Jake

Top one looks better. Dunno if its more accurate though.

There is anecdotal evidence that Native Americans may have done FAs of Mt Rainier and The Grand Teton. I'd venture that MANY FAs were done by natives for various reasons. Maybe - it would be interesting if there was a way to actually find out. I guess all there really is is Indian oral history (though maybe some stuff has been written down by early settlers and historians on Indian travels?), which can be both accurate and inaccurate - especially when trying to compare things from different cultures. I just don't see Indians spending lots of time in remote areas with harsh climates that are covered in snow 2/3 or the year.

Yeah. In terms of Klenke's radius idea. Not necessarily peaks - though I bet there are some smaller bumps here and there that haven't seen anybody. I was just talking about small places - like a meadow here, a small bowl there, stuff like that. As for Indians visiting stuff - I dunno. I kinda doubt the Indians were out there wandering around on some high ridge in the middle of nowhere. Why would they? - no food, shelter up there. Have you ever heard of any FAs by Indians?

Unanswerable yes, but still open to mindless speculation. I bet you could come up with a quarter mile radius - eigth mile for sure. Heck I bet you can even do bigger than a quarter mile radius. There are quite a few places out there that you can see and have absolutely no reason to go there. I bet I've been to some spots in the Pasayten that probably haven't ever been visited.

So exactly how much harm does it do to a tree if you rap off it with just a rope and not a sling? I sling trees cause I don't like bark ground into my rope.

I dunno. Spokane is ok - climbing is fine and sking is fine, but the place just kinda grates on me for whatever reason. I guess I just wanna get outa here and scope out some different places. One thing that gets me is that the terrain and geography just kinda sucks for me. No big mountains or water to look at. Of course, not many places have these and you can get to mts up north and in Idaho, but nothing spectacular is real close. Spokane just seems kinda bland. I'll be outa here in a few weeks (graduate from GU) and everybody I know wants out too. Maybe in 20 years it will look more attractive for me, but right now it sure doesn't. By the way, if you move here, avoid the WalMart up on Wellesly - most depressing shopping ever. Every time I have been there the place seems to have been invaded by low income semi - crazy people.

Seems like the people that lived in the towns were totally clueless about nuclear reactors and radiation. If I saw some bigass fire and a shining cloud and glowing trees by the plant, I would be gettin the hell outa town as fast as I could and not standing on the bridge scoping it out. Gotta love those humane Soviets for explaining things to the residents.

Well, real bullet holes are definitely more satisfying than those lame ass fake ones everybody seems to think are so cool. http://www.bullet1.com/

Right on. Yeah Dark Peak is not prominent at all really - just a little bump. I wonder how easy it would be to traverse the ridge between it and Bonanza.

Tried but didn't see any. Maybe I missed 'em though.

Thanks, that would be cool. Dunno about routes. The only thing I have really is what's in the Beckey. It mentions approaching via Swamp Creek and crossing the Dark glacier. What's the rock like - is that loose crap found elsewhere in the area?

Looking to check out some of the more unvisited peaks this summer. Anybody been to Dark Peak or have any pictures?

I've heard various things about grizzlies in WA. Talked with one guy who knows his bear stuff and he said he's seen them. So it seems that there are some - not very many though. Hadn't ever heard about any on the sky river, but it could be possible I guess.

I love the BC for the solitude and views and sense of being out there in a really cool place. However, I am also addicted to fresh groomers in the morning when I can make huge ass carves at mach 10. Both have their benefits, though to me, the big draw of the BC is definitely the solitude.

I always thought this was a double bowline too. At any rate, I like it cause it makes a nice seat to sit in and also a loop to go around your waist so you can't fall out when you need to rescue somebody or something.

Yeah Pindude I noticed that same thing with the grass. There was 1 spot near the parking lot across from the main wall that is sorta two tiered and has a easy 20' traverse on it and none of the grass was trampled down at all. Further up the hill too there were some areas where nobody had visited too. Although I must say I like soft green grass landings better than dusty ones.

Pindude - sorry to hear about your pack. Definitely a crappy deal. Enjoy the bouldering.

Yeah ok so maybe I was whining a bit. I was just a little frustrated when I posted. I'll admit that a lot of people were out there learning how to climb - something, including me - we all did at one time or another. Pindude - you have some valid points, though I wouldn't make a big deal about climbing 10' vs. 15' off the deck. Sorry for the exageration and the perceived 'spin doctoring.' Sorry if I underestimated the height of the climb. Yes, I could have spoken with you at a climb, but with all of the other people around, I didn't want to jump in a possibly make others wait to climb when they were obviously there to learn more. I have nothing against people learning how to climb, it's a great sport. I just was frustrated when many of the warm up climbs down on the lower part of the hill were in use - and yes - you are correct, I could have hiked farther up the hill and climbed something else. Bottom line, Minne was busy and some days it just isn't easy to climb where you want. No prob - though I found some of the getups and toprope riggings somewhat interesting. PS - As for the fire department, I don't have anything against those guys learning high angle stuff. I just wonder why they had to drive their biggest trucks.

Oh yeah I heard about that stuff. Guess it works pretty well. Might as well use I say. And don't gimme any crap about it being inhumane. You're trying to kill these people, right? Nothing humane about that. If you can kill them better(probably a more useful term than that) in a manner that might save your life, why not?

Figured this afternoon would be a good time to do a little bouldering prior to the late afternoon beer drinking and basketball watching festivities, so I went out to Minnehaha. The first thing I noticed after I pulled up (besides the four or five of Spokane's biggest fire trucks taking up four parking spaces each) were the herds of persons walking around wearing with their helmets. Bad sign. Of course, not only were the helmets permanently attached to their skulls even when they were sitting in the shade not climbing, but they also had heavy duty hiking boots on, which seemed like overkill, particularly since my sandals were doing just fine traversing the dirt and grass. Also, they seemed to have an affinity for carrying big packs filled with who knows what, since they were only there for an afternoon of cragging and not tackling Everest. Fortunately, I was able to tell them apart as they wandered around in their various herds by their nametags, artistically written on white athletic tape (and decorated with smily faces no less), that were affixed to their chests. The worst part about these herds was that they had decided to toprope nearly every good warm up boulder problem in the area. I have never seen so many 15' and 20' top ropes rigged in a single area in my entire life. Below each rope sat the herd in the dirt, replete in their above described outfits, staring up at the climb the leader had chosen to test their abilities. Now it is worth noting that these toprope setups were not all your standard rigs. One setup featured webbing stretched horizontally between two boulders about 10' high with a toprope attached to it dropping that same 10' down the ground. Meanwhile, the person trying to climb the rock about three feet away was constantly being pulled off the rock by the rope - a torture device that would have made Saddam proud. Not to be showed up by this spectacle, the group right around the corner had a guy tied into the rope about 15' off the ground trying to downclimb the route while facing away from the rock. He didn't appear to be having and easy time of it either. Undoubtedly I missed out on more climbing hijinks, but with all my warmup routes taken and cold brews calling my name, I decided to head back to the parking lot and squeeze my way out between the fire trucks and head home. I would appreciate some help in identifying this Minnehaha invasion/infestation. What would you call this group and why were they exhibiting such circus style antics?

I don't have a map in front of me, the approach toward Glacier from the south works - its just long. I haven't hiked up the white river valley all the way, though looking down into it from the top of the valley on the PCT it looked as though the trail wasn't maintained at all. You can start up Meander Meadow and meet the PCT and head north (passing the end of the White River Valley) and then make your way up the mountain from the south via Disapointment Peak.

According to the linked article, "These acute adaptations (they occur within hours) are remarkably effective: five of the 10 people reported from 1947 to 1993 to have stowed away without survival gear in the wheel wells of commercial airliners that flew as high as 11,900 m (39,000 ft) on transcontinental flights survived." I had always heard if you are somehow immediately transported from sea level to the top of Everest, you would be dead within a few minutes. So is this true or can you survive at even higher altitudes like the article suggests?

I didn't realize it was that high - i figured 5k or so. I wonder if you could get altitude sickness on a flight then - that would definitely suck.

I'm not sure if it was in the book mentioned here or somewhere else, but there was mention of a person flying from LAX to Tahoe (around 6K?) for some golfing and getting hit hard enough to require medical treatment. Golfers. Wooses. What pressure inside the plane is equivalent to pressure in terms of elevation? I wouldn't think going from sea level to 6k would be that bad cause the plane's pressure is gonna be less than at sea level by a decent amount in the first place.

shut your pi hole