Bug

Mountains don't kill people. People kill people. Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Take highway 2 over Stevens Pass. Near Leavenworth, you will enter Tumwater canyon and see great rapids, great alpine rides and then Castle rock on your left. Keep your eyes on the road. At the end of the canyon it just pops you out into Leavenworth and there is a right hand turn immediately and a gas station/one stop just across that. Turn right on that road (Icicle road?) and stay on it as it winds south and then west up into Icicle canyon. At the obvious mouth of the canyon, check your odometer and go up about 5 miles. It will be on your left. Or go straight into Leavenworth past the park on the right and get info from the climbing shop on the left. You will see the Kayaks out front. Bridge creek is another 4 or 5 miles up Icicle from Barney's rubble.

Good work David! Thanks.

I gashed a gator last time out. It is a good arguement for snug fitting gators and stiff outers.

I sent the following letter to the PI. The Park would have stats on which routes get the most accidents per climber. "Are you all anti-French? Will you also change the name of Rainier to 'Patriot Peak'? 'Freedom Ridge' sounds like a John Ashcroft gaff. There is no such ridge on Mt Rainier. The climbing community is curious how you arrived at that name. Liberty Ridge is the most famous of all routes on Rainier. It appeared in the book '50 Classic Climbs of America' decades ago and has been pummeled with traveling climbers since. They come to tick a "classic". They often underestimate the scale of the undertaking. They frequently fail. Sometimes, they die. It is a very sad thing that so many are blinded to the dangers by the label "Classic". There are easier routes on the mountain that would be more appropriate for most 'out of towners'. Even those with good experience should not jump on a hard route on a Rainier sized mountain after not having been there for a year or more. Many climb it every year and sometimes more often and still are humbled every time. It is not fair to classify "climbers" all in the same group. Many of us are far less willing to risk injury or death than others. So we 'fail' to summit frequently but live to summit another day. Otherwise, a pretty good article."

I'll bring a gun.

Larvae and I will attend. Somebody else bring kids. Girls 8 and 6.

I have never seen bigger or more numerous crevasses on Rainier than on the Carbon in mid June 93. It will depend on where the bridges are though. You might be able to squeak around the part I had to go through.

I went to a rummage sale in Bellevue afew weeks ago and there was some 60's era climbing gear there. I talked with the daughter about it. Apparently, Bernard Clark did a lot of climbing around here. The name sounds familiar but I can't remember anything specific. Anyone else remember anything?

Chess is fun. But climbing is funner. My gym no longer attracts the G-string type. I quit.

Ya sure. That's the other side of the hair. But what fun would the challenge be if there were no risk? Why don't you play chess instead and stay in shape by going to the gym?

Improbable as it may seem, the truth lies in the fact that people do die as a result of climbing. We want that risk and cannot be fully engaged in life without it. It defines our life and friends. I do not want to get so close to dying that I get an adrenaline rush every time. I just want to know that I have to meet a range of challanges just to survive and that I have to be ready to handle the adrenaline causing events should they occur. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we evolved as hunter/warriors for 3 million years.

I had a pair of size 6 Fire's that worked for a string of girlfriends. The last one took them when she left. I don't know but it could have been Greg that took off with her. She was a sucker for the hurt puppy act. But the moral of the story is, if she doesn't own her own shoes, shoes is all you'll have in the long run. Climbing hurts now and then. It has to be their own passion wether you are there or not.

Realistically, if you do everthing you can to be safe and it works for years until something weird or uncommon happens and you get killed, your wife will blame it on climbing. If you are driving down the highway and a log falls off the truck in front of you and you get killed, she won't say, "It's because he wasn't climbing." She will continue to drive the same stretch of highway oblivious to the fact that she has the same risk denial that you did. Suck it up. Learn from it. Climb on.

Perhaps a printout of this and the Liberty Ridge thread could be part of the package. Money for the kids is a good idea. The guides guild in Chamonix started a widow's fund long before there was an insurance company involved. We aren't a guild but I feel a connection that I would like to acknowledge.

The undeniable comes home to roost. My kids are that age too. And that is my favorite route on Rainier. My thoughts and prayers go to the family.

On my way.

No two biners on my rack are alike.

Just post a time that does work for you. Nobody has said they could come on the weekend I posted. I will definately be up for a fall kids ropeup.

Well, That is my only free weekend. Some one else might want to propose a differnt time and place. We will be at the climbers bivy tho if anyone shows up.

Take skiis and leave them at the top of the snowfield at the base of the ridge. I happen to have a pair of tele skiis (190), bindings, and Merrel tele comps (size 11). for sale. $50 for the whole set. I'll throw in a pair of skins for $20.

I may never meet the famous Muffy. Does she really exist? Or is it Greg_W's alter ego?............

In true Celtic tradition, men commonly exposed all. A kilt is just a holdover from the days of blankets wrapped around them. In other words, if you buy one of these new kilts for yourself you are pushing the envelope toward the 'wild side'. Trust me, no one will hold the ladder for you, much less belay.

Icicle canyon climber's bivy above Bridge creek June 5&6. Someone has to get there Friday night and rope off a large section. I prefer the upper right with the small boulders and opening down the hill.

IA M SO THERE If Muffy's gonna cage dance then I'm there too! How about a wet T shirt contest. Guys and girls so we don't appear sexist. Of course there isn't anything less attractive than a male cc.comer getting the puke hosed off his chest. Try to chew your food this year guys.