Jason_Martin

Skookum Falls can be seen across the river 8.2 miles east of Greenwater on Highway 410. One may access these climbs without getting wet via Road 73 which can be found about 6.2 miles east of Greenwater. Drive 73 a short distance across the river and park at the Skookum Falls trailhead, trail #1194. With a updated map of the logging roads in the area one may be able to get within a few hundred yards of the top of the falls and rappel down them. Unfortunately many of these roads have gates on them. Three falls make up the Skookum Falls area. The furthest to the left is a high volume waterfall and seldom freezes solid. However the two falls to the right have a much lower volume and freeze during cold snaps. Jason

In 1996 two college aged climbers were killed in the Source Lake Cirque. Jason

Here's a tough question for Washington Ice Climbers... Has anyone ever climbed ice in the Stehekin area? In particular has anyone sent Rainbow Falls? I'm interested in anything that people might have done that was accessed via Lake Chelan. As most of you know I'm one of the two guidebook authors working on a Washington State Ice Guide. We are hoping to have this project finished at the end of the ice season this year. So if anyone has any info at all it would be greatly appreciated. Email beta to wastateice@yahoo.com or directly to me at j_dougie@yahoo.com. Thanks to everyone who has helped with this project thus far. Jason

I've worked as a mountain guide for the last few years and have had the experience of guiding a number of people in their sixties. Every opinion on this page is excellent. Taking time to acclimatize at Muir or Sherman is an excellent idea. There should not be any rush if you really want to get the summit. Wait until summer when we have long periods of high pressure and then take three or even four days to do the route. The other thing to think about is what kind of experience you want to have on the mountain. Do you want to just make the summit using the last vestages of strength or do you want to enjoy your trip? Most people want to enjoy their trip. By having too short a time frame and by not putting in the excercise work prior to the trip, you are dooming yourself to a painful experience. The most important thing you can do to prepare is to get a solid cardio workout at least five times a week until your trip. My experience is that most people do not understand what this means. Run, do stairmaster, do practice hikes with big packs. Put in a minimum of forty minutes a day - more if you can. It's interesting that while guiding one discovers that certain people you'd expect to be strong are sometimes quite weak, and vice versa. The people I'm referring to as being weak are those that are athletic but not outdoorsy. Let me clarify. I've seen marithon runners have a very hard time. They are not used to the pack. Then on the opposite end of the spectrum, I've seen people who work in an office all day that hike on a regular basis succeed. The point to this is that crosstraining is very important. Don't forget to get out with that pack as much as possible. Three times I've guided families with a mother or father or both on the trip that are well into their sixties. On all three occasions the elder members of the family had trained so hard that the twenty and thirty something kids had a hard time keeping up. I found this quite inspirational. Best of luck on your trip! Jason

Jammed up the North Face of Chair Peak yesterday. Great conditions! Northeast Buttress looks great. And the ski out afterward was spectacular. Jason

Sport Climbing in the Olympics... There is some stuff in the Elwah drainage just outside of Port Angeles. There are a few routes on a rock on private property above the town of Chimicum. Unfortunately all the routes out there are the equivalent of climbing on hard mud with bolts in it. The guys at Olympic Mountaineering in Port Angeles are responsible for most of the route development on the Peninsula. You could give them a call and see if anyone's gotten around to putting together some kind of guide. Jason

Just an opinion... But I think Lambone hit the nail on the head in his previous post. Being a little bit friendly goes a long way. When soloists come crusing by and act as if no one is as good as them... Yeah, people are going to get pissed. On the other hand if a soloist hangs back and has friendly conversations with the climbers in front of him, more often than not those climbers will allow him to pass. The Northwest does have a very large contigent of undertrained people "teaching" others how to climb. One of the things some of these groups "teach" most efficiently is how to be rude to those who are not in their party. If people were a little more cordial to one another in the mountains, I think some of the more serious issues between slow parties, fast parties, and soloists could be dealt with in a classier way, minus the ruffled feathers. Jason

We're shooting for next fall on the guide. If you have good photos, email us at wastateice@yahoo.com. Jason

Speed, The route referred to in the guide that Alex and I are working on has been revised. The North Ridge is the preferred route and the route that will be featured in the guide. Dan Smith and I did that route a few years ago and it was a really fun day out. Jason

I've made two trips to Zion and have completed both Touchstone and Prodigal Son. Both are great routes. In response to your question, the most interesting thing that I've found at Zion is that none of the many guidebooks match. The reason for this is that these routes on such incredibly soft sandstone are constantly changing with each ascent. In the Zion Visitor Center they have a route condition book that is being updated on a regular basis. That is your best bet for the most current beta on route conditions. Prodigal Son is a good alternative if you go down there and find Moonlight to be something other than what your looking for. I did it a month ago at 5.8 C2. Jason

Terminal Gravity, The Grivel Third Tool is not bad as a second tool on sixty to seventy degree terrain. I love it for steep summer Cascade stuff. However, on water ice you may as well be using a toothpick. The blade is rather short and does not bite well at all. This is not a tool I'd want to have as a back-up after breaking the pick on one of my more beefy tools. Jason

UNLV in Vegas... If all you're doing is going to school with no "survival job" you can climb just about every day at beautiful Red Rocks. Jason

David, The rule is hard goes into the belay loop and soft goes into the harness loops. In other words, tie directly into the harness with your rope and put your biners into the belay loop. Good Climbing, Jason

I've put in a couple of seasons guiding for a reputable guide company. This is what we teach at our company. If there is a belay loop, it's there for a reason. The belay loop is the strongest point on the harness. The theory is that there is less liklihood of crossloading in this situation. If you are using a harness with a belay loop and choose not to use it, you are NOT using the harness properly. If you've clipped the biner through the loops which hold the belay loop, it is guaranteed to put a triaxal load on the biner. Now harnesses and biners are stong so in most cases it will not fail... However, any time you are not using a harness properly it COULD fail. As far as the Alpine Bod harnesses are concerned... They are good harnesses, but they are designed differently. They are designed to take the biner through the loops that would hold the belay loop on a different type of harness. There is no reason to replace this type of harness if you currently own one. There have been reports of harnesses failing because they were not properly used. In the early nineties there was a recall for a popular REI harness. If the harness was not worn correctly -- inside out -- the belay loop was not attached to anything but a flimsy piece of nylon. Sketch. My personal opinion is to use your harness the way the manufacturer intended. Wear it right and belay/rappel from the point they recommend. Happy Climbing, Jason

The Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS provides and excellent Wilderness First Responder course. It requires a nine day commitment though... Their stuff is very realistic and it gives you a certification that you can use if you are interested in any type of outdoor education type field. I'm sure you can find them on the web. Good Luck, Jason

The idea that a writer would go through the experiences through which this man went and then not write about it is ludicrous. A writer writes. And when the shit hits the fan writers tend to write about the shit. I think many people are down on JK because of the fact that his book concerning the events on Everest was so well received. One could argue that this book was perhaps the most well received book with the non-climbing public in recent memory. The book that stands out as being a "bestseller" in the outdoor market prior to "Into Thin Air" is Joe Simpson's "Touching the Void." Joe tells his story in much the same way as Jon told his. In both books there is a ton of hindsight, a lot of "I should have" in the subtext of the stories... And in both first person accounts the authors use the word "I" when talking about their perceptions. This is okay in this kind of writing. Jon is not the devil. He is not bringing down the outdoor experience with his books. No he's just a writer who accidently caught a bit of lightning in a bottle. And you know what? That's a good thing. If you don't like him, don't read him. If you don't like his stuff, don't read it. But to sit back and badmouth someone whom you don't personally know... Someone who has been a local climber on and off for many years... That seems rather immature.

South Twin Sister -- Northwest Face Variation A number of years ago, my partner and I decided to climb the Northwest Face of the South Twin Sister in late October. After an extremely cold night we found ourselves hiking into the cirque below the face just before the crack of dawn. The snow that remained after the warm summer was rock hard beneath our boots. The conditions were superb. Upon reaching the base of the face we noted that there was a nearly continuous ribbon of steep snow and ice that eventually connected with the standard West Ridge Route. This "route" was just a few hundred feet to the right of the regular Northwest Face route that climbed the center of the 800 foot wall. The Northwest Face Variation -- as we began to call it -- was comprised of steep snow ramps, short sections of water ice, and a few short sections of rock. It took us approximately two seconds of conversation before we decided that this particular route looked like a lot more fun than our intended route. So we pulled out our ice tools, clipped our crampons to our boots, and began to climb. The vast majority of the route was between fifty-five and sixty-five degree ice climbing. We simulclimbed all of it until the last pitch that reached up and connected with the West Ridge Route. This pitch was somewhat mixed in nature. It required a bit of rock climbing up to about 5.5 and continued to present steep snow and ice problems. The pitch was pure joy. Upon reaching the West Ridge, third and fourth class climbing led to the summit. This rock, however, was completely dry of snow as it had been in the sun all summer. To descend, one must follow the standard West Ridge route down. Great Fun! Jason

I've spent a significant amount of time guiding during the spring and summer months. My guide training has been provided by fully certified AMGA guides, including one of the few that have all three certifications. As guides it was STRONGLY suggested that we use clove-hitches to tie into the anchor points. The reason? One can adjust his location in relationship to the anchor easily without releasing the knot. Every guide I know ties into his anchor with a clove-hitch. We also generally carry two three cordilletes for anchors. Again a system that is pretty much industry standard for guides. Jason

Brian, Indeed, I did read the entire thread. Thus my response. Have a great day! Jason

Brian, I think it's time to counter a few of your stands with a little bit more debate. The language you use to attack the religion of Islam is quite impressive. My favorite part is when you called the Islamic Religion a "spreading disease." Quite similar to Adolf Hitler's premise that that Jews were a disease that had to be stopped. And you know what, he had a great idea to stop the spread of that. He called it the "final solution." It sounds, Brian, like you have a "final solution" to stop the spread of Islam. Indeed, bombing these countries with nuclear weapons would stop the spread of this religion in those regions. It would also stop the spread of anything else... Like human life. You have another wonderful premise in your argument. You state that Islam is an affront to women. That in some countries these women are treated with no more respect than a slave might recieve. Your response to this is equally impressive. You've come up with the great idea that if we bomb the hell out of these people it will no longer be a problem. In other words, if you kill all the women -- along with everyone else -- they will no longer be treated like slaves. You also state that this "religion seems to be incompatible with ideals of liberty and democracy." If this is the case, then why is it that we have so many American Muslims that enjoy their lives in this country? Oh wait... Perhaps they don't. Perhaps we should put them in Internment Camps. Would that work with your idea of democracy Brian? Your reasoning that we should destroy that part of the world is extremely poor. It's like saying that we should blow up Timothy McVeigh's home state because that's where he was from. Now seriously... Bin Ladin is not a sane man. He is taking the ideals of Islam out of context. Comparing him to Hitler or Stalin is not a correct notion. He is more like the Islamic version of David Koresh. Should we retaliate? Of course. Should we kill everybody that lives in that part of the world because their skin is dark and their religion is different... No. Absolutely not. This is where our country is truly being tested. A civilized nation will punish those that are responsible; a brutal and savage nation would drop the bomb. Yours Truly, A Bleeding Heart Liberal Western Grad... And proud of it!

Brukb, Your friend wasn't lying to you. Coleman Headwall is pitched out bottom to top as often as it is soloed. Depending on your skill, you may find it an easy route to simul-climb or perhaps to solo. There are spots here and there that you may feel more comfortable pitching out. Guides -- while guiding -- often pitch out the whole thing. It tends to take somewhere between the high teens and the low twenties to do this. The route changes rather drastically year to year and thus is not subject to the same type of pitch analysis that one might put on "Diedre." I know of people who have done the route as late as October. They found a true alpine ice climb that required a substantial amount of skill and technique. The last time I saw the route -- a couple of weeks ago -- it looked dirty and unpleasant. I believe this is a lingering result of the low snow year. Good Luck, Jason

Killing innocent people doesn't solve anything. Neither does perpetuating prejudice against those with different beliefs. Yeah, the people who are responsible need to pay. But the people who ARE NOT responsible should not suffer.

Icypeak, It appears that the other post concerns ice climbing. If you are climbing the Coleman/Deming route, ascend via the climbers trail up Heliotrope Ridge. "Mirkwood" is the camp that the forest service calls the "Harrison Camp." This camp can be found a little ways below survey rock at 5000 feet on the ridgeline. There is a small trail below this camp that will bring you out onto the base of the icefall where many people go to ice climb. To reach this camp, continue straight on the heliotrope ridge trail at the junction. Do not ascend the climbers trail. You will have to cross a number of small creeks. Eventually you will reach Survey Rock. This is an overlook of the Coleman Glacier. Descend the ridgeline to the flat campspot at 5000 feet. This is NOT a good place to climb the Coleman/Deming route from. It is a good place to use as an ice climbing base camp. Jason

Matt told me this story awhile ago. From what I understand he was only a way a short time... A few hours, maybe over night. He had went up and set that rope up for the express purpose of fixing a line so that he and the people he was guiding could move over the col more quickly. All these people who are saying they would take anything they find are not paying attention to what's going on around them. Leaving fixed lines is perfectly all right in any number of circumstances. I can understand and sympathize with someone who might have thought it was left. But with the amount of time he was gone, I suspect that this gear was honestly stolen. Someone who just "found" it would probably quiz other climbers in the area to find out who left it and why. Boston Basin is not that big. These guys probably jammed the gear in their pack then didn't say anything to anyone. For all of you who say you take anything you see: Would you take a fixed line off a wall? Would you steal a haul bag cashed at the base of a wall? Would you take someone's food cash on Denali? Would you take draws off of someone's project? Would you take a fixed line off of a sport route that is being manufactured? Would you take someone's backpack while their taking a leak in the woods? The point is that in the world of climbing we leave gear behind all the time with the intent of coming back for it. It doesn't take that many critical thinking brain cells to figure out when something has been left behind in an epic and when something has been left for a reason. Jason

MattP, I agree one hundred percent. Three people on a team is far safer than two. However, given proper training and technique a two man team can be very safe in the Cascades. Let me reemphasize a couple of points in this statement and that of my previous posting. First, proper training and technique. It is incredibly important to practice crevasse rescue on a glacier as opposed to in one's own back yard. This means dropping your partner down a hole, building and anchor, and pulling him out. This is not a one time thing. You should do it over again and again and again. Burn an entire weekend on this... Then when the conditions are bad, it's the middle of the night, and wet snow is falling, you might be able to do a rescue. Not only that, but the reality of the matter is that soft snow is easier to build an anchor in and easier to arrest a fall in. That is as opposed to semi-exposed ice. While practicing, it's not a bad idea to back your partner up with a spare end of the rope in case you can't pull him out. Secondly, I stated that the risks can be managed in the Cascades. Most crevasse falls in the Cascades where a person goes in over his head take place from tripping and falling into a crevasse from above, not from a bridge collapse. Most of the risky crevasse crossings that take place in the Cascades are made with full knowledge of the fact that one is crossing a hole. As a result the rope tends to remain tight and most of the time when the bridge collapses the person doesn't go in very far. With proper technique, the liklihood of tripping and falling is reduced. With proper training, one should be able to pull his partner out of a hole rather quickly by himself, no matter how bad the conditions are. If you disagree, take a course on how to do this from a guide service. You will see just how manageable the risks really are. Jason