shinsain

I guess you should break out your environmental science, geology, civil engineering, range management, ecology, and fire ecology degrees that you've got hiding in your back pocket...hop in your car and start rolling. Oh, and remember to hit up the hundreds of miles of trail maintenance while you're at it (Time to dig out that 'ol pulaski hiding in your garage!). I guess if you must look at a ticket as a government tax you can look at it as a tax on doing something dumb. No one ever forced another person to do something dumb, so maybe that person deserves it. When did people start maintaining game trails? Oh now you're just being silly. Silly boy.

As an FS employee all I'm going to say is that the upkeep of "your" (our) public land is expensive. I don't like it any more than the next person, and I get no free passes (believe me, I wish I did), but the reality is that nice trailheads, shitters, fire crews/management, range management, wilderness communication, law enforcement (for those truly abusing our land), and many other things are sorely underfunded from the government budget unfortunately. So...we all do our part and enjoy our land that we have to work and pay for. Left unkempt and unregulated, it would be much worse. If you pay the fees, you don't get nasty tickets in the end. Probably time to suck it up and fall in line. It sucks, I know.

I saw your post on that and gave a thought about PMing you to see if you'd take me on; however, I work for the Forest Service up here in Wenatchee and have something scheduled in Tonasket tomorrow I'm mostly free on weekends though. My job is fairly unpredictable throughout the week. Thank you for asking, it makes me feel good!!

I know that's not specifically descriptive; however, the subject line doesn't permit very wordy titles. I am a moderately experienced rock/alpine climber who would simply like a partner with more experience (and time) than my best friend who is much (much) more experienced to go out with and add to my skill set. Here's a little bit of what I have done and know: I've summitted St. Helens, Rainer, (almost) Hood last year (long story), been to the Himalayas (altitude experience, not climbing), Antarctica, sport climbing including belay, rappelling, leading (a bit), and my first alpine trad climb was last weekend which I obviously did not lead but got some education on protection placement. And of course large helpings of top roping at the gym (I know, but I take what I can get). So I'm no pro by any means, but I'm hungry. The outdoors have been my life for many years and I've backpacked, skied, and various other outdoor sports for years. If you're willing to teach I'm willing to learn. If you need a partner and you're willing to take on someone like me I really need more folks to get out with. My best friend has been my partner through all of this but he's very tied up with school at this point and I just can't sit at home any longer or go backpacking alone...it's simply not climbing...and dayhiking is driving me insane. My name's Aaron, shoot me a PM and we can talk, meet each other, see how we work together and go from there if we decide we'd be a good, safe team. Aaron

Looks like we're going. We're going to be at the gate to the the national park @ about 9. NWAC says go. http://www.nwac.us/forecast/avalanche/current/zone/7/ We'll be skinning up...

North Gulley looks pretty good...like goatboy said though this snowpack isn't great. Anyone driven by lately? http://www.summitpost.org/route/223684/north-gulley.html Hmm. That looks fun, and easy to get to.

You mean FS Road 41?

NWAC.

My friend and I only have Saturday to bag something and get out. We were going to try and hit The Castle/Pinnacle in the Tatoosh down by Rainier but we are assuming 7 hours won't be enough. I say 7 hours due to the road's open/closing time. Anything else open (snow-wise...which I'm sure isn't much of a problem right now), within range of Seattle/Everett and doable within a day? Aaron

If you're sure it's patellae tendinitis that's one thing, but keep in mind that Osgood-Schlatter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osgood-Schlatter_disease disease can masquerade as something like patellae tendinitis. I have it and for a long time thought I just had really painful tendinitis. At any rate, for the pain: RICE, rest, ice, compression, elevation. I run a lot with a full pack and some days the general area down there just *kills.* I've found that strengthening the quads/legs in general helps a ton. Also, you can do reverse calf extensions to strengthen that muscle on the front of your calves...the one on front of the tibia (forget what it's called). That has helped me as well. Also, a patella brace or compressor such as this: http://supports4less.com/alex/patella_knee-support.htm You can also get the band mentioned above that simply compresses the patella below the knee.

Ivan: I was thinking that plus that gear the downhill mountain bikers wear as well. Maybe some spikes on the shoulder pads Mad Max style. I'd also like to know when conditions will improve...late Jan/Feb? Sometime after new snow settles and it's still cold?

+2 I use a Keffiyeh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keffiyeh) and sun screen personally as the baseball cap usually bugs me...something with my field of view and the fit of my glasses. But the above quoted is certainly standard issue.

What good is a month and a half old report for a climber? Are you actually trying to say that I needed to notify you that a trip report should be "recent?" Now you're just being silly.

Wow. Nate, elitist much? I didn't hear myself blaming anything or anyone except my lack of missing a sentence in a guide book and not finding a recent trip report. That's my fault, no one else's. At any rate, I'm a no harm no foul type of folk, so now I can pass on what I've learned. We had fun doing it and most importantly of all: we all got down safe. I think for the select few (two) of you who are a bit rough you should probably turn the lens on yourselves -- and keep it there. If you're a senior climber, younger ones will tend to listen to you more if you teach them rather than chide them. Some folks aren't capable of that, however...and I understand. Justnip: I saw that report before but looked more at the date of 26 July and probably should have done a better job of parsing the data. We'd still have gone, but it would have aided in picking a better route. Edit: Nate, also as for asking Matt, he originally brought this up as a good climb and after seeing my pictures and reading the trip report apologized because he wasn't aware it got this bad in late season. Things like this do happen (although apparently not in your world).

Shinsain obviously found out the hard way that you don’t climb hood at this time of year. No reason to bag on the guy joe.... Had we known we'd have simply picked another route. Oh well. I'll be back soon to try another way to the top.