Buckaroo

The Weather Network has a park report which gets you closer to some of the peaks compared to environment Canada weather site which only does cities. http://www.theweathernetwork.com/parksfx/canparks_en you can also call the gear shops in Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise and usually get some helpful beta beyond the weather reports, like if there's fresh snow up high or what climbs are being done

Trip: Index Peaks - East Route of Index Main Peak Date: 9/27/2007 Trip Report: TR Main Peak of Index, East Route, 9-27-2007 Short version Postponed W face of N Peak to traverse linkup, not enough good weather days. Postponed N Face N Peak Index peaks traverse due to wet rock. Settled for the East Route on Main Peak, need to know this better anyway for the descent off the traverse. Car camped at the trailhead, left car 6:30am, got to Lake Serene, lots of wet rock on N peak, decided to do Main instead. Nice mostly sunny day, but bushwack to ridge above Lake Serene, brush very wet. Boots got soaked. No climbable snow in East face gully, did a 25' 5.6 rock pitch and some other 5.2 sections. Summit by 3:00pm, back to car by 9:30pm, car to car 15 hrs. 25 pound pack, 26 GU packs (used 17), 2 qts of water but lots of water all along the way. No cramps, lite axe (never used), Sportiva Trango S. 60M 5mil Maxim rap cord (never used). L o n g Version Well the Japanese route is out for the season due to fresh snow in the Rockies, and tiring of beating the head against that wall, needing something else to focus the climbing addiction on. This of course is after a couple of years with very little climbing, so pretty psyched getting back to it and bagging some hard summits. Ahh the Index Peaks, the Chamonix of Highway 2. Relatively short approach, a serious challenge even with all it's brushy goodness. This kind of rock requires full concentration and focus to avoid getting the chop, especially when soloing. So do a couple of recons on the West face of North Peak, this is also to prepare for the Eve Dearborn. But it's wet both times so don't make much progress there. Not enough to feel like committing to that route with only one day of good weather. So I'll try the traverse, considering I've already done the North Face of North Peak and the East Face of Main descent. It shouldn't be too bad if it's dry. But this is the NW, and dry is not that frequent of an option. Also in preparation solo a bunch of 5.6 and 5.7 crag routes in the Trango S. The GNS is sort of limited so get the Exit 38 guidebook and solo every 5.6/5.7 in there, most of them twice. Should have done them all with a 25 pound pack but, oh well, at least did a couple that way. So the designated full moon week approaches, it all hinges on the weather. The forecast calls for only one so-so partly cloudy day, Wednesday, and rain on the days before and after. So the West Face is definitely out and the traverse looks unlikely. The drive up Hwy 2 is uneventful except for the drunken pedestrian trying to lurch across the road in Startup. Arrive at the trailhead, what do you know it's abandoned, nobody else is crazy enough to even check out Lake Serene with this weather. Leave the car with a 25 pound pack, with no breakfast. Going to do the GU fast on this one. GEAR LIST Go-lite Gust pack (14oz)(with added waist belt) Goretex jacket and pants polypro top(2) and bottom hooded puff jacket ultralite bivy sack ski gloves knit touc HB carbonfiber helmet Grivel MontBlanc axe alpine 3/4" webbing harness DMM Bug rap device 60M 5mil Maxim tech cord rap line (3.5#) 15' of 9/16" webbing camera, cell, altimeter/compass 26 GU packs, 16 to last the projected 12hrs. 10 extra 2 qts water, dumb, plenty on route. Doing the new trail to the lake, very nice after the 2 swacking recons on the West face. Past the gurgling streams, ancient trees, and Zen filled waterfalls. Get to the lake and it's very serene, can't think of a better name, so beautiful and peaceful. Scramble around to where you go up to the North face and stash the ski sticks. It looks wet, climb half way up the talus toward the start. It's no good, too wet. It's scary enough when bone dry. The North bowl when snow free is comprised of a bunch of really small steps all rounded and polished. Becky states "can be marginal when wet". It's not happening, so on to the just conceived plan C, East route of Main. So skirt the lake beneath the forbidden peaks and foreboding buttresses, and up the mossy talus to the pass SW of the lake. It's turning into a nice day, just a few wispy clouds and the sun is easing down the side of the rock faces above. It's dry at least or so you would think. But the mandatory swacking getting up to the pass says different. It didn't rain here last night but must have rained hard the day before. All the brush is wet, the blueberry bushes are the worse, somehow capturing large droplets of water on their leaves. Didn't even think about raingear, after all there's blue sky above. Just push the wet stuff to the side, it's okay. It's not okay, every bush is a small rain, by the time it's noticed everything is too wet to matter. Gain the pass and start up the ridge, there's supposed to be a faint climber's track but it doesn't make itself apparent at first and more soaked swacking is the result. Up to the base of the brushy cliffs, still no trail. Up a dihedral with wet moss, 1/2 way back down and traverse. Finally find the trail. Looking off the ridge to the south and see why this ridge is the only way to go. A mile long 200 foot high cliff with all down pointing fractures. To North side skirting the lake is also sheer rock cliffs. The swacking eases up and the vertical bush/tree pulling commences. It's not that bad especially if you climbed trees during most of your childhood. It's steep but never that hard, maybe about 5.2 or so. The angle eases up and the trail meanders along the crest, more resembling a goat track than anything else. A majestic hawk cries out, Kreeeee Kreeee, he soars effortless in a wide arc, scoffing at the pitiful human tied to the ground. A small bird rustles in the bush and flushes out. With the previous grizzly encounter any sudden noise causes a jolt of adrenaline. Because it was the noise that initiated that severe encounter. Finally reach the saddle on the ridge, it opens up and broadens here to a large talus field . Stop and try to dry off a little, change the shirt and socks. Wring about 1/2 cup of water out of each sock and actually pour out the boots. This is a key point in the route so take a alti reading with the new altimeter/compass. Finally finally FINALLY someone has done this right. The Highgear Altitech. Being a crack lover, can't stand anything on the wrist. In the past trying to adapt a wristwatch configuration to a lanyard, but it's always a funky patch job. It's got a pivoting beener built in, a lite weight plastic body, easy battery access, large digits, and really intuitive controls. Plus it seems to be more accurate than previous instruments I've owned. Sorry for the detour but just a long time gear freak. So heading out from the saddle, a southerly rising traverse across talus and below cliffs, steepening towards a band of small evergreens and brush. Just below vertical cliffs above. Ascend above the greenery to avoid further wetness. Cross and ascend a wet slabby gully with some moss and talus and ascend above another band of trees into the main gully of the route. It's a wide talus gully with cliffs on both sides that narrow down to the chimney/gully crux of the route. Some large chunks of snow still left but nothing really climbable. There's a fixed rope coming down the huge chockstone/cave but you can't see it's condition above. It's pretty wet with lots of moss but on the right side it's got a dry section which unfortunately doesn't look continuous. Climb a narrow 5.6 chimney with one mandatory chockstone hold with nothing else to really pull on. This is when soloing becomes real serious. Usually you like to have the weight as distributed as possible. Like pulling up on two separate handholds. If one goes the other will save you. Even when you have two good feet you keep both hands on something. But of course there's places where it's too blank, when you commit to just one hold, this is when it gets very "interesting". Ease upward without force, become like a feather or a bird, breath, calm, focus. So up to a rest spot and look higher, it's worse, the holds are thinner and there's mossy wetness. Make a couple of wet moves up, standing on two mariginal footholds and looking for higher hands. One small positive but wet edge, it's crankable but looks even blanker above. There's a thin seam maybe some dry tooling will work. Back down to a stance and get the axe off the pack. Back up and try the seam, it's a marginal pick cam, crank up, the feet are pretty blank and so are any reachable holds above. DAMMIT, didn't come this far to be spit off by some 5.6. But this feels like 5.9. Breath calm, downclimb to the rest stance, look around, there's a small slab on the left, looked blank at first glance, make a move up to it to look closer, ah ha, a hidden rising traverse finger crack. The feet are blank smearing which isn't the Trango S's forte but the finger locks are bomber, several moves ending in a mantle brings easier ground and a traverse to above the huge chockstone. Above here the gully eases a bit but plenty of loose blocks everywhere. There's about 3 upward branching gullies at this point but the main one (left) is tried first, further up there's another huge chockstone, the left side while wet looks the best, again several moves up it gets blanker and blanker. Downclimb and look further left, it's worse, look right, maybe that will go. Some 5.2 scrambling up loose mossy wet rock leads to a treed bench with a nice overhang bivy spot. File that away for future rainstorms. So going right out of the main gully leads to the furthest rightward gully which is just a scramble, albeit one with many loose boulders of all sizes, many of them teetering. Just waiting for the careless climber to send them riding gravity down to their brothers in the talus. Don't forget you have to go down the same way, and rockfall can knock other rocks closer to the teetering point. The gully top is gained, the GU powered energy level is still high. Looking about 100 yards South you can see the bottom of the pass with a long tarn in it's center, and the top of the main gully coming up to meet it. The summit ridge area is classic alpine gardens picturesque. Glacial scoured slabs with some talus and small scrub evergreens and heather. The top of the gulley is still about 300 yards south from the summit. There's 2 subsidiary peaks before you get to the summit, it's easiest to traverse below them on the West side. Crossing the heather trying to step from rock to rock to avoid trashing the plants which already have such a hard time with the short growth season and all. Some fun scrambling sections close to technical depending on the route you choose. Bypassing the summit to go down as far as practical to the finish of the traverse, maybe to get some beta. It gets real steep real quick. It's also pretty loose in spots and hella exposed. It's pretty far down to the middle/main notch, a lot further than it looks like from below. The turnaround time has gone from 1 pm to 2 pm and now to 3 pm. There hasn't been anything really difficult below the crux that couldn't really be descended in the dark if necessary. Get some nice pics of the traverse, Norwegian Buttresses, and the Serene lake. As I'm perched there above the awesome exposure, soaking in the benefit of all the effort to get to this brief point, I'm further rewarded with some displays of aerial prowess by several species of the feathered persuasion. First as I'm climbing the last bit it's some swallows taking a high speed diving run right at me and veering off at the last second. Then it's a crow, cawing an acknowledgement of the interloper and gliding the thermals around the summit. Then something I haven't seen before. What looked like wild pigeons doing aerial circuits of main peak. A pack of about 20 in formation, about 500ft below the summit. Hugging close to the cliffs at high speed, two to three abreast, making about 2 complete circuits that I saw. Winding in and out of gulleys and around ridges, disappearing around a ridge and reappearing as they bomb through the pass. Way too soon it's time to go back. Spending some time at the top of the gulleys looking at compass and altimeter readings, want to do a more thorough beta of the descent for anyone that wants something more enlightening than the very brief Becky description. Back down the gully being even more careful of loose boulders because you're immediately going below them with nowhere to run or hide. Back to the crux, downclimbing because it's faster and more of a challenge. Back down the talus gulley, past the trees and cliffs and talus field. Back to the saddle at the top of the ridge. Stop to put on the rain gear, want to stay dry this time, and down the treed ridge. The trail is a little more distinct for some reason going down, down past rap runners on the treed cliffs, again it's faster to downclimb especially through the rope hanging trees. Get to the pass above the lake and somehow find a less brushy path below the oldgrowth. The moss covered talus below seems more slippery on the descent, slowed a little and make it to the stashed ski sticks as darkness descends on the day. Happy with the time so far, it's quicker than the previous ascent of Main even though it's 4 years further over the hill. Probably the GU but who knows. The circuit around the lake is maybe taken a little slower just to try and soak in some of the lake's serene stillness into the sometimes stressed out psyche, one more time, before grudgingly heading back to "civilization". Having had a previous harrowing experience near the start of the trail, huge rockfall only avoided by a chance time delay due to stopping to eat, sort of apprehensive about going through here again after dark. But it passes without event and down down, full moon and GU fast fueled. In the dark only lit by the triple A's diode beam. Nursing the old knee with the ski sticks, down down past the ancient trees, babbling brooks and Zen falls. Back through the dark forest, down the old mining roads, mind and body racing back, back against the true preference, to the mundane of this everyday life.

""By the way...."Hey oh...listen what I say-oh"...come'on...that's the cheapest form of rhyming...did you write that song? Please!"" Music is art, art doesn't have to "be" anything like some rules of rhyme. And these guys are masters of rhyme, you should look at the rest of the lyrics to this song, pretty deep. This is Red Hot Chili Peppers, THEY RULE. You must be stuck back in the Pleistocene to not know them.

JayB, didn't you know Seattle is a majority "liberal" town? There's a lot of us out here with these very same viewpoints. But I'm sort of diverse, social liberal, fiscal conservative. Fairweather is in the minority on the entire west coast pretty much. Move to Idaho Fairweather, over there with the hyper-hypocritical CONservative closeted pervs, or should I say "stalled" pervs.

""Looks like most of the senate agrees with.....me. Dems included. MooovOn.org crossed the line."" damn straight, that's the DNC, Emmanuel's war supporting machine, they aren't liberal or conservative, they are just corporate money mongers. JUST LIKE THE CORPORATE MEDIA!!! The liberal conservative conflict is a false dichotomy designed to distract the uneducated masses from the real crimes going on. 90% of the corporate media is owned by 5 large corps strongly tied to the military industrial banking complex. Sure you'll get a lot of liberal bias because journalists come from institutes of higher learning, which are by and large liberal. And this bias is largely on token points like abortion, gun control etc. You will not get the hardcore liberal stances like anti war because it's not in the media's corporate owner's best interests. As an example the recent anti-war protests in DC, about 100,000 protesters, about 150 pro war counter protesters. The corp media barely mentioned the event and by and large didn't mention the 100,000. Just that there were protesters on either side, like they might have had equal numbers. The nightly news used to be all "hard" news. It's been reduced to about 3min of hard news, the rest is human interest, sports, entertainment. So much BS. Fox news even won a court case in Florida that said it was permissible to lie. When 2 of their reporters were doing an expose on the drug industry they pulled the plug and lied about the expose. Most people get their news from the TV, the TV news is garbage and the corps control it 100%. Orwell was prescient just a little bit off on the year. It's an alternate reality, a place where someone like dumbya bush is actually competent enough to be president.

deja vu, I did the NW ridge several years ago and took a pink 30M rope. I was in REI the other day and they still sell the same rope. Who cares about speed, anyways you don't get the full effect of the experience if you don't bivy...

"K2 The Savage Mountain" by Jim Curran was okay but "The Endless Knot" by Kurt Diemberger tells the 1986 story in greater detail. Curran only made it to base camp, Diemberger went to the summit and was at high camp when the storm hit. The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer Thin Air by Greg Child =========================== " "Complete 911 Timeline" online book by Paul Thompson, the most comprehensive documentation of 911 in existence. Makes the commission report look like the whitewash it is. "Armed Madhouse" by Greg Palast, the world's best investigative reporter, was reporting on Enron 10 years before the bankruptcy "George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography" Online book by Webster G. Tarpley & Anton Chaitkin. All about the Bush family evil empire. "The Police State Road Map" Online book by Michael Nield. Everything you ever wanted to know about the real people behind the curtain that rule the world. Took years of surfing to run across this book. It's the best example of a look into the inner workings of the very highest levels of power.

I don't think the 2nd needs to jug any of the free pitches, if you just pare down the weight. You don't save that much time anyway. Going with one 60M is key, a 2nd 60M, or even 50M is at least 5 pounds, the single heaviest item you can leave behind. If you do fix the first three use an old rope to get to the top of the 1st pitch (one that you can just throw down and retrieve later) and then your climbing 60M to get to the top of the 3rd. The other drawback to fixing is both climbers have to carry a set of jumars, if you climb it in a day then just the follower has jumars which you split when you get on the free climbing. GU works best by the directions, 1 pack every 45min. That's 16 packs in a 12 hr day. Seems like a lot but it goes down quick and it's worth it in energy. ============ 4 times up Liberty Crack #1 fixed 3 pitches 1st day, bivied at base, 2nd day jumared and prussicked then the follower jumared most of the pitches, lost some time getting passed by a guided pair, topped out on the roped climbing in the dark after sending my buddy up the last 5.9 thinking it was the next to last 5.6. My buddy didn't have a screen on his bivy sack and the mosquitoes bit him all around the mouth where he was breathing out of the bivy sack. The skeeters followed him up as he was prussiking the first 3 pitches, sufferfest. We didn't take enough water and I can't remember ever being so thirsty by the time we got down to the water on the descent. Didn't go to the actual summit, we were too tired and it was dark. 2 50M ropes and too much gear, took 3 bars ea and only ate one ea on the climb. Gear in pack on followers back. #2 In one day, With Super Dave, the rope gun, he freed the 1st and the 3rd pitch. 11D runnout on mank pro. 2 50M ropes, I jumared most of the climb with the 2nd rope on my back, we did the upper Medusa variation, more technical climbing at a higher level and it goes direct to the summit. Back at the car I got bad cramps from jumaring with the same hand above all day. I had rain gear clipped. Dave went with just a light shell jacket. #3 In one day, with one 60M and climbed to the summit before dark. Both climbers climbing all free except the first 3 pitches. Gear as described clipped on each climber. #4 In one day, with one 60M, to the summit before dark, Both climbers all free except 2nd and 3rd pitches. Gear as described clipped on each climber.

""Not sure who came up with the bright idea of doing Liberty Bell, liberty crack route ....."" Yehhh Hahhhh, one of the fifty crowded climbs of N America. ""Oh I jugged in my hiking shoes and what a difference, so comfortable."" On this kind of climb you need some comfortable (looser fit) rock shoes that you can wear all day. It's quicker not having to change shoes on the route and there are a couple places on the aid pitches with mandatory free spots. ""I seconded it with the extra gear, shoes, water, clothes and rope coiled and packed away. Climbing 5.10 with an extra 20-30 lbs SUCKS donkey d$%k."" If you're ever going to do this in a day you need to lighten the load. First and foremost ditch the 2nd rope. This route can be easily retreated from with one 60M rope. The first 4 pitches have fixed anchors all with intervals of less than 30M, and these are the crux pitches. Above that it just gets easier and there's only one place you would have to leave gear and that's in the middle of the 5th pitch, and you can probably just sling this. One rope is also easier from a rope management standpoint, for instance the normal descent has a rope snagging tree that will catch a double rap but not a single. Carrying a 2nd rope is like bivy gear, if you take that extra weight it's going to necessitate it's use. Think about ditching the pack also, it's probably about 3 pounds just by itself. Each climber should have raincoat, rainpants and hiking shoes, you can clip these to your harness. This puts the weight lower on your body, better for the steep stuff, and doesn't separate the leader from his raingear. You can also put on your raincoat at the belay for warmth, but only if it's not stowed in the follower's pack. ""I was so tired after that pitch I really started to wonder if we were going to be able to finish in a day. The couple was a pitch below and was clearly moving faster than we were so we decided to wait for them and let them pass."" Big mistake. Climb your own plan like nobody is below you. If you are there first you have priority. Usually if they are climbing fast enough to catch you then they should have the skills to be able to cleanly pass you without slowing either party down. If you wait for them you have just resigned yourself to giving up precious time without even trying to climb together. ""When they finish the wide 5.8 I started up and had a hell of a time getting into free climbing after all the aid."" This is something that gets easier with practice. Try partially aiding a free route at the crags and practice stepping out of the aiders and onto the free. ""My head from the get go was saying get the heck off the hill. I started up and about half way up I succumbed to my brain and had to be lowered off. DAMN."" Fear is the mind killer. Liberty Crack has a bad reputation from when it was climbed early on. It's really not as bad as the hype, especially with the fixed gear and the advances in aid gear. ""1) Extensive aiding in rock shoes sucks."" You need an all day fit, not a single pitch crag fit. ""3) We both needed to eat a lot more and drink water. First day we drank one liter for the both of us and I only ate 2 bagels besides breakfast (most likely major contributor to my head f$%k). Second time this lesson was learned for me, North Ridge of Stuart I did not eat or drink enough."" Or maybe you did not eat and drink the right stuff. To get up this climb in a day at your level you need to give a maximum effort. When your body is at maximum effort it is taxing for it to give up energy for digestion, not to mention it's gets harder to eat as the adrenaline level goes up. The answer is GU (energy gels). They are essentially pre-digested. When I'm doing a max effort climb I don't eat ANY solid food ALL day except for dinner. Your body actually goes into a fasting condition but it's still getting energy. You'd really be surprised what this can do for your energy level. 2 qts of water each is enough for this climb unless it's a real cooker day, consider your containers carefully based on weight, the new popular lexan re-usable containers are the heaviest. Try using a disposable bottle like what bottled water comes in. "" lets fire some more sh$t off. I am game"" couple more tips on this climb. On the 7th pitch, the one just above the rotten block, there's a 3 button head bolt belay about 20M up on the left side of the slab dihedral on this pitch. This "belay" is just a decoy, it's an old anchor for rapping down to a bivy ledge that was used when the route was first sieged. Stay to the right in the dihedral and climb through the roof that's way easier than it looks, and up to a nice ledge with a horn. If you are really having problems committing on this climb you can do the descent first. The descent rap anchors are kind of hidden so if you climb say the Becky route first you can learn the descent so you know it even in the dark.

""Many chemical reactions have activation energy barriers."" I thought this was more of a cracking than a chemical reaction. ""But I can say without reservation, you can't get more energy out than you put in."" I think it depends HOW you are splitting the atoms. The energy from the hydrogen is there already, you don't have to add it just unleash it from the oxygen. Is something not possible just because we haven't done it yet? A few decades ago it would have been easy to say, we will never have desktop computers in this century (20th). I think an effort not unlike the Manhattan project could unleash new ways of harnessing energy. " This inventor is running a con game." I'm sure that's possible, but it's the concept I'm interested in. All that hydrogen locked up with a combustion accelerant.

""Could you expand on the oil/1st-world-population link in a bit more depth? "" It can be looked at in oil production per (world) capita which rose sharply and peaked in the 70's. b/c/year is barrels per capita per year http://dieoff.org/page224.htm'>http://dieoff.org/page224.htm This is an alarmist viewpoint because I think alternatives will be found. http://dieoff.org wiki is good also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil ==================== some other fun facts the plant source of oil was laid down during a 200 million year span in the Carboniferous period. In a time of huge plant growth and conditions never seen before or since. In less than 100 years we've burned up about 1/2 of the estimated reserves of this resource that accumulated over a 200 million year period. The USA with 5% of world population uses about 25% of daily world oil production.

No, I'm saying water has been split more efficiently. Conventionally it takes 3 times as much energy as you get from the hydrogen, this new process is the reverse. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3333992194168790800 but they killed the inventor, but at least it seems it's possible

Hubbert researched peak oil years ago. 2 things you watch, peak discovery and peak production. US peak discovery was in 1910 US peak production was in 1950 World peak discovery was in 1964 World peak production is this decade. a related statistic. 1st world population stopped growing around 1970, because the 1st world is petroleum based. Maybe part of the Builderbergs fomenting Iraq, method of madness. Iraq was coming into the 1st world, now their not. From this story looks like at least a couple of industry insiders are finally admitting the truth. I don't think it's a big deal, before the world gets in trouble alternatives will be developed. I've seen semi-credible evidence that water has been easily split anyway. Hydrogen and Oxygen.

Yeah I don't stunt anymore, age affects your fine motor control but I ride with people that do. The stoppie is the reverse wheelie on the front wheel. It's much more dangerous than the wheelie because there's no saving it if you go past the balance point. With a wheelie you can save it with decel or braking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBE9iAWStv4&mode=related&search=&v3 And then there's the all time heroes of motorcycle racing, the Isle of Mann TT, motorcycling's equivalent of the Indy 500. 37 mile circuit on country roads with stone walls and speeds approaching 200mph. A couple riders and sometimes even spectators die every year. But hey this is Europe where they take this stuff seriously. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLt4bNVfj8E

Depends which day of the week it is. I loved the Norton's but could never afford one at the time. These days it would have to be these These things do 5.10 edging no problem, very sticky. But here recently I resumed an old addiction pros instant adrenalin, just twist the wrist performance wise you RULE the road fun starts right out the gate, no approach cons speed limits drivers who should have never been given a liscense or a cell phone no emissions controls, (waiting for the '07's to become affordable) so much G's in full throttle first gear it will make you nauseous

I recently attended mass in one of the greater cathedrals just north of here.

I know it's wrong to feed them, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do. Some years back I was using a Whisperlite and thinking you could light it in the primer condition so the flame would be large and orange/yellow and scare them away that way. But since then I've been using a canister stove, and this method would be dangerous in dry forest conditions. Wonder about bear repellent, probably just make a momma bear madder. From now on avoidance of sighting areas and food hang away from bivy will be methods of choice.

Drove to the Canadian Rockies last week to beat my head against a climb I've tried about 5 times and have still not succeeded on, Mt Alberta has turned into my nemesis. The new snow level was down to about 9,000' so it was on to plan B, that would be the 50 crowded climbs, Mt. Sir Donald. Having dallied around Banff buying some needed gear that was forgotten back at the house, made it to the trailhead about 2:00pm. Registered with the rangers, pack up the gear and set out on the Mt. Sir Donald trail. There had been a bear siting earlier in the day, about a mile away from this trail. But I figured bears move pretty fast and it will be long gone. Hiked up this pretty trail and bivied at 6,500 feet at about 7:00pm. On a grassy alpine bench with boulders which was approached by a somewhat steep rocky slope. Take the boots and knee brace off and lie in the sleeping bag and bivy sack, sort of dozing before dinner and just thinking random thoughts. The pikas are squeaking and I see them every so often. A small mink weasel type animal comes out of the dwarf evergreens on the edge of the bench, appearing and disappearing a couple of times, brown with white down the front. It's curious but afraid to be noticed. At some point either it's my guardian angel(demon), or the lyrics just by chance run through my head...."hard rain's gonna fall".... hmmm. So I'm dozing/daydreaming and hear this snort/sniff, is it dream or real? I look to the bushes but it's too loud for the little mink, besides it was really shy, what is that noise? Sniff is heard again, louder, coming from downslope, I turn to the right. BEAR!!, GRIZZLY!!! OH SHI*!!!. It seems sort of small, It's on all fours and front profile towards me. I think it's a cub and "oh damn, where's the mother". I stand up (in my socks), I yell, not very loud, "hey" and it stops about 20' away. It seems startled like it didn't see me till I yelled. It hesitates for just a second then continues walking toward me and sniffing. I grab my pack, which has boots, helmet, and headlamp, and the food bag and back slowly upslope maintaining the 20' distance. The bear stops at the bivy, sniffing loudly. When it does I start running upslope to try to get enough distance to put on my boots, about 60' to 70'. I get up to what I think is far enough and turn around, the bear is charging me, and stops about 12' away and rears up on it's hind legs, front legs up and growling. It's about 4' to 5' high, definitely not a cub. I freeze and in a normal voice say "hey" thinking, "this is it, I'm dead meat"...but it's a bluff charge. Out of the corner of my eye I see two cubs down on the rocky approach to the alpine bench. I was running parallel to them and the sow thought I was a threat. VERY FAST, she covered the 60' 70' uphill in about 4 or 5 bounds and 3 or 4 seconds. Seconds after the bluff charge she drops down the rocky slope to the cubs and shoes them back further away from me. I put my boots on lacing them with lightning adrenaline speed. But the bears are between me and the descent and it's about 20 min to dark. Things are looking very desperate at this point, can't imagine trying to escape uphill. Even though the bear can outrun me in any direction, it seems the chances are better going downhill. Think, quick, it's sniffing for food, I take out some of the food, adrenaline hurling it uphill above the bears, trying not to look like I'm throwing it at them. The bread, 3 ripped open GU packs actually are aerodynamic and get out there pretty far. Sniffing all three bears go towards the food and I quickly go back down to the bivy, and at lightning adrenaline speed stuff everything in the back pack and put on the kneebrace, 5 velcro straps in 5 seconds. DAMN where's the headlamp, found and thrown on the helmet. DAMN!!! The bears aren't very distracted by the food, OH NO!!! Within less than a minute they come up on the alpine bench, sniffing, where I put on the boots, but I'm almost done packing. The cell phone falls out on the ground a couple times, augggh. They start toward me and the bivy, I dump out the rest of the food at the bivy, and the water to lose weight and with a couple loose items in hand, bail downhill. Below the bivy is a pretty steep rocky brushy slope. I half slide half fall down it, grabbing bushes, about 30' down then start traversing onto the rocky slope towards the descent trail. I run so fast that I fall and almost smack my face on the rocks. Breathe, turn it down just one half notch, don't need a twisted ankle now. But it's been drizzling just a little bit and the rock here is unusually slippery when wet, even with sticky rubber on. Traversing on the steep slope with loose rocks is hard too but the only way to go because of steep cliffs below. About 100' away I finally turn, they are all at the bivy sniffing around it. 200' away turn again, still at the bivy, 300' look again, still at the bivy, THEY AREN'T IN PURSUIT!! Apparently I'm not a threat and I've left all the food so am not worth pursuing. I don't stop running for about a mile, looking back periodically. Then the last mile through the forest in the dark, fast walk and run. Running downhill with a 35 pound pack, (my thighs are killing me for 3 days after.) And going to sleep in the car. The whole encounter from the bear first walking up till I was 300' away lasted about 3 or 4 (?) minutes tops, but it seemed like an agonizing eternity. ............................... 3 dumb rookie mistakes, although I'm not a rookie. Too many irons in the fire leads to a jack of all trades, master of none. Maybe a potentially deadly pastime like alpine climbing needs and deserves more than a part time divided attention. Bears were sighted in the area earlier that day, when bears are feeding they don't move that fast, maybe cubs even slower. Dumb-as* me decided to do the climb anyway. Kept food at bivy, biggest mistake and I know better, should be at least 100 yards and downwind. Bivy in prime bear terrain, wrong elevation and at top of tree line. If you ever want to set new speed records for getting your gear ready or descending a climb, just have a grizzly chase you around. ................................... "Alive" Son, she said, have I got a little story for you What you thought was your daddy was nothin' but a... While you were sittin' home alone at age thirteen Your real daddy was dyin', sorry you didn't see him, but I'm glad we talked... Oh I, oh, I'm still alive Hey, I, I, oh, I'm still alive Hey I, oh, I'm still alive Hey...oh... Oh, she walks slowly, across a young man's room She said I'm ready...for you I can't remember anything to this very day 'Cept the look, the look... Oh, you know where, now I can't see, I just stare... I, I'm still alive Hey I, but, I'm still alive Hey I, boy, I'm still alive Hey I, I, I, I'm still alive, yeah Ooh yeah...yeah yeah yeah...oh...oh... Is something wrong, she said Well of course there is You're still alive, she said Oh, and do I deserve to be Is that the question And if so...if so...who answers...who answers... I, oh, I'm still alive Hey I, oh, I'm still alive Hey I, but, I'm still alive Yeah I, ooh, I'm still alive Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

""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