PeterC

Good on you for trying to make the world a better place. I know you've given reasons why you don't want to bike every day, but as an every-day bike commuter, I wonder if something could be done to improve your biking experience to the point that you COULD do it all the time. One hour for 7mi seems slow - perhaps there is a better route for you. Maybe you already know, but most bike shops have a free map of Seattle bike routes which could help you make this determination. I find that as long as I don't have any big hills I don't sweat too much, so I just bike in my work clothes (perhaps a less hilly route for you?). Other folk I work with keep a stash of work clothes in the office and switch into them whenever they get in. Perhaps there's a gym nearby if you need to shower when you get in... Rain can be a drag for bikes, but if you have rain pants and a jacket (who doesn't) + fenders and overbooties you can ride anywhere without getting wet. Finally, (although this isn't a practical solution if you already own your house or share w/ someone who works far from where you work) living near where you work makes earth-friendly commuting a lot easier. And of course, biking every day gets you in better shape for climbing...

We're talking about the needles above royal basin? The Royal Basin area is gorgeous but the rock is total choss. I second the notion that it's not worth bringing rope/rack out there. If you want to climb rock and you live in the Bham area you'd be better off in the Sisters range (or just about anywhere else). The scrambling up there is cool, though, and Mt Mystery is a bizarre shale hill that's worth walking up.

Another thing to watch for is that a pulley that autoblocks a prussik on a fatter rope might instead suck the prussik in and jam when used on a skinny rope. This happened to me once on a rescue practice, causing our z-pulley system to turn into a c without our realizing. The jam also resulted in all slack we had pulled up zipping back out when we let go instead of getting locked off w/ the prussik.

This story of global-warming induced disintegration of the Alps has got me thinking about our local mountains. Should we expect similar problems in the Cascades? Why or why not? Geologists?

I'm generally of the opinion that panel loaders suck, but I have to say that I've had a Lowe Contour Mtn 40 pack for 10yrs now and I'm really impressed with it. The zipper blew out ~5yrs ago and Lowe warranteed it w/ a really beefy zipper that has been going strong ever since. The straps and bottom have actually been disintegrating lately, so it looks like the zipper is going to outlast the pack. I think the secret to this pack's success is that the zipper only extends 1/3 of the way down the pack, so most of the load is exerting force on the fabric, not on the zipper. Of course this makes the pack handle a lot more like a top-loader... Another good design feature of the pack is it's tear-drop shape - the back-to-front dimension is much larger at the bottom of the pack than the top. This again keeps the load off the zipper and keeps the weight in the small of your back. And although everyone else thinks shovel-flaps are uncool these days, I like them for quick stashing of clothes and even an occasional shovel... I don't want to go digging through my pack for my shovel, losing all of it's contents, while my buddy's trapped in an avalanche. Just my $.02

There's been some activity up that way posted on turns-all-year.com. Doesn't sound like it's very drivable yet. Check http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=4667.0

The slump has been repaired. As of 4/08/06 the road is as good as ever.

Whippets are in stock and $10 off at mgear.com! http://mgear.com/pages/product/product.a...el2_id/0/N/1064

Sounds like an interesting trip! I think that in order to bike back through snoqualmie pass you'll also need to ride over Blewitt pass. And I wouldn't recommend riding the Ironhorse trail - I tried to ride it to Vantage 2 summers ago and found it to be mostly deep loose gravel. We finally bailed onto the road at Ellensburg after my friend broke a spoke on his new Stumpjumper. If you do ride the trail, however, you'll ride right through the Exit 38/Deception crags climbing area!

Easy alpine climbs. Try W. Ridge N. Twin Sister. Rock is quite grippy, even in a rainstorm.

I climbed the W ridge of N. Twin on Sat. Good basic info at Definitely bring a bike for the approach. The logging roads were in much better shape than I remember them - a good mtn biker could probably do the whole thing w/out any walking. We stashed our bikes at Daily Prairie, but I think it would have been better to ride or walk them up to the base of the trail because riding down this section would have saved some time. Hardly any snow on the W ridge at all, but we did wander onto snow on the N. side of the ridge towards the top. I'd bring an ice axe. The first 100ft or so of the descent was relatively steep, the snowpack was too thin for nice step-kicking, and there was actually some water ice (!) here and there, so this part of the descent took longer than on previous trips. Nothing worth bringing crampons for though. The N. Face was knee-deep oatmeal on Saturday, but the coverage was still good enough that it would have been a nice ski descent in cooler weather. It took us ~7hrs car-to-car. This is one of my favorite scrambles. Definitely get on it!

On the way to Las Vegas recently I brought my rack carry-on. The checker on the way TO LV was impressed by my collection of metal junk but too lazy to rifle through it. As I was waiting for the plane I noticed I'd just brought a knife through... On the way back, however, the pack was searched ad nauseum and my #3 camalot was tested for bomb residue. I still don't understand how a cam could be converted into a bomb... Airport security is just frightening.

Spring Cleaning: -Scarpa Freney leather boots: sz 42.5, Generally excellent condition (worn <10x). One sole was delaminating in front, but shoe goo seems to have fixed the problem. $70 obo. -Scarpa T2 Telemark boots: These boots are OLD and USED but still totally functional. Great to learn on!!! sz 10.5. $40 obo -Nordica Grand Prix DH boots - At least 10yrs old but in super shape. sz 8.5 $40 obo -Elan Falline Sc DH skis w/ Geze bindings. Also 10yrs old. $10? -Edelweiss 8.3x50m dry rope - ~2yrs old now, only used 1x (as a rap line). I just don't use it enough to justify keeping it around. $60. My main goal here is getting rid of stuff I don't use, so if you're interested in something but don't want to pay the suggested $, make me an offer and once I trip over the stuff enough I'll probably just sell to the highest bidder. I'd prefer to do a Seattle pick up or delivery, but could ship if the $ is right. Questions/inquiries: caldwep/at/yahoo.com

Yeah, I vaguely remember going up close to the crater before heading up the roman wall when I climbed the Easton 10yrs ago. I guess it's kind of a semantic issue - if you want to climb the Easton to the main summit, I'm pretty sure you'll go up the roman wall, but perhaps the "Easton route" technically ends on a lower summit.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that while the Easton and Coleman-Deming are totally different on the lower section, they join up at the Roman Wall. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think so.

I climbed that 5.4 route on N. Ingalls Peak on Sat. You can drive to maybe 1/4 mi from the trailhead, where there's a washout. A big 4x4 would get you to the trailhead. The first 1/2 mi or so is snow-free, as is the traversing section just past where the Ingalls lake trail leaves the Long Pass trail. Other than that we were able to ski continuously to the base of the climb. The climb itself had a bit of snow on it, but I'm sure that's gone now. We had meant to do the 5.7 ridge traverse (in Selected Climbs II) but it looked like there's a lot of snow on that route still. Hope that helps.