Friday, June 22, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Rossit on the weather
Ok, to push SkiSickness off the top of this blog, I bring you:
Mr Rossit on the importance of bringing warm clothing when climbing the higher peaks here, even in mid-summer:
Don't be fooled by the hot sun and by the girls wearing shorts, whom you might see at the lower elevations. Bring the warming memory of these things with you as you struggle upward through the cold snow toward the icy summit. Remember that to you, "mountain fastness" means the upper reaches of Glacier Peak, not the speed with which you may woo the girls you saw wearing shorts after you return from the summit.
Why don't they make guidebooks like this anymore?
Mr Rossit on the importance of bringing warm clothing when climbing the higher peaks here, even in mid-summer:
Don't be fooled by the hot sun and by the girls wearing shorts, whom you might see at the lower elevations. Bring the warming memory of these things with you as you struggle upward through the cold snow toward the icy summit. Remember that to you, "mountain fastness" means the upper reaches of Glacier Peak, not the speed with which you may woo the girls you saw wearing shorts after you return from the summit.
Why don't they make guidebooks like this anymore?
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Getting scared
Sometimes, skiing's all about getting scared shitless by taking too little gear for the climb. I don't want to ski with all that crap on my back: That's not what skiing's all about.
Photo by Pandorable nabbed from the cc.com galleries.
-SkiSickness
Photo by Pandorable nabbed from the cc.com galleries.
-SkiSickness
Sunday, June 3, 2007
How many stories fit on Jason's website?
Let's have a look at the following URL:
http://www.cascadecrusades.org/SkiMountaineering/baker/colemanheadwall/ch2007/chjune.htm
First breadcrumb:
Fatboy engages in 3 sports as far as I can tell: skiing, kayaking and hiking/etc.
Second breadcrumb:
This is more difficult. Skiing, there are perhaps 100 peaks that might be interesting in Washington. Kayaking... I dunno - 40 rivers? Hiking... hard to guess. Let's use 80 for this breadcrumb.
Third breadcrumb:
This appears to specify the route on a particular mountain. It does not appear to be used in river or hiking trip reports. Thus, ski mountaineering trip reports have an order of magnitude more possibilities, and we can safely exclude hiking and kayaking from our calculations. Let us assume that an average mountain has 5 routes.
Fourth breadcrumb:
The used of this crumb is inconsistent - it may be the final html file, but it can also be an additional folder, usually specifying the year. Some times it adds in the month. But the month can also be a fifth breadcrumb, as in the URL above. Let's consider all of this one "yearly crumb" with 12 possibilities (the months)
Summary
Let's calculate:
3 X 80 X 5 X 12 = 14400 trip reports per year!
It is clear that Fatboy's web-fu is strong, and he has created a very scalable trip report solution.
http://www.cascadecrusades.org/SkiMountaineering/baker/colemanheadwall/ch2007/chjune.htm
First breadcrumb:
Fatboy engages in 3 sports as far as I can tell: skiing, kayaking and hiking/etc.
Second breadcrumb:
This is more difficult. Skiing, there are perhaps 100 peaks that might be interesting in Washington. Kayaking... I dunno - 40 rivers? Hiking... hard to guess. Let's use 80 for this breadcrumb.
Third breadcrumb:
This appears to specify the route on a particular mountain. It does not appear to be used in river or hiking trip reports. Thus, ski mountaineering trip reports have an order of magnitude more possibilities, and we can safely exclude hiking and kayaking from our calculations. Let us assume that an average mountain has 5 routes.
Fourth breadcrumb:
The used of this crumb is inconsistent - it may be the final html file, but it can also be an additional folder, usually specifying the year. Some times it adds in the month. But the month can also be a fifth breadcrumb, as in the URL above. Let's consider all of this one "yearly crumb" with 12 possibilities (the months)
Summary
Let's calculate:
3 X 80 X 5 X 12 = 14400 trip reports per year!
It is clear that Fatboy's web-fu is strong, and he has created a very scalable trip report solution.
Satisfying the groupies.
Jason wrote a TR accessed with a ludicrously long URL.
My helmet cam footage has a much better URL.
Now it is time for another nugget of wisdom from Edward A Rossit:
The mountaineer is not happy because of any material wealth he may have. Indeed, he deliberately leaves material comforts and luxuries behind him when he climbs. He does not worship sucess, because success always lies in the eyes and approval of others. The mountaineer is happy and at peace because he approves of himself. He is self-sufficient. He sets his own goal, and then he achieves it. Is there a greater contentment than that which comes from achievement?
My helmet cam footage has a much better URL.
Now it is time for another nugget of wisdom from Edward A Rossit:
The mountaineer is not happy because of any material wealth he may have. Indeed, he deliberately leaves material comforts and luxuries behind him when he climbs. He does not worship sucess, because success always lies in the eyes and approval of others. The mountaineer is happy and at peace because he approves of himself. He is self-sufficient. He sets his own goal, and then he achieves it. Is there a greater contentment than that which comes from achievement?
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Coleman Headwall... in the footsteps of Ben M.
Doing this on the Coleman Headwall is *not* what skiing is about!
Nevermind that though... the rest of the story: Jason and I took about 7 hours to reach the summit, moving slowly so as to let the snow soften. There was a strong wind starting at the Colfax/Baker col.
At the summit plateau, Jason's stoke was very high, so we began the descent right away w/o waiting for the snow to soften any further. It could have been softer, but that might have been worse in the spots where there was an icy base.
Anyway, the headwall was a really fun, serious route. Long pitches of steep continuous turns. Great atmosphere. Probably an audience down at the flats below the glacier. I don't think you could ask for better conditions... the face was minimally crevassed and the snow surface was smooth. We took the "easy" start, down the ridge (the direct start looked icy, and w/o having climbed it first, was not worth the risk). After traversing in, the rest of the route was very direct, taking the skier's right of the rock protrusion at the bottom center of the face.
Somehow, we managed to find a good line across the lower Coleman and back to the cowpath (after I took over route-finding).
Nevermind that though... the rest of the story: Jason and I took about 7 hours to reach the summit, moving slowly so as to let the snow soften. There was a strong wind starting at the Colfax/Baker col.
At the summit plateau, Jason's stoke was very high, so we began the descent right away w/o waiting for the snow to soften any further. It could have been softer, but that might have been worse in the spots where there was an icy base.
Anyway, the headwall was a really fun, serious route. Long pitches of steep continuous turns. Great atmosphere. Probably an audience down at the flats below the glacier. I don't think you could ask for better conditions... the face was minimally crevassed and the snow surface was smooth. We took the "easy" start, down the ridge (the direct start looked icy, and w/o having climbed it first, was not worth the risk). After traversing in, the rest of the route was very direct, taking the skier's right of the rock protrusion at the bottom center of the face.
Somehow, we managed to find a good line across the lower Coleman and back to the cowpath (after I took over route-finding).
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