mike1

hypothetically, a person in that situation may be able to carve a bollard and use the remaining rope to self belay to the edge. Hindsight being 20-20 I bet Simon wished now he had done something like that. My point was more to my personal lesson learned from their experience. This day, if you cut the rope and had the similar situation - wouldn’t you be thinking, what if he survived that? Joe Simpson did. See what I’m saying?

curious - if you choose to ignore another user, then what? You can't see any of their posts? TR's? If I ignore Lucky, then do I automatically get to ignore Pope and Raindawg as a bonus? Can I ignore myself? If I ignore everyone will my screen just go white. This is what keeps me up at night...

That book was one of the first mountaineering tales of survival I read. I really like watching the video too. Heck, I even went to one of Joe’s presentations in Portland years ago. That dude has some sense of humor. I think the film was done well and it motivates me (in the beginning) to get out and climb! Then the accident. That’s tough to watch. Even more difficult is Joe’s crawl. Simon went through a different kind of hell up there. Both have my utmost respect. I think a lesson I learned from their experience is that I would try to get a visual on my partner before giving up. Try, being the operative word there. You never know what you’ll be faced with. I can only hope I would keep it together through an experience like that. I think I would, but hope I never have to.

What peak has an uncanny likeness to Sasquatch?

Well done!

Holy crap! I mean uh... HOLY CRAP!

That was funny.

got them - love them!

A rat? Henry is straight up.... Who gives a shit if he kissed a another guy. Or if he believes in different things than you. "Go without a coat when it's cold; find out what cold is. Go hungry; keep your existence lean. Wear away the fat, get down to the lean tissue and see what it's all about. The only time you define your character is when you go without. In times of hardship, you find out what you're made of and what you're capable of. If you're never tested, you'll never define your character." HR Are you kidding? This guy is on top of it man. Next time he rolls into your town go see him. I wish there were more people like Henry out there.

Got back a few days ago. Anything in particular you are looking for?

Thank you! We got out a few days ago after a successful traverse. The feet did awesome, aside form a couple blisters - no pain. I'm sure it was due to the shots, but hey, the trip was good so I'm happy! What next? We'll see...

I probably won't get your response until I'm back - but I'd be interested in hearing more about these trigger points. Thanks in advance! Mike

shot looking northerly from Seattle along ridge to Noyes. Meany & Queets in the distance. We traversed the ridge to Queets in '05 in route to Oly. I think the pass would be totally do-able more pics

Ha! but this one shot will get me through the Pickets over the next week and a half and likely the winter season too! Actually the doc thought that this one set of shots "could" cure the problem. I'm skeptical... I'll ultimately have the nerves clipped like treknclime did, after the symptoms reoccure of course.

He was both old and bold...

That's great to hear! Thanks!!!

Diagnosis: Neuromas. Treatment: cortisone injection (each foot), 500mg. Neproxen to manage pain if needed, orthotics (doc seemed to think this was the ticket). Prognosis: unknown... Will update after pickets trav.

Got the route fairly dialed... Anyone have recent beta on the Challenger Glacier conditions?

nicely done.

NOLS Backcountry Nutrition agrees as well. From what I understand, attempting to "water load" would just result in wasting energy and water for that matter. If you pee clear or straw colored urine before you go to sleep, then you can likely begin the next day at an optimum level of hydration. BTW, this NOLS book is an excellent read!

amazing.

That was my first thought, but wouldn't I feel pain from that more often - especially running? I've never had pain in my feet in the mornings. So far - only that day descending from Stu and the slight feeling during the gorge hike. But I did pick up some orange superfeet and stuck them in my Scarpas, then did Ruckle Ridge yesterday. My feet felt fine on the ascent, but I noted a few times on the descent where I felt this electrical or numbing sensation shoot from the ball of my foot into my fourth toe. Both instances I was stepping down on steep terrain on sharp rocks at odd angles. It didn't hurt and other than that, I made the entire descent with out pain. That sounds like a swollen nerve being pushed around... Good advice. I'm planning about 8 days in the Pickets this season so I'm going to make an appointment with the doc tomorrow to get a diagnosis. Thanks you guys!

I currently have a heavy old Charlet Moser Guide ax and I need a new lighter alpine mountaineering ax for a trip through the Pickets this season. This seems pretty versatile and fairly light. I am looking pretty hard at the adze one. Does anyone have it? Any problems?

take up slack take up rope take a break take me off belay take a trip take a chill pill take me out to the ball game Take it easy.

South to North actually. I'm thinking about coming in from Stump Hollow and up CC, climbing Terror - west ridge and other pickets along the way then going through the O-H col. I guess it's not really a "link-up" per say... more like a bypass to the McMillan Creek basin traverse. We're on a tight schedule so I was hoping this would save some time and allow for more climbing opportunities. Having said that, we are still undecided on the route.