KaskadskyjKozak

I bet you wonder about that a lot. NTTAWWT sickie

Classic! I'm gonna save this one and pull it out when needed (for motivating self or potential partners).

When I saw that pic I too was thinking to myself how those miles of hollow unstable cornice wallowing looked soooo much better than the protectible solid rock underneath. The TFT is about 1 mile of ridge running, and the rock on the N side is not reported as solid and protectable. I've only climbed Torment myself and it was OK, but not solid by any means. Tom is right - it is harder in winter and conditions are critical, but this winter could set up to allow such an adventure. Personally, I will stick to less serious objectives however. :-)

your mom? That was a quote from the video, fuckwit.

"It's all retch and no vomit".

Why to wallow TFT, if there is Yocum Ridge? Close to home too. Who said it was either-or?

Approach via torment basin or Roush Basin (eldo) and do a high traverse. You could at least bag torment and evaluate from there. Go for it, Oleg! :-)

Sounds good to me, computers would handle traffic way more efficiently. Envision WA state with cars actually merging properly into traffic from on-ramps!

Trip: Thomson (Thompson) - West Ridge Date: 10/6/2012 Trip Report: Great fall weather, short days. Options? My friend JP and I thought Thomson would fit the bill. We met at the ungodly hour of 4:45 and headed up to the pass. Headlamps out of the parking lot until nearly Kendall Catwalk. I rocked out on the iPod to pass the monotony, while JP ran ahead of me most of the way. We could smell the smoke from the rampant east side fires even in town, and as the sun rose, we saw there would be a lot of haze, and campfire-like odors all day. The boulder field was less annoying than I last remembered it, but we chose a line to the right, almost abutting the wall of rock and that made for more firm ground. The short section of class 4 before the notch got the blood pumping, but not enough to thaw our numb fingers. By the time I was roped up and leading out I was shivering a bit. It was 11 am. The first two pitches are great fun. We managed to not drop anything substantial on each other, just a biner I dropped. JP seemed to enjoy pitch 2 and 4, although he did ramble a bit on each. I led the first, the slabs, and short finish. JP stemming on the 2nd pitch: This route has some great exposure. I tried to take a couple shots on the second pitch to show it, but these don't do it justice, I am afraid: JP follows on the slab pitch: JP leading on the fourth pitch: KK leading out on the finishing pitch: We had the mountain all to ourselves, not seeing anyone until we were on the way down. We did two short raps and scrambled the rest. The boulder field on the East side was as horrible as I remember. Great lighting from the descent: The day reversed itself, with the sun setting just past Kendall Catwalk. Headlamps again. And iPod. This morning the plantar fasciitis was in full-effect. Sunset over Snoqualmie Pass: Gear Notes: Small alpine rack, helmet, iPod. Approach Notes: Dry, dusty.

or bring a partner you can spoon with ;-)

Some folks take these majors because they are relatively "easy". "Man I was premed but Chem 101 was soooo hard!". There's a whole bunch of different situations going on here, and Jon is on to something. What I find sad is we have so many great engineering schools and too few students pursuing it. So we end up importing tons of foreign educated folks, not because of our schools, but because of our students, and the lack of willpower to work on hard subjects. OTOH, we have a lot of schools that allow engineers and folks in hard science to avoid writing, literature, foreign languages, and other "soft" classes, when these unidimensional dufuses need exactly that balance (and keeping engineers in these classes could keep these liberal arts departments alive).

Too busy with your own debate, eh? Sammy or Dave - who won, boner? Go Gary Cherone!

"It's functionally equivalent..."

Ne ickushaj menya

It would take me 3 hours just to get to the base of the Torment climb. Shit.

"Coexist"

Right now Ptarmigan Ridge looks... scary, but earlier season, it would be tough to resist climbing once you get this far. :-)

Trip: Observation Rock - North Face Date: 9/30/2012 Trip Report: My friend JP and I climbed Observation Rock yesterday. We camped at the walk-in at Mowich Lake and started out with headlamps at about 5:30 am. It was cold at night (about 40) and we walked on some ground hoar frost on the upper part of Spray Park trail. This boded well for nice firm snow on the route. A stream was even frozen on the ridge below the route, coming off the snow fields below the glacier: My partner has not done a steep snow climb yet, so I led out first. I wanted to simulclimb if possible as the slope is pretty mellow at the bottom. JP was cool with that. I ended up placing 3 pickets then set up an anchor that seemed just over a rope length from the top, and brought up JP: To my surprise JP wanted to lead the second pitch, so I pointed out a spot to shoot for that seemed to be a good belay. When he got there though, there was about 40 feet of rope left and I encouraged him to just top out. He was about 6 feet short, so we just simulclimbed that bit and he hip belayed me from the top. It is worth noting that rockfall was minimal. At the top it was sunny and surprisingly warm, even hot with convection waves visibly rising from the volcanic, mooonscape rock. We scrambled to the summit, where one solo hiker was just heading out. Summit view of the Nordwand of Rainier: We then headed down, passing a few more hikers on the scramble route. I'm sure the NPS does not approve of rock walls, bivy sites, etc, especially the one below, which is one of the most impressive and elaborate sites I have ever seen anywhere: The hike out was quite pleasant, as it always is in summer and fall in Spray Park. Here is a parting shot, with our route the obvious snow ramp on the right. Gear Notes: 4 pickets, ice axe, 2nd tool, helmet. Approach Notes: Dry and dusty.

+1

plain-flying musilm speach?

My advice would be to not underestimate how long it takes to get up Torment and down to the rap (and plan a turnaround time if you are way off on your guess).

Musilms flying plains?

We had two awesome back-to-back ski years that blew chunks for climbing. Now we get the inverse. Go with the flow.

Winter ascent of Rainier, anyone?

ah poor kev. you ARE special. Yes, he is very thpethal