Sure, I'll take the bait. I fit the bill.
I have been hiking with Josh a few times. He's my friend, and I hate to say this, but three times have been a disaster. One time he ran away, another time he wouldn't talk and his older brother ran away, and the last time (a Rainier attempt less than a week ago) he did not have the proper skills, and then made everyone look bad for something or other that was his fault. The most offensive part to me was when he implied that my father was selfish for charging Josh a quarter of the gas cost. My parents drove him and I 340 miles, and then my dad asked him to work for a short period of time to pay it off. Paying for your share of gas money is part of climbing, and he was only asked to pay half what his fair share would have been.
I was teaching Josh to climb, but his selfish comments and refusal to learn from his past lessons have shown me that it is just not a safe decision. If someone is willing to work with him, I taught him belays, rappelling, rock anchors, snow anchors, rock climbing technique, and some other assorted stuff. You gotta have a lot of patience, though.
Josh, I'm still your friend, but just call these mountain "adventures" (suicide attempts?) the things that keep me away from you.
My advice is, go to Mt. Stuart and see how you do. I'll be awaiting your trip response.
And please, for the sake of you and everyone else on here, stay AWAY from Mt. Rainier!
-Mark
My dream this summer is to climb all 5 main summits of the Liberty Bell group in a single trip with my dad. This would probably be done in two days, but we could take three if necessary. The plan is to climb all 5 summits by their easiest route, which will be some great mid-5th class climbing. We will climb Liberty Bell, Concord Tower, and Lexington Tower in the first day, then camp. The next day, we will move to the base of North Early Winters Spire, climb that, and then climb South Early Winters Spire. This will be 15-20 pitches overall, with difficulty of the towers being 5.5 - 5.7. My dad and I are both knowledgeable in basic skills such as rope management, belaying, building anchors, following, cleaning pro, etc. We can climb up to 5.9 at Index. We are just learning to lead; I would rather not lead for most of this trip. If anyone is interested in being a rope lead for this trip, please contact me and we can talk about it, and probably meet for a day at the crags to get to know each other. Phone: 425-423-9385 (ask for Mark) Email: geckozoo@gmail.com