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The link you posted had nothing about a price increase. They also cite staffing issues for the inability to open 7 days a week and are open Fri-Mon as a result. Doesn't that cater to working people who only have weekends free? Obviously the dirtbags and the tech bros are bummed. As a former lesser order dirtbag I feel the frustration. Maybe we could adequately fund the NPS with tax dollars so they can be open all the time and then everyone can enjoy our public lands at minimal cost? I know that's probably not how you see it. Genuinely curious what your concern is... give us some specifics.

Thank you for that insight. I really appreciate it!

MORA is going the way of the ski industry. Lost to urban elites--willing to pay top dollar for weekend escapades--and a bureaucratic class willing to cater to them exclusively. https://www.nps.gov/mora/learn/news/mount-rainier-national-park-announces-winter-recreational-access-for-2024-25-season.htm

Don’t think so. Everything but polish looked thinner than typical to me.

Mountain Hardwear Drifter 3 Tent 3-person, 3-season free standing wedge-shaped tent 83" W x 96 " L x 47" H 43 sq.ft. Dual doors Min. weight 5 lbs 3 oz. Packed 7" x 26" DAC aluminum poles Excellent condition Includes canopy, rainfly, poles in sack, stakes in sack, mesh attic, tent stuff sack, original hang tag and instructions Bonus breathable nylon storage sack (blue bag in pic) Selling for my father in law, located in Wasatch Front/Utah County MSRP $379.95 My price $200.00 + actual shipping charges to be computed at time of shipping

MSR Advance Pro 2 Tent 2-person, 4-season winter mountaineering, proprietary waterproof breathable single wall design Advance composite Easton Syclone poles using unique hybrid half pole sleeve half clip design (see MSR web site for 2-minute set-up video Nearly new condition, less than a dozen nights Super light ledge type alpine climbing tent Includes optional MSR fitted foot print and custom modified Black Diamond First Light tent vestibule adapted to work with Advance Pro 2 since MSR has never offered a vestibule option Selling for my father in law, located in Wasatch Front/Utah County See internet for specs.and reviews Great deal! MSRP $799.00, Internet sale prices $439.99. My price $400.00. + actual shipping charges to be computed at time of shipping

Mountain Hardwear EV Direct 2 Tent 2-person, 4-season winter mountaineering tent Proprietary single wall waterproof breathable Clip pole system design Virtually new condition, less than half a dozen nights use Been in cool dry storage Lightweight ledge type alpine climbing tent! Includes tent poles in sack, summer stakes in sack, and bonus breathable nylon storage bag See internet for specs and at least one review in Backpacker Magazine Selling for my father in law, located in Wasatch Front/Utah County MSRP $550.00 My price $300.00 + actual shipping charges to be computed at time of shipping

Black Diamond Eldorado Tent 2-person proprietary "ToddTex" waterproof breathable single wall 4-season winter mountaineering tent New condition, only used a couple nights Includes bonus extras: BD fitted ground cloth, BD vestibule, and breathable nylon storage sack Selling for my father in law, located in Wasatch Front/Utah County See web for specs and reviews MSRP $899.95 My price $ 550.00 + actual shipping charges to be computed at time of shipping

Black Diamond Fitzroy Tent Proprietary "Toddtex" waterproof breathable, single wall, winter mountaineering tent New condition! 2-person 4-season, very highly respected by expeditionary climbers & explorers Strong internal 4-pole design resists both wind and snow loading, dual door Includes bonus extras: BD fitted ground cloth with mesh sack, BD Fitzroy optional vestibule, and breathable nylon storage bag Selling for my father in law, located in Wasatch Front/Utah County See internet for specs & reviews MSRP $1099.00 My price $650.00 + actual shipping charges to be computed at time of shipping

Nice work guys! I had heard tell of the name change but didn't know you had put up a register. I need to get up there, I would love to do the traverse also some day.

Marmot Lithium Down Sleeping Bag 29 oz. 850 fill power Goose Down rated to 0 degrees F Size Long Left zip Total weight 3lbs 12 oz. Includes nylon stuff sack, cotton storage sack and bonus: Outdoor Research helium dry sack, roll top lightweight dry bag First generation, brand new, never been used, has been in cool dry storage for many years Still has original legal bedding tags (proof of Down content amount and origin of manufacture) and Marmot hang tag Current MSRP $600.00+ My price $ 300.00 + actual shipping charges to be computed at time of shipping Located in Wasatch Front/Utah County

Trip: Colfax Peak - East Ridge Trip Date: 01/18/2025 Trip Report: Me, @Albuquerque Fred, and Mike (the 3 amigos) climbed Colfax Peak on Saturday the 18th. We camped at the trailhead and woke up early enough to be able to get beers and dinner at Graham's in Glacier that afternoon (this alleviating thys of the need to eat and food on route). Which was good since it was so cold none of us really ate or drank anything all day. We were able to drive to maybe .5 miles from the summer TH before we stopped at the snow park berm. Others chose to drive past this but I believe it is bad form, the snowmobilers are our friends, let's play well together. All users of the outdoors share more than they differ. The Grouse Creek approach worked well, booting for a short time through the forest before switching to skinning. The skin to Colfax Saddle was easy on firm wind packed snow; some areas required ski crampons so we just wore them most of the time. The wind at the saddle was brutal, making the already cold air almost unbearable. We left skis at the saddle and cramponed over the false summit to the true summit of Colfax. We spent 30 seconds, then returned to the skis in the lee of a rock at the saddle. The sun and shelter were amazing, but we had to descend some time, so back into the maelstrom we went. The ski was actually excellent... If you are a connoseur of ski mountaineering skiing, not laps. Firm wind pack, but smooth, with patches of re-worked powder, and, lower, dust on crust. The exit was amazing, 3 hours total from Colfax to the car with a nice long break in the lee. We called it the best skiing on a mid-winter ski mountaineering trip. So in short, excellent***. Cosley-Houston is out, Polish looked ok, but I'm not good enough to knowuch about it. The upper ice ribbon was continuous but narrow: Baker from Colfax: Gear Notes: Skis, ski crampons, crampons, axe, helmet, glacier gear. Approach Notes: Grouse Creek in ski boots.

I seem to recall they sold something like this back in the dim past; sort of like a picket. (?)

Trip: Illumination Rock - West Ridge Trip Date: 01/18/2025 Trip Report: Damon and I went up the West Ridge of Illumination. We got to the West Gable quite easily but the rime mushrooms along the ridge were uninspiring. Here are some pictures... Gear Notes: Not much was useful. South side routes would take rock gear. Lots of rime on North side. No ice sufficient for screws was observed. Approach Notes: Standard

The end of a broken ice axe? That or picket would be my guess.

Hi all, I bought some ice screws off of somebody on craigslist like 13 years ago and he threw in this thing as well, I assuming is a snow anchor of some sort, but I have no idea. Can't find anything online either. Does anybody know what this is? If anyone can tell me what it is or how to use it they are welcome to have it for free! (unless it turns out it's really valuable) 😉. I have never even carried it on a trip in over a decade.

Still available?

See PM re: the Spantiks please, thanks.

Here are a couple of thoughts. Conditions dictate a lot about the difficulty of a route as is the case with alpine climbing. Also with a mountain like Rainier you get a LOT of people climbing it because it is big, tallest in WA, and can easily be seen from major metropolitan areas. With that comes a lot of inexperience and people who have never done something hard. If you have never done something hard even the easy DC will feel crazy hard. A route like the DC when done in high season with good weather is literally like walking on a trail. There are wands every 100 feet, a trail the whole way with couple of crevasses to step across or ladders to walk (depending on the season). From a technical climbing perspective for a technical climber it is easy. But as you have identified glacier travel is about more than technical skills. There are several places on the DC where you do NOT want to stop for a break due to serac fall. There are really good spots to rest so that you can move efficiently and quickly through certain areas. There are weather factors and temperature to keep in mind especially with regards to current time on the mountain and decent. There are good time marks that let you know how the pace is. All of these things are the skills/knowledge I think you are referencing. A ton of people go up every year and don't consider half of the other things beyond technical ability...and they do it no problem. But as you noted, sometimes as a novice it is hard to know whether you made the right decisions or you got lucky. Honestly I think a lot of climbers in many different types of climbing land on both sides of that line. I know when I was a new trad climber, new ice climber, new mountaineer, I definitely did things that with experience I would have done differently. I think that is why everyone wants a mentor. A good mentor will allow a person to build their experience and make those decisions but are a back stop to ensure there isn't anything unsafe happening. The advantage of a guide is that they bring all those extra skills to ensure that there isn't something unsafe happening. And they are there if anything unexpected happens or something goes wrong. Many people can get through a climb as long as everything goes right, but any accident and they are lost or slow to sort things out. The downside to a guide is that most of the time you aren't in a learning environment. They are there to get you up the mountain not necessarily teach you all the non technical knowledge skills. As a client if you make a good connection with a guide you can ask questions to foster that discussion but that isn't always possible. Every guide is different but I have seen my fair share that are doing a good job getting the job done but want nothing to do with teaching or instructing. So back to the question at hand. I would recommend that you get some glacier travel or even mock glacier travel experience prior to attempting Rainier. Go with someone who will teach the skills and is willing to share knowledge. Be very comfortable with roped glacier travel, moving as a team, snow anchors, and crevasse rescue systems. After that most climbers are already used to making risk assessment decisions. Find someone who has done the intended route before and ask him/her all the specifics about logistics, breaks, and the technical knowledge. Then find a group of similar minded people at your level or above and go have fun. If you are unsure exactly where to stop, follow a guided team. They know all the exact spots and just mimic what they do. Personally I don't know that I buy into the advice to do Baker first. Sure you will be more prepared on Rainier, but if you climbed Rainier once you would also be more prepared the 2nd time. The 1st time you do something is usually the most dangerous as there is a learning curve and the unknown. Now instead of sorting it out on Rainier you are sorting it out on Baker. Is that safer? I don't know, I think it is just different. Many people view Mt. Baker as safer because there aren't nearly as many open crevasses. In fact many parties on a busy May or June weekend will be unroped on the Easton Glacier or even Coleman Deming Glacier. The thought is that it is well filled in and there aren't crevasses. While there are definitely fewer crevasses on Baker as compared to Rainier I would argue that it only takes 1 crevasse to make a very bad day. And I think it is safer to be roped together using proper glacier team travel than just soloing up a glacier particularly for novice mountaineers who haven't developed a good eye for reading glaciers and where crevasses are likely to be. Baker might be shorter than Rainier overall elevation but the summit day for either mountain is similar elevation gain (~4000ft) give or take a couple hundred feet. Anyway sorry for the long ramble. Hopefully it is helpful. For what it is worth I am more than happy to discuss more specifics questions or whatever if you have any.....just PM me. I do think you are on the right track and asking good questions/weighing different options. Enjoy the journey.....it is a fun process!

Thanks for the response and insight. This kind of highlights the wide range of information available on the internet. Some people rate the DC route as quite basic (a long, cold, walk to the top with crampons on your boots and an ice axe held in your hand). On the other end of the spectrum, there are people that make it out to be a harrowing journey requiring years of polished skill and a strong stomach for near death experiences. i imagine it’s probably a lot like alpine climbs on other mountains and whitewater; If everything goes as planned (and you’re too inexperienced to know how lucky you got) it probably does seem simple. However, I’ve seen enough stuff and lived through enough misadventures to understand the value of skills and experience on every backcountry outing. When things don’t go perfect, a situation can progress towards a calamity very quickly if you don’t have skills and experience. so, specific glacier travel skills and experience. That’s what I lack. And that’s what I’m not willing to go without. Rope management I can do. Anchors I can do. Haul systems and rope ascending I can do. But there’s a lot more skill and experience beyond that. I want that real skill and experience to be present on climbs I’m apart of. id consider myself a good group member or climbing partner for someone who has those skills and experiences and therefore I can rely upon their judgement. I’m a quick study and I know how to put in the work to be a great team member /partner. fwiw, I’ve been in contact with RMI. They recommended I take their skills seminar and consider going up the Klautz glacier route with them (all as one long week adventure with them). Obviously, they have a system in place and a product to sell. So I’m not surprised by their recommendation. I’m sure it’s a fine way to go and the best option from their perspective. I’ve also spoken with a guide school here in the Wasatch. No glaciers here, just spring snow slope conditions. They recommended I take their weekend course, and then do something like my baker or my hood before I try Rainier. Again, that’s their perspective. I’m interested in the combined perspective and recommendations found here. Thanks again!

While the Psalms are beautiful, David was a supreme paradox. So too it is with climbing mountains. How to reconcile the beauty with the darkness? Just terrible. I pray for your brother--and you and your family. Continue your walk with God along whatever path He chooses for you, and find His favor as David did. We look forward to reuniting with our departed again someday.

She was under mild tension, sure enough, but safely handled. Road is cleared all the way to turnaround before trailhead. It's super rough and enough brush to lightly rake your car but I got my big ol sprinter through if that gives you an idea. I had very limited time so I did the best I could with the brush.

Trip: Peak Argonaut - NE Couloir (with East Summit) Trip Date: 01/12/2025 Trip Report: Peak Argonaut: North East Couloir (with East Summit). 01/12/2025 Gear Notes: 2 technical tools each 60 m rope 1 picket – did not use Single rock rack up to #2 3 middle sized hexes Nuts – did not use 8 draws 3 pins – did not use Rappel webbing with rings Approach Notes: Snowshoes

https://methowvalleynews.com/2025/01/16/feds-announce-new-plan-for-grizzly-bear-recovery-in-west/ Feds announce new plan for grizzly bear recovery in West JANUARY 16, 2025 BY ANN MCCREARY Map courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a new approach to promoting grizzly bear recovery in the Western states, managing them as one population in a large area. Propose ‘landscape-scale’ management Grizzly bears will be protected in western states under a “new and comprehensive approach to grizzly bear recovery” announced last week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The federal wildlife agency proposal retains the bears’ designation as a threatened species, and manages them as one population in a large geographic area that encompasses all of Washington state and large parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The new approach is a significant change from a decades-old practice of managing bears as separate populations in six areas designated as “recovery zones” — including one in the North Cascades, which currently has no known grizzly bears. In announcing its proposal on Jan. 8, FWS also rejected petitions that had been submitted by the states of Montana and Wyoming seeking to remove federal protections for grizzly bears and turn management over to the states. Instead, the agency chose to pursue a landscape-scale management approach for grizzly bears in the lower 48 states. The proposal would classify grizzly bears as a “distinct population segment” that includes the six recovery zones and additional areas where suitable habitat exists and where grizzly bears currently reside or are expected to become established as populations recover. As part of the reclassification, FWS also proposed revising regulations protecting bears, providing more flexibility to agencies involved in research and management, and to landowners experiencing conflict with bears. The flexibility, provided through a “4(d) rule,” includes actions like deterrence, capture and relocation, or shooting bears in specific instances, such as during attacks on livestock or working dogs. “This reclassification will facilitate recovery of grizzly bears and provide a stronger foundation for eventual delisting,” said Martha Williams, FWS director. “And the proposed changes to our 4(d) rule will provide management agencies and landowners more tools and flexibility to deal with human/bear conflicts, an essential part of grizzly bear recovery.” Removed protections In designating the distinct population segment boundaries, FWS also removed protections outside those boundaries in the lower 48 states, “where grizzly bears do not occur and are not expected to inhabit in the future,” FWS said. Grizzlies have been listed as a threatened species throughout all the lower 48 states since 1975. A distinct population segment is defined under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as a population of vertebrates that is discrete from other populations of the species and significant to the species as a whole. FWS said the new management approach is warranted because grizzly bears are moving between populations in recovery zones “indicating recovery zones are no longer discrete” and grizzly bear distribution “has significantly expanded.” This increased movement of bears between recovery areas “demonstrates the remarkable success of conservation and management efforts” by federal, state and tribal agencies “and private landowners, who support coexistence with grizzly bears,” FWS said in a Q&A section on its website. As a result of conservation and management efforts, the population of grizzly bears has grown from a few hundred bears when they were listed as threatened 40 years ago to more than 2,000 today, FWS said. Recovery of small and extirpated populations, like the North Cascades, “relies on contributions from high resilient populations,” FWS said. “Maintaining all recovery zones together in one DPS (distinct population segment) will increase the speed of recovery in remaining ecosystems and the overall viability of grizzly bears, increasing the likelihood of successfully delisting the entire DPS by addressing the species’ recovery needs as a whole.” North Cascades implications Plans are underway to relocate grizzly bears from the Rocky Mountain area to the North Cascades — one of the six recovery zones — in an effort to restore bears to their historic habitat in mountains near the Methow Valley. As part of the North Cascades recovery plan approved last year by FWS, after years of study, bears in the North Cascades are designated a “nonessential experimental population.” That’s a designation provided under the ESA for a group of threatened or endangered species that are restored in an area that is geographically isolated from other populations. The grizzly bear recovery plan for the North Cascades includes a rule, called 10(j), that provides management options like deterrence, relocation or even killing bears, much like those just announced for the larger distinct population segment. However, there is a difference in the way the management rules for bears in the North Cascades and the larger population of grizzly bears will be applied, explained Andrew Lavalle, public affairs specialist with FWS. “Flexibilities under the proposed 4(d) rule are tied to the recovery status of a given population, meaning certain actions may only be allowed if the population meets specific recovery goals. In contrast, the North Cascades 10(j) rule provides these flexibilities regardless of the population’s recovery status,” Lavalle said. Additionally, federal agencies are not required to consult with FWS about actions that could impact bears in the North Cascades, while consultation would be required in other areas within the distinct population segment boundaries, Lavalle said. Legal challenges The decision to maintain federal protections for grizzly bears was applauded by the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation organization that advocates for grizzly bear recovery. “With ongoing federal protections, grizzlies in the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades will have a real change at long-term recovery, instead of being gunned down and mounted on trophy walls,” said Andrea Zaccardi of the Center. However, Zaccardi criticized the proposed rule that would permit bears to be killed in more situations than is currently allowed for threatened species under the ESA, for example, by property owners when bears attack livestock or dogs. “While grizzlies won’t be killed by state-sponsored trophy hunts, I’m concerned that their recovery will be harmed as more bears die at the hands of the livestock industry,” Zaccardi said. She also criticized FWS for not including in the distinct population segment boundaries places like California and Colorado, “where the bears once lived and abundant habitat remains.” FWS has previously attempted to delist bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, declaring the population recovered in 2007 and in 2017. Both times the decision was challenged by conservation groups and overturned in federal court — in the latter case just before a state-approved grizzly bear hunting season was set to open in Wyoming. FWS is under court ordered settlement agreement with the state of Idaho requiring the service to complete an evaluation of grizzly bear listing in the lower 48 states by January 2026. The announcement last week is part of fulfilling that agreement, FWS said. “Courts have urged the Service to consider the interconnectedness of grizzly bear populations. This revision incorporates lessons learned from prior litigation while balancing the need for management flexibility with implementing conservation measures. The goal is to achieve the species’ long-term, durable recovery and eventual delisting,” FWS said. Public comment period A 60-day public comment period on the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed grizzly bear distinct population segment designation and the 4(d) management rule will open on Jan. 15, after publication in the Federal Register. For information on the proposed rule and how to participate in the public comment process, visit the project webpage: www.fws.gov/grizzlyrulemaking. A final rule is expected by January 2026. FWS has also scheduled public meetings in Missoula, MT on Jan. 28, Coeur d’Alene, ID on Jan. 29, a virtual meeting on Jan. 30, and Cody, WY on Feb. 10. More information is on the website.

Careful man, that log looks to be under quite a bit of tension and large enough to do some damage!