campwire

The issue of permits I find particularly frustrating, not just with NCNP, but almost every national park. I understand permits are needed for some areas to keep from over crowding. However, pre-reservation system permits like what Yosemite uses don't work. You have to know exactly what day you want to go months in advanced, so there is no flexibility for weather or other plans and you have to be online at the exact moment the permits become available or you won't get one. To make it worse, most people who get permits don't use them, which takes permits away from people who would use them. They issue 300 permits a day for half dome. The day I went it was sold out in 5 minutes 3 months in advanced. The weather was absolutely perfect and I saw no more that 100 - 150 people on the trail that day. The day before the weather was horrible. There is no reason some of the people with permits the day before should not have been able to go the next day. The system the NCNP uses where there are no reservations doesn't work either. You have to get lucky enough that nobody else is doing a longer trip that uses the camp sites you need. On multiple occasions I went to take a small group from cascade pass to lake chelan, but unless I go a week in advanced and pretend I am hiking for a week I can't get a permit for the popular areas. I think a combination system of some reservations like what olympic uses, but allow some on site issue is probably the best. They also need to reconsider the number of permits per location. In most cases it seems overly conservative on the low side. I can't help but wonder if it isn't part of the parks strategy to get people to go other places. It works, this year I took my family to the Psayten where there are no permits required other than the parking pass.

Were they actual tickets or warnings?

If the money doesn't go to labor where does it go? Labor equals jobs, although not necessarily government jobs. That labor could be the labor to build, install or fabricate toilets, it could be to make, transport or grade gravel parking lots, administer user fees, write tickets, manage volunteers, or whatever. That labor paid or done by volunteers.

I agree outhouses are necessary, but trail maintenance can be done by volunteers. Anyone who has been to Si or Tiger know they go way overboard on trail "maintenance". Lets tell it like it is, the discovery pass is a job's program. Which personally I don't have a problem with (to some degree), but since it is a jobs program and more jobs benefit the general public it should be funded with general taxes not another user fee to administer. $30 isn't going to break most people's banks, but half the time, even if I have an up to date FS pass, snow park permit, or access pass I forget to put it in my window.

For the first time in my life I sent my state representatives a note; I didn't focus on how much I hate these very limited directed user fees. I seriously doubt they generate significant revenue or useful services, but figured I wouldn't waste my and their time on a done deal. I focused on using lack of notification as means to generate revenue and no provisions, at least that I could find, for SAR organizations who use state land regularly for training and education. I'm sure their/our efforts save the tax payers more than our $30 fee. I know the FS has threatened to ticket individuals who didn't have a pass and were part of an official volunteer organization training (DEM number). They only got out of the ticket by driving from the training site to get a permit and then returning (Buck Creek Trailhead, near HWY 410). I'm sure I wasted my time, but who needs sleep anyways.

I'm sure it varies from season to season and even climb to climb, but here is what the park has to say about it: http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/jasper/activ/activ8.aspx The weather looks a little warm.

One of the big changes since the accident and institution of climbing fees is the decreasing usage of volunteer SAR teams. In some cases it may make some sense, rangers and guide who are living on the mountain certainly can get high quicker. There are a lot of volunteer SAR organization who are qualified and willing to help support the park. Then I'm not sure that part of the budget goes to SAR so it may be mute for this discussion.

I saw Jeff Lowe give a talk at a conference a couple years ago. He said his climbing was escalating to the point where he would have eventually died and that MS saved his life.

This article hits close to home form me. A small group of us were climbing in the same area in. It hadn't snowed in over a week. 3 of my friends were climbing Midnight Rambler on Mount Wilson (same as in the text). An avalanche that started 1500 meters above them swept the route. They were not lucky. I was lucky for being on a different climb that day (Wet Dream). The experience changed the type of climbs I will do. We try to make the best decisions we can at the time, but there are things we can't control.

May be I missed them on the list, but a couple of my favorites: Nanda Devi, John Roskelly K2 The Last Step, Rick Ridgeway I Chose to Climb, Chris Bonnington A Women's Place is on top, Arlene Blum

Mt Baker around 1982. I loved that K2 expedition cap.

Yesterday we said good bye to Lee Tegner who among many other accomplishments was a founder of Tacoma Mountain Rescue Unit and instrumental in building the Sherman Hut on Mt Rainier. People like Lee paved the way for climbing and mountain rescue as we know it today. RIP

Unfortunately the last time I checked the statistics (I admit its been a while) on avalanche deaths, most people killed in avalanches have moderate to advanced avalanche training. Unless things have changed the biggest issue seems to be decision making not training. So either they chose to accept the risk, or they ignored the signs.

Canmore junk yard is a great place to go for new people, because there is easy safe terrain for soloing. That gives you lots of time on the ice. My first time up there I had a great time soloing around for hours. The second time it wasn't as fun.

In the Banff area Canmore Junkyard, Grotto Falls, and Hart Creek Falls are great for WI 2 and 3. If you want to be in a more remote area the David Thompson HWY and middle of the park are hard to beat. 2 O'clock Falls, Klein Gallery, Wet Dream, SARS on Ice, its limitless for WI2 and 3. Shundra Creek Youth Hostile near Nordegg is a great place. This area involves more driving. The Sunwapta pass to Jasper is also awesome. I can't wait to go back