ivan

but if we just get rid of the national endowment for the arts that'd probably solve all our problems!

seems like the defense budget has some room for cuts

Bush flights have increased in price a lot in the last couple of years. TAT is charging $560 to Kahiltna Glacier. There is also the $200 climbing fee, the cost of the shuttle to talkeetna ($100) shit yeah - 5 years ago it was basically half that for all of those! still, cheaper than climbing in nepal i reckon...

basically just your airfare to anchorage, then a couple hundred bucks to the park and your air charter

his last entry is a good one

what about my aid-gear?

dude, pat - you have a limo? wtf were we driving to canuckistan for that chill camping and recon trip for in your p.o.s., eh?

i might have some friends from the seatac area down here in the next few weeks to climb who could take yer shit back when they go

a snow saw's more important than a shovel for building a shelter on the kahiltna imho don't dig too deep for your cooking snow either, especially at 14 and 17k - try to use fresh windblown stuff - i still recall the thousands of turds/piss-sculptures on the landscape at 17 after a massive windstorm etched the top foot of snow/ice off the ground (that and the trash that was revealed inside the blocks i cut for shelter walls)

there is no simple answer to that question - basically, watch the avi forecast (there's a link to it somewhere on this site) and proceed w/ caution when in the hills - generally though, here in the nw, avi conditions subside pretty quickly

liberals are always soft on the zombie-issue - never fails that it's the dipshit ACLU guy in a zombie flick who can't bring himself to off a zombie, jsut b/c it used to be his ma/wife/kid/whatever - conservatives have wet-dreams for the kill-em-all zombie fuck-fest and usually end up killing humans in their zeal too

"Israel: Hey, at least we're not as fucked up as the Congo!"

And walk down the skinny train tunnel hoping no train comes down the tracks and flattens you. i thought the train stops there so folks can look out? at any rate, that's how clint survived the eiger sanction!

interesting - and a bummer - but why bail back down if you can just crawl into the gallery windows?

...could easily be solved by a comet the size of texas striking the temple mount at several hundred thousand miles a second

perhaps he was training for when his tauntaun fails him?

"lighten up, francis!"

good lord, pat, you gonna go and mess w/ the man w/ no eyes now?!?

hood is a step down from rainier the avi danger is generally low below the hogsback at 10.5k, so unless the weather sucks you most likely will be able to get there - avi-danger generally isn't much of an issue on the dog route, so really just sacrifice your chickens to the weather-gods and, inshahallah, you will summit. march frequently has fantastic conditions. if things are good, you likely will have dozens of folks up there w/ you, so leave balls early if you wanna have some relative solitude.

i might be able to get out sunday duuude

you probably had to take that wire ladder to get around the plunge pool? saw no evidence of the wire ladder, though i'd read of it in the guide - we used the infinitely more ghetto rope'o'twine tied off to the shitty bush (tvash even added some knots to make it more user-friendly) - where is that ladder?

sounds like he's got a bit further to go?

I've seen a trip report on this site for that climb haven't I? I think I'll pass.....I like adventure as much as the next guy, but that might be a bit much for me. Sorry to focus on numbers....I'm happy to climb 5.4 or even 4th class routes that are fun, but I need to limit the search somewhat in order to recieve helpful answers. Otherwise people will suggest 5.10 routes I can't climb and glacier slogs I'd rather not travel for. That's all. Thanks for the help though, everyone. These are some really good ideas. ok - i wouldn't dismiss it out of hand b/c of me though check out the various tr's on it here - it's not dangerous, just very easy to get to, very long, very exciting, very scenic and spectacular, and generally a climb that anyone who drives up the rd to cascade pass must dream about doing, given its instantaneous and spellbinding effect on the first glimpse - it's a mix of vertical forest, steep heather slopes, rock-scrambling (the crux is a 1/4 pitch chimney that's more realistically 5.8), then steepish glacier (in short, every kind of challenge the cascade's can throw at you rolled into one big mountain route - doable in 2 days) And its even better in winter! dammit! yet another december to roll around that i haven't been able to get up it (noth through lack of trying) maybe on one of my breaks in january?

when in doubt, get a shaolin spade