catbirdseat

Did you really do E. Wilmans? I was up there on Sat. We saw a older blonde guy and his pretty girlfriend and two fellows who were scrambling the North and South Peaks.

Pretty cocky for a first post.

Really. That stadium was approved by at least 51% of those who voted. Apples and Oranges.

It's maybe time for that physical exan you've been putting off for so long.

The Middle Fork trail between Taylor River and Dingford Creek isn't especially scenic. It does go by Fee Demo Wall, and there is a pretty cascade shortly before you get to Dingford Creek. One idea is to hike the Middle Fork from Dingford Creek to Goldmyer Hot Springs. Get a reservation before you go and take your friends for a soak. Another way to get to Goldmyer which involves more driving on even crappier road, is to drive to the Hardscrabble Lakes/Dutch Miller Gap trailhead and hike the new trail down to Goldmyer three miles. It starts about 50 yards or so from the end of the road. It is very scenic and the new bridge is pretty cool. You can also look at some mining relics on the way. There is about 1000 ft of elevation loss you'll have to gain on the way back.

Take the Middlefork road to the Tylor River Parking Lot. There is a bridge there and a nice trail on the other side of the river with easy hiking and not crowded.

From what I've been able to gather from the reports, there is no single cause for the accidents. Although falling is the ultimate cause of injury and death, there are multiple causes for the falls. There are a lot of factors at play: equipment used, skill level, illness, hardness of the ice, rockfall, avalanche, wind. It is easy to confuse coincidence with causality.

That rap route is famous for stuck ropes. On arriving there, early one morning, we found a rope hanging. It had gotten stuck and someone had cut it! What good is half a rope? By and by, some guys coming off Liberty Crack came down and freed it. We took it home and I use it occasionally to set up top rope anchors from trees that happen to be distant from the edge of the cliff. I have to wonder, what is the logic in cutting the stuck rope? I'm sure it was very late in the day, perhaps getting dark, and they didn't want to lead back up to free it, but why cut it? I would have left it intact. If I could, I would have left a note attached to it, or if else taped to the privy at Blue Lake parking lot. If the finder didn't see fit to return it to me, at least someone would benefit from a 50 m rope.

Thanks, that was an interesting read.

You said something that I was afraid to say, but I have to agree. Sometimes though you get past a hard part, the slope eases off, and you let down your guard and decide not to put another picket in. But with more steepness coming up you stay roped. I can totally see how it could have happened. All you can do on routes like this is to never let down your guard.

Please, make it stop.

I don't think this is eco-terrorism at all. It is not the typical high profile property destruction that ELF is so fond of. No, I think it is just someone with a personal vendetta against the FS or else some crazy f---er out for kicks.

When the Heybrook Lookout was being rebuilt, someone cut the gate with a gas powered saw, then drove up the road and used the saw to cut into a steel shipping container and made off with $2000 in tools that were being used in the construction. This was about two years ago.

This message was passed on to me originally from Scott Loerts, WDFW Safety Officer. I can't vouch as to its veracity.

It's what happens in your search when you misspell a name. Other Thread

Did anyone happen to hear the NPR story on Fresh Air about the death of Ulrich Inderbinen, a Swiss Mountain guide who died at the age of 103. He was guiding on the Matterhorn into his mid 90's. Link

Your "hair" could be insulation from satellites or boosters burning up on reentry.

Deceptioncrags.com used to have every route in it until the guide was published (same author, Garth Bruce). Buy the book. It's good, and Garth put a lot of work into it.

Anyone climb the Black Buttes near Baker? They are reputed to be choss city.

As I recall it is a route that is reached from White Slabs. I've heard a lot of people have a hard time finding the route.

It would have to be either Larabee or Johannesburg for me. Larabee is just a walk up, but it is covered with clinkers that are next to impossible not to step on. You have to just ride them a little and step off onto the next one. Johannesburg is steep enough in a lot of places that you'll want to use your hands. The holds are all portable. They work okay if you push down, but not out. I've never seen quite so many portable holds in situ as on that mountain. What I mean is not free from their original location, but ready to be pulled free.

There is a 5.9 thin crack that Wayne1112 talked me into leading. I borrowed some small stuff off of mattp. It's a good thing I did.

BD Hex #6- Vantage, Smileys Stopper #7- Castle Rock, Yellow Alien - Exit 32

The court said atheist Michael Newdow could not sue to ban the pledge from his daughter's school and others because he did not have legal authority to speak for her. What a cop out! Story

Climbed the East Ridge of Ingalls, North Peak with PaulK. I leave it to him to cough up the trip report.