KaskadskyjKozak

thought you resented the state telling you how to live your life? IF such a scheme resutled in fewer deaths, maybe it's worth the loss of freedom - seems just daft if it only defers deaths... Leave it up to a vote then. Those between 18 and 21 decide if they'd prefer to drink or drive. Tyranny of the majority, yeah, but fuck, I'd bet they vote for beer.

bike take a bus walk

learning how to drink before you have access to a car is so important, thankfully I started early, otherwise I might've wrapped my parents car around a tree, or at the very least gotten a DUI. drinking age at 16, driving at 18. needs to happen. beer 16 hard liquor 18 driving 21

you can break even with a moderate price vodka compared to MD20/20 and still do much better quality wise...

Lower the drinking age. Raise the driving age.

Glad someone caught that... ;-) I thought the same thing, but it seemed like that was only happening in the Paradise parking lot. I only saw tourons in the parking lot. :-) Good to see you post again Pandora!!!

I was only pointing out that avy was not "good". It's up to each of us to decide what the risk/reward balance is. I almost went for it myself (C2C, Saturday night with an alpine start). Good luck on future climbs!

Sandy Headwall was my objective as well. We decided a 5 hour drive was not worth it with the forecast making a turnaround possible if not probable (due to snow conditions).

The avalanche forecast was for "considerable" on S aspects above 6000 feet, as I recall. NWAC defines considerable as: "Dangerous avalanche conditions. Careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding and conservative decision-making essential."

Glad someone caught that... ;-)

The avy forecast was not "good". We bailed on a trip due to concerns for wet snow slides and high temps. Glad you got in and out safely and had fun.

No, I didn't. But then again what I looked at for about 4 hours was the tips of my skis. ;-) The wind was wicked at Muir... at least 40 mph. Good day for kiting - at least above 8500.

lol. no.

I headed up there yesterday. The skinning was pretty good, especially above 8000. It was less crowded than usual on such a nice day. The snow was great. Maybe a few cc.com'ers were there too and passed me on the way up? :-)

Wow, Raindawg sure is showing the years!

in the case of anti-bolting rants, a more a propos term would be "festering"

I recommend C4 #1 and 2 first (or equivalent range, other brand), then #1 and #2 master cams. If you still have $$, then back to C4's, .75, 3, then .5

Don't feed the troll.

Nicely done, Matt!

Heal up that shoulder so we can get out! :-)

Especially kids. I'd rather have kids scrambling all over the icicle hip-belaying each other in tennis shoes than not at all. As if an organization charging $185 can't afford to have ATC's and pear biners to loan to their students. No no no, go read the original post. They had proper belay devices (ATCs), they were just being taught the hip belay as a novelty backup option afterwards. Also, the $185 figure people are throwing around comes from their website. It's a 2 1/2 day program including white water rafting. Not a bad deal. Cool. I'm good with the hip belay backup as long as they clip into something.

Especially kids. I'd rather have kids scrambling all over the icicle hip-belaying each other in tennis shoes than not at all. As if an organization charging $185 can't afford to have ATC's and pear biners to loan to their students.

It looked pretty wet this weekend (at least most of the Pearly Gates - I did not get a look at the face itself). Bridge Creek Campground is still closed due to snow and there is quite a bit along the road still even in Tumwater. If the temps stay warm like they are now, things should change soon, however (maybe 3 weeks?).

On moderate slopes <35 degrees I am never worried about sliding and not arresting - I am worried about being bored to death. I use trekking poles to spread out the effort onto two legs and two arms. On slopes greater than 35 degrees my traditional 65 cm or 57 cm BD venom work great. I am 5'9. I'd never buy anything longer than 65 cm.

But you have to consider the extra effort required to haul a heavy pack vs. going with a day pack.