Toast

Funny this thread popped up today. My sister finally woke up to the fact that I'm climbing and she sorta freaked. Actually, she didn't freak, but she gives me the classic, "OMFG, that's so dangerous, you be very careful, yada yada yada." I mean, the last thing I want is to go sailing over a cliff with an ice tool impaled in my chest. I'm careful already, jeesh

Um... I think my ex won't climb because of me

Yep, we ran into him too at the head of Easy Ridge about 3:00 PM. He had a most satisfied grin on his face. I don't blame him, though. By that point it was pretty much a coast home from there (at least for him... it took us a full day.) We skirted the impasse as well, but we took the slabs up rather than bushwhacking it. We did have to burrow through thick trees at the top. That so sucked. Perfect Pass was nice, though. It was certainly my best night of sleep. Rain through the night and into morning kept us in bed till 9:00. We decided to bail on a summit bid given we didn't have enough time to wait it out. The slabs were slicker'n snot coming down, so we did a low angle rap down. Needless to say, our double rope rap snagged. Again, so suck. Heading out on the trail, we came across a big ass garbage pile that we encountered coming in. It was some abandoned squatter's camp full of shit: two stinky army down sleeping bags, clothing, batteries, a duffle bag and miscellaneous garbage. We left the sleeping bags as they were damp and heavy, but we managed to scoop up a good chunk of what was left and packed it out. I don't mean to rank too hard on the park service, but that shit had to have been sitting there for months. Anyway, we dumped it on the front door of the ranger station in Glacier. Speaking of Glacier, what's the name of the new pub in town? It doesn't look like much from the outside, but that place It's the first thing you hit on your LEFT as you come into town from the Glacier Ranger Station. And no, it's not that over hyped Italian restaurant that's across the street.

Yeah... who was that masked man? Here's one for you

My altimeter clicked 2700 just as the trail down to the river appeared. There's a couple of fallen logs to cross over, and two big ass cairns pointing to the climbers trail.

Thanks LawGoddess, 61's the magic number I was looking for

A few weeks ago there was a thread on converting between liters to cubic inches for pack volume. I've tried searching, but I can't find it. Can anybody help?

I don't really care what it's called... I just have fun doing it

Maybe the real questions is, what's the difference between Class 4 climbing and free soloing? I kinda wondered this as I was making my way up the South Buttress of Cutthroat. There were several pitches where we probably shoulda had a rope out... of course, we probably wouldn't have made the summit if we had.

Suicide... it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem. In all seriousness, don't take idle talk like this lightly. I had a very good friend... okay, we weren't that good a friends, but I was probably the best friend he had... anyway, he talked the talk, and that's all I thought it was. When he didn't show up for work after three days, I went by his place and found out he'd hung himself. I was the last one to see him. That's some fucked up shit. Don't joke about it.

Okay, here's a few more... The The's (aka Matt Johnson) version of I saw the light (Hank Williams) The Clash's version of Police and Thieves (Junior Murvin and Lee Scratch Perry I think.) Cat Power's (aka Chan Marshall) version of Sea of Love (not sure who wrote that one originally.) Luna's version of Bonnie and Clyde (Serge Gainsbourge) And to top it off (drumroll)... Seattle's own, the Picketts' twangy version of Baba O'Rieley (The Who)

How 'bout the White Stripes version of Jolene? I think it was originally a Dolly Parton gig...

A couple of friends of mine came back to their car after climbing Eldorado. A window was smashed and all their clothes were stolen. They had to drive back home wet and stinky. Trailhead theives are so suck.

The tripple log that had been there for a while is still there... but the stream bank is eroding away quickly. I was there about a month ago and then two weekends ago. There's been noticeable deterioration since then.

There's always Joe Stalin's Cadillac

Thanks for putting this together

I climbed Cutthroat Peak yesterday with Mudslinger and two other friends. This was a full throttle adventure, and the Grade III rating should have tipped us off to that. It started out with a steep approach through lush alpine meadows. Early wildflowers were bursting and snaffle lairs abounded. Thin snow fingers lead up the gully systems to the southeast saddle. We took the leftmost one as indicated in a dubious route description. We trundled rocks and pebbles down upon one another in boots and full packs over sketchey 4th class terrain. In hindsight, it would have been better to have taken the gully to it it's right. They both lead to the same place. Intuition and simple routefinding skills led us up the path of least resistance. Most of this was scrambling over 3rd and 4th class terrain with lots of exposure. Ultimately we came to a narrow basin much like an old fashioned bathtub tipped up on end. Stemming was the key, and I feel sorry for any short legged hobbits who'd attempt this. Just at the point of sketchieness, there's an old trusty rusty just where you need it. A mantle move gets you up top to a knotch. There's a gap to the next peak that requires both long legs and the strength to highstep a thin shoe shaped ledge. Again, hobbits would be at a disadvantage. One more gap to the third peak takes you to the final face, a short affair with a double fist crack running off to the side. A nicely placed chockstone provides protection, then you're there. We just had time to tag the summit yesterday. I saw weather coming and rushed down to rig our rap. Ten minutes later as we scampered back across the Tarzan traverse, the temps dropped ten degrees with a ten knot wind, brrrr. I lost count of the raps, but we kept them all to single rope rappels to avoid snagging a line. We gathered our gear at the saddle and skedaddled back down to the cars before sunset. All in all, we nailed it in 12 hours car to car. This one was a goodie

How about the river ford... is it just a stream crossing or a take-off-yer-boots and wade across the river affair? P/S thanks for all the info

Bleh beacuse a.) The Easy Pass route sucks b.) The Eiley/ Weiley route sucks c.) You don't like long alpine routes

Anybody have any firsthand info on the Big Beaver River Valley / Wiley Ridge approach (or more info on the other options mentioned above)? Any recent beta / trail guidance would be welcome. Thanks in advance...

What you talkin' bout Willis...

cool

Duckboys does have clean taps