KaskadskyjKozak

Elk lake and Glacier Meadows have quotas. You can reserve a spot up to a month in advance (and are not charged until you actually show up). Just call the wilderness information center in Port Angeles to find out if there are spots open.

More real that Mountain House and nuts and twigs. :-)

the summit shot is looking "easterly"... you can see the false summit below as well as the middle peak.

Nice work Pete! I am extremely jealous!

It's sunny. Go climb something.

Trip: Olympus - Blue Glacier Date: 7/17/2010 Trip Report: Olympus has been on my tick list for a number of years, but I have had trouble getting a combination of the time off and a good weather window. This year all worked in my favor. I went up with a largish group (6) for a four day trip. On Thursday we caught an early ferry to Kingston, picked up our permits, had brunch in Forks, and did a 5 hour approach to Lewis Meadows. On the second day, we slept in and did a very relaxing five hour hike in to Glacier Meadows. On both days we had beautiful weather. The trail is dry and snow free all the way to camp. There is currently a rope ladder set up just before Glacier Meadows and warnings to avoid a gnarly, melting-out avalanche gully. Camp itself has lots of snow-free sites and plenteous running water right by camp. Getting some elevation gain finally: The rope ladder: Glacier Meadows: Since we got to camp early we hiked up to the moraine to admire our objective. Great, great views. Later in the evening we saw bears right in the camp site. Needless to say, we hung our food very carefully and by the book. The ranger advised a very early start so we headed out of camp at 3 am on Saturday. It was cool and clear. The route was completely straightforward. We took the moraine to the far left and descended a climber's trail to the remaining snow/avy debris and dropped to the Blue Glacier to rope up. Very few crevasses are opening up, but we roped up anyways. We took a moderate slope up the Snow Dome, traversed to Crystal Pass, and then rounded the corner and proceeded to a notch below the false summit. Cramponing was decently firm until we rounded Crystal Pass, then got sloppy. Views from the slope up to the Snow Dome: Examining a gaper near Crystal Pass: We descended a steepish, very icy slope to the col between the false and true summits, and then ascended a steeper, sun-exposed, snow slope to just below the summit block. The icy slope down from the false summit: The summit block - reward for 6 hours of hard work: I had brought a very small alpine rack with me and proceeded to the right slightly where easy scrambling led to a belay ledge half-way up. I then led a short pitch of 5.easy to the rappel anchor and set a fixed line for my followers. At this point another party of 2 caught up to us and also led the pitch. We ran into nobody else on the route that day. KK summit stoke: Summit pron: We rappeled the climbing pitch and downclimbed the class 3 bit, then proceeded to reverse our steps back. The descent was straightforward and took about 3 hours. We had a great rest at camp, washing up, eating, etc, and opted to do the full deproach on Sunday. We headed out on Sunday at 6:30am. The hike out went great until about 5 mile island. Then it became more and more painful and mind-numbing. We got to the cars at 2 and proceeded directly to Forks for some real food. Pleasant views on the hike out: We got caught in bad traffic near Sequim and dealt with the normal ferry backup, getting back to Edmonds around 10 pm. This part of the climb may have been the most painful part. :-) Gear Notes: Ice axe, crampons, helmet, small alpine rack.

"minorities"? STFU

Nice work! I really need to get up this route...

The sling looked newer. I'm not sure if the cam I saw was a TCU or something else. It had a white sewn runner. I didn't even try to clean it... figured it was stuck for good based on the apparent age/weather wear. Five years sounds about right though. There was also a rope hanging over the shelf, which was tied around a boulder at the top of the first pitch. The other party we saw pulled the rope up and I think they may have carried it out (something about making it into a rug).

I am responding to the bullshit assertion that gov't has nothing to do with religious marriage ceremonies in the US If you and TTK want to tie the knot somewhere that'll take you, go for it!

Right back at you.

WRONG. In WA state if you are married in a church, the church is required to see your marriage license before performing the ceremony. Exactly! The civil aspect comes first. The "religious" aspect is the optional part. The civil contract is the requirement. Exactly. The state forces rules on the religious organizations. Of course, they'd never do that regarding same-sex partners. Never. Nope.

WRONG. In WA state if you are married in a church, the church is required to see your marriage license before performing the ceremony.

Yes! Also a small sling pinched off in a crack just to the right of it.

Who discriminated against the whites?

GEE! THANKS FOR THESE VERY INTERESTING LATE-BREAKING DEVELOPMENTS!

Nice! This is/was one of my favorite climbs!

Trip: East Wilman's Spire - Beckey-Staley Date: 7/11/2010 Trip Report: Ever since I saw this route in one of the Nelson's books I thought it would be fun to try and roped in three friends (aclark20, LB, and SS) to come-with. Coming off a trip to Europe, it seemed to fit the bill for this past weekend as a moderately-strenuous, fairly non-technical one-day trip. We biked in to Monte Cristo, and approached via the Glacier Basin trail, rather than other alternatives. Lots of snow and melt-off on the surrounding mountainsides. Only downside - it was quite hot until late afternoon, which slowed us down a bit. The talus field up to the snow ramp was mostly continuous snow with one or two sections of obligatory nastiness to overcome. The gully itself had good coverage up to 20 feet below the notch. The scramble from the W notch to the E notch was dry, as was the climbing route itself. We climbed the steep snow to the notch unroped. We all had crampons (optional, but recommended) and a second tool (also optional) which made for easier going. We roped up at the E notch, which involved two pitches of 5.fun, two rappels, and a downclimb on lead, and we were done with the best fun. Two of our party were a little nervous about the downclimbing on the snow (it was around 6 pm and cooling) so we tied our two 60 m ropes together and lowered one (LB), and let the second rappel (SS) on the joined ropes (and pass the knot). My other partner, aclark20, downclimbed. I went last, dropped the ropes and downclimbed (I opted for crampons). We almost had the route to ourselves; we ran into one other party (of 2). As we were about to descend the snow gully we witnessed several huge blocks of snow slough off of the peak next to E Wilman's. It was an awesome sight to behold! The hike and bike out went well. Lots of waterfalls to look at, nice temps, cool breezes. Now for the pics. Approaching Glacier Basin: Ascending snow-covered talus: Ascending the steepest part of the snow-gully: Aclark20 downclimbing the first pitch on lead: View up talus and snow approach (taken on descent): Gear Notes: Small alpine rack, crampons and ice axe, 2nd tool optional. Approach Notes: Snow-free until glacier basin; at least 50% coverage on the talus field below the spire; approach gully snow-filled.

The execs of BP could care less that they're tanking -- they already have fat wallets, and the notion of the corporation protects them from personal liability. The people who will suffer are the BP employees and the folks who have invested in BP. No doubt the BP execs will find jobs at other corporations -- these other corps are looking to take advantage of a short-term profit at expense of the common good. Not saying that it's right or wrong -- just that it's reality. Is this supposed to be some sort of revelation or a half-assed rant? Familiar with the Ford Pinot? Mmmm Pinot...

I thought that that old fart turned 60 *last* year.

Linky

Putain de merde!

Je suis retourné

c'est vrai...

Très bon! Si vous allez, il faut écrire un trip report ici!