Gary_Yngve

Hehe, we'll see how badly I get flamed for this one. The Mountaineers have a rough rating system for the Basic climbs, where they're rated relatively 1-5. In their system, it goes Baker then Fisher Chimneys then Rainier, which I believe, are respectively 3, 4, 5.

I'd add the Klemheist knot to the list. Works with webbing too, though it's only one-directional.

Ah, I see. Funny, Caveman and Trask have around 50 votes each, and Lowell Skoog only has 1.

I only have 1. How do the ratings work anyway?

Two ropelengths up the NE Ridge of Triumph is one of Fleblebleb's nuts.

Maybe the statement "did everything correctly" is too strong, but I think there's nothing wrong with the newspapers saying that with knowledge and experience, risks cannot be entirely eliminated.

And the congress was too busy passing this stupid bill and didn't have any time to renew unemployment benefits? What the hell is wrong with them?

Yeah, the other day a guy was telling us how much hard work and exercise it is setting high marks while snowmobiling. He was doing us a big favor at the time, so I kept my mouth shut.

seattletimes article with some quotes from SEF

They said on the news tonight that two were buried, and the five others went to rescue the other two. It sounds like the newspeople didn't know what they were talking about yesterday. Re: Texplorer's comments: His first one was in poor taste. We should be respecting the dead, not making them the butt of jokes. His second perhaps has some validity, especially with the Mountaineers paradigm of trip scheduling. When you sign up for a trip X weeks in advance, there may be more of a desire to summit instead of bail. Even more so if people on the trip need the credit for a course.

More info: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134605198_avalanche30m.html

What I'm curious of is how seven of them got swept down... if they were crossing an avy slope, shouldn't they have been more spread out? Or was the avy really that big? Of course, I'm just speculating and by no means criticising... just want answers. I hope there's a lot we all can learn from this incident.

This bio is kinda funny: Troy Henkels, 35, Eagle River, Alaska. - Troy is a telecommunications technician and a locksmith. He has climbed Denali and spent time climbing in the Alaska Range. He also "soloed" Mt. Dickey, Alaska. During his free time, he plays guitar and enjoys writing. First, the quotes around "soloed." Second, the lack of specifying a route. Some of the other bios mentioned summiting El Cap and Halfdome... does that mean they did the walk-up? Yet in another bio they go into gory detail about a VI A4+. Kinda funny, because bigwalling has about nothing to do with climbing Everest. Nah, they just wrote that because something with a bunch of letters and numbers and plusses must be pretty damn hard. In general, it seems like they are choosing things that the general population will be aware of and thinks is impressive, while to someone literate in mountaineering, many not be as impressive. They've heard of the big mountains. They've heard of Yosemite. They think that West Butt on Denali is harder than Inf Spur on Foraker. Heck, another bio mentions a successful ascent of Mt. Blanc. Isn't the easiest route on Mt. Blanc a walk-up? So why am I ranting? For two reasons: 1) I'm curious of their serious climbing resumes 2) here is a chance to educate the public more about mountaineering instead of just spitting off a few well known names

And the penalty: SMC 12A.54.020 Violation -- Penalty. Anyone convicted of a violation of this chapter shall be punishable by a fine of not more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00). (Ord. 99363 Section 1(b), 1970.)

a reflective shirt to jog in and $100 to the climbing gear fund

Woah... you read CC and slashdot? Then how the heck do you find time to climb?

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: it means aid climbing (or walking on) on metal bars, rods, or other structure drilled into the rock. bastard... you edited the post and beat me to a pic. well, here's my pic. bonus points for guessing where i took it.

quote: Originally posted by ehmmic: Parking at the Zoo sucks. Let's check out a new location. Bad Alberts is probably too small, but the Pig & Whistle sounds promising. P&W sounds good... it's bus-friendly for me.

quote: Originally posted by wayne1112: Has anyone ever climbed those free standing tall pinnacles near the library.? I think there are 3 of them and they must be 100 feet tall!! http://students.washington.edu/dbb/uw_buildering/climbs/redsquare_towers.html

quote: Originally posted by RobBob: Don't get me wrong, I think Rumsfeld was a good choice for Defense, and handled Afganistan well. The key word is "handled." Afghanistan is still a festering wound infected with fundamentalists. We need to get that entire area calm and peaceful so we can go climbing for cheap in the Hindu Kush, Karakorum, etc.

quote: Originally posted by fredrogers: Ditto on Midway and Sabre but watch the start on Sabre. The "guidebook" start on Sabre is to start to the right, climb up and left, and take a committing stem to enter the route proper. And you really cannot place pro until after that committing stem. The first time I did Sabre, I climbed up to that committing move, looked down, chickened out, and downclimbed. Had it not been the first climb of the day, I might have taken the step. But anyway, instead, I took the straight line up the route. It's a little bouldery start with some other funkiness. Harder moves, but it's easily protectable. So I recommend this start instead.

quote: Originally posted by philfort: quote:Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: The crux is pretty intense You mean driving the Mowich Lake road? Yes! We had about 20 feet visibility driving up the road the night before. By far the scariest part of the trip. Either that or when I got caught away from a snowpatch and had to use pumice for TP...

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: Can someone make a topo and rap clean the rock out of the route. It's scary While they're at it, can they scrub the ice with a toothbrush to remove the dirt?

quote: Originally posted by SEF: Observation Rock, it would seem, is ice climbing's answer to the Tooth. Yeah, except when we went that Sunday, we were the only ones on the NF all day.

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: can we get more beta on this route It's about 400 feet of vertical from the base. We simuled up to a belay on the ledge at the right. Then a full ropelength up to a belay, and another half ropelength to the top.