catbirdseat

Well it's a small world. I was with Builder206 that day. You gals impressed us with the story of your climb that day.

Hey!

Last I heard the search was still on. Mt. Bullen is rugged country to be sure.

If the latter half of the video is being played backwards, then why is the man walking forwards? They'd have had to plan it all in advance and have him walk backwards at the time of filming to make it look right.

Free Association: if the government is paying for it you can't exclude Private Organizations: you can't exclude people on the basis of sex, color, or religion unless it is a religious organization. Religious Expression: the government can't pay to support it. Sounds about right to me.

I found one, on Prime Rib, pocketed it. It fell out of the pocket and was lost again. It was missing the batteries and cover. This was in June I think.

Dood! That's not water. That's SAND!

How about Ruth? But that's glaciated. What about Big Snow?

That's what the ACLU has done for 30 years and you guys love it. Right, KK, and white is black and black is white.

Everybody is worried about what will happen when "they take your rights away", as though it's all going to happen at once and you'll take up arms on "that day". There isn't going to be A DAY. Your rights will be nibbled away at little by little so that you'll hardly notice what you are losing. We'll be like the fabled frog in the stew pot who doesn't notice he's being cooked. A few people will keep crying out, "we're losing our rights!". But the vast majority won't notice.

That reminds me of a Yogi Berra quote. "We may be lost, but we're making great time!"

I think the chimney is on the south side.

I've been up there before and never could find the anchor that's supposedly there. We soloed that section anyway. If you have two ropes it's probably faster to go down the NE buttress because then you can do it in two raps.

They ate meat from the whale they took in 1999. I don't think PCB levels are so high in gray whales that a feast once every five years or so is going to hurt anyone.

Gray Whales feed at the bottom of the food chain and as a result have blubber that is much lower in PCBs than the killer whales. It's a shame that this whale was allowed to sink in 400 ft of water. Now it's shark food.

Stupid as in making double posts?

What gear do you have? You have a harness and shoes, don't you? That's enough.

What's wrong with 1 pm on the South Route of Hood?

We all created Walmart. China is able to deliver lower cost goods because it doesn't have the same costs we do. It doesn't spend as much to protect the environment and to ensure worker safety. It doesn't spend money on consumer protection. I'm all for free trade, but let's insist that our trading partners uphold decent standards. At least the goods they export should meet standards, if not they way they treat their workers. Perhaps there should be tariffs that reflect the amount of money they save by not protecting their workers and their environment. We could create a charity with the tariff money for Chinese workers. Maybe that would shame the Chinese into doing better.

Sorry, we forgot to get the camera from one of the climbers who turned back. We might be able to get some photos from the party on Seven Fingered Jack, since John works with some of them.

The second link makes clear that the party of four was camped where the avalanche occurred. Perhaps poor visibity might have prevented them from seeing the ice cliff above them.

Trip: Mount Maude - North Face Date: 9/9/2007 Trip Report: I had done this route once before two years ago . The ice was really just hard snow then and I was curious what it would be like later in the year. I could find no trip reports later than August, so I decided to just go and see what I would find. We hiked into LeRoy Basin on Saturday afternoon and bivied among the larch trees. Met a party who had scrambled Seven Finger Jack that day. They had digital pictures of the NF of Maude that suggested gaps in the ice on the route. Got up at 5:30 am and were under way by 6 am under headlamps. We reached the col at about 7:30 am. Three of our party turned back to camp, not liking the looks of the traverse, coupled with what they'd seen in the photos. The traverse was snow free and we didn't rope up for it this time. As usual, lots of loose rock. The trickiest part was the initial descent from the col. On route at 9:30 am we found the first block similar to the previous trip. On the second block we started to encounter sections of bare rock. We'd been concerned about blank slab, but that wasn't the case. The gaps were pretty easily climbed. There is some rock pro available here and there (small tricams and knifeblades). One of the nice things about these rock islands is that they give you a nice comfy place to take a break. The route was done in 5 blocks with at least some simulclimbing on each block. We noted that there was much less sun cupping, which meant more strenuous footwork. I guess the lower angle of the sun accounts for that. This was Larry's first alpine ice climb and he did great. Since I was afraid my crampon would fall off, he took the final crux pitch, featuring about 15 feet of 60 degree water ice. Following it, my right crampon came loose and I had to do those last 15 feet with one foot. That's really hard! Jennifer, ascending via the scramble route, was waiting for us at the top of the ice and accompanied us on the descent. Gear Notes: Used: Red tricam (2x), knifeblades (3x), #7 nut, ice screws (5 used numerous times), pickets (3 used a lot) Did not use: slider nuts (3), small cams (3) Approach Notes: 1.5-2 hours from col. Be prepared for very exposed and loose third class.

The first time I did that climb was my first alpine climb and I followed all of it. The crux move on the second pitch really got my attention. The second time I did the climb I was leading and I couldn't find the crux move around the bulge. I must have just stepped past it.

Well, guys, it turns out that you CAN do the NF of Maude in September. There were a few gaps in the ice, but the exposed rock was easily climbed. In fact the rock islands made for comfortable belay ledges.

Damn, and I have to settle for ice cream with brandied cherries. Oh, by the way, what's the deal with the baseball bat?