geordie

Ok- my favorite vertical limit f-ups: Whenever the characters need to talk to each other up on the mountain they have to take off their glacier glasses. Guess you can't communicate if you can't see the whites of their eyes. Everybody has pickets on their pack, but no one uses them. Every belay is off of a single axe that always manages to come out.. This movie is almost as good as Carnosaur..

Still looking..

Looking for affordable winter housing in the L-worth, Plain, Coles Corner metro area. Square footage for ski storage and a drying rack a plus. Nov/Dec to May (..ish)

I unfortunately won't be able to make it this year, but my esteemed colleague, Alex Brun is willing to give a slide show about climbing opportunities/ issues at North Cascades NP if there's sufficient interest and a suitable venue at Rope-up. Spray away...

Spent the last few days in the Colonial area - bottom of the colonial glacier is exposed ice which makes for nice travel. The neve glacier is pretty open which makes for some indirect routes, but not too bad. Climbed the major named peaks - saw no sign of Stephen Ramsey. Enjoyed a nice scramble on a sub-peak north of the Cat's Ear (Cat's Ear Lobe)- nicest rock around - unlike the first bit of Pinnacle.. Took the variation up steep snow and ice on Colonial - made it harder than it needed to be, but a fun climb. Pretty sporty without screws. g

Bringing this to the top: class 4 or 5.8 ? your vote worth the trouble? Any other suggestions for crescent creek basin climbs? (I've done the approach to the Chopping Block - not so bad..) g

here we go again...

Thought I'd bring back this quote from last summer (by ncascadesranger) The avalanche debris: Given that the route into BB is in the "cross-country zone" classification the Park will not automatically clear this debris, as it would have if that avalanche had hit the nearby Cascade Pass trail (in the maintained constructed trail classification). The management plan for this Wilderness states that most of it will be free of human manipulation (from trail construction to tramways) and again, we find that most North Cascades users want it that way. When mother nature splashs a little more risk and challenge into the experience in the form of unpleasant debris to cross, the NPS can't get subjective about what the Wilderness Plan dictates. However, nothing is 100% unchangeable in land management - it's your Park - and questions or most importantly comments, are best made to the ranger station in Marblemount and/or the Superintendent.

Cache Glacier looks good. Folks I've talked to haven't complained about the moat at the col. (Lot's of Ptarmiganers headed over it every day.)

Some people say they're following Beckey's footsteps wherever they go in the Cascades. I seem to be following Stephen Ramsey's. Spring found me following SR up the NE Couloir on Colchuck with J-Woo aka TexWood. (And wondering how we managed to have such an adventure following his detailed TR). So here we are in July and I find myself headed to Buckner. Stephen has just posted and my partner, Baby Z, has printed a copy of the TR. There is talk of a full on expedition. Admiral Ackbar, bows out before we leave the Valley. Leithal, Baby Z, F'n Faehner, and I have a nice hike up to Sahale where Agent H joins us for dinner. Come daybreak there are three of us headed up the mighty Sahale Glacier. Soon F'n F is threating the technicolor yawn of curious cause. We grab the rope from him, send him down and continue on. Once again, it's me and Baby Z. The traverse across Choston is not what we feared. A little class 2/3 with some removable holds, but not the scariness I feared. Cruiser. The Boston Glacier was equally accomodating. A few snowbridges seemed to be heading south, but lasted long enough for us. Not much wandering around cracks either. The North Face sat above us, still in shade. The snow was firm and took pickets nicely. There were Stephen's footprints again. The only way is up. I know I need to find a way to use flatter feet. My calves remind me it's been a while since Banff in December. There is nothing subtle about their message. We simul with our 4 pickets and reload when we need to. Baby Z places a pin, just because he can. Soon enough we are on top. We are having so much fun. Look at those tracks. (They must be Stephen's) I can't believe we just climbed that. Not scary, not hard. Fun Plus. Where to now? Stephen's tracks lead down into Horseshoe Basin. Traverse or straight down. Multiple tracks diverge. We traverse. It doesn't matter. (Down would have been quicker.) It takes too long to get down to 6400'. Somehow we need to get back onto Sahale Arm. The snow gully is obvious enough. But from there. "There's got to be a better way" says Stephen of the class 3/4 nastiness we encounter. Baby Z tries to kill me with a football of granite. I duck and look forward to tromping along the moraines of Sahale. It's still light out and we finally squirm out on top. The weather starts to turn as we return to camp. Another nice day among friends. Where to next Stephen?

I have come out Eiley-Wiley and didn't find it that bad. (I liked going in Access Creek too.) There's bits and pieces of trail on the E-W ridge and the lakes are amazing. There's a bit of routefinding on both ends (Challanger Glaier and B. Beaver Trail) but the travel is easy. g

The road is open as of 6/12/03. Yep- all the way to the Cascade Pass TH.

I did a day hike up to the basin today. Patchy snow begins at 4400' and solid at 4800'. Last years avy debris mess is pretty easy to negotiate. The basin is filled with snow and the couloir to get on WR Forbidden looks good.

Leithal and I hiked up the road last week. It's gated at Johnson Cabin (the last gate), so you can drive to the Eldo lot, but not quite to BB lot. There's a bit of a washout from one of the creeks below BB (Midas creek maybe?) There's also the usual big slide just below the CP lot that needs to melt a bit before they bring in the front loaders. Snowpack at the CP lot looks pretty low. It'll a be a bit before the road opens, but nows a good time to get those early season Forbidden clibs in.

Ahh the permit whining has begun. Summer must be just around the summer... Flame on..

A while back DPS described that route as 5.8, A2, WI3. He used an asst. of pins, screws, cams and nuts. Would that be close to the route you climbed recently? (Now that we're on Code Yellow I can go climbing...)

to medium tall sizes! I have some Arcteryx bibs that are MT and they . I believe the MEC jacket is the HELIOS..

MEC is the answer. I'm 6'2" and have pretty long arms and the Medium gtx jacket I have is almost a little long. I can't believe these things fit "normal" folks, but it works for me. Nice quality jacket. Can't remember the name, but it's the lightwieght, no frills, alpine jacket. Cheap too.

And in this priceless photo you'll note the large head has no adverse effect on his indoor climbing skills.

check it out - you be the judge? Is this a big head?

As highway 20 will open soon I'm getting excited about WA pass. Anyone have favorite moderates at WA pass that seem to have been overlooked by Nelson or badmouthed by Fred?

Help me make an early season alpine tick list- what alpine routes should I get on when there's still some snowpack? Redoubt/Spickard? Rainier - Tahoma ?

anyone have suggestions for headphones they like when running, skiing, slogging? I switch btw two sets - the "ear bud" type seem to be annoying on longer adventures but the "normal" headphones bounce around too much when running. ideas?

Ahh- Borealis ridge aka "thunder ridge" -good fun. If you don't know what dog hair is- you will. For those headed this way don't plan on snow on the Borealis if you go late season in a low snow year. We went a few years back and wished we had some ice screws. We just stared the at nice blue alpine ice that was there instead of the 40-50 degree snow slopes we expected. Pickets were looking less useful than ever. A beautiful spot - definitely a wilderness experience. Why is there a bridge over thunder? Because McAllister Camp is there and the "creek" is moving fast and deep through a little gorge there.

Erik- I gotto go with you on the Ween front. I remember a near brawl at Blue Lk parking lot last summer when I rolled in blaring the Pod. Apparently I ruined someones parking lot experience - he couldn't hear the highway noise over the music. If it's too loud...