B Deleted_Beck

"If you're not livin' on the edge, you're taking up too much space."

I'm a Hood regular... I've done the SS like 6 times in a row, so I'm not really looking to head up that way again any time soon, but you never know. Any interest in the other routes? I'm trying to hit leuthold's next.. Got my eye on the Nordwand, too. I'm a very strong climber, and like to keep moving

It's possible a helmet would have helped (if he wasn't wearing one), but it's also possible it would have been a slower, more painful death... That whole side of the Triangle Moraine was completely wind-scoured, steep, with huge jagged exposed rock outcrops all over the place, divided sheets of ice. You wouldn't fare well at all, in a fall, helmet or not. Most guys seem to take their domepro off just under Crater Rock, where all the perceived rockfall danger is over. I usually leave everything on till I get all the way to the top hut on Palmer- not 'cause I'm smart or for safety, but just because I'm usually too impatient to get down to stop before. But I'll probably just go ahead and make it policy, from here on. As I was standing up on the ridge watching them litter Jared, I turned around to tell another climber I met on the summit that they'd found him- also named Ben- and looked just in time to see HIM bite it in ice too. Hard. I shouted at him if he was alright, lying there motionless in self-arrest position, and he shook his head.... man, I thought I was gonna have a recovery to my left and a rescue to my right. But he was OK.. just bloodied and shook up. Yea.. should probably leave that domepro on till you're back on the resort.

Size M 50ltr Super light weight (2lbs?) Stowable hardhat net Ice ax loops Fastex buckle straps on both sides Extendable, non-removable brain pouch Camelbak compatible "Backdoor" zip to access shit from the back without having to unpack everything - only attempt if the pack isn't crammed, or it can be hard to get it zipped back up Shovel pouch (I don't really get it, but I did put a shovel in there a couple times) GPS/Compass/lube pouch on kidney strap Fairly minimalist, fast-n-light pack- same weight and feel as smaller packs, but a little more room to dig for that lost Snickers bar. I've had this pack at the summit of Hood like 7 times in the last 5 or so months, and that's all the use it's seen. It looks pretty much brand new, except the bottom, where you can see scuffing and a small half-pencil-eraser sized hole where the corner of the frame rubbed through the material on a long glissade on hard snow. WON'T DO THAT AGAIN. Otherwise very good condition. And the bottom isn't at all compromised, just looks like a use pack, while the rest looks like brand new pack. $60 + shipping -Ben

Not if you're a gambling man... ever played roulette, or bet on a race horse?

Bueller? U gyz r ghey.

bump

Thanks, JR.. I soloed it again on Tuesday. The step got big and steep again between Friday and Tuesday! I'd say it was almost 20' averaging 65* and curving down to 55* at the top. My ice screw was still there, carabiner and all... I rapped off it on descent- first time I'd ever descended the Pearly Gates, having always opted for the Mazama or Old Chutes for descent.

Looking at trying out Leutholds on Thurs night/Fri morn. Please be a strong climber - don't need to be Ueli by any means, but please know that you can move at a progressive, steady pace. Also open to other routes - what you got in mind? PM here or gimme call - 503-410-4zero90

So most people don't actually summit Rainier? I've never climbed it, myself, but that's my understanding... it's another 45 minutes walk around the rim from the dog routes to gain like 8-10' to the actual highest spot, so most people just opt to call it quits at the rim.

Rainier is totally different. Most people don't even go to THE actual high point. Rainier, Adams, Saint Helens... any other big-summit mountain- You can piss on the "summit," and walk for another quarter mile and take another piss and you're still pissing on the "summit." But some mountains, Hood barely, but truly, fitting into this class, have a very small high-point. If there's a lot of people up there, they all sort of crowd in and trip over each others' shit and get their Nike swoosh nalgenes mixed up and so forth- small summit, small area for guys to defile. Speaking of such things, though... WTF do chicks do? Do they go hide in some hidden chick-squat snow holes nobody else knows about? For all my 10-15 pisses I usually take all the way up the mountain, I've never seen a chick take a squat. I would totally cop a peak if I did, though..

Ze montagne... she is paying you back for pissing on her head. Those sudden wind-shifts are fuckin lame, mid-piss. I've filled up a mitt before I realized what was happening.

Sometimes guys are dicks on this board, but it did not strike me that either of these guys were trying to be dicks, this time around. And nobody has any clue that you have one, nor what your disability is, so nobody can be held accountable for offending it.

Guys have something against camelbaks... they can be a pain if you let the hose freeze, but I've never had it freeze up so bad I couldn't get it flowing again. I just cram the bare bladder up against my back in the ruck... sleep with it in the sleeping bag at night, still warm in the morning, stays warm against your back all day. And I never, ever bring plain water... always powdered Gatorade. Lower freezing temp (I don't know by how much, but I do KNOW it lowers it), and much much better replenisher for strenuous activity. Insulating hose sleeve, take a sip every 10 minutes... no probs.

Both sold Got two sets of tools.. Grivel Mont Blanc Compacts - $90 Moser Pulsars - $110 pics - http://mountainproject.com/v/straight-shaft-compact-tools--grivel-mont-blanc-compacts/107462669 http://mountainproject.com/v/moser-pulsars---110/107467748

Well met, Jeff! I guess that "big ass heavy expensive camera" of yours works pretty good... great pics, man -Ben

One thing you're guaranteed, at altitude... no tweekers.

What's the hike in to TJ look like right now? I read somebody's TR from a couple years ago, said the area had burned out... is it just skeleton trees the whole way in? I've never been on that sat before, but I think it's time. High time.

Maybe it's been discussed before? Well I'm bringing it up. Spray all you want... I'm serious. I've done it. I think everyone's done it. You gotta piss, probably pretty bad... so you whip it out and do it. You're outside, everyone's been pissing wherever they stand the whole way up the mountain- it just seems natural to let it go wherever you are. But the summit... Am I the only one who considers the summit Holy Ground? It's not the rest of the mountain- it's different. It's the destination... it's the whole-point... it's the reason we've been killing ourselves and risking life and limb for the last 3-10 hours of our lives. And then you finally get there, the sun breaks, and what do you see? You can only readily see like 5 spots here, but there was acutally like 8 or 9 all right there. And some of you guys SERIOUSLY need to drink more water. Can we come to a collective agreement as a community to stop pissing on the actual high point on the summit of my beloved Mount Hood? I generally piss off the cliff onto the Coe Headwall... anybody bat-shit crazy enough to climb that thing would probably like the idea of climbing through human waste. But anywhere's fine... just please keep like 25' diameter at the top piss-free, please.

I have no part of any of this, and have no more info on details than anyone, but I was up there that day, and the strong east wind she'd been getting had totally scoured the east side of Triangle Moraine, exposing all the gnarly rock he would have hit on the way down, and also destabilizing the top of the ridge in some spots. I encountered a couple of spots where the wind had under-cut a crust of ice/dirt, making it look solid, but in fact just a crust over nothing. A moment's lapse of attention, could could have walked into one and had it break away. Since the ridgetop is also my favorite line for both ascent and descent of the SS, I noticed this and made it a point to watch my step carefully.

If it's not, it should be. I think this is one of those topics that's very good to think about, pointless to debate with others about. We'll all have our own perspective on risk assessment, and most of us probably won't wholeheartedly agree with the next guy. But, as Doug said, the point is to accept that climbing IS a dangerous activity, and I'd add that constantly being critical of our own decision-making process is necessary for relative safety in the 'tains. Otherwise, it's complacency, and THAT's dangerous.

Might be close to the truth... surely we must carry a notable degree of self-hatred to treat ourselves the way we do.

In the last couple of decades, what's been the average on Hood? I think it's a little less than 1 death a year... somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 people climb it every year. Depending on how you run the numbers, you could say your odds of dying on Hood in a 30 year career are 1/15,000... Obviously this is if you're climbing the Dog Routes for 95+% of the time.. Every stat I've seen on dying in car crashes shows somewhere between 1 in 6,500 - 6,800... so if all you ever do is Hood, by the numbers, driving to the mountain is a lot more dangerous than climbing it. I have no idea how these numbers change when you start throwing in serious routes on sketchy mountains.. I'm sure the risk probably does go way up. My point would just be that there's climbing, and then there's climbing. We make it what we want. The way some guys climb, I'm quite sure the old adage is accurate. For other guys- guys who need a little more heart-pumping in their climbing... it's probably just how they convince their significant-others (or themselves).

I really thought that's where he'd be, and on my way up, I shined my headlamp down there the whole way up the ridge, but the beam just wasn't bright enough. I passed within 200' of him down there, thinking if anywhere, that's where he'd be, and just never saw him. Later on descent, I stood on probably the same spot he'd fallen from, and watched them link him up and chopper him off the mountain for the last time... RIP, brother.

Was this today? It was hella windy in town. I was at the cost for most of the day, and it was totally still there, ironically enough.