We are lazy!

It occurs to me that most of us are lazy. I certainly am. I hate breaking trail. Not all that excited about blowing out my arms on a hard lead.



I want short approaches and am willing to drive 18 hrs straight or fly to another continent to keep them short.



I've climbed in most of the major ranges in the northern hemisphere

and a couple in the southern . And it occurs to me that some of the
most fun alpine ice and mixed I've been on is local. 45 minutes to
the parking lot and a hr or so uphill walk for me. Of course when
I lived just 200 miles away from what is now my "local" crags I'd
drive 700 miles one way to avoid the 1 or 2 hr walk and the abysmal
conditions or generally lack of conditions.



I'm not alone. Even when the Ice/mixed is great locally the biggest
weekend turnouts are the local SAR teams when someone gets lost
or is just over due a few hrs. That might make 20 people on the
the local hills and only 1/3 of them actual climbers.



I figure it is Volcano Apathy here in the NW. You know, wait till summer, blue sky and warm weather. Go climb Rainier, Hood, Adams, St. Helens or Baker. Nothing wrong with that mind you.

But then I look around the Cascades, even close to my house! Literally 100s of unclimbed lines, dozens of major climbs. And I'm about to get in the truck and drive 700 miles one way again....yep, sadly I'm lazy.