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KirkW

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Posts posted by KirkW

  1. Yay! More cops in the woods! Just what's needed.

     

    Anyone thinking that this program will run its two year course and then disappear is deluding themselves.

     

    Government never decides to make itself smaller.

     

    The FS now sees the user groups that frequent these lands as nothing but a revenue stream. In fact, they now often claim they can't even be bothered to collect that revenue stream because they're so busy and underpaid. :cry:

     

    Instead they've shuffled all that work off to PRIVATE companies who charge whatever the hell they see fit as a service fee to collect your money and concentrate their own resources on grotesque new buildings and abundant new signage telling you to pay up at ever goddamned trailhead in the PNW. Anything left over is turned into a parking spot for a luxury land yacht at 5k ft or maintaining the road so these cruise buses can crawl up there.

     

    It's only a matter of time before they start doing this in the icicle and there isn't a single historical prescedent that I can find that would even begin to suggest that they have other intentions despite the lip service they're giving the locals who seem more than willing to bend over and take it from the asshats.

     

    I do applaud their cairn kicking, though I'd recommend he approach it with a bit more vigor and aplomb.

     

  2. Trip: Mt. Hood - Zigzag and Palmer

     

    Date: 9/26/2013

     

    Trip Report:

    Good weather, decent snow and awesome turns were found on Hood on Thursday!

     

    1374795_10201753213408073_1075571238_n.jpg

     

    1209424_10153309855910154_292304788_n.jpg

     

    1382857_10153309857070154_284026630_n.jpg

     

    More blabbering and many more pics HERE

     

     

    Ski season is here now! (At least for a while)

     

     

    Gear Notes:

    Turkey sammich

    Sunscreen

     

    Approach Notes:

    Follow the bread crumb trail of oil drips and take a hard left when there is no longer a lift in front of you.

  3. I did get out and climb the big bad Wolf a couple weeks ago so I guess I'm still a climber...of sorts.

     

    'Course I pulled on a lot of draws and turned it into an aid climb:rocken:

     

    Also, it felt like my harness had shrunk a bit... do they do that? Luckily, my climbing shoes still fit like Chinese foot binding devices so, I had that going for me.

     

    BTW...when are you gonna learn how to ski?

  4. I'm wondering about the condition of the lower glacier and any errant leftover snowfields in regards to making some turns.

     

    Im sure there's still skiable snow in there but curious how much and how dirt covered it is. Looking over past TRs I'm not expecting to shred any sickgnar this time of year. Mostly just wondering how high I'll have to get to have a good time. :rolleyes:

     

    A recent Pic would be sweet if anyone's got one! :wave:

     

    WINTER'S COMING!

     

    (Sorry, I know this is a climbing site)

  5. Trip: North Sister - Collier Glacier

     

    Date: 8/28/2013

     

    Trip Report:

    I went hunting for skiable snow on the Collier this last week in my quest to make turns in Oregon every month of the year.

     

    1256502_10100109571944193_1764130652_n.jpg

     

     

    I found a little bit, lower than I expected, just above our cozy bivy spot at the start of the moraines. At least 87ft of glorious turns just after sunset!

     

    542195_10100109571909263_1220157452_n.jpg

     

    Plenty of it up higher, though I didn't get the chance to ski this shot :(

     

    946971_10201522181872429_50712322_n.jpg

     

    I did a quick write up on this trip and a little bit about my new addiction if anyone is bored and needs a little bit of stoke.

     

    http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=29095.0

     

    Of course, if you're reading "The Freshiezone" in August, you're probably also an addict and saw this all ready. In that case, sorry for the cross post.

     

    I got a really good view from up there this week and I could see it...WINTER'S COMING!!!!!!!!

     

    Gear Notes:

    Water

    20 lbs of resort gear just in case you run into ice while shredding

    Water

    A "light" rack and some of those springy clippy things in case you decide to climb to the top

    Rope (in your partners pack)

    Water

     

    Approach Notes:

    Don't cut yourself on all the broken glass lying everywhere.

  6.  

     

    And the rains haven't even started yet.

     

    I hope you guys keep this trainwreck going. It's hilarious and kinda makes me want to start climbing again.

     

    Not really. It'll be fun to read this winter when I'm not skiing though.

  7. Would also love to hear about snow conditions on adams from those of you wo have been up there recently. I am planning on climbing adams july 23ish or so and am trying to figure out whether i should bring the splitboard or just boot it. Thanks in advance!

     

    If you're planning on descending the S side I'd leave the board at home unless you like riding suncups, boot pack and icy glisade chutes. Its definitly summer skiing up there right now. We skied it yesterday morning at 10:30 from the lunch counter. It was alot of "fun". We intended to ski from the summit and were hoping to descend the SW chutes, but the condition of the slope up to Pikers gave us a great excuse to take a nap and wait for the snow to soften.

     

    Reports the previous day from exiting skiers regarding the condition of the SW chutes were varied from the entire bottom half is beat up "adventure skiing" to "f$&king awesome!" We erred on the side of caution and bagged it at lunch counter being it was my brothers first "back country" trip and skiing steep groomers in the Alps definitely didn't prepare him for the erratic mogul field of suncups that the south side of adams is right now. We had a blast but that didnt have much to do with the quality of the snow! If you're camping at lunch counter there was water running everywhere with plenty of people drinking it straight out of the dirt.

     

    At least 200 people up there on Sunday. Looks like business is booming for the NFS!

     

     

  8. These two photos were taken last Tuesday morning. We carried skis for about 30-45 minutes from the trail head and the tree skiing was getting pretty thin on the way out. It's been warm since then.YMMV

     

    184410_10200959499125712_1276600490_n.jpg

     

    419052_10200959449724477_1652085651_n.jpg

  9.  

    Everyone who wishes to venture into the mountains should be able to, even if they don't possess the requisite skills to complete their journey safely and, thus, desire the company of a certified guide.

     

    This might be the dumbest thing I've ever read on this website.

     

    Which guide service do you work for Kurt so we all know which ones are hiring the best and brightest?

     

     

     

    Perhaps you can click the link in his signature. It seems you might need a guide to help you along during your journey on the internet. I'm available to help if you'd like, though perhaps you feel that because you don't have the requisite skills in html and css you shouldn't be allowed to use it...

     

    Yes, yes, i see your point. Using the interwebz is exactly the same as climbing a mountain.

  10.  

    Everyone who wishes to venture into the mountains should be able to, even if they don't possess the requisite skills to complete their journey safely and, thus, desire the company of a certified guide.

     

    This might be the dumbest thing I've ever read on this website.

     

    Which guide service do you work for Kurt so we all know which ones are hiring the best and brightest?

     

     

  11. Lincoln an idea for an investigative report might be to dig into the details of the private non-profit Mount St. Helens Institute siphoning off $65,000-85,000 each year in funds from the public to access a public resource, without providing a single service to climbers or skiers.

    Permit is $22

    Forest service gets $15. They are also responsible for the mountain.

     

    $2 goes to the online system of the permit process and mailing the little piece of tyvek paper to you.

     

    $5 is a mandatory donation Mt. St. Helens Institute. (previous version of MSHI website have called it a donation, they have now scrubbed their site to call it a service fee). They make $65,000-85,000 a year off of this and provide no public accountability to how that money is specifically used. A total racket!

     

    Couldn't agree with this more. Total racket if I've ever seen one. ANY fee to climb that gravel pile is bullshit but Water has it right that not only is this practice unethical, it's illegal. Not that the FS has shied away from illegal activity in the past.

     

    I don't suppose this works real well with the story you've got in mind though.

     

     

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