catbirdseat

All hail Bronco, the Great Thread Resurrector!

Source is (where else?) Fox News.

"I am very sorry, but my karma just ran over your dogma." "Illigitimi non carborundum", bastardized latin for "don't let the bastards wear you down".

Gritscone is a very good choice. The only thing I might add is to bring a tarp to put your gear on. There is a lot of pine duff that will get all over everything. You might want to bring a nylon brush to clean your shoes before setting off. This is a good place to learn to lead. It is very safe. Have fun girls.

Anyone ever climbed the East Face? I'm considering it, but if it is like the rest of the peak, there is little opportunity for protection.

That route has so much potential for rockfall, you were wise to go elsewhere. Is the screw any good?

Climb: Chair Peak-Northeast Buttress Date of Climb: 7/25/2004 Trip Report: My partner and I car camped at the Alpental parking lot because we wanted an early start to beat the heat. After a couple of Mac and Jacks at the local Pancake House we turned in as soon as it got dark. It was wonderfully cool there and we both slept soundly. We hit the trail at 6 am and took the Source Lake overlook to where it hit the talus, turned and went straight up and into a gully. The gully ended below some minor cliff bands. We found a third class way through slightly to the right that put us in the basin below the Thumb Tack. Mosquitoes were bad. After scrambling some more rock to the notch in the ridge, we were at the base of the route by 8:20 and it was already pretty warm. There was a pleasant breeze coming from the North. We roped up for the first two pitches up the rightward slanting gully, which we managed to do as one pitch on a 55 m rope with just a little bit of simulclimbing. I got in about three pieces of gear and clipped a couple of rap stations on the way up to a nice shady belay with a nice place to sit in some trees. From the trees we scrambled fourth class in rock shoes, but should have put our boots back on as the rock is sharp. We slanted leftward below the place where the ice bulge forms in winter up easy, mostly solid rock with some heather. We made for a minor ridge feature that led to a tree with a rap sling. I gave my partner a little hip belay up this last steep section. From the gnarled tree the scrambling is third class up two or three unroped pitches to a false summit, which is skirted to the right, after which you drop into a gully and ascend back up and to the right to the true summit, which we reached at 10:15. For some reason, I was ravenously hungry. PBJ never tasted so good. Switched to boots for the descent. My partner elected to wear his rock shoes as this was his first climb in two years. He found it a bit challenging. After a rock missed my head by a foot or so, I had to lecture him about not kicking rocks off and he settled down and stopped doing it for the most part. Downclimbed to gnarled tree, did a single rope rap from it and downclimbed some more to the group of trees. Encountered a party of three on their way up making the climb harder than it needed to be by going too far right. Climbed down into the gully a short ways to a rap station on a tree. It was two single rope raps to the base of the climb. Hiking down the basin, we noticed two pairs of climbers on the East Face route. Could have helped noticing them, as they were yelling, excessively. This didn't instill a lot of confidence, especially when I hear one yell "Rock!" and heard a big one coming down. Decided to try a different way back, so we traversed left past the Thumb Tack and pick up the abandoned trail which leads up the ridge and intersects the new Snow Lake trail at the saddle. Ran into a solo hiker who used to climb but lost his partner. I told him to check out CC.com and he said he might. There must have been 200 people hiking that trail. They are doing work on it at present including dynamiting in places through August. Cold Tecates and a short nap awaited at the car.

It happened at the former, that is just below the false summit. The snow was already melted out from the place where you turn right. So this has turned into a cell phone thread. Why don't you just ressurect the last cell phone thread?

It's not just the weather. The days are longer in September so we can get in more climbing. Of course, the other way of looking at it is longer nights mean more time to party.

The Patriot Act was pushed through in a hurry while the public was still in a panic about 9-11. To oppose it would have been political suicide. It was a case of "we need to do something, NOW!". Now that we have calmed down a little it is time to reexamine the provisions of the Act. I believe that some provisions should be repealed and others preserved. I don't think anyone is advocating a wholesale repeal of the entire act.

Where have you been these past 13 months, sweetheart?

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)