Burchey:
I did a Russell-Whitney-Muir trip on 9-20-02. There are many ways up the north side of Whitney, but I found a fair amount of class four, some of it loose. As Steve implied, descending it with snow probably wouldn't be much fun.
I'm mostly self-taught, and I made plenty of mistakes when I was learning. However, I took a couple of rock climbing classes and occasionally climbed with a guide. One of my early partners got me to focus on whether we used good judgment, not just whether we tagged a summit and got out alive.
It's my perception that you tend to substitute ambition and technical equipment for experience and good judgment. You clearly have plenty of ability, but I get the feeling that you're a little too willing to tackle technical challenges that you're not quite ready to handle safely. I've never climbed with you, and my perception might be totally wrong. I just thought I should speak up and let you decide for yourself.
Bob
