KaskadskyjKozak

What you're saying is you just want some pussy? Understandable. ;-)

The name of God has a lot of power of you yet, enough to make you afraid to invoke It. Interesting.

Yeah, anybody should just be able to show up anywhere and just vote. As many times as they like! Don't check anything.

Not to mention convicted felons. Give them the vote! Oh, you're opposed, that's because they are disproportionately minorities, you racist. ;-)

These are nice sentiments, but you have never conveyed or practiced any of them here. If you have had some sort of epiphany recently, well, ok. But forgive me if I remain a skeptic. He's admitted he's a card carrying Democrat with a capital D before. He's as non-partisan as James Carville.

Uhh, this is a first. Heretofore, you've always peddled the notion that it's evil Republicans who bear all the blame for our nation's racial injustices. That's because your data points the finger at his party. If it pointed the other way he'd be singing a very different tune. Even Trash can't explain away 100 years of data

Back to your point on the Paradise Road. It can't be a budget issue - they open it, but the timing blows. I've seen rangers sitting there at the gate doing nothing and refusing to open the road until they feel like it. Then they partrol the parking lot telling people they need to hurry and get down from Paradise or the gate will be closed. Gee, maybe if you OPENED an hour earlier we'd clear out in time.

Closing a hole in gun trafficking?? LOL... How, pray-tell? It's not only super easy to bypass, but is essentially unenforceable also. The only people who will comply are 100% legit and risk-averse types, and the only reason anyone will comply is because of the very remote chance that they'd get in trouble and lose their gun privileges. People who want to ignore the law completely still have that option- and with extremely low odds of ever getting in trouble for it. But if you're someone intent on doing crimes with your guns, "low odds" aren't something you worry about at all. This law does NOTHING to prevent crime, but just makes more stuff a crime. Who's gonna ignore a law? The person with the least to lose. Pretty obvious. Gotta love Trashtalker using 3 strikes your out as a justification for efficacy of gun laws on those who have very little to lose and very little self control, especially since his ACLU masters hate these laws and want them eliminated. Nevertheless I voted to close the loophole. It can't make anything worse, and now I don't have to hear about it anymore :-)

This one was a scorcher for sure. IN the fall is better, I agree. Just did Windy 2 weeks ago and it was a bit cooler :-)

Trip: Robinson Mountain - SE Ridge Date: 8/4/2014 Trip Report: For three years straight I've been thwarted on my plans to climb the classic NE buttress of Goode. This year was the ultimate bitch-slap - warm temps and gorgeous weather in-town for weeks on end, with 30-40% chance of thunderstorms and possibly significant, localized precip in the N Cascades. My two partners for the trip and I discussed backup options and they settled on the ambitious itinerary of Mesahchie, Kimtah, Katsuk and Cosho in place of our 4-day of Goode and Storm King. I hem and haw and deliberate and bail. I spent two days at home catching up on neglected house work then pack for a solo outing - my first of this nature as an overnight. I left town fairly late and arrive at Mazama around 11 am. It's fucking hot - around 95. Good call, buddy. I hate the heat. After a quick stop for some supplies in the store, I continue on to the trail head a few miles down the road, park, and start up. Poor tree! Eye candy from the first section of trail: I move as quickly as I can without risking heat stroke. The grade is pretty chill and the views are actually nicer than I expected as I head up the trail. A couple of miles in I round a corner face-to-face with a horse. I step to the right, uphill and am told to go to the other side of the trail which is below them. There are two fellows on horseback - rangers. They ask where I am going and get confused. "You're going to the pass?". "Nope - I cross the creek on the bridge ahead then head up along Beauty Creek, then uphill to climb Robinson". Blank stares. Now I feel real warm and fuzzy about the solo trip since the rangers don't even know where I'm fucking going. At the creek I stop and fill up on water, and chug some. Every pore of my skin is seeping sweat, even just standing there. Maybe I'll find relief as I gain elevation? I locate the climber's trail in a few feet. It starts off rocky and fucking steep. No relief yet. Later the trail does moderate and is a pretty nice and easy-to-follow trail. I'm pleasantly surprised. As advertised in my beta, the trail drops to a creek and is very schwacky, then comes out into open space and kind of dies out. Here you turn uphill and follow near the creek you just cross, which originates over a thousand feet above at the tarn where I'll camp below the SE ridge of Robinson. It's steep as shit but mostly open. Purty view down from whence I've come: Old fucker selfie: Then you hit some wooded sections that require some smart navigation to avoid schwacking and I manage this better on the way out then in... Anyways, after 4000 foot gain on the day in 90+ degree temps average I arrive at the tarn. I set up camp quickly, eat, and crash. I see t-storms brewing E, and hear the thunder, but I have blue bird skies. So far, so good. I awaken at dawn to perfect skies, turn to the scree slope hell that awaits and embrace the suck... Come get some! Looking back before hitting scree: Fortunately I've been on worse slopes, including Big Craggy and Abernathy just weeks before, so this one seems like a joy by comparison. I'm on the ridge quickly. View down to camp from top of scree-slog: The ridge walk is mostly very nice - one of the best ridge runs I've been on. It's cooler up here and I have shit to look at. Very nice indeed. My route descriptions talks about a sketchy class 3 section before the final slope to the summit. I'm trying to figure out where that might be with each hump I hike up and dip I descend. Then I see the summit ahead... oh, I guess they meant that class 3 that I just did. :-) Basin below ridge - more impressive in real life: Summit salute: I savor the summit views and retrace my steps to camp. It's now unbearably hot and around noon. I can hardly motivate myself to pack up and move sloth-like around, refilling water, drinking, packing my shit up. Finally I resign myself to the suffering ahead and head down. The hellish temps and steep terrain do not disappoint. And neither does the 22 oz Stone IPA, still in ice water, awaiting me at my vehicle. Gear Notes: Beer in car. Approach Notes: Dry, hot, steep.

Homo homini lupus Man is Wolf to Man Men feed on each other Claws rend flesh as the pack descends Yeah, the Walking Dead sure has gotten dark the past few episodes. ;-)

Nice! I was hoping to get some colors like this on Windy Peak this weekend, but nothing came close to what your camera captured (we got some nice larch views on the drive out from the TH only)

Agreed. Stopped there a couple times this year myself.

They may have been better 15 years ago, but the last two times I stopped (2-4 years ago?), it was no good at all.

Sweet! Thanks!

I still need to run back up there to get the summit myself... Nice work, kaskade!

"Good Food" was neither.

Thanks Rad I found the route to be pretty chill... nothing too spicy. But perhaps I'm just inured to it at this point. :-) It's a wild place though, and very beautiful back there!

Nope. Good guess though :-)

Trip: Horseshoe Peak - Standard Date: 9/7/2014 Trip Report: This weekend I enticed a few folks to tackle this remote, less-traveled peak. Interestingly enough, we were far from alone - a party of two that I am friends with hit Horseshoe and Buckner C2C the day we approached, and we encountered another party of 3 doing the same itinerary as an overnighter. We got to a crowded Ranger Station at 7:15 to secure our permits and drove to Cascade Pass TH tout de suite, anxious to make progress on this long approach. We set no speed records to Sahale Camp (~4 hours), took a water break, and then proceeded downwards along the impressive rock walls extending from camp to the E. Cascade Pass around 9 am: We stayed on rock as we traversed before crossing one short snow patch above a recently calved snow/ice block and then headed down class 3 rock. We stayed skiers left to avoid the potential objective hazard from these blocks and to keep the stream in sight. This proved to be a mistake as the going was slow and halfway down the waterfalls the terrain steepens dramatically and is no longer class 3. After some scouting around, I traversed sharply to skiers right and then angled downwards and right all the way to talus. From here we descended cement-like, bullet-proof dirt with embedded rocks to cross the stream at about 6700' and then went up a short steep slope to the top of the "hidden gully" leading down and into the upper Horseshoe basin. We crossed a small snowfield and then scouted around the slabs above us for a reasonable flat spot to camp. Within a few minutes we settled on a spot at about 6800 feet. Total approach was 9 hours with all the route finding shenanigans, but it was only 6:30 or so. We woke up before dawn and began our traverse around the basin. The first 1/2 or so of this was on a very nice easy ledge/slab system that went quickly. Once we hit talus the going became much slower and more tedious. We ascended dirt to the remnants of an old mine. We then continued up hill under Ripsaw Ridge, keeping right against the wall where the ridge meets the talus as much as possible. Pano looking back towards camp from the traverse: Early on we hit one snow patch, which was bullet proof and required crampons and careful footwork. At about 8000 feet the going became significantly worse as we crossed a few nasty drainages (dry). The very top of the ascent was the worst by far, once Lick of Flame came into sight. Just below and to the left of Lick of Flame: After a brief rest we began scrambling class 3 terrain trying to find a way to the base of the route which we could see. In fact a party of three was already topping out the route there. With some routefinding shenanigans we found ourselves at the base of the climb. I led first and placed 3 pieces of pro. The final move to the summit required some thought, but I was able to get a cam in right before and felt comfortable pulling the move free. I brought up my follower and then our other party members joined us on a 2nd rope. The views were spectacular! Buckner: The mighty Boston Glacier: Since we had two ropes we just did a double rope rappel which got us to the soft dirt in the gully just below the route. Rappeling next to the one and only technical pitch: View South: It was late (1:30) and we knew Buckner was not in the cards today. We retreated retracing our steps to camp. Two party members were feeling the effects of 2 long days (9 hour approach, 12 hour camp to camp summit day). With only 1.5 to 2 hours of daylight remaining to get through the nasty gully, bullet proof dirt slopes, and class 3 terrain by the waterfalls we all opted to spend an extra night out and beg forgiveness from our bosses post facto. We slept until 3:30 am and headed out. The weather was already worsening in the morning - cold, windy and cloudy, but no precip. We all acknowledged that we'd made the right choice as even fresh in the morning it took 6.5 hours to get to the cars. The ice in my cooler had melted completely but my beer was still cold. :-) Gear Notes: C4 #3 or .5, red tri-cam, small cam, long cordelette for anchor. Approach Notes: 99% snow-free (or at least you can avoid it)

The Kautz is a great moderate alpine ice climb later season. I highly recommend it.

Trip: Big and West Craggy - S Face and Traverse Date: 7/29/2014 Trip Report: I took my three boys backpacking with the intention of taking one or two up to tag some summits. In the end only my tried and true partner took me up on the offer for summit bids. Ironically he is the youngest of the three (age 12). We left town late in the morning on Sat, stopped at Mondos in Marblemount and got to Winthrop in the heat of the day. We checked a map of fire closures at the Winthrop Ranger Station and saw we would be fine and headed up to the Copper Glance Creek trailhead. Boots on the trail at 4 pm; at camp by 8. We had one routefinding issue in the off-trail section where we struggled with blowdowns and some brush. Our route-description from Summit Routes said to head off trail right around the creek crossing. On the way out we discovered the better place to leave the trail is at the small lake at 6200 feet. Meadows on the approach: Camp near sunset: Morning reflection on lake by camp: Anyhow, we got to bed at dark and got up before 6 am. The climb of N Craggy went well, with us on the summit at 9 am. Magnificent Isabella Ridge: Scree and talus slopes on the S face of W Craggy: We enjoyed the views and began the traverse to W Craggy. Getting to the col was fine, but from here we ended up dropping too low to get below cliff bands (as per Summit Routes). The col at the base of Big Craggy's W ridge: We traversed, dropped elevation, etc, until we gave up and just dropped to 6750 and got on the standard approach from camp. In the basin below Isabella Ridge, we picked a wide gully and then traversed left at 7600 feet before ascending a final, wide, upper gully to the ridge. From here the hike to the summit was straightforward. View of N Craggy from W Craggy: We avoided the flying, stinging insects on the summit by sitting down a few feet away. Beware of stinging, winged insects! The hike out to camp and to the cars went uneventfully, but the day ended up being quite long (13+ hours) My son negotiating steep scree on the descent from W Craggy:

TFPU. I'm hoping to get my boys up this soon. We did Abernathy C2C weekend before last.

LOL!

I need to get back there. TFPU!