"Because it's there."

[Peregrinator]

Yikes! Those are often life-ending falls! That guy did a wonderful job. I wonder if he improvised a traction splint for the femur. Nice work indeed!

 

[jacksonholewy]

great thread. here's a couple pics from my neck of the woods.

http://i40.tinypic.com/2u53t6q.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/29vc7k9.jpg

 

[Peregrinator]

great thread. here's a couple pics from my neck of the woods.

http://i40.tinypic.com/2u53t6q.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/29vc7k9.jpg

Beautiful shots, Jax. Can't mistake those breast-like peaks can ya?

 

[jacksonholewy]

Beautiful shots, Jax. Can't mistake those breast-like peaks can ya?

And much like breasts I don't get tired of looking at them.

 

[Peregrinator]

And much like breasts I don't get tired of looking at them.

They certainly are Grand.

 

[Shagly]

Now this place has me thinking of Spiderman.

 

[delugewriter]

My best friend is climbing obsessed. He likes to free solo shit and scare the hell out of me. A few years ago he went to europe to climb mont blanc, the eiger, and the matterhorn... Now he's asking me if I want to climb the north face of the eiger with him... Um, yeah, HOW many people die while climbing the north face of the eiger every year? I think he said something like 90 people since 1940? Yeah, count me out. He's out of his fucking mind.

 

[Peregrinator]

My best friend is climbing obsessed. He likes to free solo shit and scare the hell out of me. A few years ago he went to europe to climb mont blanc, the eiger, and the matterhorn... Now he's asking me if I want to climb the north face of the eiger with him... Um, yeah, HOW many people die while climbing the north face of the eiger every year? I think he said something like 90 people since 1940? Yeah, count me out. He's out of his fucking mind.

Have him PM me.

 

[delugewriter]

.... don't I get to know why??

 

[thør]

Time to sell the couch or dump the GF?

From the ADN.com:

"Neither snow nor wind nor volcanic ash nor economic calamity, it would seem, can stay mountaineers from the slopes of North America's tallest peak.

Though Alaska's summer tourism economy now looks on the verge of a major recession, the National Park Service is expecting another busy climbing season on Mount McKinley.

Chief mountaineering ranger John Leonard figures 1,000 to 1,200 climbers will venture onto the mountain in May, June and July.

"We're looking pretty normal,'' he said Monday, noting that all of the companies permitted to guide on the slopes of McKinley are reporting they are booked solid.

"Climbers, even if they have to go into debt, they keep coming,'' said Paul Roderick of Talkeetna Air Taxi. "They'll sell their couch if they have to or get rid of their girlfriend.''

Despite a recession gone global, Leonard noted the Mount Everest climbing season already under way is "having a banner year, and those are $65,000 trips.''

Compared with what it costs to climb 29,029-foot Everest -- the world's tallest mountain -- 20,320-foot McKinley -- the world's coldest mountain -- is a bargain. A guided, three-week-long trudge up the West Buttress toward the summit can be had for about $6,000.

Statistically, about half the climbers who attempt that route make the top, although the success-rate can vary between 40 and 60 percent in any given year. A lot depends on environmental factors.

Normally, that means the weather. But this year there's the added wild card of ash from the exploding Redoubt volcano.

"It's going to affect the (Kahiltna) glacier,'' Roderick said.

"It could be real, real messy,'' Leonard said.

Most of the McKinley massif got a good dusting of ash in late March. The ash layer was then buried under new snow.

"It's about a foot down now,'' Leonard said. "(But) it's amazing how much heat the ash retains.''

Everyone expects heat-collecting ash to become more and more of problem as snows begin to melt off the Kahiltna later this month and into May. As that happens, pockets of ash are likely to be exposed, and there is no telling how fast those superheated spots might eat their way into the glacier.

If some of the heat-collecting piles of ash happen to be atop snow-bridges spanning unseen crevasses in the glaciers that underlay most of the route to the summit via the West Buttress, there could be problems. If heat-collecting piles of ash crater the airstrip at Kahiltna base camp, there could be further problems.

"The climbers might have to go out and shovel it all off the runway,'' Roderick joked.

The ski-equipped airplanes that fly climbers and sightseers to Kahiltna base need a semi-smooth surface on which to land unlike the U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopters which flew the Park Service's ranger camps and 10,000 pounds of food, fuel and medical supplies onto the mountain earlier this month.

Helping to set up Kahiltna base camp at 7,200 feet and the 14,000-foot ranger camp has for years been a regular training exercise for the special, high-altitude helicopters based at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks.

Leonard said his agency's WeatherPort at Kahiltna base is now dug in, set up and preparing to open for business.

As of Monday, he was expecting the camp to be staffed in "a couple days.'' The first party of climbers is already on the mountain and increasing numbers will be arriving by the week.

"We did our second (climber) orientation this morning,'' Leonard said. "It's getting off to an early start.''

Most climbers wait until at least May, when the days are near their longest and the weather is the warmest, before heading onto the mountain. But there are exceptions.

The Alaska Mountaineering School in Talkeetna was this year approached by a North Carolina-based military unit that wanted to climb in January, said the school's Colby Coombs. The soldiers, he said, are training for high-altitude assignments in Afghanistan.

Coombs talked them into pushing their training climb back until this month. January on McKinley, he noted, is beyond brutal. There is almost no daylight that time of year, and temperatures regularly plummet to 50 or 60 below. The record winter low is a fuel-freezing, life-threatening 75 below.

By April, the mountain is somewhat more hospitable. Temperatures now are a comparatively balmy 15 to 25 below.

If you're thinking about going, consider, too, that the temperatures will only get warmer with every passing month, though that ash could makes travel increasingly problematic as the glaringly bright, high-altitude sun casts its beams on the volcanic ash."

 

[Peregrinator]

.... don't I get to know why??

Doesn't he need a climbing partner?

From the ADN.com:

"Neither snow nor wind nor volcanic ash nor economic calamity, it would seem, can stay mountaineers from the slopes of North America's tallest peak.

Though Alaska's summer tourism economy now looks on the verge of a major recession, the National Park Service is expecting another busy climbing season on Mount McKinley.

Chief mountaineering ranger John Leonard figures 1,000 to 1,200 climbers will venture onto the mountain in May, June and July.

"We're looking pretty normal,'' he said Monday, noting that all of the companies permitted to guide on the slopes of McKinley are reporting they are booked solid.

"Climbers, even if they have to go into debt, they keep coming,'' said Paul Roderick of Talkeetna Air Taxi. "They'll sell their couch if they have to or get rid of their girlfriend.''

Despite a recession gone global, Leonard noted the Mount Everest climbing season already under way is "having a banner year, and those are $65,000 trips.''

Compared with what it costs to climb 29,029-foot Everest -- the world's tallest mountain -- 20,320-foot McKinley -- the world's coldest mountain -- is a bargain. A guided, three-week-long trudge up the West Buttress toward the summit can be had for about $6,000.

Statistically, about half the climbers who attempt that route make the top, although the success-rate can vary between 40 and 60 percent in any given year. A lot depends on environmental factors.

Normally, that means the weather. But this year there's the added wild card of ash from the exploding Redoubt volcano.

"It's going to affect the (Kahiltna) glacier,'' Roderick said.

"It could be real, real messy,'' Leonard said.

Most of the McKinley massif got a good dusting of ash in late March. The ash layer was then buried under new snow.

"It's about a foot down now,'' Leonard said. "(But) it's amazing how much heat the ash retains.''

Everyone expects heat-collecting ash to become more and more of problem as snows begin to melt off the Kahiltna later this month and into May. As that happens, pockets of ash are likely to be exposed, and there is no telling how fast those superheated spots might eat their way into the glacier.

If some of the heat-collecting piles of ash happen to be atop snow-bridges spanning unseen crevasses in the glaciers that underlay most of the route to the summit via the West Buttress, there could be problems. If heat-collecting piles of ash crater the airstrip at Kahiltna base camp, there could be further problems.

"The climbers might have to go out and shovel it all off the runway,'' Roderick joked.

The ski-equipped airplanes that fly climbers and sightseers to Kahiltna base need a semi-smooth surface on which to land unlike the U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopters which flew the Park Service's ranger camps and 10,000 pounds of food, fuel and medical supplies onto the mountain earlier this month.

Helping to set up Kahiltna base camp at 7,200 feet and the 14,000-foot ranger camp has for years been a regular training exercise for the special, high-altitude helicopters based at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks.

Leonard said his agency's WeatherPort at Kahiltna base is now dug in, set up and preparing to open for business.

As of Monday, he was expecting the camp to be staffed in "a couple days.'' The first party of climbers is already on the mountain and increasing numbers will be arriving by the week.

"We did our second (climber) orientation this morning,'' Leonard said. "It's getting off to an early start.''

Most climbers wait until at least May, when the days are near their longest and the weather is the warmest, before heading onto the mountain. But there are exceptions.

The Alaska Mountaineering School in Talkeetna was this year approached by a North Carolina-based military unit that wanted to climb in January, said the school's Colby Coombs. The soldiers, he said, are training for high-altitude assignments in Afghanistan.

Coombs talked them into pushing their training climb back until this month. January on McKinley, he noted, is beyond brutal. There is almost no daylight that time of year, and temperatures regularly plummet to 50 or 60 below. The record winter low is a fuel-freezing, life-threatening 75 below.

By April, the mountain is somewhat more hospitable. Temperatures now are a comparatively balmy 15 to 25 below.

If you're thinking about going, consider, too, that the temperatures will only get warmer with every passing month, though that ash could makes travel increasingly problematic as the glaringly bright, high-altitude sun casts its beams on the volcanic ash."

Lol...I remember a piece by Mark Synnott in which he said something like now that he had a wife a small baby, he could no longer pay for a trip by the traditional method of selling his car...

Ash on the glaciers...hrm. Should be some interesting accident reports this year. I'll have to make sure and get a copy of Jed's annual review.

 

[thør]

Ash on the glaciers...hrm. Should be some interesting accident reports this year. I'll have to make sure and get a copy of Jed's annual review.

The ash sure sucks up the heat of the sun. And things melt quicker. But if there is a nice white layer of snow over the top of it, there should be minimal effects.

 

[Peregrinator]

The ash sure sucks up the heat of the sun. And things melt quicker. But if there is a nice white layer of snow over the top of it, there should be minimal effects.

I hope so. Those glaciers are so damn deep.

I used to do that instead of shoveling the driveway when I lived in NH. I'd just wait for a melted spot and then throw the sand and dirt on top of the snow. Drove my ex nuts.

 

[thør]

I hope so. Those glaciers are so damn deep.

I used to do that instead of shoveling the driveway when I lived in NH. I'd just wait for a melted spot and then throw the sand and dirt on top of the snow. Drove my ex nuts.

Once upon a time, they used to drop coal dust on the Yukon in key places to thin out the ice and minimize ice jams in spring. And in Thule, the asphalt runway is painted white to reflect the sun and reduce the summer thaw.

 

[Peregrinator]

Once upon a time, they used to drop coal dust on the Yukon in key places to thin out the ice and minimize ice jams in spring. And in Thule, the asphalt runway is painted white to reflect the sun and reduce the summer thaw.

Gads, what a mess that must have been when it melted. Coal mud. Blech.

 

[thør]

Gads, what a mess that must have been when it melted. Coal mud. Blech.

Prolly no big mess at all. It was a fine dusting, just enough to gray the surface. Kinda like this volcanic crap we're seeing from Redoubt.

 

[Peregrinator]

Prolly no big mess at all. It was a fine dusting, just enough to gray the surface. Kinda like this volcanic crap we're seeing from Redoubt.

That makes more sense. How bad is the dust in Anchorage?

 

[thør]

That makes more sense. How bad is the dust in Anchorage?

Not bad. The snow helped. But once the snow leaves, we'll need a good rain to get things cleaned up. It's not nearly as bad as dust off the mudflats can be.

 

[Peregrinator]

Not bad. The snow helped. But once the snow leaves, we'll need a good rain to get things cleaned up. It's not nearly as bad as dust off the mudflats can be.

Small blessings, eh?

 

[thør]

Small blessings, eh?

It certainly beats having another couple 100k of people around here.......

 

[Peregrinator]

It certainly beats having another couple 100k of people around here.......

Build condos! Everywhere!

 

[thør]

Build condos! Everywhere!

Hives......

 

[Peregrinator]

Hives......

With a view.

 

[sigh]

You hold it until you have a chance to pee. In particularly sensitive ecosystems, people pee in bottles and carry it out.

Makes you wonder though, Perg. If the ecosystem is that sensitive, maybe you shouldn't be there at all. But like you said, it's a selfish sport, and I think you're right about that.

I admire the focus required. I really do. I suspect that it's great for the soul, like meditation almost.

 

[Peregrinator]

Makes you wonder though, Perg. If the ecosystem is that sensitive, maybe you shouldn't be there at all. But like you said, it's a selfish sport, and I think you're right about that.

I admire the focus required. I really do. I suspect that it's great for the soul, like meditation almost.

The problem isn't that urine is bad for anything. The problem is usually either that someone else is climbing after you and doesn't want to climb a piss streak or that the salt in urine attracts animals who chew up the local plants to get it. In deserts you're suppose to pee on bare ground or flat rocks, that sort of thing. I think most climbers don't pee during a climb because the whole damn planet can see you. On huge climbs you just piss into space and let the wind disperse it.

But, yeah, generally I agree; if a little urine is to much for the ecosystem where you're playing, maybe you shouldn't be playing there. Caves come to mind; they're incredibly sensitive.

The act of climbing, of moving over rock, can be extraordinarily focusing, yes. It reminds me of martial arts training or marksmanship training that way.