philfort

I was at Rainy Pass last weekend, and there was just under 2 feet of snow at highway level, and about 3 feet @6000ft. We had good views of the Liberty Bell group in the afternoon. The west sides didn't look too snowed up from several miles away, but all the approach gullies were snow-filled. The north-facing rock where we were was in "winter condition". Didn't see any ice anywhere. Tuesday's rain has probably melted off a good amount of snow. [ 11-21-2002, 01:22 PM: Message edited by: philfort ]

quote: Originally posted by terrible ted: Does anyone know of a case where someone was completely buried by a PNW avalanche and recovered alive? If you look at last year's incidents on the csac site in Washington, there are a number where people were completely buried (or very nearly so, with a hand sticking up, or in one case, a tiny piece of binding showing), and recovered successfully. Not all PNW avalanches are heavy wet things, I've seen powder avalanches here where the debris was not that firm.

I played around with using an OR-style rope bag (long and narrow) as a picket bag: clip one end into the ice axe loop on the bottom of your pack, and then the other end somewhere higher up on the front or side of you... sort of makes a diagonal bag you could slide them into. I have never tried it in the field though. I usually just let them bang against my legs and start getting pissed off at them. Clip them to my harness, or sling around the shoulders, but clip a hole just about the middle so they don't dangle so low.

quote: Originally posted by Off White: I thought the new Vol 1 used the same author photo as the new Vol 3. You're probably right... I guess I don't know my Beckey flower photos!

quote: Originally posted by Off White: a slick dark brown with the goofy Beckey-with-flowers photo on the back. Maybe it was brand new when I saw it (5 weeks ago I think) and I failed to grasp the recent vintage. The slick dark brown with flowers is vol 3 Rainy Pass to FRaser River, but it's actually dark red. Get your Beckey colours straight! The new brown one has been out for less than a year. I flipped through it briefly and didn't notice a whole lot that was different.. except for some new Rainier pics, and the rating of the south route on Garfield has risen to "class 4+"

Mike King can probably hook you up: http://www.whitesaddleair.com The central Coast Range is full of places that meet your requirements. Buy a map and choose a spot.

quote: Originally posted by iain: so I made the stupid joke that Chimborazo, on the equator, would be easy from all sides. Or maybe it could also be hard on all sides

Probably because the north faces have had more glaciation than south faces, so more erosion and "scooping out" == steeper.

Probably depends on how aggressive a skier you are. I don't often come out of mine, but once I did, in a twisting fall, and it probably saved my knee from injury. Glad I had them. Also, like others have mentioned - I broke lots of skis (about a pair a year for several years) from bindings ripping out before I had releasables, but only one pair (in about 6 years) since getting releasables. Oh, and as skisports said, yes, its more weight, but as for more to go wrong, I might have to disagree. The Voile CRB is pretty simple, and in my track record anyway, more reliable than a non-releasable. As for a leash causing the ski to hit you in the leg, well, I'd much rather have that than a bad knee injury. [ 11-12-2002, 10:48 PM: Message edited by: philfort ]

Heliotrope Ridge on Sunday... it was good for November. Pretty flat light, and a little wind-crusted up on the glacier, but no rocks of course. With each run the snow seemed to get better and less crusty (?). The best snow was down in the meadows below the glacier, but it was only about 15-20 inches deep... had to go fast in order not to hit rocks.

FR 38 is blocked by gate (or boulder or something, I forget) at Wallace Creek. Those north-facing basins on the Sisters look nice.

Perhaps he traversed just below the Price glacier, then up the rocks near the Labour Day route, before ascending Winnie's Slide to the NW couloir. You know, like it says in Nelson.

quote: Originally posted by COL. Von Spanker: I read somewhere that Gin helps. The gin, or some other booze, is to counteract the off flavour of maltodextrin, if you're using that. You probably don't need that if you're using brown rice syrup, since it tastes ok, just really strong...

Before you order from potentially seedy internet dealers, read these reviews of camera shops on photo.net: http://www.photo.net/neighbor/one-subcategory?id=2

quote: Originally posted by philfort: quote:Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: The crux is pretty intense You mean driving the Mowich Lake road? So, turns out I was right, eh? The crux *is* Mowich Lake road...

The area around Mowich Lake Road/Carbonado/Wilkeson is very scary. On a Saturday afternoon, half of all drivers will be drunk. Everytime I've been in that area, I've experienced freaky shit. Last time, a couple of months ago 1) another truck tried to run me off the Mowich Lk road, and 2) while driving through Wilkeson, the car behind me keep veering off the road and driving over people's lawns.

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: The crux is pretty intense You mean driving the Mowich Lake road?

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: The crux is pretty intense You mean driving the Mowich Lake road?

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: The crux is pretty intense You mean driving the Mowich Lake road?

Yes, from Gary's photo, it's not clear where you go. There's that boulder though. Such high objective danger!

You can get this stuff at Bottleworks: http://www.unibroue.com/english.cfm

It looks like it might be barely visible above the large rock blob in the first picture? It was there in late August too, so I guess it stays put :-)

These things probably? (taken in november) http://staff.washington.edu/gregm/ipice.JPG

quote: Originally posted by Attitude: Accidents has been at REI for a month or so. Does anyone know the time frame that each book covers? It's not calendar year (Jan - Dec), since one of this year's incidents is in the new book. I covers the calendar year for the previous year; So ANAM 2002 covers accidents in 2001.

The McAllister glacier doesn't sound like the right place for "non-climbers who are more interested in hikes". I don't think there are any "hikes" there. Unless you're talking about the Cascade Pass area in general. You'd probably have more luck posting on a hiking forum, like http://nwhikers.net