Rad

It's nearly impossible to climb an alpine route without getting off the trail. The NPS must know this. Another reason not to post GPS tracks online.

There are lots of fun adventures to be had by choosing a class 2, 3 or 4 route in a Beckey Guide. Keep an eye out for the 'obvious gully' and prepared to be humbled. Thanks Fred!!!

It totally depends on conditions. In my mind it was totally chill, but last year when I took my son and friend there was 30+ degree bare glacial ice and we only had lightweight shoes and micro-spikes. We had axes, but I didn't feel there was enough margin of error in the event of a slip, so we pulled the plug. If it had been 30 degree snow with bootprints we would have been fine.

I'm hoping we get the Gator back to run MRNP at some point. He's got the cred, paid his dues, and he's one of us.

Thanks folks. Great additions (maybe I should object more since this is spray?) Here's an interview with Doorish and Burdo that covers a bunch of PNW history. https://becominghumanpodcast.com/episodes/highroutesandsportclimbs

I thought about listing Fred. He certainly had a huge number of FAs, but I don't think there is a case that his climbing abilities were head and shoulders over peers in any era. Bachar might make sense if you consider free soloing as its own category, in which case you should also list Honnold. If you're just talking about ability, I would say neither of those guys is high enough over peers. I thought about Leclerc. He feels to me a bit like Gullich: cut down too soon for us to really know if he could have been high enough to be considered a generational talent. I would add Robbins, a pioneer in several ways.

Generational talent candidates. Could be in the running for GOAT and clearly the best in the decade of their prime in their climbing discipline. Rheinhold Messner Jerzy Kukuczka Will Gadd Wolfgang Gullich (but he was so young when we lost him) Chris Sharma Adam Ondra Janja Garnbret Who is missing? Who should be cut? Discuss

Wow, I missed this. Was cool to share a beer the day before you left. Too bad you're getting soft and lazy in your old age

CC.COM was my first social network experience, complete with avatars where some people used real names, some used fake names, and Dru used dozens of names. Like the rest of internet, there was some incredibly useful information and some time-sucking garbage. I mostly stayed away from Spray. We raged on the internet here before other social networks were even invented. Back then, we knew that behind every user name - whether real name or cheesy avatars - was a real person, a climber, with whom we likely shared a lot. I was always surprised at Pub Clubs to see that as much as cc.com seemed like a diverse community, it was almost entirely white, moderately athletic, friendly, dudes who would gladly give you a belay or swap a story over a beer. Then Social media turned into something else. We've all seen how truly toxic and time-wasting much of it is, how algorithms feed us whatever will keep us engaged, and we've come to understand that tech companies could care less about creating community and are just extracting our data like giant mosquitoes so they can instantly sell it to hordes of other waiting mosquitoes whose goal is simply to separate us from our money. Not to mention bots who aren't even human. There's no satisfaction in arguing online in that enviroment unless you are pathologically deranged or pathetically lonely or both. Sigh. Spray was something here because it was actual people with stuff in common in a virtual mosh pit. Them's were the good old days.

"Gravity always wins" - Radiohead Looks like it needs to be upgraded from the pink circuit to the red circuit.

Nice backcountry choss linkage. Glad it worked out.

Impressive!!! Thanks for the detailed report

Dave Page and team do repair work on boots, shoes, and sometimes other things, involving sewing leather. Give them a buzz?

Return Everything Inc They used to be fairly unique in that regard, now not so much. Amazon is likely eating their lunch and they'll have to decide what their model is going forward.

Nice. Thanks for posting. We didn't find the gotchas you mention to be an issue, though I'll say this route isn't a good fit for folks who don't have experience navigating up chalk-free alpine rock where there are mutiple features and possible ways to go. I know you and P have an abundance of those skills. FWIW, when I went w Steph in the link you shared, it was misting the entire day. We did the first move on FITM and backed off due to the wetness and just scrambled up and down the descent to tag the summit. Here is the original TR with beta and such...

@eeelip I did the E Ridge BITD and remember the upper section of the West ridge gully as quite sketchy. Piles of loose stones from baseball to refrigerator size are poised at a critical angle. Moving one stone sets off many others, including large ones. Might be OK early season w snow there. Perhaps @Nick Sweeney avoided this? I've heard the S face route is a high quality line. See: https://www.mountainproject.com/route/108154541/south-face. But honestly, you could just go climb the E Ridge. If you have to hang or yard on gear once or twice who cares? You'll still be on the incredible E Face, whose position is unbeatable. You can even bivy on the summit, as we did, if needed. Our trip:

If it is free YOU are the product.

Super cool. PM sent

If you have chickens and cats and small dogs running around your yard that abuts the forest, then you're asking for all kinds of critters to come in and eat them: cougar, fox, coyote, raccoon, bear owl, eagle to name a few. It's like leaving an open bag of Doritos on the counter and admonishing your teenagers (or stoned friends) for eating them. Not fair.

"After the successful re-introduction of the Cascades Zebra, we will soon be adding apex predators who can keep the zebras in check. A pair of Siberian Tigers are scheduled to be released on Tiger Mountain in early 2025."

This is in wilderness, so please abide by all the appropriate restrictions (no bolts, or only bolts drilled by hand, etc).

Cains can be very helpful navigational tools in complex terrain, particularly when they guide travelers to the best route past a dangerous obstacle such as a cliff band, steep gully, or river. They can also be helpful in open terrain where a lack of natural features makes navigation challenging. In well traveled terrain, cairns can help keep people on the proper path and prevent alternate trails or other environmental damage. That said, some cairns serve no clear purpose and can even cause problems when placed off the preferred route through an area. Superfluous cairns in wilderness are an unpleasant reminder of the presence of people, much the way stacks of stones in a river detract from the natural beauty of the river itself. Like Jason, I knock down far more cairns than I build.

What's the date for the next one?

Just back from a long day at Whistler. 24 hours door to door. Heading North tomorrow might be a bridge too far for me. Will check in tomorrow.

Thanks or posting! Nice work! I've had a few adventures on that thing but never in winter.