mountainsandsound

Man, this totally sucks. All us whatcom/skagitonians stuck up here with highway 20 and 542. Boring.

Dammit! Oh well. I need to get on the old mountain bike more often anyway...

Sorry to derail the important political conversations and bestiality news, but I haven't heard this one before. I know about Canadian passports and Canadian tuxedos, both of which you might find in abundance at a Rush or Guess Who concert, but I didn't know about the showers. I've been lead to believe it is substituting a couple swipes of deodorant for a badly needed shower, even though urban dictionary says otherwise. It sounds cool and I would really like to start using it, if it actually refers to the deodorant routine. If not, I might confuse or even disgust people.

Anyone up for practicing some ice climbing on the Coleman seracs in June? I'd like to get into some moderate routes with a bit of AI this summer, but would like to put more time into technique first (my lifetime climbing goal is avoidance of the "exceeding abilities" category in ANAM). Looking for people to practice with, maybe later on we could climb N. Ridge Baker or similar objectives. I'm a 28 yo bio teacher with ample time off this summer (weekends/weekdays), based out of Bellingham. Also would like to work on trad technique at the crags.

chhhhh! (The sound of my first of several Friday evening brews crackin' after a long week of work.)

I am starting to grow some cool moss varieties on the old '91 loyale wagon. Washing would ruin the Whatcom County vibe. I heard rumors there were plans to put in a climbing gym a few years ago in the old sunshine liquidators building, but somehow that never materialized.

I have used a rope wash made by McNett, a company in Bellingham. It definitely was not anywhere close to $25 (more like $8 if I remember correctly). I don't remember if it specifically claimed to restore waterproofing, but the simple cleaning action of lifting dirt and crystals from the sheath should itself help with waterproofing to an extent. The rope was definitely clean afterwards.

If the plan is using a Z pulley system to extract someone, a 30m would be long enough. But after some practice sessions, I really prefer the dropped loop haul system. It addresses the problem of the rope becoming entrenched in the lip, which will likely be a huge pain in the ass unless the snow is very firm. And drawing it out on paper, I don't see how a 30m rope could make a dropped loop system with mechanical advantage. A 40 or 50 meter rope would be heavier sure, but it wouldn't make or break your trip and you would have more options. As far as your brand question, mine is an Edelrid Kestrel that I bought for a ridiculous sale price from gearx.com a couple years ago. It's been working well for me.

I have an 8.5 mm 50 meter half rope for glacier travel. A lot of people use 30 meter ropes for glacier travel and I won't knock that, but I would imagine the short length might be a hindrance when setting up a dropped loop haul system.

Glory hole? I remember the 1st time I saw one of those at a rest-stop as a kid. I thought it was weird that someone would make a hole to watch the guy next door take a dump. I also thought it was odd that the hole was so low, when closer to eye-level would have made more sense.

Not to be a buzz kill, but an experience on Shasta (was it avy gulch?) and Broke-off mountain would probably not be adequate to prepare someone for being self-sufficient on Rainier. The main difference being big glaciers and big crevasses. Oh, and shittier weather. June is pretty iffy.

Yep. They will keep me going till May.

Nice work. Good to see you again at Pine lake. Being back in a fly-by state, these TRs are tough; part inspiration, part torture.

As long as V neck tees are still allowed there may be some takers.

IMO you don't need anything like the becketts if you are climbing during the summer in the cascades. In fair summer weather you would be too hot to wear it climbing with a softshell underneath except maybe on a cold day on Rainier. They would stay in your pack way too often and are too heavy for that. I know all the gear lists that guiding companies put out say that heavy duty hard shell bottoms are necessary, but it's just not true. For objectives under 10,000 feet or so during the summer, I wear nylon hiking pants and throw my marmot precips (light and relatively cheap) in the pack if the forecast gives me pause. For higher elevations I might wear my softshells rather than the thin nylon pants. Long undies take the place of boxer briefs when needed for the cold.

I find myself thinking about these issues a lot. I am continually frustrated every time I realize that most things we can consume are not built to last. I have a lap top that is 4 years old, and crapping out on me. A flip phone of similar age with problems as well. This idea that after a few years, our shit breaks or becomes obsolete and we expect and even look forward to buying a new one and throwing the old one in the trash is weird. How disconnected from reality did we have to get to normalize this? Somehow the concept of finite resources escapes affluent society. But then again it makes total sense. I just wonder at what point easy access to cheap consumer products will cease and what that will look like for society. The party can't go on forever. As far as how could a business survive with a model that values longevity of their goods, I'm curious. I think this is still a priority for some outdoor companies, but it is fading fast. I'm not an economist, but I'm assuming a company that builds to last might also add a clothing line to make up for lost profits with their durable goods? I guess not all companies would fit this mold though. I'd be interested to have a chat with the head honchos of Feathered Friends, SMC, or other companies that still make good stuff and see what their philosophy is.

Hey Dave. Do you ever check out Sierratradingpost.com? They have some edelweiss brand harnesses that are functionally the same as the BD alpine bod. $35 bucks a piece and you can always score a 20% - 30% off coupon code for this site if you look around. http://www.sierratradingpost.com/edelweiss-challenge-rc-climbing-harness~p~4578x/?filterString=climbing-harnesses~d~109%2F&colorFamily=01

Whoa, man. What's with the bad vibes you're throwing at mother nature? As good as a place WA is for climbing, if that was the only way we could get our rocks off here, we would die of boredom in winter. Or blue balls if that analogy is better. Guaranteed that even the most obsessed climber on this board has a whole set of athletic hobbies. I bet we even have some closeted spinners here.

And that is what has kept me from fully embracing the plan. It's nice to know that if I don't want to hassle with fighting for a permit in the NP, there are enough options on the adjacent NF land that don't require any planning of that sort. At the same time I do have lingering doubts about how long the Northwest Forest Plan will be the law of the land. I won't pretend to be a policy guru, but it seems like conservation rules regarding forest service land are always being fought against. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule is a good example.

My guess is, being climbers, many of us would support the expansion of designated wilderness areas but would prefer management by the USFS rather than the NPS because the rules and regulations are fewer. I also think a lot of us, myself included, are somewhat ambivalent about the prospect of increasing exposure and visitor use to this gem of a park in our backyard. As I understand it, most of the proposed additions would be USFS or NRA land not already managed as wilderness. So even with some development of front-country facilities, there would be a net gain of wilderness and land permanently protected from future development.

I thought I would post a few links about the proposed NCNP expansion in case anyone is interested. The proposal area has been scaled back in the last few years from what it was. http://www.americanalps.org/ http://noparkexpansion.blogspot.com/ http://www.environmentwashington.org/programs/wae/protect-north-cascades Some front-country facilities and developments are proposed but most of the additions will continue to be managed as backcountry wilderness. The Liberty Bell group would be included in the new boundaries.

Yes, and also because women can protect themselves from rape and sexual violence. Remember, if it is legitimate rape, the female body has ways of shutting that whole thing down.

In his life Kim Jong Il was a movie buff. So I would imagine he saw Team America. I've always wondered what he thought of it.

There's a good Hippied-out spot on the right as you're heading in to town from the West, called Good Mood Food. The coffee is decent, they also have lots of quiche and other tasty things. I always stop there for a leak and a coffee on my way to the Methow. The ambiance is nice and quiet, far enough away from the sometimes circus of downtown to get some work done.

I like to do both I guess. I have found CC to be a pretty good source much of the time. Personal experiences laid out for someone's analysis are hard to beat. With some exceptions, red flags tend to up with "always" or "never" thrown into climbing advice. That is seems to be a good filter.