Buckaroo

Trip report. Nevervember 34, 2010. Peak: Vertical World Seattle Route: The blue, red, green, and orange tape routes, all 5.10's, all metamorphosed polycarbonate greenshyst of varying hues. Approach: a very long 10 miles on wet roads fighting traffic the whole way, high objective hazard from cell phone and texting drivers. We left the car and hiked all the way across the parking lot, up the steps(steepest part of the approach), in through the front door, past the counter, to the gear up area and then to the base of the routes. Gear list: day pack, rock shoes, old harness, chalkbag, toothbrush (very important), hat, extra T-shirt. We were really winging it because we didn't have any of the 10 essentials. This is only recommended for experts. We cinched our laces and carefully tied into the top rope, gathering what little wits we had and gritting our teeth. We sucked it up and dared to climb a seemingly interminable 40 feet up to the ceiling multiple times. It took a lot of courage to climb when faced with missing tape markers, loose holds and falling gumbies. We almost got kicked in the head more than once. It was extreme full conditions since it was near opening time and the heaters hadn't had a chance to take effect. We had to use all our extra gear, the hat and T-shirt, to avoid full on hypothermia. We did have a cell phone though so we weren't really taking too much risk. We could have called for a rescue or a latte for that matter. We pushed the limits and we didn't even have a guide book to tell us all the particulars. The descents weren't too bad really, sort of self explanatory. Climb up and descend along where the rope goes down to where you started. Someone should do up a guide book though for those who are a little unsure of their capabilities. All in all the trip was a success, highly recommended, the scenery especially, eye-candy mountain off in the distance about 2 to 30 feet or so away.

Stopped a couple of time to rest in the forest, turned the headlamp off and looking at the stars through the trees. Get to thinking... if the headlamp goes out, there's always the lighter, about all you could do would be to look for a flat place to bivy until daybreak. Alarm about 5:00, trailhead about 6:00.

Yeah, after screwing around on the right side of the start of the WI3 cascade approach it looked like the left side would have went. Anything is probably safer than that avalanche gully, about 1/2 the upper face funnels through there. The snow was hella firm though from all the scouring.

Yeah, after reading their TR, that's it. Should have started out through the forest in the dark, might have made it. Oh well, always time for a rematch. The ice was just so plastic the whole way, perfect for soloing.

Whether you like it or not the Chinese government imposes a 20% tariff on almost all American goods. Our government imposes no tariff on Chinese goods. Is it too much to ask of our worthless corporate whore politicians to impose an equal tariff on Chinese goods?

Trip: Colonial - Northwest Couloir? Date: 3/6/2010 Trip Report: Motivated by THIS TR, decided to take the one nice weather day Saturday and see how far I could get on the North face of Colonial. Didn't really expect to summit with only one day to climb, just wanted a good recon. 2 hrs through the forest, 1 hr on a dead-end detour on the lower cliffs, high point of 6700' by 2:45. Sketchy descent around a bunch of cliffs and through some really sun softened snow, back to the lower cirque by dark. Fun de-proaching through the forest in total darkness. Got an overdue weapons upgrade, some new Petzl Dartwin Sidelocks, swheet. The approach ice gulleys, the right one looked the best, WI3 but couldn't get to the base of it because of vertical cliffs, ended up going up a avalanche gully. The approach gully,(lower left) really nice styrofoam with a couple of 25' WI3/4 steps. Looking down the scoured approach gully, perfect climbing conditions. From the base of the right side of the N face, took the gully at center, starting with a 75' WI3/4 step(it's centered in the pic but not real clear), this is one gully to the right of what Beau and Geoff did. Think it's the NW Face/Couloir but not sure. Getting closer to the ice step. Looking up the 75' ice step. Climbed this up and down after turning around just above here. From the high point at 6700' above the first ice step. At least a full pitch of vertical ice ahead. So not sure if this is the Kloke route cuz it's not in the description. 2:30 was my turnaround time, tried traversing from here but it was soft 75deg snow and went out and back a bit and it seemed like avalanche potential so opted for the downclimb of the 75' step. From the road on Sunday, this face was still in good condition on Mar 6, plenty of plastic alpine water ice and hard snow in the gullies. Gear Notes: Upgraded weapons systems, new Petzl Dartwins to compliment the Cobras. one mini bic lighter with 3/4 of the fuel emptied out to save weight. Approach Notes: 2 hrs of steep shwack through the forest, still a lot of snow cover in the slide alder lower bowl.

SHHWWEEETTTT!!! Inspired by you guys and the guys on Colonial, took a day up on the N face of Colonial, got these pics of Pyramid.

2nd the ski wax, it doesn't bulk up the handle or shred like tape, very sticky even when wet, there's different grades of stickiness so ask the ski dudes what's best for sticky when wet.

Not to belabor the point, but here's an excerpt from Nelson's "Selected Climbs in the Cascades" Mount Rainier is a rewarding but strenuous experience. Prior conditioning is essential for an enjoyable ascent. On Rainier, good physical conditioning and a steady pace are the best recipe for success on both technical and non-technical routes. Acclimatization to altitude is equally important but, if one lives near sea level, difficult to achieve. In that case, the best solution is to take 2 or 3 nights to reach the summit instead of 1: this technique aids in adjustment to the thinner air and generally makes the climb something other than a grim physical ordeal. At more than 14,000 feet, Rainier can present potentially lethal altitude problems. Headaches, nausea, lassitude, and generalized malaise are common symptoms of altitude sickness: much more dangerous are pulmonary edema and cerebral edema, both potentially fatal. Learn to recognize the symptoms, and descend at once if either of these conditions is suspected.

I was doing a few pull-ups in 3 weeks and light climbing in 4 weeks and back to normal in 6 weeks. Putting metal in makes it quicker to the time it's strong enough. It's still good to be careful and nurse it like no impact or don't try to hold a fall with your bad arm.

JayB hates it when the workers ask for a living wage. He prefers the bankers who stole billions with their 50 to 1 derivatives then got a $700 Billion taxpayer funded "bailout" for the problem they intentionally caused, then took $150 Billion in bonuses last year. $150 Billion tax dollars for crooks, that should be in jail if there was any justice, that's equal to all the red ink in all the states. that's what this is about, disparity. Repugs always support disparity.

"by the time I've guided my third trip of the year I'm fully acclimatized. And even on the first few trips I'm still more efficient than our clients," You have more aerobic capacity due to specific training. You're body has also learned to adjust to altitude and does so quicker than someone not used to altitude. "I was talking about acclimatization as it pertains to air pressure. I'm confused by your distinction of "pressure change acclimatization" and "oxygen level acclimatization", and I think such a distinction (as worded) is flawed." The human body is a sealed system. At sea level internal pressure is the same inside as the air pressure is outside. When you go up air pressure decreases and the body slowly equalizes it's internal pressure to match. It happens much slower than you can climb, about 1,000ft per day. This is pressure change acclimatization. Part of the effects of HAPE are caused by this pressure difference, when the pressures are unequal fluids are pushed into the lungs. Oxygen level acclimatization is the body adjusting to less available oxygen. It does this by increasing red blood cell count from bone marrow and growing more capillaries among other things. This is where your body can learn to acclimatize and do so quicker than someone not used to altitude. This can also be counteracted by increasing aerobic capacity through training, as you have emphasized saying training helps. ""In reality there isn't less oxygen at altitude - the amount of O2 molecules in the air is exactly the same as at sea level. The difference is the lower atmospheric pressure at high altitude causes the 02 molecules to spread farther apart, thus when you take a breath you get a lower concentration of O2 molecules per breath."" There is not less oxygen as a percentage compared to other elements, but there is less oxygen per volume. Since aerobic capacity (volume) is limited thus oxygen intake is limited when amount per volume is limited. ""I think you can actually be less in shape to climb Denali in 20 days comparatively than Rainier in 3, but acclimatization is key to that mountain regardless, where on Rainier it certainly helps but isn't a key factor."" You can acclimatize to Rainier just like you can Denali, it's just a different scale. And it's key to making the difference between enjoyment and ordeal. If a client has time I don't think they should be tied down by the guide schedule. They could just do some other easy climbs on their own and then go hang out at the Paradise Inn a couple days before and meet the guides there.

Fixed that for you. Bring a canoe. Yeah, I was wondering if there was canoe rentals there, my car is too small to load one on the roof. Maybe someone that rents one in summer could hook one up.

Yes, Banff is nice but when stuff forms up here you can have almost as much fun and it's a bit shorter of a drive. When I've had nothing for a while I can go up to Snoq pass and run top-rope laps on a 25 footer and get a fix, or even the seracs on the Coleman are fun. Another good place that's a bit closer than Banff is Lillooet, it's got quite a few 500 footers.

""I wouldn't really worry about sharpening crampons: I climb Rainier 20-30 times a summer and have never felt it to be necessary."" One of these days you're going to get bit. What happens is the freezing level goes real high and then right around the time you summit a front quickly arrives and the freezing level plummets and makes the upper 2K to 3K a sheet of boilerplate ice. Your crampons had better be sharp. People have died from this very phenomenon including a climbing ranger due to inadequate crampons. Dull crampons are pretty common if you're doing the DC Cleaver a bunch of times in a summer. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. ""I don't believe hanging out at Paradise (5,000 ft.) will do too much for acclimatization - it's not high enough. Generally speaking, "high altitude" begins somewhere between 8-10,000 ft."" Then you've never tried it because it does make a difference. The guys that do the speed records acclimatize to Paradise. And we are talking two different things. I'm talking pressure change and you are talking oxygen levels. With pressure change acclimatization 1,000' gain is the same from sea level to 1,000' as it is from 13,000' to 14,000'. If you acclimatize to 5,000, then you are that much closer to 14,000 than you would be from sea level. This is proven by how easy the 14ers are to climb in CO. (I used to live and climb there) All the valleys are mile high or better, and you can waltz to the 14K summits in 1 day. CO climbers come to Rainier and try to climb it in a day from sea level and get their asses kicked. I've done Rainier both ways in the span of 1 year, in 2 days from sea level and in 4 days with 2 days at 5,000'. On the 4 day trip I was literally climbing circles around my buddies that had come right from sea level. My performance level difference between the two methods was like night and day. Pressure change acclimatization has very little to do with physical conditioning. Oxygen level acclimatization is mostly to do with conditioning. Pulmonary and Cerebral Edema are caused by pressure change, that's why these can hit you no matter how good your aerobics are. ""That said, summit day is a bitch-and-a-half (whether it's a two or three day schedule)"" try it in 4 days, it turns it into something fun instead of a death march. I climbed it in 2 days with a school group from Pierce College. About 3/4 of them said it wasn't fun and they wouldn't do it again. People get dragged up when you do it in 2 days.

There's a lot of advice, but the 2 most important things I know are; make sure your crampons are sharp on climb day. And acclimatize, don't try to climb from sea level to the summit in 2 days, it turns it into a death-march ordeal. Go to Paradise (5,000 ft.) and hang out at least 24 hours before departure, prefer 48 hrs.

and the crooked criminal bankers that got $150 Billion in bonuses last year, right after a $700 Billion taxpayer funded "bailout"(THEFT), how much output did they generate?

someone needs to de-gibberish this sentence

Microsoft is the exception, and even they are trending toward temps and offshore. What's exploding state budgets? We were doing fine before the downturn? It's reduced tax revenue because of the increase in unemployment that's all. And there have been cuts of state workers. And the TOTAL US state red ink is about $175 BILLION. And we just gave the criminal bankers (your precious fu*king PRIVATE SECTOR) $700 BILLION, and they collected $180 BILLION in bonuses for 2009. whut up wit dat? quality of life has been in decline since Raygoon. The MAIN factor is two adult workers per household to make ends meet when it used to be one, which means breakdown of the family.

Yeah but that a bullsh*t number, they've been cooking that one since before Clinton

Your really getting things done this year. It's fun descending that thing in the dark, adds to the experience, been there done that.

How much is "a long way" in miles? Tele answered "4 miles" in a PM if anyone wants to know

I would get the operation. I busted mine falling off my sport bike. It was overlapped about 2cm. I have a titanium plate with 8 screws. I think climber's muscles can be imbalanced and it causes the bone to pull out of position. Mine was healing overlapped and after 2 weeks had the surgery, they had to separate it and re-align just make sure your doc has done a few of them already, they are kind of tricky. ALL the nerves that go to your arm go right under your collar bone, so don't be surprised if you get some tingling in the healing process, sometimes I'll wake up and my 2 smallest fingers will be asleep.

Awesome tag, way to go. Was the road drivable up to the trailhead?