scheissami

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Terry's a classmate of mine in the Emergency Medicine residency program at OHSU. Nice guy, with a good deal of experience in the Cascades; he was a ranger at Ranier for several seasons. If you live in PDX, a group of us are getting together at a bar in Multnomah Village to watch the shows every Tuesday night; PM me if you want more info.

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For whatever it's worth, I'm an Emergency Medicine resident....here's my two cents. If the hernia is in your groin, it's either an inguinal or femoral hernia. If it's poking out your navel, it's an umbilical hernia. If it's in the midline, but not your navel, it's a ventral hernia. In terms of seeking emergency care, all that is academic. All that matters is the ability to reduce the hernia. If you've not had any nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, or change in bowel movements (bloody or tarry black poo), then you don't really have any symptoms suggestive of bowel obstruction or permanent injury. When we evaluate hernias in the emergency department, we determine whether obstructive symptomatology exists (puking, swollen and painful belly) and whether the hernia is easily reducible. If there's no obstruction and the hernia is easily reduced, there's no surgical emergency--we refer the patient to their primary care provider for eventual referral and evaluation by a surgeon. If there's any suspicion of incarceration or strangulation, you stay in the ED until evaluated by a surgeon; strangulated hernias are a surgical emergency and need immediate intervention before the bowel dies. All of this should be taken with a grain of salt; I certainly am not purporting to evaluate you based on discussion on a climbing website. However, if you aren't having any symptoms other than the bulging and it's easily reducible, you might be able to save yourself (and your wallet) an emergency department visit. But, DO NOT WAIT TO BE SEEN IF YOU HAVE ANY SYMPTOMS THAT CONCERN YOU. We're always happy to check people out, even if we ultimately provide reassurance and a referral. Hope this helps.

Along the same lines as Joseph's idea, a buddy rigged some wristbands with pouches for the handwarmers (pouches on the palm side of the wrist). He swore by them up and down. Might be worth a try when you need to keep your paws out of gloves for dexterity.

Just got back from there...you'll have a rad time even if weather keeps you on the super easy stuff. You might check out www.gunks.com I found it a pretty useful source of info, and they have a partners link like we do here. Doesn't seem to get as much traffic as cc.com, though. Have fun

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Along the same lines, does anybody know if the "Trigger" made by Grivel will fit the Quark? It comes in two sizes....

Are you on Lovenox (injections) or warfarin (coumadin)? Either way, you're much more susceptible to bleeding. If you don't wear a helmet already, now's a great time to start--bleeding into your skull is no good. Little things like remembering to bring band-aids, gauze, and good tape in your pack will help. Direct pressure is the key to controlling any bleeding, whether you're on anti-coagulation therapy or not! Your calf will be painful until the clot starts to resorb, a process which usually begins after several days. The blood thinners prevent the natural propagation of clotting (which is usually beneficial) so your body's natural means of breaking down old clot can predominate. Unfortunately it just takes time.... Hope you feel better soon....

Hey, Ivan, Where were you climbing last week? Is that on Hood?

There was a party of two behind us on the route, one of whom contacted me and sent me some pics. It's hard to see, but in the picture you can see my ass grovelling in the chimney straight up from the start of the pitch. My understanding now is that the regular finish is around to the right (south).

Nope, no fixed cams. Is this the chimney directly above the start of the final pitch, or do you have to traverse right (south) to reach it? And, oops, Shield Lake (thanks).

Climb: Prusik Peak-West Ridge Date of Climb: 9/10/2006 Trip Report: I'd been looking forward to a trip to Prusik for quite a while; this was my first time in the Enchantments, and it certainly lived up to my expectations. I only had Saturday and Sunday off, so LCM and I decided to do the trip car to car. I appreciate everyone's help with info....we chose to do the Snow Creek approach since the trail is supposedly more clearly marked and neither of us had been there before. We left Portland around 3pm on Saturday and got to Leavenworth around 8pm. Had an excellent supper of knockwurst, leberkase, and kraut at the Keller (not recommended for overnight trips as you're likely to offend your tent-mates! ) before heading to the TH. Slept in the car till 5am, left the TH around 5:30. The moon was full, the weather was perfect, and the hike was, well, long. Sunrise about two miles in... Got to Lake Viviane around 11am....the view was not shabby We weren't able to really follow the "faint climbers' trail" around the south side of the lake, but forged our way anyway. Got to Prusik Pass around noonish. We sacked out a bit for a nap and some snacks. Got to the notch below the climb at 1:30. The climbing was definitely fun, though the pitches as described in Beckey were short--we linked p1 and p2. The crack just to the north of the crest was probably my favorite section of the climb--fun, easy climbing with excellent protection. LCM nearing the top of p2... Next was the crux pitch...I was able to protect the start with a nut and slinging the manky old piton. I found the moves easy but a little heady--fairly exposed, I guess, though the fall would be pretty clean. I found the rope drag awful after heading around the right side of the horn, so I set up a belay there instead of getting all the way to the final summit wall. We got to the base of the final pitch quickly after that. Looking up, I could spot the short jam and lieback flake that Beckey describes, and could see the chimney above. The climbing to reach the chimney was straightforward but probably some of the best on the climb. The chimney was sort of like kryptonite--it kicked my ass. Maybe I need to brush up on my offwidth skills, but I also would recommend against wearing a pack while trying to get up it...I had a not-so-pleasant five or ten minutes of grunting, sweating, and cursing before I was able to get up it. This was definitely the most difficult part of the climb for me. LCM cruised the final pitch, and we enjoyed the views from the summit as well as some excellent candied peach rings We topped out around 5:30pm. Shield Lake from the summit... We got down fairly quickly, easily using the available rap anchors. Pulling the rope on the final rap, LCM got cracked in the left thigh by a golf-ball sized rock. Luckily, it didn't get her anywhere else and she didn't have any difficulty walking afterwards....definitely watch for loose rock both while rappelling and pulling the ropes. She got a pretty nasty bruise, but thankfully nothing else. Got back to our packs around 8pm. We then began the relatively miserable ten mile slog out. We got back to the TH at 1:30am, slept in the car until 5:30, then headed back to Portland. Got home at 9:30, took a quick nap, then I headed off to work at 3pm. It made for a long but memorable day... The route was stellar, although next time I'm going to explore the other options out right that Beckey describes on the final pitch--the chimney wasn't really all that fun for me, and there's an exceptional looking dihedral out to the right. I'm looking forward to spending more time in the Enchantments. I agree that car-to-car is doable, but if I were asked, I'd probably recommend against it. I'm certainly not super-fit, but the last couple of hours were just plain miserable. I think spending a few days up there and climbing other routes would be the way to go. Thanks to everyone for their help (John, MountainGirlBC, Trevor)....great to finally get this done. Gear Notes: I brought a small selection of cams to #3, which I did actually use, though I think you could get by without it. The route had great protection, and ate up chocks. Approach Notes: Snow Creek Trail. Well marked, but a slog. I'll try Aasgard Pass next time for variety, but it seems there's no real consensus on which is better.

I'd be down for some easy stuff either tomorrow or Wednesday. I haven't actually been to Beacon before.... Check yer PMs.

Thanks... That "Revelation" did remind me of the bonus of the duoweave thingie--spendy but potentially worth it. The "job" I want the rope to perform: lightweight alpine rock rope; I suck too hard to climb hard shit , but I wanted something that was lightweight on the approach, rated as a single rope, long (70m), and safe (decent fall force, middle mark, etc.). Initially leaning toward the Serenity cuz it's soooo thin and light, but the duoweave thingie is nice. On the other hand, the Joker has lower fall force than either of those (though it held the same number of falls). My suspicion is that they're all about the same, whatever the numbers say. I wanted to chat with peeps who'd actually used them to see their subjective opinions (handling, problems with twisting, favorite brand, etc.). Cheers

I know there's been a ton of debate over which ropes are actually any good, but I wondered who's used some of the new skinny ropes out there. I'm debating between a Mammut 8.9mm Serenity or the 9.2mm Revelation vs Beal 9.1mm Joker. The prices are all about the same.... What's your take?

Check yer PMs re: screws

Which ice screws? Size?

Sweet TR with some absolutely rad pics--I'm stoked! I'm hoping to spend 3 days, 2 nights there, but it all depends on permits. I'm sorry to admit it, but the Beckey guide has too much info for me--it's hard for me to figure out what's worth doing and what's not. I'm sorta depending on Nelson's for quality recs. Temple ridge sounds fun...so does laying around doing absolutely jack shit (except climbing, of course). Any other recs for 5.easy climbs in the area? Any gear recs, or pretty standard? Thanks!

Thanks... Any other routes in that area worth doing? 5.7 is probably my max for the alpine right now.

Hey, Looking to climb the West Ridge of Prusik in a couple of weeks. -Approach? I know there's a ton of debate regarding the approach, but it seems that Snow Lake would be the best bet for someone who's not been in the area before. -Access? I'll be going midweek...do I have a chance in hell of a permit? -Descent? Both Nelson and Beckey say to rap the North face then traverse back to the pass. Beckey shows a 150' rap. Can it be done with single rope raps instead? Reading through some past TRs it sounded like there were plenty of possible rap stations. -Any general advice for the climb/area? I'd appreciate any input... Cheers

I was at the game yesterday--pretty good atmosphere, for a bunch of American soccer fans. Of course, a World Cup match in Germany is best ruined by one thing--having only Budweiser to drink at the game. I cannot imagine a greater travesty perpetrated on the event. I think the penalty call was a bit harsh; that said, Onyewu defended like a sieve. We had several good chances in the second half but didn't take them. Being here for the World Cup is pretty interesting, in some ways almost sad: I travelled all this way only to hang out with drunken American fucktards. Being around a group of them on the trains, well, I can see why everyone thinks we suck (because in Europe, we do). The foreign ladies, however, make up for it. Well, hopefully the games will continue to kick ass, though no more of us. Yeah, we needed to score more goals. Prost aus Deutschland!

I'll be there just after 11

I may be down for climbing on Sunday, unless I'm too cabbaged from drinking whilst watching some footie matches--World Cup started today! And Germany won 4-2....