OlegV

What stops us from becoming who we really are? What makes us attached to a transient matter? Do we miss the real meaning of life? Are we too weak? Why we pretend? Why we climb? What are we? Are we here? Why? To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action. - Soft you now! The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remember'd.

A big question is whether some of these WFAs used helicopter drop-offs? I think to fully qualify as a WFA, the climb should involve winter approach as well.

Thank you, Lowell for sharing this information! My understanding is that ski approach is often the crux of winter ascents. How many trailheads are open in winter? Eldorado TH, also one at the base of J-burg. Then, we are talking about 15-40 miles of X-country skiing.

The Pleiades - Mt. Larrabee - ABP- Canadian Border Peak Traverse

The NE Rib of J-burg?

...or a Layka dog!

Like this one: http://www.tetonat.com/2011/09/21/andreas-franssons-denali-south-face-ski-descent/ How steep is too steep for skiing in plastic (mountaineering) boots?

bad idea

I will start the list: 1) The TFT. 2) The East Ridge of Forbidden(?).

Bask, Shivling 90 like new. Very sturdy, expandable, water-repellent. Perfect for West Buttress or backpacking. You can bivy in it. ovarlamov@yahoo.com

Yocum Ridge on Hood got nice winter rock.

Nice colors, Jason!

small packs

Because femoral and other leg muscles are large, engaging your leg muscles in hard anaerobic exercise is the most efficient way to burn your calories and increase your aerobic capacity. Staying lean will help develop speed and use your muscles and lungs more efficiently. Run uphill 3-4 times a week (make sure you use good running shoes - like Brooks Cascadia and retire them every 800-1000 miles). Trail running will keep your metabolic rate high and will help develop mental and physical endurance. Off season, supplement your trail runs with a variety of upper body exercise, 3-4 times a week. Taper and climb mountains in summer – train in winter. Make sure you eat tons of proteins and recover after your long runs with lots of carbohydrates. The later will block lactate production in your muscles. Drink lots of water. Avoid alcohol and women…just kidding

Eric, those bolts look rusty and old "sadistically sandy-loose trail" - a mastership of phraseology again!

In that picture I don't think you could find any rock to avoid. Let's do it, Buckaroo!

I need new skies for winter projects. I hear they stopped selling Silvretta bindings in the US, is it true?

The Cassin or The Pioneer ridge!

That was a hell of a trip, Tom. The basin looks very much like AK! I see the point people made about the difficulty of the traverse. One can traverse on the snow and bipass all the towers. I am not sure it will count as the TFT though.

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! :-) The Torment can be probably climbed via its North Face - it looked very moderate in summer. There is no class 3-4 in winter! South view:

Hey Tom, did you take this picture? It looks like most of rock can be avoided on snow.

...talked to Colin Haley and his bro. they say, it hasn't been done in winter. I think the TFT can be esier in winter than in summer because the snow level is high. can be done in a mountanering style. any thoughts?

Nice work, Tom. Glad the loose 5.8 section went well.

Ok, Stephen - now we should do the NF of Hood. It looks similar to what you guys climbed!