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Well you've never seen that sexy WillStrickland in his banana hammock. Very European. Far be it for me to poop in the pool, but hasn't this thread degenerated to a sufficient level of tawdriness that it should be moved to Spray? Aw right! That image of "will" in his hammock just clinched it. Clear the bandwidth!

Glad to hear that someone still climbs at LaClede. Old stompin' grounds for me; that and Schweitzer Practice Rocks. Next time yu're up that way and want some alpine, you should check out Chimney Rock and Harrison Peak Southeast Face. Check it out in Randall Green's guide Idaho Rock. PS: I didn't send you any beta on this stuff cuz your vacation plans specifically stated "canadian fun." Sorry your original plans fell thru, but it looks like you "stuck the landing" all the same.

I just hope that the judge is smart enough to throw that one out of court, and sanction the attorney for bringing forth a frivolous lawsuit, if indeed that is what it is. Here is a site that I like to read with a monthly publication. They also have a free weekly email called This is True at this site, which is about strange but true court decisions. Kinda like snopes.com. Enjoy!

Right, Rob, but when and where does one finally draw the line between what is common sense, and what is just newbie-ism? Is it enough to say, "Don't climb this mountain without a firm understanding of the risks and dangers of mountain climbing.", thereby notifying (at least) the newbie that this is not a casual undertaking? Or should the USFS put together an itemized list of all the myriad stupid things people could conceivably do to get themselves hurt or killed. While I do not subscribe to either viewpoint, if I was to be forced to choose one or the other, I would favor the former. People (in general) have lost the concept of personal responsibility. They have come to expect that "someone else" should protect them from doing stupid things, and then these "someone elses" are expected to be responsible for their injuries/death when they do something inane. It should not be up to the USFS, or anyone else for that matter, to attempt to point out all the various permutations and combinations of things that could go wrong. Because sure as shit, they'll miss one, someone will do just that thing, and then somebody gets sued for the injured/dead person's idiocy. It's like the warning label that came with my avy beacon: WARNING: Wearing this avalanche transceiver will not prevent avalanches from occurring." Gee, why the hell did I drop 250 clams if this thing isn't going to stop avalanches...?

It depends upon what copter they have available (and obviously that copter's operating ceiling). The crews that are based out of Ft. Lewis fly UH-60 Blackhawks and UH-1 Hueys out of Yakima Training Center. All the Blackhawks are gone right now (Iraq). The Huey's OC, on a good day, is at most about 6k or 7k, due to a phenomenon called density-altitide. This affects all aircraft, but has a lot more relevance to rotary wing aircraft. See link below. Blackhawks, as we have recently seen, can land at 17k (Mt. Foraker, coupla months ago) given the right temperature, humidity, and pressure conditions. Chinook CH-47s are the bird of choice for Rainier operations. If a Chinook and/or a Blackhawk are not available for any given mission for any given reason (insufficient coverage for the Army's primary mission, maintenance downtime, etc.), and all they have is a Huey and the mission is above 6k or 7k, they won't send it unless it can be guaranteed that the injured party can descend to an LZ within the OC of the aircraft. A good discussion (in downloadable pdf format) of the density-altitude limitations of helicopters, and why certain copters are/are not suited to high-altitude rescues, can be found on the MRA's website at: Intermediate Helo training

Battle damage! YEEEE-haaaaw!

No, but when I was a "spring chicken" many years back, I summitted both Hood and Adams in just under 24 hours, car to summit to car to summit to car.

Yes. All we have here now is two Hueys. The crews take one-week cycles out of Ft. Lewis, which would explain why CBS couldn't get a bird out of Ft. Lewis with the appropriate operating ceiling.

Is the 8k meant to be quite inclusive? All the peaks you name are over 10k. Mebbe that would be a better group moniker... Mountain Supply of Yakima used to have a group that they called the "Cascade 10 Plus Tour", and included 10 Cascade peaks over 10k feet. Included all the ones you mention, plus Jefferson, the Sisters, etc.

It might be a good idea to wait a bit on putting up new stuff, what with the recent change in the Land Manager position. See this post.

Glad to hear that everything came together well for you guys, and LW is getting patched up. CBS, et al: Ever think of joining a MR unit...?

We've actually engaged the USFS in a conversation about adding this warning to the Mt. Adams climbing permit, but I am not in favor of placing warning labels on every-gd-thing that one might be stupid enough to try. I'm just hoping that Recreational Darwinism catches up to the gene pool soon.

FAHQ'N AMEN!

Look at all the TRs and the rescue thread from earlier this week in this very forum. There's all sorts of beta in there from folks who saw the rescue. Should tell you everything you'd want to know for the trade route.

Don't click on the address in his autosig, click on the attachment to the post.

Pretty funny present! But your 6-year-old was still in diapers?

Yah, and he's had 3 usernames in less than 5 years. Who's he hiding from???

It's been over an hour and I haven't gotten a "read receipt" from Doug at Skagit MR. Does anyone on this board know someone in SMR that they can contact so those guys can check out teh e-Bay gear before it goes off auction?

Thanks, Rick.

I sent a PM to Doug. I hope he sees it.

True, that sooooo looks to be stolen. Guy doesn't even know what a carabiner is called. Where is Doug? He's in Skagit MR.

Oh come on, you can't have me let the cat out of the bag, then tease me like that by deleting your post.

Stand-by? Watchoomeen stand-by? We were the prime rigging crew for the first real lower off the top of the Crescent Glacier. In my mind, that was the only spot where a full-blown toboggan lower line and toboggan belay line was necessary. The whole thing coulda been a lot faster w/o all the extra mainline lower BS. A belay line woulda been just fine, except at the top of the glacier, as I said. Oooops! I think I'm letting my personal feelings get in the way of my professionalism here. Happy now, Gaper_Jeffy?

best?

I remember you. You had the snowboards and the cool Lab. Your hubbie used to be a TV reporter in Yakivegas. Let me clarify that it took from 0800 to about 1500 or so to get her down. That's 7 hours or so, not 24. The total mission time, from first alert to closure was 26 hours or so. That's very different. Please reread this paragraph from the initial post (emphasis added): And not to nitpic, but you stopped at the top of the Crescent Glacier, not "just below the Lunch Counter." There's still another 1,000 vert or more to go from Crescent to LC. Still, I wouldn't have hauled my sorry ass up anything the day after a triathlon, so I'm not judging. You guys were cool, and fun to hang out with.