Terminal_Gravity

Thanks, sobo. A drive to Yakima could be well worth it. Could you PM me the phone #, if you get a chance?

I have been living with pretty severe upper back pain for the past 6 weeks. My right arm is weak and painful, night & day. It is really starting to get to me and fuck my attitude about climbing and life in general. I am beyond the tough guy, gut it out and don't be a puss phase. I went to see a quacktopractor, no help, just hurt my lower back. I saw a very talented new age massage therapist three times, helped for about 12 hours each time, then back to the agony. So, last Monday I saw a MD. He is pretty sure I have a herniated disk and wants to get an MRI done to be sure after 2 weeks of high doses of anti-inflamitory and cervical traction...I didn't even know I had a cervix. I don't have insurance, so the cost of the MRI has to come out of my climbing budget...know where I can get a cheap one??? Any other suggestions?

Bug, I think you are on to something...open a liposuction clinic at 19,000 ft. BTW, where did you get your stat of 18,900' for Orizaba? I think you are deluding your self. I have seen eles from 18,400 ish to 18,700 but expect it is acctually on the lower side. I got a good 4 satalitte fix from the summit and it was just shy of 18 5. And for what little it is worth; it felt like a little over 17.

Rob, I'm not sure you used the proper adverb. :drink:

It was great climbing with RBW & Winter, and it was a glorious day but not at all conducive to safely completing the marathon. I have never seen so much sluff small avy action concentratied in a small area and so quickly as the slopes heated up. I usually think that if the slope is steeper than 45 and it is not snowing, anything that is going to slide has probably already done so. That was clearly not the case on Saturday. The mountains were rapidly lowering their center of gravity. Taking the gandarme direct, ropeless, and trying to traverse 45-50 degree soft, ready to go, snow gave us a bit of real climbing feel and made the trip better than a walk in the hills with friends. Skiing down the south face of the SE rib of N.Sister and waiting every few turns for the induced slides to pass by was kind of fun too. It was a fun day with great partners but the Marathon was clearly not in the cards. cheers

Behind my house in the Wallowas. Lots of dry freshiez with high winds friday night, warm temps saturday. Above 7500 the crust formed Sat. could just suport my weight but the layer under the crust and above the base had no consolidation. A little lower the crust barely existed and I skied down through knee deep dry powder...in april!

Yeah, when it happened yesterday I was on about a 20 degree slope, heading up to a 35. The ski down was nice.

When you take another step on a snow field, you feel your self drop maybe two inches, and every thing gets quite again. I find it especially exciting when a long crack/seam forms aways above you. But it's the whumph that really gets my adraniline surgeing. After a couple of those whumps I usually feel really, really motivated...to turn tail.

I often use Five 10 sticky rubber approch shoes, like the guide almighty, and have never wished that I had rock shoes when climbing at a level that I feel comfortable free soloing on an alpine rock section. (I have sometimes wished that I didn't have the rock shoes in my pack.) Unless it's slab climbing I sometimes don't even bother taking off the comfy approach shoes on up to 5.10 when roped climbing. just my $0.02.

Probably, about an hour maybe more. But if you were thinking about showing late it might be gone. There is only 5 gallons of each and they expect quite a few people. Rob, let me know what you're thinking & maybe I could save you some.

I realize this might seem like shameless self promotion but if the weather is shitty I would like to see some of you Portland gang at the Horse Brass pub on Saturday @ 2:00. Since I'm forced to drink beer instead of climbing and misery loves company. Check tomarows A&E for additional info. The tasteing is the 4th annual Terminal Gravity big beer party. It has outgrown our little pub and The Horse Brass is hosting it this year. It is a vertical tasting of 5 years (1998-2002) of our Festivale and 3 years ('00-'02) of the Barleywine ( really really big beer). Cost is $12.50 for 8 6 oz. glasses and includes snacks that hopefully will compliment the beer. I recommend drinking 64 oz. of Cytomax following the tasteing as a proactive measure. cheers

Me too - cheers

That's interesting. I briefly had a job with Arco Products testing emissions from reformulated gasolines. We measured aldehydes from fuels made using ethanol mixed with gasoline. You get quite a lot of very toxic compounds like acetaldehyde and acrolein when you burn alcohol. Acetaldehyde is hardly "very" toxic. It is the first compound your own liver breaks down ethanol into. That is why after a serious drunk you smell a bit like green apple. In fact some food processors put a bit of the ester in products for the flavor. I would be much more concerned with CO and particulates. PS I try to stay away from riding bikes. It is too dangerous for my likeing. I'll stick to climbing; thank you very much.

When the hell you wanna do it? I'm ready when you are. I'm ready when the two of you stop posturing...let me know.

I find a basic flaw in your question, rocksanyone. There is a very big difference between training and conditioning. Sure, being in shape is a good thing but to "train" is very different. I also think that most of the responses, while they might be addressing the intent of your question, are supporting a potentially dangerious line of reasoning. Courtenay has the correct idea, wear your boots on training hikes. Far to often people fail on a climb or worse yet, get into trouble, because they are attempting something, longer, steeper, higher AND colder on climbs with some gear that they have never used in a real situation or even ever tried. We have all seen, or atleast heard of, somebody fumbling with their brand new or rented crampons at the bottom of a moderate snow slope not even knowing if (or how) they fit on their boots. The four mountains you have listed can kill you if you push beyond the limits of your experience in too many ways. It is currently in vogue to train for cravasse rescue or take avy classes, but not being sure that your crampon will not come off, is just as important as having an afternoon of playing with ropes and cracks in the ice on a sunny afternoon on the Ingrahm. If you plan to spend 12 hours in your boots on Shasta, you should spend 18 hours hiking on trails around home. If you are going to climb 5000 feet up and down Hood on snow, you sure as hell better know that your body can go 7000 feet up & down on mount Si even if it takes several laps. You should carefully fit your crampons and then go out to a tree in your yard, kick them in deep and try to force them off. Don't accept "good enough". Make absolutely sure that they will stay on, that way when you are beat up tired on Rainier and stumble while decending, you won't have to find out if your buddies were paying attention in that cravasse extraction class. Go practice self arrest. If your are concerned about the elevation, climb Whitney in the summer or better yet Orizaba. Know what the altitude feels like before you mix it up with the other difficulties of Rainier. It might be difficult finding a cold enough night in Seattle to even have a clue as to weather or not your bag works for you but next time you are in Nebraska in the winter don't stay at Motel 6, camp by your car and test your gear. Climb Mount Si in the worst storm of the winter, if your clothing fails, you will live through it. But, even a moderate storm high on Adams will kill you if your clothes failed on Si. Practice self arrest some more. The point is, real training for the mountains should involve, as much as possible, taking a single aspect of every possible part of the climb and making sure that you and your gear can do what is required and more, in a safe environment before you add everything together on a mountain. It is often appropriate to go for one personal best on a mountain but you should not go for two at the same time. Some people get away with going well beyond their experience level on a mountain but if something goes wrong they end up becoming a liability to others. I climbed Rainier for the first time, solo and car to car, but that was the only thing that was the first for me. I had been alot higher, alot colder, been out alot longer, delt with alot worse crevasse issues, soloed steeper, bivied under worse conditions and knew my gear inside out. A storm hit early, and surprised me, but because of the depth of my training I not only summited, I had that sick sort of fun that comes with intensity and made it safely down. Three other people died in that storm. I hope I have not offended you ( or anybody in this forum ) for spewing all of the above and standing on my soap box. Maybe your a more experienced climber that I have surmised and really only wanted thoughts on conditioning.

Thanks, Courtenay. I actually did a bit of slouth work and found that there is this wealthy guy in town that has a private dream gym with all the weight I could want; and a calf machine. He has made it availible to me. I had an in, He is a sculptor and my wife models for him. One question; I am trying to increase power, my endurance is okay for now. That being said, if one wants to increase both; is it appropriate to alternate during a work out, from week to week or go through a couple month power phase and then work on an endurance phase. The later is what I had intended. Thanks for the suggestion, ehmmic. But you and I both know I already drink plenty of beer for the both of us.

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Beacon.Rock@parks.wa.gov for up to date info on access or call Erik Plunkett (Park Manager) at 509.427.8265

I'm thinkin USHBA for sure, especially for icy, muddy or wet ropes. After receiving a new basic I am planning on retiring my 24 year old jumars for a pair of their full on ascenders. The design rocks, their light & strong but to be fair I haven't tested it outside the house yet. Besides I get warm & fuzzy thinking about helping the russian economy...not really.

About 4 miles east of the Dalles is a minor truck pullout with a green gate. So it's safe to park as long as you want. Hike 1/3 of a mile farther and head up the hill. There are several spires and plenty stuff to climb around on. I bet you could even find routes more than one pitch. I found a couple of weatherd slings on the top of a couple spires, so I'm sure that people climb there occasionally. The walls are mostly north facing so there is a bit of moss around but there is a lot of rock. The coolest thing is that there are fine grained dunes at the top and down one chute there is a long, angle of repose sand flow, which allows some really high, safe landing bouldering. The east facing wall next to the sand flow has plenty of nice cracks. Friday, the sand was a bit wet and simi frozen so I couldn't stretch it out as far as I would have liked, but I'll be back when the thumb recovers. There is one very large, very vertical, free standing spire that looks like the true plum of the area. It is almost a half size version of the Totem Pole. It looked like a free ascent would be at a pretty high standard. Cheers - TG

I had fun bouldering/soloing in the Columbia river gorge east of the Dalles last friday. And then on Sat I went inbound skiing with my 8 year old daughter and managed to fall and severly stretch out a tendon in my thumb...fuck,fuck,fuck! I am out of commision. I convinced the orthopedist to make a splint that will fit in a glove but I will be limited to moderate alpine, drinking, and chomping glucosamine for atleast 5 weeks. The ice out here is starting form (again)...alot a good that's gonna do for me. Climb safe so you can save your injuries for the easy (stupid) stuff. what's with the yellow print, Dru. I got eye strain trying to read it.

Sorry, no photos or digital camera. But if you if you want to talk about it PM me with your phone # & i'll call you. - steve

My podunk little gym out here in the sticks doesn't have any calf specific machines. The leg press is limited to 400 pounds so that doesn't do much for my calfs. I have tried various methods of putting weight on my back and working both (that just makes my back sore) or one which causes twisting, is awkward and I feel is a bit dangerous. I am training with heavy weights to improve my power to weight ratio. ( Due to my weight, I need lots of power ) I have tried doing 1/4 squats (partial reps) at a good cadence and then instead of locking off the knee I flex the calf to push higher. I have also tried putting a 1 X 6 under the balls of my feet to further move my calfs. I have found that I get some conditioning of both calfs and quads when I work with more than 600 pounds on a smith machine. I have never seen this exercise done, nor have I seen it in any books, but it seems to work. My question is, do any of you workout guru's think this is dangerous or improper if I take the normal precautions of working with heavy weights? Do you think it's a good idea? I really am a novice when it comes to lifting and the local workout dudes and dudettes don't seem to know much about lifting for training purposes. They just lift so they can look better naked. Thanks - TG

21...so I guess it is old enough to be a drinking buddy. It is size large and has removeable stays that you can customize to your back. I have no idea what model it is but I do know that it was top 'o de line for the period. It has dual axe straps, load adjustment straps for your hips & shoulders and straps on the sides for extra stuff or compressing the load...all standard today but pretty inovative in '82. I have used it on only 3 expeditions and probably a dozen small trips. I used to walk bleachers with 125 pounds of rice stuffed in it for training and was comfortable. It carries loads very well but is not so wide that it interfears with shoulder movement. I think I have a couple of Gregory expansion pouches that you could have as well. If I remember right it cost me $260 (that's over 500 adjusted for inflation). I bought it for a trip to Peru and the Himalayas. It weighs about 7 1/2 pounds and is dark green. The only real problem is that some of the waterproofing has delaminated. I did remove some of the fluff to save weight. It has always been stored dry. If you want a big load hauler how can you go wrong at $30??? (that's 1/3 the price of a similar sized duffle) I can deliver it to PDX.

How about $30...come on! This is a killer deal.