Buckaroo

the logistics of the Longmire gate can mess you up on day climbs around Rainier. we got on N ridge of Pinnacle back in Dec but the low snow exposed difficult rock and we ran out of time. It's snowed a lot since then. Nice position on that climb, lots of exposure too, but not much AI, maybe a pitch of 50deg. the only 4-5 pitch WI is Drury near Leavenworth, it forms once every 5 years There's some 1 pitch WI4 that forms on the E wall of the Nisqually canyon near the road but it's not cold enough now

You know when you're carrying packfulls of nitroglycerin in the mountains, like if you want to bomb Chair peak or something, you can take little tabs of the nitroglycerin when you have a heart attack. just refer to "Vertical Limit" if you have any further questions

""I AM EVALUATING ANY CHANCE OF THEIR UTILITY TO HELP IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS. I AM NOT PLANNING TO USE ANY OF THESE ON ANY SORT OF HAZARDOUS TRIP."" these r conflicting statements, emergencies almost always involve hazards ""Hermann Buhls legendary summit of nanga parbat was meth powered."" yeah, i saw that dude on "faces of meth" but really, where did u get that info?

Cordelettes are the fastest way to equalize an anchor, and you don't want to be using the rope on full length pitches. Instead of 6mm I use a quad length skinny runner, it's 1/2 the weight and bulk and while not as long as a standard cordelette the knot uses much less length so it works out to the same. cord is better than webbing for raps because the sheath protects the core. You can inspect it and know its ok if the sheath is not burned through, not so with webbing.

I remember one year hiking up to that ice wall at 8000ft. I was going to solo the thing and when I was getting near the base about a 1/4 of the wall came crashing down. Needless to say I continued hiking. Be careful out there, make sure it's not too warm.

You cross over before dawn and cross back after dark, that's what headlamps are for

Coat hanger is the best. To keep it from breaking at the bend, bend it in a large diameter, like 1.5 inches. They last about 2 seasons when you do them that way.

A good loop climb/hike would be Mt Whitney, up the Mountaineer route and down the Mt Whitney trail in 3 or 4 days depending on your acclimatization. If you want to do this get the permit now because otherwise you have to get it the day of the climb on a lottery system which is sometimes hard to win. There is also a nice cross country trip everyone raves about from Toulumne to Whitney like 150 miles? Maybe you can just do part of it. There's also the Evolution traverse which again you might want to do part of it if you don't want to take too much rack. But the best time for this starts in July. There's a 14er behind the Palisades and the easiest ridge on the Palisades is like 5.7. It's also problematic to get a permit here. Check the super-topo books and Crofts best-of-Sierras are really good.

the oppression of OWS was coordinated nationally by DHS. they used Nat Guard and Blackwater at Katrina.

Agree, Obama is further right than Reagan. there is no one to vote for, the corps control our selection. Ron Paul had a few good facets, but he's not the corporate choice, he's the people's choice. But he just got cheated in Iowa. I mean it's getting blatant now, 30,015 to 30,008. They are rubbing it in our faces. The vote scam has been nationwide for years now, private corps control the counting. Two ways, either the long slow process of coming up through the ranks. Like the conservatives have for the last 30 years, packing the courts etc. Or violent revolution, but that's pretty mucked out.

Okay, if you want to mince words. Or maybe you don't understand the meaning of "defacto". This may not be an overt police state as defined by history, but it is most assuredly a covert police state. With the NDAA the office of president has near dictatorial power when it comes to detainment. There is no judicial review. The presidency has become unitary. Imprisoned. Secret. Indefinite. No charges. Just think about that. That's no different than Stalin's Gulag. That is the diametric opposite of democracy. Whether they are using it or not right now is immaterial. It is the fact they now have that power. Also if you had been detained, interrogated and searched for no reason by people that exactly fit the description of jack booted thugs you might have a different view on this subject. We can also talk about Gitmo if you'd like. Detained without charges, no evidence presented, tortured, no trial. I also question what you define as a police state if it is not incarcerating more citizens than any other country in the world, by number and by percentage. More than China with it's miserable record on human rights. So what part of freedom do you not believe is a human right? Also tell me just who exactly rounds up all those prisoners... would that be the police? So the POLICE in the United STATES of America round up more prisoners than any other country, and this is not a police state? You know what those DHS officers were doing at the border? They were only looking for one thing, drugs. They were looking for drug users to put in our for profit private prisons. The main questions they asked me were "do you have any illegal drugs?" and it was dope sniffing dogs, they are separate from dogs that sniff explosives. I give all my donations to environmental charities. I think the earth is more important than people. You should also do a YouTube search, gun confiscation during Katrina. They ran a little test to find out how easy it would be to confiscate everyone's guns. There was no resistance, everyone gave them up.

Those who would surrender liberty for safety will have neither.

Totally agree with Raindawg on this one. Our civil liberties have been eroding since Bush sr. to the point where this is a de-facto police state. I'll present just one example. Three years ago me and a friend went ice climbing in Banff. When we crossed the border into Canada we were stopped right before the border on the US side by the Office of Homeland Security. We were rudely interrogated and ordered to pull over to the side and a drug sniffing dog was put in the car and walked all over our stuff. Both of us were very clean cut and there was nothing to indicate we were doing anything wrong. We were interrogated and searched without probable cause by US officials while we were LEAVING the US. There's so many reasons this is a police state it would take a book to explain them. First we imprison more citizens than any other country in the world, by percentage and by total number. Obama just signed the NDAA. Now the president can detain any US citizen of his own choosing, indefinitely, in secret, and without trial. Obama claims he didn't want to sign and he's not going to use this. LOLZ!! But I guess it doesn't matter when we get another Bush in office. As witnessed by the recent Occupy the police are protecting the 1% and the rest are subject to illegal abuse. Just in general the police are also above the law as witnessed by their ongoing activity here in Seattle, murdering citizens at will with no retribution, the native American wood carver being a prime example.

Lane peak and Pinnacle peak, perfect neve on the route get yea up there and tag something while we still have this nice weather we got on Pinnacle peak but the route was longer than we anticipated so we had to turn around, still got locked in at the gate and had to get the ranger to open Rec car camp at Narada if you can get off early the day before and get up there before the gate closes at 6pm, otherwise the gate doesn't open until 8 or 9 am the snow's a little soft in areas in the forest (snowshoes)but up on the route it's stellar. look at the topo for the approach, we were in too much of a hurry and left the road too soon, lost more elevation than we should have The N ridge of Pinnacle has a lot of bare rock up high, not much gear but okay belays Lane peak, the Zipper and Lovers Lane have got to be in good condition because the snow on Pinnacle was really good.

Did you check the forecast before you left? Also, what was your turnaround time? You wouldn't want to get benighted on a trip like this.

I love getting above the cloud deck. One year in the middle of 2 months of crap Seattle winter overcast I went up there and spent two days just basking in the sun like a lizard.

same guy that glided the Eiger N face RIP dude [video:youtube]

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

Agree with the "easy on the eyes" part [video:youtube] the best solo vid of all time [video:youtube]

Not sure if speed is the best indicator of fitness although there is a certain range you should be within. I used to do it in 4 hours but haven't done it in a number of years. How did you feel after the effort? How did you feel the next day? How do you think you would feel if you did it twice? GPS is the new answer to the white out. Be careful up there, be ready to dig a snow cave, the mountain makes it's own weather and it can come in very quickly. Watch out for the occasional small crevasse. People have died on this approach from the weather.

If you scramble the 4th class start (easier from the left) 2 60m's fix to the top of pitch 4. But pitch 4 is a 10a free pitch so your not really gaining anything by climbing it twice. only take 1 rope, a 60m will get you off without leaving gear, the lower pitches are < 30m between anchors and the long upper pitches have intermediate anchors. climb it in a day is good advice, go on/near the solstice, know the descent so you can do it in the dark, don't take too much stuff. I see people on this route with huge packs, not sure if that's the best way to do it. Take 1 set alpine ascenders, 1 set light aiders, split the aid stuff between the 2 climbers once you get above the aid. Don't fall for the decoy bolted belay on the left face above the rotten block, the route stays right in the dihedral and the belay is above the hard looking (easy) roof. The decoy belay is a rap anchor that goes to a bivy ledge they used when the route was being sieged.

carry 90 pound packs full of nitro-glycerine. Jump off cliffs and catch yourself on the edge with one tool Long time ago I had a wood ice training wall made of 2x8's with holes drilled to place ice screws. Now the only time I "train" is when I'm climbing.

The Russians use road flares. Bears fear the flame and the smoke "blinds" their primary sense which is smell. Plus it is pain free so it doesn't piss them off. Bear spray is sometimes ineffective and the smell attracts other bears to the area.

I've been on the Japanese route but didn't summit any pics of Mt. Alberta are interesting. The N face hasn't seen an ascent for several years, it rarely comes in condition. Even by the easiest (Japanese) route it will go for a year at a time without a summit. The mountain only got it's first winter ascent by any route in 2003.

Did you get any other shots of Mt.Alberta besides the N face? Looks like a lot of fresh snow up in Canada