[5/24-25 Fuhrer Finger TR]

Jesus, man, you do rock, though I have to say after my experience on that route Sunday (5/26), there's no way I'd ever solo Rainier. We (a party of seven) lugged packs up to the 9500 foot camp Saturday, and left Sunday morning around 5:00 AM. We left that late because of the (mistaken) reports of good snow conditions on Fuhrer Finger.

 

Near whiteout conditions prevented us from seeing much on the way up, and it was slow going through soft snow. We didn't reach the summit dome until almost 3:00 PM. Around 14200, we were thinking of foregoing the summit to make sure we could get down through the Kautz icefall before dark. Our decision was made for us when the lead climber vanished into a crevasse. We extracted him without much trouble, but by the time we got sorted out, it was 3:45, and obviously time to head down.

 

It was disappointing not to make the summit on my first trip up, but, heck, I had fun anyway.

[St. Helens Climbing Fees: views of a ranger]

Mtn nut says that by paying the fee I become part of the problem.

 

I partially agree, and part of me wishes I hadn't gone to Jack's after the climb and purchased a permit. However, hiding behind anonymity as he suggests doesn't help either.

 

What needs to be done is this: somebody, and maybe lots of somebodies, needs to be willing to take a citation to court. The ranger said he thought I should go to court to fight the citation if I felt strongly about it, but he also warned me that nobody has ever won in court.

 

I was thinking of doing this, but I don't have any clue how to go about fighting this type of thing. After all, I am not a lawyer.

 

By the way Wild Wilderness is sponsoring a "Day of Action" on June 15. I haven't read a lot of details about their plans, but why not have an all-out assault on one of the volcanoes that day? Just get a heck of a lot of folks to go up Mt. St. Helens: screw the quota, and screw the fees. (Actually I don't mind the quota, but I do object to the fees.)

[St. Helens Climbing Fees: views of a ranger]

This weekend I had an interesting encounter with two rangers on the Worm Flows route on Mt. St. Helens. I was taking a couple of non-climbing friends out for their first alpine experience. Since I am opposed to the $15 climbing fee the FS charges, we didn't have permits.

 

Well, hiking up the route, we came upon a couple of guys standing by their tent. Because of the glare, I couldn't even tell they were rangers. As we passed, I made small talk, when one of them asked "Do you guys have your permits?" Looking close, I saw the green uniforms. Busted.

 

One of them wanted nothing more than to get our money, but he said he could take our names and addresses, and we could climb, but we would have to get our permits at Jacks on the way home. This is a little interesting, because none of us had ID. He pretty much had to take our word that we were who we said we were.

 

As he was taking my companions names, I struck up a conversation with the other ranger. Unlike his partner, this second ranger was pretty cool. I asked him what would happen if I decided not to pay. He said I shouldn't pay if I felt strongly about it. He said he wished more people would fight it. Clearly, he just wants to be a ranger, not a fee collecting, ticket-writing pain in the ass.

 

When I asked him (rhetorically) how much they charged snowmobilers; he said nothing, and that it really rubbed him the wrong way. But he said that when he attends meetings about things (as a like fee demo and climbing fees, there are NEVER any climbers or hikers there, but the motorheads are out in force. He said there are often 150 snowmobilers at meetings, but there are usually just one or two climbers.

 

I had a long climb ahead to decide whether or not I'd pick up the permit at Jacks. My non-climbing buddies wanted nothing to do with a protest, and, in the end, I wimped out and plunked down the fiteen bucks. Hell, who am I to complain about fees? I'm just one of the tens of thousands of northwest climbers who hasn't attended any meetings about fees.

[Jeff Park conditions?]

Anyone know about Jeff Park conditions? My guess is it's getting a little late (given the drought), but a buddy of mine really wants to do it.

[Baker, North Ridge]

Does anyone know what conditions are like on the North Ridge of Mt. Baker?

 

[Hood west side conditions]

Anyone know what snow conditions are like on the west side of Hood? I'd like to get up the Sandy headwall, but I'm a little spooked by the recent weather.

 

[Hands-free upper body workout?]

I'm currently recovering from a hand injury and can't use my right hand for any heavy lifting. I'd like to continue working on upper body strength, but I can't seem to find many exercises that don't require gripping with both hands. Obviously, I could do dumbbell exercises with my left hand, but I don't want to work one side of my body while neglecting the other. Suggestions?