Lowell_Skoog

Climber's left (east) side of Liberty Ridge has been skied. See: http://alpenglow.org/ski-history/topos/mt-rainier.html I suggested the name "Cryogenesis" to the original ski party and it seems to have stuck. The ski line diverges from the Thermogenesis climbing route fairly low, so I think giving it an independent (but related) name is justifiable.

Criminy, he's all over the Alpine Lakes, Rainier, and Oregon forums too (and more). Give me a break!

Can't believe I'm actually posting in Spray... What's up with this fourteenfour guy? Over a period of a few hours on March 8 he dredges up 30+ threads from 2004-05 in the North Cascades forum and gives each an inane little one-line bump. Is he a paid troll or what? A few thumbs up I can believe, but 30+ just smells bad. What's going on? It feels like a desperation move to stir up traffic.

Was the area this crowded last winter? Maybe the problem will go away (or diminish significantly) when there's more snow in the mountains. When you can't ski you go rock climbing. When the ski season ends, it's often too hot to climb there. Just a theory...

My guess is that they were climbing the Sherpa Glacier Couloir. An 800+ foot slide anywhere else on the NE side of Stuart would probably be fatal. Hope they recover soon.

The Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum is taking shape at Snoqualmie Pass. See: http://www.wsssm.org/ I need help to find some modern gear for the museum's ski mountaineering exhibit. You can see some of the older gear I've gathered below. The exhibit will have a large monitor with historic movies and photos, as well as artifacts from three eras: 1920s-50s, 1960s-90s, and 2000+. The artifacts will include skis, skins, poles, boots, pack, ice axe, and avalanche safety gear. I've got most of the gear figured out, but I still need to find the following: + A pair of 2000s-era alpine touring skis (K2 Mt Baker skis would be perfect) + A 2000s-era ice axe (a curved or ultralight axe would be ideal) If you can help me find these items (for loan, donation, or cheap), please let me know. (I've been in touch with K2 for some Mt Baker skis, but I'm not sure they will be able to find any, since they've been out of production for a while. I like the Mt Baker skis, with their Salish artwork, because they really say "Washington.")

This is the time of year when I review notes I've collected during the past 12 months and update the chronologies on my ski history website: http://www.alpenglow.org/ski-history/ I'm also continuing to update the Northwest Mountaineering Journal new route "inbox" on the following page: http://www.alpenglow.org/nwmj/inbox.html The NWMJ inbox now has 156 candidate routes awaiting publication in a future issue of the journal. The routes have not been fully vetted by editors, so the list may change eventually. Hopefully we'll find a way to publish short reports of these routes in NWMJ when someone has more time to devote to it. For now, the raw list is a handy reference. Most of the new routes I've posted were completed in 2014. But a few earlier routes have come to light. These include: 1999, Mt Rainier, Fuhrer Thumb ski descent 1999, Mt Garfield, West Peak, Preiss route 2004, Bears Breast Mtn, SE mega-slab 2011, Colchuck Balanced Rock, "Honey Badger" 2011, Mt Stuart, "Gorillas Direct" 2011, Kangaroo Tower, "Captain Kangaroo" 2013, Argonaut Peak, NW Buttress (FWA) If you find errors or know of unreported routes that are missing from the list, feel free to drop me a line (lowell.skoog@alpenglow.org) or post something here. Thanks!

I love how those crampons have curved hooks for lacing up the straps, instead of rings. I don't think I've seen that before. Very elegant design.

Very cool. That looks like the very same type of axe that Jim carried up Mt Everest. I can't imagine he would have let that one go, but maybe he had several of them.

That Skadi is from the mid-1970s, I believe. The original "hot dog" Skadi was released around 1971. (It was shaped like a hog dog bun.) This one is newer than that, but older than the 1980 Ortovox F2 beacon we have in the archives. You can see more snow safety gear here: https://mountaineers.atlassian.net/wiki/display/ARCH/Snow+Safety

And maybe the oddest artifact in the Mountaineers Archives... The 120-year-old Biscuit (apparently left over from the 1897 first ascent of Mt St Elias by the Duke of Abruzzi's party): More information here: https://mountaineers.atlassian.net/wiki/display/ARCH/Miscellaneous+Artifacts https://www.mountaineers.org/about/history/blog/mystery-of-the-120-year-old-biscuit

As volunteer chair of the Mountaineers History Committee, I find myself custodian of some cool artifacts. The majority of the artifacts that the Mountaineers once held (including Pete Schoening's famous K2 ice axe) were donated to the Washington State Historical Society in 1998. But some interesting stuff remains, and I've gradually been creating an inventory. You can see some photos and descriptions here: https://mountaineers.atlassian.net/wiki/display/ARCH/Artifacts The online catalog is not complete. I've been adding to it sporadically when I have time to sort through boxes of stuff in the Mountaineers Archives. Here are a few pictures: FWIW: I'm planning to lend several ski artifacts from the Mountaineers Archives to the new Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum, which is slated to open at Snoqualmie Pass in Spring 2015. For more, see: http://wsssm.org/

By the way, there was discussion a few years ago in this thread about making digital copies of the Mountaineers film collection more available. I posted in 2012 about the NEH grant that UW obtained to work on these films. The UW has pretty much wrapped up their work based on this grant. They have created an online finding aid at the following page: http://content.lib.washington.edu/filmarchweb/mountaineers.html Go to the page and click on "Browse Mountaineers Collection" near the upper left corner. That will take you to the videos.

If you tried to view the Northwest Mountaineering Journal anytime during the past six months, you would have found it impossible. This was due to an update to the mountaineers.org website software in May 2014. I've resolved this problem now. The journal has been moved to my personal site, alpenglow.org. Here is the top-level page: http://www.alpenglow.org/nwmj/ I met with the Mountaineers this week and determined that their new website platform doesn't accommodate the content that I posted on their old site very well, so I decided to re-host it on my personal site. The journal will remain available on alpenglow.org for as long as I'm around (and if I can figure out how to make it happen, longer than that). Sorry for the extended downtime.

If you tried to view any of the clips mentioned in this thread during the past six months, you would have found it impossible. This was due to an update to the mountaineers.org website software in May 2014. I've resolved this problem now. The film clips formerly hosted on mountaineers.org have been moved to alpenglow.org. Here is the top-level page where you can access all the clips: http://alpenglow.org/mountaineers-history/cat/movies-film.html I met with the Mountaineers this week and determined that their new website platform doesn't accommodate the content that I posted on their old site very well, so I decided to re-host it on my personal site. The same is true of the Northwest Mountaineering Journal. The journal is now permanently hosted at the following address: http://www.alpenglow.org/nwmj/

How many times have you posted this same message, ivan? I've lost count. Do you give any thought to the individual lives of the people you post this for? Don't grieve. Be warriors. Go out and avenge. Achieve glory in the mountains. How touching. ---------------------------- I did not know Liz Daley, but my condolences go out to her family and friends.

I am working with a group of volunteers to launch a new Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum (WSSSM) at Snoqualmie Pass. The museum will be located in a new development opposite the Summit Inn at the top of the pass. Background information can be found on the museum's website here: http://www.wsssm.org/ The officers of the new museum are President Dave Moffett (former owner of the Snoqualmie Summit ski area), Vice President Dollie Armstrong, and Secretary Hugh Armstrong. (The Armstrongs are the parents of 1984 Olympic gold medalist Debbie Armstrong.) The museum will include exhibits on a variety of topics including Washington ski areas, elite competitors, equipment manufacturers, personalities, ski jumping and cross-country skiing, and more. Exhibits will consist of photographs, historic artifacts, and interactive displays. My role in the museum is to develop an exhibit devoted to backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. For this effort, I'm gathering equipment and photographs from three eras of Washington skiing: 1930s-50s, 1960s-80s, and 1990s-2010s. The idea is for the ski mountaineering exhibit to display representative equipment from each of these periods together with photographs and interactive multi-media displays. I'm posting now in search of equipment, particularly from the middle period from the 1960s through 1980s. I'd particularly like to showcase equipment representing the telemark renaissance of the 1970s and 1980s. For example: Telemark skis and bindings Climbing skins Leather telemark boots Ski poles from this period Period clothing (like early GoreTex, smelly polypro or whatever ) Mountaineering gear (i.e. backpack and ice axe) The museum seeks gear on either a donated or loaned basis. While I'm focusing now on gear from the middle period (1960s-80s), I would be eager to hear from you if you can help me locate equipment from either of the other periods. I'm also actively seeking photographs from all of these periods. I'm off to a pretty good start, but would be eager to talk to anyone who'd like to offer more photographs for the museum to consider. To follow up, you can contact me at lowell DOT skoog AT alpenglow DOT org. The Washington State Ski and Snowboard Museum committee is working toward an opening date of March/April 2015. I expect to post here from time to time to provide updates and seek more help. If you think you can help with artifacts, photos, or in any other way, please feel free to contact me. Thanks!

Thanks for the post!

Great job by Forest on this article. He dug deep into the history and folklore of the Pickets and came up with a lot of information that's probably never been published before. I was glad to assist and was excited to see some never-before-published photos from the Mountaineers Archives make it into print. The photo of the first ascent of Forbidden Peak on page 52 was found in the Lloyd Anderson collection. I think the foreground climber may be 17-year-old Fred Beckey. I found one error in the text. Page 55 names Dwight Watson as a member of the first ascent party on West Fury. Actually it was Duke Watson. Forest says he knew the difference, but got the names transposed at some point. But that's a minor thing. Overall, it's a great story.

Trip: Mt Baker - Watson Traverse, 75th anniversary video Date: 5/31/2014 Trip Report: On May 31, 2014, four friends and I skied the Watson Traverse on Mount Baker to commemorate the 75th anniversary of this route. I carried a video camera and recreated scenes from Dwight Watson's 1939 movie, which I helped preserve a few years ago. The reenactment film provides a "then and now" look at the trip and a celebration of 75 years of Cascade ski mountaineering. I've posted the film on my existing web page describing the Watson Traverse. Look for it at the bottom of this page: http://alpenglow.org/skiing/baker-2004/index.html Enjoy! Dwight Watson (L) and Andy Hennig shake hands atop Mount Baker during the first summit ski traverse in May 1939.

When we did the traverse in 1987, we went from south to north, then reversed the route back to the south peak. At the major pinnacle on the route, we followed easy ledges around the east side, which provided a fast and fairly level route to the notch north of the pinnacle. From my journal, it appears that we had four people simul-climbing on a 50m rope. The traverse went pretty fast in both directions (under two hours). I could have done the traverse with Gary Brill and several others in 1975 but I thought it would take too long, so I waited for them on the south summit. It DID take too long, and by the time they traversed over and back from the north peak it was getting really late. As I remember, a ferry worker woke me up on the trip back to Seattle. I almost slept through the unloading process and my ride home.

Not to worry. This is a temporary situation. About a week ago, the Mountaineers rolled out a major update to their website. The club's initial effort is focused on getting all their volunteer services and trip signups running smoothly again on the new system. When this is done, they've promised me that we'll get NWMJ on the air again. All past issues of the journal are backed up on my computer at home and in a distributed version control system on bitbucket.org. Someday perhaps I'll turn bitbucket.org into a public account so anybody can work on it. But for now, I have sole access. As soon as the Mountaineers are ready, I'll upload the NWMJ again to their site via FTP. It'll be a trivial task. Sorry for the downtime. I should have thought to post something about it.

I don't visit CC.com all that often. I come here about once a week to see what people have been climbing and what they are talking about. I read the new forum rules and they seem fine. I mean, isn't that the way most people would prefer to interact? And if people don't prefer to interact respectfully, I'm not going to miss them. There has been some discussion recently about whether usage of CC.com has decreased and whether new climbers are getting involved here. I don't know if that's true, but it seems like I see the same posters here again and again. Here's a thought: If you care about CC.com remaining a vital resource and attracting new climbers, maybe you shouldn't care whether long-term posters who just like to stir up crap drop out. (I guess I'm in a feisty mood this evening....) Another thing... I think CC.com is long overdue for a visual makeover. The site design is not very visually appealing. In fact, it's junky looking. (I really am in a mood this evening...) If you want to attract new participants, a clean design that provides an attractive setting for trip reports and discussions would help. NWHikers.net, Turns-all-year.com, SummitPost.com, and RockClimbing.com all have cleaner looking designs than CC.com. A big part of it is the huge presence of advertising here. It's over the top. Maybe it's necessary to keep the site going. But in it's current form (from a design standpoint) the over-emphasis on advertising is hurting this site. Okay, enough ruffled feathers for one evening.... Keep calm and carry on!

You might consider setting up a high camp somewhere instead of doing a lot of approaches to individual climbs. Some ideas: * Kool Aid Lake area (Magic, Mixup, Hurry-up, Spider, Formidable) * Eldorado Peak area (Triad, Eldorado, Dorado Needle, Klawatti, etc) * Boston Basin (Sahale, Boston, Buckner, Sharkfin, Forbidden, Torment) * Monte Cristo area (lots of peaks around Glacier Basin) * Dakobed Range (make a loop out of it, from the White River) * Railroad Creek area (Bonanza, Chiwawa, Fortress, Dumbell) * Entiat Range (Maude, 7-Fingered Jack, Fernow) * Dome Peak area (Dome, Sinister, Gunsight, Spire Point) * Terror Basin (Southern Picket peak bagging) That's a good start!

Here's a link to the story in the Seattle Times today: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022928181_chadkelloggxml.html My thoughts are going out to Chad's family right now, and to Jens Holsten.