Coldfinger

Nice guys, just make sure to bring a little barb wire with you to Denali. Too bad about Matthew (and Mr. Ledger). Maybe you should form an Evangelical wing of the Mounties--loincloths and gaiters???? (And then you don't bother the rest of us with your nonsense.)

Hey, wrong again, my daddy left my mommy. And my mommy sent me to Wyoming to be raised by bears and horses. So you could say it was all because I was so abandoned by my family that I have such a good attitude towards certain folks. Besides, I suspect this is one of those trips where the "members" might be really what somebody might be looking forward to.

No I was referring more to your command of the English language and also most likely your medication regime you buttpipe.

This whole post is the best argument I've seen for allowing handguns back into National Parks: climbers for Christ meet Christ, camp remains undisturbed, rangers get to talk codes=everyone is happy!

Count me out, seems like comms with Search and Rescue will be FUBAR. BTW do you think this guy is in with the Exit 38 bandits?

"what kind of trouble did the contacts give you?" Wyoming dust and wind and the trouble associated with long trips in the mountains, smoky bars and chronic bouldering.

Anybody have any experience with that above say 19 thou? I was also wondering if there's any difference between a few months after surgery and after a year.

Best thoughts should be on Molly (Pete's wife). The rights or wrongs aside, she's a very special person on her own after this.

Save your $$$; use bread bags (and you can put stinky socks in them too).

Look to your AGE, then if you have any circulatory conditions (including just getting cold toes), and finally how EXPERIENCED you are at altitude and in general (this makes a HUGE difference). If you think you need overboots, bring plastics (unless you think you will be doing HARD technical climbing above 20,000'). Summit day on Huascaran had my feet numb to the ankles on the way up in plastics. Just "going to Peru" is pretty broad, so figure on how high you plan to go. FYI the last guy I saw with those boots on (it was Argentina) froze both big toes.

There was a guy found frozen dead in a crevasse on Cho Oyu who was wearing nothing but long underwear. The funny part is that he was climbing alone (just above the "serac") and many people who could have rescued him walked past without knowing he was in there. It's only when he turned up missing that people looked and he was found DEAD!

Gee what's wrong with the ice tools you already have????? Oh yeah, we Americans have to complusively buy things and then cry about global warming melting out our favorite alpine ice routes and glaciers. So I'd reccomend you get the Aztarex and spend another $180 so you can save a few ounces. BTW a bare aluminum shaft really isn't a very good idea in difficult conditions but what's a little frostbite when you can buy buy buy. Besides surfing gear shops is better than doing your job. Sorry but I'm a little cranky today.

That's not what happened AndyF! Well, not exactly anyway. I was lowering you off and that snake starting buzzing well before you hit the ground. It was a damn big one too--I could see part of it in the crevice under the climb and it looked about three inches thick. That was probably the biggest one I'd ever seen. I could also see it was trying to get back underground. You were pretty eager to resume your descent but I wasn't about to lower you any further until we had some kind of plan. I recall that you jumped out, I paid out a ton of slack and you landed on your feet a good ways out from our new friend. That was a pretty impressive manuever! You were flapping pretty hard at that point (which was quite amusing given your normally chill demeanor). At the time, it was my opinion that you were not in range and between the relief and the uncontrollable desire to laugh (and perhaps to have a little fun), I didn't give you any more slack for a bit. I remember the other guy and I (and you) thought that whole thing was pretty damn amusing. As for the Tieton, I can't tell you the number of times those goddam locusts have given me a good start. I've had more problems with the snakes while bouldering--including the time my dog saved my ass. I had started up something that I was pretty sure to come flying off of (at the Cozy's wall) and by pure luck noticed he was giving a spot ten feet away from my landing a good hard look. Then he looks at me with this 'what the hell are you doing?' look. So I stepped off to see WTF was going on and here comes this rattler along the base of Cozy's wall through the grass and its in the middle of molting. As some of you may know, they really can't see very well (or rattle) when they shed, and thus are quite testy and very dangerous (notwithstanding their normally passive nature). So I'm pretty glad I didn't end up landing right on that snake. Ever since then I always give a good look down at either of those walls if I know I'm coming off. There was also the time I startled one on that narrow, eroded section of trail on the mud cliff to the left of the moon rocks bridge. I used to carry a five foot wood pole for brushing and was damn glad I had it in hand. As for the Cave, I've been there in April on cold day with bunches (dozens) of them just lying about everywhere, but they were in such a torpor that they pretty much ignore everything. My partner kept picking them up and they really didn't seem to care. I remember sitting next to one coiled up and it watched me and I watched it and that was it. One nice thing about the rattlers is that you don't have the 20 dogs (or their owners) running loose around the base like at so many other crags. I do know of a few dogs that have had to pay the price for their owner's ignorance, so I'd just warn people to be a little smarter (and don't tie Fido to a tree or he may share AndyF's fate!). Personally, I'd rather wage war on all those goddam ticks. I've been sitting on a rock slab to the right of the Cave and seen a dozen ofthe little bastards crawling at me (the saddle to the right of the Cave is a bedding ground for Elk and Deer and is INFESTED). That would be another reason to leave Fido (especially if you are going to be sharing a tent) or better yet not go at all!

Spoken like a true Tieton sandbagger!

Finally a real Tieton TR.. I've read far too many "I went and it was real cool and I saw a snake and camped in a car" reports that all made me wanna puke!