JoshK

caramel!

Nice pics! What section of the traverse is that snow/ice section on? Also, it looks passable by climbing the rock above it. Am I imagining things?

FWIW, the weather report looks great for the entire next week...

I think the stories would be great! THere are plenty of times when FAs aren't that impressive from a standalone climbing perspective, but the the whole story, as presented on here, makes it a very fun read. I'm also not sure if enough stuff happens in this area alone to have it just read like a boring play-by-play writeup. Just my 2 cents.

What peak *doesn't* look like a jumbled mess once you set foot on it?

Seth Pollack is a great guy and a great photographer. Lots of very cool pics on his site!

What the heck is the Mountain Ascent Challange?

Who is the photo of and on what route?

That's an awesome accomplishment. The question about if it was supported or not is still completely valid however, so thanks for the answer!

Necklace Valley is beautiful! Anybody been up there recently? When I was up there in later season a few years ago (also a dry season) the lakes near the trail were nearly empty. I wonder if it would be similar nowadays...

Is dynamite allowed in the wilderness areas?

Sorry, I should have clarified. I *have* heard of people going straight up from the lake in winter or early spring conditions. From pics and reports I've seen it's less steep with snow on it then when the ice fall is fully exposed. Sounds like it's nice and dangerous anyway tho...

Quite an experience for your first time on Shuksan. I still need to get back and do that route after dropping a #$*(# crampon in a crevasse last November while trying it in *perfect* conditions. Does anybody actually do the "direct" start? At least from what I remember, you'd be crazy to try. The thing constantly calves and is entirely broken. I thought Necro was joking about a "direct" start but is it done?

Sounds very cool, get those pics up! BTW, Shouldn't this go to the Alpine Lakes forum?

Dru, how unobstructed is your view of shuksan? Can you just see the top or a good portion of it?

...

I'll say what has to be said...any "speed mountaineering" challange that includes, in any way, transportation via car/bus/plane/whatever in between is fucking stupid. I mean, seriously, you really want to congragulate some guy who drives the highway in between two peaks at 2am doing 120mph more than the guy who gets stuck in some mid day traffic and averages 45mph??! If you really have to contrive yourself up a goal that bad, get a clue and find something else to do.

I went in before the permits experied a few years back and didn't get harassed by anybody. I wonder if it had anything to do with the 70mph winds and snowstorm we had to endure??

The next few weeks are actually very popular in the enchantments due to the larchs turning...

Sweeet! Hopefully it'll put some damn fires out too!

Ack! Doesn't seem like something you'd want to do to yourself.

why do you work? the delectation of your cubicle? If I could find a job that I truely enjoyed going to and really saw the value of my contribution I would definitely take less money to do it.

Huh. Yeah, should have specified that. I'm particularly interested in the north cascades, west slopes. I imagine not enough made it to the east slopes, but hopefully it put a dent in that mineral park one and the complex in the GP wilderness?

about the "no fixed anchors...period" debate, I like the rule at beacon rock...only "natural" colored webbing. So you can sling stuff with green, brown, etc. I think that's a good compromise. There is no need for giant nests of red and orange and purple in the hills. If you are too retarted to find a place to rap from without neon rap slings pre-placed for you, then you shouldn't be out there.