hippos_are_evil

If someone on this board, like barkernews, works for a news agency and is a climber, isn't there something you can do? sobo put out the link to an older post that had URLs of reports that put things in perspective. Use your position to do something good, the rest of us can't as easily I know that it won't be as newsworthy as a dog keeping people alive that might've frozen to death, and I realize they are in the news cos the last group to be searched for died and they had a cute cuddly dog with them. But maybe you could mention these facts as the general populace listens to the newscasts. Most normal people would cool off if they realized what a small percent of rescues are for mountaineering. As for the climbers who fell, it would be nice if they let us know what happened as we're seeming to be super critical of them. I doubt anyone here is climbing so much that they can't respond. As I'm ranting already, I think they should use their media coverage to do some good instead of talk about the dog and pep talks. If I f*** up on the mountain and I had a voice being heard, I'd try to use it for something informational, whether it's through here, an accident report or the news. I can half see people thinking they just need a MLU and a fluffy dog to summit Mt. Doom.

I believe what she's saying is that while there always going to be unknowns, liky avy, falling, sudden weather, you can do things to mitigate that. (not to sound like Rummy and say 'there are unknown unknowns and known unkowns). If you know there is high avy risk (like this weekend) and a storm is forecasted to come in the next day, it's stupid (my words) to go up there. In regards to being prepared, if you have a GPS you should use it to get you out of trouble, like way points and such, instead of using it to get help to you. I would imagine in a white out that you would be roped up and could send one person out on point and if they fall over a cliff you could arrest (or try to), instead of everyone walking close and falling down together. I don't know the specifics of what happend, but I think you could handle the situation better. My point is that taking unnecessary risks is naive and dangerous.

Howdy, So could someone send me or reply with addresses of other organizations that would likely to be interested in this? I have pmru.org, but that's about it. I can email them all and see what their responses are and add their ideas/#s and such and see what direction we can take. I'm not sure what the best way to release a joint email/letter, if anyone knows let me know. I do have a friend at a AM new radio station so maybe that could help out as well. hippos

Howdy, I was just over at katu.com and saw their poll of "Do you think climbers should be required to reimburse counties for rescue expenses?". And over 75% of people think climbers should reimburse counties. While we can blow them off as ignorant or whatever, I think as a community we should do something to combat this misinformation and ignorance. I know on our forums we have put out the statistics of what percent of SAR operations are related to mountaineering and how the budget already exists for these events. I think we need to be more proactive in this area and write to papers and the news stations. I'm the last person in the world to write letters to the editor, but this just bugs the hell out of me. Is anyone here more literate than me who could help with this? Or is this a bad idea and I should let it go? hippos

Nope, not us. I was safe at the coast drinking whiskey and watching K2! I'll be waiting for clearer weather and good snow before I go up. Sam

Thanks for the beta! sam

I was looking for areas that would be good or bad for bivy sites but don't need GPS location. We were going to cave it up at the top of the palmer but I thought why not camp up higher? As for avy danger, I know slopes of 30-50 deg. are the highest risk and that a heavy snow on top of pretty consolidated snow isn't safe as it can shear off easily. And to avoid West Crater Rim as it's a high avy site. I was hoping to camp somewhere near crater rock but wasn't sure if it'd be a bad idea to be right there as rocks could fall off. But also I don't want to be in a gully and wasn't sure about just camping on the face on the east side of crater rock either.

Howdy, My friends and I are doing up Hood this weekend (provided the snow/weather are good) and want to bivy somewhere near Crater Rock and summit again the next day. Are there any areas we should really avoid for avy danger? We'll be in snow caves so I'm not concerned about flat areas. thanks Sam

Howdy, We are going up the Middle Sister this weekend and were hoping to get some beta on the East Arete route on Middle Sister. Has anyone gone up this? I know there are two sections of rock climbing < 5.6, but it'd be good to know how the rock is for climbing and placing pro. If anyone has any info, it'd be greatly appreciated. thanks! Sam

Climb: Mt. Hood West Crater Rim Date of climb: 6/10/2006 Trip Report: We left Timberline Lodge at midnight on Friday and headed up the normal route up to the top of Palmer. The weather was absolutely amazing, cloud layer was just below 6000 feet and all the stars were surrounding the moon. The snow was pretty firm but we didn't throw on our crampons until the bottom of Crater Rock near the mud slide. We roped up after eating a few cookies and boogied up the west side of the wall. We simul-climbed the entire route except one section where I threw in a snow picket and belayed everyone up. This wasn't entirely necessary but we wanted to get in some practice and I'll do anything to rest on the way up. Halfway up the rim we took another break to enjoy the sunrise, adjust my crampons and snack a little more. Once on the ridge we enjoyed the views and headed East to the summit. At the summit there was more time spent checking out the sites and performing our summit poses. We made the summit in 7 hours and was down by 12. Well, everyone else was done much earlier but I took my sweet time coming down. Everyone had an amazing time and are looking forward to our next trip - maybe Annapurna, maybe Middle Sister. Here are all of our pictures from the trip Gear Notes: 3 pickets (used one) rope crampons axes 1 lbs bag of M&Ms (didn't use)

Howdy. I was climbing around the Dihedrals and someone left their two cams. If they are yours, lemme know what type and what tape and we can get them back to you. My buddy found a Timex watch as well and we can get that to you.