Alex

Weigh-in this morning: 201.2 Hmmm

yeah he still drives

Man, thats a great one!

Road probably took about an hour, I guess, to the TH proper.

Trip: Mt Baker - Easton Glacier Date: 5/6/2007 Trip Report: glm and I settled on heading up the S side of Baker for a one-day ski tour, Sunday. On Fri the forecast for Sat and Sun had been "partly cloudy" and indeed Sat lived up to the that. Sun started out mostly cloudy as we headed up I-5. Drove up the access road eventually ran into a bunch of snow and parked snomobile trailers and sleds. Figured out where to park the car, well before the Schreiber's Medow trailhead proper. There is a seasonal closure for snowmobiles that make one have to hike/ski the last several miles of fairly flat road to the TH. At the early hour we arrived, there were no sleds buzzing around. We headed up the road and made nice time, got to the TH, and slowly headed up. Initially the cloud deck was above the summit, as while coming in we caught a glimpse of Colfax et al. but by the time we were heading up the initial moraines, the cloud deck had decended down to around 6500, where it would remain for the whole morning. About this time, some sledheds came on by, but they just went about their business up higher, and it was still pretty quiet. Eventually we climbed into the cloud deck, hoping it would lift with the day or that we could see an exit out up higher and get above the layer, but we basically ended up taking a break and sitting in the clouds and whiteout for half an hour. Big fat raindrops and drizzle started signalling a turn-around, and lots of sloppy oatmeal turns interspersed with zooming along on sled tracks later, it was raining full and proper back at the trailhead. The road is half downhill gliding, and half full-out double-poling/skating, but one gets back to the car fast enough. We stopped and talked to some heads loading up a trailer, then got out of our boots and loaded up our selves. On my windshield was a hand-written note that pointed out politely that I had parked in the wrong spot, and then, quite inexplicably "By the way, if you had even THOUGHT about touching my sled, you would not have liked the consequences!!" Gear Notes: Tunes. Sunblock. Should have brought my "Lowell Skoog Signature half skins" for the road. Approach Notes: Still alot of flat snow-covered road.

I can still remember those days. Enjoy it while it lasts, studmuffin. Weigh-in this morning: 201.0

We'll have a whole month to fantasize about that one, but I know I already am a winner

Monday 5/7 is official weigh in?

Yes it does. I expect to climb a crack route without having to be constantly reminded of how pathetic this sport has become. See, personally I want the anchor there so that I am constantly reminded how pathetic I've become!

Not I, but there was a TR from some peeps climbing Eldorado last weekend so you can at least get that far.

one loooong day or overnighter, PMs

In the winter I carry 6-7mm perlon for rapping off v-threads like everyone else; that works for summer-time too. But I *do* like the old 1" tubular stuff, perhaps only for nostalgic reasons. I tend to cut down a lot of worn-out or useless rap slings/stations in the mountains. Most of the anchors I see these days are 5/8" webbing. In the Rockies you might be on a well-travelled ice route and find 3-4 slings and/or cord on 3-4 different trees at the top of a route, all within arm's reach. As a rule I'll clean trees, but leave existing v-threads in-situ if they look good. On something alpine or rock thats commonly-climbed like Das Toof, the nests get so large: there is really no point in leaving the faded crusty slings in there when beefing up the anchor with your new webbing.

nice, I've always wondered about that one, too!

I agree with pope that retrobolting well-established trad routes at Index is a crime worth fighting, but these anchors in particular are not that fight. That anchor has been in place since I started climbing there in like 1995, and for as long as anyone I've talked to can remember. The route is much longer than 35 feet, too. Removing this anchor is akin to removing the massive tri-bolt-and-chain anchor in the middle of GNS, since there is "natural pro" very close by with which one could also establish an anchor, before heading to the top trees. But there is nothing "pure" about Index, so chopping one heavily used anchor, however contrived you may think it is, makes no statement other than that you cannot respect other people's rights to recreate on their own terms.

Yeah, thats a good suggestion.

Frank, mvs has some good trip reports of routes he's been doing in the time since he moved over there. Check them out at http://www.mountainwerks.org/morg/doku.php?id=cma:alltrips_region#europe

Given that the ethics at Index are far from pure, I am surprised that someone decided to be a bolt cop on this route in particular. But perhaps not that surprised, since it was the topic of a thread here in recent history. But it's really no sweat. Some of us have drills (me), and liked that intermediate anchor well enough that it may just reappear again.

thumbs down.

no skis? shame shame

Ade and Colin climbed Nelson route a few winters ago, Ade has some pics of the adventure on his site.

FA dude!

Just FYI for anyone heading to the area: the last pic that Craig posted is not actually Goose Egg mnt, but Kloochman Rock, which is what you are looking at as you climb Goose Egg....

Look like Silvretta 400s on the red Atomics

no Neutrino??????

The weather will be stellar. In the mountains the temps will range from freezing at night, to 60s-70s or warmer during the day. down sweater no hood will be fine. a nice extra layer is like a Pat exped weight top