Water

teh google is ur friend: https://www.google.com/search?q=altitude+mask my understanding was that the ways to train for altitude were to be in a chamber or be at altitude. looks like this reduces the amount of air you get to reduce the amount of oxygen you have..

Trip: North Sister - SE Ridge Date: 9/10/2011 Trip Report: Why I keep coming back to this damn pile, I don't know. But I do. Well, I do know, its ragged decrepit rock has a beauty to it. I'm convinced this mountain could be dropped by 2k ft if someone detonated just a bit of explosives midway up the east or west face.. maybe the plug would remain as a spire. Anyways, L & K have been on a volcano stomping binge whilst nursing an injury keeping them from rock climbing. knocking off the oregon ones they've never visited, they happily enlisted my company as I'd been up a few times before. headed down on a friday, crashed at TH and got going around 3am or so?, I think. Not much new to report, heavy snow year as ya'll know and there will be banks of it from 6k up that will make it into 2012. Found things to be melted very well up high on the west side, of course way more than in July when I was last there. Met a guy just before the junction with the south ridge. He was going solo on his 3rd attempt after being skunked before. He had come directly up one of the dikes on the south face, which he said he would not recommend at all... He stuck with us since I knew the route and that had been an issue previously for him. traverse just around the corner.. Still snow at the traverse, which gets steeper and steeper as it melts, but praise jebus the top had a beautiful moat along the summit block rock that made for speedy protected passage. moat: bowling alley: After that was all pretty easy. K & L's expectations for horrible rock were surpassed. As we hiked out they asked if I'd come back and climb it again. I groaned, hesitating and said "well...probably yes, I'll be back". I asked if they would, and they both said "no". Gear Notes: brought the kitchen sink to cover the bases (crampons, ax, rope, pickets, few pieces of rock pro) trail runners and camelbak would have done the job Approach Notes: climbers trail from just before soap creek, cut S/SE sooner than later, or you give yourself a bit of extra work crossing a small ridge just north of where SE ridge of north begins. exited via S ridge and hayden glacier moraines and back the middle sister climbers trail to soap ck.

maybe this is what he is chapped about: post no longer available. gave me a laugh but its semi blog spammerish, though i dont consider it as such.

best wishes dane, very heartfelt, so sorry to hear the news. But you'll pull through it and bring even more perspective and depth to the world. And thanks for your PSA about the vaccine. keep the camp fire of hope burning strong! my pops made it pass late stage malignant melanoma about..23 years ago.

nope it's still up http://www.nps.gov/webcams-mora/muir.jpg just snowpacked onto/in it/etc. happens to bunches of webcams around the NW...hurricane ridge, hood's cams, crater lake cam, st helens cam, etc

props plaidman!! always looks so gnarly from the road. wonder if there is any interesting flora on the top, as it isn't accessible to all animals and such

hilarious ivan.. just talking about that at work the other day. I found a disposable camera in my possession after we moved out here, dropped it off to get developed since I had no idea what was on it, and got some pictures from the college days 7 years prior, mostly friends hanging out, then in the middle there were a handful of lovely flasher shots from someone who got ahold of it during a party. but thanks for posting that, can't imagine going being a part of expeditions like that back then.

too bad raindawg doesn't live up there too

if its bad, it takes a long time. my ankles are not so hot in that they hurt me and i oft roll them unless wearing a fullon mnteering boot or only walk on very flat surfaces. i also understand that if you sprain it bad, or do so and get going too quick on it and roll it more, you can increase long-term likelihood that it will be a chronic condition (not that you'd immobile but that your risk factor is higher and there is a likelihood you may have your ankles be more sensitive to injury, indefinitely). ie: i rolled my ankles a lot when i did an 1800 mile section hike and well they aint never seem to be quite the same, 4-5 years later. this is one where you really want to do the PT. the bands I've heard can be good-as can other balance exercises (standing on one foot, etc). i had a high ankle sprain last year, as i slipped on ice while wearing mnteering boot and so it was very high--that has taken about 1 year and that ankle is still more prone than the other.

congrats, hell of a feat. speedy on shasta!! set your sights on 3 sisters traverse? no driving between the mountains necessary..

curious if anyone has been or scoped it from lower? In july there was enough for two healthy and substantial snow traverses, when in previous years nothing. story of this summer.. so I would not be so surprised if the traverse is still boilerplate/hardpack snow. . . but anyone know?

i drink right out of the streams in wallowas and much of oregon, adams, and even new england (greens, whites, mahoosuc, baxter st park) never had a problem. treat if standing or aquatic body below high alpine tarn status, if area above is suspect to human/heavy animal contamination. can bypass the 'above' status in large part if it is coming out of the ground immediately in front of me.

get an in-line ceramic filter. a buddy of mine uses it and it seems like a great device. me personally i get by fine with aqua mira and wait 20-30 minutes no taste (that i notice). but the inline filter is instant and immediately available--no digging for it. my friends is glass filaments or something?? probably can find a ceramic one which has less freeze worry.

it is probably the most 'hurting' time of year to find snow. you'll really have to play it by ear a bit as far as starting to investigate sometime around start of october. really as long as you've got the gear making a choice between adams, hood, or middle should not be too much of an issue--i think in that order is your best likelihood for getting some fun on snow. you can find some on adams I am sure, just the trade route will probably have melted a ton by then.. though this year is different and a lot of places that normally melt out completely by now will probably hold vestiges of snow into next year

i can't say enough about mtn experts! probably would like to get some plastics for rainier and maybe winter in general but i've found the mnt experts to do for me down to around 10 degrees with a heavy wool sock and keep moving. Your metabolism and body heat may vary. While robertjoy said the boots are not as burly as Nepal Evo, sure, they are plenty burly for me going into 3rd season with them and having done perhaps 300 miles? lots and lots of scree surfing and no blown seams. a bit of the rand is slowly coming up and some shoeglue is fixing it fine. i really love the boots and use them on long approaches just fine. i am considering buying a 2nd pair through a friend with a pro-deal just to have them when pair one gives up the ghost. additionally unlike almost all other boots that i switch the insole out on, I've left their stock on in, not because it is superior but just it seems to work and my flat feet don't complain so why change it. The rest of what Robertjoy said above is true (about their agility and versatility for temperature ranges)

1) probably fine, if still in a summer weather pattern may not have much snow to deal with at all. certainly no glaciers year around as far as south-side is concerned 2) *shudder* but then again I'm a weenie about hood outside of the spring and early summer. This year definitely is different though, but, I still probably wouldnt be planning a mid-oct climb (personally) 3) if you go up hayden glacier that time of year (again assuming we're still in a decent weather pattern) there will be crevasses to deal with (ie you should probably be with someone) though you can make it up to the saddle of middle or go around the SE edge and avoid glacier all together. lots of scree 4) sure!

nice climb!! so is that the beater car you take the plates off at trailheads?

a tough and sad day - though you gave him a wonderful life and shared a special bond im sure.

it is more than obvious that the $30 for the pass does not actually help to get the road repaired or keep the trail maintained in the vast majority of situations. If you followed the money from the 'demo' to what got spent at trailheads you'd see that most of them get about squat spent on them (i mean how much does a parking area cost the forest service each year, how long does a picnic table cost them?) Most TH im at dont have a bathroom nor garbage even---so im wondering what the friggin cost is? then there are probably 5-6 TH in each national forest that get TONS of action and would easily be sustained by volunteer group and do cost lots of money to maintain due to bathrooms and trash/popularity.

my understanding in a lot of cases is that there is the sign that says 'entering a fee area, pass required' type verbiage (with a NW forest pass image) If you park before you pass that sign you have not entered a fee area, 1/4 mile aside.

I've got no professional background in this but when BD came out with the SS stuff, having just bought some 09 sabertooths (chromoly) -- I was like oi.. dang oh.. but it didn't take much research to determine half the 'pluses' raised about SS vs Chromoly as BD portrays them were just marketing buzz. I relaxed after I could tell there was no revolution nor even clear evolution of the new version. i applaud your effort and the empirical and professional background you bring to examining it closely and really giving a solid take on it. What will be interesting if BD goes back to chromoly ever, the current youtube vid (like the one you linked) will be some hilarious laughing fodder (though I'm sure they will find a revolution in the return to a 'special' chromoly). What say you with innovation and design evolution of gear over decades, any far out views on some metal or process that isn't currently at hand due to cost or difficulty? just curious if you were at the development helm without any strings, what would you look into?

this is the first solid sting and catch i've heard since i moved here in 07. maybe there is more of them but could i please see some media coverage, like, 30 seconds on the news or a few news paper articles a year. it would seem like 1 or 2 crackdowns in a few trail heads of each national forest would be enough to spread some word. uhg probably too much of a non-knuckle dragging/mouth breather perspective to be hopeful some media exposure of stings would do anything.

how did your next days activities fare with your feet in the condition they were? seems booking pretty tight. those long approaches can be kind of trying at the end on the way back--but--there is a feeling of satisfaction riding which helps. tip for your shoes, take along a plastic shopping bag like from safeway or CVS, etc, and put your trail runners in that, then turn them upside down wherever you leave them--likely they'll stay dry and the bag weighs like .05oz

sorry for being rude. heres what you do. on your way up, either once you've gotten to camp, or along the way at a steep spot or two, remove your pack and sit in one of the mini glissade chutes someone has made (one that has a clear run out into gentle snow/no rocks). Practice some of what you've read/seen on you tube for how to glissade with the axe--and do that a time or two. You'll get the hang. if you got going too fast with glissading you'd self arrest. like i said if you try to glissade at 9am that south slope may be pretty firm still, you will absolutely fly, be difficult to slow much, and probably abrade whatever is on your posterior down to nothing. You can also walk down perhaps 100-200ft from pikers peak, as the top bit is the steepest, then start your glissade, if it feels freaky to start from the very top. I've done that the first time I climbed and it was still a bit firm. yes you can use your boot heels just careful with your legs you dont want to break/twist/jam anything bag. a few weeks ago we did see a very nice military guy go down using only his elbows. he laid down like a bob-sled runner and dug the elbows in. positive guy and didnt seem worse for wear though my elbows would kill me...maybe his went numb