Alpine_Tom

Well, I was home Tuesday, so I called the N. Cascades NP (360-873-4500) and left a message for their head climbing ranger, Kelly Bush, who left a message on my home answering machine yesterday. "The short answer" as she put it, is that no, the forest service does NOT have a policy of removing summit registers. They used to, but haven't since at least 1997, as a result of "a dialog with the climbing community." I'm not sure what that means, if it's the Mountaineers or what. She said she was interested in discussing it further with me, unfortunately she's in the field much of the day, and I'm at work, so I guess this answer will have to suffice. I heard someplace that some summit registers, like Mt. Constance in particular, are pilfered as souvenirs. It's possible that might be happening on some of the more accessible peaks, like Sahali or Boston.

Last winter three of us were going to attempt Little Tahoma, so I called and talked to a climbing ranger, who said the conditions were fairly good. I asked specifically about registering early at Paradise, and he said “no problem, you can show up at midnight.” He didn’t mention that the road up to Paradise was gated at Longmire every night from 5:00 PM to 9:00 AM or so during the winter. Turned out that even the lady at the latte stand outside the park knew about it. Not this ranger, though.

Just out of curiosity... If this is a one-use purchase, why not rent them? Also, did you check David in Ballard & Verticalswamp's posts?

Is there a ranger out there (like Mike Gauthier) who knows something about this? is this an actual policy, or up to the individual ranger, or just an urban (or wilderness) legend. Seems like, at a minimum, it would be exceptionally bad form to "toss" the register tube off the summit, that they'd need to pack it down with them. There's enough other stuff that are "installations not in keeping with wilderness" like bridges and trail improvements of various kinds, that it doesn't seem very realistic that they'd care about this. On the other hand, it's been a few years since I've actually seen one... FWIW, I really enjoy leafing through the summit registers. Shortly after I got Vol 1 of the "Selected Climbs" I climbed up a little peak up by Chair peak, and in the summit register I saw the signature of Eve Dearborn, about whom I'd just learned.

Dwayner -- you're the CAMROD guy? Hey, guys -- he's famous!! I didn't believe it when someone told me about CAMROD (I skipped a couple of years) then I saw you out there in '99 on the climb up to Paradise-- and I still didn't believe it! I've always wondered -- how many croquet balls do you go through?

According to Timothy Egan, in "The Good Rain" more public land is defaced by RVs than by mining. (I don't know where he got the figures, the book isn't footnoted.)

quote: Originally posted by specialed: A revised description of a recent climb conforming to the politically-correct, anti-jargon atmosphere of this post: ... Excitement just eminates from the words, doesn't it. I guess I have a hard time seeing the point of this paragraph, in any of the three permutations. Is ANYONE really interested in a heartbeat-by-heartbeat account of someone else's climb? If so, then I guess jargon, and all sorts of neologisms like "sick sketch-fest" are inevitable. Really, though, spray (another bit of jargon, which is actually extended bragging, not attacking each other, the way the word's used around here)is mostly about beating one's chest, and impressing other climbers, rather like peacocks flaring their tails and rattling them at each other. After all, words are about communication. And words like "trad" "sport" "bouldering" and "big wall" actually convey information if, for instance, you're discussing your climbing tastes and abilities with a potential partner. Whereas quote: "Dude, I was fully in a backstep just camped on a dime, when the tweaker got too painful so I highsteped, used the drop knee and finally sent" is just self-advertisement and sounds silly.

I'm in awe, Pope! Are you in Business School? This sounds like a perfect MBA thesis!

There's always the Ptarmigan Traverse. I'd assumed it was a completely hairy-chested undertaking, but according to Ira Spring's book, you can keep to the trails and it's long, but not too brutal. I'm guessing you won't find a lot of solitude there either, though.

quote: Originally posted by nolanr: It's not a mountain but 'ya gotta love California's Bumpass Hell thermal features. Don't even wanna know how they came up w/ that name. According to: http://www.americansouthwest.net/california/lassen_volcanic/bumpass_hell.html It recieved its curious name from a disgruntled explorer, who lost a leg after falling into a boiling pool.

Outside magazine had an article on sports bars a while ago. Their conclusion was that Power Bars have the best mix of the various nutrients (fat, carbs, protein, etc) that active folks need, and most of the competitors (Cliff bars, Luna bars, etc) while they taste better, aren't nutritionally optimized. Of course, you can loose a filling chewing on them when they're well chilled. So I carry one or two in an inside pocket, to keep it sort of soft. But to be realistic, I doubt it matters all that much. If it tastes good and it works for you, go ahead and eat it, and it'll be fine. Kipper snacks are great, but they're kind of a mess. There was a guy who wrote a book about his solo climb of McKinley; he spoke at REI a few years ago, and he said he lived mostly on Top Rahmen. (I think it was Harvey Manning who talked about making sure your emergency food wasn't so good that you ended up eating it all before an emergency hit. I believe at one point he recommended carrying... dry dog food! It's light, nutritious, doesn't spoil readily, and you're not likely to snack on it on the hike in! I guess that makes sense, but I'M not trying it!) [This message has been edited by Alpine Tom (edited 06-14-2001).]

I got a pair of Reichle Eigers a few years ago, because REI advertised them as being compatible with step-in crampons - like my . And, they were... until they got broken in, and now they flex too much. I'd recommend at least looking at crampons that have the "newmatic" bindings. Grivel has them, so does BD, and other manufacturers. Stubai makes an aluminum crampon that's supposed to be great, apparently, if you're not climbing on hard ice, and it's lighter than you can believe!

I've always wondered about Bear's Breast Mountain.

Long's pass is the approach for the easier routes up Stuart, including Cascadia Couloir. This time of year, you'd want an ice axe and crampons, but there's probably no need for a rope -- Cascadia is low class 4 at worst.

According to a related article in todays NY Times, at: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/13/health/13LYME.html lyme disease isn't nearly the scourge I had feared. Summed up, the article says: -Lyme disease is very difficult to catch, even from a deer tick in a Lyme-infested area, and can easily be stopped in its tracks with a single dose of an antibiotic, a new study shows. -People who are bitten can watch the site where the tick fed, Dr. Shapiro said, and if they develop a rash within a few weeks, they can take a full course of antibiotics. "Give that person 10 to 21 days of antibiotics," he said, "and they will be fine." -Lyme disease researchers emphasized, however, that previous studies had shown that most people with the infection get better on their own, without antibiotics. And while a small percentage develop serious symptoms, like arthritis or heart disorders, even the vast majority of these get better, the researchers said. (The entire article is worth reading, although you have to subscribe to read it.) The upshot is, I don't have to worry nearly as much as I had been. Just inspect yourself afterwards, and if you find a tick, pick it off, and watch the area for a few weeks afterwards. To extend Pencil Pusher's remarks, it's more like the clap than AIDS. [This message has been edited by Alpine Tom (edited 06-13-2001).]

The phrase "alpine style" only makes sense in mountains high enough for siege tactics (a string of camps, established in a series of increasingly high climbs, with fixed ropes, sherpas, etc.) No place in the the US, except maybe Denali, is high enough for some sort of siege climbing to make sense. "Alpine style" doesn't mean you don't take a tent, or don't sleep, it just means you haul your gear with you, as opposed to setting up a series of camps, stocking them, and working your way up the mountain over a few weeks. When I did Rainier in a single day, we left Paradise around 1:00 AM, and went up via Fuhrer Finger, which is the shortest route to the summit. We got to the summit by around 11:00, hung out there for a couple of hours, and were back to Paradise by 5:30 or so. We didn't bring tents or stoves or anything, but I did haul along an emergency shelter (basically an oversized Hefty bag.) But, spending the night at Camp Muir (or Thumb Rock, or the summit) doesn't make it a non-alpine ascent. It just occurs to me: there's probably still room in the record books for a first himalayan ascent of Rainier, complete with sherpas, fixed ropes, three or four camps, and bottled oxygen!

2 out of 13? For this list, that's pertty good!

"Alpine" doesn't mean "non-stop push," it means not using previously establishing camps to leapfrog up. If you were climbing a mountain like Everest, you couldn't climb it in a day. The "traditional" siege method involved going up and setting up and stocking camps increasingly high up, so that on your summit bid you'd leapfrog from one camp to the next, essentially, a day at a time, and at each camp you'd have food, fuel, and tents waiting for you. (or to be more accurate, using the Lohtse face as an example probably from base camp, to camp 3, to the south summit, and then to the summit.) An alpine ascent would still mean taking three or four days to climb the mountain, but you'd haul your bivy gear with you as you went. To extend himalayan tactics to Rainier: You'd push up to Camp Muir the first day, and establish a camp, and call it Camp 1. The next day you'd descend to the parking lot. After a rest day, you'd push up to the top of DC, and establish a camp up there. Camp 2. Probably you'd fix lines up the cleaver. You'd retreat back down to Muir and spent the night. The next day you might descend back down to Longmire, to breathe thick air. Then, when you're ready for your summit push, you'd climb to camp 1, spend the night in your prepared camp, the next day you'd push to your camp 2, using the fixed lines you put in place earlier, and spend the night there, then on your glorious summit day, you'd push nonstop from the top of DC all the way to the summit, and back down to camp 1, in a single day! You'd retreat to base camp (the parking lot) the following day, and send out your press releases on the satellite phone, and you and your sherpas would spend the next few days bringing down the gear from your camps, and the expedition would be over.

Steve Swenson.

Sounds like the crummy weather lately has a lot of people feeling kind of cranky.

Yeah, given the develpment of Extreme Alpinism, I guess it would be pretty surprising if someone HADN'T done it by now. Okay, how about this. Taking a page from the pretentious and self-righteous Goran Kropp... climbing all five volcanoes, solo, and BICYCLING beteen each one! Then I could write a book talking about how everyone else cheats in their climbing but me.

That's a great idea, clipping it with biners. I'll try that next time I go up. I think those ziplock bags with the plastic sliders are about the best advance in climbing gear since goretex. It's a great way to keep dry stuff dry and wet stuff isolated, and clothing doesn't wad up nearly so bad in the pack.

That picture of Ben Lomond looks like Sloan Peak to me. Maybe it's Sloan Peak on the Paramount Logo! Actually, it looks a lot like the south face of Mt. Pugh: [This message has been edited by Alpine Tom (edited 06-08-2001).] [This message has been edited by Alpine Tom (edited 06-08-2001).]

Sure, "I get high on life" is lame and old and trite. So is "because it's there." A few other reasons not to partake: - I've got kids, and feel the need to set an example. - When I was 20, a joint wouldn't even get you a traffic ticket. These days, the penalties are far more secure, and your supply is inherently untrustable. - In my experience, pharmaceuticals mediate reality. I’d rather experience it directly. - I used to tell people, in all earnestness, that having a couple quick beers then taking off on my motorcycle gave me about the greatest feeling there was. In hindsight, I did feel a real rush, but it was pretty dumb. The point is that it screws with your judgement. Booze does, cocaine does. I don't know about heroin, maybe that's okay. Trainspotting was a pretty cool movie. - Cocaine makes you paranoid - Ecstasy screws with your pleasure centers in your brain, and weakens your ability to feel pleasure. - Meth and Cocaine production are ecological nightmares. - addiction is a physiological thing, and varies with the individual. That’s true of alcohol and pot, as well as heroin. It has very little to do with personality, or the amount you partake of. How do you find out if you’ve got an addictive physiology? Try it and find out. ‘course then, it’s too late. Oops. Personal family experience on this one. My $.02

Thanks for all the great feedback. Sadly, Sundog doesn't seem to be around anymore. Well, their website doesn't answer, which is kind of the same thing. Fortunately, Tamrac makes a dozen varieties of wedge-shaped bags in subtly different sizes. I have used the little point&shoot cameras (my wife has a water-resistant 105mm zoom model) and even though wanna-bes like Ira Spring think they're great, I am usually disappointed with the pictures. I have too hard a time keeping track of what they're focusing on, and how much of the viewfinder is in the picture at what zoom, etc. It is handy to be able to stick it into your pocket, though. The good thing is that my SLR is rather old, and manual, so if I trash it on a climb (which I'm NOT trying to) I can justify buying a Nikon N65. Then I'll really NEED the bag.