KaskadskyjKozak

a decade of decadence?

:lmao: :lmao:

Thanks, Val. If the weather gets good again in the next 2 weeks, you should go for it!

I recently bought a Petzl Hirundos. It is awesome - and not that much $$

One business is arguably hurting a significant portion of Americans in the aggregate. How many people are employed in the health insurance industry and would not be able to work for the government should it go single-payer... Or are you trying to argue something else?

I had three strong-willed partners who would not let me get away with that. :-)

Uggh, I hate the doldrums of November and early December before skiing starts...

Trip: Rainier - Kautz Glacier Date: 9/11/2011 Trip Report: Years ago I met a climber on the summit of Granite Mountain at sunset midweek after work, and, as we admired the view of Rainier, I told him about my (then) recent turnaround on Rainier due to AMS. His reply: "Rainier is a Beast". Indeed. Even getting out every weekend the thought of hauling my ass up 9000 feet in 24 hours is intimidating. However, the fortuitous three-way confluence of the snowpack this year, the mild early summer temps, and the recent stretch of great weather sufficiently lowered my resistance to a friend's plea to attempt the Kautz. I called the Climbing Information Center at MRNP to confirm, and, yes, the route was still "in". So, JS, MS, BG and I met at 5:30 am Saturday and drove to Paradise to start an adventure and what would prove to be a long, strenuous outing. Rainier on September 10th!!! We quickly arrived at Glacier Vista and tried a couple possible climber trails left before we found the correct one and headed down to the lower Nisqually. Here we saw no real reason to rope up and headed towards the Fan, which appeared to still be in decent shape. The bottom of the Fan had snow part way up, then there was a section with a stream and rocks, then back on snow. All the snow on the approach was quite firm, but did not require crampons. The Fan: As we topped the ridge above the fan we noticed a team of three climbers on the Wilson glacier, but they appeared to be moving very slowly - perhaps it was a course on glacier travel we surmised. It turned out that they were three guys from Maryland who we'd run into on the route the next morning. Contemplating the South Side of Rainer: Looking up towards the Turtle Snowfield: From this point on the heavy packs and effort started to take its tool. We had to negotiate some rocky choss below the Turtle Snowfield. The Turtle itself consisted of firm snow in deep sun cups. Sun cups on the Turtle: Eventually this proved too much for our tastes and we went back to choss-hell for a few hundred feet before arriving at our bivy site at 10,400 feet. Despite being a bit far from the snow field, we found a nice stream on the other side (towards the setting sun) where there was also some very cool airplane wreckage. We were fed, watered up and in bed by 8:30, and set our alarms for 3:30. The plan was to arrive at the base of the first ice step at dawn - which is what ended up happening. The morning started with headlamps and choss, then a quick rappel down into the mouth of the beast, so to speak. While traversing over to the glacier to rope up, BG grabbed on to a rock which let loose - it was the size of a large suitcase. Fortunately (?) I was below her and stopped her from falling without taking a long ride myself. We then roped up and I headed over to the first ice step. The views were glorious! The route comes into view: View down the lower Kautz: The guys from Maryland were already leading up, so I chose a line to their right and start up with no belay (it looked easy). I placed 4 screws in 200 feet then set up a belay and brought up MS. MS then led up to the "snow" between the two steps. This "snow" was actually more like the Turtle - very hard, dirty snow with huge sun caps. I "led" this out on belay with no pro and we simul-climbed to the 2nd step. Belay above first step: Snow above second pitch of first step: Again we had caught up to the guys from Maryland. They were already headed up, so I set up a belay at a line to their left and brought in MS. He then led a full-length pitch with maybe 3 screws and set up an anchor. I followed and led up the second short pitch, placing 2 screws and continuing up to the full rope length before setting up a top rope and bringing in MS. JS leding the first pitch of the second step: It was now 11:30. Elevation? 11,800 feet. Shit. The guys from Maryland were bailing. MS and I decided to eat and hydrate and wait for JS and BG to make a group decision. I asked: are you willing to summit at dark and headlamp the DC? Yes. Are you willing to drive home at 3 am? Yes. OK, we were not bailing. And besides, we had all our overnight gear, so we could bivy. The guys from Maryland needed a v thread tool, so, not needing ours, we donated it to them. MS then stretched out the rope and I tore down the anchor and we were on the upper Kautz. This part of the route is in mostly good shape now, with some crevasse negotiation - especially as you approach the rock bands on climber's right to attain the upper Nisqually. Crevasse on the upper Kautz: We headed there. Mistake. The place has collapsed totally and is a jumbled mess of blocks and seracs. Time to eat and hydrate, and come up with a plan B. The slopes up towards Point Success looked good, so we headed that way. Onwards and upwards! We did an end run by an obvious crevasse then aimed more to climber's right, away from Point Success. With some more crevasse navigation, we finally crested a ridge and the summit came into view. JS cresting the ridge blocking summit views: The summit at last comes into view! Our work was not over yet, however. In the flat area there were two huge gaping crevasses that we had to end run - in opposite directions, of course! Then we slogged up the final slope, crested, and yanked the rope across choss clockwise around the ridge to the true summit. Since it was colder than a witch's tit here, all we managed to do was put on a coat and take two photos before descending into the crater trough. The crater trough: We then popped out the opposite side for a slightly better rest stop to eat and drink. Camp to summit was 12 hours - and it was now 4:30 pm. Gulp. Good thing I had lots of shot blocks and Gu left. Even here behind a rock it was cold and not out of the wind - in contrast to most of our day which including ascending above 13K in short sleeves - so we headed down tout de suite. The route is currently a well-marked, icy, switch-backing trail, and the snow is very firm - and great for cramponing. We made short work to the top of the cleaver, encountering two ladders en route. First ladder: Second ladder: Sunset approaches: The next section was a bit slower as the long day finally began to wear on us. We put head lamps on about 10 minutes outside of Ingraham Flats at about 8 pm. An hour later we were at Muir. We took a long rest at Muir, then headed down. The snow, regrettably, was very firm, and going was tedious, requiring crampons all the way to Pebble Creek with little plunge-stepping. This made for much more wear-and-tear on our tired bodies, and we did not get to the cars until 1 am. However the moon was full and headlamps were optional (at least on the snowfield), and temps were quite pleasant. Gear Notes: Ice axe, 2nd tool, 6 screws, 2 pickets (for self-rescue only), v-thread (to bail), helmet. Approach Notes: Long, hard, with some tedious choss.

Really? So the disparity between Roman emperors and plebs circa 50 AD was less than the disparity between an American CEO and working class person today?

Quotas in the Enchantments are not in effect until June 15th. Edwards Mesa is a super-cool place.

It's a trail, you moron.

Last year I met a party that hiked up Ingalls Creek, camped outside the Enchantments, and dayclimbed Prusik via Crystal Creek.

He's been to pink's moon.

You should go for it - you'd be a shoe-in with that 'stache dude!

Last year I did it in two days in mid-August. We camped at the col above upper Thornton lake, which had running water. From there to the base of the route is only about 1 hour. I believe we climbed the route in about 11 hours camp to camp. Most of the route was simulclimbed with the exception of the crux pitch and maybe one more. If you are efficient and simulclimb most of the route, you shouldn't have to bivy on it, IMO. If you want to do part of the route on day 1, then yeah, you could bivy in the lower 1/2 of the route, where there is a lot of class 2-3. Beware that there are only 2 permit slots for the Triumph cross-country zone.

Yes, that was classic. :-)

You can't really bivy on the Sahale arm... there is a camp up high, and they enforce only camping there.

We saw your (or somebody's) rap sling up on the ridge proper and wondered how that had happened. Nice!

Trip: Mesahchie - Mesahchie Ice Fall Couloir Date: 9/4/2011 Trip Report: This climb caught my interest last year when I read Gaucho Argentino's TR. I figured the route might be in by now, and with the weather looking great, gave it a go with a few friends (TB, NM, and MS). We drove up to Easy Pass TH early Saturday and made short work of the trail despite our too-heavy packs, loaded with ice climbing gear. View from Easy Pass: Rest here was not possible due to the still-thriving insect swarms - a trifecta of small black flies, big biting flies, and skeeters. So, we consulted route descriptions and choose a path uphill for the notorious traverse. Usually when someone bitches about a traverse or down-climb, I take it with a grain of salt. In this case, however, I must fully concur with the description of high suck-factor on this traverse. It sucked going in, and it sucked coming out. 'Nuff said (for now). Traversing: Getting closer: We arrived at camp 2+ hours out of Easy Pass, and were pleasantly surprised to find a nice stream of flowing water right by the best bivy spots at 7,000 feet. We settled in, enjoyed our respective Mountain House, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset with views of the great North Cascades. Logan under a moon: We were up at 5 and head towards the col at 7500. We found one spot where we could reasonably gain the glacier, roped up, and headed down. Access to the glacier: Starting down: A nice traverse led to widening views of our route. At first it appeared quite steep, but foreshortening finally lost its battle and we saw a very mellow route ahead. Looking steep: Looking mellow: MS led first with TB. I then led out with NM. The 45 degree pitch was about a rope length, and I placed 2 pickets and 2 screws. There was some exposed ice, but mostly hard-packed snow, great for cramponing. After the rope was stretched out the terrain mellowed, so I just kept going. I led up to the couloir and surmounted a short, steep slope to attain our 2nd belay spot in a great little alcove on the far right. Here I caught up to MS. Rest spot on 1st pitch: Looking back to NM: MS at belay 2: I swapped gear and NM headed up. In about 140 feet he placed 3 pickets and set up a belay in an alcove below some rocks using a gear anchor built with nuts. I then led up to the top of the couloir (100+ feet), placing 3 pickets and brought in NM. All in all, the ice route was great fun but too short! I thought it might be nice to try for the summit (hey, maybe I'd try for the Bulger list some day), so we dropped gear and started off after a short rest. I now take full responsibility for all that ensued. :-) As per the route description on Summit Post we descended a gully and crossed over into a 2nd, beige-colored gully. It was immediately apparent that Mesachchie's reputation for loose, shitty rock was deserved. About 150 feet up this gully, MS knocked a rock loose that almost decapitated NM, who shortly thereafter indicated a preference to return to his pack and enjoy the sun and views. NM scrambling, immediately prior to turnaround: Us remaining three lunatics continued on. We soon ran into a bit of route-finding trying to get out and left of this gully. After some sketchy class 4 forays up by MS and TB, I finally went down and far left and found a short, 5.easy exit, which caused some puckering of author's anus along with swearing. We naively assumed however that this would be the last "difficulty" (optimistic reading of the summitpost TR, perhaps...). Where's Waldo? Good times! After exiting the first gully, we began ascending a second, wider, longer gully. This one started out friendly enough - easy class three, fun, breezy, even with some granite! Higher up, the rock changed, becoming more crumbly and unsavory. However, we were able to top out of this gully without any class 4 sketchiness. We now saw the first prominent false summit/bump in the ridge. According to our route description, we needed to work to the north side to avoid having to do anything technical. This involved a short class 4 step to a scary perch, ledge walk, and 20 foot ascent up a sketchy section above a huge fucking drop-off. TB investigated thusly-described terrain while MS and I vacillated, pondering the risk versus benefit of our plans. TB could provide no optimistic promises of a glorious run up to the summit from his vantage point, so we vacillated some more. At this point, I stated the obvious need to "shit or get off the pot", and so, MS and I quickly joined TB at his ridge-crest vantage point. We down-climbed 20 feet of sketchy, loose class 3 to some ledges then ran the ridge a few feet. From here we could see 2, maybe 3 (maybe more?) rocky pinnacles between us and the summit, with no obvious class 3 route between them. It all looked daunting. None of us was eager to venture beyond this point, roped or not (pro in crumbly rock?). Vantage from our decision point (the picture does not do justice to the exposure involved): After some additional procrastination we declared this to be our summit, cursed Mesahchie, and headed back to our partner. We did set up a fixed line for a short section to the North side ledge, and rappeled into the final gully (the beige one). Everything else involved slow, careful, methodical down-climbing, with some sections requiring us to go one at a time to avoid killing each other; copious rock mass was deposited lower on Mesahchie by us on this day. But, the glories of this climb were far from over! We then started the descending traverse to camp. If you want my advice on the best way, I can't give it. We tried our best to pick a good line, one of least resistance, and suckage, but alas, I have nothing to report but seemingly-endless, character-building terrain. To be honest, I preferred downclimbing the gullies to the traverse to camp. A few hours later, we arrived, exhausted at camp. We opted for night number two, as planned, and enjoyed another glorious sunset. We got up leisurely today, and hiked out. The traverse in the reverse direction was better than on the way in, but, despite staying at around a 6800 foot contour, we encountered quite a few "interesting" spots to further punish our legs, arms, bodies, and psyches. At last we hit the beautiful trail, and hauled ass to our car. Some final salt in the wounds on the deproach traverse: The views do ameliorate the suffering: Can you hear the Sound of Music? If someone can honestly tell me there is a better way to the summit of Mesahchie, I may head back, else... I'm not sure about a return visit. The ice was fun, but quite short for the approach and descent that must be endured. The views are glorious, however, and the wildflowers were out. Gear Notes: 4 pickets, 2 screws, a few nuts, ice axe and tool, HELMET. Approach Notes: Suckage

Yeeaahhh, and... that's all the Arab countries, so what's your point? LOLZ

they are functionally equivalent to a $800 Hilleberg

/dev/null is the only place we can redirect at this point...

Why the dig? Indeed, boner. You've dug a deep enough pit for yourself.

Top 10 largest Muslim populations # Country Muslims 1. Indonesia 188,619,000 2. Pakistan 144,788,000 3. India 131,213,000 4. Bangladesh 118,512,000 5. Turkey 67,864,000 6. Iran 67,610,000 7. Egypt 64,647,000 8. Nigeria 54,891,000 9. Algeria 31,729,000 10. Morocco 31,642,000

I have heard that folks have tried to go in there and do volunteer maintenance but were blocked by the powers that be personally I think the trail has improved some over the last 7 years, but yeah, parts of it suck a bit