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my mom was a grad student in agricultural science when I was little and I used to spend time with her in the research barns after daycare. I used to think EVERY cow had a fistula. ... she also gave me anatomy lessons on aborted sheep fetuses ... aah to be 4 years old again

yeah! I was reading last night about a Mazama's trip to Mt Hood that put over 100 people on the summit one day and 27 people on the summit the next

stuff that is inbounds of the ski area (or most easily accessed through it) link #1 link #2

are you looking at that wacky description of aid-climbing in Freedom of the Hills? where they show leaving 2 biners on every piece? There are better learn-to-aid-climb references around.

Yum! that looks like it would go divinely with a nice glass of Merlot. And maybe with a tasty Taco Bell treat on the side?

this is the best climbing thread ever on this climbing website. It has so much climbing content! I have really enjoyed reading about all the climbing!

I figure the best you can wish for in any guidebook is that all the included climbs be internally consistently graded. All the .9s are a little harder than all the .8s and a little easier than all the .10a's. If that is the case then you only need to get in one or two pitches at a new areas to figure out the exchange rate. From the sounds of your rant E-rock, it seems like McLane has succeeded in the consistency side of things, just his benchmark doesn't match other areas like Index and Yos. So can't you just make the exchange calculation yourself? McLane has some 'unique' ideas about rating climbs anyways, ref the old non-starter 'Squamish Grading System' and his most recent idea ot subdivide 5.10 into only a,b,c rather than a,b,c,d. Incidental trivia, the hardest free pitch in the 1968 guide was a 5.9 variation on Slab Alley that now gets called 5.10d.

I climbed White Lightning, Memorial Crack, The Squamish Buttress and Talking Crack. It was a quality adventure to the top of the Chief with no crowds anywhere except the summit. White Lightning has some kickyourpants runout, but otherwise pretty doable for the grade I thought. Talking Crack was trickier than I expected. If you took photos why not post them to this thread and share?: my favorite this weekend photo (share) part 2 also why not enjoy these kwal TRs?: erikae at tieton , does Dru ever climb things that we have actually heard of before? , more Chief dome rockin'

Are not the concepts touched on in these two sentences contradictory? I would argue that the person making a first ascent, ground-up on-sight, drilling on lead was in a position of having to put a LOT of thought into how they were protecting their climbing. Especially if they were using a hand-drill and choosing to not employ aid techniques (hanging from a hook). Likely they will have been forced into limiting their bolting options to only places where they had a reasonably handsfree stance, stances that - in the anthropomorphic terms you have introduced - the rock offered to them. I am certain that while they were climbing through the intervening potentially run-out sections they were similarily being very thoughtful. Isn't this meeting the route on it's own terms? And isn't the choice of whether or not to employ this approach to climbing an new route the choice of the first ascentionist, and not those who follow?

I don't understand the issue of digging the tips in? I have read some debate that the weight of the skier should dictate the length of ski more than the height. I guess the issue is that you need to have enough weight to flex the ski into its designed turning radius? This makes it pretty tricky for women who are usually pretty light and therefore would seem to require skis much shorter than anyone actually manufactures. Don't forget to consider how much weight she might be carrying in a pack while skiing. I am under 5'2" but I weigh a fair bit more than your wife especially with a pack on, and I learned to (tele) ski on 175s. Those are my AT skis now and I got 160s for tele which are waaay too short and wimpy soft for me. So I guess my point is that there may not be a general rule that applies and she might benefit from demoing a few different models and lengths to get an idea of what she prefers length vs width vs stiffness. Probably get some boots that fit her properly first I would think.

the particular issue raised in concern by Ryan Foster and John Baldwin here is not about banning motorized access to these ranges. It is about granting a Tenure to ONE particular company. A Tenure is something like a monopoly lease on crown land. I.E. the company with the tenure has the sole rights to commercial use of a particular area. ( I am sure there is a better explanation of tenures, but this is the flavour). In this case as I read it two major concerns have been raised. #1) The interested company is from Arizona and so there is no benefit to the local economy which has already been developing with guides, air charters etc. run by people who live in the area (for example Mike King). This is a local economic concern, and maybe not something that most people here would have much reason to care about. #2) The company wishes to use the area for Heleskiing (not to be confused with helicopter-access backcountry skiing and ski-mountaineering). Heleskiing involves having the helicopter pick people up at the bottom of the run, fly them to a new runhover around, pick them up, fly around etc. The helicopter is running pretty much constantly. This is a volume of air traffic that has not previously been experienced in this particular range, even though people have certainly been flying into and out of the range for around 50 years. This is an environmental and aesthetic concern. hope this clear some things up. If you feel strongly either way then I encourage you to write to the people and addresses given in previous posts. If you don't care, good for you. I only posted to share some info that was given to me to a wider audience. It is not an invitation to debate the wider question of the evils of air-support or whatever. Why not start a new thread if that is your axe to grind.

didn't know they could ski! Must be pretty tiny boots.

John Baldwin got the following from Ryan Foster, who lives at Twist Lake

if you right click on any internet image you will get the option of looking at it alone, or listing the properties or whatever. It is browser dependent. Look for an URL that ends in .gif or .jpg .

I am not making a to-do list. I am testing a theory pope.

is tight hands and overhangs a little. try again...

Are there any non-overhanging true hand cracks (i.e. neither too tight nor rattly but just right for most people) that are rated harder than 5.10d? I suppose in Indian Creek there must be some enduro horrorshows, howabout in any of the granite areas?

A group from Arizona called Grand Chilcotin Heli Skiing has applied to the Provincial Government Dept of Lands Office in Williams Lake for a license to start heli skiing in a large area that includes the Pantheon and Waddington Ranges. The long term plan is for a large scale heli skiing operation. Letters or emails expressing concern for this plan can be sent to these people: Pentti Leppanen & Duncan Watson 201 172 N. 2nd Ave Williams Lake, BC V2G 1Z6 Pentti Leppanen- pentti.leppanen at gems9.gov.bc.ca Duncan Watson- duncan.watson at gems9.gov.bc.ca I quote from John Baldwin (guidebook author): I believe Dru and Captain Caveman have posted pictures in the gallery of some partions of these ranges.

A close reading of all the things that have not been organized by the 'organizers' reveals what has been organized. wooo....party....

fingerlocks and smaller is best because small nuts and cams are cheeper than big gear.

can you hold out for another month Jon? Cause I seem to remember it was around about Hallowe'en last year that you got mad at all the whiners and sprayers and took the board down for a couple days. Maybe it can be an annual event?

Dachsteins!!! although you will probably need to sew on a leather patch on the palms, I find the wool slips on my ski-pole grips a bit. They worked for Shackelton.

pepper, pref fresh ground. no oil no butter no salt

did you look in the FAQ?????? probably can't even run a bath let alone a computer.

As has been mentioned, there already is a publication called the CAJ. Canadian Alpine Journal.