KaskadskyjKozak

Currently reading "A Moveable Feast" and "Eaters of the Dead". Both are quite enjoyable, light, summer reads :-)

Great Movie. Great Reference. However, it can only be appreciated and understood by the old/aging fast ;-)

Really I don't care to provide you with whatever it is you seem to need. Spray is generally a useful distraction area on cc.com and nothing more. Unfortunately pretty much every conversation I have with you is negative, boring, and a waste of time on all fronts. I'm not sure why you continue responding to me or FW honestly. There is nothing about the interaction that you seem to enjoy. You know it all, and we know nothing. You'd just rather have us gone. Maybe it's you who would like to cart folks off into wagons and send them to the gas chamber, not FW, after all. If only people you don't like would just go away, you'd be so much happier. Over and out.

Do you ever stop and think? Seriously? All you do is react and accuse. I made points and qualified them. I don't think all lefties are the same or claim to know how everyone thinks. I have already stated that. You just want to put words in my mouth. It's lazy. Ivan is a much more interesting interlocutor - because it is evident he actually reads what his adversary writes, considers it, does not necessarily reject it out of hand (even if he disagrees with it). Unfortunately Ivans are few and far between. You are a dime a dozen.

Fucking A dude. Talk about hyperbole. Of course not all liberals are the same. But there are trends and patterns of thought and behavior. Just like for conservatives. FW does make some interesting points and provocative statements. You don't even try to argue them but just go for the insults. Did you even try to check your emotions at the door for a second and *consider* anything he said at all? Scientists: yeah, they're great to talk to - in small doses and about their specific research area and expertise. Beyond that I've found many to be just as flawed and goofy as the rest of humanity. FW makes a good point about Ivan and generalists. Unidimensional people are boring as fuck (to me) and scientists often trend that way. I worked in biotech for over 10 years, and have known a ton of them both there and elsewhere. Oh, and the relatively few conservatives in science can be just as unidimensional and quirky. FW makes a great point about lay people citing science as gospel. Not knowing a neutrino from whatever he said - it's actually pretty typical of Americans in general, not just lefties. It's just the lefties cite science as gospel (w/o understanding it) while many righties prefer denial as a shield for ignorance. Well, back to your thread folks. I'm headed to the Enchantments along with 1000 other people...

Yes, it does. It is a reminder to myself :-)

The N Face of Buckner actually looked really good. PM me your email and I'll send you something

Trip: Forbidden - Weset Ridge Date: 6/10/2015 Trip Report: Forbidden has thwarted me for years. The first time I attempted the peak I could not even get a permit and had to climb Torment instead. Another time, we got permits but ended up on the ridge with 11 climbers ahead of us and after two hours of motionlessness on the ridge - bailed. Yet another time I attempted the TFT, got destroyed by soul-crushing sun and heat on the approach, and pussed out of climbing the 4th class gully out of the Taboo glacier onto the S ridge of Torment. This time I opted for doing the climb in one push as midweek as possible - Wednesday. No permits, few people, motivated - success. :-) My buddy NH and I headed up at 4 am from the TH. The first half of the trail is quite brushy - more so than I have ever remembered it. It's also showing signs of being unmaintained more and more. Nevertheless we got up it and arrived at the stream crossing in under two hours. The water level was high with the warm temps and melting snow. Alpenglow illuminates the TFT from the Boston Basin trail: We pumped water and roped up for the unnamed glacier/snowfield. It is broken up now and requires numerous end runs around cracks. We had almost a full 60m rope between us and the rope drag was annoying. There are some shenanigans at the large rock blocking the entrance to the W Ridge Couloir as well (crack forming, soft snow). The couloir itself is in great shape but melting fast. Lots of evidence of recent rock fall, and there is a well-established boot path. Some cracks are forming in the couloir - not sure how long it will be in. Broken, dirty snowfield on approach: We simulclimbed the gully and reset leads once. It was really cruiser and probably as good as it gets, with a staircase bootpath to follow. NH belaying the final section of the couloir: At the moat we did a gear adjustment, losing crampons and got out our rock rack. NH lead up the dirty gully immediately to climber's left, but only put a piece or two in. We did another gear adjustment and headed up. View up the route from the notch: We simulclimbed for a bit but noticed a party of two rappelling from the lowest rappel station, so we stopped and setup a belay. When they caught up to us, we figured out a way to coordinate their downclimb with our ascent. I then led the first steep pitch (with the piton), where I ran into a second party descending. They let me bring up my partner and he led the final pitch. We rappelled into the notch and scrambled the true summit. All in all it took us about 3 hours to get to the summit from the notch. I'm sure others cruise this much faster but we thought it went well. Summit pan0 p0rn: We reverse led to the top-most rappel station and linked two rappels. We did a short lead to the third rappel station, rappelled, then simulclimbed in one go all the way to the notch. There were no more parties ascending and it took us about 3.5 hours to get back to the notch. We then downclimbed the 4th class gully, did one rappel into the couloir and simulclimbed down from there in one long pitch back to the unnamed glacier. View towards third and final rappel along the West Ridge: Unfortunately with all the end runs we could not get down as fast as we'd hoped. We ran out of daylight at the 6100' camp area. We got water and continued in the dark At the stream crossing we found the water level way too fast and high to pass. And we were tired and mentally drained. We worked our way upstream looking for a better crossing but none were obvious. I have crossed high before (above a waterfall over slabs) but 18+ hours into our day we opted to rest a bit. We did an open bivy for about 3 hours, then found the high route out of there and walked to the cars, arriving at the TH at dawn. Gear Notes: Ice axe, 'pons, light alpine rack with several double runners. Approach Notes: Boston Basin trail is very brushy for the first half. Almost no snow until 6100' for so. High water level in the stream at Boston Basin. Snow gully on Forbidden in but not for long.

This is pure BS again trying to spin the GOP talking points. Let's take climate change for instance - rather than say what they mean - "yes, we understand the climate is changing due to human inputs - but we've analyzed this and have decided that we think taking any action on this would cause a major economic effect and would not change the situation much anyway - thus we see a benefit for the US in adhering to fossil fuel based-economy". That's a policy debate. Instead we have GOP senators bring snowballs to the podium and saying climate change is not real - or if it is it has nothing to do with human inputs. From a science standpoint that argument is over. Policy debate is a different thing. The GOP instead chooses science denial. You misquoted me - I did not make that statement.

Climb the Tooth after Labor Day weekend and you'll have it mostly to yourself. During prime time other objectives are a better option :-)

How were the conditions on Ruth? Much scree/talus slogging now? I advised some beginners to head up and mount Ruth as a conditioner and way to check out the Emmons full-frontal.

Trip: Unicorn Peak - Standard Date: 6/7/2015 Trip Report: I only had Sunday to get out and play this weekend, and opted to head up Unicorn. I've only climbed Lane Peak in the Tatoosh, so this was a welcome climb to do, and a good break from Bulgers. We started up at about 8:45 and it was warm already. We timed the temps well for snow conditions though - with little give on the already-sun-soaked snow above the first gully. On the descent in the early after noon, we had perfect plunge-stepping. We chose a 5th class variation on the summit block (led in boots). Felt mid-fifth, with about three moves. Definitely a fun way to finish. As for conditions - it looks like mid-to-late July up at Rainier now, not early June. The objective as viewed from alpine meadows near Bench Lake: First gully completely melted out: Upper snowfield melting fast: Traversing the ridge to the base of the summit block: Summit pano-p0rn: Rapelling from the dead tree stump that must eventually fail to remain viable: Descending from the ridge: Gear Notes: Ice axe, small rack (nuts, 2-3 cams, 4-5 slings). Approach Notes: Hot. Buggy in the green areas and around the lake, but not horrible (yet). Snow free until the top of the first gully, then snow to the col.

ready for the bukake, Oly?

What a strawload of shit, Oly. Trying to portray conservatives as "anti-science" is a tired old tard meme and it's sad to see you participating. Again, it's not science that conservatives and moderates view with disdain, rather, it's the people (mostly liberal dupes who wouldn't know a neutrino from an amoeba) who have turned science into a belief system exactly as you decry. Science is a cornerstone of modernity--but it's not a system under which societies ought to consciously organize. Unharnessed by outside forces (the market, for example) it tends to ignore really great things--like humanity and individualism. Things libtards claim to care about--but really don't. In short, my point was that science-types make shitty political commentators--Jim, TTK, on so on. Broadly speaking, they're too specialized to see much of the big picture, IMO. What's more, it's why generalists like Ivan are a whole lot more engaging. Excellent points, FW.

if you get out on something worthy of posting about for whatever reason, please do if anything it's cool to see route conditions, pics, and get some stoke going

Poor Ivan Reek

Thanks for the TR KK. Were you regretting here not having run the ridge to Raven Ridge from Bigelow? Yes, good catch - I fixed that. I have been planning to climb Hoodoo and Raven Ridge with my kids. I've heard that from that side (Libby Lake) you have to ascend a sketchy gully, but thought I'd check it out. This is partly why I was not thinking about Raven Ridge on this trip. The linkups are endless here (Cheops is close too)

you are all fucking weird

Trip: Bigelow, Switchback (Cooney), Martin Date: 5/30/2015 Trip Report: What do you get when you cross 4 twisted folks with a backup plan to attack the North Cascades? Yep, that's the route. It was beautiful, in a sick, self-flagellating kind of way. Our itinerary? On Saturday we hiked from the TH to Upper Eagle Lake. It is snow-free until within a mile of the lake. We found a dry tent platform or two at an established site, no problem. After setting up tents we summitted Bigelow easily, hung out there a bit, then went to camp for dinner. On Sunday we hiked to Boiling Lake via Horseshoe Pass. We ascended the saddled S of the lake and contoured between 7200 and 7300 until we were under the W ridge leading to the summit of Switchback. We ran that ridge to Martin. It's about 80% snow-free. Our descent was where the minor shenanigans occurred. We basically cruised across the W face of Martin starting just below the summit and making a beeline for the col above Boiling Lake. Lots of mountain porn, but it felt as though we were shitting the whole way. The slope had plenty of snow, plenty of postholing, interspersed with talus. At places the snow was thin enough to threaten ankles and shins. From the saddle above Boiling Lake we retraced our steps. We had considered different descent options, a loop deproach (with carrover), etc. My only regret is not tagging Raven Ridge while on Bigelow. We had not planned for that and didn't realize how quick it would be to run over the ridge to Raven Ridge. View from camp: Upper Eagle Lake, E face of Bigelow http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Sawtooth_Slam_032.JPG Upper Eagle Lake from Bigelow's SE slopes http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Sawtooth_Slam_013.JPG Team on Bigelow: http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Sawtooth_Slam_019.JPG Exploring Bigelow's sweet summit: http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Sawtooth_Slam_024.JPG View back to Switchback (Cooney): http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Sawtooth_Slam_048.JPG Ridge run from Cooney to Martin: http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Sawtooth_Slam_051.JPG N Cascades p0rn: http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/medium/Sawtooth_Slam_050.JPG Gear Notes: No tech gear. Approach Notes: Cruiser

It's really amazing to see how quickly you tend to excuse high ranking officials from Republican Party, who commit horrible crimes- like child molesters. How fucking easy and convenient. If they are guilty, they should die immediately. Yeah, that's excusing. FOAD, clownpuncher

It's a long list: Hands off our..... ...and a list of Democrats: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f4c_1254342072 As I said, people suck. I hold out hope that Jim actually is being a troll with his first link and barb. But i'm not so sure with his partisan blinders we can all agree that all convicted pedophiles should be executed immediately, right? Or will libtards wring their hands about even a R's bad childhood or whatever social ills caused this "sickness" and demand "treatment"?

"another" - besides Mark Foley, who else are you referring to? Do you have rogues gallery of your own to post in response to FW? People suck. Pedophiles should all be euthanized. Speaking of pedophiles: pedophile house

he was making a joke