JERRY_SANCHEZ

Hey Erden I saw your group of 8 when I was on the West Ridge of Forbidden. You guys were bunch of dots moving up towards Sahale Peak. Also on the West ridge, I kept on smelling marijuana and we were the only party up there. Did someone forgot their weed up there?

Yes that was us.... My friend's Megalight Tent works really well especially on the snow. Super light, packs in small, and large height and floor space. Yes the colouir was "spicy" plus decending the West Ridge can be stressful as you have to downclimb most of it. Takes just as long to get down then go up. We arrived back at camp around 6:30 and back at the car around 8:30. At home around midnight and now here at work with a big headache.

Hey were you the ones we met up at high camp on Saturday evening? We made it to the top Sunday and encounter just one party up there. Surprise there was not that many people up there this past weekend. That colouir was pretty sketchy. Great pictures and TR!

I did the West Ridge yesterday and the snow is melting fast. The moat in the couloir has collapsed but it is not that big of an issue to get around it. The only concern is the stuff (rock/snow) that falls down in the couloir. We had a big chuck of snow crashing down on us. There is still fair amount of snow in the couloir but it will not last that long. I would say in 3 weeks or less depending on how long this hot weather trend will last. I would say to do the route now. The west ridge rock is in perfect conditons. Be weary on some of the rappel anchors with slings. The rock moved when we try to rappel off of it. The east ridge looks good and probably better to descend then going down that couloir in the hot afternoon. There is still fair amount snow on the east ridge approach.

Police chief hopes to reduce Highway 2's dangers 05:50 PM PDT on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 By JANE McCARTHY / KING 5 News MONROE, Wash. – Sultan Police Chief Fred Walser has placed crosses at dozens of crash sites along Highway 2. He hopes that the crosses will prompt others to think about the victims and their families. One cross is for Dick Montgomery, a father who adopted and fostered 13 children while raising four of his own. Just down the road are crosses for Robert Moore and his wife Donna Jo, who was Walser's secretary. There are many more. Since 1999, 40 people have died on the stretch of Highway 2 between Snohomish and Skykomish. It's a statistic people who live there know too well. But despite the highway's poor track record, Highway 2 has been largely overlooked when it comes to improvement funds. That's why Walser is hoping that more citizens will support his "US2 Safety Coalition." He wants to see the two-lane road eventually become a four-lane, divided highway. Tuesday night, the coalition hopes to spark that support with a public safety summit at Sultan Middle School. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. with a very special ceremony - a vigil - to remember those lives lost on US2. The meeting is expected to last about 3 hours.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002914024_dimitri06m.html He's an amazing guy " By Susan Gilmore Seattle Times staff reporter COURTESY DIMITRI KIEFFER An iced-over Dimitri Kieffer, during his trek across the frozen Bering Strait. Kieffer, of Seattle, never shies away from adventure, his friends say. Kieffer's latest trek, with Briton Karl Bushby, has been halted by Russian authorities. Dimitri Kieffer worked for Microsoft for 15 years as a globalization manager. For Seattle adventurer Dimitri Kieffer, taking on challenges is the stuff he's made of, but his latest adventure was more than he expected. "Keep in mind that the odds are against us, considering the fact that no one has made a successful crossing in the past in the winter from the U.S. to Russia," he wrote in a recent e-mail to friends. "As someone stated to me, if it was possible it would have been done before. Well, we are going to give it our best." Kieffer, with fellow adventurer Karl Bushby from England, are now in Russian custody after crossing the 56-mile stretch of the frozen Bering Strait on foot from Alaska. The adventurers were picked up by authorities entering the small settlement of Uelen, near the point where the Bering Seat meets the Chukchi Sea. Because they didn't enter at a border crossing, they had no stamps in their passports and were detained. To his friends in Seattle, this is the ultimate Kieffer story, another chapter in a storied life of a man who shucked his career with Microsoft to travel the world in search of grueling adventures. Like the one last year, in which he did the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on foot, pulling a 150-pound sled over 1,100 miles. It took him 41 days, said his friend Don Wahl, and that's where he met Bushby, who is trying to walk from the tip of South America to Britain. He persuaded Kieffer to join him on his Bering Strait walk. It wasn't a tough sell, said Kieffer's friends. They said Kieffer's mission in life is to do all the tough endurance races he can find. That's why he ran 145 miles across Death Valley in 140-degree heat and raced, biked, hiked, kayaked and rafted 600 miles across Vietnam. He also crossed the tip of Africa on foot, bicycle and kayak. Erik Nachtrieb, a fellow adventurer, said that when Kieffer first attempted the Death Valley race he didn't finish it, so he went back and completed it, but not in the cutoff time. So he did it all again and finished on time. "Once it's in his book, he'll make sure he'll do it," said Nachtrieb. "If he hadn't completed the Bering crossing, he'd do it again and again until he made sure it was done." Kieffer, 40, worked for Microsoft for about 15 years as a globalization manager, a position that makes sure Microsoft programs are understandable around the world. Nachtrieb said he spoke with Kieffer about quitting his job. "He said he was thinking of some things he had to do in life," said Nachtrieb. "He said he could always go back to work, but didn't know if he could go back to this part of his life." Born in France, Kieffer visited Seattle as an exchange student, attended Puyallup High School and fell in love with the area. He moved here and took the job with Microsoft. He became a naturalized citizen last year. Nachtrieb said Kieffer told him that he had concerns that he didn't have all the paperwork he needed to walk into Russia, but he didn't expect to get arrested. "He's a very focused individual and very determined," Nachtrieb said. "When he's going to set out and do something, he'll do it." While he was hauling equipment for the crossing, he and Bushby were in a tent sleeping on a block of ice and awoke to find the ice had broken loose and they had drifted 28 miles out to sea. They had to be rescued by helicopter and Kieffer suffered frostbite on a finger. But that didn't stop them from completing their walk. They even had to swim with protective suits for part of the trip. While the crossing was 56 miles, Nachtrieb figures they actually went more than 150 miles because of the shifting ice that caused them to backtrack. Jennifer VanGorder met Kieffer through adventure racing and called his determination contagious. "He makes you want to go out there and do things," she said. "He is one person who is excited about life. He loves life, loves pushing it and experiencing it." Nachtrieb said he and Kieffer next want to row across the Atlantic Ocean, from the Canary Islands to the Bahamas, in a 32-foot open boat. Maybe in two or three years. Another Microsoft friend and adventure racer, Michelle Maislen, said she's going to try to persuade Mayor Greg Nickels to issue a proclamation honoring Kieffer when he returns to Seattle. "He's an amazing guy who has an unrelenting will to finish things," she said. "He won't quit."

Trail to crater rim at Mount St. Helens may be reopened 07:08 AM PST on Thursday, March 16, 2006 Associated Press AP Mount St. Helens, in southwest Washington, vents steam over a new coat of snow that fell during several days of blustery, wintery weather. VANCOUVER, Wash. - A trail to the south rim of the crater of Mount St. Helens, closed since the start of a domebuilding eruption in late September 2004, may be reopened this year, officials say. No decision has been made, but National Forest Service officials began accepting conditional climbing reservations last month, Tom Mulder, manager of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, told The Columbian of Vancouver. “The public is interested,” Mulder said. “It’s a recreation niche, a learning opportunity, and we want to serve the public well.” The climbing season traditionally begins on May 15, and the number of permits historically has been limited to 100 a day, half by reservation and half by a daily lottery. “Climbers will be taking on the responsibility for exposing themselves to any risk that they may encounter,” Mulder said, “temperature extremes to slippery slopes to things that may fall out of the sky.” Tom Pierson, a local U.S. Geological Survey geologist, tentatively plans to lead a guided hike arranged through the nonprofit Mount St. Helens Institute to the rim in August. “It will be great to see the new view and to take pictures to compare,” Pierson said. If the trail is reopened, climbers could get a close-up look at the relatively quiet oozing of molten rock at the rate of about a pickup truck load per second into the gaping horseshoe-shaped crater from the volcano’s explosive eruption of May, 18, 1980. That blast killed 57 people and removed the top 1,300 feet of the once-symmetrical peak. Most of what was blown away was a lava dome built in quieter eruptions like the current one over the previous 400 years. The trail to the 8,300-foot south rim from Climber Bivouac, as well as other trails above 4,800 feet, have been closed since Sept. 26, 2004, shortly after the most recent volcanic activity began. Officials said they were concerned about the possibility that steam explosions could blast rock out of the crater. Based on the volcano’s behavior since the eruption began, the hazard appears to be low, Pierson said. Despite a few big steam and ash spurts, including one that sent a plume towering to an elevation of 36,000 feet, no rocks have been hurled outside the crater.

Alpine Lakes permit area may grow By The Associated Press LEAVENWORTH — The U.S. Forest Service is considering expanding the permit area for the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, a popular hiking and climbing region in north-central Washington. The wilderness area in the Cascade Range west of Wenatchee will celebrate its 30th anniversary this year. In response to a growing number of visitors, the Forest Service began requiring permits in 1987 for the Enchantment Lakes. The permit area was expanded in 1996 to include Colchuck, Stuart, Eightmile and Caroline lakes. Permits are required from June 15 through Oct. 15. Next year, the ranger district may begin the public process to expand the permit area to address overcrowding at nearby Mount Stuart, Ingalls Lake and Headlight Creek Basin, all in Chelan County. "That area is way overused on weekends," said Lisa Therrell, wilderness manager for the Wenatchee River Ranger District. The existing permit areas receive about 100,000 day and overnight visitors each year, Therrell said. The permits allow just 60 people per night within the permit area. Day use is unlimited, but visitors are required to get a self-issuing permit at the trailheads. Officials with the ranger district began randomly opening applications Monday for overnight permits for this summer. About 1,000 applications had been received, of which about 600 will be accepted. Requests came from as far away as Poland and Liechtenstein, as well as across the United States and Canada. Some applicants wrote "please, please, please!" on the application, while others promised to respect the natural area if their application was picked. Some, like an applicant from Alabama, draw pictures on their envelopes for attention. "That has no effect" on their chances, Therrell said. "But we do enjoy them." Applications received after Monday have little chance of getting a permit. Three-fourths of the wilderness permits are issued in the reservation lottery. The remaining one-fourth are issued each morning at the ranger district office during the summer. Costs remain at $3 per person per day.

There has been another fatality on the popular hike on Mt. Dickerman. Does anyone know where this dangerous area is? I hiked up many times and only found the summit ridge to be dangerous. 10:09 PM PST on Monday, February 20, 2006 From KING 5 Staff and Wire Reports GRANITE FALLS, Wash. - A hiker reported overdue near Mount Dickerman in Snohomish County was found dead Monday by searchers. The sheriff's office says the man was reported overdue Sunday night and the body was found early Monday. The man, a Snohomish County resident in his 50s, was found in rugged terrain and appeared to have fallen, although the cause of death has not been determined. The man's name has not yet been released. Mount Dickerman is near Granite Falls, northeast of Everett. Several days ago, another man slipped and died in the same area.

Naked man killed on I-90 near Snoqualmie Pass 10:52 AM PST on Wednesday, February 1, 2006 Associated Press and KING Staff Reports Naked man killed on I-90 near Snoqualmie Pass NORTH BEND, Wash.- The State Patrol is investigating how a naked man was struck and killed on I-90 near Snoqualmie Pass. The man, who appeared to be in his 20s or 30s, was killed about 4 a.m. when he ran into the path of a truck. The driver says he came out of nowhere. The victim reportedly had been driving a Chevy Blazer SUV on westbound I-90. He reportedly crossed the median and three lanes of traffic and had hit the guardrail on the eastbound side near Milepost 42. The man reportedly got out of his car and was struck by a pickup heading eastbound. Investigators do not know why or for how long he had been naked. One eastbound lane of I-90 at Milepost 42 was closed during the investigation.

Seems like everyone is suing for anything.... Seattle suit filed for "lost time" over controversial best-seller By Peter Lewis Seattle Times staff reporter James Frey said he made up some details about his life in "A Million Little Pieces." The latest thump on the controversial best-seller "A Million Little Pieces" is a Seattle federal court lawsuit seeking damages on behalf of consumers for the "lost time" they spent reading the book. Marketed as a redemptive tale in the form of a drug and alcohol memoir, the book by James Frey had sold more than 2 million copies as of last week, according to The New York Times. But it has also drawn fire after an investigative Web site, The Smoking Gun, reported this month that it was full of exaggerations and inaccuracies. Frey subsequently said he made up some details about his life. TV talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, whose inclusion of the memoir in her book club led to a huge sales spike, stood by her endorsement, contending that "the underlying message of redemption ... still resonates with me." Doubleday, a division of Random House, the book's publisher, issued a statement promising to issue refunds to readers who purchased directly from the publisher. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, Seattle Attorney Mike Myers lists as plaintiffs two Seattle residents, Shera Paglinawan and Stuart Oswald, who each received or purchased the book "before news of the book's falsity was disseminated." The suit, apparently the third of its kind to be filed across the nation, seeks class-action status against Frey and the publisher. Myers distinguished his suit from actions filed in Illinois and California by saying only his seeks compensation on behalf of consumers for "the lost value of the readers' time." Myers alleges several legal causes for the suit, including breach of contract, unjust enrichment, negligent misrepresentation, intentional misrepresentation and violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act. A Random House spokesman said Tuesday the publisher had not yet been served with a copy of the Seattle complaint and would have no comment. Meantime, a University of Washington law professor who reviewed the complaint said he thought its chances of success were "fairly slim." Sean O'Connor, who teaches intellectual property and corporate securities law, said it appears that the plaintiffs were trying to force a "legal apology. ... They want Frey and Random House to say, 'This was wrong what we did.' " O'Connor thought that angle "might get the most sympathy from a jury — if it gets in front of a jury." But the professor was generally dismissive of other claims. For example, he maintained that the "unjust enrichment" claim would have problems since the publisher is willing to make refunds and in light of the fact that some booksellers also apparently have offered to do likewise. O'Connor also foresaw difficulty calculating the "lost time" claim. He noted the value of time could differ widely among consumers, as well as the logistics of distinguishing between "slow versus fast readers." O'Connor said that in some ways he was sympathetic toward the Seattle lawsuit's claims. "But when you roll it into a legal action like this, it's hard to see what the remedy is coming out the other end."

Skier dies at Stevens Pass 01:26 PM PST on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 KING5.com STEVENS PASS, Wash. - A skier was killed at the Stevens Pass ski resort after falling into a tree well. The man, who is from Kenmore, was in an out-of-bounds area Tuesday when he fell into the tree well. A friend dug him out, but he had stopped breathing, said Chelan County Sheriff Mike Harum. The ski patrol took him to a parking lot and managed to briefly revive him but he died en route to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Why tree wells are a hazard According to KING 5 meteorologist and skier, Jeff Renner, the hazard is called NARSID, or Non-Avalanche Related Snow Immersion Death. It happens when skiers or snowboarders fall (usually headfirst) into a deep snowbank or tree wells. So far this season, three skiers/snowboarders have died and an experienced ski patroller had a narrow escape. Skiers should stay well clear of tree wells. Two of the deaths were at Mount Baker, the third was at Alpental. Tree wells are cup-shaped depressions in the snow surrounding trees - the result of tree limbs catching and deflecting some of the falling snow. A fall near a well can easily result in a plunge into the well; even if the skier ends up going in feet first it can be very hard to extricate oneself. Still, the nature of such a fall is that victims often end up going in head first. Crystal Mountain Ski Patrol Director Paul Baugher says that a study of the accidents suggests some basic safety steps: Any skier or snowboarder who ventures off to the side of a groomed trail into softer snow or trees should ski or ride with a partner, and partners should keep each other in sight. Those who ski near trees should stay well clear of tree wells.

Seattle's backyard ski area could grow by a third in the next several years, with more lifts, more terrain, three times more restaurant seating and better parking. Expansion proposed for the Summit at Snoqualmie, with its four adjacent ski areas, could accommodate a third more visitors and make it easier for skiers and snowboarders to traverse the resort, according to plans that have been endorsed by the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Before the changes could occur, however, the private ski area would have to buy 400 acres of wildlife-rich private timberland next door and donate it to the government to link the forests of the south Cascades with those to the north of Interstate 90. Some expansion plans "go through one of the largest and last remaining pieces of old-growth forest in that north-south corridor," said Sonny Paz, a wildlife biologist for the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie forest who reviewed the ski area's plans. "Over time, the land donation should mitigate the loss of the habitat that the ski area's trying to develop." The Forest Service has been evaluating expansion plans for the Summit, portions of which have served skiers since the early 1930s , for six years. The agency's draft review of those plans was released last week. But the proposal comes as scientists increasingly have been suggesting that the future of midelevation ski areas such as Snoqualmie Summit may hinge on the weather. A recent study by the University of Washington's Climate Impacts Group indicated that even with an average temperature increase of just a few degrees, snow levels at Snoqualmie Pass would rise 500 feet. The group's computer models show that the length of an average ski season could decline 28 percent in the next 20 years. Those predictions aren't lost on the ski industry. "Certainly we're all sort of looking at issues that relate to global warming," said Tim Beck, executive vice president for planning for Booth Creek Resorts, which owns the Summit. "We all recognize there are things happening out there we have to be aware of." But Beck said those possibilities have not factored into planning at the Summit. "It's sort of like farming," Beck said. "Every year the weather is different. But I've been involved with the Summit for eight years, and most of the time we've had pretty good snow." For now, Summit managers want to better control the flow of people among the four areas — Summit West, Summit Central, Summit East and Alpental. They're proposing two new chairlifts through a heavily wooded section of the Central and East summits. They also want to connect the two areas with steeper cat trails so snowboarders, who tend to avoid traversing flat ground, can better access both summits. Because that section is thick with old-growth, the Forest Service has "urged them to reduce development to gladed runs, which are more difficult to groom, but leaves more trees standing," said Larry Donovan, who led the review for the Forest Service. No northern spotted owls — now protected under the Endangered Species Act — have been spotted in that area in years, but Paz said he still thinks the birds may hunt there. The resort already has made arrangements with Plum Creek Timber to buy and donate forestland near the resort to replace the loss of those trees if plans are approved, he said. The Summit also would consolidate facilities at the bases of the Central and West summits, offering an additional 10 acres of parking and 2,800 more restaurant seats, and making 140 more acres available for night skiing. The proposal also would add two more chairlifts to Alpental, allowing expert skiers to stay higher on the mountain. And it would open more terrain there to intermediate skiing. The public may comment on the proposal until mid-February.

NORTH CASCADE HWY Elevation: 5477ft / 1669M Temperature:N/A Conditions & Weather: N. Cascades HWY will close at 3 PM 4 November for avalancche control through this weekend. // Snow Restrictions Eastbound: Temporarily closed Restrictions Westbound: Temporarily closed

Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM Carl Skoog, skiing enthusiast By Warren Cornwall Seattle Times staff reporter Carl Skoog, 46, was an important figure in Washington backcountry-skiing circles and in national ski photography. He died Oct. 17 in a fall while skiing down the side of a mountain in Argentina. Carl Skoog would drive to a cabin in the North Cascades late at night, and beat everybody out the next morning for the first tracks in new-fallen snow. He spent six days waiting out an Alaska snowstorm just to capture a breathtaking photo of a friend skiing down a mountainside, one of many professional shots that graced the covers of popular ski magazines. And the Redmond man pioneered routes across some of Washington's most imposing mountain ranges, going places on skis that most people wouldn't dare go in boots. Mr. Skoog's enthusiastic mountain exploits, which established him as an important figure both in Washington backcountry-skiing circles and in national ski photography, ended Oct. 17 when he died in a fall while skiing down the side of a mountain in Argentina. He was 46. "Backcountry skiing and mountaineering was what he did," said Adam Howard, editor of Backcountry Magazine, a Vermont-based publication on snowboarding and backcountry skiing that has used Mr. Skoog's photos nine times on its cover. "His stuff was authentic, and he was just where the action was. He was just doing it. He would have pursued the mountains with or without the camera with just as much vigor." Mr. Skoog was introduced to skiing in the Cascades at an early age. As the son of Richard Skoog, a ski jumper and early supporter of the Crystal Mountain ski program, he spent long days on the slopes. "We would stick a sandwich in one pocket and an apple in the other," Carl Skoog told Couloir, a backcountry-skiing and snowboarding magazine. "I don't think I saw the lodge until after I was a teenager, when I went in there to see what was going on after all the skiing was done." Later, he turned his attention to the backcountry, away from the crowds and the ski lifts. With his brother, Lowell Skoog, he established ski traverses of Washington's Picket, Chiwaukum and Bailey mountains. What first drew Mr. Skoog to backcountry skiing was that "it combines the sense of discovering the country with the joy of gliding through the country on skis," said Lowell Skoog. Mr. Skoog's photos of his excursions caught the eye of magazines and outdoor-gear companies, leading to his career as a professional ski photographer. Dean Collins of Bellingham, a frequent subject of Mr. Skoog's photos, recalled his backcountry comrade as a hardworking devotee of the sport, but an unassuming person who was unlikely to brag about his exploits. Collins went on three ski trips to Alaska with Mr. Skoog and spent countless days with him in the mountains. On one of the Alaska trips, they waited out the six-day snowstorm before making the ski run that produced the Backcountry cover photo. "Pretty much every waking moment that we aren't working and can go skiing, we've been together and shooting together," Collins said. Mr. Skoog died while skiing down 22,211-foot Cerro Mercedario, in the Andes Mountains of Argentina. He fell on a 42-degree slope of windblown, soft snow and couldn't stop himself, tumbling approximately 4,500 vertical feet and breaking his neck, said Rene Crawshaw, a Canadian who was with him at the time and spoke by telephone from Argentina. He was preceded in death by his father and is survived by his mother, Ingrid Skoog of Bellevue; brothers Lawrence of Seattle, Philip of Washington, D.C., Gordon of Redmond, and Lowell of Seattle; and sister Anita Skoog Neil of Bellevue. No memorial service has been scheduled.