Mark_Husbands

I had a partial ACL tear in a ski accident in Jan 1999. Little bits were balled up in there clicking away. I had arthroscopic surgery--3 tiny incisions--and was well enough to climb Mt. Foraker in late April. I have about 1/2 the ACL left and everything seems OK.

When i worked on a patrol I used actual $20 insulated leather work gloves from the hardware store. covered them in sno-seal. worked fine.

they won

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That's helpful. Thank you, i will get plenty of use out of that. I just started going back to the gym after 6 mos. and I noticed that my harness put on weight... that = letter grade Mark

I think 1200 ft might be about right. we did 7 pitches with 50 meter ropes, the last being a long simul-pitch. only the pitch past the chockstone was short. it took us a bit over over 5 hrs, which seemed like a long time considering the easy snow conditions. but much of that time was spent tinkering with the wrong rock gear, building crappy belays. the little bits of rock climbing also took some time. plus our ice tools were no good, and i had a blister. nick was also getting over a cold. one of my boots was tighter than the other. these things equal about a 3 hour handicap, so in fact we climbed it in two hours.

There is no "Colin".

Mammut makes one that looks a lot like that Stubai

Climb: Eldorado Peak-NW Couloir Date of Climb: 10/1/2004 Trip Report: Nick (Fromage) and I made it out to Eldorado Peak last weekend and climbed the NW Couloir. It was my first time to that neck of the woods. One of the most scenic areas I've been in the Cascades, or anywhere for that matter. We took a Friday to hike in there to be in better shape for a long day of mountain travel on Saturday. Unusual? Got some great views in the evening on the glacier of course. We bivvied right at the base of the East Ridge at a well-used, flat and comfortable site. Next day we took a nice walk around the North side of the peak, past the Dorado Needle, and got a look at the gully. It looked white in there, no hint of water ice. And that's how it turned out, all firm snow, easy climbing, but no protection except for a bit of rock gear (we had lots of useless ice screws but no pickets). We would have been much better off with more small stuff. Alot of the small cracks were parallel, so it was sort of tough to get little wires in. Mostly you just wanted a little gear before the rock sections, whih weren't too steep but did have some loose stuff. Here's Nick on some pretty good rock. It soon got looser. The "crux" was a few moves past a chockstone. I was able to get up high enough to get a good initial slot with my left tool, then get an armbar/shoulder wedge behind the chockstone. Another slot for the left and I found a deep hand jam behind the chock on the right. A bit of groveling and I was able to pull out my other tool and get an easy stick above the chock in stiff neve. I followed this with another styrofoam stick with my left tool. Golden. Then, as I dragged my right leg up through the offwidth, I felt my foot hang up on something. Looking down, I could see that skinny sling I had put on a piece under the chockstone had hung up on my curlycue Grivel toe bail. No kicking would free it, and I was too spread out and pinned to my tools to reach it with my hand. I started begging Nick to tie me off and come over and unhook my foot, since I was really only a few moves off the snow! Finally I cut my left foot free and kicked at my right. The sling came off the toe bail, but hooked up on the inside heel tab of the left foot(that tab that keeps the crampon from slifding back and forth). Dammit! Now I was really screwed, because i couldn't stand in the nice crack I had been using on my left. Again, I begged Nick for intervention. Reluctantly, he started to tie me off, but in a sudden burst of desperation I kicked the damn sling off and was free of my micro-epic. I might replace my curlycue bail with a more conventional one. After that the angle of the couloir eased up even more. Nick led the final simul-pitch, and at alst found a tiny bit of ice to put a screw in. Soon we topped out on the awesome upper knife edge. After an easy descent of east ridge (several other gorups out there), we collected our gear and started out. The hike out was pretty brutal by my standards. Fortunately we made it down the last boulderfields before head lamps were necessary. All in all, a great trip and cool route. With more ice, it must be a real classic alpine route. As it was it was still very, very fun, and very beautiful. Gear Notes: puny cams knifeblades if you use that sort of thing Approach Notes: my legs hurt...

Clearly Moore's enormous personal mass would be an asset in an unarmed confrontation. Armed, Hannity's superior speed and dexterity would se him to victory. No what makes folks think the firarm abolitionist Moore could outshoot Hannity, who keeps a Sig under his pillow and spends his free time at the range? Something I don't know?

It already erupted but a conspiracy of scientists, land managers, and KIRO 7 covered it up.

I have an MEC Northernlite (Primaloft) Jacket (currently US$75, but I bought the ugly color for less at the time). I like it. 17 ounces. No hood. Zips into its own little pocket. Got to admit that Montbell jacket at 8.2 ounces looks pretty nice.

I have had 2 microdiskectomy surgeries on my L 4/5. The first one was in Winter 2000, the last one was Summer 2001. However, my first experience with back injury went back to 1992 (carrying furniture during a move). At that time I was laid up for several months, but because of the cost of MRIs in 92 I never got one. I went through several months of physical therapy and things improved to "normal" for many years... Unfortunately I didn't really learn my lesson, and went back to doing episodic hard labor jobs. So when my back went south in 2000 following a summer of USFS trail construction and backcountry rangering, I had a track record of back trouble. That, combined with the very bad condition I endured for 3 months or so--I was actually crooked, could barely walk, and my MRI showed a massive herniation--meant that I opted in for surgery pretty quick. I couldn't justify waiting around for another 3 months to see if a non-invasive treatment would work out. After that surgery I recovered to comfortable wlaking condition after about 2 months, and then strted going to gym to see if I could get back into athletics. I was in my fourth year on a ski patrol (which I spent at radio dispatch), and by Spring was taking very casual turns on groomers. The skiing body position wasn't really uncomfortable, but I was quite worried about falling. For me, the feeling of instability in the lower back persisted long after the sciatic pains were erased. By summer I was out in the mountains doing alpine moderates (which is all I can get up anyway). I moved to New England in Fall 2000 and had a great season ice climbing. Unfortunately, that spring I started to get bad persistent sciatica again, not following any identifiable injury event. I went in for an MRI and had a huge herniation of a disk fragment. My pain wasn't nearly as powerful as the first time, and my subsequent recovery after surgery was quicker, probably four weeks. Now its been several years and things seem to be going pretty well. I've accepted that certain activites aren't worth the risk of recurrence. I avoid heavy lifting when I can, avoid using using heavy hand tools, and don't carry big packs. I have skiied very little, but that's really because I have gotten more intersted in ice climbing. Likewise, my lifestyle doesn't really allow for long trips so real big packs aren't really an issue. The main thing that causes me back pain now--soreness that is limited to the injury site and does NOT include sciatica--is driving and sitting too long at a desk. Excercise usually makes me feel better, looser and more flexible. Sometimes after a long hike I get a bit sore, but its not unacceptable. Your goal of skiing after a 3 month recovery from microdiskectomy may not be totally unreasonable, but I would urge you not to let this season weigh into your decision-making at all, even though it's hard not to focus on the activities you want to be doing while you are laid up suffering. Go for surgery when you think you have exhausted non-invasive alternatives--that would be my advice. On the other hand, surgery has produced acceptable results for me. Mark (NOTE THAT 6TH PARAGRAPH IS EDITED...WORD "NOT" TENDS TO ALTER THE MEANING OF SENTENCES)

I have G14s with crampomatics and G12s with newmatic. I think thats the right combo. i originally bought the G12s for use in alaska so i could put them over an overboot with greater confidence, but have used them since on rainier and other mountainering purposes. i've used the G14s mainly as monos on water ice cragging, and used duals bouldering on the nisqually. i would proabably use G14s with duals on winter alpine routes if i ever get the chance to get out. so i guess for me the crampomatic makes the most sense for vertical. i dont worry so much about the twisting forces tourquing the toe bail off in this situation.

"You're all into the letter of the law when it comes to power drills violating the rules of wilderness yet you're willing to stretch the wilderness boundary 2 miles past it's legal limit when it suits you." Who might you be talking about? It appears only Merv has taken issue with sport type development outside Wilderness boundaries (e.g. Alpental). Personally, i'm OK with this type of recreational development as long as it is consistent with other legitimate uses (say second home leases or the function of special use permittees such as Alpental) and done responsibly (say, no chipping, glueing, littering, vandalism, and so on) and with appropriate environmental mitigation (say, method for disposing human waste, trail construction if needed to curb erosion).

I am surprised by the chainsaw thing too. Ask the WTA here in Washington. When they do a work trail party, everybody brings these big band saws--sometimes they look to be 6 feet in length. I have asked why bandsaws. Same answer everytime is: "It's in a Wilderness Area and we cannot use chainsaws". Ask Marylou. She is more up on it than I am. However, I will say I believe some backcountry horsemen will use a chainsaw...if nobody knows about it. "Except as specifically provided for in this Act, and subject to existing private rights, there shall be no commercial enterprise and no permanent road within any wilderness area designated by this Act and, except as necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area for the purpose of this Act (including measures required in emergencies involving the health and safety of persons within the area), there shall be no temporary road, no use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats, no landing of aircraft, no other form of mechanical transport, and no structure or installation within any such area." The next section describes exceptions, mainly from existing uses at the time of designation. fulltext: http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=legisAct#5 The chainsaw thing hinges on agency interpretation of "minimum requirements for the administration of the area". This is sometimes called the "minimum tool" question. The Forest Service takes the line that trail maintenance and construction should be completed with simple tools because they are more consistent with the character of wilderness. The Park Service is much more open to the use of machines for administrative purposes, and often uses chainsaws and even helicopters to deliver trail supplies to remote sites. both agencies accept rescues as an appropriate administrative exception to the prohibition on machines. I used to work trail crew on the Inyo NF, and we used mules, misery whips, sledge hammers, rock bars and so on to do all that work. We also blasted with ANFO and dynamite. i always thought it was weird, but I think the reason explosives are seen as consistent but chainsaws arent goes back to the "western" vision of wilderness shared by many of the Acts authors and wilderness managers of the period. Explosives had been used for mining for a hundred years before the passage of the Act, so it seemed to fit in with the mules and double bits. personally, I think the Park approach gets the job done quicker and maybe cheaper. As for Wilderness bolting, I think the status quo is a pretty good compromise: you can hand place bolts but you may not use a power drill. This allows routes that link natural, protectable features to have an occasional bolt on a runout but prevents sport climbing development in wilderness. i've personally never carried a bolt kit and dont climb routes that warrant it, but it wouldnt burn me up to know that someone pioneered a wilderness route with a bolt here and there. but i'd be irritated at sport development in wilderness, although i don't think its inappropriate development in other roaded, non-wilderness areas.

I wonder if anyone can compare (perhaps has actually tried on) the fit/sizing of the old (blue leather) Freney to the new (space-age disco blue/silver) Freny XT. 41 works well for me in the Freney XT, and I've noticed some web bargains on the old model, but...no try on opportunity do i know of.

i just take gore tex off when its hot.

hmmm... does anyone else value being able to zip pants on while wearing crampons? If not, why have zippers run up to your hip joint anyway? why not ankle zips?

i like full zips so as to don them w/o stepping through anything. i fall over and its embarrassing.

1. why won't arc'teryx finish their zippers? 2. Do any other outerwear companies size their pants/bibs short-tall?

socks are aid

i have a whisp. american alpine club members get a good deal on this light bag. pretty nice, especially for the price (about $150).

i like my g-14s

(the long ridge in shadowed profile...FA F. Becky)