ScaredSilly

Very nice, just a little walk in the park ;-).

In what ways? I have read both White Winds and Hall of the Mtn King. So I would be interested in learning what brings this about. BTW I have two friends buried on Denali.

rbw1966, I am assuming you are talking about my ski traverse. We planed for four days but did it in three. Spent the first night down along the Minan River, the second by Minan Lake and then blasted over to Mirror Lake and out through the Lakes Basin in day. The last day was a long day but the skiing was so good we just could not stop.

Clam - good on ya. I grew up over there and one winter long ago we decided to ski across the range. We went from Moss Springs above Cove out to Wallowa Lake. Some where I have some great photos from the Minan - Mirror Lake pass with the hills all laid out. A great sight. There is some good ice up Hurricane Creek and other hidden unclimbed gems .

Leased federal land is rather interesting. Many (perhaps most) times the leasee has complete control over the land they are leasing. In the past ski resorts were unique in that they typically had control only during business operating hours. However, with the larger resorts mountain operations (grooming) often go throughout the night and start early in the morning (grooming and avalanche control). Many have asked for and received permission for control 24/7. (I had my hand in this here in Oootah). In some areas like Alta, UT they could be blasting not only with in the resorts but also for the roads and city. In those cases they do an inter-lodge. More than once the Alta marshall or Alta resorts has let me know that I had 10 minutes to either be out of the parking lot or in a building cause after that the marshall would be ticketing. In those cases I just drove down the road and skied else where. Not knowing all of the specifics I would ask for a meeting with the District Ranger and see what can be learned. If there blasting operations do have an impact on the BC access then there does need to some dialog.

I use them all the time for my feet. The ones I have are made by Gator in Salt Lake City. They are thin and lined. They stink after a few days of usage. I like the fact that they keep the sweat out of my wool socks which are heavy dachstein. I think the benefit comes more from multiple days out. However, you do need to let you feet dry lest you want trench foot. http://www.gator-sports.com/gator.swf

Yeah I doubt that the road will be open anytime soon. Last time it was out they only lost a few hundred yards this time it was much more. Any one know the status of the suspension bridge? I did not make it up there this year and usually use the bridge. Thinking about heading up there this winter again.

I remember being up high soloing a 20k peak. I crossed over a crevasse bridge only to have it collapse behind me. That ups the ante. When soloing glaciated peaks I tend to stick to ridges and avoid the crevasses - this is not always possible. I also like routes where retreat is straight forward. My one winter attempt on Rainier was the Willis Wall. After retreating and coming down the Carbon my partner and I repeatedly punched into cracks and at one point we both went into different cracks. So winter does not always mean safer in terms of breaking through. Folks have mentioned the Gib Ledges - did them years ago one spring but we descended the DC. For those who have done the Ledges in winter did you descend the same? I think probably the biggest factor is white conditions - whether summer or winter. Finding your ways around that bald dome in a whiteout sucks. I have done this several times. Not fun.

Joining the party late, but I spent 9 years in the PNW before moving Ooootah. Been here 20 years. Within a days drive I can be any where from Yosemite to back in the PNW. But most times I am within the state doing something stupid. Now that we have some snow I be doing dawn patrols, up 5am, skinning up, catching some pow, and be into work by 10am. Repeating as necessary. Yeah, SLC can be be a drag on the political side of things but like anywhere you have to pick your battles. They is a real good outdoor community here, lots of good folks. And if you miss the PNW flights are reasonable enough. In fact in the past 8 years I have been up on Rainier 4 times. Mike - look me up when you get settled. The ice is coming in and the pow is starting to stack up.

Nice

Funny, up in Little Cottonwood Canyon here in Oootah the LDS Church took some of the boulders we used to climb on and turned them into slabs for their conference center. So we were climbing on them before they became "sacred"

About this time 15 years ago I ran up the Spur right after a recent storm. Primo conditions on the route with ice going up through the upper 500 feet. I had the whole mtn. to myself not another soul up there. And yeah the road to Cloud Cap was still open.

Where is my pink tutu? I'll show those sissy how to go on pointe ...

Hmm, well I have climbed the Mowich did it last summer June 06 and I have walked in from Carbon River to play on the Willis (March 05). And have been schlepping my carcus up the hill for over a quarter century so I might be able to offer some incite. In the past 10 years or so things seem to be melting out earlier and earlier. As such, many of the routes that could traditionally be done in the early fall are not really possible any more. For instance, the FA of Liberty Ridge was in September. When I did it some 15 plus years ago in mid June we could approach the ridge from the left side. This year in June most climbed up from far on the right side leaving themselves open to the Liberty Ice Cap. Over Memorial day in 2000 we found hard ice and sun cups on the lower Ptarmigan Ridge however we only climbed over a few feet of rock. IIRC this year folks had a lot more rock. Now could it be climbed in October this year? Certainly, a couple of good snows and some good freeze thaw could bring things into shape. But the bitch is going to be getting to climb. My approach is typically from CR. The long hike is no big deal but crossing the Mowich glacier would be ugly as would be coming in from Mowich Lake, lots of cracks to deal with. Coming from the south via Edmonds perhaps similar - I have yet to get on that side of the hill so can not say much about it. BTW I assume you saw this photo from early August:

I just picked up on this article. Not a bad article at all. Having hiked the Carbon River road in the past because it was washed out a few thoughts. The original road went far past the campground almost to the suspension bridge. After it got washed out it was abandoned (ala West Side Road). So in some ways what they are talking about is no different. Yeah it sucks to have to walk in and out so far. But on the other hand those that came in the early years had a bit of journey in as well. So instead of a quick weekend it now becomes a long weekend to do a route on that side of the hill. However, as was said access is important for not just those who are up to the challenge but for others. As such, there needs to be a balance between hump my ass anywhere folks and the bug screen tourist. At this point it is probably time for a study of the river and the cost of routing a trail. Personally I would be up for a mtn. bike trail in that would allow for bike, wheel chair, and perhaps in some cases an electric cart that would get some handicaped folks back into the woods.

Speaking of the Mtn Division: Bob Bates who spent much of the war testing cold weather gear that was used by those boys and got the third ascent of Denali of it passed away this month: http://obit.brewittfuneralhome.com/obit_display.cgi?id=458140

Hi BIll, I did know abut Ken dying up in AK. Yeah, what happen kinda blew everyone away when we heard he fell off the boat. I am sure I heard the whole story but forgot much as it has been 25 years or so. Too Long. Sandy was a character. I remember one time he got dropped off about 10 miles from home and said no problem I'll just ski home. I think it is pretty cool that there have been a few good climbers come out of that part of the state. Funny as I was coming home I was wondering if you were the "Portland friend" that we originally had listed as doing some of the early routes with Richard Candelaria up at HIgh Valley. However, at this point we have them listed with Lin Casciato, Mark Kerns, and Richard Wilkins as doing the FA. The problem is that back then no one really cared who did what. At least many of the principles are still around so we can perhaps sort it out. I have not heard much from that young whipper snapper since Mark Kerns chimed in. EDIT - I have reorganized the Anthony Lakes area by area now. So if folks have something to add go for it.

Great to see some interest in the area. I just talked with Dave Jensen a couple of weeks ago. I am currently trying to document the climbing in NE Oregon via mountain project: http://www.mountainproject.com/v/oregon/north_eastern_oregon/106007730 As was mentioned the Falcon Guide is really poor. I am trying to use mtn. project to document things correctly. If you add something please please note your sources. You could say I am taking the Jeff Thomas point of view and trying my best to have history as well but it takes time. Anthony Lakes has several groups come through in the 70s so there is some descent documentation but I am still sorting it out. The Ramp on Lee's Peak was first climbed by Dave Jensen and Mead Hargis in the early 70s. The ramp on GunSight was done by myself and Tim Bailey in early 80s. Both are good fun very moderate routes. As mentioned there are routes to the left of the Ramp on Lees as we ran into some of Dave's pins during one climb. I have also found some of Lute Jerstad bolts down around Hoffer Lakes on a route that I climbed. There are many routes on Lookout - I am in the process of sorting through them. The old Summit article that is refered to is something I wrote with Steve Ryman in the mid 80s. The topo is for High Valley, which when I get a chance will be added to mtn proj. as well. As for skiing the ramps yeah they got skied by the locals. What a hoot. Did Lee's in floppy leathers on some old three pins. Never got to Gunsight. BTW If you want to add something to Anthony Lakes please hold off as I would like to reorganize the section by peak and area as there is a lot more routes on Lookout than I thought. Ken Cronk - now there is a name I have not heard in a long long time. He, Sandy Brown and I went ice climbing one winter. My first ice climb up in Huricane Creek. Drove my dad's old sedan up the icy/snowy road with chains on. On the way back we stopped and bought some shine in a mason jar from the liquor store and drove back to LaGrande. What fun was that - I was all of 18.

About the only hazard is from snow bridges collapsing when going over a creek. This happened to me one 4 July weekend. By now they should be totally exposed.

As was said - show up at the Jeny Lake Ranger Station and talk to the boys. My suggestion would be to to like many and head up Garnet Canyon and do a route on the Grand and Middle. Try Irene Arete as well. For some excellent day cragging head Death Canyon - Caveat Emptor is a fun route. As for September weather - rain, sleet, snow, sunshine, hail. Any and everything in otherwords - be prepared for it. If you do get moisture that time of year be very prepared for veriglass - things like the OS which is on the west side of the Grand can be very dangerous when descending because of veriglass. More than one person has gone for the ride of their life there. The Exum which is south facing will be reasonable because of sunshine.

This link has a link to a whole bunch of pictures from last year: http://mountrainierconditions.blogspot.com/2006/07/mowich-face.html Coming in from Carbon River is the best option - but this year not so much.

Let see for good beer head to the Bayou. I would skip the brew pubs like Squatters and Red Rock not cause their beer is bad it is pretty good. But being so close to the show they will be very crowded. The Bayou does get crowded on the weekends though. As for climbing - it is dam hot here. We have gone to morning climbing instead. Some places for morning climbing. S-Curves, Sports Challenge Buttrees, Psycho-Babble are quick and easy to get to. For nice all day head to Alta and Albion Basin and play on Devil's Castle or some of the new climbs around Cerect Lake.

I have contributed a few things to mtnproj and I have commented on a few routes. In principle the idea is good especially for new info. But the problem is that only one person controls the content. For instance, I found some inaccuracies and quite a bit missing in one route description. The only way I could add anything was via a comment. It would have been nice if I could have filled in the missing info and made corrections. So IMHO it needs to be more wiki style so that others can edit and add pertinent material when necessary.

I typically do not boil snow melt water. I, like others getting fresh clean snow is the best practice. That said after a winter climb of Broken Top I got Giardia from likelihood snow melt water. That was not fun.

Unfortunately, when he landed he did not tie off the chair so it went back up along with his video camera. It is probably in Montana.