JasonG

More detail on plane flights over wilderness areas, pretty interesting: http://www.aneclecticmind.com/2012/12/20/the-rules-about-flying-over-wilderness-areas/

Yep, the drones are cool in the Rec. area as are sleds. I was just getting at that planes are allowed to fly over wilderness areas while drones are not. I feel this is a good distinction, but you're right that they aren't silent.

I was curious so did a bit of digging. Maybe you all know this already. Here is the USFS stance for wilderness areas and drones: Motorized and mechanized equipment are not allowed, including drones (see below), bicycles, carts, wagons, chainsaws, hang gliders and off-road vehicles and other wheeled vehicles. Landing aircraft, air dropping or picking up supplies, materials or people are prohibited. Public use of drones (including quadcopters, model aircraft and other unmanned aerial systems) is increasing in popularity. However, drones are motorized equipment and are prohibited in wilderness. Please help us protect wilderness character by leaving your drone at home when you visit a congressionally designated wilderness area. Federal regulation 36 CFR 261 18a states that the following are prohibited in a National Forest Wilderness:(a) Possessing or using a motor vehicle, motorboat or motorized equipment except as authorized by Federal Law or regulation.(b) Possessing or using a hang glider or bicycle.© Landing of aircraft, or dropping or picking up of any material, supplies, or person by means of aircraft, including a helicopter. From: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mbs/passes-permits/?cid=stelprdb5405234 And drones are a no-no in national parks as well: http://home.nps.gov/news/release.htm?id=1601 Maybe this will be a topic for the updated NW Forest Plan?

Huh? Scurlock's plane is just another drone? The Man doesn't think so. Nice video BTW.

YEAH!!!!! That is an impressive climb, glad you survived the topout. And Dan, Colin climbed it with someone awhile back.....

And here I was just thinking I'd gladly trade a few clear cuts for better road access and some trail maintenance dollars. Not pushing the old grades farther up valleys mind you, but the reprod. is getting pretty tall these days....

Cut the list down and ride yer bikes!

Would you consider Brian Williams a "Libtard"?

Wow, thanks for the gripping detail. I'm glad you guys are in relatively good shape, that was a long fall. I hope you don't mind a couple questions to better learn from this accident.... 1. How were the pickets set? 2. What was the general density of the snow in which they were placed? Rest up!

Nevermind

I should clarify that walking the cable is the way to go if you don't have a pulley that fits on the cable (I didn't). A fat pulley would be awesome.

Jay- What did you find was the best option? Josh's accident has got me thinking....

If you have five days I think I would head to the N. Cascades and ski the Boulder on Baker and the Sulphide on Shuksan. Two classic summits and one decent (sulphide) and one terrific (Boulder) ski descent. Of course if you are dialed in and the weather is perfect you would still have time to ski the SW chutes (lots of driving though). The Ptarmigan will involve a lot of grunt work and not much in the way of ski descents. Scenery is hard to beat, however. I agree that the Magic S and Forbidden tours are iffy unless the winter magically turns around. It is quite grim at the lower elevations of both of those tours right now.

FYI, the fat cable is no more than 25mm. I clipped a large belay biner over it that wouldn't clip onto something more than 1". I'm pretty sure it is 7/8th cable, which is ~23mm. Walking the fat cable is the way to go for sure (drag your pack on the fat cable behind), though it still gets your attention and clipping around the balls/cones on the small cable isn't totally trivial when you are bouncing around. Marc- As we can see from your season down there (TR?), you aren't quite like the rest of us!

I think Fred may be including many of the long D-town routes in the new edition. MattP is coordinating the beta for him, I think. Good points on clarifications on existing routes. Fred knows there are errors throughout the edition and wants corrections. I will tell him to get in touch with Pete. Keep the suggestions coming!

Why is Sunset ridge on Rainier in condition less often than most other routes on the mountain? That surprises me.

Ain't that the truth!!

Great effort, and good work surviving! Thanks for the mere-mortal write up about the climbing in Patagonia. Pretty pictures leave a lot of that out.

Wait, you descended from the snow arete in the winter? Yikes. You should write that TR up!

Yep, Lowell has that down and we can use your NWMJ article for details. Perhaps the Klenke photo if Fred needs it? Thanks Wayne.

Long-term emergency lane closure on SR 542 east of Maple Falls Beginning at 8 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 8, Washington State Department of Transportation maintenance crews will reduce State Route 542/Mt. Baker Highway to one lane approaching Glacier Springs, which is located four miles east of Maple Falls. The Nooksack River is eroding land near the eastbound lane of the highway. To keep drivers safe, WSDOT is preemptively closing the eastbound lane to traffic. Traffic will be alternated through the closure area in the westbound lane. Flaggers will keep traffic moving through the closure area until temporary signals are can be activated on Sunday evening. Drivers should expect delays in the area and give themselves extra time to reach their destinations. WSDOT will begin work on a $3 million emergency project to realign this stretch of SR 542 later this month. Learn more about this project by visiting the SR 542 Glacier Springs Realignment project webpage

Lowell has been doing an excellent job of tracking new routes: http://www.alpenglow.org/nwmj/index_shorts.html http://www.alpenglow.org/nwmj/inbox.html

Fred is looking to update the Green guide and would appreciate corrections and new route info. Here is what I've already sent him: Whitehorse- Larson/partner-NE face "Bacon Buddy": http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=545608 Three Fingers- Thibault/Berdinka- East Face Couloir: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=545446 Frieh/Burdick- East side of North Peak (FWA): http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=644072 Sloan Peak- A bit of activity in recent years. Here are some new routes from Rad, Wayne, etc.: FA of SE ridge: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=834240 Fire on the Mountain: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=905897 Diamond in the Rough: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1041144 Buck- sounds like a correction needs to be made to the Cal Folsom entry (they climbed NR instead of NF, TR is from Wayne Wallace): http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/899441/1 Chiwawa- Haley/Burdick- NW face: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=442340 Goode- Herrington/Wertkin- Megalodon Ridge: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=721583 Dome- Wallace/Layton - "Gran Torino": http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=895089 Schilling/Farr- "Indian Summer": http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1033817'>http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1033817 South Peak of Gunsight- Schilling/Farr- "Lily of the West": http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1033817 Traverse of Gunsight Peaks- Herrington/Hilden- "Gunrunner": http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=702676 Formidable- Hick/ McBrian- Direct NE buttress: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=896257 Mixup Peak- Hicks/McBrian/Jodan. "The Misunderstanding"- http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1039670 Sahale- Hicks/McBrian- East Face Couloir: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1038727 West Peak of Black- Larson/Wehrly- NW ridge of West peak: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1076759 Vesper- Berdinka/Pires- "The Ragged Edge": http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1112076

There will be a lot less snow after this weekend! I don't think we saw any snow below 3.5K, and on south aspects it was pretty bare all the way up to 5k.

I should add that the position of Hall is quite scenic, no matter the season. And you are guaranteed to have the mountain to yourself!