Z-Man

Want to do this route in a day, anybody up for it?

Left my helmet among some boulders about 200 feet below the west side of the towers at WA pass; about halfway between NEWS and Lexington. I'll buy the beer and be eternally grateful.

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I'm jealous.

Some just seem to like it cold.

Thanks, any chance of one from a more directly northern view? Like mine from the Stuart Lake Trail cutoff?

Please show me a picture of the north side of Stuart from this past weekend if you have any, here's mine from two weeks ago.

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pms

I have a car and am looking for a partner to climb either the Northeast Buttress Couloir on Colchuck or the Stuart Glacier Couloir on Stuart tommorrow and sunday. I've been up both mountains by technical routes in winter/spring before, send me a pm if interested.

This is on the Northwest Aspect of Eagle Peak viewed from near Cougar Rock CG and they looked worth getting to. The two lines at center looked like pretty good WI3/4 and continued up gullies out of view up and left for some ways. Looks like there's a bridge across the Nisqually where the Wonderland crosses near there, but how is the crossing of Paradise Creek from there? Or would it be better to cross the Nisqually at Longmire and follow the river upstream? I seem to recall a somewhat vague description of ice possibilities there in the WA ice guide, anyone have any info?

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Stephen, you ain't no gumby. This is definitely not belay terrain, but a "v-thread" as it were seems like the strongest option. Is there a way to directly tie off a screamer? Do they make them with extra material available to do this? I'm assuming you would otherwise just clip it in to the sling you tied off with? Seems like that puts a lot of room between the screw and the rope. Again this is assuming you only have long screws, meaning that a shorter screw would work just fine if you had one.

Why put 1 on the bottom and not 2? Or is this just arbitrary? Seems like the bottom placement you would want the least leverage problems.

This happened to me recently and was no big deal as the ice was easy but made me think. Say all you have on your rack are screws longer than the ice is thick, much longer. The ice is hollow underneath after some thickness so the screw easily punches through. What should the screw placement look like? I was thinking these are the three plausible placements: The screw is put in only as far as the threads are all in the ice. The screw is pushed back as far as possible so hanger is flush with ice surface. Somewhere in between where screw is pushed in as much as possible while still keeping some threads in the ice. I think that option 1 with a tie-off of the shaft would be preferable as the most threads are in the ice and would most approximate having a shorter screw available. Option 2 eliminates leverage issues, but could conceivably shock-load if the screw has much wiggle room behind the ice. Option 3 lowers the leverage issues and is my pick if you can get the hanger within 2" of the ice surface, as according to this data, web page , having the hanger that close eliminates the need for a tie-off, but this option reduces the amount of threads in the ice. Any thoughts?

The gated logging road off of Middle Fork Nooksack River Road that is used to access the North and West sides of the Twin Sister is not gated right now, and probably won't be for a couple days, if not weeks. Was up there Saturday and parked behind gate in morning, but coming down in the afternoon, we saw the gate was open and the latch which holds the lock which keeps the gate closed had been chopped. There were tire tracks all over the snow on the upper parts of the road and another couple of climbers up there said there were a couple of kids tearing around in an old 4x4. Might be a good chance to cut down on the road walking or skiing if you have 4-wheel drive.

The other day, while out in the bush exploring access for a climb, I met Eloise Charet, who TIME named the 1999 Hero for The Planet http://www.time.com/time/reports/environment/heroes/heroesgallery/0,2967,charet,00.html I spent time with her the other day and listened to many stories dating from her time spent with Mother Teresa to her recent 55 day hunger strike for clean water. She and others are blocking road access to delay Pope & Talbot Timber in roadbuilding. Between 1984 and 1991 they removed 98% of the old growth in the Incommappleux River valley. Many of these ancient cedars were dated between 1500 & 2000 years old. This area is just south of Glacier National Park and southeast of Revelstoke National Park. It is an amazing place that draws me back year after year to pass through its forests and explore its mountains. Parks Canada is considering adding this area to the existing park land. Habitat decimation outside the park boundaries has had obvious detrimental effects on the local caribou population not to mention a host of other issues. Pope & Talbot (a Portland Oregon based Timber Company) now plans on removing the remnant of old growth in the valley, the last 2%. They do not want this news getting out and for obvious reasons hope to quietly move forward with roadbuilding before the snow flies this fall so the can begin logging next season. Meanwhile others (like Heny Hutler who has spent extensive time in the hills and has worked with friends in the past on such issues; two of his close friends were responsible for the creation of Valhalla Provincial Park and Pat from Mountain Hostel who spent years cycle touring the world, was one of the early visitors to Vietnam in the 80's when their doors were reopened ... and instead of flying in, he biked in from China- in the past few years he constructed Mountain Hostel, venturing in on skis during the winter to make his dream reality) are working to block this action and protect what's left of the ancient cedars. For a better idea of the area check out the Mountain Hostel website. It shows a map and photos from the valley. Pat has satellite internet and can give you an up to date picture of what's going on; he can be reached via e-mail: info at mountainhostel.ca Keep his place in mind as a ski stop for winter touring in the area; you can arrive there without a pack! http://mountainhostel.ca/ The Kootenay Mountain Caribou Campaign informational flier is here: http://www.students.washington.edu/zman2208/selkirks%202005.jpg The clear-cut valley was a devestating sight, and it was heartening to finally drive the road through to a point where old-growth still remained. To know that those ancient cedars were scheduled for cutting, like all of the other trees in that valley, was truly saddening. The people at the blockade, especially Eloise, risk much trying to prevent Pope and Talbot from returning and need all the support they can get. Contact the campaign coordinators listed if you can help directly: Tom Prior - tomprior@telus.net West Kootenay EcoSociety - eco@kics.bc.ca and the government and industry leaders to show your concern over the issue at hand: Kevin Jardine - BC's species at risk coordinator - kevin_jardine@gems8.gov.bc.ca Larry Peitzsche - Arrow Lakes Forest District - larry.peitzsche@gems2.gov.bc.ca Shane Bowden - BC Timber Sales - shane.Bowden@gems8.gov.bc.ca Geoff Bekker - Pope and Talbot Logging Co. - geoff_bekker@poptal.com Rob McRory - Kootenay Lake Forest District - rob.mcrory@gems5.gov.bc.ca Cam Leitch - pope and Talbot Logging co. - cam_leitch@poptal.com

The other day, while out in the bush exploring access for a climb, I met Eloise Charet, who TIME named the 1999 Hero for The Planet http://www.time.com/time/reports/environment/heroes/heroesgallery/0,2967,charet,00.html I spent time with her the other day and listened to many stories dating from her time spent with Mother Teresa to her recent 55 day hunger strike for clean water. She and others are blocking road access to delay Pope & Talbot Timber in roadbuilding. Between 1984 and 1991 they removed 98% of the old growth in the Incommappleux River valley. Many of these ancient cedars were dated between 1500 & 2000 years old. This area is just south of Glacier National Park and southeast of Revelstoke National Park. It is an amazing place that draws me back year after year to pass through its forests and explore its mountains. Parks Canada is considering adding this area to the existing park land. Habitat decimation outside the park boundaries has had obvious detrimental effects on the local caribou population not to mention a host of other issues. Pope & Talbot (a Portland Oregon based Timber Company) now plans on removing the remnant of old growth in the valley, the last 2%. They do not want this news getting out and for obvious reasons hope to quietly move forward with roadbuilding before the snow flies this fall so the can begin logging next season. Meanwhile others (like Heny Hutler who has spent extensive time in the hills and has worked with friends in the past on such issues; two of his close friends were responsible for the creation of Valhalla Provincial Park and Pat from Mountain Hostel who spent years cycle touring the world, was one of the early visitors to Vietnam in the 80's when their doors were reopened ... and instead of flying in, he biked in from China- in the past few years he constructed Mountain Hostel, venturing in on skis during the winter to make his dream reality) are working to block this action and protect what's left of the ancient cedars. For a better idea of the area check out the Mountain Hostel website. It shows a map and photos from the valley. Pat has satellite internet and can give you an up to date picture of what's going on; he can be reached via e-mail: info at mountainhostel.ca Keep his place in mind as a ski stop for winter touring in the area; you can arrive there without a pack! http://mountainhostel.ca/ The Kootenay Mountain Caribou Campaign informational flier is here: http://www.students.washington.edu/zman2208/selkirks%202005.jpg The clear-cut valley was a devestating sight, and it was heartening to finally drive the road through to a point where old-growth still remained. To know that those ancient cedars were scheduled for cutting, like all of the other trees in that valley, was truly saddening. The people at the blockade, especially Eloise, risk much trying to prevent Pope and Talbot from returning and need all the support they can get. Contact the campaign coordinators listed if you can help directly: Tom Prior - tomprior@telus.net West Kootenay EcoSociety - eco@kics.bc.ca and the government and industry leaders to show your concern over the issue at hand: Kevin Jardine - BC's species at risk coordinator - kevin_jardine@gems8.gov.bc.ca Larry Peitzsche - Arrow Lakes Forest District - larry.peitzsche@gems2.gov.bc.ca Shane Bowden - BC Timber Sales - shane.Bowden@gems8.gov.bc.ca Geoff Bekker - Pope and Talbot Logging Co. - geoff_bekker@poptal.com Rob McRory - Kootenay Lake Forest District - rob.mcrory@gems5.gov.bc.ca Cam Leitch - pope and Talbot Logging co. - cam_leitch@poptal.com

I don't actually lecture them, just try to politely ask them to stay on the trail as it damages the fragile meadows, and move on. Anyone who's been up to Rainier has seen the beat-out dirt along the already eight-feet wide paths leading up to Pan Point. I mean they freaking paved the trail and people still stray all over the place, right past signs that say "stay on the trail."

...who stray off the trail at a popular and well-marked, but fragile, place like the meadows above Paradise at Rainier. I say something to probably half of the people I see making new dirt tracks through the flowers in places like this, but I can't keep up with everyone and feel bad about lecturing people on something so obvious in front of others. What do you do?

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I dropped my glove about midway up the north face on Sunday, July 3. Will definitely compensate, I really liked that glove, hoping for the improbable here.

check your pm's.

check your pm's.