sobo

That was pretty funny. Nice find, Kurt! FYI, I did actually bring my passport this trip. Three weeks ago, my last flight out of SFO (a non-stop to my hometown) was cancelled. It took me a night on the airport floor, 3 different flights, and over 24 hours to get home. If I had had my passport with me, then I could have been re-booked through Vancouver, BC and been home the first night. So the take-away lesson here is to take my passport with me on any trip to a state that borders either Mexico or Canada. I'm ready now, Jack!

Runnings Fleet and Farm - good stuff! +1 on this. Spent this past weekend in there. Bison (or is it buffalo?? I don't remember which one is extinct...) all over the goddamned place, whitetails, a few bighorn sheep, a bazillion little snaffley critters (prairie dogs), cool hiking trails, the Little Missouri River. A great time - thanks for the rec, Kirk! Found it! The House of Booze, right next to the ACE hardware store! :brew: Subway around the corner of the building.

Nordwand Kitteh...

FLC, Please understand that with what I am about to say, I’m not trying to come off as an asshole or chestbeat. I’ve been on Mt. Washington in late December during several of its gnarly moments. The only similarity that you will find between your experience there and out here on the volcanoes is the wind and cold. The advice I'm about to impart to you comes from learning ice climbing in Huntington’s and Tuckerman’s Ravines over 25 years ago, climbing in the Cascades for the past 20+ years, and being intimately involved with Mt. Adams specifically through Mountain Rescue for the past 8 years. And with that as a preamble... Everything that RBP and Water has said is true. Spring conditions on Adams will have you skiing and/or slogging for miles and miles of additional effort. It will be intolerably boring. You’ll surely hate it... You should seriously consider pushing your dates back to late June/early July, or early June at the earliest. I would agree with you that Rainier may be too big of a bite to chew as your first volcano right off the bus, unless you’re going to hire a guide. We all do it without guides as they aren’t really necessary for us (I’ve never hired a guide, although I’ve climbed with them as friends), because we locals have the time to wait out shitty weather for the right window. From the sound of it, you won’t have this luxury. Lots of folks have been injured or even killed out here trying to force a climb through a crappy weather window because “we’re only here for a week or so.” Good weather windows for the volcanoes in spring are a crapshoot. You'll improve your chances for better weather the closer you get to the start of summer. I agree with RBP that Adams Glacier is more of a commitment than the Emmons or the DC on Rainier, IMHO. You and your party will definitely want to be dialed in with your crevasse extraction techniques. You will be quite alone on the north side of Adams that early in the season, if you stick to your spring itinerary. And now for some pros and cons of the routes you are considering... South Route While generally regarded as the most boring of all the Cascade volcano walk-ups, people still get lost, hurt, and killed on this route. Me and my buddies have hauled down all sorts of broken climbers from this route over the years. At other times, you can join in a volleyball game at the Lunch Counter or play Frisbee on the summit. Seriously! This would be my vote for your best chance of success and unbridled fun. It will be the easiest route to access the earliest, whenever that might be (June/July??). The road around to Killen Creek TH for the Adams Glacier, North Ridge, and other north side routes will be weeks behind the road to Cold Springs TH in melting out. The season for the South Route usually begins in very late May (hardier souls) to late June (the rest of us). Mazama Glacier While the Mazama may be “right next door” to the standard South Route approach, you are overlooking one major topographic feature... from about 7,500 feet to about 9,500 feet on the Mazama, you will be separated from your “bailout” to the South Route by the Devil’s Half Acre. It’s a steep cliff on climber’s left of the Mazama which, as someone new to glacier mountaineering, you would not want to have to climb and cross. The cliff is about 300-400 feet high, is made of shit rock, and effectively barricades you from accessing the South Route until you are at or even slightly above the South Route’s Lunch Counter, the standard camping area for a two-day ascent. So once you commit to the Mazama at Bird Creek Meadows, you’re essentially stuck with it until the Lunch Counter. You’ll have to deal with any crevasses you find where you find them. I would not go in there thinking that “I can always traverse over to the donkey trail.” That wouldn't be prudent... Adams Glacier, Adams Glacier Icefall, and Stormy Monday Couloir From your own description of your experience level, I would rule all of these routes out for now. The AG will be crevassed, the AG Icefall will be chunky and routefinding a bit of a test, and although the routefinding on SMC is straightforward, it’s in the same league of commitment as the others in this section. By your own accounting, I'd wait a while to get on these routes until after you've gotten more "face time" with our volcanoes. North Ridge I have never ascended this route, but have used it many times for descents from Adams Glacier, AG Icefall, N. Lyman Glacier, Lava Glacier, and Stormy Monday Couloir routes. I would not wish the ascent of this route upon my worst enemy. It is a hideous, tortuous, insufferable screefest of epic proportions, best avoided at all costs. However, if you’re into mountain goats (for whatever reason... ), they abound on this route. So with all of that, why all the jonesing for Adams? If you’re set on an early spring arrival, why not consider Mt. Hood? Lots of plusses here... The road to Timberline Lodge and the climber’s registration room is plowed year-round. You can sleep in the parking lot prior to departure to be fully rested. The approach hike is, like, 10 meters from the lot. Hood is a full 1,000 feet lower than Adams, and there is no crevasse danger whatsoever on the standard south side slog. Sure, sure, there’s the ‘schrund, but that’s easily crossed in early season or skirted on either side if it’s open and too wide to jump. You should take a serious look at Hood if your schedule can't be modified. Yes, it’s likely going to be more crowded than Adams, to be sure, but if you’ve got mid-week available to you for your climb, it’ll seem like you’re the only ones on the mountain by comparison to a weekend. You can even camp at Illumination Saddle if you’re set on camping at altitude. Good luck and climb safe. PS: Don’t glissade with your crampons on, and don’t let anybody else in your party do it either.

Agree with Off. And goddamn, I gotta get back up there...

Why not try posting a pic or two of the subject(s) here, too? Someone on this board might recognize them and that might help to expedite the reuniting process. And recovering the pics from the camera sounds really cool, in a Mallory-Irvine sort of way... although certainly not as many years between exposure and recovery.

Wow... what a testimonial, Kirk! Thankfully for me, this gig is only a "scoping mission" of two weeks in preparation for a larger engineering contract with my firm, of which I will likely not be a part of the resource pool that gets stationed in banished to the Bakken Field. And I paid for my beer through college by playing darts, so I should be fine. Unless I try to hustle them and get busted. Then they might shoot me, promptly stuff me, and mount me over someone's fireplace...

Hey thanks, Kurt. You're such a big help in these things...

Didn't spend much time in Oakland, but I did find the Pyramid Alehouse in WC and threw back a few a time or two while in town. :brew:

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Now it's off to NW North Dakota for a couple weeks or so. What's out there? Do I need to make sure I add that undercoating as an extra?

1:53, at the DMZ. The soldier was most definitely NOT amused.

That was friggin' hilarious! And I have a cat! Loved the end credits: "Seriously, I don't hate cats, but don't get me started on Kesha."

Pretty sure that's Nora in the purple halter top w/straw hat in the bottom center of the frame at the beginning. But why does she wait a minute and a half before jumping in? I had to go back to be sure, cuz the dude in the Minnie Pearl hat and red tighties at 2:17 scared the livin' shit out of me...

A fine achievement in parenting your young'ns, OW. Well played!

Just musing, OW. I'm a lover, not a fighter... Must concur - a screw-up of major proportions. If we encounter the prosecuting attorney, can we beat him with a wooden club and leave him for dead? Would that be fair? Yet another season is winding away, and I don't have any climbing plans in my future due to job situation. Back from TDY in CA now, leave for my next gig in ND in a couple days, then after that mebbe NV for a few months, or even NY until next spring. Lots of travel, no fun times...

Now there's 10 hours of my life that I'll never get back...

Convicting someone of a crime that doesn't exist is a major screw up. I seriously doubt this guy will walk... he'll continue to serve time on his robbery conviction and will probably be retried. He'll still serve several years. Exactly! How the hell does a prosecuting attorney screw up the charging documents that heinously??? Precisely. Y'all better start packing in Skamania County... Question: If we encounter Michael Collins, can we beat him with a wooden club and leave him for dead? Would that be fair?

Oh, so that was you. Figgerz...

Begone, on pain of death, spambot! All our moderators are been notified to us.

Screw PMs, Kurt. I want mine. Right here, right now.

Fixt it for ya... I could have sworn it was up river, but my memories from the 80s are sketchy sometimes. Elk City is upriver from LD, but that's a whoooooooooole 'nother discussion... :banjos playing:

Leave it to Billy...

You slanderous whelp, you! The beer at that store is swill. Now that Granny is dead and they hauled the pool table out of the living room, the only reason to stop there is to replenish the ice in the Igloo...

Fixt it for ya...

Jeebus Christ, is this bullshit true? Another fuq'n permit? Crikey, I leave the state for less than a month and this abortion goes down? Shit, I need to reside in a new state. WA ain't it... CA ain't it... fuq... Now, this I love: You actually got this printed in a newspaper? Classic!