Buckaroo

""I have often wondered if humans are meant to be burning petroleum at this point in time."" this is possible. So much energy concentrated and stored. When you look at the 200 mil years it took for the oil producing deposits to be laid down during the Carboniferous and the fact that almost half of that energy has been released in barely 100 years. Maybe we are avoiding a periodic ice age that would push all our cities into the sea and thus conflict with our necessary evolution. ""With the knowledge available to us; it seems that humans are the one life form that has progressed to the point, that we do more than just survive (jazz, art, climbers.)"" but I'm disappointed that we are not evolving, or maybe I'm just impatient that it's not fast enough. We seem to be making the same mistakes over and over` ""We have a good thing going here, and it makes sense to me to try and prolong it as long as possible; within the realm of the universe/geologic time frame. It is also important (to me) to prolong it with a high quality of life."" The rub comes when too many people want this level of quality, or quantity of quality. There's not enough resources for everyone on the planet to have a burger every day, or for everyone to have a car to drive around. "" Not to mention what it feels like to be way, way out there and to see the Earth in it's natural state."" agree, my special thing is the old trees. Like the old growth in this state and into Canada, or the Bristlecone pines in the high Sierra....

""Climbers using helicopters for approaches is a MAJOR source of atmospheric carbon emissions."" Climbing generally leads you to appreciate the outdoors. If so then you should be somewhat environmentally conscious. If so it should somewhat bother you to dump the untreated soot from 50 gallons of burned gas into the atmosphere. Not to mention the weak ethics of shortcutting an approach. ""I am just wondering exactly what you mean by the conditions allowing recovery are damaged? What does that mean? "" It's not really scientific, it's just a feeling I have. Like GMO's that don't produce seeds somehow getting into the gene pool of all the plants, far fetched I know. Or like something that kills all the bees and then all the pollinating insects. Or some newly produced chemical that destroys the ozone but through a delayed process or interval so it doesn't get spotted at first until it's too late. "" Extinction, although unsavoury, is a needed and important part of the history and development of all things ..."" suppose I have to agree ""In terms of the planets ability to recover, certain types of extinctions may require more or less time, depending on the nature of the perturbation....that's all. Given the time scales the planet has to play with....it's all a drop in the bucket."" Agree, especially when you see how fast the plants take over the gravel driveway. "Anthrochronocentrism", Anthropology Chrono(time) Centrism. So we think man's history, and the nano-second timeframe of that history are all important and everything else revolves around us? ""The internet is a poor forum for debate and so often, "" Not necessarily, it's keeps a near permanent record, one can't deny what one has said. It allows multiple participants in diverse locations and times. It also provides a documentary source to back up claims and assertions. ""the nuances of a good conversation are lost "" Possibly, unless you are a foot-in-mouth type person who needs the time it takes to type and read something before posting to avoid saying dumb things. "" Mankind must be ruthlessly selfish if it wants to survive,"" to a certain extent,... within reason, make sure the side effects of your survival actions don't put a hole in the boat you're floating in. ""...saving the planet for the "good" of the earth, ....I think that sort of thinking is a slippery slope, the same sort that puts animals in zoos, and should be removed from the collective mind.""" I think more along the lines of saving the bald eagle from an unnatural chemical. ""So, why should I lament the loss of the Polar Bear over say that of the Mastodon or the Rugose Coral or the Trilobites?"" Yes it surely should be lamented if it was caused by greed, neglect, or selfishness and not natural process. ""It seems to me that the history of our species can be summed up in a few tired revolving patterns of thinking, that lead to the same dead-ends. "" Yeah, like that other species and even the planet are somehow disposable and that our actions on most every level don't really have an affect. ""I believe in the power of focused non-effort."" doing nothing but with a perfect timing, duration and intensity ""Excuse my metaphysical ramblings."" no worries mate

It's not just a comparison of fuel mileage with helicopters vs cars. It's a comparison of pollution. Copters have no pollution controls. With the current technology a copter pollutes about 100 times as much as a car per a given amount of fuel used. IMHO copters should only be used when other alternatives have been exhausted. IE alternate climbs and or alternate approach methods. Even then it's a questionable exercise. Comparing organic farming and conventional. It's not just the initial direct costs that should be compared but the long term indirect ones. In the long term conventional farming is much more expensive considering pollution, destruction of habitat, and health problems caused by chemical use. Concerning man's affect on the environment, it's not just global warming. It's pollution, habitat destruction, the ozone layer, GMO's etc. We are in the middle of a species die-off. The main difference from previous die-offs, besides that this one is man made, is that the conditions allowing recovery are also more damaged this time around. Asking why conventional farms don't turn to organic if the profit is there. It's because they are already heavily invested and would have to re-invest. Just like the oil companies, there are viable alternatives, and a big investment would probably yield even more. Some sources say H20 has even been efficiently split. Of course you can imagine the richest companies on earth(big oil), already heavily invested, are going to suppress this if it means more investment and possibly less profits.

Sweet! Climbed this on Aug 13, 1994 and it was much the same except for the approach. Mountain bikes were allowed to the pass above the lake, lot of work pedaling up with 40lb packs but it was nice and fast going down. Don't know why they closed off bike access.

I'm thinking if you're rapping on both lines the static line is going to hold some of your weight and keep the dynamic line from stretching so much. Think I'm going to test rap off of both and see where they end up and just cut the static there. It comes in a 60M length. Maxim tech cord is not Kevlar, it's called Technora, 50% stronger than spectra.

No I was on the next line to the left, It's a snowfield gully, not as steep as the ice headwall, but it was nice hard ice in Sept '02. Really liked Shasta, it was nice dry open forest on the approaches, no bushwacking involved. Lot better weather on average than something like Rainier.

Climbed the Hotlum- Wintun ridge in early Sept 2002 with the right ice face variation at the top. It was hard alpine ice with sun cups but only about 45 to 50 deg and you could escape onto the ridge at any point if you had to. This is left of Hotlum headwall ice gully. old TR from 2002

That's 5.6, it will get your attention, especially in mountain boots. Soloing is a mind game more than anything... "fear is the mind killer"

Looking at a rap system like Colin suggests. Using a 50M dynamic twin and a 5mm x 50M Maxim Tech Cord for a double rope rap. Was wondering if the stretch of the dynamic rope is going to mean the static tech cord needs to be longer than 50M?

One 60m for ascent and descent works fine

MY GOD!? This is for real? I thought it was a really good photoshop. damn

"going up Mt Index from the south and avoiding the long traverse from Persis" It's most likely harder from the south although it may be a little shorter as the crow flies. Depending on snow cover though the south might be easier when all the slide alder is snow covered. Did Main peak from the south in summer as a day climb, 45deg slide alder bushwack for about 1,500 ft. It was a LONG day.(about 22 hrs.) False summits go on forever. came down the mountaineer east route.(tricky route finding) Think there's a TR somewhere buried.

interesting story about a nuclear powered surveillance device on Nanda Devi, the CIA and a local climber who claims the first solo ascent. CLICKY

""They needed 12 feet of snow to cause this display"" Yeah but 18" in 24 hrs aint nothing to sneeze at. Here's what my Civic wagon looked like on the Mowich Lake Road after getting back from 2 days at the base of Rainier (2-27,28-07). On the drive in couldn't make the last 2 miles to the Paul Peak Trailhead because the snow was a foot deep. Traffic had packed the snow down so I could make it that far. But driving out the additional 18" of new meant I had to get lucky with 2 Toyota 4x pickups coming up to retrieve one of their buddies. They dragged me back down about 4 miles.

Ice Climb Vid animation

I've soloed this one twice (in summer), and downclimbed it once, W/Trango S's. The red gully on the right isn't that loose and you can bypass the 5.7 if you want. I didn't think it was that long until I tried to rap it with a 50M. It's about 6 full 50M pitches. The approach is fun too in early season. Hedlee pass is really steep snow and so is the drop down to the base. Foot ski all the way down to the trail on descent!

I don't think it was staged. The rock/hold that broke loose fell to the ground and there were people down there.

multiple lentics on Rainier (from Lacey)

I like the Pentax Optio line. The first one I had was the Optio S. It weighs 4oz. with a battery and fits inside an Altoids tin. Now I have the Optio S4I. Takes good pics but it's a little fragile. Goes forever too, 150 full res shots on one battery. My buddy has a generic 4MP Canon, one nice feature it has is that if the pic you take is blurry it will tell you it is and you can delete it right away. A good camera salesman will show you what's available if you tell him what you want like light weight, durable. I wanted good quality pics and light weight. When pricing keep in mind that most digital cameras don't come with enough memory to drain the battery one time. Like many only have enough memory to take 16 full res pics. You have to get more memory when you purchase.

Don't know what roads you could plow that go up high enough for consistent freezing? But you could farm at some place like above Paradise at 7,000 ft or so and then hike up to it?

Those guys have an extra heart type thing, and all it does is pump the adrenaline while their doing that. I wonder what the GPM is of that adrenaline pump. Reminds me of Sandia Crest in Albuquerque NM. On the steep side it's 10,000 ft at the top and goes down about 45 to 50deg to the valley at 5,000'. We used to go to the top and watch the hang gliders jump off the edge. You would get a huge adrenaline rush just watching them do it.

I ended up with the "Mammut Stratus Hoody" from you guys. Same weight as the down jacket I was looking at, maybe not quite as much fluff and doesn't pack as small. But it's not pleated either which seems to be a place where down can loose warmth. So far so good in the icy icycle, we'll see how it does on Rainier.

""...we decided to avoid getting killed to climb another day."" Good call, it was too warm Ice climbing when it's this warm is like going up when avi hazard is extreme 2 2 1100 34 2 2 2200 45 MM/DD Hour Temp Wind Wind Wind Wind Hour Total Total ------------------------------------------------------------ 2 2 500 21 -0 1 4 37 0 0 42 2 2 600 21 -0 4 7 12 0 0 41 2 2 700 24 0 4 7 15 0 0 41 2 2 800 28 -0 3 5 333 0 0 41 2 2 900 29 0 2 4 185 0 0 41 2 2 1000 33 -0 2 6 155 0 0 40 2 2 1100 34 0 1 4 157 0 0 39 2 2 1200 32 -0 0 3 359 0 0 40 2 2 1300 33 -0 0 3 317 0 0 39 2 2 1400 33 0 1 3 53 0 0 40 2 2 1500 28 0 1 3 352 0 0 40 2 2 1600 30 0 3 9 81 0 0 41 2 2 1700 36 2 7 13 42 0 0 42 2 2 1800 39 0 6 12 64 0 0 42 2 2 1900 40 -0 2 6 282 0 0 41 2 2 2000 42 0 6 11 291 0 0 41 2 2 2100 44 1 7 13 289 0 0 42 2 2 2200 45 3 11 24 297 0 0 41

"I was getting over a cold, and I think the cold just came back for an encore. But the climb was worth it." exact same thing happened to me. and yes it was worth it. Nice report description, thanks.

What Leavenworth would look like if it was covered in dam water. BIG ICE!!!! on snow creek wall 1/2 way up the crux 2nd pitch, puttin' in screws that won't hold a fall. At the belay, top of 2nd pitch. "Let's not test this belay OK?" 4th pitch, phat ice and exposure. summit ridge scenery Moon River on the return.