Alpine_Tom

"It's not climbing if you aren't scared." Alex Mineev

I'm one of those for whom a "selected climbs" book is useful because it's easier to identify the "good" climbs. The approach descriptions tend to be more accurate as well. (Compare, for example, the approach description of White Chuck Mtn in Beckey to Smoot's.) I suppose a 'real' climber would consider sketchy approach descriptions, etc, a part of the charm of the climb, and certainly there's a lot to be said for exploring, getting lost, and found again, but for those of us with a limited number of free weekends, the selected guides have their place. And, as someone else also mentioned, when everyone gets channeled onto the "selected" climbs, the ones that don't make the cut are emptied out. The question of who will take over Beckey's mantle is one that I've heard discussed from time to time. No doubt he would have something to say about it. But now that the books are assembled, it's mostly about maintenance, which is a much easier job than the creation of the books. An armchair climber with a CC.com logon could just about keep them up with occasional calls for new edition beta.

Aren't most of these actually rural legends? Except maybe the massive granite dome in Renton.

Great shot!! Thanks for posting it. The first time I summitted Rainier ten years ago, my camera batteries died on the summit, and so on the drive out I missed out on what would have been fabulous photos of stacked lenticulars in the sunset.

At this place: http://www.mrboxonline.com/new_fillers.html the biodegradable packing peanuts cost $10.72 for 8 cubic feet, and the regular cost $12.95. So, the biodegradeable ones are cheaper! I guess they're slow to catch on because they melt in water. I wonder if they degrade in humidity as well?

Y'know, they talk about how dumb sport parachuters are, to jump out of perfectly good airplanes... I have to screw up the nerve to rappel down something that steep, let alone running down and jumping.

Now, wait. Are they supposed to match your harness, your shoes, or your lycra? Have I been doing it wrong all along? No WONDER I can't climb 5.11!!!

FWIW, it's in Peggy Goldman's book, called something like "climbing Washington's Highest Mountains" I don't recall her discussing skiing, though.

Sahale (from the Arm) is more like "Now you've been on a glacier, and on some rocks" There really isn't a lot of climbing involved, its more an alpine excursion. However, the summit is a great spot, and I agree, the views are fantastic. I think it is free-soloed quite commonly. (maybe the norm) I was fortunate enough to do it from Boston Basin, and from there it's a pretty nice climb IMHO.

Emmons glacier certainly belongs on the list The Brothers (Olympics) It looks cool from Seattle, but it's just a long hike through the woods followed by a scree scamble, and a loooong hike out.

The Happy Buzzard ("slightly disreputable but elegant") somewhere outside Annapolis, Maryland, in 1977. The drinking age there at the time was 18 for beer & wine, so I didn't even need fake ID.

No legs, sorry, just the fabric. It's fairly lightweight fabric, and they have zippers up the sides as well, about halfway up from the cuffs. Do they sound like yours, Alex? I saw you'd been on the N. Face a couple weeks ago.

I was up on Vesper Peak yesterday, practicing my white-out navigation skills, and came across a pair of pants legs, the kind you zipper off. They're white, and I can't find any brand or size markings. PM me if you know who's they are.

Not exactly a burning issue, but it seems like an interesting mountain trivia question. Is there any record of who was the last to make an ascent of St. Helens before the 1980 eruption?

The Interglacier is the only place where I've ever been involved in a crevasse fall (a climbing partner, also unroped.) Last year a climbing ranger at Camp Shurman told me that there are more crevasse falls on the Interglacier than anywhere else on Rainier.

Very cool morning photos. I've been reading a couple of books about Monte Cristo, "The Coffee Chased Us Up" and "A Broad Ledge of Gold" and so it's nice to read about an outing over there.

Hiked up Tomyhoi Peak Saturday. Fabulous views up there, the colors are at their peak. The scramble wasn't as fun as they say, but it was still worth it.

I hear New Zealand is a good place to emigrate to, if you're skilled. Mountains, too!

The store on 1st ave S. is having a blowout sale on lots of stuff, 50% - 70% off. I got a new pair of gaiters for $9. The sale goes through the end of the month.

Do they sell these videos? I'd buy one, and I bet plenty of people here would. In the 19th century, stuff was sometimes published "by subscription." I think John Wesley Powell's grand canyon journals were originally published that way. If the mountaineers were to do something like that, you'd have a POT of money to do the work.

A bit of a perspective check... if there were no RMI, probably a number of people would never climb Rainier. Which may or may not be a good thing (I have a tendency to think of it as a privledge that ought to be earned, not purchased, but that's just me.) But, like the Mountaineers, they do provide a safe way for people who want to climb, and who would probably do it regardless, to stay out of trouble. It's probably better to have two cattle shows than fifteen two or three person parties stumbling around, trying to pass each other, slipping and having gear trouble, getting hurt and needing rescues. I sure can't imagine that RMI is any worse than any other guiding service would be if it handled that many clients. That they don't want to share shouldn't be surprising. Given the amount of business they seem to get, to loose a substantial amount of space on the mountain would be pretty hard on them (and on the guides they employ.) Big Lou certainly isn't getting rich of the concession.

My first bivvy: My first attempt on Mt. Rainier, via Emmonds glacier, with a more experienced partner. Rented all climbing gear: ice axe, too-small plastic boots, incorrectly fitted crampons, pack. Brought my $50 Costco car-camping tent and a $20 sleeping bag. We got to Shurman with no problems. Once pitched, the tent caught the wind like a sail; I must have hauled 100 lbs of rocks into it to keep it from blowing away. Fred brought the stove etc, I was supposed to pack the food, but it turned out I had left the freeze-dried food in the car. I lay there and shivered, hungry, in my thin bag while the wind whipped the tent like a flag in a gale. The boots were so tight it hurt to put them on even before standing up. We headed out and got to about 13,000’ or so before turning back because of clouds coming in. I lost one of the crampons half an hour out of camp, and couldn’t get it back on (my fingers were too cold) so I just slogged on with the one crampon. This could go in a “find the mistakes in this picture” thread.

The distances (I hope) will doom it. It's probably a farther drive from Seattle than Whistler, and a farther drive from Portland than Bachelor. You can gamble almost anywhere; it's hard to imagine the costs making sense, especially the costs of hauling all the construction equipment and workers to a remote location like that. But then, if the state rebuilds the highway for them (maybe they would) and forgoes all tax reciepts for ten years or so, and maybe the Bush administration would kick in for a subsidized airport, heck, it could work. At least, it wouldn't cost THEM that much. There'd be at least a couple dozen minimum-wage jobs in it for the taxpayers.

"If you're not burning gas, you're not having fun."

What if you pre-place your own flagging tape?