matthewmc23

yeah, I usually fly as well, but I'm thinking a few bodies packed in a car sharing gas may prove cheaper than the airlines.

Ooops. Forgot to mention I'm in Bellingham. I could also rendevous with anyone as far south as Seattle, Tacoma, etc.

Anyone out there headed down to Red Rocks or anywhere nearby in the beginning of April? I'm lookin' for a ride and would be happy to share gas costs. PM me if you're interested.

There's a surprising number of bumblies out there romping around on snowshoes with no clue about the terrain around them. A friend of mine and I just got back from the Table Mtn./Mt. Herman area in Baker Ski area backcountry. We choose an extremely cautious route as avy conditions were extreme above 4000 and high below, and as a result didn't get many turns in. The visibility was terrible, snowpack completely unsettled/unconsolidated. It was no worry (because we were on safe ridge top terrain) but we warned a group of completely illprepared snowshoeing fools about the hazards (they were headed straight up a 35 degree leeward windloaded slope) and they heeded our advice, promptly making a beeline for the parking lot. At least they cared to take some advice.

Either way Jim, If there's a rumored cascade III book coming out, I would avoid sending people up the debated "far far right" line which looked like vertical tree and snow climbing death to me. Doug L. has concured that he did the same line we did and I will be speaking with Bart P. soon who will hopefully be in agreement as well. I think everyone knows which one Spindrift is when they see it from below. It's the obvious, prominent couloir on the right hand side of the mountain. Unless of course Bart makes a better case next week. We'll see. And I personally wouldn't wish that Dry Gulch descent (from the top of SD) on my worst enemy. It would take forever from the right side of the N. Face topout.

Ohhh... please say you have some nice pics of slipstream. Did you have to elbow any foreign parties outta the way on Polar?

I'm relieved that we are all notching down our offense and defense. Sean, No worries, I should've recalled that a good razing would be in order from you. I knew that you and Andreas had completed the route before us and in much better style. Needless to say, I'm jealous of the lack of media coverage you had on that outing. Sean speaks from experience and it sounds like Dale does as well. I also owe an apology to the newsfolks. King5 and Newstips: I'm sorry for flying off the handle. Please excuse my banter. It sounds like you folks went to more of an effort to get accurate information than I originally gave you credit for and some of my comments about general media frustration shouldn't have been aimed directly at you. Re: the grade: I think it's just totally dependent on what kind of condition you find the route in. Does anyone ever completely trust grades anyway? We found easier terrain on the route in great condition with good neve, we found the crux WI in thin condition (though it wasn't an exceptionally long pitch-probably only 35-45 meters-I took my time here above shaky protection, and we found a cornice which would've been dangerous to tackle straight on without worm holing-which took nearly two hours. Mike thinks the crux was WI5 and I tend to agree with him. I certainly didn't encounter any overhanging terrrain unless other parties have gone heroic at that cornice. If a party were able to climb the direct ice pitches on the lower slabby headwall, hours would be eliminated from the climb. Wallowing in thigh deep crust over powder over slide alder in the woods west of the slabs cost us about 2.5 hours. Cheers everyone.

No Sean, It was not the medias fault that my friends and family were worried. It was our fault for not making better decisions regarding our descent. That should satisfy comments A, B, and C. I was a bit dissapointed, however, as I'm sure you would be, with the initial reports which made it sound like one of us was totally inexperienced, that we were unprepared for winter conditions, and totally fucked awaiting a rescue. The reporting was not as dissapointing to my partner, whose had less contact with the TV media as I have. I've been dissapointed with their exageration and conduct before (much more so than during this incident), so this was a catalyst for a little venting of my media frustration. I believe the exact words of one report-though not King 5 were: "Rescuers had to use ice tools and crampons and climbed on walls of sheer ice to reach them..." They were some great folks, perfectly qualified I'm sure, and they put forth a lot of effort trying to locate us, but I'm left assuming that this part of the story was completely invented by someone in the newsroom cause it never happened. It just seems that the media (TV especially) should be held a little more accountable for the word play that they are selling as news. And no, it was not a mountaineers sponsored outing. Witty jab on your behalf. Don't mistake my commentary as a passing of responsibility for our incident. I take full responsibility for it. And thank you, I'm glad we're ok as well. Matt. ps-To the folks at King 5: If it was not your helicopter then I apologize for flying off the handle and making those particular comments. I think we both probably realize our respective dispositions and ought to put this one to bed.

Dear Necro, Re: Please feel free to rail on me as a coddling mother, and as having blown all of this out of proportion for nothing, but my boys were up there, and I wanted them to come back. -J You're a good friend. Thanks for everything. I don't question one iota of your decision process. I look forward to tossing one back with you later tonight.

I understand miscommunications among rescuers, and I'm not faulting any of those folks. Nor do helicopter pilots deserve to be shot outta the sky. But reporters and news anchors are paid to report on factual events. The problem is that "we" trust them to decide what "news" is and they often abuse this privaledge by inventing whatever "story" they feel will draw the most attention to their commercial break. I've interned at two newspapers as a still (as in 35mm) photographer. One of those papers has an outstanding reputation. I didn't meet a single reporter or photograher at either of my internships (or at any other newspaper for that matter) who tossed around incomplete, unconfirmed information the way TV reporters and news anchors do. The TV newsmedia benefits from a "I saw it on TV with my own eyes so it must be true" buffer that no other journalism outlet is protected by. Therefor, they have to do a tenth of the work only to redeem GIANT paybacks from their advertising revenue-which gives them plenty of time to do their makeup between takes. I wouldn't have been surprised last night if we had come out to the parking lot only to find a TV cameraman who wanted us walk by his lens a few more times so he could improve his shot. We should be merciless in our critiquing of the media because they are filters of reality. When they report poorly they create misconceptions that lead to teary misinformed family members or whole countries feeling justified in going to war with non threatening nations.

Greg's got a .45 and a shovel. Think anyone'll miss 'em? Seriously. My Glock .40 would probably perform quite well also.

no shit. Next time I'm gonna try to shoot 'em outta the sky with a flare or something.

I just spent the whole day trying to explain our outting to friends, aquaintances and family who were contaminated with terrible dramaticized media coverage. (No disrespect to S&R) but if you're relying on S&R for information to go into a story that everyone in Washington is going to see on the tube, and you've known them to be shaky on the details during a search-(understandable, they've got a lot going on), then why seek information from them again and again. Do you even care about your reputation at all? Do feel any ethical obligation to your profession? This is why I absolutely fucking hate TV reporting. It's rushed (by hourly deadlines and fast competition) and the reporting is cheesy, halfhazard, AND OFTEN FAKED! I'm freelance still photographer and I've seen it first hand MANY TIMES. The biggest problem is that the vast majority of viewers out there take this stuff as truth because they don't understand media-and media (especially TV) certainly don't understand adventurous endevours whatsoever. People aren't informed by your reporting, they become dumber for having viewed it! And goddamnit, I saw your fucking helicopter (big King5 logo on the tail) hovering over us knocking snow and other shit outta the trees on us for a good half hour at one point. Go report on a fucking kids bicycle parade (where you present less of an objective hazard for those below) and quit jumping to conclusions that make wives, girlfriends, family, and friends worry themselves to tears while we doing a little late night walk out. And by the way, did anyone mention in your goddamn story that WE HAD A GREAT TIME UP THERE???

No, unfortunatly no mountain honeys to cozie up with. Glad to report that Layton will still be enjoying the performance benefits of two feet. In respect to SAR (whose efforts are very much appreciated), we found their group at the base of the lower headwall not the other way around. The heweys spotted us right before we made our final arborial raps to the nice flat base.

Hi all, Mike and I are doing fine after a bit of an epic on Big 4. Sorry to worry everyone and many thanks to all those who participated or were prepared to take charge of their own rescue. Mike and I certainly feel very lucky to have so many friends and acquaintances who would make such an effort for us. Fortunately we were able to backtrack our totally buggered descent route back to the proper descent and reach the car under our own power. Beta: The Spindrift Couloir is in great shape right now and for a brief period one may be able to make use of a convienient summit-cornice-burough that I left behind. This was one of the main factors contributing to our late afternoon top-out (but also part of the "Scottish" attraction of the route). It took a while to dig thru that sucker. I'm sure Mike will have more to add. Thanks again to everyone, especially all the guys at AAI. Matt Anderson.