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Rad

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Posts posted by Rad

  1. Thanks all. Look forward to seeing what's new.

    If entering TRs is much easier than before, then perhaps more will be posted, which may lead to more visitors and more posts and more TRs. That would be a nice virtuous cycle.

    More free beer at pub clubs might be the next step? Sadly, no more Fred there.

    • Like 2
  2. Dear Fred, thanks for showing us what true passion and persistence are. I feel lucky to have shared a beer, shared a rope, and shared FA tales and dreams with you.

     

    Your alpine guides planted the seeds of adventure in our hearts, and we eagerly followed your footsteps into the mountains. That is where I will look for you, not down here in the city.

  3. Dear Fred, thanks for showing us what true passion and persistence are. I feel lucky to have shared a beer, shared a rope, and shared FA tales and dreams with you.

     

    Your alpine guides planted the seeds of adventure in our hearts, and we eagerly followed your footsteps into the mountains. That is where I will look for you, not down here in the city.

     

    “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.” - John Muir.

  4. Thx. Completed the survey. I oppose user fee-based revenue approaches because these are regressive taxes that block lower income folks, including but not limited to climbers, from accessing our shared natural resources. This makes these folks less likely to want to protect them. What is the fruit of this activity? People being OK w drilling in the Arctic, auctioning off large swaths of the Gulf for oil n gas exploration, selling public lands to mining companies, and so forth.

    Insert Lorax image of trashed landscape.

  5. People from BC who regularly go to WA comment on how well-maintained the trails are.

     

    Had to wipe coffee off my monitor from laughing at this. There are artery trails in some high use places that see annual tree clearing and even building projects, but once you get off these you look at people like me and many on this board who go out to cut logs, remove brush, and mark the trail through the Western jungle.

     

    Apparently the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence. Want to trade governments for a few years? I'm down with that. Actually, it's both comic and tragic that our political pendulums seeem to be 180 degrees out of phase.

  6. This is what happens when their budget gets slashed. We've seen this on many levels. Look at the Discovery Passes. BC has it right: tax everyone and make Provincial Park access free, unless, of course, you want to park ;)http://www.canadatrails.ca/bc/parkfees.html

     

    Also, the NP interagency pass is $80/yr, so you may as well get it and get into MRNP and all the others for a year instead of the one-offs. Locally, Olympic NP is truly spectacular and easily accessible.

     

    I can't fault the Park., Look higher...

  7. Hayden was thoughtful and analytical. I knew him as part of the crew who we'd get a beer with, or boulder at the gym and talk about whatever. I remember a day where he wanted to see how many harder problems he could climb consecutively, while never climbing up or down a problem more than once. After 3 routes he popped off a hold, rolled off the ground, and with a big goofy grin said "now that's how you get a pump!".

     

    At the bar or dinner, even though we weren't very close, he always took the time to have a one on one conversation with me, asking how I was doing, my plans, basic stuff. I work for another christmas lighting company, and we would swap stories about my boss (Hayden had received a few calls to his company over the years from our clients that had been completely ghosted by our company, 'Get me out of Christmas light hell!" had been the opener for one such call).

     

    Hayden was so wonderful and special, not because of his talents as a climber, but for the way he moved though and interacted with those around him. He didn't talk himself up, only wanting to hear about what you were doing, and thrived on the success of those around him.

     

    All I got out him before he left for the Kashmir was that he was going to India, afterwards he was similarly stoic. The alpinist piece, published the following summer, was shocking, not only for what they climbed, but for the way it was written. I have felt the same way on big climbs that I have done, but have never been able to express those emotions to another person. He wasn't obsessive, but he was a wonderful person who I and many others will miss dearly.

     

    http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web17f/wfeature-light-before-wisdom

     

    Thank you. Very poignant. This echoes words from many others and shows us that the key to a life well lived is radical kindness. The good news is that we don't have to climb 5.14 to be kind to our friends, family, and strangers.

  8. This accident, and the aftermath, has been haunting me all week. I can't shake it.

     

    Yes, when bad things happen to really great people it shakes the foundation. What is it all for anyway? What constitutes a meaningful life? As a parent, I can't imagine much worse than having your only son take his life. Their hearts will forever be broken.

  9. i wonder if anyone ever does the regular n face anymore?

     

    Probably not very often. The original route (in Nelson) involves crossing ice/glacier/moat that can be pretty sketchy in late summer, the lower section has loose rock and is the place where Steph nearly lost her leg, and the upper section is slab that is easy but quite run-out.

     

    The newer lines involve less risk, lower commitment as they are shorter, more interesting climbing, and a better position.

     

     

  10. Updates:

     

    - Bolts at anchors were tightened.

    - Managed to leave the socket wrench out there, perhaps on the summit. Send PM if you find it or leave it in the summit register. Thx

    - The pitch linking beta above was spot on. 20 quickdraws (10 extendable slings, 10 bones) plus a single 70m rope was sufficient. You can easily skip a few or back clean if needed.

  11. Thanks! That took just about everything I had to give.

     

    Indeed. For me, the physical and mental challenges of the Pickets have induced a zen-like mind-set where we embrace uncertainty, focus on the present, not the past or future, and grind through epic suffering to reach the highest heights.

     

    More than any area in the US I've visited, the Pickets embodies the spirit of Wilderness that was defined in the 1964 Wilderness Act as "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."

     

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