JoshK

Oh yes, O'Reilly, such unbaised and truthful reporting to be expected from him! Just because Brucey said it's all good, doesn't make it so. You honestly think they would take him to a protest event in Baghdad or drive him down the road where a few U.S. soliders get picked off every week?

A half driven knife blade that bounced like a diving board when weighted - Cutthroat peak

I thought the chiwawa and napequa (sp?) river valleys last fall had some great fall colors, FWIW.

poncho, great pic!

We were discussing this very fact on Dome Peak. We didnt have much time and the way looked pretty long. Jim's guide said something like 6-8 hours from camp. As we set off, I asked Lowell for his guess, and he said 4 hours. I thought that was really pushing it, but since we didnt have much more time than that it would have to be 4 hours. We ended up doing the Dome Gl in 3 hours from Itswoot Ridge on Lowells blistering pace. We theorized that since the route was non-technical, it was sure to attract a whole spectrum of abilities and speeds. Last thing the guidebook needs to do is underestimate a reasonable amount of time for a route and have people who are unfamiliar with the area (and who is with Dome??) epic time and time again far from home. Yeah, the 6 to 8 for dome was long in my opinion too. We did it in 4 breaking trail through knee deep spring slop.

It's supported; plain and simple. Does that make it any less amazing? Not really. I imagine that is some serous suffering.

On the note of meadows, nothing pissed me off more this year than seeing 5 shitheads playing frisbee in spider meadows on the newly snow free meadow land. God I wanted to beat their asses.

colorado. heh, heh. You might be right on this one. I have a sis in law that writes software for some weather type bus in Colorado and she mentioned that this winter is supposed to be cold and wet in the entire west. The western states of Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and Idaho usually get freezing temps before we do here on the coast. I hope Alaska gets a good year 'cause if its the case I am gone, gone, gone for at leat two weeks. Yeah, this is the typical pattern. colorado get snow first, then it starts flying here, then by january we have 150" bases and they are skiing on 16" bases with man made snow. But despite it all they claim they are the skiing capitol of the U.S.!

Verizon is definitely the best coverage in this area, with AT&T coming in second. Even with my digital only phone, I could get verizon service at cascade pass and many areas around there. With a tri-mode phone you'll get even more roaming coverage.

Batten down the hatches for all the gun nut responses..."It was the parents fault, you can't hold responsible gun owners accountable, yada yada yada..."

Ouch...that NF looks awful right now. Nice pic tho.

I just was running down by gasworks park along the water and some lady was stopped on the trail pointing a stick at something. It was a snake just like that one. She asked if I could move it with the stick since she was afraid too. I gave him a quick poke and he slithered off.

Matt, I love skiing the sitkum, it's a great ski! My point was slogging up it isn't so fun. It gets pretty boring, so if you can find another way up to mix up the terrain, it's a good option.

Yes, going up sitkum SUCKS. I have done this. It's boring. Going up FBR is much better. He didn't ascend the sitkum tho, he went up and over the south side and past disappointment peak which is a long, and altogether differnt way to go. I imagine this would make a really kick ass tour earlier in the year. I've been wanting to do it.

Wow, you must be a complete idiot to believe that clinton is a "most dishonorable man" and your boy Bushy isn't. The crap that bush pulled makes things like whitewater pale in comparison. The ease at which the current administration can be bought of with corporate pressure and donations is sickening. Open your eyes, fool.

Shit, that sucks. Honetsly, you should go to jail for setting a fire like that. fucking bastards. Are campfires even allowed in that area? I honestly think they should just be banned outright in the forests because it's obvious people cannot douse them properly.

Alpinfox, you would be right, but my guess is he may have already done frostbite ridge and wanted to see something else. As I said, that area south of glacier peak in glacier peak meadows is really really cool. It makes for an awesome tour of the mountain on foot or ski.

If were jonesing for some turns it would be worth it. That area through glacier peak meadows is beautiful enough for the visit alone. Just think of the skis as training weight.

What business does any service from Arizona have in heli skiing!?!?

What dynafit boots? I assume you are saying 4lbs a boot right?

I'd say I'm not trusting my life to any weather predicting Beck makes in the field.

Wow, the backdrop of whitehorse mountain, however, would be a strange sight for a NASCAR track. ALl the other tracks are in the shittiest parts of the shittiest places in the country!

So again I ask... What the heck is the Mountain Ascent Challenge?

I would particularly like to know if dru and trask have contributed....

The left lane is for passing...plain and simple. Passing on the right is illegal (but pertty much required due to the idiots around here) as well as *not* passing in the left lane. Nobody in WA seems to understand this.