philfort

bobinc: isn't that true of all climbers when they start though? When I first did SEWS, I think we had a pretty huge rack too, even though we were a private party. Or were most people on this site already experienced climbers to begin with??? Most of you are sounding like you were never beginners.

oooo, Gold Creek. That is one tense sno-park.

quote: Originally posted by Doug: Phil, What was that picture? Some sort of Rorsach test? The link is still there for you to click on. King of Freshies: great shit story! Here's another. It was probably two or three summers ago, I went up alone to climb the south gully on Guye Peak. All the previous week I'd been having intestinal problems. I thought they'd cleared up. Guess not. On the descent, as I was scrambling down a 3rd class section, suddenly, I needed to go - NOW! So I made a big pile of mush in the middle of the gully. There wasn't any place to hide it, nor any convenient rocks to cover, so I just left it there. I guess it's not that good a story, but that's a popular scramble, I wonder if anyone saw my mess in the days that followed.

Don't worry about it. And if it start snowing a lot, and you're worried the plow operator is going to bust you then dig a hole in the snowbank and sleep in there

If you feel totally comfortable downclimbing it, then the climb itself probably won't present much challenge to you.

Check out: http://www.couloirmag.com/articles/news/crossen.asp Does anyone else think this is a bit lame? They've already all been skied by one person. This guy is trying to do it in one season. He says "No one has accomplished this feat; it is one of the last remaining ski epics in America." and"Skiing all 54 peaks in a single season has never been accomplished, nor even attempted. This Quest is an unprecedented return to adventure within the heart of the United States' wilderness" All the peaks in one season. So f***ing what?I mean, it would be an impressive effort, but when you start saying things like "last remaining ski epics in America", you start to sound like a dork.

They do issue real citations for not having a NW forest pass. I received one a couple of years ago (50$ fine I think), and ignored it. I will say I agree with paying a fee for sno-park passes. At least then you know where your money is going. It's all funneled towards the extra plowing (I think? Someone correct me if I'm wrong). Except the extra grooming sticker is stupid, since you need it to park at a spot where there are groomed trails, even if you don't use the groomed trails. I've gotten a ticket for that too. But anyway, at Alpental you don't need any kind of pass for the winter months. It's FREE!!During summer I'm pretty sure you need a forest pass to park in Alpental's lot.

Ok, I removed the inline picture. Btw, to set the record straight, I didn't take the picture, one of my friends did. Another poop story: After getting rained out in WA pass, we were down in Mazama, scoping out Goat Wall. We'd been hiking up scree for some time, to the base of the cliff. Two of my friends got ahead of me and the other guy, in this loose gully, so we held back for a while so as not to get hit by falling boulders. And, I needed to take a dump. I scrambled over a rib and found a flattish spot. There was a rock in my way, so I moved it. Got my harness off and toilet paper out, and was about to go ahead with the process, when I spotted a rattlesnake a couple of feet in front of me, where I had just removed the boulder from. I wasn't sure it was a rattler though... I backed up a few feet, and then stupidly tossed a small rock at it to see what it would do. It started rattling! And getting closer. After a staring contest that lasted several seconds, it slithered away. Needless to say, I lost the urge to take a dump there.

Give Caveman beer

Well, this is only midly related to climbing, but anyway. We were at the Colonial Creek campground getting ready to head in to Mt Logan, when this boy runs quickly by us into the bathrooms. One of my friends is in the stall next to the one this boy *tries* to get into. He didn't quite make it: (ok, I edited this post and changed it to a link, because the picture was too gross - so that's a warning to you if you click this!) http://www.mtnphil.com/Logan/Poop.JPG [ 01-16-2002: Message edited by: philfort ]

Well actually, David Parker is right - as the weather systems pass over Puget Sound, they do pick up extra moisture in the form of spray from Caveman, et al... On a related note, I hear the Cheam Range near Chilliwack is getting a lot more precip these days.

And just what autosig would that be, eh? Ha ha ha! Now who looks like the fool!?

has moved from http://praxis.etla.net/~philfort to http://www.mtnphil.com

How about something more on topic - funny mountain names? -Nippletop, in the Adirondacks -And of course, we all know what Grand Tetons means. -Big Bosom Buttes, North cascades.

I don't think so, not right now anyway. I think when the ski resort is closed you "need" a NW forest pass.

quote: Originally posted by JRCO: Why can I get a digital cell phone for $69 but a digital avalanche beacon costs $300+. Is that a serious question? Because they sell 300 million digital cell phones a year, and only a few thousand beacons?

quote: Originally posted by Beck: Road gets gated just past the Silverstar drainage, just on the North and East side of Valskivi(sp?) Ridge and Wine Spires, if I'm remembering things correctly. I believe its now gated in Mazama, about 7 miles down the road from Silverstar ck.

quote: Hopefully you haven't learned that from action man, forrest! This would explain how forrest gets up all those hardcore routes...

In canada: Orgasm, Saskatchewan Dildo, Newfoundland

quote: Originally posted by David Parker: Sequim is not on the east side, but the north. The weather (moisture laden clouds) doesn't usually back up that far from the Cascades and just basically passes over. I don't know my Olympic geography very well. It actually looks like its at the NE tip of the peninsula. I just remember reading somewhere that Sequim was an example of the rainshadow the Olympics produce. I think its most pronounced on the NE side of the range. I guess the bulk of the weather comes from the SW or something

Yeah, there's some kind of rain shadow thing going on there. I think some of the "east side" towns in the Olympics, like Sequim, only get 12 inches of rain a year or something. I've also noticed the "last ridge" of the Olympics (Townsend, Constance, Brothers, etc...) cloud free, while everything else was socked in. It would be nice to be able to predict when this was going to happen, so you could plan and take advantage of it.

I don't think there's anything wrong with TR'ing ice. How the hell else are you supposed to learn? Of course, like caveman said, if you're at a place where there's other people, and someone wants to lead it, they should get priority.

Actually, americans get their powder tax *rebate* at the border (assuming it was a big enough purchase - which by the looks of it, it was). Canadians are stuck paying it.

quote: Devils Club is negotiable just deal with the minor pain Caveman, judging by the way you seemingly dismiss devils club as a big problem, it's obvious you haven't ever had to deal with *real*, *manly* devils club. Maybe you're mixing it up with gooseberries or something

When dbb and I climbed a route on the N Face of Kent (maybe, just a tad easier than N face of Colonial huh? ) , I also forgot the rope. Realized it about 20 minutes up the trail. Except, I didn't forget it in the car. I had forgotten it in Seattle. So we lost at least two and a half hours driving back to get it. Luckily, we had done an alpine start, but the climb didn't require one, and we made it to the summit area by sunset. Gregm forgot his ski boots once, on a 3 day ski trip in the Sawtooth wilderness near Lake Chelan. He realized it somewhere around stevens pass, but it was too late to go back and get them. I think he tried to find some rentals in wenatchee or something, but failed. So he just hiked around all weekend while we skied. Actually, there wasn't much snow considering it was July, we did a lot of hiking too.