Tennessee

You should all know that there is an easier access to the lower coleman glacier. There is a trail through the woods that brings you right onto the compression zone from Mirkwood Camp. Mirkwood camp is in the trees a couple hundred feet down from Survey Rock which is the typical overlook for hikers sitting right above the last trees on the moraine. Walk all the way through the flat camping area in the woods and find a trail that winds down 200 ft or so through the woods and spits you out onto the lower end of the compression zone of the lower coleman glacier. This is a very easy and straightforward way to access the seracs with beginners.

I've got a room open for the summer and would like to fill it with a climber until Mid August or September (very flexible). two rooms available, $300 and $375 per month including bills. It's a 4 bd house near downtown bham with other climbers living here, all working the summer season at a guide service. Lots of climbing partner options available. call if you are interested 360-927-1551. No emails or PM's por favor. Andy

I forgot my camera on the climb. It made me want to jump off the mountain.

I approached Gunsight peak from Stehekin in July 2001. There is a broad ridge that goes up the south side of Mt Agnes from the PCT. It involved about 5000 feet total, starting with 2000 feet of old growth forests, going into 1500 feet of slide alder, then another 1500 feet of heather benches with a bit of 3rdish class scrambling before reaching alpine terrain. It was somewhat brutal. I would think that finding your way down this might not be too bad, as long as you stay away from gullies. I'd heard of people using Icy creek (?) for this ascent from the PCT, but there wasn't enough snow cover at that time so we decided not to. If it has enough snow coverage, that might be the way. It's the creek that drains the glacier on the north side of Agnes. Cliff Leight has used the Icy Creek approach and said it involved lots of brush. We took two days for this approach from Stehekin to a camp below Agnes, but we had huge packs with giant rock racks up to #5 camalot, so it was slow. From Agnes, or Gunsight, a fast party be able to make it down in one day assuming no route finding mistakes. It ended up being worse than the map made it look.

I feel like I constantly hear from Pit Bull owners that it is the "training" of the dog, and not the dog itself that will determine whether or not the dog will attack. This is not the case in my opinion, or according to statistics. It was stated earlier that many of these breeds of dogs were bred specifically for fighting, as opposed to retrieval or sniffing or whatever. That is why they attack more, and when they do attack, it is called a "mauling" rather than a "bite". My brother was attacked by a pitbull when he was 7 years old, by a well behaved, mature dog that had a professional trainer/breeder as an owner, and the dog had never attacked anyone in it's life. The owner was beside himself and couldn't believe it. My brother did absolutely nothing to provoke the dog, he just tripped over a toy on the floor next to the dog. He almost lost his calf muscle. People who have Pitbulls or any other of the fighting breeds should have a very good reason to do so, otherwise they are either really brave or really stupid to put themselves, their family, and their financial well-being on the line just to have one of these dogs. No matter what, no matter how disciplined your dog may be, there will be situations that occur that are out of the ordinary, that put your dog on edge, that are out of your control. You should expect that your dog could attack anyone at anytime and that the attack will be more than just a bite or nip (like it would be with most other breeds). To say that other breeds are the same or have the same propensity to attack, even if true, does not take into account the severity of the attack.

We climbed the West Ridge of Sherpa on Friday 5/30. The approach was basically snow free until just before reaching the 5400 ft bench beneath the Sherpa glacier. We had to take the right-hand couloir above the Sherpa glacier to get to the ridge (as opposed to the left-hand couloir which would have taken us closer to Sherpa Peak, but it had a steep spot that had melted out). The rest of the route was on excellent rock with a few minor loose bits, snow free, and really enjoyable. The strangest thing though . . . the summit was covered in thousands of ladybugs. I've never seen anything like it. We also saw a couple other guys at camp, Sol being one of them, they had climbed the Stuart Glacier couloir. They said that a section had melted out, which they bypassed by rock climbing.

After you visit the Eastern Sierra, you might instead call your trip to the Valley the "side trip"! I second the vote on 3rd Pillar of Dana. By the way, it's the Sierra, not the Sierras.

As soon as it melts out, you should check out Split Rock. It's at about 3000 ft elevation in the Cultus Mountains. A really pretty place that's not very developed. what electrical program are you going through? Is it through Skagit Valley? I've been thinking of going to electrical school as well.

That looks an aweful lot like a hex in the crack and on his harness. It also looks like long underwear being worn beneath shorts.

I've dealt with many organizations in Ecuador including Safari. Most of the guide services use the same guides, so it's the management/logistics/equipment that separate the companies. I don't recommend Safari since they changed management a couple years ago. I very highly recommend Andean Face run by Javier Herrera. He runs a very tight ship, he is an amazing guide himself, and he only hires the best of the best guides in Ecuador most of whom have trained overseas or had training from UIAGM guides visiting Ecuador. Most of these guides are his amigos, and they prefer to work with him. He owns newer vehicles also, rather than hiring out any bus or 4x4 available. Use Javier, he is by far the most professional outfit in the country.

In my opinion AIARE courses seem to offer the most cutting edge instructor training and constantly updated and scrutinized curriculum and teaching methods. There's lots of AIARE providers in the PNW - American Alpine Institute (Baker area), Mountain Madness (Stevens Pass), and Pro Guiding (Snoqualmie). Take the course nearest to the area(s) you plan to be skiing so you get an understanding of the particulars of the snowpack and terrain you will be most likely be using. Look at the number of days (particularly field days), student to instructor ratio, professional training of the instructors, where the field days are held, and whether the curriculum is nationally or internationally standardized.

Gene, I'm flattered you're so curious. I'm starting a career in solar energy. www.ecotechenergy.com To clarify, there are two positions open in AAI's office: my position as expedition coordinator/guide scheduler, and Shawn's position as communications/marketing/program coordinator. Both are great opportunities either for guides wanting to have a more normal schedule (i.e. sleep in your own bed) or for a climber interested in breaking into the exciting field of guide service administration. Andy

yeah, bellingham bites the big one. Snobby people, crappy weather, no climbing and as culturally rich as, well, Tennessee except Tennessee has more climbing. Not as bad as TX, I'll at least give it that. If you really want to move somewhere with lots of climbing, try Boulder, CO. I hear it's a cool place.

I do in fact believe that it is Mount Jimmy Jimmy.

talk about crickets . . .

3 fingers maybe?

What about eldorado?

You come all the way out to WA to climb traderoutes? Lame dude.

You misread Layton's post. He said he WOULD trust the folks at AAI. It's the respect part I'm wondering about.

I was very sad to hear this news. I talked to Charlie extensively when planning my first trip to the area and he was so nice and extremely helpful. He's been to China so many times and climbed so many things, mostly solo. Peaks that took other expeditions weeks to climb with multiple camps, he would do in a day by himself. He's probably got more first ascents in Sichuan than any other single person, not to mention all the other millions of places he's been. I stayed in this area for a month last fall, it is a beautiful place. Very remote and peaceful and untouched by the outside world. The mountain, Genyen, is a holy peak. A monastery is built at the base and has a 1500 year history. Sounds like Charlie and Chris may have been attempting something on the North Face which faces the monastery. There's several big chutes one must climb to access that side. A route on that side got climbed by an Italian team earlier this year. This may sound strange, but I can't think of a more peaceful and spiritual place to pass over to the other side. May they both rest in peace.

Yep, there's some sweet skiing up there and amazing scenery, this will be my 3rd time in the area. It's probably the coolest huts with ski-access rather than heli-access, so it's way cheaper. It's filling, but there's still a couple of spots left if anyone is interested. -Andy

I purchased 12 spots in two backcountry huts at Rogers Pass in the Selkirks of BC and still have 7 spots left after soliciting all my friends (lame, I know). If any of you have interest in going, let me know by emailing me at bourneography@yahoo.com. I unfortunately don't have a lot of time to check this board very often so don't reply to this unless you have a question and you can wait for an answer. The first one reserved for the nights of Feb 11-12 is the AO Wheeler hut which is 1km from the road and sleeps 24 people. So we have half of the hut. You can basically bring the kitchen sink to this hut, so it is the party hut. The good skiing is accessed with a one hour ski up valley. The second is reserved for the nights of Feb 13-15 is the Asulkan hut which is another 3 to 5 hour ski up valley from the Wheeler hut and sleeps 12 people, so we have the whole thing reserved. This is an amazing skiing hut, you can step out the door, put on your skis and do a 800 foot tree glade run or ski uphill to access open alpine and glaciated terrain. Here's the beta on the huts: http://www.alpineclubofcanada.ca/facility/wheeler.html http://www.alpineclubofcanada.ca/facility/asulkan.html Here's some ski pics around the Asulkan hut: http://members.tripod.com/~Schryer/1999/Asulkan.html Here's the price breakdown: Feb 11-12 Sun-Mon - Wheeler hut ($32 per night or $22 for ACC members) Feb 13-15 Tue-Thu - Asulkan hut ($22 per night for everybody) 6 day 5 night price if you are not an AAC Member - $130 6 day 5 night price if you are an AAC Member - $110 *AAC Annual Membership - $56 7 out of 12 spaces are left. If you want to come and bring a friend or two, it's cool, you can forward this info to them. at this point I'm just trying to get my money back. The 5 of us who are going so far are all pretty cool and laid back, advanced skier/boarders. Two on Splitboards the rest on skis. We definitely like to party it up, but we'll be going to bed pretty early usually in order to get up and get on the mountain. Ages are 32, 32, 32, 36, and 24. Everyone is from Bellingham except one from Jackson Hole. To go you gotta pay for all 5 nights or find your own person to split with if you can only make certain huts on certain days. The Asulkan hut can be hard to get into, but the Wheeler is not a problem. If you only wanted to go to the Wheeler hut you might even be able to book extra space there on your own, if you did this you would want to do it soon by calling the Alpine Club of Canada at 403 678 3200. If you think you can go, let me know by emailing me at bourneography@yahoo.com. Later, Andy

I climbed there in November of 1999 and put up a few new routes that will one day be discovered by some adventurous person. Couldn't really tell you where they are other than on an island called "three peach beach" translated to English. I'm sure everything has changed a bit since being there, but one thing I can say is to watch out for sharp items on the beaches (glass, needles, etc.) and don't climb on the rock that is less than vertical despite how inviting it looks from below. It is extremely sharp and dangerous. The overhanging light colored rock is where the good climbing is. Have fun and don't forget to learn some of the language before you go. It's easy and it makes a better impression on the local people.

Actually, the rule about no guiding on Friday or Saturday nights does not apply to the routes in the "Muir Corridor" (DC, Gib Ledges, Nisqually), or any other non-summit trips. There is no guiding on weekends on the other routes where guiding is allowed - Liberty Ridge, Emmons, Fuhrer Finger, Kautz Glacier. There is no guiding allowed at all in the pie shaped area above 7000 feet starting at Success Cleaver going around to Ptarmigan Ridge.

Huh? They are expanding into Tibet as a means of conquering a "renegade" province. The Han Chinese view China as always having been theirs despite ideas of independence on the part of the misguided and backwards theocratic Tibetans. Not entirely dissimilar from their views of the Republic of China (Taiwan) He's right, Han Chinese see Tibet as originally "theirs". A long time ago, China conquered Tibet. Sometime later the Tibetans gained independence (and sacked Xian, the capitol of China in the process). When China gained power again with Mao, they "took back" Tibet in 1959. The reason they see it as the "peaceful liberation of Tibet" is that Tibet had been under a theocratic government run by the Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism headed by the Dalai Lama. At that time, China thought of all religion as being bad, especially when it is combined with government (think Taliban). So now that they are building roads, power grids and bringing economic growth to Tibet, they use this as propoganda to the rest of the Chinese to show that they are being a benevolent force rather than an oppressive occupier. The few Tibetans that are brave enough to go against the rule of the Chinese military are harshly dealt with because the Chinese Government fears an uprising. Followers of the Dalai Lama commonly try to get into or out of Tibet through Nepal or India, and they are seen as enemy forces. Therefore, the heavy handed nature of their military forces on the border of Nepal. The amazing thing is that most Chinese people I have met don't see why the whole world is against their "liberating" Tibet. They think that propoganda is affecting world opinion and unfairly judging China for what they see as a peaceful take over of a backward nation that used to be theirs in the first place. Just be aware that it is the Chinese government that is bad, not Chinese people. Sounds a lot like another country I know . . .