dberdinka

BTW here's your legislator, Marko Liass, who's trying to keep you safe! I bet he has a very good understanding of wilderness recreation. :rolleyes:

I asked a friend who's very active with the local mountain search & rescue group what he thought and got the following response... "You're bang on with your assessment. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of a single rescue mission in my past 7-8 years experience involving a mtn climber climbing above treeline in the months of Nov-March. The missions we do have during that time involve exactly what you mentioned - ob skiers, snowmobilers, backcountry skiers, hunters, etc., and rarely above treeline. "

There were some great photos in an early issue of Alpinist of some european climber riding the collapse of a really big pillar with the last photo being of the climber sitting in the snow looking relatively unscathed except for some serious snail eye. Both these dudes just seem ridiculously lucky.

The famous ice climb in Vail, Colorado 100' foot fall with a hundred tons of ice....and he lives! Sprayage on the Taco Sunday January 10th Tuesday January 12th You ice climbers are freaking STOOOOOPID!

While Mount Hood has had it's high profile (always high profile ) rescues in the last couple years I personally can't think of any rescue operations for climbers that have occured in the Cascades of Washington during the winter months. Can anyone else? Actually not entirely true. Alex and co's recent rescue in Tumwater Canyon but that was well below treeline! In contrast a snowmobiler got rescued off Mt Baker just last week.

...or what? So glad those asshats have my back! Are there any statistics available on the number of searches for lost climbers vs skiers, snowmobilers, hunters and small children in the state of Washington?

While I haven't done it, at what 11b/c, it's hard enough for your list and the position looks absolutely astounding compared to just about every other route on your list. Seems to me it's definitely Top 10 if not by grade alone. Compared to Chamonix maybe. Maybe I'm gonna get skewered here but look anywhere else in the US and the spread just isn't there. Pretty much every range has only a very limited number of peaks where rock quality and access allow the development of high end free climbs. In CO you'ver got The Diamond and some hard routes on Spearhead. In CA? The Hulk and east face of Whitney/Keiler. Wind Rivers? some hard stuff on Mt Hooker. Scattering of 11s and 12s in the Tetons. In the Sawtooths it's pretty much all Elephants Head. How about the Coast Range of SW BC? Hardest (completed) route on Slesse is 10+ though across the valley there are a bunch of 11s on the Nesakwatch Spires....I forgot what I was talking about.

A full carbon fiber shaft and hard anodized aluminum pick and adze ensure a positive dig in a variety of soil types.... 5.0oz axe

John Otto. The crazy german guy who drilled and hacked his way to the top of Independance Monument back in the day.

I think I need it. PM sent

The last time I waddled up to Camp Muir in the conga line on a brilliant, sunny spring day there was a guy standing just off the boot pack intently staring at a GPS. I've always wondered what exactly it was telling him that was already entirely obvious. Never used a GPS and in fact I don't think I ever used a compass out of neccesity. Still carry topo maps and a altimeter which can be very useful for below treeline navigation on ski tours.

PM sent John. Thanks.

I just stuck a new Grivel Evolution pick on a tool and damn that thing was sticky. It would go in just fine but getting it back out was a complete bitch just about everytime. Are there any good articles (with pictures!) on how to modify new picks for pure ice climbing? Thanks.

I don't recall ever seeing it look that blue and un-snowy.

If your consciousness was in fact eternal your time here in the physical plane would ultimately be an infinitesimally miniscule portion of your existence (--> 0) rendering it essentially insignificant. I prefer to think that my daily existence as I experience it is important and has value to me.

I think he would have had to commit to a successful non-parachute-assisted BASE descent to really make it news worthy though.

No offense to those involved (as I would have gladly jumped in the raft as well), but with this article as evidence it would be next to impossible to refute the general publics notion that climbers are friggin idiots. These packs we carry are going to get mighty heavy and bulky what with all the mandatory MLUs, survival suits and life jackets. Can't wait to see the comments on the sources website. Oh! And glad everyone's safe!

I don't think it's inappropriate at all. In fact it's a good idea. I've considered getting one of those. Count me in as a possible order if the price is right.

Nice work. Did you depproach via the old route marked in the Becky Guide? Thats some brushy shit or down the death slabs directly below the 3-Finger/Salish col?

Maybe if we had actually summitted.......

Trip: White Chuck Mountain - W Face Attempt Date: 12/12/2009 Trip Report: Though it turned out to be only an attempt I thought I'd put up some nice photos from the alpine last week as no one else has. Looking over at Three Fingers and White Horse I was sure someone had to be getting on that stuff, hard to believe it didn't happen...anyone? On Saturday December 12th, Matt Alford, Gene Pires came up short on the west face of White Chuck Mountain. Running out of time, protection and adequate psyche at the base of the final rime filled chimney system we bailed off via a long traverse to the standard NW ridge route. The climbing we did do was full-on with some good ice, plenty of not good ice, some insecure mixed climbing, a complete lack of adequate gear and lots of exposure. I climbed this peak twice during the winter of 2005 when high snow levels and stable weather created near perfect conditions for winter climbing in the Cascades. It's a great mountain, steep enough to offer sustained technical climbing, great features for winter routes and just big enough to be thoroughly committing but doable in a day. If roads are driveable to at least 3000' the approach is quite manageable as well. Matt and Gene are pretty much my go too guys for alpine climbing in the northwest. Though we've all climbed with one another we had never climbed as a group of three. It worked out great! It's so nice to have company as you get bombed by ice chunks at some crummy belay. Thanks guys! Climbing through runnels on P2 Start of P3 a decepitvely challenging pitch of WI4 R (i.e. snice 4) Shortly after Matt pointed out the entirely obvious fact that "This isn't a daddy climb" At the base of the mid-height snowfield Top of the snowfield Looking up into the final rime filled chimney ??? Traversing off the Mountain

Just a thought. All these winter tragedies on Mount Hood typically involve bad weather moving in and trapping climbers injured or otherwise high on the mountain. Everyone owns a cell phone, there is cell reception on Mount Hood. Compared to speaking with them how would some sort of beacon provide superior actionable data to rescue folks on the ground if climbers were caught up high during a major storm? Isn't part of the problem that once a storm moves in any sort of rescue effort is simply on hold until the weather improves?

You win the prize.

That was supposed to be a bit of a joke. I hope that guys toes heal up, that looks like a really lame deal.