Alpine_Tom

Thanks, Crackers. I certainly didn't expect a response from the horse's mouth, so to speak. I agree, over time a $60 delta is pretty minor (over five years, it's a dollar a month.) I don't ski, so I don't need to carry skis. And I feel like those cute zippered mesh pockets on the waist strap of the REI pack are just silly (but the perfect place to keep your dog-bone-shaped caribiners!) The thing that I find really frustrating about most technical packs is the lack of outside pouches or pockets, and I really appreciate the big stretchy pouches on the sides of the REI model. No, they won't last forever, and they won't hold a handful of cams each, but for a convenient place to stash a water bottle, or a couple of apples, it beats the hell out of jamming everything into the main pack where it inevidably falls to the bottom and have to dig out everything else to find what you're looking for. It's a tradeoff, I suppose. I am no Steve House; hell, I'm hardly qualified to look at pictures of the routes he does. The most technical route I've done that I might have used this pack on is the N. Ridge of Stuart. As one who's raised buyer's remorse to an art form, no doubt I'll spent a LOT of time thinking about what I *SHOULD* have gotten. If I was in Portland, I'd certainly have come down to have a look at your facility.

Since the death of analog cell service, my experience in the mountains has been uniformly crappy, with my AT&T service. I got brilliant service at the summit of Stuart years ago with an analog phone, but trying two years running with a digital phone -- nothing. Then, two weekends ago, I was up on Colchuck, and got no signal at all, but half a mile away at the summit of Dragontail -- four bars!! Go figure.

Updated information from the Everett Herald: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090707/NEWS01/707079924 I was hoping it would clear things up, but it only makes it more odd -- how could the snow be too soft to self-arrest? The death of Lindsey White, 39, is the first climbing-related fatality in Snohomish County this year, Snohomish County sheriff's Sgt. Danny Wikstrom said. "It's one too many," he said. "Hopefully, it will be the last one." The Snohomish County Medical Examiner on Monday ruled White's death an accident. White was climbing to the 7,136-feet summit Sunday morning, with her boyfriend, also 39 from Duvall, Wikstrom said. Around 10:30 a.m. the couple were crossing a 40-degree snow slope a few hundred feet below the peak. White lost her footing, and tried to use her ice axe to stop her fall, but the snow was too soft, Wikstrom said. Her boyfriend told officials he watched her fall. "He heard her scream and saw her sliding down the snow," Wikstrom said. The boyfriend was able to reach White but was unable to revive her. He then hiked about six hours to the ruins of the old Monte Cristo town where he alerted Forest Service rangers.

The ironic bit is that a ranger threatened to give us a ticket for coming unroped down the Emmonds a few years ago, after climbing Lib Ridge. It's illegal to climb above Muir or Sherman without being roped (even though he agreed that most crevasse falls happen on the Interglacier, where it's NOT required to rope up.) I hope it goes without saying, I wish him a speedy recovery.

Trip: Peshastin Pinacles - Martian Diagonal, The Tunnel Date: 7/5/2009 Trip Report: oooh -- my very firstest ever rock climbing forum TR!! I was in Leavenworth for the weekend of the fourth of July with family and friends, so I brought along my rock shoes and the book to spend a morning someplace climbing. I decided to go to Peshastin Pinnacles since I'd never been there, and there were easy routes listed, and I figured they'd be easier to locate than someplace on the Icycle. I got there around 6:30, slightly hung over from King Ludwig's, and was the only one there; I had the whole park to myself! This was my first time on sandstone, and it's kinda different, so it was a learning experience. I did The Cave on Orchard Rock, a cool tunnel through the rock, rated at 5.6. One problem I ran into is that I didn't bring a rope, so I spent a LOT more time downclimbing than actually climbing. Then I went wandering off looking for Sunset Slab, which isn't quite where the diagram on Leavenworth Rock shows, and it's damned hard to figure out from the book where the different lines are. I climbed (I think) Sunset (5.4) but I'm not really sure, and again, spent 20 minutes downclimbing a five minute climb. On the walk up looking for Sunset Slab, I passed Martian Rock, and thought that the Martian Diagonal looked easier than the 5.6 that it's rated, so I decided to finish up on that. It's a scramble up to a nearly-horizontal crack that's pretty easy to do, if you don't mind the exposure, but there's an awkward (for me) bit getting up from one crack to another one about ten feet higher. I managed it, but I was awfully slow, and took my time managing my emotions. (Alex Minnev says, if you're not scared, it's not climbing. I was definitely climbing!) Looking at the shiny bolts there at the crux (and the rusty old piton) I was feeling a bit sorry for myself. By this time there was another party of two guys there, scoping out another route on Martian Rock. After I got to the top (the last third is no problem) I figured it was just an easy walk-off and downclimb, but it turns out there's about a ten-foot drop that's pretty stiff. I guess it's a 5.8 climb up, but there's no way *I* could downclimb it. I thought I might be able to just jump down and land on the rock below, but since those guys were there, I called over and asked them if they could help me out with a rope. There was an amazing rap anchor there: a half-inch bolt with a big steel hanger, and a pear-shaped rap ring, made of, no lie, half-inch steel. You could have hauled a pickup truck up on that! So after the rescue (I just hand-over-handed down the step) I headed off back to family and breakfast. It's an interesting place. The sun was hot as hell even at 9:00 AM, but in the shade it was perfectly comfortable. I suppose a bit part of climbing strategy there is planning your routes for shade. I took a bunch of photos (including of the marmot there at the top of Martian Rock who scrambled right up the side of the rock, and then stood there like he was going to block my descent) but they're nothing exceptional. Really interesting looking rock, cool swallows flitting around, and even a couple of hummingbirds showed up to buzz me. Gear Notes: rock shoes, helmet. Shoulda brought a rap rope. Approach Notes: Walk 30 feet from the parking lot, through a garden gate.

From the Seattle Times. The description suggests she was climbing Monte Cristo Peak. The mountain climber who died from a fall Sunday near Monte Cristo in eastern Snohomish County was a 39-year-old Duvall woman, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. The woman's body was recovered earlier today, according to the Sheriff's Office. The victim's name has not been released by the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office. The woman and her climbing companion — a 39-year-old Duvall man — were climbing in a snow field when the woman lost her footing and fell about 700 feet over a cliff. The man climbed down to where she fell and discovered her body. He made it back down to the Monte Cristo town site for help late Sunday afternoon. A helicopter was used to hoist rescue workers down to her body so they could bring her out in the helicopter, the Sheriff's Office said.

fwiw, here's a picture of that side of Stuart, from last Saturday:

Thanks for all your feedback. My intentions are for a pack that I'd use probably less than half a dozen times a year. If I were the kind of climber I'd *LIKE* to be (going out a few times a month) then I'd certainly opt for a more robust well-built pack.

Yabbut the Cilogear 30L, which I assume is about the same capacity of the Flash 30 (except without those nice stretchy pockets on the sides) costs about twice as much.

It looks like a more-or-less ideal lightweight day pack at a reasonable price. Anyone have any experience with it, or have a better suggestion? It doesn't have a rope strap across the top, which is unfortunate.

You're a Hero Dad.

You can laugh at that guy, but he probably gets more of a forearm workout climbing one pitch, than you do in two hours at the gym.

The usual suspects are out of town or otherwise unavailable, and I sorely need to get out on some rock. I'm thinking something like the W. Arete of Constance, NE Buttress of Colchuck, that sort of thing. These days I'm more interested in rock than snow, but could be talked into the N. Face of Buckner, or the White Salmon route on Shuksan. I need to be home Sunday (my wife's grandmother's 100th birthday!) so I'm kinda limited to a Friday eve - Saturday outing.

I figured this would be a manageable solo outing, and it was pretty dire, though it was about ten years ago, and conditions may have changed. Finding the goodell creek trailhead was tough. There's no view at all. There was a cairn in the middle of the trail to let you know when to head up the hillside, but eventually I lost the sketchy trail, and turned around, never having got out of the trees. Missed the Goodell creek trail heading down, flailed around in rotting trees down in the valley, eventually came across the creek (just barely) badly dehydrated. If he likes bushwhacking, he'll love it. I'd do with Rad and take him up Sahale arm. Jim Nelson wrote something like "out-of-town visitors will want to go to Rainier, but take them up to Cascade Pass, it'll change their life."

Is the road in okay condition for mountain biking? Or is it completely washed out?

Yes, but how will you know if it's yours or a ... pod axe?

I was up there a couple of weeks ago, trying to climb Mt. Ruth. The road was blocked at the highway, and there was a dozen or so avalanche tracks over the road. I'd be really surprised if it was cleared enough to get up there. I'd take a bike to ride up the road rather than counting on being able to drive.

On Thursday, 5/21, about a mile or so in. Prescription glasses in a Ray-Ban case. Clarification -- Snow Lake Trail by Alpental, not by Leavenworth.

There's a bunch of options, but without a guidebook, route names won't do much good. You could hike up to Granite Mtn, take one of several routes up Snoqualmie Peak, or Guye Peak, depending on your appetite for spice. Of course, The Tooth is the great hoary classic of 5.4 climbing.

Just follow the boot track, or the hundred people ahead of you.

I did it in a day, 1:00 AM (or so) to 5:00 PM (or so) on the Fuhrer Finger route, in June 1996. I had read that it was the shortest route to the summit, so it seemed like the best route for a one-day outing. The biggest surprise, to me, is that the following day I was much less sore and stiff than I typically am after 2-day climbs. When you avoid hauling the 40-pound pack, with sleeping bag, pad, tent, and all the other overnight gear, up, and more importantly, back down, and that makes a big difference. These days, that seems to me to miss the point of climbing: getting into the experience of nature, instead turning the mountain into something like a gigantic gym (in fact the guy I climbed with, who was doing his second Rainier climb of the week, climbed with a Walkman radio.)

Trip: Tatoosh traverse Date: 10/26/2008 Trip Report: Met up with Brad C. and we did the 'standard' Tatoosh Traverse: Pinnacle, The Castle, Fosse and Unicorn. We weren't sure what the conditions would be like, whether there'd be ice up high or what, but it was just fine. There's a few inches of snow on the flats, and some of the places along the ridge the snow obscures the trail (not like you really need a trail) but it was great. Totally beautiful weather, not a cloud in the sky, but just hazy enough that we couldn't really make out Hood to the south. It didn't take nearly as long as I'd expected: we hit the trail around 7:30, and were coming back down off Unicorn by 2:00. We could easily have tagged another peak or two: Border Peak or Stevens but didn't really see the need. A fun day; it makes me want to go back in the winter! Pictures at: http://home.comcast.net/~tbreit/tatoosh.htm Gear Notes: Trail shoes. I had hiking poles, which my pore ole knees need these days. There are rap anchors on top of Unicorn and The Castle, but downclimbing isn't really a problem. Didn't need rock shoes. Approach Notes: We went in on the Pinnacle saddle trail, by Reflection lake, and came out on the Snow Lake trail. I'd very strongly recommend doing the other direction, because coming down those boulders down to Snow Lake is really tedious. I think it'd be a lot easier to go up that direction, and then have the nice hike out on the Pinnacle trail. Lots of scree heading up Unicorn, and a LOT of loose rock up above that, up to where it flattens out. It'd be easier to go up the snow, which was pretty firm.

I need to get out before the rains come for good, and the regular suspects are tied up. I'm interested in something like the Tatoosh Traverse, Constance W Arete, the W. Ridge of Prussik, NW Face of Kangaroo Temple, or something of that nature. PM me, or email me to tbreit-at-comcast-dot-net.

It seems like a statistically meaningless sample (19 climbers) and fairly minimal distinctions, but maybe the original article is more detailed than this summary. I'd like to see a distinction between people who climb to ~14,411 and Himalayan climbers -- my gut reaction is that spending time in the "death zone" would be likely to have much more of an effect than climbing up to the more civilized altitudes that true weekend warriors see.

My favorite "stale beta" experience was back years ago when I started climbing. I decided to try Mt. Baring, the dog route. I had an old copy of Beckey I'd got from a used book store, and so when the route description said to 'head uphill at the clearcut' well... I didn't know then that it wasn't that great a climb with the best of beta.