Please help us decide!

[bmullen37]

Folks have given you a lot of great advice on here and tried to steer you toward doing something commensurate with your ability. But you seem arrogant and cocksure. Why don't you just go and do your damn peak and stop whining and defending your sparse resume. I mean seriously, if you're such a bad-ass you wouldn't be on here soliciting advice. You would be like all the great climbers I know--you would just go do your peaks!

+1
Maybe next time just say what you have done previously (class & grade) and then ask what everyone recommends. Too many times people come on here and ask "What do you think I should do?"
The reg's on this site can't give a good suggestion without knowing your experience.
They go with better safe than sorry b/c there are too many forum posts about a missing/injured/dead climber. None of us want to see that, so everyone tries to go with subtle safe advice. No offense, but you are coming off as arrogant. I'm no "experienced" climber, but even if I had the technical experience you say you have I still would take the advice given on this site, the people on this site know these mountains better than anyone else.
I agree with your choice for the sawtooth, it's a great climb and a good step towards getting familiar with the Rocky Mountains.
I hope you guys have a blast, be safe!

[bonehead]

sgladbach has offered you an invite to tag along on a winter climb. Don't be a fool, take him up on that offer. He has way more to offer you in learning than just a few winter mountaineering skills.

[susanjoypaul]

If I thought you were actually serious (which I do not - based on your meager mountain experience, which, as is typical amongst blowhards, stands in direct and negative correlation with your pompous attitude - you're one of those blowhards that shows up here every now and then to talk the talk without ever really walking the walk), I would recommend that you first take an avalanche safety course (snow pack and avalanche conditions in the U.K. are not equal to those in the Colorado Rockies - you'll learn that in a beginner avy class), then try some peaks that you're less likely to get yourself killed on, then work your way up to your current goals of Maroon Peak, Crestone Peak and El Diente and Mount Wilson, in March.

Here are some trip reports that show you what actual mountaineers have done on those peaks, in those months:

• EasyRider Crestone Peak in March: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=5542" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
  
  Steve Gladbach Maroon Peak in March: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=5724" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
  
  Steve Gladbach Mount Wilson in March:
  Part I: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=4118" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
  Part II & III: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=4119" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I couldn't find any March reports for El Diente, but I've been up there in mid-September, on unconsolidated snow, and it scared the bejeesus out of me. The soft snow wouldn't hold a kicked step well, never mind a crampon or an axe, and a tumble down any of those couloirs or down-sloping rocks you have to cross high up on the north side would send you hurdling headlong all the way down to Navajo Basin. You could very well encounter similar conditions in March.

Steve Gladbach has a winter report for that peak though, and it's priceless - one of the best ever, and certainly the most entertaining - to grace this site.

• Steve Gladbach El Diente in December: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=5531" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So for now, maybe you should just settle for reading about what people who know what they're doing (for the most part), do out here in Colorado. Then settle for something within your abilities. Like the Sawtooth.

However, if I'm wrong and you really are serious, please do us a favor and let us know when you're coming so we can notify the Darwin Awards people.

Question: Why do you have a photo of Ed Viesturs on Everest in your signature? Why not use something more representative of your own achievements, say you and a couple dozen other day-hikers, slogging up Elbert, in snow?

[bblack99]

...i really dont think these climbs are out of my reach except for one factor.. that being avalanches, if i get a bad feeling about any area im in, im gone! but as for the actual weather and what it is doing to me, i love that! and the Alt.. so i get what you are saying about Avalanche danger, but everything else is fine, (assuming no accidents) but that is a risk everyone of us takes any time we step one foot on a mountain.. so what do i do? not go!? thats not gonna happen lol.

http://www.amazon.com/Colorado-14er-Dis ... 601&sr=8-1
Buy it, read it, maybe it will give you some context. I have practically no experience compared to the people here who are trying to help out, so don't think I'm preaching, but your quote has two scary similarities to recent Colorado SAR events...
1) You're looking for sketchy weather, which sounds a lot like Dylan Hettinger.
2) A "bad feeling" about avy conditions probably isn't enough. See the story of Valerin Anton on a winter climb of Pyramid Peak.

Don't sit in JoCo and try to fight with Colorado natives about the mountains. That's like a Denver guy fighting with us about BBQ or winning football.

[Wuldier]

If I thought you were actually serious (which I do not - based on your meager mountain experience, which, as is typical amongst blowhards, stands in direct and negative correlation with your pompous attitude - you're one of those blowhards that shows up here every now and then to talk the talk without ever really walking the walk), I would recommend that you first take an avalanche safety course (snow pack and avalanche conditions in the U.K. are not equal to those in the Colorado Rockies - you'll learn that in a beginner avy class), then try some peaks that you're less likely to get yourself killed on, then work your way up to your current goals of Maroon Peak, Crestone Peak and El Diente and Mount Wilson, in March.

Here are some trip reports that show you what actual mountaineers have done on those peaks, in those months:

• EasyRider Crestone Peak in March: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=5542" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
  
  Steve Gladbach Maroon Peak in March: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=5724" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
  
  Steve Gladbach Mount Wilson in March:
  Part I: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=4118" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
  Part II & III: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=4119" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I couldn't find any March reports for El Diente, but I've been up there in mid-September, on unconsolidated snow, and it scared the bejeesus out of me. The soft snow wouldn't hold a kicked step well, never mind a crampon or an axe, and a tumble down any of those couloirs or down-sloping rocks you have to cross high up on the north side would send you hurdling headlong all the way down to Navajo Basin. You could very well encounter similar conditions in March.

Steve Gladbach has a winter report for that peak though, and it's priceless - one of the best ever, and certainly the most entertaining - to grace this site.

• Steve Gladbach El Diente in December: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=5531" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So for now, maybe you should just settle for reading about what people who know what they're doing (for the most part), do out here in Colorado. Then settle for something within your abilities. Like the Sawtooth.

However, if I'm wrong and you really are serious, please do us a favor and let us know when you're coming so we can notify the Darwin Awards people.

Question: Why do you have a photo of Ed Viesturs on Everest in your signature? Why not use something more representative of your own achievements, say you and a couple dozen other day-hikers, slogging up Elbert, in snow?

wow, here we go again.. avalanches in other parts of the world are nothing compared to the rockies!! and im not serious? you assume to much. (people die in cairngorms in Avalanches, people die from falls there too, people have basically frozen to death in over 120mph blizzards.. you guys call me the ignorant one? i say you are ignorant.

and as to your bulls**t nosey question as to why i have that pic in my sig? hrmmmm pretty simple really.. coz i like it ffs..

also, just coz it scares you, that makes it unobtainable for me?.

you are a big mouth tart... i show up every now and then and talk the talk but not walk the walk? i bloody well told you why we didnt try it last time, my best friend and climbing partner moved down under and couldnt come!!! thats the only time i spoke of anything like this, now he is coming late march, early april! we are going for sure.

you obviously DONT read to good, do you? is your big nose and ever open mouth in the way of your eyes? i have already said we are going to start out with sawtooth, then prolly go on to snowmass.

and awesome, we are going to get rewards? nice.. weirdo..

[smoove]

you are a big mouth tart....

This is becoming one of my favorite threads ever.

[Wuldier]

you are a big mouth tart....

This is becoming one of my favorite threads ever.

im getting annoyed that im getting this mad... i apologize to most of you!

[JsinDeAZ]

you are a big mouth tart....

This is becoming one of my favorite threads ever.

+1

[sgladbach]

Don't sit in JoCo and try to fight with Colorado natives about the mountains.

I most reveal a little known fact: I'm a native of Johnson Coutny, KS; not Colorado. Wuldier and I have PM'd about my old stomping grounds before.

I just returned from Christmas in Overland Park and drove home through the Flint Hills region of KS. You'll be sorry to hear, Notre Dame fans, that it was here Knute Rockne was killed when his plane slammed into the imposing face of one of the great flint hillsides.

"In the midst of swaying tall grass in the region of Kansas known as the Flinthills, a granite monument marks the spot where TWA flight 599 came tumbling out of the cloudy sky on a cool March morning in 1931 and crashed to earth. All eight aboard will killed instantly. On the stone are marked their names, and at the top of the list is Knute Rockne, innovator of the forward pass and legendary football coach of Notre Dame during the "Golden Era" of sports in the 1920's and early '30's. In this day, when sports heroes are as likely to be on the front page as on the sports page, it's refreshing to remember a giant of a sportsman in the true sense of the word: Knute Rockne. Known to everyone as a modest, intelligent, and honest man, he practiced these virtues both on the field and off."

Harland J. Schuster



"People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids? "

Rodney King
May 1, 1992

[kmclimber]

bblack 99
Don't sit in JoCo and try to fight with Colorado natives about the mountains. That's like a Denver guy fighting with us about BBQ or winning football.

This has been a funny thread but I have one question bblack99, what does anyone in Missouri know about winning football? :D

[shredthegnar10]

wow, here we go again.. avalanches in other parts of the world are nothing compared to the rockies!! and im not serious? you assume to much. (people die in cairngorms in Avalanches, people die from falls there too, people have basically frozen to death in over 120mph blizzards.. you guys call me the ignorant one? i say you are ignorant.

According to this, the British Isles have a maritime climate, and if you had even an introductory avalanche training course, you would know that snowpack in a maritime climate behaves very differently from snowpack in a continental climate (what we have in Colorado). Temperatures and storm cycles -- which obviously play a huge role in affecting avalanche danger -- are very different. It's not that avalanche danger here is more extreme than the danger in Scotland, it's that it is a lot different.
Like others have suggested, if you are intent on doing the climbs you mentioned, you need to, at the very least, have a level 1 avalanche class so you have some understanding of how snowpack in a continental climate behaves.

[susanjoypaul]

wow, here we go again.. avalanches in other parts of the world are nothing compared to the rockies!! and im not serious? you assume to much. (people die in cairngorms in Avalanches, people die from falls there too, people have basically frozen to death in over 120mph blizzards.. you guys call me the ignorant one? i say you are ignorant.

According to this, the British Isles have a maritime climate, and if you had even an introductory avalanche training course, you would know that snowpack in a maritime climate behaves very differently from snowpack in a continental climate (what we have in Colorado). Temperatures and storm cycles -- which obviously play a huge role in affecting avalanche danger -- are very different. It's not that avalanche danger here is more extreme than the danger in Scotland, it's that it is a lot different.
Like others have suggested, if you are intent on doing the climbs you mentioned, you need to, at the very least, have a level 1 avalanche class so you have some understanding of how snowpack in a continental climate behaves.

+1. That's *exactly* what I was referring to. Thanks for the explanation, shredthegnar10.

i say you are ignorant.

and as to your bulls**t nosey question...

you are a big mouth tart...

you obviously DONT read to good, do you? is your big nose and ever open mouth in the way of your eyes?

weirdo..

im getting annoyed that im getting this mad... i apologize to most of you!

Don't apologize to me. You need help, and I feel sorry for you. Your choice of targeting me with your incredibly rude over-reaction - and with me being the only woman to have commented on this thread up until shred's post on avalanche conditions which appeared after your little blow-up - displays major psychological issues with the opposite sex and shows that you are in dire need of real professional help. You're not going to find it on a mountaineering forum.

Please get that help, preferably before you're old enough to start dating, and issuing your verbal abuse on other women - or worse (i.e., other forms of abuse, or even going on to pollute the gene pool and training the little wuldiers to follow your cowardly lead with regard to the proper treatment of women).

There *is* a common condition associated with men acting out this way, symptomized by an outward hatred toward women (generally from a safe haven, such as from behind an anonymous username - if "G" was still on this forum we could use him as a good example) coupled with a need to constantly reassert their male prowess, but I'm not going to try to publicly psychoanalyze, and thus embarrass, you. You should speak to a professional.

Good luck.