Phil K

That pile of rock in the far distance is, of course, Silverstar and the Wine Spires. The picture is taken from near the former lookout site on Stiletto Peak. I'm pretty sure the lump on the right margin is Copper Peak, behind which would be the Early Winters group.

Acupuncture. There's a coulple of points "down there" that can be needled, though I've never tried it myself. Philonius, LAc.

Looking for a good pair of tele cable binding that will fit a size 10 T2. Lemmie know if you have something you want to sell.

'Figuring that alpine conditions were likely to be horrible, a few of us went to L'worth on the 26th. Geordie is right that things are looking pretty skinny...but. We drove out to look at Hubba Hubba; it's starting to show some promise, definitely enough ice to climb, if not protect. We took that as a hint and hiked up Snow Lake trail to Millennium Walls. What we found wasn't great, but enough to make our day worthwhile. We had foolishly left the snowshoes in the car, and paid the price with an epic wallow just to get to the toprope anchors. After that was accomplished, we managed to work in four or so nice variations on the right hand end of the formations. Cool verglass finish to get back to the anchors. Bring a 60 m rope if you can, it'll make belaying off the big solid tree much easier.

I just had a conversation with Don Thompson with the USFS, and yes, parking is to be closed starting sometime this week. He has met with the ski area management, and they do in fact have the right to restrict both parking in "their" lots, and use of the winter trail which runs up the west side of the valley and is included in their FS lease. Your $30 trail park permit is no use either, as the trail park is officially closed during the winter season. The ski area has several areas of concern, including user conflict between day users and skiers, liability in light of the recent avalanche fatality w/ involvement of their ski patrol in the search, and (most importantly,) the cost of maintaining plowed parking which they estimate at +/- $100 per car for the season, combined with the fact that they have to turn away paying customers d/t limited parking capacity. Don indicates that the FS has no say in the matter, and is looking into alternatives, such as maintaining the Commonwealth Basin parking lot as a Sno-Park area. He did not expect that to happen any time soon. He wasn't sure if the ski area would be ticketing or towing unauthorized vehicles. He suggested that rather than hammering on him, you send emails to ldonovan@fs.fed.us , who is with the FS headquarters in Montlake Terrace and has more ability to get alternatives underway.

Didn't Bush comment that 9/11 was like winning the Trifecta? He could inflate the defense budget infinitely, slam through all sorts of envionnmental and civil liberty- busting legislation and call anyone who dared question his motives a traitor. Makes you wonder.....

Good info here. http://www.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/articleview.asp?a=2333

Hostility? Ouch.

Well if no one minds a bit of input from someone who actually knows a bit about the area's development... Yes , the Mountaineers are responsilble for bolting the area as part of their Water Ice course. (Flame on) Before doing any work on the area, others, including B Burdo were consulted, and the conclusion was that this dirty low angle slab was not going to be missed by the sport development crowd. The route in question was bolted for lead after it had been top roped, by the same people who did the initial development. It has been led, and given the name "Gentle Groove." There are a few other TR lines which can provide a decent way to crank a few mixed moves with reduced likelyhood of puncturing yourself. Apparently someone has put up a short, easy sport route over on the west edge of the crag. If this outrages you, perhaps your sense of perspective is askew.

"Any a you people vote against me, and this little kid gets it!"

"Healthy Forests Act", right up there with "Truth Is Ignorance." Any one who believes that this administration is capable of promoting legislation which actually benifits the environment and is not just another quid pro quo to big business for buckets of campaign contribution money- I want some of whatever you're smoking!

My buddy JeffS and I went up searching for ice at Baker yesterday. Beauty day- clear, temps in the high 20's, not much wind. We snowshoed up to see if West Table 3 looked in, that seemed to be mostly snow and not worth the walk. Later that day talked to two B'ham dudes in the parking lot; they had ski toured all around Table and said they didn't see anything formed up. Since Table looked out, we headed down to Pan Dome. That was in pretty skinny shape, with the main falls looking climbable, but sparse for protection. Jeff actually did manage to pull off the lead which involved some moderately desperate eighty degree unconsolidated snow and a bunch of tied off screws. Great top rope problems though.

Then they're flexible and comfy for walking, or at least that's the idea. Plus, you can use them with your standard clip-on crampoons insted of the integrated ones- only then you won't get the benefit of the rigidizer.

OK, here's another boot to check out. http://montrail.com/goods/alpine.cfm?gender=male Montrail's coming out with a super-light, warm ice boot that converts from flexible to rigid with the help of an integrated crampon. Clever idea! I hear they should be available sometime this fall. I'm definately gonna check these out before I buy something.

Aloegator

Oh dude, you're in deep do-do. They've probably got one of those unmanned drones following your car around right now. Next time you light up, they might just fire one of those guided misseles at you. I would head right for the US border and turn yourself in right now. With any luck, you can probably get out of Guantanamo in six months with good behavior.

I've had him do about 4 pairs now, and really liked the quality and service. He's the one.

So it seems that what we are actually referring to is not actually "reeling in" rope, but more like running, etc. back to pull rope through the system, thus shortening the fall. That, I could accept, depending on the circumstances. Probably works much better in the sport/crag world than in alpine situations, where you are likely to be anchored and in an exposed position. So, check out the options carefully beforehand and run away to shorten the fall, or jump up to soften the catch as appropriate. Remember, this is climbing, you've always got to be thinking through all the "what ifs."

I've got a nice picture of me on the summit of Maude in June with a string of three purple baloons which drifted in while we were on the summit. They're cute when still alive, but do become junk. I've picked up a number of both rubber and mylar baloons over the years, they're everywhere. At least the rubber ones will rot away in a while. Mylar lasts...? A long time.

Yeah, I want to see this reeling in shit work too. I doubt if anyone could pull in much rope through any device fast enough to make much difference and still be able to lock off a fall. I especially liked the one about reeling in 10 feet of slack when a leader takes a 20 footer with no pro off the belay. How the heck do you plan on doing that?

Nothin', but nothin' makes me feel like climbing does. I've been at at since.... Well, I was one of those kids who just grew up climbing out of the crib, up furniture, you name it. Eventually moved on to rocks, trees, whatever. You may be a climber if you can't imagine not being one. I moved to WA in 1984 after visiting and getting a good look at the amazing mountains out here. I still just can't get enough. Challenge, focus, beauty, comradarie, lurking fear, that incredible feeling after a hard lead. Noting else does it.

Chouinard used to sell an item called the Seilbremse ("rope brake" in German. ) It's a small steel device similar to a figure eight, originally made for evacuations from stuck ski lifts. It is used like an eight for belaying or rappelling. You might be able to pick one up at some used gear places, or even find 'em on the web. In fact, I've got one in my basement, lightly used. You want?

Well, this topics been pretty well flogged, even got into the required nasty personal attacks for a while, good! Re axe weight: according to published data, the Rage (25.6 oz) and the Alp WIng (25.1 oz) are too close to notice any difference. It's all a matter of how they feel in your hand, balance and swing. And as previously mentioned, all modern high end tools are really excellent. Go swing a few, compare prices, and try not to worry about it any more. It's who's swinging 'em that actually matters. Look at some of the hard routes that were put up with gear that you couldn't give away today.

I've got a pair of the Light Wings. About the same tool, minus the rubber grip and steel spike. (I notice they've added a light steel spike this year.) I really like mine, great for alpine ice; light and nice to swing. 'Haven't had a chance to plant them in water ice yet, but a friend of mine has used them a bunch and thinks they're great.