tbickford

@Kameron yeah, I missed the presentations but Abram pointed out the other locations to me on a map later on at the meeting. You may be right about the multiple Heliotrope huts, not sure. In any case this is perfectly to your point about the vagueness of the whole enterprise. Also, if he didn’t mention those other shelters to the group at large, it contributes to the shady vibes I was referring to in my original post - seems like they’re happy to keep the other possible sites out of the public mind.

Some takeaways from the meeting this evening: I couldn't make the (sneaky!) 4 pm start time, so missed some of the presentations, but was able to speak to a number of folks about the proposals afterward. Basically, many of the concerns Kameron voiced at the start of this thread are spot on. - Most significant to me seems to be Aspire's plans to build not just a shelter at Heliotrope, but also one at Grouse Ridge and "a few" (Abram of Aspire's words) shelters at Artist Point. According to Abram, they would be running paid snowmobile shuttles to these shelters through the winter, and offering experiences to folks involving building fires and cooking food (read: glamping). They also hope to partner with guide services to offer ski trips and avy courses out of these shelters. Notably, the FS proposal only concerns itself with the Heliotrope shelter and many folks, including myself, were unaware of the other structures being pursued; when I asked Abram about this, he blamed it on the FS and took little responsibility for getting this rather critical information out to the user base. His arguments for the shelters centered on "spreading out impact" (not sure how running glamping trips on Heliotrope and Artist Point would be spreading out the crowds, personally) and the idea that lots of private companies make money off public lands, so why not them? A FS ranger told me that they are primarily considering the Heliotrope shelter first, and will make moves on the others depending on public comment and other vague provisos. - BMG seems to have zero plan in place for allowing the public to use their shelter, and they know that public use will be difficult anyway due to the logistics of reserving their shelter as a public user without official paid access to the Hampton land. And by "zero plan", I mean that BMG's owner said he literally hasn't considered it yet. BMG will pay 3% of their gross revenue to the FS for the land use. - the snowmobile club's shelter will be on wheels as stated in the proposal, and available to the public at any time. They'll pull it out every season once it melts out. - Roundhouse representatives weren't present, so not much information there. An interesting theme of the meeting was the general lack of information available about how these huts will benefit the public, how the commercial interests involved will run their operations, and how long these permits will be valid for. Numerous FS officials and guide service owners/reps had little to offer on these questions. The district ranger basically copped to a desire within the agency to make something happen with the proposal, whatever the outcome. We also caught the tail end of an interesting presentation on the possible impact on winter wolverine habitat, which would seem to mainly affect the Heliotrope site. Anyway, that's what I got. Sorry for the salty editorializing, but in my view this proposal is just ramrodding the interests of commercial enterprise down our throats with woefully insufficient information. I'm actually down with the snowmobile shelter, which has precedent in the Nooksack Valley and is being run by a nonprofit organization. The others are problematic, to say the least. Hopefully someone else can fill in the gaps that I missed or may have perceived differently.

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I have a rack from 0.3-0.75 and a #3. I'd prefer to sell them together if shipping but if you can pick them up, take whatever individual pieces you'd like and we can figure out prices. $175 for the set. I also have a few BD racking 'biners around and can throw those in for a few extra bucks. Pick up in Bellingham - I'm also down to meet in or en route to any of the usual climbing spots. Thanks! (Ice screws in 2nd photo are sold.) (h

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Local to Leavenworth but can do pickup in the Seattle area as well. https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/118248732/fs-ice-screws-scarpa-boots-helmet-black-hole-duffel-mens-l-jackets

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https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/114164110/fs-grivel-north-machines-petzl-gully#ForumMessage-114165094

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/114145329/fs-bd-zion-haulbag-tc-pro-44

Preferably not plastic but will consider for the right price!

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PM sent!

I just moved to Seattle and am looking for partners as well - sport, trad, whatever. You still looking for a belay?