Buckaroo

For once I agree with JB, imagine that. This "law" is so they can scare the Latinos away from the polls, whites can't win otherwise since the Latino population is increasing It's a last gasp effort though and it's going to backfire for the idiot repugs, alienating (haha pun) the soon to be new majority.

Swwwhhheeeeettt. did he do the normal start or the direct? I'd like to do this solo but it would only be a redpoint since I've climbed it roped several times. I've heard the only scary part is the flake at the 5.9 crux on the 3rd pitch. Like you have to pull on it and it looks sort of detached.

2nd the Chouinard

This has some really good rock climbing in it but it's about all kinds of climbing, really good footage of Robson and the House, Blanchard, Josephson attempt. http://www.hulu.com/watch/129837/beyond-gravity

Hey hey hey hey hey!! NO skeerrrs on climerrzz rootz!!! (jOkE!) gud job, at leest Yu gav the rope gunnr kredit!

mid march is the best for Banff, warmer and longer daylight, and you know there's very little ice left in the lower 48. awesome TR, Too Cold and Moonlight look thin compared to when we did them. Betting Steve is the top understated alpinist in the US, he gets it done without the hoopla.

SHHWWWEEETTTT!!!!

I'm going to find one of these cameras and sneak up behind it with a cardboard cut-out of Osama.

Well I haven't climbed Chair in a few years but if I was going to here's what I would look at. First I would go to the 10-day past weather data on NWAC for Snoqualmie pass here http://www.nwac.us/weatherdata/snoqualmiepass/10day/ the temps for 3800 ft, considering Chair's base is about 5,700 ft, show a warm trend a couple days ago and a cooling trend today. Which is just what you want. You want like a max 32F for a high at 3800'. Then I would look at the avalanche forecast on the same NWAC site here http://www.nwac.us/forecast/avalanche/current/zone/3/ which shows moderate to low avalanche danger, so that's good and the approach and route may be well consolidated which is what you want. I would read the text also cuz it may hold clues about snow climbing conditions. then I would look at the mountain weather forecast on the same site to see if the weekend is favorable, here http://www.nwac.us/forecast/weather/current/ after that I might confirm the forecast with NOAA or weatherunderground. Then I would post to Cascade Climbers and see if anyone climbed it yesterday or today.

Yeah the lens on my first digital got crunched, a Pentax Optio back when they were $600 for 2 megpix, so now I become hyperaware when the lens is deployed.

I was looking at that Canon but decided on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3. Ordered it 2 days ago, can't wait to use the 12x optic zoom, my present camera is nice but only 4x optic zoom. I hang my camera around my neck inside my base layer to keep the batteries warm, never had a problem.

train with 65 and the get it down to 40 on the actual climb, you will kick as*.

""What advice would you give to a newbie from Louisiana climbing Rainier this July? The highest spot here is the roof of my house"" go find the nearest high school or college football stadium after hours/weekends and climb up and down the bleachers with the heavy pack. The stairmaster doesn't quite duplicate the proper motion. I've done this when stuck in the flatlands.

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.