Water

justin i, like you, had plenty of hiking and outdoors experience but after moving to the west from the flatlands of the midwest, felt I had no business 'learning on the fly/youtube' about ice ax use and the likes. i didn't have a friend to mentor in it either so the BCEP class made great sense. A ton of it will be irritating though if you're a solid backpacker that has your shit in order. You will learn some tips and stuff, but until you do some snow and rock practice, a lot of it is not going to be terribly valuable for you. i think one of the biggest values of BCEP is the networking and opportunity to make climbing partners through the class, which is what I was fortunate to have happen. do south side a time or two and get some idea of it, then leuthold's coulior on hood is good. I think all 3 sisters can be a good challenge, (when south and middle are all snow) to develop more snow experience. other, more experienced folks can probably give better details. climbing the cascade volcanos by Jeff Smoot seemed decent.

MAMMUT stratus on sale for 152 at STP. look around and you can find an additional 15-20% off that + free shipping. all sizes but M, must be willing to wear jacket color that makes you lose your appetite. http://www.sierratradingpost.com/Product.aspx?baseno=44776&plp=Mammut_Stratus_Insulated_Hooded_Jacket_-_For_Men http://www.sierratradingpost.com/Product.aspx?baseno=44776&plp=Mammut_Stratus_Insulated_Hooded_Jacket_-_For_Men

speaking from experience on a long-distance hiking trail and tons of hitching, if you got a lady with you, you can just about guarantee getting a hitch anywhere (as a grizzled, bearded guy, it helps to crouch or be off to the side though when they stop to talk to her). that hand in the above picture sure looks like a gals, I wouldn't imagine she spent too much time with her thumb out.

so was anything heard?

why would you feel guilty for how someone else feels? You don't control their emotions. Unless you lie to them before meeting or can't keep up, which it doesn't sound like you're doing, why worry? I'd like to think a 25 year old who might be a slightly 'better' (and interpret that how ever you'd like-skill, speed, endurance) climber should be able draw some value of being around someone double their age, even if it isn't a specifically tangible learning that makes them a better climber. Unless you're a decrepit old man who is horrible to be around (doesn't sound like it to me)--even then a 25 year old should be able to draw some learning from observing an unhappy 'old man'. i wouldn't sweat it personally. I'm in my 20's and would climb with someone in their 60's, assuming they are friendly and have equal or more skill than me. Most of my friends are around my age, people that are younger or older contribute a valuable, different perspective.

figured as much, wanted to make sure there wasn't anything fancy needed. thanks much.

curious what type of file people use on an ice ax to sharpen the pick or the spike. also, a picket of mine has a ton of monster burrs on it after being enthusiastically unburried...assume i could use the same file as i'd use for the pick or spike to take some of those down. Is there a specific kind of file i should get at ace hardware or home despot that will work best? thanks

that is funny...but Mal_Con...the attorney is in regards to possibly the phone company or the alarm company being negligent or whatever term in a court of a law would be used. He pays a phone bill, pays an alarm/security company, but the alarm/sheriff notification did not occur as it should have. If it was a 20 second smash and grab, notifying the sheriff may not have done anything, but unless there were 10 people involved, it sounds like they would have been there for 5-10 minutes which could be enough time to be caught in the act. (my thoughts). Best wishes at finding the culprits, figuring out the weak link in the alarm system malfunction. If you have a sale or a presentation or something, I'd do my best to kick in a few bucks!

love the photos. I enjoy living down here in PDX but seeing pictures like that certainly makes me wish i was a bit closer.. =]

for all intents and purposes, yes. How many products would be fine as they are for 2-4 year spans? Many! However if you don't change something and make it different and market it as somehow being improved, people won't just buy it for the hell of it when they have something (specifically the same product) that works, and competitors will advertise some bullshit improvement that will make it seem like their product may have some noticeable performance edge. Sure there have been advancements and those come to the fore, and many are sequential, but for instance the cost of new sabretooths vs the old on sale is crazy for--what...3 oz and shiny crampons? correct me if I am wrong but if you are going through crampons fast due to wearing the teeth short or breaking them off (does that happen a lot during ice climbing?), you're either doing something wrong or are one badass mofo who has earned the right to bitch about the difference between metals.

yeah, anyone who owns a business automatically has all connections they need. Once you have a business you don't even need to network, that is all pre-business stuff. Not that a Seattle based family law attorney who climbs wouldn't perhaps know of a good lawyer who handles this type of thing in Portland, Eugene, or closer, in Bend, or anything like this, since professional associations and like-minded/profesioned individuals never cross paths. To boot, it is detrimental to even broach the subject on the off chance there is a connection. seriously mcjizzy, what an apt name! if your car broke down in duvall you'd be stuck there with nobody to help you with that attitude.

i would recommend the N cascades as well, for reasons stated above (most bang for your buck). Others may make a case for the olympics but in my mind the olympic range compared to the north cascades is like comparing the smokey mountains of Tennessee to the white mountains of New Hampshire. Not sure if those have any context for you, but while the smokies are great, the whites bang more of an impression, in my view. (ie: if i had to backpack in either for a week, I'd do the whites in a heartbeat, many times over)

lately i have found that fried chicken strips like you get at fred meyer, thriftway, gas stations..etc work really well. They don't freeze (or didn't seem to, to me, after being on hood during that cold spell in my pack for 9 hours with no higher temp than 8 degrees out), they're really tasty, im always eager to eat them even when other things don't call me. not sure if the nutrition is functional..the breading definitely gives some carbs and fat.

Kstoltz, it seems you have positive intentions, however, those alone do not make for reasoned or accurate judgment. I appreciate you taking the time to respond here and to lay out your views. I don't know how you can speculate that the 3 climbers on hood in december 2009 would have had a different outcome. There is some information and theories, but to say their lives would have been spared if they had some additional electronics in their hand is inappropriate speculation that I would rather not hear. You say you do not know about climbing as much as the people on this board, but that you do know a lot about PLBs. There is a disconnect in that statement, when you are advocating for a mandated change in climbing behavior/protocol. I am at a loss how you logically arrive at the conclusion that mandating PLB use for a minority group (as in less climbers than ATV, hiking, fishing, hunting) is preferential when statistics and hard numbers conclude that other usergroups require more S&R resources than climbers. These figures are available for the state of oregon and if you request I will consolidate them and present them here, if you would like. I cannot imagine the state of washington has dramatically different figures than oregon, as far as percentages of resources used for various S&R activities. If you want to increase your business or increase the safety of outdoor users, or some combination of this, through education, why not partner with the state or try to get a grant or matching funds for educational courses or information packs, and/or develop a method of renting them at major climbing areas for a nominal fee, WITHOUT making it mandatory. There is no way to enforce it and S&R will always go after lost people, climbers or otherwise, whether they have a PLB or not.

interesting. Thank you for sharing! Now that I look closer in the pictures I can see indeed the cuff is different. What other differences have you noticed/features missing? does the fabric bead water well/stitching look to be on par with your store-bought laser? again, thanks for your feedback.

defeated posture from a skiers perspective. It's looks like someone wearing waders in a desert arroyo thinking they were goint to trout fish. of course the weather looks nice and those formations are beautiful -- and I'm sure you were practically the only folks out there. what year was that

that looks like such a defeated posture! awesome picture though...

i think that is the end of the discussion. a hell of an idea. can you imagine the fat-wailing you'd hear if something like that got proposed.. it would be deafening (like the feedback obese people's body's give them that they ignore).

thanks for the good words blunorthern and dane. I picked up a Laser for $200 from altrec a little bit ago, and am satisfied with it. stumbled across this today and wondered, would make sense that there would be facilities just for knocking off designs..

right, i have to doubt it is legit but the positive feedback on other products + the fact that the legit ones are made in china, one wonders. If they only had 5 positive feedback reviews and 1 negative, I'd say its a scam, but they have a good amount. i think the best test would be to compare it to one from a local vendor in the NW, as far as stitching, stretch, patterns on fabric, zipper appearance, etc. Then the second test would be under the faucet or showerhead..

mammut lasers for cheap on ebay sorry if this has been around the block on here before. Of course I'm extremely skeptical that this is the same as designer products on sale for $30 in NYC--the whole 'too good to be true' deal. Only caveat in my mind is that mammut makes their stuff in china -- and it wouldnt surprise me if someone was able to get it for dirt cheap or somehow acquire legitimate product from the production facilities. The other factor is, they have good feedback so 1) they have manufactured tons of false accounts/coordinated with other scammers to get lots of good feedback 2) the people they sell knock-offs to are too stupid to realize/notice the diff 3) a combination of 1 & 2? thoughts anyone?

requiring everyone to carry a PLB outdoors (above timberline)? sorry, maybe at all the state parks in indiana or something, but really, you think enforcement on the ground in the great outdoors of washington state is going to be even remotely possible? Not a chance.

so.. i see no mention of penalties or enforcement in this. Is that decided at a later date? electronic signaling device = mirror that takes batteries

no worries gyro. I'm on board with you on that take. For the time medicsandy is coming I'd recommend an ax (though would check for conditions in mid june), the knowledge to use it, and if not crampons, at least microspikes. If they have the time, money, and desire to take a basic mountaineering course, sure, but it is absolutely not required for the dog route on adams during the summer.

never do a glaciated peak without ice axe and crampons? it all depends on conditions but in late august or early september, in anything less than a monster snow year, during typical NW high pressure clear for days weather, you would carry crampons up south sister or st helens or adams? Yes that is all condition dependent, but under the general weather we get in late summer, when all 3 of those south-facing dog routes are entirely snow free...you would take crampons? Be it, medicsandy is going in late june - in regular snow year I would say crampons and ax. Late august..different story. This year might be melted out by late June--if snowpack so far is any indicator--hard to tell now though. medicsandy, if i may ask, what preparation did you do prior to arriving at mt adams last year for your hike up to lunch counter. What gear did you take up to lunch counter, and how did you feel about it? this may be a 'beginner' but it isn't someone who has never seen the mountain or been on it, doing 2/3rds+ of the route--that counts for something.