ivan

run!

now how am i'm supposed to be a decent, respectable teacher if i gotta show up friday morning w/ a hangover the size of a halibut? we can't do that kegger friday? shit...that's what long alpine approaches are for on saturday morning...burn that shit off. well, i suppose the Man who offers free kegs can't be questioned on the days he chooses to serve 'em... i'll bring me own cup. and i'll put 5$ in the betting pool that the number of people who will urk up said tasy beverage shall be 3

- not succomb to rage and smother my progeny - yoakom's ridge - ne face of mt stuart - ptarmigan ridge of rainier - colchuck balanced rock (the easy route) - to be able to climb rock in such a fashion as doesn't frighten my belayer

ah, faith in the essential decency of the white man's culture, how refreshing....

That fine piece of german engineering gets 46mpg in the city. also fits a keg in the back quite comfortably for all your road tripping needs

i believe its the average for the entire (freakingly huge) range (saw the number on the nps' page) 1000$ roundtrip from beetles? christ, that seems steep...how long is the flight into the lake? did you bring a radio to talk w/ the charter or use a sat phone?

excellent stuff...so what did you do last summer? did you use bettles air starting from fairbanks or just from bettles into base? how much you pay? did you see most of the precip as rain? read on the park's page that much of the range only gets 6 inches a year...guess it must all fall at once? shit, seems like there's really no where in alaska you can go to escape shit weather...

thinking about doing an expedition here sometime (probably late june to end of july). looking for anyone who might have climbed in the range and have some info on (i've read the beta in the wood/coombs guide): 1. conditions round that time of the year 2. air-charters 3. anyone walked in? 4. blah, blah...useful tidbits...routes people have done, etc. looks like a cool place...nice & lonely. i'm thinking a shotgun would be a good piece of camping equipment?

saw a long feature on this last night on hbo...the climbing scenes are fukn incredible... i've read the book. what i don't get, after watching the hbo thing, is this supposed controversy. it's a truly inspiring story in its own right, but i feel that they're somehow trying to sup it up somehow. i mean, who really could question yates' actions? how the hell is cutting the rope to a terminally fucked person uncool? i guess i'd feel the "controversy" which is alluded to frequently is worthy of mention if i could find just one person (who doesn't have their head up their ass - eliminating most here) who feels simpson got a raw deal.

using that name for all you can, eh? on the where's n' when's of intoxicating myself, i don't really know...need a few days to figure out exactly how much i'm needed around the mansion. would probably need to be next week...

well, if the intention was to foster a future bad ass climber i might have had to give old smeagol's alias due consideration...christ, did you see the shit he DOWNCLIMBED (face first, no less) in the 2 towers?

i think the brief glimpse i've caught as to the likely color of my coming days gives me a mighty compulsion to have a few strong drinks (as well the realization that the aforementioned drinks, combined w/ the quantity of sleep proceeding them, might very well kill me) i stand ready to abandon my seed in the name of revelry

well, maybe in a few years, if she's nothing like her father... eowyn coronato linthwaite, height about 3 hands, weight about 1/2 stone, born monday 12/8 (her ma's b-day no less) cool kid...my ma-in-law is earning her keep these days...

dude, you should definitely check out hobbiton and moria/kazhad-dun!

after consuming the majority of our expedition med kit safely back in talkeetna, i passed into an opiatic stupor and collapsed in the park beside jim bridwell, shortly after smoking the 50th joint of the day w/ him (well, it was the first of the day w/ him, but there were so many other strangers around too...)

ditto, especially on luetholds...

wow, the pix of that twisted tower, on the elliot headwall side just a few hundred feet below the summit made it look much cooler than when we were up there wish i could return meself...think i'll have to get a handle on being a father first...that shouldn't take too long, should it?

i had the exact same shit happen to me on the matanuska glacier this summer...luckily i just faceplanted after falling 10 feet..no crevasse. maybe we should start carrying our prusiks differently? i was kneeling, and when i stood up the loop from one of my prusiks caught on my crampon, turning me into the amazingly retarded freaky robot, toppling over and sliding down, realizing at any moment it was gonna start hurting a lot...

on the positive side, if you're willing to put in the sweat, you'll be able to go to some popular places w/ minimal crowds

cold enough that i spent most of my time climbing idly dreaming about jumping into my hot tub at the first opportunity i've been know to be wrong about things , but i figure it was in the upper teens (F, of course)

i believe i said "it f@cking sucked"...hardly downplaying. still not as long as for triple couliors. got a bit of frostnip on the tips of all of my right fingers (made picking me nose difficult for a few days)...didn't have that happen to me in alaska either

i love TG...he reminds me of my favorite virginia senators...they get you drunk and tell you good stories...that's the meaning of democracy for me...now if only you provided fried fish at the same time

i will refrain from grading the route, lest i be called a poser by a big beer meanie the cloudcap party idea is a fine one...specially if someone drags a zipline to the summit so we can coast back for a quick celebration

owh! sorry man, i wrote that up in the 2 minute break between 1st & 2nd period...i must have been just thinking of the steps but hey, it is a volcano...maybe it's bulging?

imho the north face route on hood was much superior to triple couliors on dragontail...the approach (when the road's open) is shorter, the mountain much more grandiose, the glacier setting more aesthetic, and the total amount of ice more voluminous. the descent was a great deal more spicy too. i suppose part of my preference might just have been the conditions though (i've done each just once)...anyone else done both routes and have a preference?