Ade

There are a couple of ledges below the hand traverse, each just about big enough for one person. You'll not get a Bibler on either of them, we slept on separate ledges. The only ledges I think you might get a Bibler on are the ones around the notch at top of the couloir, but I may have missed some others.

I think Trask may have the opposite problem... If he sucked more then his boyfriends wouldn't dump him all the time.

To answer my own question (in case anyone else is interested)... As of the 19th the trail was clear up to the river crossing which is a wade (I couldn't find a tree). The snow started a few hundred feet below the lake were there was 3-4" of new stuff on top of a hard base. Higher up on Shuksan/Nooksack everything was pretty plastered with much more fresh snow. My guess is a lot of this has melted off in the past week.

I've been seriously thinking about building one. VW doesn't seem that keen on letting me thrash my tools on their nice shiny gym wall. If anyone has actually done this let me know. I think there's a book and/or R&I article out there on building your own wall, but let's face it it's really not that tricky if you've done a bit of home improvement etc.

Thousands of mountain goats breath a huge collective sigh of relief.

I use the Marymoore Park climbing wall in Redmond, there are some big cracks on the N side that will take gear and numerous bolts you can clip too.

Best time to do it and avoid the crowds. Only adds six or so miles to each end of the trip and it's pretty flat.

I call bullshit on your "bullshit". Are you talking about a camping pot or some sort of Titanium frying pan you use to beat your wife? If it's a camping pot then you're right, it's lighter. According to REI at least: Evernew Nonstick Titanium Pot - 4 Liter @ $70 and 15oz Open Country Non-Stick Pot - 4 Quart @ $12 and 16oz So for $58 you saved a whole oz. That's with a 4 liter pot which is pretty big to be taking on a lightweight trip. On a 2 liter pot that would be more efficient anyway you're probably saving a whole half oz. Worth the money? Sure you can probably find a better comparison but unless you're in the habit of taking a whole kitchen range worth of pans when you head out you're never going to save more than a few oz. If you want to save weight look for gear where spending money can save nearly whole pounds like sleeping bags, packs and ropes. Titanium does not conduct heat as efficiently as Aluminum. Titanium are also thinner which, combined with the poor heat conduction will lead to hot spots so if your actually trying to cook anything, rather than melt snow, then it'll suck. This will also mean that slightly more fuel is required for cooking. MSR says the same thing, rating their own Titanium pans third in terms of cooking effiency. Maybe Titanium is more durable but it has to outlast six cheap Aluminum pans to pay off. So unless it's given you a better back hand swing or something you're better with Aluminum. I also have the MSR rocket and really like it, although only MSR could have made a gaz stove that loud.

Home Depot ("for all your climbin' needs") sells shock cord.

Feathered Friends will only wash bags they made. Or at least that's what they told me when I took another manufacture's bag in there. Rainy Pass Repair in the U District have a bag washing and repair service although I've not used it. Ade

How fuckin nerdy is that.

Please play nice people. As for your question. I don't think I saw or heard of anyone on those routes last year. I doubt they see more than a couple of ascents between them each season and that's being optimistic. Another option is the West Rib or Upper West Rib to finish the WB. Neither of these routes see a lot of traffic. We saw two other parties on the Rib when we were there. I think the statistic is that about 90%+ of climbers in the Denali Park are on the West Butt. Stay off that and you'll have the place to yourself.

I think Lowe/Camp made TI footfangs for a while and sold them in Europe at least. As far as I know nobody in the CIS made them. According to some Russians I spoke to once Ti suffers from fatigue problems and they break unless you grossly overengineer them, hence no TI crampons from the CIS. I suspect that this was less of a problem for the somewhat overengineered footfang. Maybe better quality metal too. I also have one of those Irbis biners. They're heavier than a Al biner but lighter than a steel one. The Russians swore by them, thought our lightweight Al gear was a bit crap. Said they were especially good for aiding as the Ti is harder than Al so doesn't get chewed up. The other issue with making light Ti biners is giving them a large radius of curvature for the rope to run over while reducing the volume of metal. Those guys were so cool. All their gear was made by them or their friends. They had wires, biners, screws, tents all made locally.

Yep.

Dang Sisu, it's just like pulling the string on a Chatty Kathy doll! Just wind him up and watch him go... "Fuckin liberals/hippies/fags/commies/... I'm gonna kill/maim/blow you fuckers. Pry the gun/constitution/George Bush inflatable love doll/NRA membership from my cold dead hands" And yes, before you say it, I'm leaving. Off to Canada to go CLIMBING.

Al is definately cheaper than Ti, but what's the latest on the correlation between cooking with Aluminum and Alzheimers? HUH? WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? There was some speculation a while back that Aluminium intake was linked to Alzheimers. I've no idea if this was ever proved but Aluminium exposed to the air very rapidly oxidises. Aluminium Oxide is inert, you would have to boil something quite acidic in the pan to free up any Aluminium and consume it.

After

Now I'm all confused... Doesn't that make most of the Founding Fathers Communists?

Yeah... skin those commie pinko fags alive and then feed the bits to dogs. While you're at it you can do the same to anyone else who doesn't look or think like you too. Evil fuckers the lot of them, not to be trusted. ...

I think Picasso was on something a bit stronger. Of course this leads one to ask what Damian Hurst is taking. That aside, I always drink tea while home improving and save the beer for the post improvement phase. Beer and power tools really don't mix.

So it looks like I'll be a gentleman of leisure as of today , at least for a bit. I'm off on a climbing trip for the next week or so but will be back on the 14th May or there abouts. If anyone is interested in geting out in the week then send me a PM. I'd be up for pretty much anything although I definitely prefer trad climbing and more technical alpine routes. Ade

Oh give Trask some credit here. It's not racist, sexist or homophobic or even that crude. Of course it's not really that funny either but I think we should view it as some small progress. He and the slightly less than half the country who voted for Dubya should also be given credit for such a great practical joke.

"And then I got pregnant. I'm always doing stupid things like that."

Please make it stop

Sounds like the bottom line is that they don't fit. I don't think I've ever broken in a running shoe, it's not like a leather boot, there's really not much to soften or stretch. The following trail running shoe review might be of interest too