dinomyte

If you die tomorrow can I have your beer?

I like these posts, and I don't really think they are the embodiment of alpine elitism as they are written from one POV. But a few points occur to me: The dog route can be as much of a challenge to some as 5.thunderfuck to another, and I admire those who try either just as much. A lot of us have jobs in cubes and have been forced to join the corporate world. The pro snowboarding tour prolly isn't in my future. But, the important thing is to work to live, not live to work. My job affords me more gear! I love climbing with a partner. That's how I learn! I mean, the alternative is to join the fuckin' Mazamas! But, at times, the solitude of the hills can be quite nice solo. It depends on your angle. Putting your life in another's hands can teach you something. Taking your life in your own can as well. Elitism or not, all of us who do what we do, literally see the world from a point of view that very few get to see. The destination may give us that vantage point, but the journey show us the things inside ourselves that we may not have yet seen. And, let's face it, it is nice to hit that pub afterward!!!!

I'm trying to come up with a name for our daughter. My wife is due in 4 months. I'm looking for something outdoorsy, to put forth my love for hiking, climbing, etc. Our last name is LeBre. I'm not sure ArchEnemy LeBre is feminine enough, and Minx LeBre is a little too stripper for me!

What I find interesting is this - At any given time: 8 people are viewing Northern Cascades; 3 people are viewing Alpine Lakes; 1 person is viewing Newbies; 2 people are viewing Rotten (Oregon) Cascades; and, 25 people are viewing SPRAY!!!!!!

Ummmm....tools are aid?

I just spotted "5.humorous." That's a good one, though I'm not totally sure I follow. Maybe I could lead that!

LOL.....take it all, bitch!

Dude....sorry you felt so bad. A buddy and I were looking to do North in a week or two. Maybe not if it gets a bit of the white stuff.

I was literally jogging from White to Tline that first day of rain. I'd had a river flowing under my tent, and there was a good 8-10" of water in the trail. It was one of those times when you can't possible get any wetter, so you don't even worry (fortunately it wasn't cold). That B-52 at the lodge was pretty nice after!

I'm pretty new to this site, but have noticed that there are a lot of creative, funny folks present, as indicated by the quality of the spray. Though I certainly don't claim to be a rock-climber (I just need to know enough to get to the summit) the rating system intrigues me, and while I've seen the standard 5.6, 5.8, etc. numeric system, I have to say that I enjoy the qualitative system better (e.g. "5.fun", "5.easy", etc.) That said, does anybody have any creative descriptions of their favorite pitches or climbs? As an example, a recent one of mine would be: "The south ridge of Three Fingered Jack is a 3rd/4th class scramble up to the summit pinnacle. At that point, you have one 25-foot class 5.Garbage pitch to the summit." Of course, this could describe most of the Oregon Cascades, but........ Cheers.

Two years ago at this time, everything was nice and easy. But, the same weekend I was there was when it rained frickin' 10 inches in a day and that gal went into the Sandy and didn't make it.

Climb: Mt. Washington-North Ridge Date of Climb: 9/9/2006 Trip Report: Although I posted this TR on my personal website, I'm gonna post it here too, as there apparently are not nearly enough folks slogging up these crap heaps that we call the Oregon Cascades! My buddy Kevin and I had planned on knocking off several summits in the Oregon Cascades during September. A couple of weeks ago, we had wanted to do Mt. Washington, but fire had prevented us so we did Three Fingered Jack instead. This weekend, we knew that the fire was out, and a check on the Forest Service website indicated that the PCT was closed south of Mt. Washington. Since our approach was from the north – no problem! Kevin had provided the beer last time, so this time I said I’d provide us with both beers and brats! I grabbed quite a selection of IPA’s – Hop Ottin, Immortal, Ruination, Stone Ten Year Anniversary, and some Dogfish Head 60-minute! To maintain the theme, I grabbed some Red Hook beer brats! We loaded up and cruised to the PCT trailhead near Big Lake on Friday night. I set up the grill and tossed on the dogs. And, we tried several frosty beverages. After sampling all of them, I still have to say that Stone Brewing’s Ruination IPA is my favorite. Hard to go wrong at 100+ IBU’s. Anyway, we each had a couple of brats, and drank and bullshitted for a bit. We hit the hay around 10:30 pm. The next morning we got up a bit before 7:00 am. The clouds had moved in overnight (we knew the forecast had called for the possibility of showers) and it was cool, but not cold. Still, we tossed shells in our packs and split up the gear (Kevin definitely got the short end of the stick carrying the rope), donned our packs and started out. Signs at the trailhead confirmed our understanding that the PCT was closed, but beyond where we were heading. We cruised through the woods on the PCT, and in about 10 minutes came across a group of about 5-6 elk – all cows. We stood and watched, but they eventually caught a whiff and took off. They paralleled the trail for a bit and a few minutes later we saw a big bull through the trees. He was partially hidden, but looked to be a six-point with a nice spread. In an hour, we were at the cairn marking the climber’s trail. We took that left and headed up toward a ridge that, due to the fog, we couldn’t even see. It didn’t really rain, though it spit on us a time or two. But, we got wetter from the fog drip than from anything else. A bit later we gained the North ridgeline. It was pretty funny to look at, but as we looked toward where the summit had to be, to the east there was a bit of clearing where the sun was trying to break through, and to the west the wind was blowing and the fog was so thick you couldn’t see a thing. We headed up the ridge, climbed up or went around a number of blocks, and eventually came to the gully that we had to go up to approach the summit block. It was at that point that the wind really seemed to hit us. I had on a Schoeller soft shell but I was freezing my ass off, primarily because my hands were cold. The sun had broken through but wasn’t on us at that point and the breeze was damn cold. We sat there for a minute and had a quick bite before tackling the summit. After a bit, we put on our harnesses, and prepped for the climb. Suddenly, a party of four appeared below us coming up the gully. We were kinda surprised, as we hadn’t seen anyone all morning. Anyway, we started up. Kevin headed over to the second ramp. He had mistakenly taken the first ramp (which leads to nowhere) on a previous climb, and I had read not to on Summitpost. I followed and belayed him up through this chimney. He gave a yell to let me know I was on. I climbed up through and saw that he had set a cam (that neither of us were too confident in) at a point where he had to make a little move up a wall. I cleaned that up and cruised up to him. From that first pitch, it was really just a scramble to the top. We hung out on the summit for a good 15 – 20 minutes, getting all of our summit photos done. The Sisters complex looked awesome, as did Jack and Jeff. Kevin pointed out the rock that he thought was the true summit. We took a look, and the thing was covered with fulgurites. We thought it was strange that this one rock had been hit so many times, yet we saw no signs of anything else being hit. Finally, we prepped to head down. We had seen three rap stations on the way up although, as I said, downclimbing probably would have been fine. Still, we decided to rap, for practice and protection. There was one sling at the top station and it looked pretty good. We later agreed that a second piece would not have hurt. Anyway, we rapped down there and then from the second station, which had three slings. A bit later, we came to the final rap station, where you actually have a vertical face to work with. We had a bit of difficulty with the wind blowing the rope, but Kevin cleaned that up as he went down. I had a bit of a problem getting my body over the edge of the face, but no problem on the way down. At the bottom, we tossed our gear back into the packs and headed down the gully and down a scree slope to the exit trail. We cruised down the trail to the PCT, and out to the rig, where we found cold beers and leftover brats waiting for us. Both were quite satisfying. We took off and were back in P-town by 8:00 pm. One more summit down! My final thoughts on Washington: Although there was some exposure, it was not as constant as on Jack. You really only needed to protect the first pitch. But, I am happy to have completed this one! Gear Notes: 60M rope The aforementioned symbolic cam. Approach Notes: One dusty trail

I was there in July and i took an ice axe and crampons. Didn't use the crampons at all (and I was wearing snowboarding boots). I always like to have my axe, just in case.

We make our memories climbing! It's still fine to wish about music!

I'm not much of a rock climber, nor am I a chick, so I don't meet the selction criteria. That being said - Nothing like climbing on a girl at 14,000 feet!

or perhaps climbing ON me.

I am sure that "poop on the mountain" will have a comment!

Nirvana at the Salem Armory, 12/1993. "I'll catch them next time they come through" Riiiiiight!

I had no idea ratings were so subjective. Although I figured there was a bit of argument, I imagined that ratings were meant to provide some sort of insight into degree of difficulty. From that perspective I wish that exposure counted, although it doesn't seem to. Since I'm just trying to learn enough rock to knock off a few summits, and usually the easiest way, I just rate by how much the route scares the shit out of me. But, I've definitely come across spots that people ALWAYS FREE and I wished I had a rope, and spots that people ALWAYS ROPE and I wondered why.

Someone from this thread said she was running a reverso. I could find no mention of that in the report. In fact, the eye-witness says that HE was running a reverso. He explained that the ranger's report noted the cause as: "improper ATC device was used in conjuction with the twin rope." Of course, some people use "ATC" synonomously with several devices. Her death was certainly tragic, but there is no doubt that there are several things she should have done. Hope we can learn from it.

From the report: "Well running a normal ATC on a twin rope gave little friction and it became apparent she could not hold on."

The lessons learned in the "how not to die while rapelling" thread, and from the Sir Donald accident report should serve us all. Story

I'm not a big fan of bush. I really prefer 'em shaven.

Oh, and I don't know if you saw the paper, but it had an article on the "California Tortoiseshell" butterflies that were all over Jack. So thick, we could barely see!

Washington was on fire, so we had to do Jack. We'll save Washington for later, but thanks for the tip.