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Dru

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Back in the day...they used to call the Mountaineers, "The Hardy Queers", but I 'spose that ain't so nice. I've got a number of stories about encounters with them characters but I'll only bore you with a couple. Dwayner used to do quite a bit of unroped solo climbing. Once I did a little alpine ridge route and I paused on a ledge a couple hundred feet up to have a snack and enjoy the view. Meanwhile down below, I watched as a group of Mountaineers were organizing something. It turned out that they were going to send two of their best up there to rescue me! It took them a good while to reach me and then they informed me how everything was going to be O.K. and that climbing without a rope wasn't a smart thing to do. I packed up, continued my climb, and told them to piss off AND have a nice day. On another occasion, I had soloed a rock route and had returned to my pack. A stern looking Mountaineer with a red cross on his helmet approached me: "I'm on the Mountaineers First Aid Committee and for a minute there we thought we were going to have a little practice." I told him to piss off AND have a nice day. And speaking of "reserving the glacier", I've had Mountaineers "instructors" in Leavenworth tell me on a Saturday morning that we couldn't climb in a particular area because they were "using it for the entire weekend." Needless to say, I appeared on the site an hour earlier the next morning with my ropes and students while the Mounties paced nervously waiting for us to finish. "They're on our rock!" I heard one of them cry in anguish. Apparently they had spent Saturday rehearsing their short 5.2 lead and there wouldn't be enough time for all of them to get their little rock lead requirement checked off if they didn't start early. We used the rock until we were finished and then packed up to leave. Before our ropes even hit the ground, 50 Mounties ran out of the bushes with harnesses on and ropes ready to go. Now that's desperation!

Gee whiz! makes me wanna drink! [big Drink]

- Dwayner

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quote:

Originally posted by Dwayner:
Back in the day...they used to call the Mountaineers, "The Hardy Queers", but I 'spose that ain't so nice. I've got a number of stories about encounters with them characters but I'll only bore you with a couple. Dwayner used to do quite a bit of unroped solo climbing. Once I did a little alpine ridge route and I paused on a ledge a couple hundred feet up to have a snack and enjoy the view. Meanwhile down below, I watched as a group of Mountaineers were organizing something. It turned out that they were going to send two of their best up there to rescue me! It took them a good while to reach me and then they informed me how everything was going to be O.K. and that climbing without a rope wasn't a smart thing to do. I packed up, continued my climb, and told them to piss off AND have a nice day. On another occasion, I had soloed a rock route and had returned to my pack. A stern looking Mountaineer with a red cross on his helmet approached me: "I'm on the Mountaineers First Aid Committee and for a minute there we thought we were going to have a little practice." I told him to piss off AND have a nice day. And speaking of "reserving the glacier", I've had Mountaineers "instructors" in Leavenworth tell me on a Saturday morning that we couldn't climb in a particular area because they were "using it for the entire weekend." Needless to say, I appeared on the site an hour earlier the next morning with my ropes and students while the Mounties paced nervously waiting for us to finish. "They're on our rock!" I heard one of them cry in anguish. Apparently they had spent Saturday rehearsing their short 5.2 lead and there wouldn't be enough time for all of them to get their little rock lead requirement checked off if they didn't start early. We used the rock until we were finished and then packed up to leave. Before our ropes even hit the ground, 50 Mounties ran out of the bushes with harnesses on and ropes ready to go. Now that's desperation! Gee whiz! makes me wanna drink!
[big Drink]
- Dwayner

Ya' should have given that mountie leader a golden shower for his efforts before you continued up.

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O.K. here go's, I help teach the mountain steers, climbing course in Wenatchee, there are some good people with them. Our classes are small, about 6 to 10 people, we have had the same problems in the icecicle as i've heard here,it's not the steers, it's all you 206'ers, theres just too many of you. So I think you should all stop Fucking til eastern Washington catches up.

We held our carvase rescue at Rainer, and they told us to leave,but they come over here and act like they own the place. I don't know if we will have a class or not this year, but if they do I will help out, I just like to teach people something I love to do. We just don't have all the bullshit.

Paul

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OK, I've been getting laughs here for months and never posting anything but with this thread I just have to contribute some Mountaineer stories of my own. We wake up at the north ridge bivy on Stuart and scramble to the gendarme bypass to find two climbers at the bottom of the rappel. They immediately warn us to turn back saying the route is too iced up and dangerous. That one of their party had fallen there yesterday and was still hanging from the rope down this loose couloir with a broken leg. That's gotta hurt. Two others in their group had made it up the peak somehow and were calling in Chelan Co. Rescue. Well the route looked fine to us and they insisted that the injured guy not be moved until rescuers arrived so we rapped down and stepped across a few slightly icy rocks to the scree leading up into a hot summer day. Many helicopter sightings later at Long's Pass we talked to one of the county rescue members, might have been Haireball. He tells us the guy did'nt really break his leg and was hiking out on his own. The rescue guy was just waiting there to tell the mounties how stupid he thought they all were. Occasionally mountainerror bumblitude can work to your advantage. On my way out of the Pinnacles many years ago I spotted two women who were descending from above Martian Direct. Back then you either went up the ridge or down to a tree to rappel with one rope. They'd started rappeling down the face on one rope when I stopped and told them it would'nt reach would they like to use my rope also. At first they refused my help but after the leader got down far enough to see she called out to accept my offer. She clips into a single bolt and lowers her rope which I tie to mine and they get down where we can exchange phone numbers. They were both really cute Mountaineer's from Olympia. A few weeks later one of them calls asking me to climb Goode with her and a friend. Great but at Chelan we find a horde with the same plan so we go up to Sir Donald instead. Nobody there. Having climbed too slowly to summit and descend in daylight we agree to keep going and bivy. These girls had all the essentials plus bivy sacks and space blankets. The night was pretty comfortable thanks to all the "extra" stuff they carried and one of them became my regular climbing partner and eventually mothered our two daughters. Which leads to another story. She gave my name to the Climbing Committee Chairman who was looking for someone to lead rock pitches for him and two other Mountaineers on the south side of Kangaroo Temple. Six or so pitches up a thunderstorm from the north arrives. Wind, lightning and pouring rain drove us into a nearby cave (maybe the gallery cave) which seemed more like a microwave oven with all the electrical action going by. The lightning passed, the rain turned to snow and the Mounties refused to go. Lots of daylight left, four easy pitches and back to the car. None of my friends would've hesitated to get the fuck out of there. But nooooooo, we were going to sleep on these jagged rocks, cramped together with drips of water falling on us. The only bivy I ever really hated. In the morning there is 3-4 inches of snow on the route but the weather is nice, it's July and I'm past ready to leave. The one guy who can lead 5.8 checks it out and then the Chairman takes a look. They agree to stay put and hope things are melted off by the next day. I'm more than a little incredulous and describe how to stand in a sling if it's too hard. So I lead up, leaving lots of gear for them to pull on. I never climbed with a Mountaineer again. Except for my wife.

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I did the Basic course and a couple of years of the Intermediate course and don't regret it at all. Being brand new to climbing it was a good way to learn the basics and meet new people to climb with. The reason I dropped out is that I figureds out I don't really like the organizational thing. I just like to go out with friends I have climbed with and trust and have a good time. I still think the Basic course is a good program and recommend it to people who want to learn rudimentary skills.

Having said that: My biggest beef isn't with the Mountaineers really but the type of people it attracts. They seem to be big on ego and not humble enough to know their limits which fucking scares me. Accidents waiting to happen. I think someone said it before though. I think the bad encounters with Mountaineers can be attributed to one or two dickheads in charge of any given outing.

It is funny remembering some of the looks I would get from people in the club when I would crack my brand of humor. Man they are wwwaaayyyy phucking uptight in general. LOL I laugh just thinking about it. I like being as crude as I want to be with friends when I'm out climbing and we occasionally get rude glances at the crag or in the mountains when we're around other mounties. LOL

I just want to say one more thing: this whole concept of threating to kick someones ass when they say something you don't like...what the fuck's up with that? I've seen it on this site on a few different occasions. Nice attitude. Please don't kick my ass! :-)

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A different kind of story, with a question or two.

Last June two friends and I bailed on Wilson Headwall on Rainier. Coming down we saw an army of climbers on the Nisqually. There must have been 50 of them, or more (you guessed it, The Mountaineers). First question: What's the limit for people in one group on Rainier? On Mt. Hood it's 12. Even with blue bags, fifty seems like an environmental disaster waiting to happen.

A bit later, when hiking out of the Nisqually basin I came to a fork in the snow. A guy there (Mountaineer leader) asked that I go to the right as a sign there said "meadow recovery", but it was really still 98% covered in snow. Okay, no problem, I go to the right. About 15 steps behind me comes up a babe, and then her Dude. Her nameplate on her helmet was something like "Tiva". Anyway, the Mountaineer Leader Guy asks the Dude to take the path to the right (same that he asked me, not sarcastic, just normal tone of voice). The Dude looked at it, and him, and very angrily said, "I'm not doing a f***ing thing you say" pointing his finger at him.

This whole thing left me kind of baffled. Sure, it really didn't matter which fork you took, it was pretty much all snow. But something pissed this dude off. I have heard so many bad stories about The Mountaineers, it made me think maybe they tried to kill him, or his ubergorgeous girlfriend? Her nameplate on her helmet told me she was with them, and yes, I am sure they were a couple. So he wasn't just some random climber pissed at all Mountaineers. Or calling the leader guy a hypocrite as he brought about 50 people up there that day and was concerned about a snow covered patch of a meadow. Puzzling.

Can anyone shed light on this? I didn't feel like asking either party what the deal was, but I've wondered ever since.

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Just a vague memory but........

Six or so pitches up a thunderstorm from the north arrives. Wind, lightning and pouring rain drove us into a nearby cave (maybe the gallery cave) which seemed more like a microwave oven with all the electrical action going by.

This story reminds me of something that happened on El Cap about 20+ years ago. I don't remember the details, maybe someone can help me out, But a few climbers were hiding from lightning in a cave somewhere on the wall when a bolt came down the crack that formed the cave. One guy was jolted pretty hard and fell backwards off the wall while clipped only to the end of a 150' rope. He popped a few anchors and I think pulled another guy off. The survivor(s?) had to be rescued.Electricity travels in realativly straight lines and seeks the path of least resistence which is the path with the most positively charged ions such as metals or conductive gasses. A crack full of air is likely to be more conductive than granite especially with a little sodium mixed in. If you are going to hide from lightning in a cave, don't fart, belch or breath and you will probably be OK.

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Well, this is an very emotional thread. Yes, the mountaineers have produced some very good climbers and some really poor climbers that shold take up golf.

I took a very good wilderness first aid class back in the 70's that did its final in West Seattle at a park there. There were Mountaineers in that class and I was stunned by their brain washing of the dogma they were introduced to. Over the years seeing groups like this evolve into mass production of wilderness programing shows me that the masses are not in tune with the distruction of our environment. They only care about today and not the future and what it holds for the next generation.

Do I hate you personally because you are a Mountaineer? If you are like the person I met in Bridge Creek Camp Ground that had plenty of space for two and would not share. Yes, then I do hate you because you are a fucking selfish C.U.N.T.(can't understand normal thinking). You and your organization need to be taught lessons on how to treat the environment and the other humans there at the moment besides the basic climbing classes. If you get treated rudely it is because of those before you. You new Mountaineers should take a look at the organization and try to change it.

Enough I'm going for a run with my dog. cool.gif" border="0

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quote:

Originally posted by KeithKSchultz:
Just a vague memory but........

Six or so pitches up a thunderstorm from the north arrives. Wind, lightning and pouring rain drove us into a nearby cave (maybe the gallery cave) which seemed more like a microwave oven with all the electrical action going by.

This story reminds me of something that happened on El Cap about 20+ years ago. I don't remember the details, maybe someone can help me out, But a few climbers were hiding from lightning in a cave somewhere on the wall when a bolt came down the crack that formed the cave. One guy was jolted pretty hard and fell backwards off the wall while clipped only to the end of a 150' rope. He popped a few anchors and I think pulled another guy off. The survivor(s?) had to be rescued.Electricity travels in realativly straight lines and seeks the path of least resistence which is the path with the most positively charged ions such as metals or conductive gasses. A crack full of air is likely to be more conductive than granite especially with a little sodium mixed in. If you are going to hide from lightning in a cave, don't fart, belch or breath and you will probably be OK.

OK. Great story, but how does the Mounties fit into this?

-Heinous

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While at the UofW I had a friend who was a mountaineer. He had planned a hiking trip in the Olympics one weekend with his other mountaineer friends. I asked if I could go and was told no because I had not taken the mountaineers basic course. Keep in mind this was not a climb but only a hiking trip. I never talked to him after that.

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One thing the Mountaineers really beat their drums about is that they require you to go through MOFA (Mountaineering Oriented First Aid) which is about a 30 hour course. Back in 92 I took Wilderness First Responder up in Bellingham through the Red Cross, which is a 90 hour course taught by a REAL PROFESSIONAL who now works for AAI up there. The course was really great and I practically was an EMT by the end of it. The Mountaineers MOFA class is taught entirely by volunteers and doesn't even hold a candle to a real WFR cert. At the conclusion of the WFR in Bellingham I felt that each and every member of the class was as competent as someone can be without professional medical training. I would have trusted any of them with my life in an emergency. The graduates of the MOFA program from the Mountaineers I wouldn't trust with a band-aid. The instruction just totally sucked! The Instructor merely read the textbook to us during class (like I can't do this on my own time)? All said, some first aid training is better than none, but I felt it was pretty low quality.

The Mountaineers definately have their faults, but having just graduated from the Basic Climbing class this last year, I have to say that I accomplished a lot of great summits, and learned a lot of new skills that simply would not have been available to me otherwise. Like most, I am looking forward to now just climbing and not marching in groups of 50 on the Nisqually Glacier.

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The remarkable, dense flocking behavior and obnoxious nature of the species homo sapiens mountaineeri is often replicated by a close relative, homo sapiens mazamanius, known to frequent the portland, oregon area in great abundance.

Best places to view the mazamanius species and their Everest-style behavior:

Three Fingered Jack, S. Ridge: fixed line to the summit!

Mt. Washington, N. Ridge: fixed line to the summit!

Mt. Jefferson, Milk Creek Gully: late summer, when there is decent rockfall.

Mt. Hood: any route, any time.

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Ah, I'm new to this site, been monitoring it for awhile though. Being from Portland I'd say you'd have to include the Mazamas in this discussion, not much different than the Mountaineers in attitude, travel in herds no less than the wild Wildebeast, and have newbies teaching newbies the ropes.

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