Mt. Baker Ski Area
Mt. Baker Ski Area is a ski resort in the northwest United States, located in Whatcom County, Washington, at the end of State Route 542; the base elevation is at 3,500 feet. It is about 10 miles south of the international border with Canada; the ski area is home to the world's greatest recorded snowfall in one season, 1,140 inches, recorded during the 1998–99 season. Mt. Baker enjoys the unofficially highest average annual snowfall of any resort in the world, with 641 inches; the ski area is known for numerous challenging in-bounds routes and for the many backcountry opportunities that surround it. The backcountry is accessible from several chairlifts, access is permitted from the resort following the Mt. Baker Ski Area backcountry policy; the lifts at Mt. Baker referred to by number. All are fixed-grip quads. Chairs 3 and 4 access the same point from different sides of the mountain using a continuous loop of cable. Chair 1 runs from the Heather Meadows Lodge upper base area to the top of Panorama Dome.
There is a midpoint station on this lift, where other riders can catch it halfway down the mountain, allowing for speedy runs on Austin, Pan Face, North Face, Chicken Ridge, the famed Chute. Accessible from Chair 1 is the Canyon and the rest of the Chair 6 terrain. Chair 2 is located at the Heather Meadows Lodge upper base area; this is a chair for beginners. Chair 3 allows customers either to access the Raven Hut Lodge area or return down to Chairs 2 and 3. Chair 4 runs from the Raven Hut Lodge area and back up to the top of Chair 3. Chair 5 replaced two parallel double chairs and accesses intermediate terrain, as well as the experts-only Gabl's run and the Elbow backcountry area. Chair 6 runs to the top of Panorama Dome. Chair 7 is the only chair. From it, one can access the Raven Hut Lodge area. Chair 8 is the longest chair on the mountain and features longer groomed runs as well as access to the Hemispheres and Shuksan Arm backcountry areas. Additionally, there are two handle-tow surface lifts for beginners, one located at White Salmon and one at Heather Meadows.
As of 2017, Mt. Baker does not have a terrain park. Future expansion is limited, according to an interview with the General Manager, Duncan Howat: Due to the remote location of the ski area — 37 miles out on a dead-end road — Howat said it will never become a full-scale ski resort with hotels and condos. For starters, there aren't any public utilities up there to support more development. In 1989, when the ski area began developing a second base area known as the White Salmon Lodge, it first had to build all the necessary infrastructure: a parking lot, a water catchment and filtration system, a sewage treatment system, a power generator. "We'll improve the current infrastructure, but as far as going off into some new territory and build new chairlifts, that won't happen," Howat said. "We've got some new plans, but I'm not gonna let it out yet." Started in 1985, this slalom snowboard race through the natural halfpipe has evolved into an international event. The Legendary Banked Slalom attracts many professionals from around the world as competitors and allows amateurs of all ages and abilities to compete on the same course over the same period with the professionals.
The winner in each category receives an embroidered Carhartt jacket. Mt. Baker Ski Area is featured in ski and snowboard films and still photography due to its picturesque setting, plentiful snowfall, the availability of accessed advanced terrain; the Call of The Wild was filmed at Mt. Baker in 1934–35. Featured in Season 5, Episode 14 of the TV series, "Frasier", entitled "The Ski Lodge"; the ski season begins in late November and ends in late April. Usual operating hours are 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 1921–26: Mt. Baker highway constructed to Heather Meadows. 1927: Mount Baker Lodge opened. Mt. Baker Ski Club organized. 1930: First ski tournament at Heather Meadows. 1931: Mt. Baker Lodge destroyed by fire. 1935: Pacific Northwest Ski Association downhill tournament, held on northeast face of Table Mountain. 1935–36: "Ski escalator" installed. 1937–38: First rope tow installed, Otto Lang ski school. 1953: The first chairlift, Pan Dome, is constructed at the ski area. 1977: Six chairs and four rope tows operate.
They are referenced by name instead of number. 1981–88: One rope tow is removed, chairs are now numbered instead of named. 1989–90: The first quad chair is installed in the White Salmon area. One more rope tow is removed. 1991–98: Chair 8 opens. 1996: White Salmon Day Lodge opens. 2002: Chair 4 and Chair 5 doubles replaced with Chair 5 quad. 2011: Chairs 1 and 6 designated as "Experts only". Official website WSDOT: road conditions NOAA Weather Report for Mt. Baker Ski Resort - White Salmon Base Area NOAA Weather Report for Mt. Baker Ski Resort - Heather Meadows Base Area Northwest Mountain Weather Telemetry Plots - Previous ten days weather Trail maps from previous years
Climbing wall
A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with grips for hands and feet used for indoor climbing, but sometimes located outdoors. Some are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, the material most used is a thick multiplex board with holes drilled into it. Manufactured steel and aluminum have been used; the wall may have places to attach belay ropes, but may be used to practise lead climbing or bouldering. Each hole contains a specially formed t-nut to allow modular climbing holds to be screwed onto the wall. With manufactured steel or aluminum walls, an engineered industrial fastener is used to secure climbing holds; the face of the multiplex board climbing surface is covered with textured products including concrete and paint or polyurethane loaded with sand. In addition to the textured surface and hand holds, the wall may contain surface structures such as indentions and protrusions, or take the form of an overhang, underhang or crack; some grips are formed to mimic the conditions of outdoor rock, including some that are oversized and can have other grips bolted onto them.
The earliest artificial climbing walls were small concrete faces with protrusions made of medium-sized rocks for hand holds. Schurman Rock in Seattle, WA is believed to be the first artificial climbing structure in the United States, constructed in 1939; the modern artificial climbing wall began in the UK. The first wall was created in 1964 by Don Robinson, a lecturer in Physical Education at the University of Leeds, by inserting pieces of rock into a corridor wall, he went on to found DR International Climbing Walls in 1975, of which he is still Chairman and Executive Director. The first commercial wall was built in Sheffield, traditionally England's centre for climbing due to its proximity to the Peak District; the first indoor climbing gym in the U. S. was established by Vertical World in Seattle, WA in 1987. The simplest type of wall is of plywood construction, known colloquially in the climbing community as a'woody', with a combination of either bolt-on holds or screw on holds. Bolt-on holds are fixed to a wall with iron bolts which are inserted through the hold, which will have specific bolt points, fixed into pre-allocated screw-threaded holes in the wall.
Screw-on holds are, by contrast much smaller, owing to the nature of their fixing. These holds are connected to the wall by screws which may be fastened anywhere on the wall's surface; some other types of walls include slabs of granite, concrete sprayed onto a wire mesh, pre-made fiberglass panels, large trees, manufactured steel and aluminum panels, textured fiberglass walls and inflatables. A newer innovation is the rotating climbing wall: a mechanical, mobile wall which rotates like a treadmill to match you climbing up. Indoor climbing is an popular form of rock climbing performed on artificial structures that attempt to mimic the experience of outdoor rock; the first indoor climbing gym in the U. S. and Canada was established in Seattle in 1987 under the name of Vertical Club, Inc. now Vertical World, Inc. The first indoor climbing hall in the world was inaugurated in Bolzano, Italy in 1974; the proliferation of indoor climbing gyms has increased the accessibility, thus the popularity, of the sport of climbing.
Since environmental conditions can be more controlled in such a setting, indoor climbing is a safer and more friendly introduction to the sport. Many rock gyms are settings for birthday parties and youth teams; the first indoor walls tended to be made of brick leaving little scope for interesting routes, as the steepness of the wall and variety of the hand holds were somewhat limited. More indoor climbing terrain is constructed of plywood over a metal frame, with bolted-on plastic hand and footholds, sometimes spray-coated with texture to simulate a rock face. Indoor climbing has seen an increase in popularity in areas with rainy climates where climbing outdoors is sometimes difficult. Besides offering an alternative during inclement weather, many working adults find that they can get to the gym after work and still climb though it is too dark outside. In order to improve in any sport, consistent practice is crucial. With the advent of indoor climbing, seasonal difficulties, busy schedules are less of an obstacle to consistent improvement, enjoyment of the sport.
Indoor climbing allows opportunity for games such as addition because of the recognizable holds. A group of boulders playing addition designate start holds and create a problem on the fly as each member adds a hold to the problem on their turn; this game used to be known as “add on” in some smaller areas. Most climbing competitions are held in making them a part of indoor climbing. Indoor and outdoor climbing can differ in techniques and equipment. Climbing artificial walls indoors, is much safer because anchor points and holds are able to be more fixed, environmental conditions can be controlled. During indoor climbing, holds are visible in contrast with natural walls where finding a good hold or foothold may be a challenge. Climbers on artificial walls are somewhat restricted to the holds prepared by the route setter whereas on natural walls they can use every slope or crack in the surface of the wall; some typical rock formations can be difficult to emulate on climbing walls. The most common construction method involves bolting resin foot holds onto wooden boards.
The boards can be of steepness with a mixture of holds attached. The
Mount Si
Mount Si is a mountain in the U. S. state of Washington. It lies on the western margin of the Cascade Range just above the coastal plains around Puget Sound, towers over the nearby town of North Bend; the mountain was named after local homesteader Josiah "Uncle Si" Merritt. It was made famous in the show Twin Peaks, filmed in North Bend. Only about a 45-minute drive from Seattle, the mountain is a favorite outdoor destination for residents of Puget Sound. Between 80,000 and 100,000 hikers visit the mountain annually; the land is owned by the state of Washington and has been designated a Natural Resources Conservation Area. The four-mile long Mount Si trail climbs a total of 3,500 feet reach to the summit ridge; the summit of Mount Si can be reached by an exposed scramble, class 3, up the north side of the summit block, known as the "Haystack." Mount Si is a remnant of an oceanic plate volcano and the rocks are metamorphosed. Mount Si figures prominently in a Prometheus story from the Snoqualmie tribe.
According to the story it is the dead body of the moon. Snoqualm had ordered that a rope of cedar bark be stretched between the sky, but Fox and Blue Jay stole the sun from Snoqualm. Snoqualm chased them down the cedar rope. Fox let the sun free in the sky and gave fire to the people. A face like Snoqualm's is visible on the rocks near the summit. Little Si "Mount Si Web Site". MountSi.com. "Mount Si NRCA and Upper Snoqualmie Valley". Washington State Department of Natural Resources. "Mount Si Brochure". Washington State Department of Public Resources. Archived from the original on 2007-07-15. Retrieved 2010-03-13. View of Mount Si from I-90 on Google Street View
Edmond S. Meany
Edmond S. Meany was a professor of botany and history at the University of Washington, he was an alumnus of the university, having graduated as the valedictorian of his class in 1885 when it was the Territorial University of Washington. Meany earned a Master of Science from the University of Washington in 1899, a Master of Letters from the University of Wisconsin in 1901, he was elected as a Washington state legislator for the 1893 sessions. Meany was an active supporter of the local Boy Scouts of America organization, the Seattle Area Council. From 1906 until his death, he served as managing editor of the Washington Historical Quarterly. From 1908 until his death, he served as president of the Mountaineers, a hiking and climbing club. In 1926 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the College of Puget Sound. Mount Meany in the Olympic Mountains, Meany Crest on Mount Rainier, Meany Hall for the Performing Arts on the Seattle campus of the University of Washington, Camp Meany, Meany Middle School in Seattle, Washington are all named in his honor.
Meany Ski Hut at the East side of Stampede Pass, owned by The Seattle Mountaineers. The Mountaineers erected the Meany Memorial, a rock seat on Second Burroughs Mountain in Mount Rainier National Park a year after he died. Meany, Edmond S.. Governors of Washington: Territorial and State. Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection. University of Washington. OCLC 13072753. Meany, Edmond S.. History of the State of Washington. New York: MacMillan. Meany, Edmond S.. Mount Rainier: A Record of Exploration. Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection. Binfords & Mort. OCLC 53070244. Meany, Edmond S.. History of the University of Washington. Seattle Washington: University of Washington Press. Frykman, George A. Seattle's Historian and Promoter: The Life of Edmond Stephen Meany. Edmond S. Meany papers. 1877–1935. 71.86 cubic feet. At the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Clarence Bagley papers. 1864–1931. 10.33 cubic feet. At the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.
Edmond S. Meany biography maintained by the University of Washington Meany tribute on the Sierra Club Website University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Portraits Database An ongoing database of over 300 historical portraits of men and women well known in the Pacific Northwest region and nationwide. Includes images of Edmond S. Meany. Meaney, Edmond Stephen. "Washington". Encyclopædia Britannica. Works by Edmond S. Meany at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Edmond S. Meany at Internet Archive
Mazamas
The Mazamas is a mountaineering organization based in Portland, Oregon, US, founded in 1894. The Mazamas has been an important part of the climbing community in the Pacific Northwest of the United States since its founding; the Mazamas is similar in its aims and activities to The Mountaineers of Seattle, which began in 1906 as an auxiliary of the Mazamas. The Mazamas offers 350 climbs annually for more than 13,000 participants. A variety of classes and activities are offered for every skill and fitness level and are open to both members and nonmembers; the group promotes mountaineering through education, hiking, fellowship and the protection of mountain environments. Mazamas was founded July 19, 1894 on the summit of Mount Hood by a group of 105 climbers. Members of the former Oregon Alpine Club, J. Francis Drake, Martin W. Gorman, Francis C. Little, William G. Steel, Charles H. Sholes, Oliver C. Yocum, had planned the climb to found the new club and chosen the name on March 19; the climbers had responded to an advertisement in the Morning Oregonian of June 12, 1894 announcing a meeting at the summit.
Soon after, members made pioneering climbs throughout Washington. The name Mazamas means mountain goat, from deer. Mount Mazama, the collapsed volcano that formed Crater Lake, is located in Oregon and was named after the organization on August 21, 1896 while on their annual outing, they named the Mazama Glacier on Mount Adams and the Mazama Glacier on Mount Baker after themselves in 1895 and 1907 respectively. Ella E. McBride Official website
Wonderland Trail
The Wonderland Trail is an 93 mile hiking trail that circumnavigates Mount Rainier in Mount Rainier National Park, United States. The trail goes over many ridges of Mount Rainier for a cumulative 22,000 feet of elevation gain; the trail was built in 1915. In 1981, it was designated a National Recreation Trail. An estimated 200 to 250 people a year complete the entire trail with several thousand others doing shorter sections of it; the average time taken to complete the entire trip is 10 to 14 days. The trail is within the national park and passes through major life zones of the park, from lowland forests to subalpine meadows of wildflowers; as the trail circles the mountain, hikers see different faces of Mount Rainier, carved by 25 named glaciers. The trail is considered strenuous as it is always climbing or descending the ridges around the mountain; the highest point is 6,750 feet at Panhandle Gap. There are many river crossings on the trail including two suspension bridges. Many of the rivers are crossed on primitive log bridges which can wash away during heavy rain or when there is a lot of snow melt in the rivers.
Most of the bridges washed away during a major storm in November 2006, so the trail was impassable to hikers through most of 2007. The main hiking season is late summer, dry and sunny. However, Mount Rainier's high elevation and proximity to the Pacific Ocean can bring moisture as rain or snow to the trail. In many years, the Wonderland Trail is still snow-covered during June and early July; the traditional route between Mowich Lake and the Carbon River is via Ipsut Creek. Many people take an alternative route across Spray Park and Seattle Park, a higher elevation route that lies under snow until late August. Complete trail descriptions may be found in a variety of trailbooks. Camping along the Wonderland Trail is popular throughout the summer and wilderness camping reservations are essential for many of the most popular campsites. Eighteen trailside camps, 3 to 7 miles apart, are located along the Wonderland Trail; each camp has 1 to 8 sites for 1 to 5 persons per site. These sites will hold at most 2 tents.
Parties requiring space for 3 or more tents must camp in a group site. Group sites are available at certain camps for parties of 6 to 12 persons; these sites hold 3-5 tents. Each camp has cleared tent sites, a pit or composting toilet, bear pole for hanging food, a nearby water source. A backcountry permit, including reservations for designated camping areas, is required to hike the Wonderland Trail. Advance reservations for permits can be submitted starting March 15 each year, with a lottery taking place on April 1 to attempt to meet the permit requests of as many as possible; the Wonderland Trail has become popular in recent years. In 2015, the park service stopped accepting applications in early April due to the overwhelming demand for permits. Due to the damage suffered as the result of a flood in November 2006 the park service did not accept reservations for the 2007 summer season for attempts to hike the entire Wonderland Trail; the trail was reopened on August 3, 2007 after extensive work by the park service, the Washington Conservation Corps, Student Conservation Association and 1,700 volunteers.
Wonderland Trail Shelters Tour du Mont Blanc, a trail circling Mont Blanc in France and Italy Wonderland Trail page on the Mount Rainier National Park website Wonderland Trail Backpacking Journals and Photos Wonderland Trail - Walking 4 Fun
Portland, Oregon
Portland is the largest and most populous city in the U. S. state of Oregon and the seat of Multnomah County. It is a major port in the Willamette Valley region of the Pacific Northwest, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers; as of 2017, Portland had an estimated population of 647,805, making it the 26th-largest city in the United States, the second-most populous in the Pacific Northwest. 2.4 million people live in the Portland metropolitan statistical area, making it the 25th most populous MSA in the United States. Its Combined Statistical Area ranks 18th-largest with a population of around 3.2 million. 60% of Oregon's population resides within the Portland metropolitan area. Named after Portland, the Oregon settlement began to be populated in the 1830s near the end of the Oregon Trail, its water access provided convenient transportation of goods, the timber industry was a major force in the city's early economy. At the turn of the 20th century, the city had a reputation as one of the most dangerous port cities in the world, a hub for organized crime and racketeering.
After the city's economy experienced an industrial boom during World War II, its hard-edged reputation began to dissipate. Beginning in the 1960s, Portland became noted for its growing progressive political values, earning it a reputation as a bastion of counterculture; the city operates with a commission-based government guided by a mayor and four commissioners as well as Metro, the only directly elected metropolitan planning organization in the United States. The city government is notable for its land-use investment in public transportation. Portland is recognized as one of the world's most environmentally conscious cities because of its high walkability, large community of bicyclists, farm-to-table dining, expansive network of public transportation options, over 10,000 acres of public parks, its climate is marked by cool, rainy winters. This climate is ideal for growing roses, Portland has been called the "City of Roses" for over a century. During the prehistoric period, the land that would become Portland was flooded after the collapse of glacial dams from Lake Missoula, in what would become Montana.
These massive floods occurred during the last ice age and filled the Willamette Valley with 300 to 400 feet of water. Before American pioneers began arriving in the 1800s, the land was inhabited for many centuries by two bands of indigenous Chinook people—the Multnomah and the Clackamas; the Chinook people occupying the land were first documented in 1805 by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Before its European settlement, the Portland Basin of the lower Columbia River and Willamette River valleys had been one of the most densely populated regions on the Pacific Coast. Large numbers of pioneer settlers began arriving in the Willamette Valley in the 1830s via the Oregon Trail, though life was centered in nearby Oregon City. In the early 1840s a new settlement emerged ten miles from the mouth of the Willamette River halfway between Oregon City and Fort Vancouver; this community was referred to as "Stumptown" and "The Clearing" because of the many trees cut down to allow for its growth. In 1843 William Overton saw potential in the new settlement but lacked the funds to file an official land claim.
For 25 cents, Overton agreed to share half of the 640-acre site with Asa Lovejoy of Boston. In 1845 Overton sold his remaining half of the claim to Francis W. Pettygrove of Maine. Both Pettygrove and Lovejoy wished to rename "The Clearing" after their respective hometowns; this controversy was settled with a coin toss that Pettygrove won in a series of two out of three tosses, thereby providing Portland with its namesake. The coin used for this decision, now known as the Portland Penny, is on display in the headquarters of the Oregon Historical Society. At the time of its incorporation on February 8, 1851, Portland had over 800 inhabitants, a steam sawmill, a log cabin hotel, a newspaper, the Weekly Oregonian. A major fire swept through downtown in August 1873, destroying twenty blocks on the west side of the Willamette along Yamhill and Morrison Streets, causing $1.3 million in damage. By 1879, the population had grown to 17,500 and by 1890 it had grown to 46,385. In 1888, the city built the first steel bridge built on the West Coast.
Portland's access to the Pacific Ocean via the Willamette and Columbia rivers, as well as its easy access to the agricultural Tualatin Valley via the "Great Plank Road", provided the pioneer city with an advantage over other nearby ports, it grew quickly. Portland remained the major port in the Pacific Northwest for much of the 19th century, until the 1890s, when Seattle's deepwater harbor was connected to the rest of the mainland by rail, affording an inland route without the treacherous navigation of the Columbia River; the city had its own Japantown, for one, the lumber industry became a prominent economic presence, due to the area's large population of Douglas Firs, Western Hemlocks, Red Cedars, Big Leaf Maple trees. Portland developed a reputation early in its history as a gritty port town; some historians have described the city's early establishment as being a "scion of New England. In 1889, The Oregonian called Portland "the most filthy city in the Northern States", due to the unsanitary sewers and gutters, and, at the turn of the 20th century, it was considered one of the most dangerous port cities in the world.
The city housed a large number of saloons
