JoshK

Anybody done Logan? I was thinking it would make an interesting destination as I'm looking for something remote to Solo. The Banded glacier route looks fairly gentle. Anybody? -josh

Stupid question here...but I've always wondered if it would be possible to have horses wear some sort of "crap collector" behind them? Then when it gets filled up, then owner can at least dump it in the bushes somewhere that people probably won't be walking. It seems like it wouldn't be that hard to do something like this so at least the trails aren't covered in crap...

I won't even touch the dog subject, but I got to say I'm pretty sick of horses on trails. Esp. during rainy seasons they do a good deal of damage, not to mention the giant piles of crap everywhere. On the PCT going to thomson the other day we saw a couple riding horses. It was 9am and the lady was smoking and drinking a bud light. They were friendly, and I admit it did give me a chuckle.

Oh, and another note for those considering the route... I'm pretty sure Tom and I did a slight variation of the route around the 2nd and 3rd pitches. Instead of ascending the side of the "large slabs" described in Nelson's 3rd pitch, I think we stayed a bit further north, possible closer to the ridge itself or maybe even a bit north of the actual ridge. Tom, this was the area you descibed as having that "blank wall." In any event, It was probably mid 5th (maybe even a 5.7 move?), compared to the 4th and 3rd described by Nelson at this point. The only downside was I got greedy once I led over that and ran out of rope just short of a good belay and had to settle with slinging a mediocre horn. Luckily the pitch after that easy and it got us up to a solid belay quickly. -josh

Hey Tom, good climb on Saturday. I'm glad we got out and did that, considering how nasty the weather got later in the weekend. About that lake, I took a look when I got home and I'm pretty sure from the topo it's iceberg lake. Here is a link to topozone: http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=10&n=5260147&e=626308&s=25&size=l It certainly looks to match the cirque surrounding it with high peaks around it and a waterfall flowing out of it. -josh

Tom, check your email...

These are 3 very different routes. Sitkum glacier is a really straightforward glacier climb, and, in my opinion, pretty boring. It's the most straightforward route to the summit, however. Disappointment peak cleaver is really just a long scramble route requiring only minimal walking over some very tame glaciers. Frostbite ridge is the only technical route of the bunch, and if you are looking for something interesting, it's your best bet. I've never done it, however, and I am not sure of current conditions, so somebody else would have to answer to that.

Anybody knows who deals in bibler tents locally (seattle)?? I've looked at the integral designs tents at nelsons shop and want to see the biblers now. thanks, -josh

Cool, thanks guys; I figured the arm would be the way to go. Is a light rope useful for repelling off the summit rocks, or is the downclimbing straightforward? -josh

Anybody seen the glaciers on the Sahale approaches recetly? I'm heading up tommorow and since I'm solo, I want to go whatever way has the most straighforward glacier crossing. From what I can tell, the Sahale glacier is almost always a better bet than the Quien Sabe. Anybody? -josh

Sweet! I always love the looks you get doing a "3 day climb" in a long day from the huge-pack people. My favorite was when I ran across some people doing the N Ridge of Mt. Adams in FOUR DAYS with what looked like a pack fit for Denali. They saw my day pack and said "just going to the meadow?" When I responded with "nah, to the top" they looked mighty confused.

Yeah, I'd agree. I consider my chances of avoiding hitting my head while riding my bike much better than during climbing. I wear my climbing helmet all the time unless it's something really trivial.

I found one from 1962 (if I remember correctly ) on Helmet Butte earlier this summer. It had some summit entries copied from the old log when the 1962 one was placed, and those were dating back to the mid 1950s. Pretty interesting. -josh

Anybody looking for a partner? Not sure what my plans are yet, but I have the days off and wanted to see whats out there. PM me if you've got any ideas... -josh

Yeah, I stupidly learned this lesson one of the first times I was ever on a glacier/snowfield with crampons on. I was descending (don't even recall what now) on hard snow and I got to a short section which had an obvious safe runout to a flat area. I figured I'd glissade it. Below it was more steep stuff so I figured if I just glissaded with my crampons on, I could avoid taking them off then putting them back on again. Well, it went ok for the first 10 seconds until I started getting bumped around on the rough snow and could't keep my feet up. Needless to say, a crampon caught and luckily all that happened was I was rocketed around nearly 180 degrees. Of course, this scared the shit out of me, so I flailed worthlessly to try to straighten out again. I arrived at the bottom just fine, but I'm sure it looked mighty ridiculous to anybody that happened to witness it.

Hmm, maybe I should head back up with some WD40 and a chisel and see if I can get myself a free #4 camalot?

Yeah, I'm going to try my best not to let it bother me, all the while wishing I had a rocket launcher...

I'm picking up my climbing partner in an hour to get out of here to go hit up Exit32. It's sunny outside, and I can't stop staring outside the window. Hmm, how *SLOW* can the next hour possibly go!? Mmm...and it's friday too...

Yeah, all this is in line with what I was thinking. Chuck, I wasn't saying I thought they would fail more easily, just that somebody I know who doesn't use them thought that. I agree, I can't find any reason why the would, and I've also heard the argument that the wire bending actually makes the safer in cross loading situations. The reason I brought this up is I recently got some new 'biners, and I bought the BD neutrinos. Man, they are light. I did the quick math and using them for every application they can be used sure saves a lot of weight.

Oh, and one more piece of info, which is probably blatently obvious for most sane people... :-) Get water at ingalls lake before you head up to goat pass. We saw a large snow patch (it was at the time, at least) beneath goat pass and figure that thing must have a small stream running off it. Nope. We got to sit 400 feet beneath goat pass for 1:45 filling up water bottles from a drip 4 feet underneath that snow patch. Water was available not too far down the cascadian, however, so we didn't up needing to melt snow at all.

We took a #11 BD Hex for protection on the gendarme, which rumor has protects it well. I think a largish cam in the 3.5 to 4" range would work nicely too. Unfortunately, the day we were on the route we got caught in somewhat of a logjam around the 7th or 8th pitch and by the time we got to the gedarme, we decided to bail on it in favor of the faster repel and traverse option. I froze my ass off sleeping in my pack and down coat at goat pass the night before and I wasn't about to do the same on the summit. Man, the gendarme looked rockin tho From the traverse we watched the first party in the logjam make their way up it. By the time we left the summit (probably 45 minutes after summiting) we still didn't see them coming up the top of the ridge, tho, so it appears we were right in assuming it would take quite a bit longer.

Cool guys, thanks for the info. This actually sounds like a nearly perfect climb for what I'm doing. As you guessed, I'll be leading it all, and the climb sounds easy enough for a novice to be able to follow it well enough. The long approach and views sound great as the other climber wants an interesting hike along with the chance to try an alpine climb. Paul, I'll PM you for that pic. -josh

I'd be curious to get all y'all's opinion on using wire gate biners. I know people that won't use them for anything, people who will use them only on the rope side of draws and, finally, those who use them both on the rope and pro side of draws. I, personally, use them on the rope side of my draws. Of the people i know who won't use them, their argument is somehow if the caribiner gets turned around and a fall is generated against the gate, you stand a much better chance of a wire gate failing than a traditional full gate. Any thoughts?

Klenke, treadtramp; can you give your opinions on the thomson west ridge route? I was thinking of taking a novice climber up there because it looked like an interesting, but fairly short alpine climb wiht a scenic approach.

Thinker, assuming ML are her initials, nope, I'm climbing with somebody else. And for further clarification, nope, I'm not climbing with the bride either. And, finally, I just wanted to use this rockband...