Bug

Climb: Go to mt. rainier in june need info- Read on. Date of Climb: 4/19/2004 That's not June. In english we say 6/19/2004 for June 19,2004. Trip Report: (You haven't gone anywhere yet.) I my name is Frank (am french canadien (québec)sorry for my english quality!OK I'm sorry for the French/English joke.) I go to rainier from 14 june to 24 june on it I have 6 days to play on the mountain!!!! go hen! But am not sure wath way take between: gib lebge, NO. Long ledge of steep scree and no protection. 100m dropoff below. Kault glacier, (Kautz glacier?) Probably fuhrer finger, Definately We go on the mountain with full gear on complet autonomie we need reservation our not? Reserve a vehicle. to travel from tacoma airport to paradise..public transport service our privet shuttle? (No. This is the US. Get yur own ass up there.) Avalange danger in june? Always possible to get snow. Even without snow, watch the afternoon sun loosen up those slopes. Get off the upper mountain by 1:00PM. and night temp. average? Maybe 15F. Maybe 35F. One time we got rained on till 10PM at 10,000'. thank for the info! Hope it helps. frank the quebec french guy! Come back with a TR FrenchFrank.

I rated the avalanche danger at upper end of moderate. All of Greg's comments were accurate. We all agreed on the spot that conditions were a little sketchy. I learned a long time ago to trust intuition on climbs. Greg's call was good. When he made it, we were looking at clear skies with a star density I have rarely seen. When the lenticular started forming about 3:30AM, we would have been starting up the chute or there abouts. By the time we were back at Muir (7:15), the entire route was in cloud and the wind chill at Muir was -9. Thanks Greg! It was a hell of a lot of fun. Billygoat too! You guys can kick steps for me anytime.

Greg_W and Tentless (more on that later) showed up at my house about 1 on Friday. We threw our stuff in my truck and headed for Rainier to do Gib Ledges. Our plan was to get to Paradise in time to hike up to Pan point and spend the night. We made it in time but Billygoat didn't bring his tent. I refer to him as Billygoat this one time only because he was reading road signs from the back seat to keep himself ammused and noticed one that said "Chinook Pass closed". That saved us considerable time which we later wasted on beer, lies and sneaking into the girl's bathroom. Since we were at Paradise already when we realized our tentlessness, we quickly calculated the time it would take to drive back to Ashford to get more beer. We had just enough time and so we raced down, just missing scores of deer and one east indian family on the Nisqually bridge. Bob the ranger was very helpful and gave us all the information we needed to pull it off. I had the good graces to sleep in the back of my truck but Tentless and Greg_W decided to try the warmth and other amenities of the girl's bathroom. What cads. We were up at 6 and moving having carbo-loaded the night before. There was a boot-pack for a ways that petered out at Pan point but picked up again behind two guys going up for the day. The pace was too much for old Bug and I lagged behind but pulled into Muir about 30 minutes after the younguns. It was sunny and warm but with occaisional clouds blowing by. After awhile Snickers and his brother and another guy showed up. He talked about the CC.COM site and proceeded to badmouth us all. He particularly singaled out me because I had been posting during the day when most people are working. I would have hit him but his big brother was there. Anyway, we were up at the crack of midnight to try to beat the storm that was due in Sunday afternoon. We stayed on the rocky ridges for a ways then went out into the wallows and moats as we cut up and right. We were moving pretty slow which ended up being a good thing. When we were at the entrance to the ledges, Greg_W said he had a bad feeling. I don't know if it was hold-over from the missing tent, Snicker's rude remarks, or his rhumetism acting up but we decided to hold off. We dug a little flat spot in the snow that was a little sheltered from the wind and hunkered down for the dawn. It was a beautiful star filled night with lots of shooting stars and a little shivering. We could see Snickers and his group heading up from Muir about 2 or 3 and tried to figure out what all the cities around us were. At first light, the wind was picking up and by the time we were moving, the clouds had hit and the snow was beginning to fly. It was an easy trudge down. We met the other group just below our ledge and they were looking a little unsure of the weather as well. By the time we were about down to Muir, the summit was fully engulfed in a lenticular and the spindthrift was flying all over muir. We had some coffee and tea and headed down. The Muir snowfield was hard breakable crust and almost impossible to turn in. As Greg trudged down ahead, we zig-zagged back and forth trying to figure out how to ski this shit. It was hopeless. But at the bottom of the snowfield it was 1 inch of powder on a harder crust that we weren't breaking through. From there down we had a spectacular line to the parking lot. No summit but a great weekend with cc.comers. Even Snickers was fun to meet and his comments about cc.com were clearly indicative of a future addiction. Good luck with that buddy. There are a couple pics in the gallery.

Has anyone come down with stories of clear skies above Muir somewhere since Wednesday (13th)? I want to climb Gib Ledges this weekend but don't really feel like swimming upstream in an avalanche to get there.

YIKES!!! Ridlin as an ADD drug for college students? Of course they did better. It's speed at that physiological developement level. Sounds like another plummer got loose.

Interesting reading. It seems ethnocentric however in that it does not recognize or uniquely identify existential reasoning. Before the invention of literacy, all the societies I have read about were intimately intertwined with existential questions. Every act was based in understandings of the subject's mythology. It seems unlikely that human evolution would have resulted in such a non-existential mind as a norm.

One more concept to incorporate into to mix is attention deficit disorder. There are a lot of kids who suffer from it to one degree or another. And it is hereditary. It can also be introduced and/or compounded by too much TV at an early age(over stimulation). The brain wanders, making intense reading inefficient. I made it through school with pretty good grades. Years later I was reading an article about ADD and realized that I was. I tried meds for it and was amazed at the RADICALLY improved ability to focus (I am not talking about speed here. Most people would not feel any effects). I am not an advocate for medicating kids unless they are truely suffering. But at some point, their lives will become much easier if they face the facts and adjust their brain chemistry. So for me, rock climbing was a natural "experiential" learning application. I would not be surprised if a lot of highly intelligent people did it, especially if they found it a uniquely mind focusing experience.

I like the Yellowstone approach. Pull your service revolver and shoot em between the pistons.

"Good morning! Good morning!" The little bird said. The he flew up above me and shat on my head.

You have a hard life.

You could have a partner drink it then drink their urine. This was a common process in ancient Europe to provide the best experience of the effects of the Aminita Muscaria. The first drinker's liver and kidneys filter out the sickening toxins. But why would anyone consider drinking poison at all?

Playing with my gear.

Lightning is the result of a static discharge from the cloud much like when you drag your feet on a carpet and then touch somebody's ear. Where the static discharge occurs is determined by the most powerful attractive force generated on the ground. The attraction is literally a buildup of positively charged ions that are attracted to the static source like a magnet. A lightning rod works because it conducts the positive ions to a closer proximity to the negative ion in the cloud. Whether or not a stack of pickets or climbing gear would have this net effect depends on what else is nearby and how conductive it is coupled with how close it is to the cloud. It could be less conductive but closer or it could be further away but more highly charged (more conductive). As a general rule, I separate myself from metal if I am caught in a thunderstorm. I also spread the metal out so it does not create a singe highly charged conduit. Of course, you could test the whole concept by piling up your metal gear in a heap and holding two pickets above your head while peeing on the rest of your gear. Get pictures and submit a TR.

If you really want to get back into the "grove" you will be climbing trees. Getting back into the "groove" could be alot of things. I'll bet Static point is great right now. If you haven't been there, go there now. Excellent slab climbing outside Sultan. Mainline is a nice starting point with a few pitches. If you want to top out it gets into the 9+ - 10a range but that part is well protected with shiny 3/8 bolts. The lower two or three pitches are 5.7, 5.8, 5.8. The approach will get you warmed up too.

Check out the stuff on the north side of I90 around exit38 to exit 42. It is similar rock. Take pitons or a bolt kit or mondo kahunas. Bring back a TR.

Good job! Thanks for the pics and beta.

Cheers! It was fun talking to you. Always feel free to drop by my camp for a free coffee or beer. My girls now want a VW camper van.

Hike at night for firm footing.

Oops. Sorry. How about a TR with pics? Hope we didn't disturb your sleep too much.

Old thread worth discussing. I have read and been told that when you are on a mountain in a lightening storm, you obviously do not want to be the highest object around but you also do not want to hang out in cracks and grottos. As Mike described, the electricity traveled through the rock and arced accross the crack, through them. The thing to do is stay above the surface but stay low and stay on your feet so you have rubber between you and the rock. I don't remember where I read this but it was in more than one place.

They don't suffer anymore once they're dead. That isn't justice.

Was that you guys parked at the base of Icicle Buttress? We almost camped at the bivy that night but we wanted a fire and knew wood was more plentiful above. Bummer. You could have entertained my daughters.

Justice is a detterant. Non-violence is tacit approval. As long as their actions cost them nothing, they will have no incentive to change. Be careful, but don't sit down and take it. Standing up in a measured way is OK. You do not have to kill or mame. Just bruise and twist. Maybe a little "eye-for-an-eye" property damage too. Carry binocs, sneek back to your car, mark the assholes and confront them where ever you can catch up to them. Just a little Montana style logic.

Nice TR. Sounds like fun. I talked to one of the 3 guys who did the route ahead of you. They crashed in a VW van by wehre my daughters and I camped. They made it out about evening thirty. They seemed to have had a good time. He said everything was still pretty frozen up there and there was a boot track up to the lake. I may have to get up there soon.

We were at the climbers camp above Bridge Creek Fri night. WazzuMountaineer was there too. The place is becoming a boater's camp. The second night we were up to the snow up the Stuar Lk road. Sat we were by Roto wall. There were big groups on either side. We watched one date climbing couple do the cruise n thrash. Last time I looked she was hanging by her hands and flailing her foot around like a fly swatter. It was painful to watch. Even my girls said she looked scared. He didn't get laid. I'll bet money on it.