Alpine_Tom

I tend to side with the "it's all good beta" school. Certainly it's true that being able to scour the web for a dozen successful trip reports on, say, Liberty Ridge might temp an unqualified party to give it a shot. But the biggest benefit is in checking conditions – if a road is washed out, or the route is melted out, or you need to get there extra early for camping permits, it’s certainly nice to be able to find out about it before begging a day off from one’s lovely spouse and talking a partner into going, and heading up to get skunked. I read in some climbing book printed years ago that British climbers arrange climbs in pubs, American climbers arrange them on the telephone. You could probably amend that to “northwest climbers arrange climbs on e-mail.”

Yeah, the most impressive part of the show was how matter-of-fact and "no big deal" his whole discussion was. I guess for Fred, talking about first ascents in the Cascades is about like me talking about mowing my back yard, just something you do. One bit of added trivia -- he talked about the railroad engineer Stevens who found Stevens pass. He later went on to be the chief engineer of the Panama Canal for several years.

I echo RWB. Thanks for putting in all the hard work and risks, SAR, and my condolences to the family and loved ones. It's a sobering thought, this guy probably headed out for an fun day of noodling around with his snowshoes, meet the wife in time for drinks and dinner...

Anyone know why he's not publishing this book through the Mountaineers?

Not to change the subject, but I'm curious why you tried to descend the N. Face. Seems like it would have been far easier to descend the east side "Dry Gulch route" to the climber's left. I've been up there in the winter, and it's much easier going than dealing with the endless trees and bushwhacking of the N. Face.

I was up on the Snow Lake trail Saturday with some kids hiking, and got this shot of Chair. There are three people descending in the bowl, at the bottom of the picture. This was around 3:30 or so. Was that anyone here?

Seems like approaches, particularly in winter, vary as much as the climbs do. If the road's closed so you have to hike or ski another four or five miles (Baker, Big 4, Colchuck) then by that standard, it's more committing. And there's the approaches that are easier in the winter when the snow cover minimizes the bushwhacking. Nelson differentiates the approach and the climb in his books, that seems like a sensible way to do it. But really, you'd have to be pretty naive NOT to be aware that the Northern Pickets ares a long hike in, and requires a lot more commitment (and weather planning, etc) than Snow Creek Wall.

Well, I ordered it, emboldened by the "100% satisfaction guarantee" and it came, and... man is it thin! Envsion a couple of sheets of nylon with, I don't know, I few stray packing peanuts sewed in between. I don't think Peter would stay warm sleeping in it in the house! I can't imagine what they're thinking, calling it a 30degee bag. But it's light, and it's small -- it packs into a stuff bag the size of my down coat's.

Way to go, Lee. Glad to see you didn't get cheated out of an after-dark descent after all!

That looks pretty cool. I need to get a lightweight sleeping bag for my five-year-old for this summer for mini-backpacking outings, and this looks like just the ticket.

Has anyone used the Granite Gear Alpine Light? I was looking at it at Second Ascent, and it looked just about perfect, to me. A bit lighter than the Wild Things Ice Sac, two tool holders, and much tougher fabric than the Golite. Plus, it's pretty cheap, always a positive feature.

That's right. Never forget -- the outdoors, like everplace else, is about PEOPLE. God put it there for people to enjoy, and if animals, whether they're dogs, bear, cougars, or snafflehounds, infringe on anyone's outdoor experience, banish 'em. Shoot 'em, kill 'em, or fine the hell out of anyone who has the audacity to bring their animal into YOUR backcountry. Remember, it's all about YOU.

I think I finished picking the last of the devils club thorns out of my hands yesterday. Seriously. I think I've learned the "bring your gloves" lesson, though. In any event, I'm not free this weekend. I do have all the photos back, though. And your ski poles.

Leejams and I attempted it this Sunday. It kicked our butts (I'm 0 - 4 on this peak!) The snow is VERY high up -- it looks more like October than February up there. We did the Whitehorse glacier route, and bushwhacked up the left side to about 2200 feet, when we finally got onto snow. This took about two hours. It seemed to me that the trail was better marked with survey tape than it was last time I was up here six years ago. Maybe because Nelson has it in his newer book, so it gets done more frequently? We ended up turning around at around 4600 feet, when it became clear that we couldn't summit and get down again before dark. Our plan had been to descend the Niederbrum trail, but I was were worried that it might not be identifiable, and we REALLY didn't want to be stumbling around there in the dark. So we descended the right side of the bowl (climbers right) thinking that it looked less nasty from below. We were wrong, we slogged and slipped and banged ourselves up, descending the trees. The good news is that, once you get up above the brush, the snow is pretty deep and in very good shape. It's a fun climb, if you can get deal with the approach. (Spend long enough in the devils club, and slide alder doesn't seem so bad!) I'd recommend holding off on this route until April or May, when (hopefully) there's more snow cover, and the days are longer. It's a big mountain.

I always assumed that Pat Boone metal album was a joke, like those "Golden Throats" songs (like Shatner doing "Lucy in the Sky") So it seems to miss the point to critisize them -- the joke is that they're SUPPOSED to suck. I'm trying to get my mind around the idea that "In a Metal Mood" was supposed to be a serious effort, but I just can't. There is a cd called "Lounge against the Machine" that's lounge versions of contemporary pop/rock songs (like Fight for your Right" and "Bullet the Blue Sky") that my daughter thought was pretty amusing.

Check your e-mail, man.

See, this is what pisses people off about the news industry -- it's more important to break the story than to get it accurate. You can do a lot more damage by passing along unconfirmed reports than by waiting until you know something or a fact, regardless of the bragging rights of being the first to break a story.

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middle child, of three. This is something I've thought about some. Before I got into climbing, my primary interest was bicycle racing, another lily-white sport. The only notable black guy I can think of in the sport was in the early 1900s, a famous racer named Major Taylor. (There was a track racer who was nationally prominent in the 1980's, Nelson Vails.) It does seem like sports/interests are fairly segregated. As I think about it, I don't think I've ever noticed a black kid down at the local skate park, or in the pages of the one or two skateboard magazines I've looked at. It could well be a lack of mentors, I suppose. My parents are the original non-outdoors types, but a guy I worked with (in a computer shop) got me interested. But if you tend to hang out with people of your own socio-economic group, and your socio-economic group tends not to climb/bicycle/skateboard, chances are, you won't take it up.

You may have already looked into this, but you can get plastics stretched by any ski place. My feet are pretty wide (in the front) and I took a pair of plastics that were too painful to wear up to Pro Ski on Aurora, and they stretched 'em out so they fit perfectly now.

My son is now five (as of today!) and is about 3'6" so he's not that big. Yet. I guess the question is, why would I choose a Z-rest, or other closed-cell pad over a self-inflating Thermarast, besides a slight weight (and cost) savings? I guess there is the issue of puncture protection; on a multi-day backcountry trip, that could cast a pall over the whole trip. I don't know how likely that is to happen, tho. And the free repair thing is part of what sold me in the first place.

Here's my favorite passage: And in Alaska, the state government contends that even some section lines -- the imaginary grid that marks off every square mile in the nation -- are subject to the provision and can be claimed as roads. The best part is, it sounds like the taxpayers get to pay for PAVING the roads, too! At least now we know where our trail park dollars will be going.

On our DC climb, Sunday-Monday, Sep 8/9, I lost a pair of red fleece gloves in the Muir Hut. They weren't at all expensive (like, $5) but they fit me like, well, a glove, and I can't find replacements that are nearly so comfortable. They're red, with a sort of Navajo pattern on the backs, and black plastic grippy stuff on the palms. If they showed up in your pack, I'd greatly appreciate their return.

I don't think this has been covered on this forum yet. I've been using a Cascade Designs 3/4 length thermarest, and I'm happy with it. But I need to buy a new sleeping pad for my son, and am wondering what advice you might have. It has to be light, because he's young, but I want it to be reasonably comfortable. And if there's something I should get for him so I can use it instead of mine, then what is it?

To put it in perspective, Donald Dovey doesn't have to worry about parking fees anymore. One option to avoid the fee would be to bicycle there, or bicycle the last mile or two.