MITllama02

Dr. Schoene, high altitude pulmonologist and climber, told me that pressure breathing does not help you adjust to altitude, and that he thinks the RMI guides advocate it to keep clients busy thinking about something else besides how bad they feel.

Check out this website: http://www.orthop.washington.edu/Default.aspx If you follow the menu on the left and select Patent Information you will get a list from which you can choose articles on the shoulder. I had a frozen shoulder from a climbing accident that neither physical therapy or acupuncture (2 different practitioners) could touch, but this website's exercises and stretches really turned the corner for me.

If you take acetazolamide, take just half a tablet a day (cut a 250 mg tablet in half with a knife). The "book" dose is 250 a day but that gives a lot of people dehydration because the drug is a diuretic. I met one climber who swore off acetazolamide because his doctor prescribed 250 twice a day, and he was urinating faster than he could melt snow to rehydate. The drug is working if you feel little tingling sensations in your hands or feet.

Tips that helped us (over 55 years old) with weight: 1. You may want to check body composition. If your body is low on fat, like 14%, then you're mostly muscle and you don't need to lose weight. This is the scientific way to figure our where you need to be. For most accurate results, get the body composition analysis done at more than one place because the error is like +/- 4 % units. 2. If you are counting calories, check out WHAT you are eating very carefully. Like a salad is great, but what dressing do you put on, and how much? Substitution sometimes add nutrients and sometimes add satisfaction. For example, we cut out the fat in our salad dressing by using the juice that pickles come bottled with or balsamic vinegar; we replaced that fat by enhancing the salad with either pine nuts or a bit of avocado which are more satisfying (to us) than the oily or creamy salad dressings that we used to use. 3. You can't expect to exercise off a huge meal. So if you go out for dinner, or have friends over, then prepare to practically fast the next evening to make up.

Climb: which was Mt Roosevelt??- Date of Climb: 7/25/2004 Trip Report: From Snow Lake and from the ridge above Gem Lake, there are 3 peaks for Mt Roosevelt: a) to the north a rock peak looking like a block hanging crookedly on its pedestral; b) in the center a smooth pointed pyramid; c) to the south a jagged peak but not as wicked looking as Kaleetan. The pyramid looks taller from these 2 perspectives. But when we climbed to its summit the jagged peak to the south looked taller. My altimeter said we were only at 5750 ft on the pyramid's peak but it is often off by 100 or so since we calibrated by rounded off altitudes at the TH and Alpine Wilderness sign. Did we climb "north Roosevelt" by mistake? If so, where did we go wrong? Gear Notes: We brought ice axe, handline, helmet but only felt the helmet was needed. Glad we brought the water filter because in the heat we each drank 2.5 liters by the time we returned to Snow Lake. It was great to pump another liter of COLD water for the final trail descent. Approach Notes: from Snow Lake TH

I made a little spreadsheet of energy bars and tested every one I could find. Eliminated lots along the way for various reasons, like having trans fatty acids or terrible taste (that's a personal choice of course) or breaks up into crumbs after being tossed around in the pack pocket or freezes too hard to bite on a glacier climb. The best two I found are: Chocolate Temptation (buy on-line at www.revivalsoy.com) and Clif Bars (I like all their flavors but as a non-coffee drinker I have to avoid the caffeine laced bars because eating one at 11 AM on the descent meant not being to sleep that night at home until late -a real bummer).

My husband fell on South Brother, Olympics Jul 20. He lost car keys plus headlamp. A kind soul returned keys via QFC's ID card. Kind soul, did you by chance also find headlamp? We discovered losses on way down, which took 15 hrs because he didn't just twist ankle as believed but broke tibia, when it got very very dark.

My husband broke his left tibia just below the knee joint. His surgeon says no weight bearing for 3 MONTHS. How can he try to stay in shape and avoid gaining weight? Any ideas on exercise? He is in a removable brace, one of those contraptions with metal rods down the sides and several velcro bands that encircle the leg that he wears 24/7 except to shower.

We are planning to climb Stuart by the Ulrich Couloir and descend by the Cascadian. How low does the snow extend? We want to know whether we have waited too long into the summer and the couloirs have become long scree climbs, or whether they are still mostly (more pleasurable) snow climbs.

I carry a Dana pack (heavy to begin with but keeps overnight loads from bruising my hip bones), crampons, harness etc (6 carabiners, 1 belay device, 1 pulley, hand and foot prussiks), cooking pot and food for two (my husband carries tent and stove and gas), 2.5 qt water, synthetic sleeping bag (0 degree because I am cold natured) with Goretex cover, shovel (plastic), wands (10), clothes (Goretex jacket and pants, fleece jacket, down sweater, thermal layer that doubles as pjs, 1 pr extra socks & liner socks, 1 thick balaclava, fleece gloves, mitts and overmitts, bandana), helmet, and those sundries (tiny camera and film, glacier glasses, sunscreen, altimeter watch, map and compass, tp and blue bags, headlamp (one that takes AAA batteries to save weight), first aid kit. I don't think it's the food 'cause we eat bread and cheese/sausage for lunch, dried soup & chocolate brownie for dinner, breakfast bars and tea in the morning, and energy bars for mid morning and mid afternoon snacks while climbing, and I carry a small baggy of nuts as the emergency food. Somehow it all adds up to 42 lbs minimum, moving to 48-50 lbs with the rope. I bought the lighter headlamp last winter to save an ounce. Any suggestions are welcome.

The "75 scrambles" book says that a handline may be wanted and recommends some perlon. I have taken a climbing class but it went into the full rope with harness and belay/rapel lessons. Handlines sound more informal. Do you just loop the perlon through a sling like a rope? Do you attach it to a harness at all, hold onto it with one hand as you descend, or just dangle it down in front of you in case you want to grab onto it?

Besides what everyone else wrote, RMI doesn't take you to the summit of Rainier. They just take you to the edge of the summit crater. I went with them on my first climb of Rainier in 2000 and despite perfect weather (clear, sunny, nary a breeze) the guides refused to let me hike over to the true summit on the other side of the crater. The head guide claimed that a couple of clients (there were 19 total) were "not doing well" and so he didn't want to wait the 45 min he estimated it would take me round trip. I was very disappointed and went back in 2001 to reach the true summit with friends. RMI tells their clients that the crater's edge is the summit.

I was taking a climbing course and the instructors wanted everyone to help carry the rope, which was more weight than I had trained to carry. So I strained to increase my training pack from 44 to 48 lbs over a 5 wk period. I carry this to climb the stairs on Lakeview Blvd (192 steps) once a week for 60-75 min, 2 steps at at time. Before starting the course it had taken me 3 1/2 yrs to get up to 44 lbs and 5 wks to increase the last pound. I also do weights and aerobics 3-4 x /wk and climb nearly every weekend. Anyway I found it harder and harder to do weekend climbs until a more experienced friend says I overtrained and have to rest. I took it very easy last week (no stairs, no aerobics, half weights) but found on this weekend's climb that this whole overtraining thing is getting to my mind. I can't tell if my tiredness is what I usually would feel or whether I am still overtrained and tired. Part of the problem is that the only way I know I have overtrained this time is not feeling good about working out weekdays (not wanting to start; not reaching my usual resistance and reps), and feeling tired while climbing; my resting heart rate has not changed (that was my previous trusty indicator). Does anyone have any idea how best to know when you have rested enough after overtraining?

I have searched the web and cannot find info to climb DevilsThumb in Snohomish County, WA. Can anyone describe their route, experience in trying this?

I agree. I tell the owner, you see the tail, all I see are the teeth. Then I point my trekking poles at the dog's head and turn around as the dog circles me to make sure that the dog doesn't get any nasty ideas about coming from behind. The poles usually keep the dog at a distance.

I had knee pain in 97 so bad on descending just from Mt Si (4 mile, 3600 vertical hike used for training) that I thought I would have to stop hiking. However a visit to Sports Medicine Clinic was useful in showing me that the pain was not due to muscle weakness, the most common culprit. Instead for me, it was tight tendons. The doc gave me a set of stretches to that eliminated the pain in 3 weeks from a repeat to Mt. Si. I went back a few months later for followup and had improved my flexibility, so I got a more advanced set of stretches that I use to this day (and had no problems descending from peaks up to 20,000 feet). So it's important to first find out WHY you have knee pain before taking action.

Courtenay (or anyone else): if I am going for a climb every weekend, do I still need to do aerobics during the week? My weekend climbs are mostly scrambles, occasionally just a hike, and that means 9-16 miles in one day or 20-24 miles over two days plus the actual climb, in the Pacific NW. I do upper and lower body strength training during the week (45 - 60 min per session for one or the other) and one day is set aside for interval training (carrying a pack + 4 gal water up a long stair case 191 steps, going 2 steps at a time, for about an hour). I try to fit in aerobics at low heart rate (ie 125-150; my max is 184) in 30-60 min sessions, but the total training is taking up a lot of time during work days.

I agree with the bottle of hot water in the sleeping bag, from the last of the cooking pot water; this not only makes the bag warm, but has been useful on long cold wet treks for drying out gloves and even re-expanding the shoulder of a down sweater that got wet. However we travel very light and our latest "discovery" is instant powdered whole milk: for tea after dinner or breakfast or just sipping. It is a treat for us because we normally drink skim milk at home.

Our favorite is a loop trail called SEven Lakes Basin. You start from Sol Duc Hot Springs, which even has cabins. We love the chance to take a hot shower and soak in a series of hot and hotter tubs after a weekend on the trail BEFORE the long drive back to Seattle. If you forget your swimsuit you can even buy a kind of paper suit.

Has anyone made it from Burroughs Mountain over to St Elmo's pass? The topo map shows a sharp ridgeline that one might follow.

Payaso, I was recommended to www.summitpost.com for worldwide mountain info. It looks like a great site so far!

Yes, the prices I quoted were for two We found it worthwhile to pay for guides because 1) I didn't my night school Spanish was adequate for doing these negotiations (even figuring out how to use a pay phone was a problem!), 2) we were paying for porters on climbs and donkeys/horses on treks because we figured we needed to conserve our strength for the altitude so didn't want to exhaust ourselves particularly on climbs with carrying packs. In retrospect having someone cook hot breakfast and dinner proved to be a thoroughly enjoyable change (this was after all our vacation) from our local climbs where we carry everything and consequently eat only dried food, brownies and energy bars. On the Huaraz trek (very popular) the trail was so obvious no "guide" was needed. On the Apolobamba trek our LaPaz guide actually lost the trail a couple of times and the horse handler (who was local) had to steer us back on course. Nothing serious, but the guide didn't know the short cuts.

We spent 30 days total, doing 2 treks and 2 climbs, each with a different local guide. The total cost of our trip was $7,000 and more than half was for guides (including tips). Of course that meant also that we did not pay for food or lodging or transportation during the guided days, which took up 20 out of the 30 days. Huaraz, Peru: 4 day trek from Vaqueria to Cochabamba (Quebrada Santa Cruz) $1000 Arequipa, Peru: 4 days for climb of El Misti volcano $900 LaPaz, Boliva: 7 days for Apolobamba South trek (2 days were for driving in and out; we actually did the entire 95 km in 4 days): $1,500 LaPaz, Bolivia: 3 days to climb Huayna Potosi (20,000 ft): $500 We knew that the local guides would not necessarily speak English, so I took several courses of Spanish at the local community college. That worked fine. The guides took pains to speak slowly and carefully, especially the one in Huaraz who was the best. The guide we had in Arequipa was also excellent. We had actually bought the last 3 packages in advance from a LaPaz guide service that we used in 2000, but the designated guide cancelled at the last moment when his son had to be hospitalized for a serious illness; unfortunately the service had grown so much that they had trouble finding substitute guides in Bolivia for us and so we would not go with them again. However the substitute arranged in Peru, and our own first guide in Peru were the best: conscientious, good attention to detail, committed to helping us achieve our personal goals. The Arequipa guide was particularly supportive and encouraging on the climb to the summit of Misti, when the weather was cold, snowing, totally fogged in, and the wind was rising and we were getting discouraged; we owe the summit to him!

My husband and I have made 2 trips to Peru and Bolivia, using our son-in-law's recommendations. Now we need help in planning the next trip's climbs. Is there a forum for South American climbs like Cascadeclimbers.com for the NW? PS if anyone wants recommendations for local guides, we had a great one in Peru!