Alpine_Tom

Also, the replacement bridge was 4 lanes wide, rather than the two lanes of the original one.

Thanks. It was a really fun climb, and we were the only ones we saw on the route. Such a distinctive and impressive route is a wonderful experience. The slog out is a drag, but I'm already starting to forget how miserable that part was, and thinking about next time, leading it!

Sorry for the alarm. We were on the Stuart N. Ridge, and had to bivy at the summit. Wife got a bit alarmed. When I was up there 9 years ago, there was good cell service, but not any more.

According to Alan Kearney, it's about 4 1/2 miles from the trailhead to Boston Basin. Another two miles or so, if memory serves, from where you enter the basin to the base of Sharkfin. (These are one-way distances.)

On LR a couple of years ago, there was a group of guys from Tennessee that had brought up Prego sauce -- they'd emptied the jar into a zip-lock bag, and hauled it up without a problem. My favorite high-altitude snack food is peanut m&ms -- you get your protein, your sugar, and your fat, and it melts in your mouth, not in your hand!

Thanks for the fun read. It's such a different experience with kids, isn't it? My son is 7, and I'm hoping to get him up there before much longer. Stay away from the Chicken Teriyaki -- next time go for the Polynesian Chicken. The pineapples make all the difference!

Um, let's don't.

I am truly sorry for your loss; I assume you're aware of the discussions of the accident that occurred on here. That said, it is a stunningly beautiful area. If you don't plan on spending a night there, you'll regret it once you're up there. (I'd attach a photo, but I've never been able to take a picture of that area that half does it justice.)

Around here, one significant issue is the size of a weather window. It's not uncommon to realize Friday that Saturday is actually going to be a good day, so you better go and get it before the next weather system comes in. One reason it took me a while to do Liberty Ridge is finding a three-day window in June when I could go.

FWIW, despite all the criticism of him not having a helmet, it wouldn't have made a bit of difference, assuming his description of the accident was accurate. Maybe he should have had a cell phone, but you'd be stupid to count on a cell phone to save your butt in the mountains. I've done soloing in 4th class conditions; I bet nearly everyone here has. Mostly you get lucky, or make safe decisions, and the "near-misses" are either unnoticed or chuckled over later. There but for Grace of any one of us.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002448036_lavasledding22.html Lava Sledding. You climb up a hillside, bellyflop onto a sled measuring 12 feet long by 6 inches wide — and speed down man-made courses of hardened lava rocks sprinkled with grass. 70mph over lava rock, anyone?

Nice china tea service!

Although, to clear up confusion, the video is called "Goldenhorn Pinnacle" rather than Golden Horn, as is mentioned in the referred thread.

How do you keep it in place? Are you using a backpack-type camelback that you're wearing backwards? Or does your coat have a large inside pocket?

I was anxious about the summit of Thielsen, since I think "Oregon High" calls it low-5th class. In fact, I brought a 30m rope in case I had to rappel down. But it's very straightforward, and not at all difficult.

There are plenty of trails that are marked with blazes. Why would a dab of white paint be so much more offensive than gouging a hunk of bark from the tree? One advantage of having the correct trail marked is that the incorrect dead-ends would not get used, and the correct trail would become more obvious. Then, after the paint wears off, the trail would still be more obvious and easy to follow.

I did Shasta (Clear Creek) and Thielsen in early Sept a couple of years ago. Thielsen was fun, and quite pretty, though not a very long outing for the trip. Shasta was a scree slog -- bring gaiters! http://home.comcast.net/~tbreit/thielsen.htm http://home.comcast.net/~tbreit/shasta.htm

You could head up to the N. Cascades hwy, and tag Colonial, Pyramid, Paul Bunyan's stump and the other one. Peggy Goldman's book on the 100 highest mountains has several trips that combine two or three of them -- Jack Mountain and Little Jack, I think was one of them -- that involve two or three days.

What the hell is going on this year? Seems like every day there's another report here of someone dying around here in the mountains. Be safe, people.

Just reading that makes my knees hurt!

why not just blow the water out of the tube between drinks? It works pretty well, in my experience.

This is wild -- when I was up there last month, I ran into Aidan and his dad at Camp Muir. I talked to them for a few minutes, and they both seemed like really nice people. They were talking about how they were going to do a summit attempt in July. Aidan seemed pretty motivated -- I was sitting there on a rock, putting stuff away, and his dad was explaining how when they did the summit climb they'd take three days, and Aidan was asking "Why can't we just go now, dad?" Congratulations Aidan and family, as well as Mr. Painter!

I tend to reply politely when non-climbers ask me things. Several years ago I had a really fun conversation with a little girl, about five, and her dad, on Hood. But there are hot weekend afternoons when you're just trying to get through the crowds at Paradise back to the car and get your @(*#% boots off, and the twentieth person asks "did you go all the way to the top?" it can be pretty tough to be civil.

An unusually timely example of relative costs of rescues -- from the same issue of the NPR Morning report (July 14) that had the writeup on the tragedy at Sharkfin were these two items. It's hard to imagine any of these being cheaper than the Sharkfin rescue. Yellowstone National Park (ID,MT,WY) Update on Three Searches in Progress The following is an update on the three searches in progress in the park, as of this past Tuesday morning: Knowles Falls SAR – This is the search for 14-year-old Boy Scout Luke Sanburg, who fell into the Yellowstone River on June 24th. The current strategy calls for limited continuous operations. This means occasional foot searches, occasional searches utilizing stock, occasional dog team searches, and occasional overflights. Bridge SAR – This is the search for 19-year-old Xanterra Parks and Resorts employee Candace Kellie, whose car was found in the Yellowstone River on June 29th. The same strategy is being employed as in the Knowles Falls SAR. Lewis Lake SAR – This is the search for Joseph Miller, 59, of Seattle, Washington, whose empty canoe was found on Lewis Lake on July 2nd. Side scan sonar is being employed in the lake and routine searches are being conducted by boat. The park has scaled back all three searches considerably, with a total of about ten park personnel now involved on a daily basis. Suspension of all three operations is being considered. The rivers are dropping significantly, water temperatures are rising, and water clarity is increasing. Hundreds of visitors are engaged in river recreation on a daily basis, increasing the chances that one or more of the three missing people will be spotted. Members of the Sanburg family continue to staff an observation point on the bridge over the Yellowstone River in Gardner around the clock. [submitted by Stephen Swanke, East District Ranger] Yosemite National Park (CA) Update on Search for Missing Hiker The search for missing backpacker Michaeil Ficery was scaled down to a limited continuous search strategy on June 30th. Ficery, a 51-year-old experienced hiker from Santa Barbara, California, disappeared during a six-day solo trip into the wilderness north of Hetch Hetchy. Ficery's backpack was located on the first day of the search, but no other clues were discovered despite an intensive ground and aerial search operation involving over 250 people and four helicopters. [submitted by Adrienne Freeman, Ficery SAR Information Officer]

What sort of pro did you use on the summit block? Looks like you could make do with slings?