Macson

Lindy, I was up there yesterday with my son. We saw your note and I had planned to attempt to get your pack for you, but looking down from the summit we could not see it anywhere. Perhaps a goat knocked it down over the edge. There only seemed to be a couple small parties before us, and none of them had an orange pack. Unless yours it an old external frame circa 1963, which one guy was carrying down as we were going up. Sorry I couldn't deliver better news.

If you're familiar with PT....the ferry line was all the way to Safeway when a client stopped by this afternoon about 3:00. Also, this weekend is the county fair. Good luck.

Within an hours drive? Yes, it's called Leavenworth.

Nice 5-8-4 at the end there. If I wrote that one for me it would say: Grass blades wave in wind She complains, another trip? I bail. Such a flake. But I like the 4th one best. It has a kind of slow motion sureal quality to it.

Alibi

The Boyscouts used to be pretty bad ass. My father in law was an Eagle Scout in the 60s. He climbed Olympus with them, and also did a re-creation of the "Press Expedition". Their trip was front page news in the Seattle times....he still has the spread on a poster board someplace. I myself was a Life Scout in the early 80s. We used to go on survival outings in the snowy swamps in Northern Michigan in January. A bunch of 12 year olds building snow shelters and doing navigation problems to find dinner. Now I volunteer for the Cubscouts a little, since my son is that age. I've taken the boys (all 7 to 8 years old) up Mt. Walker and Mt. Ellinor. That said, I'm pretty disgusted with the Chief Seattle Council. Since merging with the Olympus Council they've systematically sold off, logged off or otherwise stripped down all of the properties they could around here. Of course, their kids all go to camps in the Seattle metro area, so it's no skin off their nose if Parsons is logged, or if Gibbs turns into a county park, or if they sell a cabin in Port Townsend donated 75 years ago for $1.4 million under appraised value. Of course, it's not the kids fault, so I continue to help out...and try not to be too bitter (at least in front of the kids!)

I would agree with everything TLG said, and add that I would take my son (8 years old) up there without hesitation as long as the weather, and forecast, was ok. Also, I feel more comfortable with a GPS myself, loaded with waypoints from TOPO....just in case the weather turns sour. Also, and this may be way too basic information for you, but you should know that there is no water at Muir. Plan to melt snow for water. The last time I was up there a very tired looking woman in jeans and sneakers asked where the water was, and when I told her there was none so she asked for some from me. Not cool when I was worried about having enough fuel for myself as it was.

I was on the DC yesterday, and didn't see anyone staked out, but I did see fresh puke right on the boot track. Gross. At least turn your head to the side please.

I would think you'd have lots of ice, exposed crevasses and no bridges this year in August, but that's pure speculation. I've only ever done Baker in June (twice). As for rope, I just bought one of these, except 60M, for glacier use. I thought it was a pretty good deal with free shipping and no tax. http://www.bentgate.net/dyn83x50mdry.html

That's Chimacum Rock. It's on private land, but there aren't any no-tresspassing signs and it's climbed on often by locals. There are several bolted routes, ranging from 5.6/7ish to 5.veryhard. Access is via Anderson Lake Rd. Park near a big gate on a logging road. I like going out there to practice sometimes after work. I'd be happy to partner up if anyone is interested in going sometime. Definitely not a destination, but if your in the area and looking for an after hours diversion...

I saw someone on Baker a few weeks ago with a 2 man team and one of those 30m ropes. They had it doubled between them so it was a 15M rope. I figured it must be some kind of suicide pact or something. Maybe it was a pre-rigged C system but they were so close together that they would both be in the hole before they knew it if one fell. If I was a total newbie to glacier travel and was planning to go up there with only a 2 man team I think I'd...oh wait, I wouldn't go up there with that team. I can understand the desire to do it yourself, but I think you'd be wise to find at least one other person, preferably with crevasse rescue experience. You have any short cliffs between Philly and DC? Try setting up your system and pulling your brother up the cliff using only what you'd have on the glacier. Even with a C-Z (assuming you can anchor and rig it by yourself after arresting a fall without killing him) pulling up 225 lbs of climber and gear is pretty tough for one guy. I think people have pretty good luck finding partners for this kind of thing on this site. Or did I just fall for a troll?

Dear Penthouse Forum.....

My father in law stocks a small irrigation pond with hatchery trout for them. I prefer my fly rod.

Does a box of chardonnay count? D'oh. Of course there will be beer. and and under the stars

Hey, fuck you guys. This is the kind of shit grown ups have to do so they don't lose all their gear in divorce court. I've ridden horses on ground that's more exposed than half the people on this board have ever seen. And I don't even own a wind shirt. I tried going the "climbing every weekend" route and it just doesn't go over well with my wife and kids, so yes....I will be eating smores and lounging for one weekend in July.

Saturday, fun rock in Mazama, taking the wife (belay slave) and oldest son who's been bugging me to climb outside again. Sunday horseback riding then a campfire and tenting on the beach (Methow River). Monday the smallest parade in Washington in "downtown" Methow, followed by a potluck with all the town's residents at the grange (or should I say both the town's residents?). Then more smores and beach camping.

I've not climbed with them, but have taken several extended back country trips with horses (both pack horses and riding horses) in pretty steep terrain. I understand that hiring an outfitter is pretty damned pricey. We use my parents' horses. There are many places you aren't supposed to go, which is probably the biggest single issue. Also, to do this on your own takes a bit of skill with packing. It's not like you just shove 150 lbs of gear in the saddlebags. There are several environmental issues, one being erosion and damage to the ground, but the big one is feed. If you are not in an area with suitable grazing you need to carry feed and it really needs to be certified weed free. Rangers who come upon you with a couple bails of hay from your barn get pretty excited about the weeds your spreading to the mountains. Mmm, napweed on Mt. Olympus... Another big downside is that horse care takes up a huge portion of your time. There's no way to recoup this lost time. Getting to base camp with horses will always take as long, or longer than hopping out of your car, throwing the pack on and going. That said, it can be pretty damned nice gaining 4,000' without breaking a sweat and sleeping in a huge wall tent with a wood stove in November. It's like bringing your RV to Marmot Pass. Your shitting, eating, drinking, roaming, loud, smelly, spooked RV.

Not sure what you were looking at, as both the 101 & 201 use 2 AAA batteries. The 201 can store more trackpoints, waypoints and routes (the 101 cannot store any routes). The 201 can be connected to a computer for use with mapping software, the 101 cannot. Get the 201, it's great value. I think he's talking about the foretrex 101 vs 201. The biggest difference is the battery (rechargable lithium ion vs. AAAs). The other differences are that the 201 is slightly smaller and that the 201 includes the extra hardware required to connect to a computer. You have to buy that hardware separately for the 101. Also, don't look at the prices on the Garmin website. Manufacturer's suggestions for retail price rarely match what you actually pay. The difference in the real price (if you also get the data cable) is about $15. The choice comes down to buying batteries for every trip and having the flexibility to change them in the field vs. saving money on batteries but being limited to the 15 hour battery life (or somehow recharging in the field).

Separate is nice because of the battery issue. It's also nice because you can't always get a good gps signal (under trees etc...), and because firing up the gps just to get your elevation sucks. I've found that accuracy is about the same on either type. That is, not great. However, my gps altitude was more accurate on top of Baker yesterday. Within about 10', while my Suunto was off about 100' because of big weather changes during the morning.

This reminds me of a case in Bremerton where the city told a 75 year old widow they needed her property to expand a sewer plant. She didn't want to sell, but they threatened to condemn it so she agreed to sell it for $135k. Within the span of 2 years, instead of expanding the sewer plant, the city rezoned and cleared the land, then sold it to Par Ford to build their new dealership. Selling price? $2,000,000. I frankly don't know how the people on the city council there can sleep at night. Related article http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:--T7X...lient=firefox-a

Better than the forerunner is the foretrex. It has the same body as the forerunner and the same programming as the gecko 201, so it works with National Geographic TOPO if you like to plan routes ahead of time. I have one and have used it a handful of times. The Tooth (just for the heck of it), SEWS (same reason), Adams. In the limited amount that I've used it I'd say the performance and reception is about the same as my etrex venture was. It's very small, which I really like. The 201 and 101 are the same except that the 201 has a rechargable lithium ion battery and the 101 uses AAA's. I have the 201. Believe it or not the best price I found it for was at walmart.com. Cheaper than ebay at the time.

Thanks to all you wankers I didn't get shit done today. If I get fired its your asses. The best part is that Chaps is now addicted to cc.com like the rest of us. He'll be in merger talks by the end of next week.

So, you think it was the shirt that got you the drinks???

I'm about the same level as you. My in-laws live in Methow so I'm over there on a somewhat regular basis. Will be there over 4th of July long weekend if you're interested in getting something done.

Fred, were you the two guys who passed me by my belay above the chockstone pitch on the South Arete and then rapped down? You guys got out of there just in time. We ended up going down in a nasty thunderstorm probably about the time you hit the woods. We didn't have snowshoes, but the postholing didn't seem that bad to me. Not as bad as great scott basin on das toof a couple weeks ago.