catbirdseat

I for one, am willing to accept some restrictions on use of wilderness areas because I believe that there is so little wilderness left that some of it should be preserved for future generations as nature made it. Why do we need to have UNLIMITED access to every valley and every mountain? Can't we set aside even a small portion of our generous forest endowment for minimum impact use? Up to this point, the areas of this state designated wilderness have been those areas without commercial value. Alpine Lakes doesn't have any valuable timber except in a few portions of the Middlefork. It is generally too high. Boulder river wilderness likewise has undesireable tree species like silver fir that timber companies are not interested in. Wild sky is an opportunity to set aside a low elevation Douglas fir environment that has not been protected before. It is different than the protected areas of the Olympic Park and from Rainier. I think that we should try to protect a representative of each environment.

You can leave the crampons at home, but bring a light axe just in case. CJ was able to decend without crampons by picking the shortest path down the snow and kicking steps will facing in. If you are able to decend the snow in the afternoon, step kicking will be a breeze. Sobo, I have considered joining Search and Rescue. I have many friends who are members. Right now I am concerned with the time committment that would be entailed, but I think, eventually I will join.

I watched Glacier's partner, Carter, glissade in a rather unorthodox fashion in which he twisted around and used the pick of his axe and sort of slid on his hip. He said the snow was so hard and uncomfortable that it was hardly worth it. I decided not to risk a glissade. I did not actually witness LW's slip. I only know what he told me. He said he slipped while turning around and that he couldn't get his weight over the head of the axe. He mentioned that the heavy pack he was wearing was a hindrance and that at some point he rolled, which is how he lost the axe. The docs did a good job sewing up the head gashes. They don't look as bad as I had feared. There will be a scar over his right brow.

One of the Oregon guys had a cell phone with a head set. He was quite the techie as he also had a GPS and was able to give exact coordinates. He proped the phone in some rocks so it wouldn't move and this ensured that the connection was not lost. Other cell phones did not work. This is a good thing to know. The helicopter made a beeline right to us. Apparently, the only two outfits that were willing to offer assistance were Fairchild AFB in Spokane and Oregon ANG in Salem. The others, including MAST at Ft. Lewis have a 7,000ft ceiling. We were at about 8,300 ft. The OR ANG Blackhawk stopped in Yakima for refueling we were told.

Monday, July 19, 2004, 9:00 A.M. The Northern Rockies Incident Management Team (Bennett) is directing all fire fighting resources from the fire camp at the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery. Cooler conditions helped keep fire activity to a minimum on Sunday. This lightning-caused fire that started last Thursday during windy conditions does not threaten the town of Leavenworth. The fire is now estimated to be approximately 606 acres and is ten percent contained. Sunday’s weather pattern contained scattered lightning and erratic winds but also included localized precipitation. Firefighters, assisted by helicopter bucket drops and dozers, made good progress on fireline construction on the west and north flanks of the fire. Fire fighting resources currently assigned to combat the fire include eight 20 – person crews, two dozers, 5 engines, and helicopter support. Firefighting personnel total 388 people. Cooperators on the fire include the Washington Department of Natural Resources; the Commissioners, Sheriff’s Department and Fire District 3 from Chelan County; and the American Red Cross. Today’s fire fighting efforts will focus on constructing fireline on the southeast and southwest flanks of the fire. Helicopters will continue to be used to slow the spread of the fire as necessary. Structure protection by engines continues. There are 20 vacation cabins and 5 permanent homes in the vicinity of the fire. The nearest vacation cabin is approximately 1/2 mile from the fire’s perimeter. The Icicle Creek road remains closed at the Snow Lakes trailhead approximately 3 miles from the junction with Highway 2. A Level 3 Evacuation Notice and area closure remains in effect for seven campgrounds, five residences, and twenty cabins located on the Icicle Creek road within the closed area. All trails and spur road intersecting the Icicle Creek road above the roadblock are closed. Campfires are restricted to established fire rings in developed campgrounds only. All other fires and use of charcoal briquettes are prohibited. Please help prevent wild fire. Photo: The helicopter base for the Icicle Fire at Fromm's Field near Leavenworth. A Skycrane helicopter in the foreground and a K-Max at the left. Numerous other helicopters are based here also. These load-carrying helicopters are being used to drop water on the fire. Smoke from the fire drifts out of Icicle Canyon in the background. Photo taken Sunday, July 18. As a side note, a pair of Bald Eagles are nesting very near the helibase with a recently hatched eagle who is not able to fly yet. The eagles are being monitored by Forest Service biologists and precautions are being taken to mitigate the impact of the helicopters on the eagles, including keeping the incoming and outgoing flight paths as far away as possible from the nest. BENNETT’S NORTHERN ROCKIES INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests Fire Information: 548-7816 or 548-7827

That was my climbing partner, LW. I wasn't going to post about it, but I see it is unavoidable now. We summitted late on Sat. via the W. Ridge and bivied below the summit. We were decending steep snow at the head of Cascadian Couloir when LW slipped on the hard surface and couldn't arrest. He hit the rocks below and suffered serious injuries, including a broken pelvis. This occurred at about 7 am. Glacier was there with us. He and his partner, Carter, along with CJ and partner, Suzie, and three climbers from Oregon (Craig, Greg and Richard), aided us throughout the rescue. LW kept his head throughout and was able to tell us how to prepare for the arrival of the helicopter, which arrived at 12:30 pm. The hike out was uneventful, except that I had to carry out a huge GI Joe artic sleeping back that the paramedic forgot to take with him. LW was taken by Salem, OR, Air National Guard Blackhawk to Wenatchee where we was transferred by air ambulance to Harborview Hospital in Seattle. He had surgery on Thursday and is doing okay. He is expected to make a full recovery. It will be a long road, however. I need to get the sleeping bag back to Oregon ANG. I need to take it to Chelan County Sherrif's office in Wenatchee. They'll handle it from there. Anyone going that way soon?

I think that making the camping areas walk-in is a good thing. Some of the flat areas that are currently "road" could be remade into tent sites, increasing the capacity. An additional parking area would be required for the basin as well as for the Feathers. Supposedly the feathers area is off limits to camping, but people camp there anyway (unless that has changed). They may need to improve ambulance service to deal with all the hernias resulting from concert goers lugging huge ice chests of MGD to the walk-in sites.

I attended a presentation in which it was suggested that new trails would be built in the proposed Wild Sky Wilderness. It was said that the new trails would, in general, follow the ridges and high places and avoid the valleys, which provide the best wildlife habitat.

Under the Wilderness Act, private in-holdings surrounded by the proposal would retain the same access and rights that they currently have. Those in holdings are primarily mining claims. They don't pay any appreciable taxes. They are no doubt concerned that without logging, the roads will no longer be maintained.

10.7%. So THAT'S why I am so boring.

...or consider Aliens: green, yellow and red

I'll bet that Pearly Gates and SCW were pretty popular this weekend.

Roofing my house (days 6 and 7). It's backbreaking work. I have a newfound respect for the roofing profession. Those guys are hardmen.

If I had limited resources, I would buy in the following order: 1 set BD or Smiley stoppers(#4-11) BD or Metolius Hexes (#4,6,8,10) Forged Friends(2, 2.5, 3) Camp Tricams( pink, Red, Brown) Forged Friends(1.5, 3.5, 4)

My God, man. Think about what you are saying!

I was hiking the PCT through the Stevens Ski area and found a ski while taking a little detour. I don't expect its owner would be looking here, but I was wondering if someone might suggest the best way for me to return it to its owner. It has no name on it or other distinguishing marks. For all I know it could be a rental, but then don't the rentals have numbers on them?

The answer is 7 years, then. You are right about the waiting part. I'm not really an especially impatient person. The nice thing about climbing in the mountains is that even though you have to wait a lot, you can always enjoy the view. The time usually flies by without your noticing it much.

blue_tuberosa

I miss trask.

At least your ridiculous good looks were unaffected by the accident.

Thank goodness this bad man has been caught. His Yugoslavian chess match endangered millions. Bobby Fischer

If you do Gunsight Notch you can climb through either of two gaps. If you go through the left one, it's straight down grassy slopes with lots of blueberry bushes. If you go through the right gap there is a little goat trail that goes up and to the left and takes you to the grassy slopes. Whatever you do, don't go down that loose gully. It should be possible to hike from the CP trailhead to camp below the col in about 6 hours. Return in 5. If you go this way, you are looking at two bivies or three days. The summit day still is long. You have to be able to climb almost all of the mountain unroped or you'll run out of time.

I've been leading for 4 years. I'm pretty fast on lead when the climbing is in my comfort range.

Speed only comes with experience and concentrating on it over several climbs. If you try to force yourself, you might increase your chances of an accident. Having said that, there are lots of safe ways to speed things up. The biggest waster of time is not in the climbing itself, but in standing around thinking about climbing. It's frustrating when you top out on a pitch, build and anchor and yell "on belay" and your partner isn't ready to climb immediately.

Sounds like he is talking about the Mt. Washington Trail. I don't know of any others. That trail is used by climbers to access the Bobs area and others.