Blake

page four of the guide lists his email as a little different from how you wrote it. check again chris. P.S. is there a pic of you on the wall at Second Ascent?

Darn, I thought of those two immediately when I read the thread title. The CG is actually pronounced Manley WhOm- (rhymes with Tom) and was named for a former local doctor. Don't forget La Wis Wis near Mt. Rainier.

The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee. Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows. Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows. He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell; Though he'd often say in his homely way that "he'd sooner live in hell." On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail. Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail. If our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see; It wasn't much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam MCGee. And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow, And the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe, He turned to me, and "Cap," says he, "I'll cash in this trip, I guess; And if I do, I'm asking you that you won't refuse my last request." Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no; then he says with a sort of moan: "It's the cursed cold, and it's got right hold till I'm chilled clean through to the bone. Yet 'tain't being dead--it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains; So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate my last remains." A pal's last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail; And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale. He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee; And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee. There wasn't a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid, because of a promise given' It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: "You may tax your brawn and brains, But you promised true, and it's up to you to cremate these last remains." Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code. In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load. In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring, Howled out their woes to the homeless snows-- O God! how I loathed the thing. And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow; And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low; The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in; And I'd often sing to the hateful thing, and it harkened with a grin. Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May." And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum; Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum." Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire; Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher; The flames just soared, and the furnace roared--such a blaze you seldom see; And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee. Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so; And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don't know why; And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky. I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear; But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near; I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take peep inside. I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked";. . . then the door I opened wide. And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar; And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: "Please close that door. It's fine in here, but I greatly fear you'll let in the cold and storm-- Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm." There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee.

My weekend was spent in sunny Sacramento racing at the WIRA regatta. I'm on WWU's Crew team, and we had a good couple days of races. For any Seattle-ites, I'll be racing through the Montlake Cut this Saturday at the Windermere Cup, so give a yell if you are one of the thousands in attendance.

FYI I've got a newish BD alpine bod.. no belay loops.

First off, I don't have a belay loop on my harness, I just tie in and clip the belay 'biner through the waist and crotch loops. I was recently climbing with a friend and we were having a lot of rope management/tangle issues. When you clip an HMS biner into a belay loop, the slots in the attached belay device end up running vertically, not an ideal position in my experience. I told her to clip her belay biner through the crotch and waist loops, ignoring the belay loop, and this seemed to help line her belay device up better, but this can be awkward, and seems to load the 'biner in several deirections. For those that do have belay loops: Does the vertical orientation of tube style belay devices ever screw stuff up? Do you do anything about it? (short of belaying off the anchors)

The North face of Mt. Fernow's E. ridge offers amazing trundling possibilities. I think that there is even an overhang which could be B.A.S.E. jump-able, if you are cool with landing on a glacier. Extra style points to the first person who identifies the large flat area at the top of this photo. It'd make a nice landing zone for paragliding off of the ridge.

TLG.... are you sure on this one? I've heard that this increases the forces on your protection, and on you, when you fall. Maybe it's one of those things where you can do it, but it's not always optimum.

In my quest for a 1/2 rope, I'd narrowed down my options to the Roca Migu and Mammut Phoenix. PDX's ClimbMax appeared to be selling the Roca Migu, but listed it as 7.8mm, and as part of a "twin setup", not 8mm and a 1/2 rope as stated on the Roca ropes webpage. I emailed the shop about this, and was told " The Migu that we have is an 8mm, and ideally it is a twin, not a double. Some companies are going to call their eight a twin, and some companies are going to call their eights doubles. The rope that we have is the Migu, and the specs you have are correct." Now I was under the impression that the CE certification tests for the three different types of ropes were all different, and companies can't call a certified half rope a "twin rope" merely because it's skinny, and they can't call a certified twin rope "double/half" because the rope wasn't tested to withstand falls on one strand. Is it really safe or responsible to just throw these terms around like that? Is it true thatif you treated 1/2 ropes as twins and clipped both to a single carabiner, that they exert extra force when you fall? FYI the Roca Web Page shows the Migu as a 1/2 rope only. How common is the attitude that skinny ropes can be climbed on using twin technique even if they are intended to be used as double/half ropes?

Maybe you should go to Squamish instead, that way you have the chance to climb and eat the same thing.

MissQ said That doesn't paint a very good picture of your chances for a safe and successful trip. If St. Helens is open (might still be closed for eruptions) consider it as a good training day, and to assess your snow skills and fitness level. If not, take a look at Adams (Lunch Counter and back) or another snow-slog to get use to hiking in the white stuff.

I just took Bill's idea and worked on it with my Stubai crampons http://www.basegear.com/stubaicrampons.html The strap that comes with these can be taken off of the back half and synched to the front half in the manner described above for webbing, but it's got a buckle too. Pretty handy modification Bill!

Have you used this to good effect on moderate snow and glacier approaches? (i'm thinking along the lines of Sahale Arm or Ruth Mtn for Example.)

I think that setting up an anchor with multiple pieces is an inexact science, and you can never truly equalize pieces AND have no extension. Usually you must take into account the quality of the pro you've placed, and where the force of a fall will be coming from. Having just one way, and doing it the same every time is not wise IMO.

Because the standard cordelette setup takes a lot of cord, creates a huge bulky knot, is tough to truly equalize/keep the cord from all pieces tight, and is worthless when the direction of pull changes from the originally direction even a small amaount.

alright, i did it.

It's just Backcountry.com's "Deal of the DAy."

Get those tacos with the cranberry salsa stuff.... mmmm

I left a large nut stuck towards the top of the 2nd pitch of "Undercover" at Mt. Erie. If you have a long nut tool, you can probaly get it out, it's pretty new as well...

I don't think that the guys in green are all enemies or anything like that, I just was wondering if anyone else had been ticketed to not having an overnight permit in an NPS location, and if so, what happened.

see above

I ran into a ranger at an off-trail location in a national recreation area, and she asked where I'd been the nght before, and I mentioned a camp a few miles in from there road where I'd crashed the previous night. Because I admitted to the crime, she gave me a ticket for what I'd done. I should have just plead the fifth I guess.

Is that the May issue? where is it exactly?

Anyone from Bellingham want to come to Squamish with Wirlwind and I on Saturday night and/or Sunday? We'll leave from Bellingham, let one of us know.

I once recieved a $50 ticket for telling a ranger that'd I slept the previous night along the trail in a national recreation area. I should have written a letter or something, there must be a way out.