She climbs 10s and easy 11s. She can drive (pickup truck, room for 2) or ride. Call her tonight (Thurs) after 8pm at 206-784-3913.

Did anyone make it onto the N. Face of Shuksan? If so, how did it go? I'm considering it for this weekend... Do folks think the current snow would make it dangerous or unpleasant? ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com

Saw a poster at the gym... some guy who is doing high end mixed climbs in Canada... slide show at 911 arts (?) next door to Feathered Friends ... Weds Oct 10, "refreshments 7pm, presentation 8pm" ... and its FREE! ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com

Max, what specific areas do you think are under a threat at this time? Or are you suggesting that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? I just doubt that climbers will participate in such a process without a substantial threat. ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com

That looks like a pretty good process they have going for Eldorado Canyon. What areas in the PNW would need this kind of approach? I can imagine Snow Creek Wall since its in a wilderness area. It would take quite a bit of effort (and ability to endure criticism) on someone's part to set up the process. I imagine it only happened at Eldorado Canyon because the alternative was a government imposed ban on new fixed hardware. ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com

Climbing Classic Crack by moonlight Saturday night was one of the highlights for me... good practice for some future epic! Thanks to Beck, Michelle and whoever else organized and contributed to the rope up! ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com

It looked to us that there was a snow bridge across the bergschrund on the NW face.

Last week I met up with a guy from Bellingham and we went up to BC to climb Mt. Matier. Took basically all day to go from Seattle to the parking lot (though we did stop at MEC). You go past Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton on 99. We woke up at 3am and were hiking by 4am. At 6am we were crossing the threaded streams below the glacier. We scrambled up fun slabs, boulders and loose rock in this gully beside the glacier. Terrific views of ice falls right next to us but no danger. At 8am we started onto the glacier. It was all old snow and the crevasses were obvious so we didn't rope up. At 10am we started onto the Northeast Face. We decided to not rope up as the conditions looked good. This was my first time climbing snow this steep for this long, so it was pretty exciting. There were sections that were 45 to 50 degrees and also short icy sections. Eventually we got our second tools out which helped a lot -- amazing how much better an ice tool works in ice than a regular old self-arrest ice axe! There was a short rock ridge at the top. We were on the summit at noon. The mountains and glaciers are very impressive... bring a camera if you go! We downclimbed the route to get off. The face was in the sun and the snow was much softer at 1pm than when we started at 10am. It took the same amount of time, 8 hours, to get back down to the car. So we just made it back by dark. We did one 25m rappel in the gully over the steepest section. The toughest part was actually the last 3 miles or so on the trail -- its pretty steep, lots of boulders and tree roots, you don't ever get to walk, its more like going down a gulley than a nice trail. Highly recommended! You can camp by a lake at the end of the trail (before the gully) if you don't want to do a 16 hour day. The Northwest Face looked awesome. It's steeper and longer than what we did, and had more ice on it. Looks like its in good shape now. ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com [This message has been edited by erikn (edited 09-19-2001).]

I've got one more full week off before school starts, so let's go climbing! I have 7+ years of cragging behind me (mostly trad to 5.11+) and am starting to get into the alpine thing. Ideally I'd like to get more experience on steep snow like Daniel Glacier or maybe Mt. Buckner or Shuksan N Face. Also interested in longer classics like Stuart or Dragontail or Forbidden. Or harder rock climbs on peaks like Chianti, Bear, Girth Pillar, or Colchuck Balanced Rock. send me mail and let's talk, erik@MyPhysicsLab.com ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com

Thanks for all your comments... I think I will be more careful in choice of partners and insist on Andy Selters-style glacier travel!!! ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com

If you appreciate self-deprecating British humor check out this write up by my partner of a climb we did in Tuolumne a few months back... he's a pretty good writer! http://www.adventurehut.com/notes/luckystreaks/ ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com

On which Cascades glaciers is it common to travel without a rope (and when)? I've done a lot of rock climbing over the last 7 years but very little snow. Pretty much just an ascent of Mt. Rainier a few years back. After reading Andy Selters book on glacier travel I have a healthy fear of crevasse danger. But my climbing partners tell me that "right now all the crevasses are open, plus the crevasses on small glaciers are small" so you don't need to worry about them and don't need to rope up. This doesn't make sense to me so I'm hoping to get some more expert opinions from Cascade Climbers. I know that most of the crevasses are open now, but surely now ALL of them? And a small crevasse can still be 15 or 20 feet deep right? So, which glaciers are you travelling unroped on? And how much risk do you think you're taking? ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com

I'll bring a large orange tarp (like 12 feet square) and a small folding table and some coffee making stuff.

First I want to let you know about the approach to Mt. Challenger via Easy Pass. Both Becky and Nelson have incorrect or inadequate descriptions. On the Hannegan Trail go about 1.75 miles past (east of) Copper Creek Camps -- this is about 0.75 miles before (west of) US Cabin Camp. Shortly after a small wood footbridge over a small creek there is a clear path going to the river. This is a bit east (and north) of where Easy Creek joins the Chilliwack River. There were some large stone cairns on the other side of the river near where the trail starts. Secondly, there are a lot of bees and hornets out there right now! Stay on the trails and don't stick a ski pole in any holes on the side of the trail! We started on Weds, hiking in to Copper Creek Camp, and had our first encounter with bees on the trail about a mile before Copper Creek Camp. On Thurs we looked for the trail using the guidebook info, couldn't find it. Spent a long time crossing the river and encountered bees on either side. A long exhausting harrowing bushwhack on steep dirt, moss and brush ensued. After our fourth encounter with bees on a 50 degree dirt slope we decided to bail. After an even more harrowing sliding descent, and recrossing the river, we of course found the trail. We hiked out on Friday with glorious weather that should have been accompanying us to the summit. Sigh. At least we know where the trailhead is now! After my bee sting swelling subsides I'll be looking for climbing partners again... ------------------ erik@MyPhysicsLab.com

This is a test message to see if I am able to post... if so hello to all climbers out there!