wfinley

I seriously doubt the Denali Rangers just pulled the number out of tin air. Most likely the numbers have to do with the fact that more and more climbers are attempting other routes besides the West Buttress, and knowing the above, that the West Buttress can handle it's current load plus a few more people. I'll be one of the first to agree that the crowds on the West Buttress can be insane at times. But that said - I've climbed the route and most likely will not climb it again. If I had not climbed the route and was told that I couldn't due to numbers I'd be pretty peeved. I imagine, as the popularity of climbing grows and equipment gets better, that down the road we will begin to see some sort of permitting process similar to what we see on rivers now (like the Grand or Selway). While that might seem like a great idea keep in mind that currently close to 80% of all users on the Grand are guided; private boaters have to wait years to get a permit. As far as environmental protection -- if human waste is handled properly (which the NPS is addressing) then the route can handle a large number of people. There's nothing living up there and as long as garbage and waste is removed there is no environmental impact. Aesthetically it might suck to hang at 14 camp with 200 people, but environmentally there isn't much damage you can do to a glacier. Finally RE the fixed lines. If the fixed lines were removed the first guided group heading up the route would fix lines. Because of liability issues they wouldn't let anyone else use their fixed lines. Thus every guided party would have fixed lines and most likely a number of other parties -- thus turning the headwall into a mad house. Once again - if the fixed lines bother you climb something else (however - that's not saying that there aren't fixed lines all over the place on Denali). Fixed lines might not be hip but until climbing expedition style is made illegal and routes are limited to only cool people who can go alpine style with just goo and hot tang, they'll always be around in the big mountains.

Now that looks FUN! Only place I've climbed in CA is JT. I need to check out those mountains!

Hi W - thanks for the info. One quick question --how cold is "very cold"?

Integral Designs MK1 Lite! I love this tent and can't say enough about it. I also have an old (15 years) NF Aerohead that I love as well (I try not to use my ultra expensive single wall all summer). It is dying though and I'll soon have to start looking for a replacement.

Wow... that's a beautiful photo!

Sounds like early September is good everywhere... I guess the thing to do would be to start in Canada and keep working our way south as it gets colder. How late are people climbing routes on peaks like Forbidden Peak or Mt Whitney? PS -what is the "larch" season?

I posted sometime back asking for Nepal suggestions for next fall and got lots of great feedback from many helpful people. My fiancee and I are still tentatively planning on Nepal for Sept / Oct but given the current political climate we're starting to get cold feet and have begun looking elsewhere. We have begun tossing around the possibilities of a 2 month Canada / US road trip with a focus on alpine routes. However - we're wondering what conditions will be like in Sept / Oct as the only times I've climbed in Canada and the NW is in July / August. In short - we'd like input as to where to go for those months. Specifically we're interested in moderate alpine routes (5.4-5.8 alpine rock or III/IV snow / ice routes). The one thing we are not interested in is long glacier slogs or ski ascents - we'll be returning to AK in November for that. Note - we are not limiting ourselves to North America but are leaning that way b/c we'll be able to climb more and it will be a little cheaper. If you were taking off Sept and Oct where would you go?

No - the image loaded is one size. It's the same as coding an 800 x 600 pic to display as 80x60 - it might display smaller but it still loads the same. File size and file bytes are different and cannot be adjusted without resaving.

That's pretty slick. easy to implement too. The downside is the main reason I do TN is b/c of the people on slow connections. This JS addresses the size issue but not the load time issue. Cool script regardless!

MSR never said whether or not I needed them -- but they put a couple in an envelope and mailed them to me no charge.

I used it this past weekend and it worked fine - however temps never dropped below 20. We plan on a 2 week March trip and are thinking temps will be brutal cold - thus I have concerns. I did buy a new MSR repair kit this year - but there was no wick; today I sent an email to MSR - I'll pass on what they say when I hear back. (PS - cotton burns)

I picked up a pair of Fisher Outtabounds this winter and mounted them with some old Silvretta 300s. They're pretty slick until you (a) encounter deep snow and have to break trail, (b) encounter crusty snow, © encounter ice, or (d) have to turn. Come to think of it they're not much fun at all on anything but hard packed XC ski trails. My personal philosophy is to get a decent pair of skis that will work in all conditions and suck up the extra weight. The Fishers are super light but when I'm on my face every 5 minutes due to their instability I start wondering why I bother. Currently I use either my GF's She's Piste mounted with Silvretta 500s (short and light) or my Tua Crossrides mounted with Dynafits. Both of these skis rock in all conditions. The bummer is I can't make excuses when it's my turn to break trail.

You want to elaborate on that? I just tried one of those things that you stick on the btm of couches etc. to keep from scratching the floor. The smoke detector went off and the dogs freaked out.

That spongy thing in the btm of my XGK that collects the excess fuel finally died and fell out. Do I need it? What's it made of? My main concern is that on really cold trips when I basically dump a ton of fuel into the stove to prime it - without the spongy thing it will just spill everywhere and not properly warm up my stove. Is this a legit concern?

Ha Ha - that movie is soon to appear at the top of my Netflix Que! Glad to see it is CC approved!

My concern is that in doing this a door of sorts is opened. If we charge smokers extra then wouldn't it be logical to next charge drinkers, followed by extra costs of your family has a history of illness, followed by extra costs if you eat red meat, have illicit sex etc. etc.? Isn't heart disease the number one killer? In that sense it makes just as much sense to charge fat people extra as well as smokers.

Awesome TR! Did you see any snakes?

That was the first multi-pitch route I ever did... Leading the 5.4 entracne crack pitch with no pro scared me to death! Good memories!

Thanks vw4ever - that's an excellent TR!

"Ordinary Wolves" by Seth Kantner http://www.milkweed.org/kantner.html

When I was 13 my brother took me on a 10 day backpacking trip in the Selway Bitterboot. I was fresh from the east coast and had never really been in the mountains. One night we camped next to a lake with a big beautiful mountain (Marble Mountain) above us. I asked if we could hike up there and he said we need ropes to do that. "Ropes?" was my response. A year later I received a huge box from my brother for Christmas. In it was his old climbing rope, a harness, some biners, hexes, the old SMC rap device that was a bar across an oval biner, a bong (the climbing kind) and some ratty EBs complete with holes in the toe. My brother eased off as he got older - but when his son turned 13 I took my nephew and my brother up the Owen Spalding route on the Grand. Given my nephews look at the top I think I returned the favor.

RE: Uk special -- Check this page out: http://www.psychovertical.com/?bivibags Not that I buy how great it is (people I know who bought these never took them out of their gear closet). I duct tape a regular old space blanket inside my helmet - that way it's always around.

Just tonight I was standing in the checkout line at the grocery store thumbing though R&I and there were pix of Mt. Kenya! AWESOME trip report!

Nothing concrete is planned for the Anchorage area. We are planning a Sanford trip in late March/ early April - so we'll just be skiing alot up until then. After that it's the local peaks as they come into shape. BTW - thanks to everyone for the beta!

Thanks for the book beta (I didn't know about it)... I'm sure it has more info than 50 Classics!