David_Parker

Is there a rock gym in 11worth? Please don't shoot me for asking!

If they have roller skis that you can skate on, then I agree. I don't know what bubblebutt is trying to acomplish, train for cross country skiing or just get a good workout. Where I live there are lots of hills, so I find blades more versatile. Roller skis don't simulate cc skiing any better than roller blades simulate ice skating. The friction coefficient difference between rubber and pavement and steel (& petex) and snow/ice changes everything. The great thing about both is the fact you are using your upper body to get a full body workout. I think blades are more versatile in that if you want to not use your poles for awhile, it's easier to keep going, especially uphill. Safer downhill too.

Personally, I think you'd get a better general workout if you just used rollerblades with poles. I'm pretty sure you are limited to the trad style of cross country skiing with the roller skis. Blades will simulate skate skiing more. Probably cheaper too.

I like this one: http://www.intellicast.com/Local/USLocalStd.asp?loc=ksea&seg=LocalWeather&prodgrp=Forecasts&product=Forecast&prodnav=none&pid=none it shows radar, sattelite, etc too.

Well written!

I think they are attempting to do a documentary on the "Muir on Saturday" thread. Apparantly there is some confusion as to whether THC is a sport enhancing drug.

I am very sad to hear of Rodchester passing. I also never met him, but he added valuable information and advice in a respectable way on this site. I therefore considered him a "friend". I do know Erik Newman if it's the same one who has been to rope up and I climbed with last year on Dreamer. In the report it says Frank turned around because he questioned the ability of his partners to follow. As far as Erik goes, this makes no sense. The Erik I know climbs 5.11. What really makes me stop and think is how accidents can happen to experienced climbers who don't deserve them. I don't think he was pushing any limits recklessly and he probably considered his choices of routes with family in mind. He was doing what most of us do and that is what hits hard. I just can't imagine my son having to grow up without me! It makes me question my own climbing. My sincere condolences to family, friends and partners. Peace, DPP

Never seen, but I want on my car: "If I passed you on the right, you're an asshole!"

So my ww boat is ooooooold school, much too long by today's standards, but still not a bad surfer. I actually felt the bow hit the sand once and ended up going straight up and over rodeo style. It was fun! I really enjoyed the modern boat the guys from Montana let me use at Indian Beach. It was actually designed for surfing in ocean waves.

Yeah, there's always some idiots at the beach, eh? Worse thing about kayaking is being a class II paddler in class 3/4 water!

I use a black boat with white spots. As far as I know, sharks don't bother Orca whales! Awesome surfing and I definitely enjoyed my first visit to the O coast. Surfed 3 days: Oceanside, Oswald West and Indian Beach. Note: for begining ww kayakers, surfing is a great, safe, fun way to learn/practice combat rolls. If you don't make it, you just wash up on the beach vs getting screwed up in some log jam or floating down gnarly river!

You're probably thinking of Bonanza. Very few climb it without taking the boat. Holden Village was evacuated last week or two ago. Don't know if it's open again. I would try to persuade you to do Goode and Logan from Hwy 20. Not much further to hike now, timing works much better, way cheaper, nice scenic trail. Ross Lake to Big Beaver is your access to Luna and Fury; Challenger if you want. Some others you CAN get to from Canada if you want to drive around. So far I have not heard back from anyone about climbing Jack from Ross Lake. No trail to get up to the glacier I have heard about. Someone prove me wrong! Desolation TH is 13.5 miles by water from lake pickup at dock. Looks like you can get to Hozomeen TH from Canada or by boat or by hiking east side of lake but it's pretty far up there. I'm currently scoping sea kayak/climbing trips. Redoubt, Mox and Spickard are up there in the boonies too.

You know some years not too long ago, you could drive a car right to the Olympic Hotsprings and rent a cabin. Now you hike abandoned road bed for 3-4 miles. A few years ago there was a wash out on the section between lake Mills and the current trail head and so you had to start way down there at the lake. This meant Mt. Bikes were a good choice. The point is, things change and people get used to it. Just think of the further change coming soon to the Elwah Valley. They will continue to argue for the next 25 years, but someday it will just be what it is after they blow the dams! There are a number of trails in the Olympics that are so gradual that Mountain Bikes would work. Yet they are not allowed even though stock still is. I will argue anyday that stock does far more damage to trails than mountain bikes. The reason stock is allowed is because it always has been and you won't change it. The reason Bikes are not allowed is because they spook horses and trial hikers and go faster. That is a weak argument in my mind, but it is what it is. The National Park should look at the Dossiwallips as an opportunity to make a really nice mountain bike trail. They should just put the money into relocating their ranger station down near the washout. Then they should build a nice PATH or bridge (not for cars) to get past the washout and allow Mountain bikes up to the current ranger station. It is pretty mellow for the most part with a few "challenges" near the end. The RVers can have a nice new campground in the beautiful forest and maybe the existing campgrounds can be kept open for bikers and hikers to be able to camp with a short ride/hike AWAY from RVers. This would open it up to those people who are somwhere between serious hikers/climbers and the lazy ass RVers. Not all hikers/bikers need to get to Marmot pass to enjoy themselves. Keep in mind this is one end of the Enchantment Valley traverse of the range. 4-5 miles won't kill those users. Oh, not to be a stickler Matt, but I was the one who mentioned the silver lining! I still see it that way. Mother Nature changed it and we need to accept it and rethink it's use. And to think for a moment they wanted to rebuild the old man in the mountain in New Hampshire when it fell down!

Alex, I'm heading to Oregon coast (Rockaway)just south of Cannon too this weekend. I don't surf, so I'll bring my whitewater kayak which is more fun for me. If you want to hookup, 206-714-4300 cell!

I'm working on being able to make this date. Be assured I will do everything I can to make it possible! Everyone should bring all kids gear they have. We can swap stuff that they have outgrown!

Does anyone have any beta on climbing Jack from Ross Lake? I was thinking of sea kayaking in and then going up the west side on the Nohokomeen Glacier. Looks like a major NC schwak!!!

Not climbing, but... Pysht (town on Oly Penninsula) BTW, how the hell do you get "Farve" out of Brett Favre. sorry for thread drift....

Has anyone climbed Jack from Ross Lake? I've been thinking of sea kayaking up and going from there.

When I did NB of Fury, we got early water taxi (8:00am) and we made it to Access Creek basin headwaters by about 6, but also we did not nail access creek very well as it was my first time. It was only about 3-4 hours to Luna Col from there. I think if your plan is to make those kind of times you will be dissapointed and very tired. It's one thing to have a big day, but to link 3 or 4 is not wise in my opinion. I was glad for the easy day before climb day on Fury which by the way is not close to being over on the summit! We did go all the way out from Luna col to the car on the 4th day, but we barely made it up the trail from Ross Lake. Our legs got wicked stiff during the boat ride. We practically needed wheel chairs to get out of Good Food! It's an amazing area and you can enjoy yourself if you push hard, but not rediculously hard. What's an extra day or two?

Looks like LARRY THE TOOL can have a Winter job too!

I vote for 11 worth also. More likely to get a better turn out. Shall we reserve a campground again? Is there one a bit closer than chatttttttttter Creek?

On one un-named pinnacle, Wayne dropped an extra large GU pack which I caught and proceeded to help myself to a bit. Het Wayne, I thought we were gonna call that one Gu Pinnacle!

To set this straight....I wore Garmont light hikers "Verro" (or something like that) on Goode. The label said "these boots will take you further than yout think". They were right because I definitely pushed it using these. I should have used better boot sealer first. The Garmont Towers I used "out of the box" on Fury and I did get blisters over 4 days. They are NOT for wide feet. I'm still experimenting with footbeds with those boots. If they fit, these are excellent Cascade boots. They hike, rock climb, smear and take crampons well. Wayne and Colin both use them if that means anything.

Funny thing is, the whole thing is a blur. I don't remember what cool pitch went with what pinnacle! I'll be sharing the photos soon, so stand by. Ok, here's my brief TR: Sharpen the Saw Last weekend, Wayne Wallace and I made the first ascent full traverse of the rugged Sawtooth Range in the Olympic Mountains. Well known for it relatively good rock (as far as volcanic goes), the ridge is comprised of 13 named peaks (some more like pinnacles) from Mt. Alpha to Mt. Lincoln. In all we figure we climbed about 20 doing our best to stay as close as possible to the ridge and climbing NE ridges or faces and rappeling SW ridges and faces, as that is the general direction of the Sawtooth Range. The most popular is the the highest and prominant Mt. Cruiser which graces the cover of the Olympic Mountains climbing guidebook and is generally the only and very worthy objective in the area. While we believe every summit had been touched, we are quite certain nobody has ever made the complete traverse in one single push. We approached 10 miles on a very wet Saturday and ended up at the base of Alpha with zero visibility. We bivied and hoped the skies would clear that night as forecast. Indeed they did, so we were up early and off. Alpha actually had 2 peaks, Cruiser was next, an un-named summit, some more ridge and then the Needle. After that came Castle Spires with 3 peaks. We ended the day by doing both the Fin and the Horn and then had to drop back down almost 1,000 feet to get water as there were no snow patches left to melt snow. We found a small pond and slept well in spite of relentless mosquitos and got back on the ridge where we left off early the next day. The second day (of climbing) was lower elevation and there was considerable vegatation (mostly pine trees) to get through in between pinnacles such as Cleaver, Slab Tower, Rectagon, Picture, Trylon and North Lincoln. We were then able to drop our packs and scramble over to the true summit of Lincoln and return where we finally dropped of the ridge around 2:00. The extremely steep chute of dirt was puckering, but mellowed to scree, then talus and boulders before we entered the forest to bushwack around a ridge and back to Flapjack Lakes. A few doses of slide alder and devils club reminded us we weren't done yet and the 500 ft. descent in the forest to the lake was more of a controled fall by hanging on to bushes and tree limbs until we almost splashed into the crystal clear water. A swim in the lake cooled and cleaned us for the 7.8 mile hike out to lukewarm beer and chips in the car. Fish and Chips and 6 Hood Canal oysters on the half shell fueled us for the drive home. Here are the photos! http://share.shutterfly.com/action/share/view?i=EeAM3DRq3bOGbCuA&open=1&sm=1 Enjoy! David Parker

As a climber, I don't mind the washout going unrepaired for another year or so. It makes for more of an adventure to climb Mt. Constance. It is much less crowded up there. I can understand why the average hiker is upset...there is a ranger station, campground and a trailhead to one of the more popular areas in the Olympics up there. Bring a mountain bike and enjoy the serenity it now offers. There is a silver lining to this cloud! http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB6&Number=222859&Forum=,,,,f6,,,,&Words=Constance%20ridge&Searchpage=4&Limit=25&Main=207935&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=&daterange=0&newerval=&newertype=&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post222859