MisterMo

Goggles are grim for spec wearers. I won't even burn in them unless I'm indoors, for outdoorsy stuff they add multiple layers to fog, get cruddy, etc. I use "pretty darn dark" grade prescription sunglasses & they work in all seasons on snow. In the extremes I add little side shields made from athletic tape the better to resemble the dork I am. I've always intended to get a pair of groovy glacier frames & have lenses made for them but never got around to it. I seriously recommend the "hooky" ear grabbers for climbing type stuff so your specs are always in the same general location that you are.

I (we) air dropped on the Tellot once apon a time. We packaged the whole get-go in big metal cans (cushioned inside with burnable shit) which probably were and most assuredly are horribly non-PC. But, for the task at hand they worked like a champ. Post-retrieval we chucked them in a big crevasse above the Tiedeman...they're probably about halfway to the snout by now. Fuel for, I think 10 people for two weeks, anyway quite a bit, we repackaged in aluminum Sigg 1 liter bottles that we were able to get a deal on. We lost, if I remember correctly, only one bottle of fuel in the drop though I've been using some pretty weirdly misshapen Sigg bottles ever since. Getting the stuff to survive the drop is not too tough; your more serious issue is finding it X days or weeks later under maybe Y feet of snow.

Great job by all. A very nice piece of work. Looking forward to the next.

Bought from them a number of times. That's where I go first if I need that sort of stuff & am willing to go to the city to get it. Nice people, good service and the nicest sleeping bag I could ever hope to own.

Ay-yup. A little further back in history than the REI stuff. Don't know if Raffi made them or just had his name on them. They were OK strengthwise but had the drawback of not being openable under body weight & thus inferior for aid.

Oh, it looks like that. It was snowing on that pitch. The ridge is solid, straightforward, and wonderful enough that it shouldn't bug you. The descent was, for me, a different matter. Easy enough but oddly insecure and massively exposed, facts compounded by the fact that we did most of it unroped after 2 75 foot raps off the summit. My mind eased when we put the rope back on near the end. A very cool climb, enjoy

Could easily be 35+. Mine identical to that were purchased late sixties. Don't remember when they came out with the nose on the gate.

Yup, there it is. Pretty cool

OK...not to be a dick but I've always been curious about something: Back in the day, in the years before way back when (up until the mid 60's when the road was widened & paved from the irrigation intake to Bridge Creek) the road remnant thru 8 mile CG, past the rock, & on up to Bridge Creek CG was THE Icicle road. If that right-of way was under government ownership or on a formal easment, and, if it has never been formally & legally vacated, then there would still be lawful public access along that road. Maybe when the weather someday goes to hell I'll research that if it's not already been done.

You get a chance; the quickness arrived at thru practice pays off. Hard snow & crampons necessitate being very quick; you have little chance of stopping once you gain some speed. Fortunately, at least in the Cascades, the number of truly hidden crevasses diminishes as the season wears on & conditions get harder. If there are only two of you & one goes in a hole things could get pretty interesting if they cannot just straightforwardly self-extract. Loosely on the topic of crevasse rescue...check out David Roberts' "Deborah, A Wilderness Narrative" if you haven't already. Awesome trip, great reading, and crevasses from hell....

Think too about those moments between when you first get that sinking feeling and when you proceed to get out of the crevasse. Is your self arrest up to snuff? A lot of clubs & classes practice team self arrest in early season when snow is soft. It's an entirely different matter later in the season when hard conditions abound. Not to be horribly gloomy but crevasse rescue gets complicated when your whole party is in one.

To which I would add: 1)Pick a cold shitty day 2)Make sure gunk of some sort falls on you from above 3)Maybe have somebody hose you down with cold water during... 4)Make sure you do it with your pack on There's more to being in and getting out of crevasses than the vertical distance

Jump back, Jack If you, poor or not, are not getting a 'deal' on your rent or being subsidized in some fashion then you are buying the place for your landlord; pure and simple. Whether you are working poor, working rich or whatever has nothing to do with it. Oh, you bet, there are lot's of working poor people, many more than there once were and many more than there ought to be for which purchasing a home is going to be pretty tough to pull off, mostly due to the difficulty (I think) of getting ahead enough to come up with a down payment. But that's another topic I did, by the way, bust my ass for what I've got...luck had nothing to do with it.

Right on. Everybody, save perhaps those who live at home or under bridges, is buying a home. The only variable is whether the deed is in their name...or their landlord's. The only reason I can see not to buy is if a person wants to be itinerant...probably not worth it if you don't want to be in the same spot for, say, 5-10 years. Buying my place was one of the most (accidentally I might add)intelligent things I ever did. Gagged on the price...worried about the payment...but a few years of appreciation made both those concerns vanish. Now all I got to do is cough up for the tax man a couple of times a year...a nice feeling

Happened upon a total pigsty up that road with the slobs present about a year ago. Got fairly pissed off about it all. Called Sky FS (per the sign at the highway) & ratted them out, license number and all. Got a totally "Who Cares, Thank you very much response" Maybe the FS could pitch in a little better on this issue? Anyhow...enjoy yer cliff...

Coupla Manchester mentioners already but check out Goodbye Darkness by him. A bit old ('78?) and maybe out of print.

Did it in 68 via Forsyth Glacier & again a couple of years later via the Dog's Head. It was just a slog but very pretty and zero approach since you drove to timberline above Spirit Lake.

No offense taken; I haven't paid much attention. I did look around & find Leeper's recall. It seems that the problem is not Leeper stuff per se but much/all chromolly hangers of that vintage.

Wuz there some issue with Leeper hangers that I missed along the way? He must have some reason. yeah cause they break and he doesn't want people to die. it's a recall. OK I dug one out of the toy box & am staring at it. The geometry seems OK. Is the flaw in the thinness of the material? or some weird metallurgical reason? or

Wuz there some issue with Leeper hangers that I missed along the way? He must have some reason.

So...I snowmobile 80+ days a year...at work. I'm probably old from your point of view; I'm not fat. Anybody who says snowmobiling isn't hard work has never stuck one of the mothers. That said, I have zero interest in snomobiling on my own time. Can't stand the racket. But there are God's plenty of places I can go where they're not around; I can't begrudge them their share of the world. Just my 2 cents...

Don't know/remember what UIAA or other climbing bodies use as a safety factor but for rigging as used for lifting 5:1 is the standard ratio for breaking strength to rated load. There are lots of good reasons & examples why that's not excessive.

Haven't been there yet this year. There's a five star+ camp (The Perfect Place) about a mile south of Persis summit on top of the little flat topped peak (5400'+/-)at the head of Procter Creek. Several small tarns...one with good diving rocks, goats, bears, a good boulder trundling chasm, and very few geeks. About two hours from Index summit

Excellent today from the look of it. I was working but people came down Big Chief Bowl and DD past us and they were all smiles. Get it soon; there's not much there & it's going quick.

Marble Creek Cirque, the perfect grass flat under Early AM Spire Marmot Skull Meadows, across the way at the head of Sibley Creek The Perfect Place, near Index