dougd

He was brilliant, yes. Just cuz ur smart doesn't make you right and he knew that. I respected him as a man of conviction. To the end... RIP d

Tom, Cool, thanks. d

5 beers @ centurylink field is quite an investment! How was it coming down the spur? d

+1.

My first summit was via the dogs head route on Mt St Helens in Nov '79 solo. My brother was supposed to climb with me but the two 16oz Buds he drank on the drive out after I picked him up at the end of his swing shift in Portland left him sleepy, so I just did it. My Kodak 110 instamatic captured the 360 deg scene including a really broken up crater rim and the awesome spirit lake. I really enjoy those pics when I dig them out. Right on about the full value of trips like this and good decision to head back down after a good day in the mountains. I have had many like it over the years. The summits will be there, after the experience and confidence is gained. Never, ever feel bad about good decisions made in the mountains and thanks for posting the TR. d

A sincere act of contrition. A beautiful thing. d

I got my first really close look at that gully last weekend. I particularly enjoyed your "perch" pic. Impressive exposure. Here's hoping for similar weather windows in the near future. d

And, farming... That pic probably was taken out on the Palouse somewhere... d

Wow. Great pics, much better than mine. d

Pics taken 10:30am Sunday from + - 8000' on Cooper Spur... Show two climbers descending the Elliot glacier... I talked to a guy that had made it into the chimney's before descending due to high winds... Said it was blowing him around pretty good up there... Sure was a pretty day... Wasn't real windy where I was but even in the sun it was pretty cold. Snow conditions are stellar right now imo. d

hmmm, interesting pics. Thank you for the kind invitation. The room is indeed impressive, and, the price is right. My wife and I will be "bivying" in the A frame Sat evening a bit lower than I'd like. "The plan" started out as more of a climbing trip for me with bivy @ or near tie in rock, then, somehow, mysteriously, "evolved" to the present plan. She is a non climbing person so getting a feel for this side of the mountain will most likely end up being Sunday morning higher on the spur... It's a long drive back to Spokane for work Mon... Maybe I'll see you all along the way. Good luck, d

Thanks for the info. I'm headed up there this weekend anyway to do some scouting. I'll try to get some good pics of the N face for those interested... d

Too bad I'm not much of an ice climber. The drinking sounds fun tho! d

They got up to around 13k in some really foul conditions before calling it... Very determined group... Sad... d

Excellent advice. jDCH: If you do decide to take a serious look at Gib Ledges, just make sure you're off that route early... We launched from Muir at 0100 in "winter conditions" and made good time to the top of the chute. No need to linger that close to all that rock... There was quite a bit more snow on the route then which made it a hell of a lot of fun. We descended the DC and I was very happy to hike down that route instead of down climbing the ledges as they were then. It's a different mountain now than 04Jun11... Good luck, d

Awww c'mon now. I'm a lil older now (57) and I did it in early June this year... It was really good fun then with all the snow (ice) piled up on the route. Granted, it's a different route now. Willi was killed while descending the aptly named cadaver gap btw... d

The route finding should be fine. The exit shute might be icy and the crevasses above Gib Rock will be thinly bridged and weak. +1 looks to be a nice ramp into the chute @ end of the ledges... It's worth a look see imo... http://www.nps.gov/webcams-mora/mountain.jpg d

I was thinking the same thing...

For the record, I enjoyed your Abraxis TR on the Oregon Cascade thread much more than this one. I find whining boring. Sue me The Abraxis climb was really good stuff and that TR is a classic. But that's off topic so... d

yawn

I can relate. Being from PDX, and now living in Spokane, it's a long way to the real climbing. I highly recommend Baker and Shuksan however. Just have to make time for those mountains. I was very close to making the trip to do the cooper spur Friday the 11th... The forecast was just flakey enough though to keep me home. Driving 6 hours for a pretty narrow weather window for an am climb just tipped the scale enough... Maybe T-giving weekend... d

Damn sad that... sigh... d

Sure hope conditions hold and a weather window appears one weekend next month... I'd like to get an up close and personal look at that thar spur... d

Recently saw reel rock which included film of Potter/Leary regaining the speed record on the nose of el cap. It's tough to find words to adequately describe what I saw. Awesome, incredible, fucking fantastic, seem to fall short. These guys are deserving of our respect. I'll cheer for Steve. d

Wow. Congratulations indeed. Great video too btw... d