EISPIRATEN

From Kenny Oslund of JPL, sent on Feb 1: Yesterday, Marc, Nate, Kedron and I summited Mt. Baden-Powell. It's gorgeous out there and the snow pack is holding up quite well. Coverage is good despite the warm temps, and it seemed really stable, although we didn't dig a pit or do any more formal analysi...

Be responsible. If you slip and require a rescue, you will divert search and rescue resources to a silly accident and will cost the local unit thousands of dollars. If you know your limits, microspikes are fine for low-angle travel, but I wouldn't use them on anything steeper than 20 degrees without...

http://www.supertopo.com/Trip-Report/10 ... f_Tahquitz

!!!

Freedom of the Hills. I can't praise it highly enough; almost every serious American climber who I've shared a rope with learned the craft from this text. The first eight chapters or so deal with backpacking and hiking, and the rest deals with climbing. For hikes in the San Gabes and the Sierra, you...

If you haven't done a lot of high-impact stuff like running or hiking downhill until now, your tendons and bones aren't ready for it. If you jump right into strenuous hikes, you will get injured, especially if you do less than one strenuous hike per week. Ease into it slowly; I know it's annoying wh...

If you show up when the unclaimed permits become available the day before you want to start your hike (sometime between noon and 4pm--check the site), chances are pretty high that you will get a walk-in permit. My strategy for climbing on Whitney in the summer is to show up on time to get a walk-in,...

Do you have any pictures of Tahquitz? I'd like to know if the Trough or north side are iced up. It's unlikely given recent warm temps, but here's to hoping...

I think he was pretty amused

The brothers just sent me this

I'm putting on an informal, endurance ski mountaineering race on Mount Baldy on Sunday, February 21. It's intended to be friendly and is totally "under the table" so the forest service doesn't get involved, but I do expect some good competition. Come on out! It looks like 10-15 people will...

I had to choose the 21st of February . The main reason is that the hut is open Saturday night so people can sleep there before the race. Hope some of you folks can still make it out, though! It still looks like a cozy and small event, but there's a little more interest than I anticipated.

Sweet! I'll make a post here when we get a weekend figured out.

Thanks! It was pretty cool to be up there early on Saturday, but I came close to wetting my pants more than once. Under slightly different conditions, many of the fire road and hut trail slopes would have slid, and I was a little taken aback that so many people ventured up without avalanche beacons.

Just gauging interest: would anyone be interested in an informal, endurance randonnée race on Baldy in mid to late February? I'm thinking something akin to those of our Italian friends, except with emphasis on it being "unofficial" in light of liabilities and complications with the forest ...

The closest place that rents AT gear is Mammoth Mountaineering.

Hi Folks! This weekend was so awesome that I can't restrain myself from telling you about it in the hopes that you'll check it out soon. As you all know, our local mountains were absolutely pummeled by a series of strong storms last week, and the results were truly impressive: http://lh4.ggpht.com/_...