blue_morph

That's OK, you can stay on top of current events by just listening to www.airamericaradio.com. Fair and Balanced.

I haven't gone cragging there for a few years but was thinking about it soon. I heard that you now need a State Park pass. How are all you intrepid schemers getting around this one?

Has anyone done Challenger in Flip Flops yet? Maybe next year.

I wouldn't want to discourage someone from posting a TR, I know I have been too lazy to. I think there really is an issue though with the casualization (bushism?) of many aspects of climbing lately. The car-to-car-Challenger-in-a-day crowd, the no helmet crowd, the go ridiculously super light crowd, the never wear boots crowd all have their place but these can easily be mistaken as the norm, and not the exception. I think it would be pretty easy for someone to read that TR and think it wasn't as big a deal as it probably was, and eventually word on the street becomes that SA can be done in street shoes in late Sept conditions (which most stuff is currently) and can be rapped off rather than carry crampons and axe. I'm glad y'all are OK and if it were me I would be having a good laugh right now.

Seems like an irresponsible call for emergency officials. I think every other person I've talked to who has done Stuart has ended up bivying unplanned. To do it in a day, everything has to go just right, its not like failing to return from Mt Si after a day. I saw the Sheriff in the Stuart Lake TH on Sunday and he asked us if we had seen those climbers. Seems like the wrong parking lot to be looking for them but who knows? If you go out on stuff like that, I think it is wise to mention to your family that you are going to TRY and do it in a day. The family members don't know the difference between Stuart and Si and probably just panicked.

Yes, the Cave Ridge approach is the way to go. Easy in, Easy out.

I chose the Canon S410 and have been using it for most of this season. Canon cameras are built really well and will likely serve you longer than the cheaper models. I looked into the Olympus Stylus because of it's weather resistant qualities, but didn't like the actual camera as much. The Canon S410 Elph isn't slow to start up as far as I'm concerned. The auto focus works really well and there is a neat feature that I can stitch together shots to have a 360 degree picture. Now that's cool.

I have to agree with Spliffy here that this was an irresponsible climb and should only be commended for the climbing parties stupidity and lack of planning. These people do not belong in the mountains and should stay safely at the crags. Descending ice in sandals? Please stay home, we will all be safer.

I agree. Unless people come out of the woodwork and say "What the Fuck were you morons thinking?", others read this stuff and take a complacent attitude towards real mountains. I went back and read that TR and absolutely EVERYTHING about it was wrong! The equipment, the season, the planning were all needlessly out of whack. It wasn't like they did things right and still got caught, they did everything wrong when there was easily accessible information that would have prevented any of that from occurring. That trip report should be read by everyone as an example of just exactly how stupid you can get.

I had the same issue and got one at PMS in U district.

To call that a trail is a bit of a stretch! To call it in good condition is serious fiction. I remember having to climb trees and shit to get through that mess and that is not considering the avy field.

There is NO reason to not wear a helmet. It won't save you in every case for sure but it limits your risk significantly. The reasons climbers give for not wearing the helmet are similar to the weak arguments bicyclists used to make (almost every cyclist wears a helmet now).

Don't leave the item behind if it would be a "deal breaker" for the climb. If you leave your heavy gore-tex and just bring a windbreaker you might get cold and wet but that alone won't prevent you from summiting If you leave a tent and just bring a bivy you might get cold and wet but that alone won't prevent you from summiting. Leaving Crampons however is one of those things that may indeed prevent you from summiting.

How many "Granite" peaks are there in the NW anyway? There's on over by Mt Daniel, one around Snoqualmie pass. How many others? It's about as generic as "Goat" peak.

You come across as fairly arrogant. What's it to you if people continue a tradition in this area as well as around the world? I personally think its kind of fun to get to the top and open one of those things up and see some names I know, a funny story or two, and to marvel at how few or how many other people have summited that mountain lately. Its a TRADITION for crying out loud, if y'all don't like it, ignore it. I doubt you are such a purist that you have never left a rap sling or clipped a bolt. If you don't like those, you don't have to use them either. As to which mountains are bad-ass enough to justify a register, who is to judge? For you Forbidden is hardly a climb worthy of remembering, for someone else, they may feel a great sense of accomplishment at hiking up Mt Si. Is a record of this all historically important? Probably not but in the same sense that time capsules are interesting, this tradition also is interesting. In 100 years should climbers no longer feel like they accomplished anything simply because everything has been climbed by then? I would like to see this tradition continue. Please respect others and just pass the register by if you are not interested in them. P.S. How about a big metal can that says "Cascade Climbers.com" on it? Or maybe someone would just use it as a poop tube.

I don't think the chairlift is running this time of year. If you're beginning, you'll definitely want a lift ticket.

Can I retrofit the ones that I already have? I ordered this stuff thinking that if they sell only two sizes that the largest one should do the trick unless you are Shaquille Oneal. I would buy an extender bar thingo for each of these crampons.

I've tried to fit some Stubai Ultralights and BD Sabretooth onto my size 12 Eigers and Invernos. They are just too small. What do people use for size 12 and up?

I ordered a CERES 50 for $160 or so from Northern Mountain. Hopefully its a good pack.

Yeah, I was looking at some of the newer lighter (important!) 1-2 day climbing packs. I also had my eye on ArcTeryx and the Wild Things Ice Sac.

A picket sounds just like another noisy boulder tumbling down the mountain or the waterfall. Waterfalls are noisy buddy.

Anybody like em? They always look kind of upside down, that is narrow at the bottom and wide on top. Gotta buy a pack.

My MSR Picket slipped off my pack in the Talus around the waterfall approach to the Mary Green Glacier route on Bonanza. It has a blue runner and a nice new Trango wiregate on it. Its probably sitting right where someone will find it.

I'm not so familiar with all the areas in Leavenworth and want to take someone toproping up there. What are the best areas for some beginner climbing, maybe with a walk up option? Obviously single pitch. Could try some stuff over 5.7 but it would need a walk-up option so I can set anchors (can't climb above that)

Permits are to camp. You could just be perpetually in motion the whole trip and you won't need a permit.