jlag

I'd go if you were closer Ken, love hanging with ya. JL

Looking for a partner for multi pitch that day. Anything long and 5.8-5.10. I've got a rental car. JL

Impressive, nice job man.

check yer pm's

Did OffWhite go to the burn this year??? This guy is amazing. JL

you will be able to camp on dirt if that is what you choose. Plenty of snow up high still, but the ridge is mostly snow free, especially on the S. side of it. bring bug dope, they will carry you away when the sun goes down. JL

Ticks none, Rattlers around. Coming from someone that DOES NOT LIKE Rattlesnakes it was tolerable. But, snakes were quite present. They love the lower boulder area approaching on the trail to The Bend. Some big fatties just lounging on the trail. The best was the "flying snake". I kinda recall just seeing a post not too long ago about flying snakes. Well, this morning i witnessed that first hand. While Frankie was going up cool crack at The Bend, a snake(not rattler) literally hucked itself off of an 70 foot cliff. Missing him by 3 feet, and me having to yell "SNAKE" from the bottom. Classic good times. The snake slithered away. weather was great, no crowds at all, climbing was great and MORELS are going off. JL

Amazing, looks like so much fun. Those debris pile photos are pretty classic, lets hold on to those. I traversed those lower moraines before, usually mostly flat lava fields with cool bivy spots. JL

Anybody got any idea how bad the ticks are there currently? With the late season warm up i wonder if they'll pick me up and carry me away. maybe i can get one of them to rope gun for me? any help would be great, thanks Jlag

Letsroll is kidding, nobody was on that face at the time. I agree, point release was after initial fracture. The picture made the front page of Bend Bulletin today.

thanks, I was just getting ready to post that photo. Tapper took it and sent it to me. great photo. JL

Working on trying to get a photo up. Massive avy on the Villard(NE aspect) side of North Sister today. One of the biggest crowns i've ever seen on that beauty. A good 3-5ft crown running all the way across the entire face. Easy to see from HWY 97 over 20 miles away. anybody got a photo? JL

I'd say probably 3-6" over the last few days up high. It's hard to tell as the weather has been so unstable. Bend has had sunshine, rain squalls, hail and T-storms since Monday. Before that a good 6+ inches above 6000ft. It does clear up there, but not for an entire day. hope that helps JL

It's open all the way to the TH. But you've got your routes mixed up, 11 O'clock is on Broken Top, not North Sister. JL

you can get within 1/2 mile of TH for Pole Creek. Should be melted out all the way in a day or two. JL

Marks' photo is the money pitch on Birds in a Rut. After seeing that i may need to go climb it this weekend. JL

2nd for Ride The Lightning. Then Master of Puppets. Justice was actually really good, but a bit over-produced. I prefer a bit more of a raw sound. When they had Dave Mustane in there as well(No Life Till Leather) they sounded very raw and powerful.

Deck potential on the last pitch? I don't think so. Bolts are like 10 ft apart the whole way and it's barely 5.7. Great outting though. It's cleaned up so much since first put up. Cool exposure on the 3rd pitch traverse.

cool beans, got it. JL

why do you want to get more people climbing there? Does it matter? I agree Cougar is not a secret, but it probably doesn't need to be marketed on the internet. Let them figure it out on their own. There certainly are topos, but we don't post them. JL

I actually have ridden up there by myself, but i wouldn't drop the bowl or any other area that is that prone to ripping. I'm usually up there with another, with avy gear of course. We assess snow, ski cut and make appropriate decisions. The mountain is not liable for me up there, i heard it right from the president's mouth the other night. The Avalauncher doesn't reach the bowl, it's for the lower moraine. And i'm dropping long before they start with that thing. They just got it this year, so before i just had to make sure i was out of there before patrol got up there with charges. I think a really important fact that needs to be considered here is how infrequently Bachy can get the summit open. They struggle to get that thing open between rime and wind. Most of the days I'm "poaching" are after it's clear they won't get it open so we skin up. No need to apologize Nate, i actually appreciate your viewpoint and respect it. Your right, some idiot might follow me up there. But do really want to govern PUBLIC LAND for the least common denominator? Put in b/c gate, check folks for peeps/shovels, whatever. One thing that everyone has to remember, legendary folks(around here at least)have been skinning to the summit for over 20 years!! And never an incident reported. The folks that are venturing up there know what they're doing. Bachy went from absolute no policy to the most restrictive one possible. I'm not supportive of all out free for all, please don't get me wrong. But respectfully as adults we should be able to meet half-way. JL

I don't really feel like last nights meeting w/Bachy, USFS and concerned uphillers went anywhere. The only positive i saw was them realizing how many folks are willing to show up. And just how intereseted uphillers are in some sort of access. Bachy cries safety, safety, safety. But when other uphill options are suggested avoiding safety concerns they are willing to listen, but with not much concern. For instance the winch-cable grooming is an obvious safety concern. Those cable can really hurt someone, fine we realize. But they only operate them 1 area at a time, so uphiller could avoid them w/basic communication. Mr Bachy stated the problem is you just never know which area will be winch cabling, and it can change minute to minute. At this point i had to pull my feet onto the chair to avoid the B.S. that was spewing forth. Lame excuse, and helped me understand his agenda. I could go on and on. But at least we're somewhat organized, and very politely suggesting a different plan. He made it loud and clear, with F.S. official at side that just because it's public land doesn't mean we can do whatever we wanted. JL

Bachy stating that people are knocking signs down/turning signs to access summit is straight up B.S. I'm sure they're a few giving patrol a hard time and blatantly ducking ropes. Being one of the summit "poachers" myself, and knowing a few of the others, nobody is doing that. We're accessing the summit LONG BEFORE any signs are put up, and before ski patrol is even on skis. This is part of the issue. We're dropping the bowl before they even get up there, and they are pissed to see tracks. I'm avy savvy, i feel like i make good decisions up there. Your telling me i can't hike the summit, rip my line and be down before the first chair turns? Seems like privatization of public lands, and the F.S. should be ashamed to be part of it. I never take it out on patrol, they are just doing their job, but they can't lay a hand on me. I really don't believe that Bachy is that concerned about safety, it's just their scapegoat to keep people off the mountain.

It's actually Thin Slice, and it goes at 10b. Week at the City during freak Aug. cool down. Hot as hell everywhere else but perfect weather at City of Rocks. Place was empty. Tieton, Cougar, The Guillotine at Pete's(awesome route), and vendetta at Red Rocks with Walla Walla Pete. Great guy and blind date climbing partner. 5th pitch of Requim for a Tadpole is my favorite bolted pitch to date in my 38 years of life. Not climbing as hard, but having a lot more fun and adventure. JL

I'd prefer to go right for the big boy Bachy. Get a group of 10+ folks and just park at the snow park across the street. Head up uber early and just go up Rainbow and on to summit. Bring video camera as well. should be interesting. Maybe a good idea to wait a bit as all the folks are meeting this Tuesday.