Well, I wait all winter for this day! Usually it doesn't happen until mid May but we finally have some luck this winter! HWY 20 opens today! April 26th! I can only imagine how packed with mountaineers and skiers the North Casacades will be this weekend. You can check out the status of the road here and check out the pictures of the snow blowers they use to clear the highway. With the amount of snowfall that we had this winter and the huge wind storms we had in November and December I am suprised that they were able to open the road so quickly. Not only does this give us access to the Liberty Bell group and the Wine Spires but it also gives us easier access to the Mazama area and Goat Wall which has a 5 pitch 5.9 sport climb! Hopefully I will be able to make it up there soon to get some routes done. To all that are going to be up at the pass this weekend, have a great time and be safe in those mountains. :)
more pictures here!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
North Cascades Highway
Friday, April 20, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Google Earth
I recently read an article at summitpost.org about using GPS units and Google Earth. I have played around with google earth a little bit but always got annoyed with bad resolution of the pictures. After reading this article by Travis_ from SummitPost I have a completely new found affection for the possibilities of this free program. What a great addition this could be for my web site! Now if only I had a GPS!
I have been drawing routes in manaully on National Geographics Topo software but have always thought that it is far from correct as I tend to have a shaky hand, especially with a mouse. Plus, the Topo edition that I have is not in 3D. Google Earth allows for you to tilt the image for the best effect and gives you great 3D images of your route and the surrounding peaks. Some areas are still bad resolution but hey, it's free!
If anybody else has more information on the uses of Google Earth and GPS please share. For instance, if you are familiar with GPS systems what are the good brands and what features should buyers look for? Does Google Earth track miles and altitude traveled? Share your knowledge! What do you use your GPS for?
Here is a more basic Google Earth article as well.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
School is such a drag!
Well, I am back in school and hating it! The memories of being 1500 vertical feet on an awesome face in Red Rocks is killing me. I like living in Seattle but it is so hard to get out and do some good climbing. Right now I don't have any days off in between school and work. I am working on getting Sundays off which will allow me one day for climbing or whatever else I feel like doing. I guess we will see.
This is my last quarter of school and it is going to be a tough one. By the end of the quarter I have to have a portfolio done and I have hardly even thought about what I want to do with it. Hopefully everything will work out.
I took some newbies up to Frenchman Coulee on Thursday. We had a good time climbing sport routes and relaxing in the sun. We met some cool people and got completely pumped off of 5.9s. Yes, that does mean that I am out of shape. Hopefully I will find time to start climbing at least once a week so I can accomplish some good climbs this summer. I might have a partner for the North Ridge of Stuart which would be amazing. The goal is to be able to lead 5.10 trad this summer. Hmmmm, will it happen? We will just have to wait and see.
