JoshK

I may have sunday, the 23rd, free if other plans fall through. What/where did you have in mind? I'm on AT gear.

Not to mention that we went in early enough and left late enough to avoid having to see, let alone dig out a SINGLE CAR yesterday on the road. That was great considering how much karma we got for digging people out the 3 days prior.

Hehe...we were one of those two cars that made it up to the parking lot. We had a lovely day in solitutde on the mummies and scepter.

j_b, you highlight the exact reason why I think of "mixed" as not very pure. The "mixed" I am talking about is the horror show you mention. I guess I've thought about your other definition of mixed as just plain ol' alpinism...combining all the skills to get up to a summit.

russians are hardcore. I agree with the point of euros being hard is bullshit. Approachs are a joke there. How hard would any of the pickets be if I could ride a fucking train right up next to them? Yeah...that's real suffering

All I know is 9 times out of 10 the canuck and amurikan climbers I meet on the road are nicer to talk to and less arogant than the euros I meet. That's all I care about.

Yeah, they all lie. My favorite are the snow reports where they claim it snowed 8" the night before, yet their base total increased like 14" from the day before. Uh huh...sounds like somebody put the snow depth measurement stick in a nice wind loaded area. The lake tahoe areas are the best at this. They lie about their base totals like no other. I remember the huge la nina snow year when kirkwood would post ridiculous snow base totals just to stay close or above baker, which got like 50% more snow than them. Silly ski areas...

I disagree that mixed climbing is "the purest form of climbing" Honestly, I think if we are trying to define that then I would say taking the easiest way to the top of a mountain is the purest form, simple. Maybe not the most fun, but that's as pure as climbing something can get. Mixed climbing, on the other hand, is 95% contrived in my opinion. WHile there are lots of big mixed routes that ascend peaks to summits, I don't believe that picking some contrived line up a bit of ice and rock is very "pure." Flame away...

Gas is *too* cheap here. If it was closer to europe's prices we would have to endure far less mom's soloing around town in expeditions, suburbans and other assorted gas guzzling wastes of space.

I'll keep it short cause I'm tired due to a lovely 4 hours of sleep at the spokanistan area rest stop last night. Hyalite was fun. The road was a major pain in the ass, but it never prevented us from getting to the trailhead. It did, however, soak up a lot of time. The ice was pretty good and the climbing was definitely fun. We did Genisis2, Hangover, Twisted tree gully or something like that, Cottonmouth, some harder Mummy 1 variation, Mummy 2 and Scepter. All of those were in pretty fat except for cottonmouth, which was thin and made for some very fun and spicy mixed climbing at the top. Oh, and for all those who think that nobody really cares if you speed in montana (I used to be one of these), johnny law tagged me a few miles before the idaho border late last night.

Jeezus, I just got back and read this shit. Who the fuck cares? Bob, I'm sure you are a great climber. More power to you. Are you having fun? That's what counts. So what if not all of us climb at the same level. We all enjoy it, and that's why we do it. I agree people shouldn't be talking shit and ranking on others for no reason, but that's not all that goes on here. Lots of people enjoy swapping stoires about climbing, being outdoors and having fun independent of if it's a super difficult climb or a moderate classic. Also, have you stopped to think that some people may *not* want to dedicate vast amounts of their time to putting up "sick new routes?"Some of us will, and others won't. The fact remains that if I'm outside climbing what I want to climb and having fun doing it, I'll feel free to take pride in that and share it with others, and you can fuck off if you don't like that.

So I saw that claim that they are the world's largest night skiing place before, but the one time I was up there I thoguht that alpental+snoqualmie looked considerably larger. Which is funny, cause snoqualmie claims they are the bigget.

Seattle to Missoula...6 hours...ICE ICE ICE

In fact, Dave (skisports), who I am meeting there told me he has coupons for perkins, so I bet it's pretty likely we'll be eating there. I'll say hi to Laura. Thanks again to all y'all for the beta. We'll climb safe and have fun. Just wish us luck not getting the truck stuck.

Yup, we have #1 on your list. Hopefully it works for us. Thanks for the info...the ice does in fact look awesome. Man, I'm pumped...I'm counting down the minutes to leave this hellish place (work.)

iceguy, you were with loren right? Can either of you tell me what the climb in that pic is? It looks great! I'm heading there this afternoon for 4 days of climbing in Hyalite.

It pays to practice skiing AT w/ heels released, otherwise this gets old real fast for both you and your tele partners. Good point...and this is definitely what I do, but tele is still optimal for that type of terrain, IMHO.

I ski/climb in tourlite techs, and they actually climb very decently. I think the lack of a "giant toe" helps them in technical climbing more than a tele boot. The flexibility of tele boots is nice for walking as you mention, but my AT boots really aren't *that* bad. I have discovered, however that there are many tours where tele is superior and many where AT is better. I find AT can be easier for many people on sketchy terrain or shitty conditions. On an opposite note, tele is often better on more rolling terrain, where you'd be forced to click and unclick on AT gear. Everyone is going to have different opinions, however.

The rainiest alpine areas in the PNW (BC, WA, OR): 1.)Mt. Olympus 2.)Hood area and rainer area (pretty much tied) 3.)Darrington area mountains

I'd also be willing to be there is lots of ice in the PNW that forms somewhat consistenly higher in the alpine that nobody has even seen before. Sure, winter climbing is getting more popular, but there are plenty of places deep in the backcountry that I bet a human being hasn't seen in the winter before, let alone a human actually *looking* for ice.

Neither one of them was saying no ice formed in Oregon...they were both asking since if there is water ice in Oregon, it's obviously not well publicised.

It also seems to me that terrain has a lot to do with ice formation. This is completely guesswork, I am only putting together pieces of what I have seen various places, but it seems that in the real ice meccas (such as cdn rockies, etc.) you have a lot more bowls, falling off into flat faces. the cascades tend to me more jagged and consisting of gullies, etc. Interestingly enough, if you look at the topo for drury falls, it's a steep wall below a huge plateau, kind of what things seem to me to be like in the cdn rockies. Of course, on top of this, it's a lot colder there for longer periods. Thoughts?

I have the technica altitude pluses. they rock.

Fill me in, what's a "New-Zealand-style picket"??