Lords of Lame

What do you do when your partner can't leave town until 2pm? Go anyway and hope things go smoothly...

Checking the time shortly before encountering a non-trival section on the traverse and bailing...



As I found out later by looking at a picture, turns out we were only a short distance from the beginning of the nice part of the climb. So we should have gone for it... oh well.

The ultimate lameness... top-roping 5.0 slab after a quick hike to the summit.



But at least we got to watch the sun set over glittering Puget Sound, the Olympics and Vancouver island. And we did summit, in defiance of a Mountaineers party member (with requisite 10ft ice axe) we met on the way up - who when told we were trying to beat the sun to the summit - disapprovingly said the mountain would win.

It was pitch black by the time we made it back to the lake where Ed had stashed two double-size australian beers.



They held much more buzz than anticipated, and so we were forced to spend another hour there watching the stars, the milky way, and meteors. Not a bad way to spend an evening.

Should have brought my skis

There is still snow left in NY state. My brother, nephews and I found a snow patch today, big enough to make at least two turns on. Crazy. Kam would love it I guess.
I would update with a photo, but there is no way to get pics off the camera right now. I'm astonished I can even get online - someone around here has an unsecured wireless broadband network.

Pwned

R.I.P. Caroline

I learned an old aquaintance of mine was killed in a rappelling accident at Skaha Bluffs last weekend.

Here are some pics from a Utah ski/climbing trip we were both on in 1999:

Caroline on the right:






The last time I saw her was about 3-4 years ago when she and a partner were hiking in to climb Mt Rexford while we were on our way out.

Abernathy Peak

...can't make any puns with that. So just a plain title.

I didn't get enough video for a genuine mtnPhilms video (Jason wasn't warm to my movie plot we could have filmed with our extensive time at Scatter Lake). Plus he was self-conscious about his skiing, so he didn't want it shown to everyone. So here are just some random clips thrown together:



Everything looks steep (which may not be a bad thing) because youtube doesn't handle wide-screen video properly.

The hardest part of this ski trip was long drive!

I'm so DOMS

This is what happens when you do a 9000ft day after 17 days on the couch!

Monkeys, flight, arses

Oh my... look what I got:



could it be!?!?







oh wait...



whew!

I have busy days at the office too...

It's not just Tony who has them. See?

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?