scheissami

Thanks! Good to know the trail was repaired, that was a monster washout...

While doing the approach to Forbidden two years ago via Boston Basin we noted the very large wash-out through the road, making the approach a few extra miles. Did this affect the approach to Torment for the start of the traverse? Any other general recs for the climb? How hard is it to find the trail? Cheers, Erik

Sick! Love the photos....all the pron this month has me itching to get out to the Pickets for the first time.

Nice pics!

Awesome, thanks guys!

So, we did this route about 2 years ago by walking into the base and climbing up. Haven't done the raps from the top, so I can't say which approach is better, but I thought it was cool to climb it ground-up for the first time. We tried to find the trail but without clear success. My friend from Vancouver was along, but it seems the new construction has changed a lot of the landmarks. I don't think the billboards were there anymore (?)--Dru, have you climbed it since the construction? I think they've taken the signs down. Also, there's a culvert built across the trail to the top of the climb. We felt sketched about climbing it (at the end of the day) without knowing for sure what kind of condition the walk-off trail was in. Any more info would be appreciated, hopefully I'll get on this later in the summer on another trip. Thanks! Erik

Rad!

Thanks! I'm stoked to do this again cuz like you say, the view and exposure is great!

Hey, Headed to Squamish this weekend, hoping to climb Star Chek again but with the recent construction I doubt I'd be able to find it. Anybody got relatively specific directions for me (milepost markers, etc...)? Cheers, Erik

Rob, I don't think anybody wants to climb with you. Bummer, dood. Drive on down to Maple with me...sorry, it's sport climbing, but at least it's outside

I thought the reason for Carver's waivers was the fact that the crag is on private property and the owner (a lawyer!) didn't want to deal with dumb-ass climbers dying on his lot.

Hey, If you left a quickdraw on the last bolt (!?) of Kung Fu at Ozone, send me a PM and describe it. I recovered it yesterday and would be happy to get it back to you. Cheers, Erik

So, I was on this trip but didn't ski the face described cuz I'm a shitty skier and I would've died. I wasn't too stoked on that so I turned back around 10,200' at the last crevasse crossing, just below and climbers left of a large rock tower. The other three kids headed up climbers left of the tower (I thought the Sunshine route traversed farther right around this tower, then up easier ground to the summit?) to the summit ridge. The Elliot Glacier Headwall itself was a few runnels of snice over bullet-proof blue glacial ice; they skied skier's left of the headwall, avoiding several large crevasses and the large cliff at the bottom. Traversed skier's left at the bottom to meet up with me at the top of Snowdome. We then skied to the Elliot Glacier basin and our bivy, packed up, and headed out. Sorry, I'm computer-retarded and don't know how you're marking the pics above (what software? I'm on a Mac...) but here are a couple of shots. From our bivy at sunrise: The skiers skied just climbers right of the rock rib protruding from the Elliot Glacier Headwall. You can see some of the substantial crevasse danger they encountered. A view of my high point and the climbing route they took (little dots adjacent to tower): This is a pretty good, albeit foreshortened view of their descent route; they came down just next to the protruding rock band and on the far side of the substantial icefall in the pic. So. Not a true ski-descent of the Headwall itself, but I think that's an issue of semantics and not due to inappropriate chestbeating. In any case, it was a rad trip with pretty fantastic conditions. I wish the pics did the route more justice. Even for me and my suck-ass skiing, Snowdome was awesome. Get on it now before the crevasses open up lower on the Elliot! Cheers, Erik

Yeah, I figured if I were driving to SLC might swing by. Suppose this early there's still a chance of snow, eh? If I remember correctly the elevation's about 7000'. Castle Rock park adjacent to CoR is also a good idea if the weather cooperates.

Hey, Hoping to go climbing next week with the lady-friend, looking for single-pitch cragging, preferably easy-ish sport climbing. I live in Portland and was hoping to go somewhere besides Smith, be gone about a week. Initially I had thought Skaha might be a good bet but the forecast is not stellar. I'd be willing to drive as far as Salt Lake so bring on the recommendations! Cheers

I ended up getting the MH EV2 since I was able to get a good deal on it. I used it on my trip to Crater Lake last week. It was pretty warm weather with no precip so I didn't really get to test it in winter conditions. It's fully seam sealed, which you could argue isn't necessary in a cold weather tent. It's super burly and pitches out very sturdy but is still pretty lightweight. I looked at Bibler tents and the Tenshi closely, but wanted to try something new (I have the BD Firstlight, which is rad); I like the external clips for the poles, makes pitching really easy. Because of the integrated vestibule, you have to take some care to keep snow out and the tent dry, but there is plenty of room inside. The benefit is that there's no extra material to bring or set-up. The first night temps dropped into the 20s and there was some condensation despite having the vents open, but nothing outrageous. Overall I'm fairly satisfied with the tent, though it really is only a one-season tent. I think the Tenshi and Bibler tents are likely more versatile, but for lightweight three-season alpine I already have my BD Firstlight.

I agree, if I did the circumnavigation again I'd use touring skis. If I return, though, I think we'll likely just head to the Mt. Scott area since there are several aspects to ski and you still get the swank views of the lake. Probably just set up "base camp" by Mt. Scott and ski, ski, ski. There are several small sub-peaks to ski as you circle the lake, most of them around 400-600' vertical and worthwhile distractions, but tough to justify the 33 miles of slogging. Thielsen looked rad from the park, didn't get any close up views, though. BTW, anybody ski the East face/flank of Jefferson? It looked amazing on the drive back, big open slope of snow. I understand access is pretty challenging, though...

Alas, no PBR's for us, had to make do with scotch and whiskey. Even better is the canned ale from Caldera Brewing out of Ashland, OR. Stuff is stellar! Nice pics...

Trip: Crater Lake NP - Circumnavigation Date: 4/17/2009 Trip Report: Six of us had been chatting about doing this for several years, but we finally managed to get it together this spring. Couldn't have asked for a better forecast, really. Scattered showers the first evening, then clear blue skies for the next three days. 30-33 miles or so over three nights. We travelled counterclockwise, a decision with which we're pretty happy. Despite the slogging nature of much of the travel, five of us were on tele or AT gear, only one of us was on lightweight touring skis. The plan was to ski Mt. Scott (2k vertical feet) on the SE portion of the loop. Due to aspect/time of day we didn't manage to ski Mt. Scott (some of us were pretty cashed from the heat and 10-11 miles we had put in the second day). Terry and I did manage to get some laps in early in the morning on the second morning and we skied Watchman point on the final day. Terry skied the NW face, I skied the west ridge (I suck at skiing so chickened out). Great views of the lake. This trip can't be beat for scenery. We had the park to ourselves, didn't see another person till we were about 2 miles from the trailhead on the final day. As far as the timing goes, well, we had to boot it for a total of maybe 50 yards on the north side of the loop as the road was exposed. If you really, really didn't want to get off your skis you could have made it work. Overall pretty happy I rode my AT gear, as skiing the numerous sub-peaks was really fun and gave us some rad views. I'm so terrible at skiing that having fatter skis was also nice due to hauling big packs around. The loop is frequently done in a day on cross-country skis with firm snow, but I think you'd miss out on some excellent distractions. Anyway, enough talk. Some pics: Sunset at the notch, camp first night: Exceptional views of the lake: Terry, out for a morning ski, 2nd morning, Mt. Scott in the background: Terry contemplating the NW face, Watchman Peak: Gear Notes: Skis! Approach Notes: 4WD/high-clearance not necessary as the road is plowed to Park Headquarters year round. Carry chains, but we certainly didn't need them.

Oops! Found it here...

Do you know whether the beacon training site at the Mazama Lodge is open to the public? Or where it actually is? All I can really find is that it's in Government Camp, but no specific info for access on their website. Thanks.

Hey, Do you guys know of a green way to get rid of a rope? It's a 60m Beal 10.2mm that's had 4 years of hard use and needs to be retired. If anybody wants it for whatever reason, let me know. Otherwise, I was hoping there might be an option besides pitching it... Cheers

Tvash, Certainly not a comprehensive response, but one of the reasons physicians in other countries (those in Europe, for example) earn less is that it costs less to obtain an education in many of those countries. I'm an emergency physician and went straight through my schooling (i.e. sadly no time off for dirtbagging). So, that's four years of college, four years of med school, and three years of residency training. I went to state college so that was pretty cheap, but most students leave medical school with $150-200k of debt (don't forget to include cost of living while you're in school and unable to earn a salary). That's pretty hefty when you consider that my contemporaries from college were already out in the workforce and putting money away, while most of physicians don't earn a real salary until they're thirty or so. In contrast, a friend of mine is completing medical training in Austria. After high school, she went straight into medical school, which lasts for six years. It's also free--yep, paid for by the govmint. She's just now completing her 3-4 years of post-graduate training. So, her education was two years shorter and $150k cheaper. She'll earn about half of what I earn, but has none of the debt burden I'm saddled with. I think that if one wants to complain about the income of physicians (which has declined significantly over the past 20 years, BTW) and thinks it should be curtailed, well, I think that it would be only fair to champion more state funded education. I mean, no one forced me to do what I do, I enjoy it and find it exceptionally fulfilling. However, it isn't a cakewalk, it's hard work, and it's a public service. Many occupations fit this description, I know. Also, many of the patients I treat will never pay a dime of their bill. That's more a function of our abysmal healthcare system more than it is of any individual fault of the patients. The insurance reimbursement system is crazy. I mean, next time you go to the grocery store, when the clerk asks you for $100 bucks for your groceries, tell them you'll pay $60 in 60-90 days and see what happens when you walk out. That sort of reimbursement (60% in 2-3 months) is considered excellent. WTF??? Also, next time you're in the hospital, read your bill carefully. I think you'll find that most of the charges are from hospital services and NOT physician fees. As a consequence of our national healthcare system (or lack thereof), I treat literally hundreds of patients each month that really didn't need emergent care. This increases the wait times of all patients and the cost for everyone; emergency department care is exceptionally expensive. But where else can they go? What's the answer? I really don't know. I agree with reducing healthcare cost, but as Joseph has stated above, the greatest drain on dollars isn't really the physicians, but rather the insurance companies and the ten administrators for every physician in each hospital (Doesn't that infuriate you? Ten bureaucrats for each doc?). Can we really switch to a nationalized system without losing the drive for innovation that competition creates? Or is the competition really just unnecessary complexity as Joseph suggests? John Kitzaber (previous OR governor) was an emergency physician and is a fantastic speaker. As an idea for healthcare reform, he suggests an analogy with public education. All children have the opportunity for basic education through public schools; should they (parents) choose, they can pursue private school education. Can we make this work for healthcare? Nationalized basic coverage with individual choice regarding extra coverage or elective procedures.... Been fun reading through all of this. Cheers, Erik

Bavarian Motor Works...Kraut cars, not British

The Tenshi seems pretty rad. What's the fabric like? Does it compare to the BD superlight tents or is it more burly/waterproof? I also noticed the Marmot Alpinist, which has an integrated vestibule (which, unlike the MH one has a separate door and no floor), is fully seam-taped, has "knees" at the corner to keep the walls off your face, and is about $200 cheaper. Anybody used one of these?