sobo

ketch, That's a really sweet picture! Love that shadow coming off the top onto the belly of the clouds. Righteous!

Thanks for the pics, carolyn. She's a really cute kitter. Keep up the good work, and keep your hopes up, too, and things will be fine. As mentioned by Arch, don't forget to take care of yourself, too. =^ ^=

This seems contradictory to me. The Reid Glacier is on the west side of I Saddle. Other folks have mentioned the wind that funnels through the col at I Saddle. You could avoid it altogether by digging in on the Reid side, or dig in on the Palmer side and orient the entrance such that it doesn't act as an jet intake and you'll be fine.

Great list, Doug. BTW, does this: include the Alzheimer group?

In this country, yes. Not so in Germany. See tvash's comments. ^^ You hit the nail square on the head, there. Again, it's irrational people, like all extreme fundamentalists, that help to keep his writing career alive.

Wow, Illumination Saddle has dropped 1,000 feet. This global warming stuff is serious business! Interesting that they think they are in WRC. Most folks coming off IS in a white-out end up in Zigzag Canyon. These guys would have had to make a conscious choice and/or an extreme course (over)correction to end up way over in WRC.

Yes, according to current German law on the subject, he most certainly did. OTOH, do I believe that the Germans, or any state for that matter, should even have a law banning what one may wish or may not wish to believe? An emphatic NO! That is government legislating your individual thinking, and that, too, is wrong. And the Germans are already taking up the cause to make Holocaust denail a crime across the entire EU. And some people think it is only our own civil liberties that are being challenged/removed here in the USA... I find myself being reminded of the words of wisdom from Voltaire...

I clicked "No" about 20 times and couldn't get the "No"s to come up any higher (it was at 93% just now). I agree with gene, this would be a crime if it becomes policy.

Wow. You guys are young.

You'll be in napkins and ketchup packets for life if you can find it.

That's what keeps my fat ass away from there...

Yes, we are. And we like ourselves that way... usually.

Yowzerz!

Wildcat Road might still be under a few feet of snow higher up, and if not, will certainly be very spongy/soft. Be prepared. Anecdote: A couple of years ago I was up there by myself in March and had to lever a bunch of boulders off the road and over the edge. Bring Hercules. The Cave, Oasis, and Windy Point will be drier and warmer, as they are at lower altitude.

Martin, Drive up the road another mile or so and climb at Moon Rocks.

WOW! Now that is nostalgia-fest-worthy if anything ever was! Wow!

If they don't nest, they usually open up around mid-April. If they nest, the closure continues until they fledge, usually by July. Bruce at the Wildlife Station told me that they are currently watching several pairs flying around the area. With that many pairs about, it is likely that there will be at least one nesting pair this year, so be thinking about doing your climbing further upriver.

Fucker. Hey, you think Rolf would want to buy my old 'birds now?

Classic!

Like cappellini sez, they wrote books. Verrrrrrrry old skewl... Interesting that you mention Lowe's book. It was his book, and Chouinard's Climbing Ice that got me started. I still have them both. It's a nostalgia-fest for me to go back and look at their classic gear. Pterodactyls and Hummingbirds. Shit, I still have my original pair of 'birds hanging in the garage!

Like NYC007 sez, find this book: Chimney Rock and the stuff up the Pack River Road will take care of your needs for quite a while. Lucky...

Have you checked out the ice in the Yakima Canyon at about MP 11 or so? Park at the pullout by the DOE's river gauge cable crossing, walk downstream about 50 meters, and look up towards the top of Mt. Baldy. It falls down in at least three large tiers at about the half-way mark on the peak. There is also some shitty ice lower down that you could probably use to access the better stuff higher up. When I saw it last week, I was on travel to a meeting in E-burg, so I couldn't get on it. It still looked pretty fat, but the stuff near the road had a lot of air in it. It faces west, and it's been dreary in Yakivegas for a while now, so someone go get it before it's gone. There was also several other sections in the stretch between MP 11 to MP 17 (the Umptanum TH), and years ago I climbed some ice up the Umptanum where CBS just visited. I think I went in a little further (a few more draws - mebbe a half-mile?) than CBS did last week. It's a pretty obvious-looking draw to find ice in, and it was a banner year back then.

Yes. Windheads can be seen quite often in the late winter and early spring launching off the top of Mt. Baldy about 5 or 6 miles downstream of the Umptanum trailhead. There is a rough "trail" that takes off the canyon road at about MP 12 or so, but I understand (although I don't know how to get to it) there is a telecommunications access road that goes all the way to the tower on top of the mountain that comes up from the east. Get a quad map and check it out.

I've been informed that the raptor closure is already in effect. It began February 1. However, it only applies to the three lowest climbing areas: Tim's Pond Wall (which no one ever does anyway), Royal Columns, and The Bend. Anything further up the road towards White Pass is still open. That would include Moon Rocks, Windy Point, Oasis, The Cave, etc. Cross-posted to Access Issues and Central/Eastern Washington forums.

I've been informed that the raptor closure is already in effect. It began February 1. However, it only applies to the three lowest climbing areas: Tim's Pond Wall (which no one ever does anyway), Royal Columns, and The Bend. Anything further up the road towards White Pass is still open. That would include Moon Rocks, Windy Point, Oasis, The Cave, etc.