nolanr

I remember that. I was heading east on the Mt. Baker Hwy. Happened to be pulled over and looking up and saw it. Very cool. I agree, I don't know how it crashed into the Pacific when it appeared to be moving across my field of vision to the east and we were well inland from the Puget Sound.

We've been on the nice weather during the week, crap for weather in the mountains on the weekend pattern for a month or more. Bah humbug!

Second the Red Lodge area, the Beartooths are fantastic and are right on the southern edge of Montana.

Damn I hate the Lakers. If they win the title this year, we are going to have to put an asterisk next to it because everybody sucks this year, there are no good teams in the NBA. I haven't been able to watch much of the playoffs, because the games are just unwatchable. I've never seen so many missed jump shots. Nobody can shoot worth a crap anymore. And it's not because the defenses are so good. The league has been declining for years and now it is just not even worth watching the games anymore. But don't worry, next year we'll have about 10 more snot nosed straight from high school superstars who wouldn't have even dominated if they went to college but because all the GMs are so infatuated with "potential" rather than actual abilities, these kids are gonna be lottery picks and signing great big shoe contracts. Bah humbug!

Don't mean to ruin the political discussion going on here, but if you like "so bad they're good" kind of movies ya gotta rent "Torque." For the first half it just seems like a needless, mediocre movie. Then all hell breaks loose and it goes completely off the deep end and beyond even the slightest resemblance of believability. That's when it got good of course. I laughed and laughed. Of course I was fully expecting that and wasn't disappointed. It does to motorcycles what "Vertical Limit" did to climbing.

I think the PCT goes w/in about 300 vertical ft. of the summit of Old Snowy and is in fact the high point of the PCT in WA state.

Griz can cover a lot of ground, right? I think we probably have a few in WA, mostly up near the Canadian border. Maybe one of them got bored and wandered down south for a while.

Dude, where's my snowmobile?

I noticed exactly the same thing when I was out there last August. Big Sandy TH was overflowing. I encountered several parties on my way up, mostly around Big Sandy Lake. The only people I saw around the Cirque were by Lonesome Lake. I don't think anybody happened by my campsite.

Sunrise Mine Road is still snow covered probably about a mile after you turn off Mt. Loop Hwy. as of today. Some tire tracks, high clearance vehicle probably no problem to drive to the road end.

You never know. If they had Bosch and Nelson this year they would have been interior oriented. Some of the guards probably wouldn't have had the impact they did. Probably a little slower tempo and not so much pressure D. That and Schenser wouldn't have grown as a player the way he did this year. 3 guard lineups almost seemed like the norm this year. Big men are pretty overrated these days...unless you happen to have Emeka Okafor. Anyway the great thing about college ball is players come and go but it's still exciting to watch no matter what. Along the lines of what if, my favorite team Arizona had plenty of talent but absolutely no depth this year. They lost 2 players as transfers from last year (Will Bynum to GT who you obviously know about and Dennis Latimore, a 6-8 forward who went to Notre Dame) who could've contributed this season. Their only banger inside, Isaiah Fox went down in the first or second game w/ a knee injury. Plus they had some hotshot 6-10 incoming freshman who went pro, got drafted, and probably hasn't played a minute in the NBA yet 'cuz he wasn't ready. So you go from a team who only goes 6 or 7 deep w/ hardly any big bodies to a team who easily goes 10 deep w/ quality players at every position. Think they coulda handled Stanford and Washington in the Pac 10 and maybe could've made a deep run in the Tourney. But alas it didn't work out that way.

Yeah there's nothing else like March Madness. Now that it's over, I kinda tune out for a while. Don't give a rip about baseball, not too into the NBA this year, and football is quite a ways off yet. Let's see, last time Tech was in the Final 4 you guys had Dennis Scott, Kenny Anderson, Bruce Darymple (spelling?). Am I right? Goes back a few years but I consider myself somewhat of a college b-ball junkie. Hey you gotta be feeling good that the ACC added a couple of football powers who happen to be basketball patsies. Should make life a bit easier for the Jackets next year.

Hate to tell you I told you so...but I told you so. UConn all the way, men's and women's. They just had more talent than anybody else. Maybe next year for GA Tech. But hey, I think Arizona is gonna collectively pull their head out of their ass and take it all next year.

Somebody mentioned Charlie Houston, so I'll throw Bradford Washburn in there. The history of Alaskan mountaineering just wouldn't have been the same w/out him.

Sweet! Heading to Utah for a week, have to head out that way once I get back.

Anybody but Duke! I'm calling UConn and Okie St. in the title game.

2 weekends ago went out to Mt. Pugh via Darrington. Was surprised that the road was open to the TH and there wasn't a trace of snow on the ground until about 4,000 ft. Last weekend I was thinking about heading up to the Forgotten Peak area. The road was blocked at Deer Creek. No snow anywhere to be seen. Ended up at Mt. Pilchuck as a backup. Was able to drive to within probably 1/2 a mile of the TH. Out of curiousity I stopped in at Verlot on the way back to ask about the road. The ranger said it was closed due to snow. I seriously doubt it since I had seen the snow level significantly higher than the elevation of the Mt. Loop itself in the same vicinity 2 weeks in a row. Methinks the FS is being lazy and keeping the road closed for their own convenience. The ranger said hopefully it would be opened by this weekend, I didn't head out there again to check. Anyone out that way this weekend?

Oh by the way, I was at the Gonzaga vs. Nevada game, and the officiating in the first half was the worst I can ever recall seeing. Either those refs were just horrible and should be fired for incompetence, or they had an agenda and were deliberately trying to affect the outcome of the game. Nevada played a great game, they very well might have won anyway, but unfortunately it's tainted because the refs weren't gonna give the Zags any chance to get into the game in the first half and a 15 point deficit is a lot to make up against a quality team.

Neither are Kentucky, Mississippi St. or a handful of other highly touted teams from east of the Mississippi River. So why is it that all the media types can manage to do is bash the west coast teams? UConn is gonna take it all.

Up by the Chain Lakes by LaBohn Gap I came across a mine shaft that is mostly submerged. The water was such a lovely turqouise color. I dropped a rock into and was instantly bombarded by a horrific sulphurous smell. Needless to say I didn't play around w/ it anymore. It looked as though a trickle from this small pool entered one of the lakes up there.

You're probably right, but I HATE New England. I want them outta the playoffs, and seeing Manning in the Super Bowl would be nice.

Oops, too bad.

I grew up about 45 minutes from the Multnomah area, drove by there all the time. I don't think anything forms consistently, but I do recall seeing climbers there from time to time.

The animated movies over the last several years have been pretty funny for adults as well as kids. Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Shrek, etc.

Looking at your posts again, I would say either way is doable in a day. I might recommend doing the whole thing as a shuttle hike. I've done it 1 day, I think just short of 20 miles. We weren't pressing hard and had no problems, plenty of daylight and this was mid-Oct. It doesn't really matter how you get there, just get there. Another plus of Aasgard approach is views of Colchuck and Dragontail off and on, plus brief views towards Stuart, Sherpa, and Argonaut. Coming the other way I don't think you ever get a shot of Stuart, even from Aasgard Pass. Dragontail is always blocking the view.