billbob

Nice, way to go !

We recommend using Baby Shampoo to clean rope and much of your high-end clothing / sleeping bags. It works well and costs way less than the products seen at gear stores.

Your referenced documents point out that levels of sunlight needed for Vitamin D production are well below sunburn-producing amounts. Any additional light exposure significantly increases the odds for melanoma. While the articles are of interest to many readers, one might also argue their relevance to the context of the original poster above as questionable. Reflecting light rays on snow and ice surfaces significantly elevate the incident light intensity far in excess of anything that might remotely be considered healthy, thereby requiring the thinking climber to employ whatever means possible to avoid the incipient cellular breakdown of overexposed epidermal tissue. I recommend Bullfrog. Good shit.

I thought this was one of the funniest TR's ever. Ivan may march to a different drummer but he tries to see life in a positive light and he is very motivated as a climber to go out and try new stuff. I appreciate the fact that we have Ivan around as counterpoint to the serious side of climbing. Writing humor is a lot tougher than it looks, try it sometime.

I ended up skimming over much of the second half, a bit too touchy-feely for this old boy. The pics taken from their camera make me feel a bit strange, knowing the ending and all. Half price at Costco for $13.

Hmmm, interesting thread. Brilliant, actually.

Hilarious!

Here's another view of the major West side routes on Mt Hood. We hit bad weather about halfway up, departed from the proscribed route and went too far to the right (The ugly red line). I just hate it when that happens. Traversing across to Leuthold, Reid HW start on right Ended up hitting a wall of rime blocking access to upper Cathedral Ridge. We downclimbed 700' and then traversed right (shoulda gone left) for a chat w/ climbers on the Reid HW. Dropped down into a big gully (see red line, traversing back left) which went up 2 near-vertical 12' - 15' mixed steps, below pic is just above the second. Nice to actually top out on the ridge The W side of Mt Hood can suffer from horrendous rock- and ice fall hazard, particularly if temps are over freezing, the winds aloft are breezy, and when sunlight hits the top of the ridge.

Way to grab one of the frustratingly few nice weather days !

Above pic taken by yours truly early December '08, Hood summit ridge. That's Ivan in the background. Don't ask about the rope. Or why I just sat there on my ass whilst he did his monkey boy impersonation over to the true summit Is there a rating for soft rime + alpine ice mix?

Hood summit ridge(s) deserve a lot of respect at times, makes for good practice, it does seem easier in poor vis. I heard a rumor that, when winds are really high and gusting, even the strongest badass climber goes au cheval or crawls across.

Suggestion/Advice: Edit out the words "easy" and "minimal" from your post.

Didn't Lionel Terray die in a climbing accident?

Congratulations Pat !! May fortune follow your fame.

Good job getting yer butts back when the shit hits. Brilliant pics, too. See you boys in church on Sunday.

What's the best shovel to use ? Can you use skins for uphill ? Has anyone ever shoveled the summit ?

This definitely sucks

Damn sorry to hear this news. Could someone tell us more about her?

Hi Chris - just curious - Why do you want stories of drug use in climbing? What exactly are you thinking of doing with them?

If you have a limited window for fun and want to seriously increase the chance of success for a summit, you might want to use a Certified Mountain Guide, licensed and trained to take you both up and down the mountain. IMHO, sometimes getting back down is the more formidable challenge.

Yah, sweet looking weather forecast, this w/e could be very nice..

I had the distinct honor to escort a climber down from the 9,600' level a couple summers ago. He and another climber hired an "unofficial" guide. The person I brought down had been left on a ridge at 4am, in nasty weather, because he couldn't deal with the white-out and winds,and he was supposed to wait 4 hours there until the remaining climber and guide got back. In 25 degree whiteout with 35 mph winds. The poor fellow was suffering more than I could take at that point. Lucky for him that I was willing to bring him down safely. And this was in June. Inexperienced climbers need professional, licensed guiding to increase chances of both a successful summit and more importantly, for survival. Do not underestimate the severity of conditions (often) found on Hood in May.

Yeah, was hard not to hurl watching you walk the walk. Found it easier to not watch the return trip, too busy looking for my testicles.

Oh my, this could get ugly... Ivan transit Hood Summit Ridge, sans rope Hood Leuthold off-route GF who will be sincerely appreciative (to me, not you!) if her pic wins. Please, pleeaaase, I need it

A couple weekends ago me 'n Ivan were heading up hood in light rain / windy conditions, temps in mid-30's. He had TWO softshell jackets, one was a MH hoody. He was wet after 15 min, soaked after 30 min, and near hypothermic after 45. I watched as he wrung out a couple pints of water and hung them both up to drip. An hour later it was painful just to watch when he had to put everything back on for the walk back to a warm dry car. Maybe the jackets needed to be treated with a waterproofing rinse product? Would it have really helped? Moral of the story - Always bring some sort of hard shell if it might rain.