still_climbin

Great pics, great story. Thanks

Glad you enjoyed it. Been out of the country and out east consulting for a while and not kept up with what's going on in my old stomping grounds. I'm " Gerber" of the Gerber-Sink route. It was fairly snowed-up when we did the first ascent but nothing like what guys like you are doing now. Nice climb. Returning to the Cascade scene in a month. Can't wait!

I second the Carhartts. I get two seasons out of them. They're roomy and bullet proof in brush.

How about something from the Stone Nudes Calendar. I'd buy that!

IMO this is what climbing is really about. Anyone with enough gym and sport climbing can get up the rock on multi-pitch rock or alpine. But, its how you prepare to repond to the unexpected that seperates the experienced (and keeps one from becomming a terrible static). Good job on the recovery. By the way, I always carry a 5mm loop, a Kevlar cordelette, and a pocket knife.

Nice! Thnks for shoring the pics. I've been thinking abput the NW Corner Of NEWS. How strenuous was the off-width?

Congrats! Very nice climbing and a great TR.

I climb sport in the spring but then nearly entirely trad during summer/fall. I seem to start using a few draws on the first few trad climbs but end up with all the dogbones removed by mid summer. Draws feel too stiff for me when I use them to sling a nut or cam and I tend to want as much flexibility as I can get between the pro and the rope to keep the pro in place. So, I end up carrying a few short (12") slings instead of draws. 24" slings doubled work fine also and you have the choice of using them for longer applications. I usually rack them with 2 binners like draws.

I like hexes best if I'm at all worried about the side forces a cam or stopper might exert in a sketchy crack. They have steeper angles than stoppers and if placed with forces in mind, exert more force in the direction of the hex's sling/wire than to the sides of the crack. Of course you have to have a crack that accepts hexes handy.

Maybe we need both in some places (like Cascade pass). Have a no livestock, beginner hiker trail that crosses a more direct minimal maintenance footpath. I've hiked places in the Wallowas where this became the case, even if not planned. The horse trails the NFS has been pressured to build by the dude ranch/trail ride guys cris-crosses the older to-the-point trails. With the Wallowas being less brushy, it's easy to use the old trails and without the lifestock trail errosion is minimal.

Very nice. I've looked at that wall for years. I will continue to look at that wall for years.

We did the west variation of the N Face.

WOW! Glad I didn't read this earlier. My son and I did that route yesterday. He's a new trad leader and lead that same pitch. He sewed it up pretty well and I checked his placements and gave him a little critique on one or two of them. It sounds like I was belaying in exactly the same place with a cordelette around a block. Makes me sweat just thinking about it now. Very glad your all safe.

Saw you guys there. We where the ones on N. Face of Concord. Did you get any pics?

Nice report. Looks like you had it right climbing early in the year in poor weather. When we did the peak last year, late July, we had lots of talus and scree and a cluster of climbers on the route.

Anyone done the approach to Mt Thompson lately? What's the snow like? Need crampons/axe?

Did the Thumb last October, grade III 5.8. Really impressed by the number of climbs available there. What route were the photos taken on?

Nice job. Looks like classic May.

So does that mean Alpine climbing dies when all the glaciers melt? I always thought "alpine" just meant above the timerline.

Back in the olden days, when I began climbing, rock climbing was considered just one of the tools of mountaineering. Similarly, ice climbing, snow climbing, alpine backpacking, bivy technique, etc. were all part of mountaineering. Mountaineering also required broader knowlege of weather, geology, glaciers, maps, survival skills, medicine, and organization. It seems that over the last several decades various splinters of the sport of mountaineering became sports in there own right, such as rock climbing. To answer the origionally posted question, mountaineering begins as you start adding these other elemnets.... Not exactly a black and white division. For those climbs in the "grey zone" between rock climbing and mountaineering, I thinks its more of the climber's attatude toward the climb that counts. So, if your envisioning a climb of SEWS SW Buttress as a rock climb with a long approach, then that's what it is.

"A man's got to do what a man's got to do".....my partner peeing off the 3,000 ft sheer face of Bugaboo Spire toward the glacier.

I'm wait'n for rock magnets. Then we'll all be aid'n.

Spent six years there and just completed sending kids there for the last seven. It doesn't change much. The Alpine Club was the place I cut my climbing teeth and it got my son into climbing as well. Day trips are about as you would expect from Portland (except there's no Mt Hood). Great advantage in terms of traffic, access to solitude (even in wheat and lentils) and a great place to access Canada and all it has to offer.

My favorite, mostly because its a lot easier than it looks, is the 5.8 flake on the second pitch of SW Buttress of SEWS.

The radioisotope thermalectectric generators (RTGs) use to power spy devices used plutonium 238, not plutonium 239. Pu-238 is a non-fissile isotope that produces strong alpha radiation and large amounts of heat. A walnut-sized sphere of Pu-238 oxide glows red hot, putting out about 60 watts of thermal energy, and can do so for a long time (still puts out 30 watts after 35 years). Unfortunately, Pu-238 is an extremely proficient cancer producer if inhaled. Its considered on of the top ten most lethal substances known. The Pu-239 that was measured in the river was likely the result of atmospheric bomb testing in the 1950s. That fallout is still being detected.