Bigtree

The picture came to me from an Irish climbing friend. Small world I guess.

Like the subject header says... Not one of my pics, but thought I would share because its such a neat shot.

Pink TP/shit spread all over the mountainside would certainly defeat the intent of the bugs OH, but nice pic nonetheless.

Nice one pazzo.

Can anyone top this location for an outhouse (West Ridge of Pigeon Spire in the Bugs last week)?

Interesting. I found used copies of Nanda Devi and Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage online for $4.25 and $11.88 respectively. The following description of the one by Buhl appears particularly good: "To this day, Hermann Buhl's successful 1953 solo ascent of 26,620-foot Nanga Parbat remains one of the single greatest achievements in mountaineering history. On this peak, which over the years had claimed 31 lives, Buhl achieved something far beyond the accepted limits of human possibility and reached the zenith of his career. Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage chronicles Buhl's life, from the physical frailty of his childhood through the many years he spent building his J almost superhuman endurance to his great triumph in the Himalayas."

With all the lousy coastal weather this spring/summer I've been getting lots of reading in. Am just about through Lionel Terray's "Conquistadors of the Useless". Pretty good so far in terms of european climbing history/scene during the 40's - 60's. These guys were tough! Next on the list is Walter Bonatti's "The Mountains of my Life" followed by Gaston Rebuffat's "Starlight and Storm". Does anyone have any other recommendations?

"...how fast can I get to the tram?" for sure. Gotta get myself an outfit like that. Looks like quite a rush.

KeithT, I attempted via north arete in May but got weathered off @ 8 600'. There was more snow than I've ever seen before starting about 1/3 of the way up from the TH. Lots of melt since then for sure but suspect that more persists than in this August (year unknown). Good luck. I'll be heading back for a solo attempt myself Aug 11/12.

I think the decision to rope up while glacier travelling on skis depends on a number of factors (e.g., route, knowledge of the area/glacier, season, snowpack, size of crevasses etc.). That said, I generally don't rope up skinning up or skiing down in these parts, but always pack some screws/axe/prussiks/slings, and if I'm travelling with a buddy, the guy behind is always packing a rope. As with most things in life, its a calculated risk and sometimes you get it wrong like this guy (I clipped the pic from the following link: http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=7348.0)

Trip: Summer skiing on Mt. Baker - Coleman-Demming Date: 7/2/2007 Trip Report: Had a great Saturday skiing on Baker. The Friday rain must have spooked most folks so we had the place pretty much to ourselves (at least until days-ends when the long weekend hoards started to arrive). Left the car at Helitrope Ridge trailhead at ~ 5:30 am and had a very liesurely hike/skin up to the Roman Wall arriving at ~ 2 pm. The ski down to the Hogsback took ~ 30 mins or so and we were back to the car by 5:30 pm and on the 9 pm sailing home to the island. The best snow for crank'n the turns was from the Roman Wall down to just above the Black Buttes. Regrettably, it took that long to find my legs after the skin up. Below that, it was like skiing through sludge. Moi: Black Buttes area: The only notable crevasse at the top of the Coleman glacier: Roman Wall: Gear Notes: AT gear w ski crampons, std. avi & glacier travel gear. Approach Notes: Trail to Heliotrope Ridge is clear and in decent shape.

Nothing but a bored media looking for a divise attention getting story. Check out the kid from Nigeria! Now that's interesting. "...Canadian-born players dominated the 2007 NHL entry draft at Nationwide Arena with 102 selected among the 211 total picks. The U.S. contributed 63, a record 30 per cent, followed by 45 Europeans and one born in Nigeria (Akim Aliu, selected 56th, by Chicago)..."

Trip: Coastal BC - Wedge Mt. via north arete Date: 5/21/2007 Trip Report: Climbed to the hut early Saturday in rain/snow in 5 hrs. Snowpack showed up at ~ 1/4 mark and got progressively deeper. As expected, snow was wet and deep making for lots of knee and some waste deep post-holing/tough going. Made our bid for the summit Sunday morning at 3 am. Had a nice pocket of weather until about 6 am then weather turned poor again (snow/very poor vis). Made it up the to the north arete at ~ 8 600' and then decided to abort. Here's a topo of our route and another pic showing the place in much finer form that we experienced: Gear Notes: Rope, couple of pickets, ice screw, crampons. Ski/snowshoes would have been nice. Approach Notes: East off hwy 99, 10 mins north of Whistler, good access road up to trailhead. Grunt up steep Wedgemount Cr. trail up to hut ~ 4 - 5 hrs, then 6 hr to arete (should normally take 6 hrs from hut beyond arete to summit).

Thanks Stevo.

I found what I think is a good deal here on Vancouver Island for new Arc'teryx Bora 80 backpacks. The sale price is $299 Canuck bucks. Does anyone have one and can offer their first hand opinions? Seems a little porky at just over 3 kg compared to my old Seratus, but then again its got some nice features.

Will do. That should be an interesting conversation later this evening.

How does that saying go...my money is her money and her money is her money? Oh never mind. She knows she's appreciated when she's being called in to perform "major surgery" on the family jewels.

My dog and I get them all the time north of the border. In fact I (well, really my wife actually 'cause I was spazzing out) pulled one off my left testicle a few week-ends back with some tweezers (note to self: never wear loose fitting boxers during tick season).

Did someone say Slapshot and the Hanson brothers? ua9u8-WGHFY

Seems like a pretty steep price for one of these things (i.e., $10 canuck bucks)... ...especially when it looks like I could use one of these things and achieve the same, if not more absorbent, feel...

Dechristo, I particularly like the "gene gun" and the part about human-kind practicing biotech for more than 6 000 years vis a vis beer making.

You can find the bittorrent download for the film here: http://www.torrentspy.com/torrent/616787/Future_of_Food_XviD_avi

I noticed it last night as well, just after (or was it before?) a commercial for the stuff. Didn't trouble me since I think Kelly's a knob and never listen to anything he says (remember that goofy blue head band he wore for years under his mask?). Next week on Don Cherry's spot they'll be pitching Cold FX - watch for it.

Thanks BackCountryPunk. I've heard others give similar advice, but my 2 mates were keen to do a trip based out of the Kain hut so we've booked 4 nights starting Aug. 19. My only "must climbs" will be the West Ridge of Pidgeon Spire and the Kain Route on Bug Spire - all else will be cream.

I can relate Spotly. The fastest technology of the day took me on my last street bike (before I moved to dirt on a KX500 2-stroke that constantly hurt me every time I touched the beast) was 245 km/hr on an old 1980 Kawasaki Z1R. Here's some more eye candy - 300 km/hr on the autobahn... 6JvhtB8Jiys or how about a 200 km/hr extended power wheelie en route to 300 km/hr... aE5PhDsW7SE