tvashtarkatena

You...haven't done...the Ptarmigan, Wayne? And here, all this time, I thought....

me n' josh's solution in particuliar says a good bit [video:youtube] who says you can't drive dem 9 miles? Finding that vehicle at the end of road was the happiest little surprise of my backcountry career, fo sho. Too bad the battery was dead. BUT...JoshK had one a them charger/starter units on board. BUT...we couldn't figure out how to work it cuz we were too stupid. BUT...we finally did cuz we were more desperate than stupid...and we got to thrash the shit out of his nice ride, as depicted on this little film just before my battery ran out, on the way out. Don and I will be forever grateful to your insanity.

Thanks for the TR. I'm heading up there this month to tag Greenwood, so this is timely. A couple of years back I camped at the saddle between the two; a few minutes from Greenwood's summit, to climb both but an icy wind drove me into my sleeping bag instead. Why not tag it in the morning? The following morning snow flurries drove me off the mountain. Now I have to go back. Slothfulness: not a time saver.

Canon Powershot SD870 IS. All shots are hand held (which you can certainly tell with the pine marten shots)

Trip: Shameless Pasayten Summit Whoring Junket - Lake, Lost, and the Craggies Date: 8/24/2009 Trip Report: TR: Lake, Lost, and the Craggies 8/24-30, 2009 Lake Mountain, with Lost Peak in the background, from Pistol Pass How to take someone on their first alpine climb? One strategy is to brutalize them on the approach, so that the climb itself is a relative picnic. The Pasayten’s now abandoned Pistol Pass trail, with its 5000’ of south facing, bone dry elevation gain and gauntlet of post-burn snowbrush is an excellent venue for this, particularly during a heat wave. My friend Beth and I decided to spread the fun over two days, with a climb of Lake Mountain tacked onto the afternoon of day two. Superfun for the both of us: I got to carry the water. It was almost as fun as retracing the route on the way on an even hotter day. The Pasayten rarely disappoints in the wildlife category, and this trip was no exception. We started off by clearing a rattlesnake off the Lost River trail. From there, we forded the river (you can rock hop it this time of year) where the bridge used to be; hence the trail abandonment, and started up our first but certainly not last scree slope, finally making a dry camp at 5800’. In hindsight, I’d hang on until 6300’; a beautiful ridge line above the burn with many nice, flat spots for a tent-with-a-view. Wolf spider schizocosa sp., Lost River The following day we popped over Pistol Pass and traversed to Lake of the Woods, which, despite being about an acre in size, was surprisingly well camouflaged, even from the prying eyes of an altimeter. You won’t have this problem, however: a ¼ mile long trail to the lake splits off from the main trail at 5400’. That afternoon we headed up Lake Mountain’s east ridge towards Beths first summit; a fun little scramble over not-that-bad rock that ends right at the summit without the usual ridge top ramble. Beth nears the summit on the Lake’s east ridge First summit cheeze. The Shellrock group, from Lake Mountain Lake’s summit, looking south I’ll be damned if I couldn’t find the Lake of the Woods on the second go around with whipping out my compass, again. During this brief flail, we did run into a couple of rarities: two treed pine martens, one of which was pretty talkative. Pine marten martes americana, Lake of the Woods Lake Mountain from our camp at Lake of the Woods The following morning I popped back over the saddle on Lake’s east ridge and schwacked my way straight down to Monument Creek and Lost Peak just beyond. From the east, the Shellrocks look like something straight out of a Coors ad, aspen groves and all. I kind of expected a cartoon bear to come paddling up on a birch bark canoe and…well…you know how it can go when you’re climbing solo. The east face of Lake Mountain Lake Mountain and the rest of the Shellrock group, from Monument Creek Bumblebee awakening from its bivouac on angelica genuflexa, Monument Creek Getting screed on the west ridge of Lost Peak From the creek I just shot straight up lightly forested alp slopes of Lost’s west ridge: zero brush. Two thousand feet of this and a thousand feet of scree later I was…wait, is that tree on the north ridge moving? In what was probably the only multiple, independent party ascent of this highly prized summit in its history, I suddenly realized that I was not alone. I topped out to find a young bearded gentleman named Matt already nestled in a bivvy site amidst what appeared to be a Cabela’s catalog realized. The first thing I noticed was the miniature guitar. Then fishing gear…and binoculars, and a water pump, and a leather bound journal, and a pistol. This guy either had a severe boredom phobia or spring steel legs. I suspect it was a bit of both. A red tailed hawk buteo jamaicensis floats over the summit of Lost Peak Summit buddy (sp. Unknown), Lost Peak Dikes on hikes, from Lost Peak Red shafted northern flicker colaptes auratus feather, Pistol Pass trail THE CRAGGIES The following day Beth, fresh from her day off, and I, ripe from mine, hike out, headed to the Twisp River Pub for some serious grease, repacked, then drove on to the Copper Glance trailhead to car camp. The Copper Glance Mine The Craggies are, well, really craggy. The area has more rubble, and rubble loving pikas, than any place I’ve ever been. Fish filled Copper Glance lake, is nice, but offers only one campsite a couple of hundred feet above the nearest water. We decided to head up the drainage towards West and Big Craggy and camp at another tarn at around 6600’ instead. An impressive and fresh collapse above Copper Glance Lake Yellowpine chipmunk tamias amoenus, Copper Glance Lake Beth hung back at camp with a book while I tended to my OCD issues. First I tagged Big, then ran over to West, then straight down its south side scree slope and back to camp and the trip home. The classic arm-in-the-sunglasses shot. West Craggy, from Big Craggy Moraine patterns, from the summit of West Craggy So ended six days of shameless summit whoring in one of my favorite Wilderness areas…after greasing up again at the Old Schoolhouse Pub in Winthrop, of course. And I didn’t even get Beth killed…although her legs suffered a few…um, hundred lacerations. Oh, and the Twisp River Pub’s got better grease for less money. Gear Notes: Guitar, fishing gear, binoculars, pistol. Approach Notes: Pistol Pass trail: no water from the Lost River to Lake of the Woods. Can be hard to follow in spots from 5300' to 6300'...in good shape up higher.

You just need to learn how to share more.... [video:youtube]z80vlqiJJ44

I met the Giri Giri boys at the TAT bunk house in Talkeetna last year. Great guys and all...but they hooved all of the Stagg chili in the free cupboard before I could tuck into it.

I'd rather have to pass a Buick Century than listen to Van Halen.

Oh, her? I fucked 'er.

Yep. Sounds like the classic liberal hate list. Gotta agree about the thongs on fat chicks though. And vegans too. And this, oh yea... [video:youtube] Leo Buscalia! I was wondering where you went! Limbaugh sucks ass. He hasn't said anything original in, well, he never has. Savage is basically a kvetching Jewish beat poet. Pure stream of consciousness, which, like any other SOC...can be hit or miss. Medved's also entertaining in a more cohesive way than Savage. O'Reilly's just a one note prick, Hannity is just one of his mini-mes. Pricks like to watch other pricks: hence their ratings. The only blowhards on the libtard side that are remotely watchable are Stewart and offspring, and Ann Coulter's BF, although he's a distant second.

I finally got tired of spending real money on what is essentially a disposable item. Fred Meyer has decent poles (not UL, necessarily): cork handles, nice strap, stout locking mech. for $25. The lightest poles you can get are REI kiddie poles (2 section) for $40...but the ultra cheezy locking mech. will break right away and they don't extend far enough for non Celts.

He jus care bout dem EYE rackies

Mike Meyers comes of like a such a lily-white little douche in this clip. Kin yoo pleez depeet da queschun?

But if not, there's always trundling.

Quality can mean many things, particularly when you're talking about quality of experience. Quality of rock, line, pro, remoteness, larches, meadows, light, weather, snow, ice.... Plus, am I the only one who gets tired of lugging around a hardware store? It's a very freeing feeling to move through the backcountry and climb without all that crap. It's also kind of cool to arrive at a peak without much information, pick a line, and try it out. Sometimes you get surprised with a nice line, solid rock and really fun climbing that way.

I've tried one. Don't bother.

Remove the 'white' requirement and I'm there, too.

Rad's Rat Thread.

...dead.

They're big enough, fo sho. The neighbor whacked two. My security challenged homemade worm bin has been replaced with a DHS approved plastic cone. Got 3 traps set...the barbie is ready and waiting. This little bastids are really messing with my peakbagging time.... Perhaps I can photograph them...

Mofo's got some fly pegs.

That's why I like hunting. Also because you get to see and experience so much beautiful wildlife, and then kill it. And hopefully share it. Ah loves me some elk steaks.

Hey, no making fun of TR photos, myan.

Some of us like to mix it up a bit...some technical routes, some scrambles, some backpack trips where catching a cutthroat or just hanging out in a beautiful place is "the goal". In other words, some of us just like to be in the backcountry, in whatever style we feel like at the time. Some of us also have friends we like to hang with who are not technical climbers. Go figure. Peak bagging is just a trick to get you into new and often amazing areas you might otherwise overlook. It can also require a level a high level of endurance; yet another aspect of this broad sport. Take the Pasayten. If you're looking for high quality routes past the Cathredrals, good luck. It'll be your loss, however. The area is amazing: flowers, wildlife, solitude; the whole feel of the place. Some of us also want to get to experience the backcountry here, ALL of it, in all its variety of forms, not just the relatively few areas that have quality technical routes. And finally, regarding the umpteenth TR of Tooth syndrome, well, that TR might just offer entertaining writing and beautiful photos, or an innovative viewpoint or treatment, so why not? Reading them is voluntary, after all. In addition, that TR might be about someone's first climb. They're stoked, and they want to share that. Frankly, that keeps all our stoke going, IMO. I've never gone out into the backcountry, not once, without experiencing something new and amazing. I never know what that will be when I set off, but such experiences don't seem to be correlated at all with the level of technical difficulty of the venture. The most beautiful wildflower meadow I've ever seen? Just below Oval Peak (what, not on your tick list?). The most amazing bear encounter? Just below mighty Plummer (Another MUST DO). It's just a matter of keeping your eyes open and letting it happen when it happens.

And here I thought this thread might lift us up to the celestial plane...