Dan_Miller

From this mornings Seattle Times: Thrown rock killed climbing leader in Wyoming By MEAD GRUVER The Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A 15- to 20-pound rock that killed the Rocky Mountain regional director of the National Outdoor Leadership School as he was climbing near Lander last weekend was thrown by a 23-year-old Wyoming man, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Fremont County Attorney Ed Newell said he would speak with relatives and friends of the victim, Pete Absolon, before deciding whether to file charges. Newell declined to identify the rock thrower. But he said that judging from a sheriff's investigation, the man hadn't known that people were climbing below him. "Apparently there were several individuals above the folks that were climbing that were unaware of the climbers below," he said. "It appears that there wasn't any deliberate attempt to strike the climbers with a rock or anything of that nature." He said a report he received from the sheriff's office Tuesday afternoon said the man who threw the rock was "remorseful" and fully cooperative. "It's just a sad thing both for Mr. Absolon and the individual who threw the rock, and their family," he said. Absolon was climbing with a companion Saturday in the Leg Lake area of the Wind River Range west of Lander. The man who threw the rock was hiking above the climbers. The rock struck Absolon in the head, shattering his helmet and killing him instantly. County Coroner Ed McAuslan said Absolon's climbing partner was unable to lower Absolon's body. A team removed Absolon's body Sunday using a helicopter. Absolon, 47, had been the Rocky Mountain director of NOLS since May. The school offers training in outdoor activities and survival and has 14 branches worldwide. The Rocky Mountain branch, based in Lander, is NOLS' largest branch. Absolon began working at the school as an instructor in 1990. He is survived by his wife, Molly, and a young daughter. Newell said that while he would consult with family and friends before deciding whether to file charges, he would be the person to decide whether charges will be filed. "At this juncture, we don't know what, if anything, might be done about it," he said. My deepest sympathies to this gentlemen's family and NOLS.

Milosh: How about Goblin Mtn., near Monte Cristo. Haven't climbed it, but been in the vicinity many times.

Too easy Milosh. I was just up there three days ago.

I'll guess: The approach to Mt. Challenger; via the Easy Ridge Trail and traverse of Easy Ridge to Perfect Pass, and above to Challenger.

My understanding is that indeed the road was repaired only to be damaged again last fall. Here's what the USFS has to say: Skyline Divide 678 06/24/2007: INACCESSIBLE ROAD CLOSED DUE TO STORM DAMAGE. DISTANCE TO TRAILHEAD 4.7 MILES. FS RD 37 CLOSED at MP 8 due to flood damage Hiking, Stock 3.5 More Difficult Extra Heavy 4400

This may answer the question concerning getting across Red Creek. May 25, 2007 by Craig Romano North Fork Sauk River #649 The Glacier Peak Area | Link to this report Okay, some good news here. The closure at Lost Creek on FR 49 is only 2.3 miles from the North Fork Sauk Trail. An easy mountain bike ride to the trailhead. The road leading to the washout has some rough spots, so you may want to park at the trailhead for Lost Creek Ridge and bike from there. The Mountain Loop Highway is in pretty bad shape-lots of potholes-plan on spending more time driving. The trail-is generally in good shape but you'll have to contend with a series of blowdowns; two in particular that are a pain in the butt to get around. Most of the windfall is in the first 1.5 miles. A new washout too at about 1.5 miles-about 100 feet wide, but not difficult to cross. Beyond the Pilot Ridge Trail junction-only one speed bump- a gigantic Douglas-fir lying in the trail requiring a little extra effort to get beyond it. I went as far as Red Creek which is cranking and would not be a good idea to cross. There is however a log jam slightly upstream that could probably be crossed carefully and with a prayer. Trail is snowfree and the river is quite spectacular right now.

Published: Saturday, May 19, 2007 Glacier Peak access road closed The North Fork Sauk Road was the last way for Western Washington drivers to reach the wilderness. By Lukas Velush Herald Writer The last road to the Glacier Peak Wilderness from Western Washington is now closed, making one of the most remote and rugged areas in the state a bit more wild. Three roads used to get to the 10,541-foot-tall volcano in eastern Snohomish County were already closed when the U.S. Forest Service closed the North Fork Sauk Road last week. Like all of the other routes, flood damage forced managers of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest to close the road. The road is closed at Lost Creek, which is four miles in from the turnoff from the Mountain Loop Road. "Glacier Peak probably has the most difficult access anywhere on the forest," said Gary Paull, the forest's trails and wilderness manager. "It's very wild country, much wilder this year than it has been in the last 50 years." The bridge over Lost Creek had been open until officials realized that soil that supports the road as it approaches the creek was cascading into the water every time a car drove over the bridge. The bridge appears safe, but it's possible that the soil could cave in, causing massive amounts of sediment to fall into the creek, possibly dragging a vehicle into the creek with it. The Suiattle River, White Chuck and North Fork Skykomish roads are all Glacier Peak access routes that are closed. An east Cascades entrance is open. Even though it requires tacking on a four-mile road hike on both ends of the trip, the Sauk River Road is still the best way to get to Glacier Peak, Paull said. Kim Brown of Seattle believes that the latest closure will make getting to Glacier Peak too difficult for most people. "That was the only way in," Brown said. Glacier Peak is her favorite place to hike. "It's just a pain in the butt. We shouldn't have to be dealing with this." Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.

I concur with all of you! It's ccertainly no great loss. Good riddance asshole.

Good work! Perseverance wins out.

How will the gravel pit parking area ever hold all the cars that typically accumulate in the standard Cascade Pass parking lot, say in early August?

In a word, Beano!

Don't forget, it is all about suffering anyway. It seems you fulfilled the goal after all.

Thanks Toast, for being so on top of that. SR 20 - North Cascades Highway - 2007 Spring Opening Tuesday, April 24 Look out fishing season, the pass will open this week. All those anglers who were hoping for the pass to open in time for fishing season will get their wish. Crews are ahead of schedule again and will open the pass Thursday, April 26th at 2 p.m.

Blake, Thank you for saying that, before I had to!

I know many are interested (as I certainly am) in this, so here it is. Fresh from the WADOT Hwy opening page: SR 20 - North Cascades Highway - 2007 Spring Opening Wednesday, April 18 We have made such good progress in the last week that we now plan to open the pass the first week in May. We are ahead of schedule. We have a single lane cut through the snow across the entire pass. We will spend the next two weeks widening the snow banks and creating two lanes for drivers. We will also replace sections of guardrail and concrete barrier that were removed for the winter.

Thornton Creek Road (off State Route 20 at mile 117) Partially open. Elevation at road's end: 2,600'. Washed out before trailhead. Rough road – not recommended for low-clearance vehicles. On ~ 3/26, snow encountered ~ mile 2.5.

Goat Wall is in Washington, just above Mazama, Okanagon county.

It's been a few years since I was last in Petersburg, but given it's quite small size I'd be very surprised if there was any kind of rock gym there. As for Ketchikan, while it's somewhat larger than PB, I doubt it.

Good Work David! Way to get after it.

Further update on the North Cascades Opening. Unfortunately, I'm somehow unable to paste in the WaDOT progress map, but here's the link to it in any event. It seems that they are making significant progress. Yeah! http:// http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Traffic/Passes/NorthCascades/2007/map.html

SR 20 - North Cascades Highway - 2007 Spring Opening Monday, March 26 East side update: We started clearing the North Cascades Highway and made great progress despite a few glitches. The weather cooperated; there was no new snow and it wasn't too cold. The crew of five are running a giant V-Plow (to make the initial cut), a Kodiak snow blower (to widen what the V-Plow opened), an excavator (to deal with the downed trees they've found buried in the snow) and a road grader (removes ice and provides a drivable surface after the plow and blower are through.) The V-Plow made a 6-1/4 mile cut from Early Winters to about a mile shy of the east closure gate near Silver Star Creek. The blower was able to widen that to almost two lanes. They found 16 large trees buried in the snow on the roadway (12 in the first two miles - and the V-Plow blade looks a bit more, uh, cursive now than it did this morning). Maintenance Superintendent Dean Hills says it's still working, it's just going to require some attention from one of mechanics with a welder tomorrow. We found snow about 28" deep at Early Winters and 40" where we are now. Later this week, a second Kodiak snow blower, caterpillars and sno-cat will join the team to help clear snow under the Cutthroat Ridge avalanche zone. Dean says they didn't see anything today that changes the timetable - mid May is still the likely opening. West side update: Recent heavy rains have been both a plus and a minus. The warmer temperatures and rain melted snow off the highway as far as East Creek Trail at milepost 145, fifteen miles past the closure gate. The unfortunate thing is that the rain caused a few problems. "We are spending our first week scooping mud and rocks off the highway," said Superintendent Ted Dempsey. "Recent heavy rains plugged three or four culverts and spilled mud and rocks across the highway between mileposts 145 and 148. Its going to take some time to move all that junk off the highway. It's 10 to 12 inches deep in places." We hope to start plowing and blowing snow off the highway by Monday, April 2.

Found this today (03/28/07) on the NPS Daily Ranger Report: I guess I'm a little surprised that we're not already discussing it. North Cascades National Park, WA Climbers Rescued From Pyramid Peak On Sunday, March 25th, two climbers were rescued through the combined efforts of rangers, volunteers from Bellingham and Skagit Mountain Rescue, and personnel from Whidbey Naval Air Station. The call for help came in to the National Park Service on Friday, but the effort to extract the two men from steep and difficult terrain was hampered by a storm that dropped tremendous amounts of rain across western Washington over the weekend. The party of four men from Everett and Lynnwood set out to climb Pyramid Peak on Wednesday, March 21st. By Friday, they’d abandoned their climbing goal and attempted a shortcut descent, deviating from their ascent route. This led to trouble, as the group encountered steep terrain on the slopes above Diablo Lake. Two members made it out on their own Friday night and reported to a park ranger that they had left two other members stranded, one with a leg fracture. The reporting pair were both treated for mild hypothermia. Saturday’s efforts to reach the two men were limited by heavy rainfall and poor visibility. A helicopter flight to locate them was attempted but aborted due to visibility concerns. On Sunday, a ground team of park rangers and volunteers reached the climbers and prepared them for evacuation. Whidbey Naval Air Station search and rescue helicopter Firewood 21 hoisted Micha Berg, 22, of Lynnwood from the mountain on Sunday afternoon during a break in the weather. Rangers escorted his partner out by ground. Limited access, avalanche hazards and dangerous weather make attempts to climb the bigger peaks in the North Cascades infrequent during the winter. “It is unusual for park rangers to have a rescue this time of year,” explained Kelly Bush, park search and rescue coordinator. “Just as we see fewer backcountry travelers in the winter, resources – including rescue personnel capable of working in technical terrain under harsh conditions – are limited in the off-season . . . but it was also the winter snowpack, poor visibility and limited daylight that forced the injured and exhausted men to spend two nights in miserable weather awaiting rescue.” Bush also commented that “shortcuts” in the North Cascades often lead to trouble. [submitted by Charlie Beall, Public Affairs Officer]

Start Plowing North Cascades Highway this Month Date: Monday, March 12, 2007 Contact: Jeff Adamson, Communications, Wenatchee, (509) 667-2815 or cell (509) 669-8778 Dean Hills, Maintenance Superintendent, Okanogan, (509) 826-7364 WENATCHEE – WSDOT maintenance crews will start plowing snow off the North Cascades Highway (SR 20) on Monday, March 26, in an annual effort to open the pass for drivers. Crews closed the pass last November because of dangerous avalanche conditions. Last week crews were able to assess the snow depths when they took a trip up the pass in a sno-cat. They estimate that it will take five to six weeks to clear the greater-than-normal snow depths and open the pass. “We saw plenty of snow still lodged in the avalanche chutes and covering the highway,” said Maintenance Superintendent Dean Hills. “There was definitely more than normal. Especially when compared to the last couple years of minimal snowpack.” Crews found snow depths ranging from four feet at the gates, to 55 deep in avalanche zones. At Silver Star Gate, west of Mazama, crews measured four feet of snow. A few miles west of there, below the 13 Cutthroat Ridge avalanche chutes, snow depths ranged from 12 to 35 feet. One avalanche slide across the highway was 20 feet deep and 1,200 feet wide. The snow on the highway under the three Liberty Bell Mountain avalanche chutes, just east of the Washington Pass summit, ranged from 40 to 55 feet deep. The summit of Washington had eight feet and Rainy Pass summit had nine. At Whistler the snow was 15 feet deep over the roadway. Due to the depth of the snow from the avalanche chutes, much of the clearing will have to be done by caterpillars rather than snow blowers, which will slow the work, somewhat. At the same time, the assessment found little rock and tree debris in the slides which could speed the progress. “We’re expecting the snow to stabilize and the spring avalanche danger to be reduced by the end of the month, but weather could change everything. We’ll see,” said Hills. The pass has been closed since November 13, 2006. Last spring, the highway opened May 1. WSDOT is aiming to open the pass by mid-May, which is slightly later than the mid- to late-April openings they have averaged over the past 30 years. www.wsdot.wa.gov/Traffic/Passes/NorthCascades.

Most current report for today, 1/26/07: Just in case anyone was thinking of heading up the Cascade River Road this fine weather winter weekend. Cascade River 01/12/2007: SNOW Can drive to Marble Creek Campground. Icy and snowy, need high clearance, 4x4 and chains beyond. Gated at El Dorado Creek (Milepost 20.) Road washed out at North Fork Bridge (Milepost 21.5). Dangerous fords of the Cascade River and Boston Creek beyond. Repairs not expected to be complete until late summer 2007. Gravel One Lane

From this morning's Daily Ranger Report: Mount Rainier National Park (WA) Storm Rains Hammer Park, Forcing Closures Rain continues to pound Mount Rainier National Park, causing flooding along the Nisqually River that has washed away the Sunshine Point Campground and a quarter-mile stretch of the Nisqually Road. "The news is not good. There has been significant damage in several areas," said park spokeswoman Lee Taylor. "The Sunshine Point Campground no longer exists. The Nisqually Road, at Sunshine Point, the road is washed out for about 1/4 of a mile, the full width of the road. There is no way to get from the Nisqually entrance to Longmire. That could remain true for weeks or months to come." The 18-site campground is less than a mile from the southwest entrance to the park. It sits on the bank of the Nisqually River. The road from the Nisqually entrance is the most heavily traveled in the park, leading up to the Paradise area. A long closure would prevent park visitors from using that area for snow activities, such as sledding, snowshoeing, skiing and snowboarding. Closure also will likely impact work being done on the Paradise Inn and the new visitor center at Paradise. There also is damage in the Longmire area. The river bank has been eaten away to the corner of a building on the west side of the bank. On the other side, the road from the suspension bridge to Community Building has been washed away. The river is about 17 steps from the building itself. In the southeast corner of the park, the Ohanapecosh Visitor Center has about an inch of water in the back offices. Water is three to four feet deep over the roads in the area. The Carbon River Road in the northwest corner of the park has washed out in three areas. Park employees who work in Longmire remain on administrative leave. For photos of the flooding, click on "More Information" below. [submitted by Jeffrey Mayor, The Tacoma News Tribune]