JoshK

Necklace valley is awesome! I really like the La Bohn lakes too in that area... -josh

The people here thing Colorado is the greatest thing ever. The Colorado rockies are compared to the rest of the rockies, let alone the Cascades.

They did, unfortunately, give us Celine Deon. They can never be forgiven for that.

Are you going to tell us what they are or do we have to guess? They didnt actually elect GWB. That is a pretty good strike against our fine land that they don't have.

I feel a close bond to my brothers to the north. It's those Oregonians that just give me a seriously weird vibe. It's like they really hate being that forgotten state between California and Washginton.

Flat out the genie is the best pack of that style. Light but sturdy - a perfect compromise. I have put several days in that fucker. Thanks for the tip on the MEC closeout, Mike, I ordered another at that price.

I couldn't agree more. The genie is a fine piece of equipment.

At least in SimCity 4, the wind power plants are definitely the way to go. Cheap and clean.

Did u guys use a 60m single or double up a half rope? Also, do you think rock shoes were nescessary or would good climbing boots do the trick? thanks, -josh

Nothing unusual...Bush (well, his brain...err...advisors, I mean) just jumped on the opportunity to go and speak at the event following the deaths. In his speech he also threw in some remarks about the value of military service. Gee, I wonder why they feel that nescessary?

It was a horrible tradegy. What was particularly disgusting, but not unexpected, was bush's use of the tragedy as a political stunt. Nice touch there.

Want to get out and do a long alpine climb car-to-car. Shuksan? Triumph? Snowfield? Any interest?

At first you are making route seem as if American, but now I believe you are speaking more of a route that is Russian.

Oh, I wasn't aware that FCs required very little glacier travel. Sounds cool!

Anybody know of routes that are soloed with reasonable safety other than Sulphide? thanks, -josh

Or too wimpy to carry the proper amount of gear.

I have the 45 and find it huuuge. I normally pack into a "30" (seems bigger? maybe it is) BD Speed so that probably contributes to the other feeling so large. -josh

Indeed the route de jour. I was just about to PM you...sorry, no luck on the tool. We actually ended up not going up the section where you guys ended up rapping. Instead of going into those trees to the left, we traversed up and across the slabs (moderate, but not much pro) to some trees higher up to the right.

Climb: J'Berg-NE Buttress Date of Climb: 8/3/2005 Trip Report: Ivan and I climbed the NE buttress of J'Berg on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday we climbed from the car to a bivy at the start of snow arete, at 7300. In the morning we quickly finished up the climb (everything hard is done by that part) and descended. I found the descent far more taxing than the ascent. Summary: I'll spare the details since this TR has been written up quite a number of times before. Ivan will be posting a trip report later, most certainly laced with both profanity and witty prose. In short, we started on a left trending ramp a few hundred feet downhill of the snow finger to avoid any snow walking BS. We quickly met the standard route and began the upward schwack. We made quick progress to the snowpatch then continued above, eventually reaching the crest after a section of particularly thick pine thwacking. Once on the crest I found the long heather ridge to be quite enjoyable, and the progress there is quite fast. The only technical bit was at the "5.3" chimney, which, we both agree, is certainly not 5.3. Seems like there is a wide consensus on this. After that crap a moderately long strech of loose forth class led to the snow arete. Around five or so we bivied here, which is one of the most amazing bivies ever. Our day hadn't been super taxing since we had kept a moderate but steady pace so we enjoyed the full ambience. I was glad we didn't push to the summit, despite it being less than two hours away. In the morning we awoke with the sun hitting us and finished up the route. The only noteable section on the snow was crossing a crevase where the uphill wall was about 5 feet higher and three feet across. The "bridge" was just some loose chunky snow so it required a large step across and a couple steps of "ice climbing." Perhaps my route finding could have avoided this altogether but it was kind of fun. From there we scrambled to the summit and started the walk down. The way down is just tedious. The 1500 feet up to "Doug's direct" was also quite unpleasent. I think the heat made a huge difference. Looking back I think it would have been much less taxing had it not been sixty million degress on the south side of the mountain. The way down from Doug's Direct is pretty easy. Some scrambling brought us to slabs and a section of snowpatch linking until we reached a knoll where we met the climbers trail. The trail down mixup arm is incredibly beautiful. That was one of the coolest places I have been me thinks. And, of course, the day was finished off by the 652 switchbacks down from Cascade Pass. Conclusion: I really enjoyed the route. I think we did well (or got lucky, more likely) on the lower part of the route and picked a good line. It felt direct and didn't feature any major impasses. There was one neat slab traverse too. The upper part on the crest was quite enjoyable due to the views and the exposure. The loose rock sucked, but I was certainly prepared for its prescense so it wasn't a shock. The snow arete and glacial face to the top is a great finish. It is getting down that sucks. That is the only thing that would keep me from repeating the route any time in the near future. Gear Notes: Small alpine rack (a few cams, a few nuts) Double runners (had 7, even more would be useful) lightweight axe and aluminum crampons GLOVES (I would have brought gardening gloves had I remembered)

Doing NE butt of Jberg tomorrow and thursday then fri/sat doing NE ridge on triumph. Though Ivan is trying to talk me into replacing the triumph climb with the index traverse! That thing looks terrible tho!!

Alas...arguing with you is pointless. Point blank...more people were better off 5 years ago then they are now. End of story. Think what you want. I've got better things to do than shout at somebody as receptive to his party's ineptitude, and intelligent as, a brick wall - such as packing to go climbing.

Peter, you have a clue what the difference is between the full employment rate and unadjusted unemployment rate? No, of course not. I'll help you out with a few basics. After 18 months of no work you are considered to be no longer looking for work. Bad economies often send people back to school. The list goes on...go do some research. The economy is way weaker than in the late 90s, no longer how you slice it. The fact is we hit a natural down and your fucking idol lowered taxes instead of worried about job growth and stimulus. The result is what we have now: an economy worse than it would have been. It isn't all his fault, natural cycles occur, but he sure made it worse. You are fucking clueless.

Perfect. Thank you klenke!

Does anybody know if there is likely to be running water at the triumph col? I have only been there earlier in the year when it is mostly all snow there so I can't picture where I might find some. Seems like there should be tho...