chris

A permitted guide service is able to make a reservation only before 31 May, and pays a special non-refundable fee for that reserved permit - after 31 May guide services have to apply just like anyone else, and any unreserved permits are made available to everyone. Probably 90% of my guided trips are booked after this reservation deadline - last year, it was 100%. Normally I just get there in time for opening and and have a second plan ready - remember, its not a big deal to me if I repeat a route (besides, there are some really fun alternatives). I wasn't able to get the permit I wanted twice last year. Depending on the length of the trip, I also try to avoid entering Boston Basin on the weekend. If a guest is insistent on climbing in Boston Basin (i.e. would rather cancel than climb something else), I'll offer to head over a day early providing I'm compensated for my time. Caveat - this is the system as I understand it, but I don't own a guide service and don't routinely have to deal with commercial permitting, so I may be wrong. And just to be clear, a guide service actually has two permits in NOCA - a commercial permit to operate within the park, and then a wilderness permit for a specific trip, just like a non-guided trip.

Kurt's got it right - anyone in your team can get the permit 24 hours in advance. Boston Basin is the only zone that I've ever had problems getting into. Depending on what your objectives are, I've simply had an alternative climb ready to go too.

Sorry for the late post, but was doing a quick search for Chair peak climbs when I saw this. Avalanche hazards on the exit need to be taken seriously - Chair basin cross loads when windy, and last year a team tripped a D1 in the same location as this incident that carried one climber into the debris field, where multiple collisions with ice blocks left him with a broken arm, broken leg, and internal bruising. It could have been much worse had he impacted with another part of his body.

Josh, by this do you mean you only want responses from climbers who live in Southern California? And what is your demarcation between South and North?

I've had great and prompt service from Salewa/Dynafit customer service. The only time they've been delayed is when they were waiting on inventory from Europe to arrive, and they let me know about it. Give Pro Ski and Mountain in North Bend a call - there's a good chance they have the part you need.

Come on - it wasn't that bad! I saw you grinning about it!

That's one of the best cheap ideas I've heard.

I think the dynamic vs static is determined by what the rest of the climb requires. For the occasional short rock step or bergschrund crossing I'll use a "rando" rope and double it up for the technical "pitch". Its nice to have a lighter rope for the DC, Coleman-Deming, etc. But if I'm anticipating technical pitches, the dynamic comes out. The Cascades, like the Alps and western Canada, have countless examples of technical routes that require moderate glacier travel beforehand and/or afterwards. I always use butterfly knots in a team of two. I've even used them on really broken terrain with a team of three. DPS caught me in a crevasse fall in the Ruth Gorge about 10 years ago using this method. And I've been able to catch every "practice" scenario in my guides' training and examination using this method too. Lastly - learn how to use a garda hitch - it has a couple of great applications in crevasse rescue for ascending a rope and providing an auto-belay on the haul system.

There is some discrepancy in the OMA account. If I remember correctly Glen moved to Rainier in 2000-2001, and started his business that winter. OMA's website is outdated - no updates to their conflict with Mountain Savvy since 2001, their database was last updated in 2008, and the last post in their forum was in April 2012.

@ Ben - not extactly. Mountain Savvy only provides avalanche courses and has a different permit than TMG's year-round guiding access. There are also a couple of other organizations that offer summer-time services.

Mountain Savvy is NOT affiliated with Timberline Mountain Guides. Its a separate company altogether - and I know and respect the owner. However I work with Timberline Mountain Guides on occasions, and strongly recommend them to anyone. You can see Timberline Mountain Guide and Oregon Ski Guide's calendar on their websites.

A typical Level 1 avalanche course is 3 days, or 24 hours of instruction, consisting of 8 hours indoors (either all at once, in two evening sessions, or spread out over the three days) and 2 days in the field. The AIARE curriculum has become the most standard. There are also Avalanche Awareness clinics, which typically are anything less than a level 1 class, and can run the gamut of 2 days in the field with no classroom time to an hour-long power point presentation. Alternatively, you can also get a group of friends together and hire a guide service like Timberline Mountain Guides or Oregon Ski Guides for private instruction. TMG/OSG also offers typical avalanche courses. Just as a caveat, I've learned over time that many self-educated backcountry travelers have BIG GAPING holes in their avalanche education, and some serious misunderstandings of the "why" behind things happening. More than a few times someone has reassured me that they knew something, only to find that their understanding is very flawed and we now have to spend time backtracking to fill in those holes or correct those misunderstandings. Sometimes the most efficient way to make sure your student has a solid grasp of the material is to start at the beginning. Feel free to post any follow up questions or PM me.

FWIW, both the current lame-duck Seattle mayor and his predecessor have stated, in interviews, that implementing and enforcing some sort of bicycle registration simply isn't cost-effective. I personally support property taxes to build pedestrian, bicycle, and metro infrastructure - the people and businesses who reside here are the ones that benefit the most from these improvements. And for every bicyclist I see do something stupid or illegal, I've witnessed at least 3 auto drivers roll through stop lights, run stop lights, speed, speed in a school zone, cut someone else off, and do all of the above with a cell phone in their ear. I've never, ever, witnessed or heard of anyone receiving a traffic ticket while riding a bike in Seattle. And that's STUPID. Every time this topic comes up, everyone expects that bicyclists will "naturally" behave and follow the law without enforcement. I invite and encourage the SPD to begin enforcing traffic laws on bicyclists (this includes me). I think that people ride like they drive. Crappy drivers = crappy bicyclists too. And fixies are to bicycling what telemarking is to skiing.

Did you forget to pack your climbing shoes on Sunday, 20 October? Tell me what they were and where you think you left them, and they're yours. This offer is good for two weeks from today - after that I'll likely sell them because they're good shoes in good condition but too small for my feet. I'll be in Portland today to Wednesday noon too. Otherwise they're in Seattle and we'll need to sort out how to get them back to you. Sorry for the late post, but I'm finally unpacking from last week.

I posted the same message in TAY's Weak Layers forum.

The original post is over in the Gear forum - for simplicity's sake, please post any questions/comments over there too. Thanks. LINK

Full disclosure: I'm the local Special Projects and Tech Rep for Backcountry Access, and I've been given permission from BCA to start this post and answer questions. Last winter, we had nine Float packs (out of +11,000 worldwide), fail to operate when the trigger was pulled. All nine packs belonged to reps, and all had been deployed multiple times (one rep estimated more than 50) without trouble. BCA discovered that the E-clip, which holds the trigger assembly together, can become dislodged when cylinders are attached or removed roughly. Without the E-clip, the trigger assembly can't operate. BCA decided to do a voluntary recall because our mission is to save lives, and your safety is our first priority. Because the trigger assembly is designed to be easily removed (on the Float 32, lefties can switch shoulders), this is something that a Float owner can easily replace themselves with a philips head screwdriver and 15 minutes. Follow this link to read more about this, including directions on ordering a Trigger Upgrade Kit.

Matt, this might be a mistranslation of Italian and the Italian legal code - since I think its more appropriate, I wondered if "manslaughter" should have been translated as "negligent homicide", or if "manslaughter" in Italy is the equivalence. Anyone know someone fluent in Italian who can read the original news story, since all the English versions appear to be a Google translated, edited for grammar version of the same release?

Give Mike or Martin a call at Pro Ski and Mountain Service in North Bend. Or stop by with a dozen - I'll grab a copy first chance I get.

Is it possible to go to Village Books and have a copy made? Or do they only print in runs?

But that's what happened. A lone bolted station already existed (the last rappel out of the gully, if memory serves), when someone added three more bolted rappel stations by hand, a fourth station using cord because they had run out of time in the day, and removed over 10 lbs of tat. Yet the NOCA NPS argued that these anchors set a dangerous precedent that could lead to sport climbing on Forbidden, and sent up a ranger team less than a week later to remove all the stations - including the one that already existed. Everyone I climb Forbidden with comments on how prolific tat is on the mountain - it seems like every descending rib feature on the west and east ridges has a sling every 30m. The descent from the West Notch is even worse - in my mind, there are three obvious ribs, and each has cord every 15-30 meters down. I've now done the rap descent 3 times in the last two months, and I've noticed new slings and cord added each time. If the point of a wilderness area is to leave a minimal trace, what creates less impact: 1) a known bolted rap descent or 2) an unknown rap descent utilizing terrain features slung by multiple parties being followed by climbers who have moderate experience and feel safer adding intermediate rappel stations, getting off route and adding more rappel stations, and creating potential scenarios in which someone might find themselves off route, unanchored and exposed to rockfall?

If I understand Lucky right, this mank chain is linked to these: LINK Lucky, why not just remove it - unless it was attached with cold-shut links?

Steph this is fantastic. Its not the end-all, but its a great launching point to answer the question, "Where do I want to go this weekend?" It addresses my weather bookmarks organized in exactly this fashion, and is so much easier to visually sort through. I'm definetely going to be sharing it on my FB pages. I would like to see the "Today" "Tomorrow" be replaced with the actual days of the week, and the day/month included. And I think the dropdown menu needs to be more prominently indicated - I almost missed it until you mentioned it in an earlier answer. Thanks again - I'd be stoked to test out a beta app.

Has anyone experimented with completely removing the waist belt and swivel from the BD Epic 35 and 45? And how difficult would it be to sew on a different hip belt instead? Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks

I've been climbing ice and 12-18k mountaineering in a pair of La Sportiva Nepal Extreme's since 2001. I just got a pair of Scarpa Phantom Guide's for the future. I'll disagree with JMK about size - my shoe size changes only by 1/2 euro size because I'm wearing heavier socks.