chris

http://www.adventure-journal.com/2012/08/court-strikes-down-fees-but-forest-service-still-collects And discuss (or rant, as the case may be).

Nice work Ian! This is one of those destinations that I think we've all wished there was a great guidebook for, but no one was willing to put in the work to make it happen. Thanks for putting this up! I'm getting my copy.

On my first Denali trip, the sewn-on gear loop tabs of my BD Alpine Bod dug into my bony hips. To the point I developed sores/wear points. At 11,000' I finally took a knife and cut the tabs off. The BD Couloir is a better harness because it packs smaller and the fabric gear loops are mounted to the bottom of the waist belt, not the top like the Alpine Bod. Its become my harness of choice for ski mountaineering, mountaineering, solos and 3rd class scrambles. Blue Ice makes something similar that I'd like to check out.

Forgot to mention - take the heather-filled couloir immediately behind the beehive tower in Chair Basin (is that the thumbtack?), and you have an awesome ridge traverse to the base of the buttress. No ropes required. This is my now my preferred finish to the approach.

Trip: Chair Peak - NE Buttress Date: 8/25/2012 Trip Report: Photos on Monday. Since I've never been up to Chair Peak in the summer, I decided to make a trail run/solo climb out of Saturday afternoon. The climb was uneventful. For the beginning third, I opted to climb the more solid green lichen rib on the left instead of the dark chimney that headed right. It was more difficult climbing, but good moves on really solid rock. For the second third, I stayed right and on the rib/ridge/arete/whatever about 2/3 of the way, then traversed left (starting just below a horizontal red band), to an easier corner on the far left side of the buttress that lead to a big gnarled krumholz tree. Continuing up the right side looked viable, but exceeded the 4th class rating I was looking for. The final third can either be straight up through the heather, or up solid rock on the left side. I chose the rock. I downclimbed to descend, choosing the heather for the top third, following my line pretty precisely for the middle third, and opting for the deep, dark chimney on the bottom third. I would agree with Beckey's 4th class rating if using the chimney, my route description for the middle third, and the heather at the top. Variations like the green arete on the bottom third or staying on the buttress right through the headwall on the middle third bumps it up to low 5th. Gear Notes: I did take climbing shoes to move faster and with more security. Approach Notes: Because the old trail has fallen into disrepair above Source Lake, I think it's a toss-up if you take the Source Lake turn-off or continue up to Snow Lake Divide and then follow the old trail down. I followed the Beckey description up into the bowl, and the current popular avalanche path route down. They both took about the same amount of time, though the Beckey line was more pleasant. I started from a talus field adjacent tot the trail at about 4300-4400 elevation. A few cairns in the talus field told me that someone had been here before too.

I think it comes partly from tradition - the figure eight was introduced after the bowline, and since everyone tied back-ups on the bowline, they continued to do so with the fig 8. But there's never been a report of a correctly tied, finished fig 8 spontaneously coming undone. There's several cases of unfinished fig 8's failing - Lynn Hill's 80-footer in France is possibly the most famous. I think the gyms continue to teach it because it gives them a visible redundancy, allowing a lone employee manning the desk to take a look across the space and see - that even if someone completely fouled up their fig 8, they have some sort of backup knot that may work. Its not a guarantee, but it does add a level of reassurance. I teach my guests this distinction, teach them yosemite finishes when they do have longer tail then needed, and explain that backup knots may get in the way at anchors on multi-pitch climbs, so we try to do without them.

Anyone been around the Tooth, Bryant, or Chair Peak recently? Looking for an estimate in snow coverage.

I agree with your observation about how the Park Service has concentrated use on the Muir and Emmons routes - but I think the climbing season is from May through October, not three months. The problem I have is that tent platforms on snow or rock aren't typically tucked up against each other, but spread out to accomodate foot traffic privacy. And the slate isn't wiped clean each day - those plat forms degrade after a few days and require new plat forms to be built. In the end, its all sprawl. And in September, I think we'd be hard pressed fitting 50 tents on Camp Muir dirt and the surround snowfields, especially since the crevasses on the Cowlitz are typically open enough to make that area an unadvisable camp. So I'm really against the sprawl, and I think huts help mitigate that. And I'd be all in favor of a similar arrangement at Camp Schurman. I know it would be a cold day in hell before that realistically would happen, but that's my opinion when you want to concentrate the use of 100+ climbers at one spot on the side of a mountain. I may have missed it being mentioned in the EA, but I thought the primary reason for introducing new material to Camp Muir was to cover foot-paths and platform surfaces, covering the volcanic fines and minimizing off-site transport by wind (or keeping the loose, sandy dirt from getting blown away by the wind). You're right, this is a good conversation.

Denali no longer has pit toilets at either the SE Fork of the Kahiltna or 14K. All climbers must use the clean mountain cans at all locations. With the exception of 17K, the CMC bags get tossed in designated crevasses near the camp. For 17K, they're supposed to be carried down and disposed at 14K. Given the volume of waste involved in the length of time required to do Denali, asking groups to carry out their waste would likely not be very well-received. Doh! Show's you where I haven't been lately. That sounds like a good compromise. Still, because of the day use I think toilets are a better mitigation at Muir.

Scared, I knew we would be at odds and I'm disagreeing with you. When Denali National Park considered requiring climbers remove all their waste (via blue bag or can) and decided that they'd get a higher level of cooperation and better overall sanitation by continuing to use the pit toilets at the Kahiltna and 14. NOTE: Since I last climbed Denali (which has been awhile), the pit toilets have been removed and bagged waist is deposited at marked crevasse sites. I stand corrected. I don't remember the citation anymore. I believe that 17-25 tents and two structures take up less space than 35-50 tents and the existing historic structures. I think that by encouraging 1/2 the users to stay in the shelter, the footprint of the total area impacted would be the most minimal of the Alternatives. I can support this opinion having witnessed at least 12 huts in Canada and New Zealand that succeeded in doing just that. I'm not trying to be superficially plausible, yet wrong; nor am I trying to mislead. You do get extra points for using specious in a sentence. I forgot to mention that I think that anyone using the shelters - guided or non-guided - should pay a slightly higher user fee than someone choosing to carry a tent. This would require the Park to make reservations and issue receipts for the hut, but I agree in paying for what you use and it seems reasonable to expect someone who won't use the shelter to pay less. I agree with Cascade that trucking in gravel sucks, but I don't know an alternative. I don't see this requiring more staffing than currently. I'm just trying to state my opinion as clearly as I can. I did use your statement to help focus my thoughts, and I did read the EA completely. I think its fair to disagree about this - it reflects a fundamental difference in opinion about what climbers' impact in the environment should be.

I'm equally biased in the other direction - I believe that historical and current traffic of the Muir corridor has made this area a non-wilderness, in fact if not in name, and that we should do everything we can to minimize that impact. Someplace that gets 500+ day hikers, sleeps 100+ at night and another 72 on the Muir snowfield or Ingraham flats is not a wilderness. Wild - for sure. But not wilderness. If you've been lucky enough to use a hut in Canada or New Zealand, then you know what I have in mind. New Zealand's Department of Conservation decided back in the 1970's to encourage hut construction, believing that concentrating the human impact in an area was more valuable then dispersing the impact over a borad area. For camp muir, we're talking about concentrating 50-60% of the impact into buildings and 17-25 tents outside, instead of having 35-50 tent platforms on the dirt and surrounding snowfields. I would prefer equal shelter available for guided and non-guided users, and the shelters should consist of nothing but unpadded sleeping platforms or bunks and a fire-proof, ventilated cooking counter. Its already been cited that toilet facilities provide better sanitation than blue-bag policies. Consider the camps at the Kahiltna Airstrip and 14000 on Denali if a blue-bag method was applied instead. Because 100+ people are getting their water from snow melt at or near Camp Muir, it makes logical sense that toilet facilities are preferable to blue bags. I would have a different opinion on this if: the day use traffic wasn't as high and two we weren't reliant on the immediate snow around Camp Muir for water. Because of the heavy foot traffic, remediation of the saddle has to occur. So my talking points are: *The Muir corridor is not wilderness in fact due to 700+ day users and almost 200 night users. *Fixed shelters preserve what wilderness character still exists by concentrating impact into a smaller radius rather than dispersing it over a greater area. *Because of the high user traffic, toilets provide a higher level of sanitation, critical for the water supply at the sight. *Remediation of the trails and platforms must take place to preserve Camp Muir as a viable site. *Therefore, I prefer Alternative 4, although the public shelter is too small and should be expanded into the 3 unit structure depicted in Alternative 3. Mt Rainier is wild, but Camp Muir is not a wilderness. It shouldn't be managed as such. Let's be realistic and trying to create a concentrated, minimum impact for the current use.

SALE PENDING to yellow.mzungu The original PCS model, with 1+ Liter pot. Piezo-igniter stopped working some time ago, but a lighter does the job just fine. I recently got a MSR Reactor and simply don't need this stove any longer. Available in West Seattle, or at VW or SBP. If you need me to ship please include that in your offer. Make an offer. Retails for $99.95.

This is inspiring - thanks for the TR!

FWIW, I usually tie a kiwi coil with a normal tie off, and then tie an 8 or an overhand on a bight and clip in. A butterfly is unnecessary (the pull is still in one direction).

Trip: Boston Basin - Torment, Sahale - S Ridge on Torment; Quien Sabe - Sahale Traverse Date: 8/11/2012 Trip Report: Photos to come later, but I wanted to post a conditions report. Just got home last night from a three day trip into Boston Basin. We camped at high camp on Wednesday night, but only found one small spot melted out, and a second wall just starting to show. In the morning we climbed the S. Ridge on Torment. Getting across the Taboo was straight-forward, and the bergschrund bridge is 150-200' wide right now. While we didn't see any rockfall or ice fall on Thursday, a descending team did witness a BIG event on Tuesday, and we saw the debris littering the fan underneath the 'schrund. Don't hang out here. The South Ridge notch is a straight forward step across. A rappel station at the top of the 25' first step (described in the Select) gets you back to the snow. 60m rope mandatory for the rappels on the ridge. On Friday we carried up and over Sahale via the Quien Sabe Glacier/Sahale Glacier routes. The hike out was surprisingly long - we thought smoother trail would make up for the longer distance. In the end, we agreed that the alpine scenery made it worthwhile, but you need a good pair of legs and light packs to feel good about it. We saw some folks hiking up to climb the Sahale Glacier route with 65+ liter packs - what's up with that? Gear Notes: Cams - 1 set to #3 Stoppers - I set #4-10, even sizes only 4 shoulder slings 2 double-shoulder slings 1 cordellette biner bits and bobs crampons and ice axe Approach Notes: The trail is completely melted out - hike high to find a crossing at the last creek before low camp (high that low camp's elevation), and drop back down to camp.

FWIW - 5mm cord is rated to 1169lbs, or 5.2 kn. Which is more than enough (in my opinion) for the static loads it will be tasked with when used as part of an anchor or as a friction hitch in a rescue. Also, I usually use kleimheist and autoblock friction hitches with dyneema slings. Regarding the stopper knots - DPS and I can attest that they work, when I fell into a crevasse on the Ruth Glacier the knot actually stopped my fall before the rope even became tight on DPS. Made me a convert. For crevasse rescue, I use (and teach) a drop C to the victim, then I build a 6:1. If the rope isn't long enough, I'll try to extend the locking carabiner to the victim with my cordellette. If that's not long enough, I'll resort to clipping into whatever stopper knot that can be reached - although that's never happened to me in practice or actual application.

I'm looking for the old Exit 32 stapleback. Don't need to buy - but I'd like to borrow it long enough to scan it into a PDF. If you have a copy you're willing to share and you're in Seattle, please send me a PM. Thanks - Chris

You're looking for A Rock Climber's Guide to Bellingham Rock! by Jason Henrie. The Outdoor Center at WWU used to have a reference-only copy.

Good one, that makes you somewhere between 50 and 80 years old to anyone who doesn't know you... I wish I still had my Jrat harness - the first harness I ever owned...

FWIW: Feel free to contact Mammoth Mountaineering, Sierra Mountain Center, or Sierra Mountain Guides for the latest conditions. They're happy to share. When I lived in Bishop, that big dark streak down the U-Notch was the sure sign that its season was over. If you absolutely want to climb ice, send me a pm and I'll recommend a few routes to you.

I'm looking forward to checking them out at the Summer OR Show - I'll try to post some more photos afterwards!

FWIW, I regularly travel on a team of three with a 30m rope. With 15m spaced out between people, safe, effective and efficient crevasse rescue can take place. Sometimes I'll add butterfly "stopper knots" every 2m between the first and second climbers on the rope as well. Likewise, with two people a 30m rope is adequate. Either have both climbers carry 7-8m of rope at the ends, or give all 15m to the back. I almost always use butterfly "stopper knots" for a two-man team. Just my two cents.

SOLD!

Back up for sale! PM if you're interested.

Used on only a handful of climbs, the 5.10 Pitons are the low-top precursors to the current Grandstones. These climbed cracks phenomally well (especially smaller cracks), but they were just a little too redundant in my shoe quiver. For someone planning on that trip-of-a-lifetime to Indian Creek or the Valley, this could be the shoe. Because of the rubber-topped toe, I found that I only needed to size down a 1/2 size. These retailed for $100.00, plus shipping. Asking for $50.00 + shipping if applicable. Seattle-locals are free to come try them on before committing. For out-of-towners I have a money-back policy if you try them on and aren't satisfied with them. LINK to the 5.10 Granstone page. LINK to reviews of the 5.10 Piton on rockclimbing.com. [img:center]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-prVkCSN1AHs/T_cPVdrntnI/AAAAAAAAQ3s/IMuwUBo1mbM/s640/photo%2520%25285%2529.JPG[/img]