dougd

At camp muir, there was a guy snoring so loud I swear he shook the stone walls of the hut. His girlfriend woke him several times as some of the inhabitants were verbally threatening their well being if he didn't shut up... Alas, it did no good. As soon as he went back to sleep it was on again... My little brother and I got up at 0030 hrs and cooked a bit of gruel and set off summitting around 0800. It was literally a zoo coming down with all the exhausted flatlanders about... It was a nice summit, but once was enough. d

Go as long as you can without food and water when training. Eat well in town but don't overdo it. Run hills until you're close to vomiting but don't actually vomit, it's bad for you. Fruit, veggies, carbs, and beer. Listen to your body. Moderation in all things. discipline. No shit. It works.

Rainier does seem to bring out the very best in us doesn't it? There were enough weirdo's up there when I climbed it in the 80's that I swore I'd never go back. Can't imagine what it's like on a labor day weekend now... Twistedsteel, a noble effort. Kudos d

Burgler Good call holding off for now... d

Ever been to the upper saddle on the Grand Teton? That's a beautiful hike up garnett canyon... Just curious. On the Rainier thing, there's "in shape" and then there's "mountaineering shape"... It's a big mountain as you know If you're inexperienced in mountaineering, RMI may be the way to go for summiting Rainier this year. Might be more efficient than trying to hook up with someone on line to "show you the ropes"... Anyway, good luck. d

Good points about use of pro and ropes but: Give me a competent rope mate or two, in good climbing shape and I'll stay roped on the ss route up and down from the hogsback to summit. If conditions warrant pro or not, I think chances are better of surviving a mishap with a competent roped party. That said, competency is in short supply on hood some days... Always, proper assessment of conditions, BTW that includes other people in your area, especially on hoods ss route, and good judgment on the mountain will serve you well. Good luck d

I haven't been up there since last November but I'm betting you'll be skiing from the highway which makes for a very long approach... Good luck, d

Monday I was riding my motorcycle back from Cannon Beach. Made the loop through Longview to Long Beach Sunday, then down to Cannon on Monday and back to Portland just in time for stop and go traffic from Sylvan to I-5 bridge. It was a nice ride but the TR/pics remind me I gotta get back to the mountains soon... d

Nice Job Dave. Beautiful pics. How nice to have the upper mountain all to yourself eh? I climbed the Coleman Demming route in '06 and really enjoyed it. That was a summer climb tho. Lot's o people up there that weekend... I winter solo'd Hood one time some years back and had it all to myself then. Of course the evening I was headed up to the mountain I stopped off at my dad's tavern in gresham to have a (free) beer or two, and as we watched the local news they showed a chopper hauling a body off of the North face... As we watched, and the news guys talked about the icy conditions etc, the old man said "You're not still going up there are ya?" I told him I was just doin the S Side route and the conditions would be different probably, but he wasn't buying it... I spent the night in the silcox hut, back then you could just walk in, nothing but mice residing there, summitted at day break on a day much like you had... Sure was quiet up there. Except for the fucking wind. I made sure to to call the old man when I got back. d

The solid argument for closing beacon completely to human activity notwithstanding, I'll give the benefit of any doubt to the park service in their efforts to give the birds some space for their home. Although beacon is accessible to us, and we may love this place well, we need to defer to these creatures, and to those who have their wellbeing at heart. I have been a climber for a long time. I've seen the sport evolve from a relative few odd ball/visionaries (and yes, rose festival revelers) to main stream, competitive, world cup, and potentially olympic event type sport. The resulting impacts of increased popularity to specific areas are forcing park service personnel to seriously evaluate a lack of balance which rightly should err on the side of ecosystems and wild creatures that cannot defend themselves properly against the pressures of so many human interlopers with all their differing philosophies on how to approach wild places. Hows that for a rant. And I didn't have to call anyone a cocksucker either. Just jokin kev d

In reading this thread it is clear this closure causes quite a bit of distress. Climbers feel singled out, and are being accused by at least one poster of being responsible for destroying a raptor nest at some point. Vile profanities are being used to describe well intentioned public servants. Insults, accusations, profanities. people.

Access is gonna be tough this year. Went hiking in the gorge today and ran into waist deep snow at about 1500ft above Wakeena falls... Can only imagine what it's like on Jefferson ths year. d

Agreed. Spokane has a great climbing community which includes the Mountaineers. I'm still a member even though I work in VanWa and now only commute to Spokane on odd weekends. The climbing community there, in partnership with private land owners and city/county (Roskelley) officials has done some really good things (rocks of sharon recently) to set aside climbing/hiking areas for the future. I believe that includes Minehaha and the improved parking and "facilities"... Minnehaha graffitti is a problem for the ages. Sadly. d

I was climbing at Minni a lot in the '80s too. Was living in N Idaho and just about every weekend spent a day there. One time I arrived and there was a dead goat dumped in the old parking turn out. Man that thing stunk... I got my work out in anyway. Minni's just too accessible. Too easy for the jerks to find and defile... If I was there I'd help you guys clean up if you could stop fighting long enough to actually get somethin done... d

"But I have never seen Eiger Sanction so can I put in a request for that movie if you ever do this again!" Hard to believe there's someone that hasn't seen the Eiger Sanction... That's a classic. Well shot with a great cast including Herman Buhl's daughter... Reminds me I should dust off the old VHS collection and see if they're any good. Edlinger "to the top" was a good one... Have fun, d

I recommend you check out the Seattle Mountaineers when you get to town. Regards, d

Good info on ava for the NW @ this site http://www.nwac.us/products/SABNW Gotta have your shit together to do a winter ascent of mt hood and survive it. Especially this year... "Currently living in Minnesota has limited my resources. Also, what are some possible ski/snowboard decent routes? Past trip reports, etc? " Some good climbers met their end up there just last year. They were from out of town too. Here we go again...

"Being from Idaho I have to pass the buck onto all of the Californians that relocated to Coeur d'Alene. Most of the native drivers I know had to learn pretty quick with the winters here. " Good point. I met my wife in Ca and brought her to Oregon in '75. She almost killed us both several times while behind the wheel before actually learning to drive. Two years of driving down there taught her nothing... She's an excellent driver now, and yes, we're still married...

"pdx drivers are hands down the worst drivers in the country, at least the cities I've lived in or spent any time in." You have never lived in Spokane Washington and had to deal with commuters from Idaho then... They're angry AND ruthless. I'm from pdx originally and live in vanc wa now. spokane area is worst I've seen by far. BTW, I almost got picked off by a city bus on hwy 99 in sept during the bike challenge. It was all I could do to keep from getting sucked under it as it blew by me at 50mph and me with nowhere to go... damned near a statistic. scared the shit out of me. ryan good luck and welcome to the neighborhood. d

Sad to say, but if the guy's been missing at 1330 Tuesday it's a recovery effort at this point... 22yrs old... damn

Sorry I missed this one. Great pics btw. I was up on Jefferson Park Glacier in Nov scouting around. It was my first time up there and the route looked fine. I was late getting up to high camp and damn near got beaned by a falling rock. The wind came up and literally blew me and my shelter off the mountain... You guys should come to the big city and give your show. d

Well I'll be dipped... And still climbing... Good to see, thanks. d

I climbed the beacon one time back in the early '80s. A couple friends and I headed out there after a night of rose festival debauchery, and I was still "technically" drunk. My friends and I had harness' and rock shoes, but didn't have much else with us. We were just gonna hike around, explore, and maybe do some bouldering. We met this guy in the parking lot with his girlfriend, sorting gear. He was obviously desperate for partners, and talked us into climbing with him. I told the guy I was drunk, and sick, and would rather not climb, but he was very convincing. Don't remember his name but he was about 6'3" tall and a strong climber. I remember the first and last pitches pretty well but the rest is hazy... First was an open book, 5.9 I think, and the big guy hits it and disappears, poof! The last was a 5.8 at some big ledges just below the trail. Normally this climb wouldn't have been so hard, but I felt like shit. We topped out at the trail, me sweating like a pig... Totally spent... I laid on that trail looking at a beautiful blue sky while proper family folks and their little kids walked around me looking somewhat disturbed... Proud to say I never puked once all day. The memory of puking on that beautiful rock would have haunted me forever. I suppose that guy with was pretty disgusted after climbing with us that day but he never showed it. He was a decent guy... WTF, he asked for it anyway. In reading some of these stories I find an old friend. Jim Opdyke patiently spent some time introducing me to aid climbing at Broughton's bluff during that time. His efforts were mostly wasted. I just enjoyed free climbing more. Hope Jim's doin ok. Haven't seen him in many, many years. When was the picture taken? Enjoyed all the stories. Especially pink's "zipper"... d

Was it raining then? Ref was receding glaciers actually. Looking at the traverse below the "icefall" has changed a lot. Sept of '82 when my brother and I climbed it, seemed like much more snow/ice was there... xxx looks to be a man of few words lol.

Soloing Rainier is pretty gutsy. Sure looks a lot drier up there since Sept of '82... Sad, really...