ashw_justin

Shouldn't be a problem but some find it dicey, i.e. it's less of a hike. These new guys did fine.

Heh? No I didn't... Anyway, who says she couldn't do it without support and oxygen? But would she try or even want to? Personally I couldn't care less how she did it (except I assume she probably didn't pack out her rubbish of bottles and ropes, that's bad style for sure). Nobody is forcing you to respect the achievement, and you are free to teach your children and friends that aiding is bad style.

You're right, this isn't really "climbing." The best description is more like "aid hiking." If I were to climb the dog route on one of the local volcanoes, that would pretty much be a hike. If I did it with oxygen and fixed lines, that would be an "aid hike." You'd be pretty hard pressed to do any actual "climbing," for example how often does the ice axe become more than a walking stick on most common summit routes? I know there are some steeper sections on the main Everest route, but just because you are on a mountain, doesn't automatically mean you are climbing--except in laymans' terms. Most people consider going to the summit of something to automatically qualify as climbing. That does happen to be the general definition. But then again we also "climb" stairs (and even if Everest isn't a "climb", it sure as hell must be one of the hardest, coldest, most dangerous flight of stairs known to man). Anyway good on her, she did something that would kick a lot of our asses, aid or not, and I clearly sense some jealousy.

Yeah... um... I gonna need you to, ah, go to the Mt Hood Summit tomorrow, mmmkay? You know, I'm sure the climbing community could really benefit from this kind of reporting. You would mind just hanging out up there for the next oh 90 days or so, with live reports of climbing conditions and summit weather conditions, would you? 'Cause that would just be great... thanks

Who could blame her? I think there are probably better ways to spend your time and money climbing than to do the 7 seven summits, but I'm sure it was fun. You can't expect her to be responsible for her publicity, that's the work of her sponsors. They are paying for the opportunity to aggrandize her. She on the other hand is out bagging peaks and probably cares very little about what's being said. Records are BS. Being the "X" to do "Y" doesn't really mean anything, because climbing is personal. She's the first Danielle Fisher to climb seven peaks that she wanted to climb. And she was lucky enough to get the generous support and free time needed. Good for her. Hopefully she will remain interested in climbing and seek even greater challenges.

That is pimptaculous, chamos. How do the ladies resist you?

Nice snow, heck that almost looks skiable! (not by me tho) Does anyone ever climb that center gully?

I have my own critical mass every day, I just ride really fast so that my mass increases.

The rap anchors on top of the Oyster Dome and very tempting, but a 60 will not get you to the bottom in one shot. I wonder if that's what happened? Of course since it's just a news story he could have been doing any number of things besides just rapping.

hmm that's a switch Paul, I think you need a router. technically I don't know the difference but there is one. I know at least that you get some primitive firewall and port managing, and I'm not sure you can connect a switch directly to a cable modem, but I could be wrong.

I would not be worried about falling in crevasses provided that I had skis on my feet and didn't have to cross any obvious bridges or depressions. I'd personally be more apprehensive about unstable snow leading to potential slides. I would stay off of avy terrain if it gets too warm.

No, I think I speak for the turns-all-year crowd that we are too cheap and too homegrown to respond to advertisements and subscriptions. Plus I don't get the feeling that Mr. Scurlock is in this for the money. He cleary has a passion for the mountains, and is nice enough to share that with us. My thanks. Looks like you can also order prints of any of his photos. I think I will do so next time my pockets are feeling heavy.

I'm sick and busy so I'm out. You could go tag Hood and Adams on the same trip. But that wouldn't be very dumb I guess. Glacier Peak sounds like the ticket for you.

whoa that's an avy http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/42292868

Hey nice picture, we skied right there off of Sherman on the left on May 12, and it looks like there is at least as much snow up there now.

I found myself in an unthreatening whiteout coming down from Muir last fall, and the GPS was ridiculously good for staying on track (I'd had it on for the way up, so I was able just to retrace the tracklog). Apologies to the traditionalists and the hardmen but a properly used GPS is unbeatable in a whiteout. (Of course, pants are good to have too.)

You can minimize your exposure to the most predictable avalanche conditions (wet, warm slides) by being down off of the Roman Wall before it is in the sun for any significant amount of time. Get an early start to minimize the risk and pay attention for signs of instability. I'd only take transceivers if you actually have a realistic plan for how they might help you, i.e. you expect that there will be someone who is not attached to you and also has a beacon, shovel, and probe and can come save you. I mean you could take transceivers and climb/descend the Roman Wall one by one if you really wanted to be avy-careful... of course this is never done but could be, but then if someone gets avied off of the Roman Wall chances are they are ending up in a crevasse. Actually if you look at the current mountain weather forecast you'll see that freezing levels are fairly low over the weekend with cloudy weather, so the chances of warm slides will be reduced and the snowpack may very well be somewhat stabilized by cooling down after the warm days during the week... http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/text_only.php?wfo=sew&zone=waz017&county=wac061 And I would take skis or a splitboard, of course, if you're comfortable with the added technicality and risks involved. It is really nice to have skis on going both directions this time of year. But only do it if you are backcountry-competent.

Interesting, but I wonder at what point are you climbing and no longer hiking? I think we'd agree that most of the volcanic peaks around here are basically hikes, no? I consider it hiking until crampons or an ice axe are (not only worn but) necessary. Then again I am not at all familiar with the climbing south of Mt. Hood.

Yep, sketchy conditions. But I think climbers in general (experienced or not) tend to pay less attention to avy conditions than backcountry skiers.

I have wanted a wiseman smiley enough times that I made one. I also believe that a helicopter smiley is in order but I do not have the skilz for that.

The zen glisse master knows no time; only perfect condition is the Now. ps. when are we going to get a frickin' zen master bearded smiley? That would be just so hellacool. Oh and a helicopter. Way cooler than the truck! this the best I can find. yeah yeah wrong mythology. whatever. ok here is my wiseman smiley.

That sounds like fun, I'll have to try that sometime! Also illustrates why I feel relatively safe from crevasse falls with skis on my feet.

Seems like the Coleman Headwall would be a steep snow hike right now with all of the precipitation and soft snowpack. Maybe even some slides if you are lucky. I think if I was interested in the route for its aesthetic difficulty (read: ice) then I'd go later in the year. But I bet it would be technically easy to tick right now, provided that it doesn't avalanche.

Trailhead to 6000' base camp: 1.5 to 2 hours. Trailhead to 7000' base camp (involves glacier travel): 2.5-3 hours. Take whatever footwear you like but the trail will probably be mixed dry/snow. Not sure why you're asking us why you should ski or not, that is a personal decision. Now that you've clarified that there will be a substantial rope team, if it was me I would probably ski. I would only consider the Coleman Headwall if you have experience on similarly demanding lines with less objective hazard. I haven't been up there but it is steep and there could easily be soft slides and mandatory crevasse/bergshrund jumps where a fall might mean the end. There are lots of other steep lines that are less tenuous. But if you are some badass skier with nerves of steel then it may not be a problem for you.

I discovered this the other day at the grocery store. Compare 100% fruit juices to sports drinks: guess which one has more essential salts? I went with some pine-orange-banana that had abundant potassium, 1:1 or so water, touch of good ol' table salt. Not sure it made a difference but it sure was tasty.