Marko

Yeah that's right, the plum of the Cascades has finally been picked. Poached right out from under Fred's nose (thank Dog). The First (Recorded) Nude Solo Ascent Of Black Pyramid's Direct East Ridge. Beautiful approach up through Temple Canyon and a classic sharp ridge with way solid rock. Even bootied 4 biners. Cheers!

How about something on Temple Ridge up by Snow Lakes? Leave tonight? Mark

What's the boat? Do you race out of Squalicum? Are you going to do PITCH this year? Alright, nothing but questions I know. Mark

Shit Wayne, that is light and fast perfection: Peeing while moving! Nice work man.

A section on the route of steep knife-edge crap snow with thought-provoking exposure off both sides. Forrest and Mark should have a better definition than I do though. Mark

Goddamn hysterical! Thanks for the laugh.

Pretty sure it's above where the two routes meet. I gotta check a photo to be positive though. Mark

Oh man, very freaking cool Forrest! Hunter is definitely THE grandest peak I've had the pleasure of failing on. South Ridge, nice. Did you enjoy the Happy Cowboy? Pictures man, pictures! Cheers, Mark

Tried Moonflower a couple times. Need any info on that? Mark

Ryland, Yeah, we used all of the guy points plus the climbing rope draped all over the tent and tied down, plus a high snow wall. The guy points were sewn to the fly like most tents. After a while these points started ripping off the fly and it was a downward spiral from there. Later, a couple of the snow wall blocks blew onto the tent and broke a pole which started flailing around slicing up the fabric. The other pair of us had an older Jansport tent that was much lower. It also had the guy lines threaded through the fly and tied directly to the tent body and to the poles. I don't think I've ever seen that feature on any other tent. That sucker was bomber but a pain to set up. On the other hand, this occurred at 17,200 on the W. Butt. If you're heading up that route I would say summit from 14,200 and NEVER camp at the 16k or 17k camps. It's a long day but way funner! So if you do that, pretty much any old tent will do. Just make some decent walls or better yet use the time to make a cave. If you're going to do a route where you're climbing with a tent on your back then I could only recommend the Integral Designs or Bibler, in that order. Lighter is so much funner... Cheers, Mark

Here's a spartan yet comprehensive alpine rack: 2 KBs 1 LA (optional. Well, I guess it's all optional.) 6-8 nuts pink tricam red tricam green camalot yellow camalot orange tricam Not all sizes overlap, but it's pretty rare when you can't move the piece around a little until it works. -Mark

I watched a buddy's brand-new VE-25 get destroyed in 100 mph winds up there. Several years later my several-year-old Integral Designs easily withstood the same conditions. The height of the VE-25 seemed to be a big factor. Which route are you doing? Have a blast!! Mark

"Is Slipstream on your list? or, Are you on Slipstream's list?" THAT is no shit.

You gotta fly with McKinley Air Service, the "2 babes and a bird". They are great people and they care about getting you in and out ASAP. They're also usually a few bucks less. Keli and LeeAnn used to work for Geeting, got sick of him, and started up their own business around '95. Just give them a call or email a few weeks in advance to give them a heads up. http://www.mckinleyairservice.com Tell them Ramenless sent you. And, no I'm not getting any money for this. Mark

Erik at Marmot went above and beyond the call of duty spending about 1-1/2 hours getting my Thermoflex liners just perfect. I was pretty insistent about getting a perfect fit and he was cheerful about getting the job done. Definitely recommend Marmot. Mark

A very, very, VERY cool climb gentlemen! Yeah buddy! I'm so inspired right now I'm heading out for a Guinness.

Impressive Cascade climb in impressive looking conditions. Nice. Thanks for the photos. Mark

Yeah buddy!! Very friggin' cool! Cheers, Mark

Yeah buddy!

That E Face of Pyramid looks like it'd be a blast. Hey, wait a minute, did anyone see Polish Bob's tracks? Did he really do it? We'll never really know... Mark

Yeah buddy!

Yeah buddy!

Anyone want to try the NE Ridge of Sperry or something on Pyramid or ANYTHING this weekend. I could leave Fri evening. I promise, no epics! Mark

Been playing around with the new slide scanner at work. Here's a link to the gallery with a few shots of the trip: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showgallery.php?thumb=1&stype=2&si=Marko&cat=500&sort=1&ppuser=172 Cheers, Mark

Yup, he was also the author of that testpiece on Cavell, "Tomo-esque".