Dane

Shit, just clipping that bolt out right on the smooth wall a long ways out from the corner is hard. Good place to turn around imo. Glad you did

Sorry it was yesterday, Tuesday..not Monday. It was after midnight when I was writing. Nice all day. I was a pussy because of my feet so we bailed and left around 4PM. I've soloed some chit bitd but YOU were nuts to have solo'ed that first pitch Sobo! The mighty Klewin was me guide for the day Got rained out of Boise and it is raining hard here in 'quah again today and Doug said it was raining in 'berg this morning. No TR but I really like the rock (but am a terrible face climber) and the area. I'll be back. The dougie styl'in the corner. And your stellar first pitch which I found rather hard btw

Thanks for the push to check GE out. We were on RTL yesterday. Awesome place imo. I'll certainly be back asap.

We are all climbers by definition so your description is accurate. It is all just a matter of degree. You ever done AF? Not the simpliest 3 pitch climb in the world to get on or off.

Ya, right, "falling skills". Mine are, if possible, a quick look down on both sides to see what I am going to hit on the way. It use to be a joke with my regular partners. "When he starts looking down real quickly, there isn't any warning past that, he is about to wing". Then I would either make the next move or grease/blow off. Works great on smooth vertical or over hanging rock with good pro. With the pro as close as possible to your face Not always so good on differing terrain.

Ab Free has a contrived fairly long uphill approach and a unfun walk off decent. Might well have been easier/faster to finish the route than rap off and down climb, depending where the body was found. Then you'd have to get back to the village or a Ranger. Either way it all takes time if you aren't carrying a cell phone.

Agreed! And not my picture btw as was pointed out earlier. Obviously just a great photo No one hurt so I guess you could call it a "safe" fall.

Agreed on the marathon. No comparison to climbing Rainier fwiw. Nutrition, hydration requirements and time frames are totally different. A 6.5 hr marathon isn't particularly fast @ 15 min/miles. Few will do any route on Rainier in 6.5 hrs rt. Taper time (if required at all) and time frames from the event are defined by the length of the event and what pace you adopt for that particular event. Anyone doing Marathons, 1/2 IMs or a full IM will quickly tell you that the distances aren't hard with a good training base. The nutrition is what is hard at race pace for the extended time frames jumping from a 1/2 IM or marathon time frames (roughly compariable) to a full Iron Man (dbl the time frames) . None but the most elite climbers will push anywhere close to a "race pace" in the mtns so nutrition/hydration aren't such critical issues. Mess up either in a IM and you'll be left puking or shitting your guts out along the run of an IM. Mess up either or both on Rainier and most will likely get to the summit and down with very minor ill effects.

The nuts and bolts: "the 14th Amendment was meant to clarify the status of freed men" correct "and does not apply to foreigners." That is certainly one opinion, but not the current opinion of the Federal courts which is ALMOST the only one that counts. "the federal courts have never specifically addressed the question of whether children born to those in the country illegally should be entitled to citizenship" While it has been an accepted policy of the US government in the past it certainly has not been ruled on by the Supreme Court. Whether it should be or left status quo is up to the Supreme Court as they decide on the cases they want to hear based from cases decided in the Federal courts and then appealed. But the question has been addressed in lower courts several times recently as have many issues of the 14th Admendment: In some cases, the Court has implicitly assumed, or suggested in dicta, that such children are entitled to birthright citizenship: these include Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982), and INS v. Rios-Pineda, 471 U.S. 444 (1985).[14][15][16]. Good read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution Reading it might up the level of intelligent conversation on CC.com This should be interesting reading for our happy and most recent immigrant. "For much of the country's history, voluntary acquisition or exercise of a foreign citizenship was considered sufficient cause for revocation of U.S. citizenship.[18] This concept was enshrined in a series of treaties between the United States and other countries (the Bancroft Treaties). However, the Supreme Court repudiated this concept in Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 U.S. 253 (1967), as well as Vance v. Terrazas, 444 U.S. 252 (1980), holding that the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment barred the Congress from revoking citizenship." If it wasn't for our Supreme Court you'd hold just one passport and I'd venture not an US Passport at that. Welcome to Amerika, I know we didn't ask you to come, but try to make the most of it while you are here. You can relax this "new" idea of citizenship isn't going anywhere so we won't be kicking you or your family out. I just have to wonder why anyone comes here in the first place and if it is so bad in the USA why not move to another country? Easy to do with dual citizenship and Poland now being a part of the EU.

I have no dog in this fight but thought the quote amusing if it weren't so sadly ignorant. No historian here let alone a constitutional scholar.

We just had a friend "blown" off Shasta in a guided party. She related her guide's comments of, "Denali like" conditions for turning around. I choked back a laugh but none the less understand why they came down DC and follow the cow path? Or rock, baby rock! Leavenworth, Vanatage, Smith Rocks, Red Rocks, the valley, JT are/might be resonable options again weatehr dependant. That (east side of the Cascades) is were I am heading until we get some drier weather.

You been out in the slop lately? I'm a few minutes from Snoqualmie pass and have had serious rain almost every day for a couple of weeks now. It has been snowing on the summits there! All on a rain soaked snow base. The kind of conditions that you get climax slides. Consistant snow at 3500' and above in late May in the Cascades certainly seems unusual to me. As does good ice and mixed on the lower north faces in late May, early June. A NOAA forcast for 3 feet of new snow and strong winds on Rainier in June after snowfall all this week? All of which is why I made a point to mention it. Cascades are a little wetter and colder than normal for April, May and June this year imo. You don't normally get to climb water ice in late April on Snoqualimie pass. Imagine all the wind loaded pockets on Rainier after a week like this. Willi Unsoeld comes to mind but he was caught on Cadaver Gap in March. May 24 2010 at 7000' on Goat Rocks which was posted in the link above. Better to give the mtns a few weeks and do some fun rock climbing while you wait.

Joe, wasn't directing that to you in particular. Lead falls on rock are an accepted part of the game to push your limits. I only know two climbers who have taken multiple lead falls on ice and not been injured. Not yet anyway. Save the lead falls for pushing on rock. They don't typically result in a serious injury. Common sense should tell us there are too many sharp pointy things around to be taking falls on ice and to tone it down a notch or two there unless it is in a very controlled environment.

From a different thread but appropriate here. Really bad weather cycle right now guys. Rainier will always be there. "But besides the obvious most recent incident on water fall ice, not to be aware that we are experiencing an exceptionally unique weather cycle right now is being blind. Dangeriously blind imo. I have seen many deaths in the alpine over the years. Most were preceeded by similar exceptionally wet spring weather patterns not nearly as dramatic as the one we are in now. The Enchantments, any Hood route, any route on Rainier, the Canadian Rockies, the ice climbs like Deltaform comes to mind, are all places that have seen deadly tragedies in the last few years......after a wet spring." The most dangerious time is during and the 24/48 hrs right after a storm. High winds make it all that more complicated as the mtns. unload. I've done the Kautz and the Emmons and wouldn't be on Rainier with that forcast. A couple of weeks from now it will likely be the casual summer conditions everyone raves about. Ya'll be careful out there.

Damn, Gaston R. had some serious ankle flexibility going on didn't he?

I had intended this to be a serious and if nothing else a somber thread for us to think about what can and does happen with too much regularity. Mr. Frieh has been lucky, exceptionably lucky on ice imo. Knowing this himself is why he added a smiley face to his post and to lighten the tone of the thread I suspect. I don't think anyone is going to seriously suggest falling on ice isn't extremely dangerious. Kelly Cordes might have an opinion as might Kurt or Doug Scott. I've seen one fall (two years ago) on ice over many seasons. It ended in a badly fucked up knee. I find little humor in suggesting that falling on ice is acceptable or comparable to falling on rock. But if you are going to take lead falls pushing yourself on mixed and ice, best to do it in very controlled circumstances to limit the possiblility of injuries. Just as you would on rock best way to do that is fall on steep terrain with good pro and an attentive belayer. Even a short fall that hooks a crampon will put most out of commission for a few weeks or months if you are lucky. But besides the obvious most recent incident on water fall ice, not to be aware that we are experiencing an exceptionally unique weather cycle right now is being blind. Dangeriously blind imo. I have seen many deaths in the alpine over the years. Most were preceeded by similar exceptionally wet spring weather patterns not nearly as dramatic as the one we are in now. The Enchantments, Hood, any route on Rainier, Liberty Ridge or DC are common, the Canadain Rockies, Deltaform comes to mind, are all places that have seen deadly tragedies in the last few years......after a wet spring. I suspect most of us look at deaths while climbing as "stupid mistakes" from hindsight. I generally have. It is easier than looking very hard at the real reasons any of us get killed climbing. My simple suggestion is look harder at what you are getting into on your next alpine outing this spring and as summer continues into fall. Better to be here making jokes than having the rest of us remind each other just how good of a friend and climber you were before you got chopped on some stupid fucking climb.

With the water ice season over and the alpine ice season just getting started how about a list of dangers in our sport we all add to? Avalanches..any time of year but most obvious in or just after storm cycles. Any sort of wind will make it worse and not always so easily identified. Avalanches kill more climbers than all the rest of the dangers combined, in all 12 months of the year. Low volume falls? Extreme cold or just as likely warm weather can cause a collape any time. High volume falls? Warm weather in the drainage can cause a collase at any time as the volume of water increases under the ice and weakens it. Know the kind of water fall you are on..low or high and the dangers of both. I suspect it is just seeing it on the forums but I am amazed at what climbers are getting away with recently. Some don't get away with it. Examples from this year? Bourgeau Left...climbed in terrible conditions. (I wouldn't get on it 10 days beforehand) Collapses the day after it is climbed. Snivelling Gully...climbed in 50 degree temps late in season. Bottom half is gone two days later. Louise Falls climbed in -30 temps and the right hand daggers cut loose with climbers at the base of the left hand pillar. Patagonia catalog shot in Japan...falls collapse as a full volume of open water comes down the middle of the falls. Same climb in the video below. Never hurts to think about this stuff beforehandand year around. With all the really shitty weather we are having right now even more so as we all wait for a break in the weather to get out.

I see the point and agree even though i use an auto block on occasion. In one multipitch climb I am likely to use all, an auto block, a hip belay or a standard belay off a BD guide depending on the circumstances and what I require. The least secure moving to the auto block, the most secure a hip belay imo if for no other reason the attention required for either and why you decide on which one to use. A new climber might find that a little scary. Trick is to know and more importantly trust your partner and their skills.

Agreed on the first paragraph. But I think the second is incorrect. A hip belay and the dynamics of why any belay works is what is important. Once you know why and how almost anything will work safely to belay with if you have an attentive belayer. now could some one please turn off the freaking RAIN

But just as obviously not a very good or astute financial reporter. Makes your repeated mistakes on the details/dates and the continued wild personal speculation even more pathetic. Obviously some sort of personal agenda on your part from the beginning. Any professional within a few minutes of research would recognise and acknowledge the situation with the Zylon law suits and stop pointing fingers. Nice Sarah Palin impersonation. If you have nothing of value to say, by all means just make shit up.

Interesting thread on the hip belay over at Super Topo as well. I don't use the Munter. I do use the other two (hip belay or an auto block device) quite often. And if the wire gates weren't so good I'd still use a biner brake as well with the right size ropes. 7.8 twins make life easy with a small rope Reverso. 7.8s are not a rope I'd like to use a Munter on.

Missed the rental idea myself. Good thought. Cold Finger: sez: "Basically, it's a dick move to put the success and safety of your team at risk "...right on. Any injury in the mtns that can so easily be prevented should never happen. Not making the effort makes no sense to me.

The NPS does. Either way it is illegal and they do make an effort to enforce it.

If you are determined to go "as is" duct tape or better yet mole skin up first and maintain it for your trip..up and down. Also worth making the effort to prep your feet every day for a few weeks before hand and during the climb with Tincture of Benzoin. And learn why you should. If you aren't now I would also get a super thin, poly pro liner sox and wear them, changing to dry ones every day. I'd also carry Betadine Swabs and a needle kit, check your feet often and drain the blisters early on if they show. A $30 pair of insoles might solve a lot of your problems. Good luck!

Has this kind of damage ( the blister) happen on all three of your Rainier trips or just the most recent? What plastic boot and what size are you using. Your normal street shoe size? Blister always in the same place? No other damage or blisters on the rest of your foot? One or both feet? Do you wear your boot anywhere else besides a yearly visit to Rainier? Super warm feet is a good thing. Too warm of feet is bad. I have some ideas but want to hear more first.