griz

I know what your saying but one thing your falling parnter should be doing, as well, is rupturing your ear drum by yelling "Falling!!!!!"...especially if you are in the lead. Rope getting ripped out of your hand shouldn't be the first clue to drop and dig in, ya know? I'd have to vote that slack is bad. Having a coil in hand is just more distance the falling person can get injured. More so in crevasse fall. The 5ft of pure slack plus a stretching rope is plenty to jack your legs up if you catch crampon points on the walls. If you have any doubts about that then put on a loaded pack, plastics, and climb to the top of a 4ft step ladder and jump and you'll get a painful reminder how quickly you generate allot of speed and force.

What is the highest you have climbed before, Mountaineer38? Just curious to know how your body reacted if you had climbed to a similar elevation before. If you have not done 14k before then you might want to try and dump the heavy pack as low as possible to avoid any potential altitude problems that would be aggravated by a heavy load up high. Plus, you might enjoy the climb more by going long and light for a summit day. The best feeling on multi day climbs is when you can finally dump that damn heavy pack and go for the summit good and light. Freedom, ya know?!!!! I would have to say that doing 4k light from Muir would be easier than 2k in heavy pack,ya know? Just kick back in Muir for a whole day or two after you arrive and another after you summit. Going any higher won't speed your acclamitization up any.Muir is a blast and a great place to people watch on a nice summer day. Enjoy it, for sure. Anyway, if you do decide to break it up then CascadeClimber has the best idea of Paridise-Muir-Ingrham Flats-Summit. You really should be able to easily climb 3k in a day if you are serious about Rainier...if not then I agree with TLG in that you should start hitting the stairmaster hard. Good luck on your climb.

Really focus on your breathing. I can't stress enough how effective pressure breathing can be on getting rid of symptoms. I got tunnel vision once and just stopped and pressure breathed for about 5 minutes and got rid of it. Same for nausea,ect

He should bring a bunch of frickin' hot dogs and stuff them deep in the snow til the end of the trip and then when everyone is beat to shit, dreaming of beer and pizza and heading back to the BC area...tell them about the hot dogs waiting in base camp. Sounds stupid but in reality it's amazing how ,after 2 weeks of deprivation, that will put a grin on your team's face and start the drool flowing... Put some buns in tupperware things to avoid hopeless mangling too. Don't forget to toast'em (the buns,that is) over your dragonfly. I'm guessing guy is getting dumped via bush plane otherwise maybe not... Double Stuff Oreo's kind of kick ass, too.

Rodchester, I think it's been 7 years since I read those books on that Everest fiasco, ya know? And not much longer since I gave a shit about it or gave it much thought. BFD... and has nothing to do with the point I was making there...If you don't get it, I don't care. The only post in this thread I want to be crystal clear with is my previous one.

Oh, yeah... if you get time for a sweet hike in Boulder's Chatauqua Park check out the Royal Arch Trail. It's an actual ,natrual ,big ass stone arch w/ the best view in Boulder. Hands down favorite for the area and a great workout.

Yeah, it's closed til August the last time I looked. A great CO link is w/ tons of great beta: climbingboulder.com pick up a copy of Colorado's 14ner's by gerry roach. great book with topo maps on all the mtns.He has a book on 13ner's too. Mt.Evans has some fun snow routes from Summit Lake and is a really gorgeous drive up to the lake and really short approach. Quandry Peak's Cristo Couloir is a favorite of mine too out by Breckenridge. Or the West ridge rte on the same is fun too ...return via Cristo. Both w/ short approaches too. Not sure how much snow will be in this year in July but it's a pretty peak. I'd skip RMNP/Keyhole rte. That's a better winter/spring climb to avoid all the shitheads and the access is good all year. Another way to avoid 14ner crowds is to go late. Storms either brew or don't brew around 2-3pm. If it is clear around those times then you are most likely golden for a fine climb in near solitude. If you are slow or have a tough time judging your time for a climb then maybe just stick w/ morning stuff. I'll usually have "know it all" type shitheads make a comment on my way up but I'm pretty sure I'm qualified to make my own calls so... fuck'em. Also, I should add, this "late start" advice doesn't apply to snow climbs.

The two points that I want to put across to ChrisL in my blunt asshole style are simply: 1.Paying some dude to guide you and your bud up Rainier is illegal and ill advised. Play by the rules on the mtns. . Rules suck but I still do follow them and expect the same of everyone else up there. If you aren't following the rules then I am going to be a big dick to you. Show some respect to the mtns and the people who manage them for your enjoyment. 2. If some dude(singular ...and what you were looking for in your post,chrisl) agrees to take you and your bud up then I would doubt his judgement even with a day or two of training. If the "guide" gets hurt or goes into a crevasse they are gonna be pretty clueless how to really get themselves out of the situation w/o some guidance right there "holding their hands". And as an experienced climber, I sure don't want newbies placing anchors for a z pulley when I am dangling free w/o someone up there watching them who knows their shit too. Finally, I feel an experienced climber has a serious obligation to "shitbrick newbies" because newbies don't know or understand all the things that can go wrong up there yet. Putting a couple new climbers in the middle of the rope on an experienced team(plural!) is fine but two newbies and just 1 experienced climber just ain't safe... for them or the "guide". ChrisL may not realize that yet. Chris_reiman...I am glad your climb went off without a hitch but it doesn't mean it is a safe way to climb,dude. Chisl, good luck in your climbing and by your last post sounds like you are heading towards being on the right track. Go get some good experienced PARTNERS and do some easy rts on Hood and Adams. Good luck.

Hey, go for it, dude. Take him up. When you take a plunge into crevasse and your shitbrick newbie partners can't remember how to get you out then you'll be thinking different. When you were guiding ,I would imagine there were other guides on these climbs, as well? That makes a big difference...that's plain reckless otherwise. But then Mountain Madness was pretty reputable too til they got a bunch of people killed on some big famous peak in the Hima.

All great points Ovr40 but I think this guy already went to IKEA and bought his nice tasteful wooden frame for his 8x10 glossy... ChrisL... anyone who takes you,a total newbie, up Rainier for some free waffles ISN'T someone you want guiding you up that mtn. Anyone with the skills and judgement to guide Rainier will be running away from you so god damn fast your head will spin until you've got the skills. Sooo...Get or buy some real experience and then ,maybe, you'll understand what I mean.

Stephen Hunter is a fine fiction writer. Any of his books w/ Earl or Bob Lee Swagger in them are top notch fun reading. His early stuff is okay but I would wouldn't really go out of my way to suggest them. Hunter really hit his stride with the Swagger books though. Total late night page turners.Dirty White Boys, Time to Hunt,Point of Impact, Hot Springs Ever read "Into Thin Air"... ? ?that's pretty good too...

Good thread, SC. Don't know how old you are but I can say that climbing has evloved for me over 15 years from the intense,training,pissed rock climber w/ fucked up joints(sounds like you now) to the happy, "could give a fuck" climber I am now. I climb seriously allot less but the challenges are cool and interesting each time and tend to be more in the mountaineering realm these days. It's a great excuse to travel to other countries, see views that few have seen and hang/climb with great friends... beyond that I don't care. Too much ambition just leads to ... so try climbing a bit less and focus on the or when you go. Get some cool new hobbies to fill in the gaps. I found that passion again in other things again like fly fishing and rafting. Finally, just accept that there are climbers in this world who are born w/ more gifts than you will ever get through relentless training and work so just relax and enjoy...

Yeah, sounds like you got more out of this climb by turning around, for sure. I think the more you climb and the more experienced climbers you go with the less emotion goes into bailing. When the going is good- GO! When the going is bad-FUCK IT w/o regret. Doesn't matter if you have flown half way around the world and dropped a chunk of $ or it's in you're backyard for a weekend climb. The "Summit at all costs/under all conditions" attitude is for beginners and morons.

I'm going to Moab this weekend for some rafting shit but you'd have to meet me in Denver... 82 degrees and sunny on Sunday...mmmm...moab...

If you read that post again you'll see that the top is Seattle's weather and the bottom is Denver's weather... next time I'll put it day glo for you thread skimmers. Anyway enough thread wandering on my part...I think the intitial topic was Layton fishing around for some sunshine to be blown up his ass about his cool pic or something...

Seattle 10 day weather outlook: Mon Mar 15 Mostly Cloudy 53°/42° 10 % Tue Mar 16 Showers 53°/43° 50 % Wed Mar 17 Showers 54°/44° 40 % Thu Mar 18 Rain 52°/40° 60 % Fri Mar 19 Scattered Showers 50°/40° 30 % Sat Mar 20 Partly Cloudy 55°/42° 30 % Sun Mar 21 Showers 56°/44° 50 % Mon Mar 22 Showers 58°/43° 60 % Tue Mar 23 Showers Denver 10 day weather outlook: Mon Mar 15 Mostly Sunny 58°/35° 10 % Tue Mar 16 Partly Cloudy 60°/35° 0 % Wed Mar 17 Mostly Sunny 58°/34° 10 % Thu Mar 18 Sunny 60°/38° 20 % Fri Mar 19 Partly Cloudy 66°/43° 0 % Sat Mar 20 Mostly Sunny 67°/38° 0 % Sun Mar 21 Mostly Sunny 63°/36° 0 % Mon Mar 22 Mostly Sunny 61°/39° 0 % Tue Mar 23 Partly Cloudy 68°/45° Just dosing the guy w/ some reality of climbing in the PNW....

After a winter up there you will find those blue sky photos a cruel,cruel joke... but enjoy though! I'm all for one less person in Colorado, for sure.

Dude, living in the PNW is like being married to a beautiful woman... that is nearly always sick. If you do move there then check out the dry,sunny eastern side of the mtns and spare yourself some SADD...

Oh,man...great frickin' story! Sorry to laugh at your misery but... I did. glad everyone was okay. Looks like that bush was the only fatality.

I can't wait to see that bitch in an orange jumper... she deserves every bit of jail time she gets, for sure. I also love the fact that she's lost hundreds of millions of dollars over what would have been a drop in the bucket of losing 40k. martha ...from all the honest hard working people in the world.

I want my quarter back... they don't even bite you if you miss. I let one fly around for 5 minutes...nada. How about we swat the programer?

It might be a good idea for down the road but with the low #'s of female posters here now I think it would get stale pretty quick. How many times can you talk about the latest harness or bib that allows you to pee easily while roped up, ya know? Or how good/bad it is to be involved in a largely male sport? But who knows and who am I to say? It just might encourage some new female perspective to cc.com.

Dogs love to lick certain foul areas on themselves and other dogs... I'm sure it wouldn't take too many scooby snacks to motivate the pooch to help out the owner in that area, as well...

Yeah, i'd invest in something abit more beefy than a -10 bag. I took a -20 and would probably buy an even warmer bag if I went back. Even w/ a newish bag I was sleeping in 2 poly pro shirts, heavy fleece jacket and my down jacket and then 2 heavy socks, 2 pairs of poly pro/ fleece pants in 14 and 17 camps. I agree with RBW in that you spend a shit load of time in your bag... being largely inactive for 15-18 hours a day sometimes... plenty of time to really cool your core. Don't forget to get a wide cut, too for all that crap you'll be sleeping with. Don't forget a walkman radio to pass the boredom while in your bag...NPR comes in great up there.

I'm waiting abit... I am thinking this weekend's crowd would be largely religious versions of trekies and LOTR dorks... yeah,I know...I'll burn in hell for sure.