Rad

Inspiring. Your topo suggests there are only a few fifth class sections on the traverse, and only a few are 5.8 or 5.9 (assuming one stays on the easiest path). True?

Instead of a plastic chicken I have three kids car seats plastered with stale cheerios that seem to do the trick. But the real solution is to keep valuables with you or completely out of sight. My dad used to leave the doors unlocked on our old Honda. I don't think that works well in this day and age because car thieves, at least the urban variety, are all about opportunity. Get in, grab, and get out in under ten seconds. Oh, and sorry to hear about your friend's loss.

If you want big and are willing to hike go do the W Ridge of Conness. It's 5.6 forever in an amazing position. Best to be acclimated to the altitude before this trip as it involves approaching from 9k to 12k, dropping back down to 10k, climbing the ridge to the summit (nearly 12.4k) and then returning to the car at 9k. Tis a long day, but a great one.

I need one that's kid-friendly. Ideally, it has a beach, you won't die if you fall down in the current, and it's not icy cold. Kids are 8, 7 and 4 and good swimmers. Thanks!

I need one that's kid-friendly. Ideally, it has a beach, you won't die if you fall down in the current, and it's not icy cold. Kids are 8, 7 and 4 and good swimmers. Thanks!

I forwarded this thread to the Cascade Cobbler team, whom I communicated with on my last resole. Perhaps they will learn from your comments and change their practices.

Unless the pack is super light, you want most of the weight carried by the waistbelt. I run the belt under the front two gear loops and buckle it under the belay loop, or slightly off to one side so the buckle isn't in the way. The rear two gear loops are usually covered. For small, short packs I may run the pack belt and buckle above the harness, but it gets in your way more when it's up there and the belt really can't take as much weight there either.

I've noticed that rock climbing is really not friendly to their less experienced participants. Not true. You've got some very patient people posting here. I've provided constructive feedback to new climbers in the past, as have many others, and we will do so in the future. At the same time, not everything should be learned from internet forums. Some things are best learned by doing. You're certainly more likely to remember lessons when you make mistakes and figure out how to fix them yourself. Obviously, we don't want those lessons to involve serious injury or death for anyone involved, but a little discomfort is OK. A few lessons I learned this way: - Keep your testicles AWAY from your legloops! - Use long draws on wandering routes over complex features to avoid horrendous ropedrag. - Don't glissade with your only car key in your pocket where it might fall out. - Don't reach up and place your trad pro in the best/only hand or foot holds. - Use your camera as a navigational tool. - Don't use a non-locking device on your harness to belay heavy followers who are likely to fall or you'll be squeezed - Don't rely on a space bivy to replace a sleeping bag on a multi-day adventure. -Don't carry gear all bunched together on a gear sling over your shoulder when you try to climb a squeeze chimney. - Don't try to drive to Canada in your partners' girlfriend's car that he borrowed without her permission. - Don't "bivy" in your vehicle with the windows rolled up. - Don't eat greasy chicken and slimy potato salad the night before a grade 5 rock route. - Don't descend the spires gully in Yosemite on a moonless night without a headlamp. - Don't bushwhack through CA manzanita in your shorts. - Don't scratch your poison ivy. you get the idea. "Improvise, adapt, and overcome". Was that Schwarzenegger or Dirty Harry or some other movie star? Regarding your cams and your post, I bet you can think of several solutions to try, many of which take only seconds to test. A few: - Hang the offending gear on the anchor - Move the offending gear to your front loops. - Try to place the offending gear during the pitch or at the belay - Learn to read the topo and/or route better so you don't carry the kitchen sink when you lead. - Rig your anchor so you stand instead of sit on the ledge Take charge of your own fate. In addition to the reasons above, well-meaning internet posters will sometimes give you advice that is completely wrong. Good luck.

So tempting...but I won't spray in the newbies pool. Maybe read your own post and answer your own question.

Thanks for the report. The Pickets do have both predictable and unpredictable hazards. I'm glad it worked out OK.

Thanks for sharing the storyand for helping when you did. Glad everyone is OK. From above, This is confusing, because SPOT is a one-way communication tool (HELP or OK + GPS coordinates) and doesn't do texting, as far as I know. After talking with rescue leaders when I was researching the 9-1-1 NWMJ article I wrote a couple of years ago, seeing accounts of more recent accidents, and my own experience, it seems clear that two-way communication is critical. Rescuers can assess what help is needed and when. They can also provide guidance relating to medical treatments in the field, weather conditions, proximity of ground teams, etc. One way communication doesn't allow any of that. Above treeline, a satellite phone is probably the most useful communication device in an emergency. They are expensive to buy, but it doesn't cost that much to rent them. If you split the cost among four team members you might pay $15 each. That's pretty cheap insurance, plus you can call your SO to tell her you're going to be a day late, change your Ross Lake taxi pickup, or tell your agent to update your blog so Rock and Ice can post an instant update on your latest send. Or you can leave it off until the shit hits the fan.

Who's Barry and what's his contact info? What's Ramuta's turnaround?

email sent

Trip: A day in the life - at the crag Date: 7/13/2012 Trip Report: Up at 5:30 and off to the crag for a little triathalon. Apologies for the blurry pics. Most were taken with my phone. First leg 1: Abdominal and deltoid isometrics during route development Carry the drill, battery, and other toys up the hill, up another hill, up a third hill, and then up a rocky slope laced with wildflowers. The stashed ropes were covered in little brown pellets because...the Snaffle King ate my Christmas rope! So I tied off the damaged sections and had to pass ten knots on the way to the target anchor. I went up and down finalizing the project protection plan, and then drilled and placed four bolts on a way-hard-for-me project. It's tough to drill when the route is overhanging and the features are sidepulls (no cracks here). The ab workout was complete, and a name for the line emerged: Bladerunner. Now I just need to unlock the crux...but that's a story for another day. I dashed down to the trailhead to meet DavidY for the next event: Leg 2: Leg presses and assorted strenuous oddities during log wrangling. We planned to remove a large tree that's been blocking the trail for two years. Climbers have been making a mess going around this thing for some time. The crux of the biscuit was a 40ft span of 17 to 22 inch trunk. Many limbs were removed before this shot. David played with power tools. I did the grunt work. Cutting under tension was difficult. Wrestling 4-6ft sections of trunk out of the trail wasn't much easier. But now the trail is back where it should be. A better trail is needed, and that will take a lot of work, but first we need to figure out what's up with the mysterious optical fiber. Urban duties called, but I persuaded David to push on to the next stage: Leg 3: Climb two routes at Shangri-La. Free Radical is the **** 11a arete right of Guillotine, which Ian is shown climbing in a pic from last summer. Bladerunner is on the overhanging face to the right. Above that is a 30m 10a called Hangman. It has a very alpine feel. We rapped, David retrieved his stashed saws, and he dashed for Seattle. I gathered my rodent-eaten ropes, lead rope, and other gear and ambled down the trail at a slower pace. No summer outing at Shangri-La is complete without a dip in the SnoQ, and this is the perfect swimming hole to do it. Gear Notes: Power tools and climbing gear. Approach Notes: X38 Far Side.

Kidding. Looks like poison ivy to me.

Best way to find out is to use it instead of toilet paper and then report back 6 hours later....

I'm heading out tomorrow morning to clear the trees off the Far Side trail. We'd love to have some extra hands to make things go faster. Afterward, I'd be keen to climb. Have some ideas in the 10, 11, 12 range and/or can show you around Shangri-La. PM if interested.

I'm heading out tomorrow morning to clear the trees off the Far Side trail. We'd love to have some extra hands to make things go faster. Afterward, I'd be keen to climb. Have some ideas in the 10-11 range and/or can show you around Shangri-La. PM if interested.

Thanks!

I'm growing out my hair and shopping for a red Prana top Jacinda Hunter - Balancing climbing and family

Thanks. It was our first time up there. We were lucky to have good weather for our summit day. Our original goal was to do a high ridge line traverse, but delays in the early part of our trip made that impossible. So did we succeed or did we fail? On the last day of our trip, we encountered novice hikers and experienced climbers who asked if we successfully made it to the summit. They offered congratulations when we told them we did. This felt wierd, because our summit day was technically, mentally, and physically less challenging than many other parts of our trip. The greatest rewards lay in overcoming the various challenges we encountered along the way, spending time with a close friend, and experiencing nature on its own terms. I've found the Pickets trips force me to let go of the future, let go of the past, and fully experience the reality of the here and now. One step at a time.

Impressive! This is one of those routes that looks inspiring from the parking lot, Boston Basin, and other spots in the area, but accounts and pictures of the lower half make it look just plain nasty. No wonder Ivan loves it so much.

Anyone know if this closure is likely to be lifted before the 31st or who I can contact to find out updates? Thx Rad

I'm not worried about this area ever being swarmed by hordes of climbers/hikers, but yes, camping on snow or rock is better than squashing the heather. I watched reports on this route over several years and noticed that many parties that went later in the season got turned back by an impassable, or at least very difficult, bergschrund on the Challenger Glacier. So we intentionally went when snow levels would be high. An added advantage is that the traverse below Whatcom was a piece of cake. I've heard that when this melts out it reveals dirty, exposed, downsloping slabs that are unpleasant at best. We really enjoyed doing a loop so we could see as much new terrain as possible.

thanks for interesting post. what, 3 to 6 lbs of the critters in the average human gut, and we are born without any. and speaking of homeopathics, what do you, as a scientist, think about the placebo effect? As another scientist, I can say that the placebo affect is very real. That's why gold standard human experiments are double blind (neither researcher nor subject know who gets the treatment and who gets the control until after the results are all in). Gspotter speaks the truth: gut microbes play a huge role in many factors, from obesity, nutrition, and autoimmune disorders and even GI cancers. And yes, we go from empty vessels to colonzed with billions of microbes in a fairly short time. There was a recent set of articles in Science that delved into these in some detail. A few takeways: We have complex, dynamic ecosystems of microbes living in all of us. These communities affect many aspects of our health. We're all born with no microbes in gut. First ones come from passage through the birth canal. C section kids have different gut flora for a while. These start to be replaced (think succession in a forest) with the introduction of solid food) and are largely supplanted by age 3. After that, microbe populations are tremendously affected by diet, stress and other host factors, medications (particularly the use of antibiotics), and other factors. People who are exposed to less dirt and viruses and bacteria as kids tend to develop more allergies and even serious immune disorders later in life. Thinking of bacteria as "bad" and "invaders" is wrong-headed. We CO-EVOLVED with them, though they evolve much faster than us. We depend on them. They depend on us. We will never be rid of them, nor should we want to be. We should think of ourselves as stewards of this ecosystem.