Maestro

Hmmm, I tried to confirm twice and it came back both times. Maybe I've got cooties or something. I'll have to try again tomorrow. Meantime, what did he say?

So did I, but I got a reply asking me to verify my e-mail address and when I tried to do that, it was refused and bounced back. Did anyone else have this problem? I don't think the City of Anacortes wants to hear from us!

Ditto that. We're going there the week of Thanksgiving and got a rental car lined up from Payless for 5 days at $74 total. Got a good deal on air fare too!

It pointed out that his first-ever gym climb as a kid was 10b. One of those natural prodigies who starts out at an advanced level and never has to go through the learning curve. The Mozart of climbing!

Trying to get a trip off the ground for late January and need some input if anyone can offer some. Waterguy mentioned Arizona. I've heard about Mt. Lemmon and it looks like a good option. Has anyone been there in January? Or any other good recommendations for late January? I've heard that J-tree is often cold and windy in January and Red Rocks the same plus sometimes wet. I know almost any place can be great or grim, and you never know what you're gonna get until you get there, but want to go with the best odds if I can find 'em.

Has anyone actually climbed the rock variation that goatboy alluded to? How many pitches? What pro does it take? More time-consuming than struggling with the moat? I think I read somewhere that it goes at 5.6.

It's been a while, but I'll try to remember the gist of it... Mosquitoes at Diamond Lake and on the trail were ravenous, so bring your bug juice. Follow the Mt. Thielsen Trail until it crosses the PCT and peters out. After that, you start heading up towards the summit horn. As you make your way up, you need to stay to the left. There is a big gully/valley off to the left and you want to stay fairly close to the edge. If you get too far to the right, it really prolongs the scree slog. The summit horn itself is about a hundred feet or less of fun class 3 (with maybe a little class 4) scrambling. You don't need a rope unless you aren't comfortable down-climbing and would rather rap. I think there are one or two technical routes on the other side, but I can't give you any beta about those.

We saw your sign-in sheet at the ranger station when we stopped to sign in for Eldo, which we climbed Saturday afternoon. We heard those same sprinkles hitting our tents Sunday morning and were glad our climb had been done in Saturday's nice weather, but we thought about you guys. We didn't get the wind though! Glad to hear it cleared up and gave you a nice view.

Getting back to the topic at hand... I am an absolute genius at losing things!!

When Mastrette and I climbed this route a couple months back, she led the last pitch and opted for that crack for her belay. There is no exposure or climbing moves above it, and we just walked the rest of the way to the top. Makes the most sense to me.

The guy who took the ride is really low-key about it, as if it is no big deal. I had a climb planned with him later this month and I got this e-mail saying he had to bail because "I fell and hurt myself." Only later did I find out what kind of a fall it really was!

I climbed the hogback route on Aug 26 a few years back. If conditions are the same as I encountered, here is what to expect: It's no big sweat until you get above the bergschrund, which by then is a huge gapping maw that you have to end-run on the left. Then the snow is deeply suncupped and littered with hundreds of rocks of all sizes, which tells you why it isn't so smart to climb up there at that time of year! The snow runs out a couple hundred feet from the summit and then it is a scree slog to the top. I have no plans to repeat that lapse of all sense. The rockfall potential is too big a risk. None came down on me that time, but I was just lucky!

Way-2-go Tazz. Great pics!

I gotta return to this spelling thing (collective groan!). Nobody has mentioned a glaring incongruity. The spelling in the poll is sub-third grade, but all the posts are well-written and--except for one "then" which slipped in--have almost impeccable spelling, as far as I could tell. Like you would expect from a Ph.D. Now who has a theory about that? Did minddoc have his second grade kid type up the poll??

I lived in Albuquerque for many years and cut my teeth in the Sandias and other nearby areas. Thanks for the photos and memories!