gyro

From http://uwire.com/2011/03/23/bill-could-restrict-skiing-in-washington/ I don't see a problem with ski resorts being able to keep people out of areas that they determine to be hazardous. If people don't want to be told to stay out of an area then they can go into the back country and make their own decisions about what slopes are safe or not. Wasn't there just recently some kid at Stevens that went into a closed area and was killed by an avy?

I think I've seen all the well known ones I like listed already but would add the 1956 film "The Mountain". I don't know what it is about the movie but I really like it.

That's awesome. Not nearly as embarrassing but this last winter I was skiing at schweitzer and was practicing turning 180 degrees, skiing backwards for a bit, and then flipping back around. One turn I managed to hit the latch on my AT bindings holding my heel in place and suddenly I was going downhill free-heeling one foot trying to clip it back on while some random person was videotaping me. I must have looked like some unholy flailing mess shooting down the slope backwards flailing at my boot. What was that about tree wells?

The void areas around trees and rocks can be caused by the rock or tree being heated by the sun. The object absorbs the energy and radiates it through its mass, melting nearby snow. I've seen some large hollows around boulders as well as trees. Like Dave.A said, they can get big; I punched into one and was over my head. Fortunately it was consolidated snow/ice and didn't cave in on me and I was able to get out eventually, but it was hard. Ever since then I avoid trees and boulders early season like the plague.

I actually find the joke quite gay.

All hail JosephH, destroyer of WI routes!

It would help if you told people where you live and what gear you actually have.

Were there any mimes nearby?

I think anyone could appreciate a tougher camera, though I personally don't plan on spending any extra money on them. I have a slim little cybershot and I bought a padded little case for it with a shoulder strap, that is very small as a package. I've wiped out skiing, landing right on it, taken it cragging, backpacking, dropped it, etc... and my camera always gets protected by the case, which I think was $20. So with a $80 camera and $20 case I feel pretty comfortable in my camera holding up to anything but water. I guess if you take pictures around water, or drop things regularly it would be worth the extra money. For me though I'll stick with being cheap, and hope that eventually the technology gets tougher over time without having to pay too much of a premium for it. I also notice a lot of '*' on its list of claims.

I was looking around at the debris. I'm pretty confident that we could lift the majority of the ledge back, especially since the force of the blast broke it into smaller pieces. The presence of two bolt anchors above the ledge, and large tree anchors on the ground, is advantageous. I have 100m of static line and about 50 meters of 1'' tubular webbing left over from a previous spelunking hobby. I'd be willing to donate it to the cause. We'd probably need another 100m of static, and a couple guys on the ground to haul. What sort of epoxy would be best? There would be pieces missing, but I'm pretty confident we could glue most of the big pieces back onto the ledge. It *is* flat, after all. I'll donate beer and whiskey, let me know the preferred brands.

Anyone have any first hand conditions on Hood? Leaving this afternoon to do Leuthold Wednesday.

I snowshoed in from that point last year and it was about half a day to cold springs, just FYI. Definitely doable if you have the time on your trip.

How much winter backpacking have you done? If you've never camped on snow before you should at the very least find a snowfield and camp on it. Little things like extra fuel consumption and how to setup a tent on snow that collapses under your weight quickly become evident and allow you to plan better. You can also use the time to practice snow/glacier travel, crevasse rescue, etc... Adams is a good place to practice. Pack up to lunch counter and you can practice self arresting on the slope to the false summit where the run out would just be to your camp, practice placing some snow anchors, etc... If no one in your group has much alpine experience I would recommend going as a group to do Adams and then Baker before doing Rainier. Also needtoclimb's mention of whiteouts is a good point. As an avid backpacker I'm assuming you've been locked in my clouds or fog up high at some point to the point that navigation was impossible, and maybe their isn't really a trail. Now imagine being someplace that you can't just lay down and wait it out or pitch camp. You need to make sure you can navigate in a whiteout. You mention Freedom of the Hills, but maybe you should also look at Alpine Climbing: Techniques to take you higher. It will give you some additional technical explanations as well as snippets of experience, and has a section on navigating in whiteouts.

I don't have any experience climbing with someone that has cystic fibrosis, but since one of the predominant symptoms is difficulty breathing due to lung infections, I would be cautious. Take your time acclimating, plan plenty of time, have a flexible schedule, and have the necessary first aid and ability to summon more help if needed. It might not be a bad idea to purchase SAR insurance depending on the health of the person and the likelihood of an onset of acute respiratory distress necessitating evac. Dunno what to say beyond that. It is a tough decision that you two will have to weigh carefully.

Even if the snow has melted on the road to the trailhead the FS won't have cleared the fallen trees, so unless you want to do chainsaw work you will have about a 8-9 miles approach to the trailhead, which is assuming you can drive to the first large fallen tree, assuming no more have fallen recently.