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- Today
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$175 Cilo Gear Z40B Ski Pack Size L Cilo Gear Pack in excellent shape. don't climb anymore and want this pack to find an amazing home where it will be used well. Enjoy!
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Old guys rock! (If they have taken their meds!) Awesome pics as usual... you need to open a studio!
- Yesterday
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Clearing out shelf space and have a bunch of climbing books, some DVDs and some cycling books if anyone is interested. $1 or $2 per book or whatever seems reasonable, except the Beckey Guides, $5-10 for those depending on which edition. Would prefer to have them go in batches and local pickup in Seattle. Thanks.
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way to beat the heat!
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Great photos as usual and good work finding a route without crowds. Like many folks, I had my closest call on Torment with rockfall. I remember saying to myself, "make yourself small, make yourself small" while cowering behind a tiny outcropping with my pack pulled up to cover the back of my neck. Definitely not dad approved.
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This is still my favorite corner of the internet, I should get my act together and put some TRs together.... but please keep it up!
- Last week
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Trip: Mount Torment - North Ridge Trip Date: 08/09/2020 Trip Report: If anyone's noticed, I am not so regular at posting TRs any longer. New job, older kids, a lack of anything new to say.....the list of excuses is long. But, to be honest, this is still my favorite place in cyber-land to post vignettes of my life in the hills. So here I am, slowly plugging away at catching you all up on the riveting adventures of an aging alpine "lifer". In this installment, we pick back up in August of 2020 and on an adventure close to home for both @dberdinka and myself. Jokingly, we said that we would go on a trip wherever arcs drawn in a 60 mile radius from our homes converged. This was not absolutely true for Torment, but pretty darn close. We have an embarrassment of riches right in our own backyards! We typically only ski a few times a year together and had been talking of an alpine climb for far too long. This may have been our first time summer climbing together? But first we had to get a permit! We weren't worried about the Torment Basin zone being full, but we WERE worried about the line at the ranger station. As you all surely must know by now, a August Saturday morning at the ranger station is only slightly less crowded than Mecca during the Hajj. Since it was misting, and we only had to hike to camp, we didn't get there early, probably about 0830. We pulled number 114(??!!) and settled in for the wait. There really must be a better system than what is currently being used. I'll let you tell me exactly what in the comments below. Permit in hand we struck out in the increasingly heavy "mist" for the TH. This is the first hurdle. It isn't marked, and there isn't a lot of traffic up it to make where the trail leaves from the Cascade River Road obvious. Look for it on the right, just after the 2nd bridge over the Cascade River, past the Eldo TH. Space for one car on the right and the trail takes off steeply just across the road. It starts out vague and gets better as you get higher. Decades ago this sounds like it was a major thoroughfare, but it has fallen into obscurity. Yes, you heard me. This is a route in the Cascade River corridor where solitude on an August weekend is possible! I'll let you figure out where the trail is and where it goes, however. Good things come to those who investigate. So I'll skip ahead to arriving a few hours later in the basin. It had stopped raining but was still damp, cool, and cloudy. We wandered for a decent amount of time, looking for established camps. Finding none (obscurity!), we found a flatish slab of rock and cleared the loose stones for an OK night. It didn't help I forgot my pad at the car. D'oh! Nevermind that, I certainly couldn't complain. I was with the one and only @dberdinka on an honest to goodness climb! I was also nervous. You all know how fast, competent, and technically savvy Mr. Berdinka is- I had to buck up and look tough. The alarm went off quite early (did I expect anything else?) and @dberdinka was immediately ready, or so it seemed. I fumbled around the tent for a bit but eventually got it together and we set off in the dim mists for the col that would take us around to the North side of Torment. Be warned that you will need to do one 30m rap to get past an imposing gully of doom along the way. There is a horn for an anchor, but I'll let you find it. Obscurity! And then, you'll need to expeditiously move under and away from a non-daddy friendly ice cliff. Channel your inner Ueli: But don't worry, alpine glory aspirants, at this point you've reached the promised land! Firm rock (4th and easy 5th), outrageous position, and no other parties to ruin your wilderness experience. It really is worth the price of admission. It is an Ed Cooper climb, after all. The only downside to climbs like this, of course, is that they are over too soon. But, we have wives and kids that want us to come home at a reasonable hour, so all good things in moderation. @dberdinka looking fashionable on the summit: As with most North Cascadian summits, there was then the question of which way down? We hemmed and hawed, ultimately eschewing the standard SE face descent (how would the moat be? Would we end up like Craig Luebben?) for the wandering South Ridge (standard approach to TFT). While this isn't a terrible way up, it isn't a great way down. Lots of insecure scrambling between raps where a fall would most likely be fatal. Again, not exactly daddy friendly. But, we survived to reach our camp and the delightful meadows of Torment Basin a couple hours later. And you probably will too. So, next August, don't complain that there are crowds on "all" the classic climbs in NCNP. Go do some exploring! Gear Notes: 60m half rope, light rack, helmet, axe, crampons, etc. We used rock shoes, but you probably don't need them (we didn't know what to expect). The full alpine kit! Approach Notes: The "excellent" Torment Basin route. Green Fred details it nicely. It needs some traffic, however!
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[TR] Chiwaukum Range - Chiwaukum High Route 09/09/2021
mountainsloth replied to Kyle M's topic in Alpine Lakes
Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing something new to this site. It may not have been ultra gnar but what a scenic chunk of wilderness. -
[TR] Glacier Peak - Sitkum Glacier/Gerdine-Cool 05/28/2018
Lost Sailor replied to phalc's topic in North Cascades
My partner and I skinned up from the Kennedy Hot Springs trail and subsequently up the Sitkum glacier route to summit and tele-skied back down on an overnight ski tour in February of 1996. Easy in and out with snow covering the entire forest floor. Getting your vehicle anywhere near the trailhead was a coin toss. Some years it was a go. Others a total no-go. We got within 1.5 miles of the trailhead in the Subaru and skinned right from the car to summit and back to car in just over 24 hours with that quick ski out. . -
Old school mountaineers have used aluminum conduit tubing (like what TMO described above) for snow stakes and cheap leave-behind rap anchors.
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Reviving and OLD thread here...For what it's worth last weekend I found a round aluminum tube (1 1/4" X 2 feet long, twisted and shredded on each end) just below the terminus of the nisqually glacier. I immediately though it could be plane debris.
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for sale new Cascade pick for ORIGINAL Quark
reider111 replied to Gunkiemike's topic in The Yard Sale
Do you still have this? - Earlier
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[TR] Chiwaukum Range - Chiwaukum High Route 09/09/2021
OlympicMtnBoy replied to Kyle M's topic in Alpine Lakes
Nice work Kyle, looks fun! -
[TR] Mount Lago (8745'), Mount Carru (8595') & Osceola Peak (8587') - Shellrock Pass Approach 10/02/2021
OlympicMtnBoy replied to Kuato's topic in North Cascades
Nice pics! Another place I need to check out! -
Chad wouldn't have cared less about that childish, ridiculous drama. If you doubt someone's achievement, then best them with your own record. Still waiting... Meanwhile back to Helmstadter. Legend. PS: That Powder article by Dave Page was a great piece of writing and really captures the spirit. There is an interview with him here: https://www.powder.com/powder-radio/the-storytellers-david-page/
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I thought this was going to be a thread about a different Dan H!!! Scandal!
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When the days get shorter and the snow starts to appear on the hills, I think of Dan. I hope is is doing well, wherever he is, and whatever he is doing. I really appreciate all the inspiration he gave us over the years, and hope to see more TRs from him in the future. This was the last one I could find: https://turns-all-year.com/trip-reports/june-7-2017-north-face-northwest-couloir-mt-shuksan
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Hi! My climbing partners are slowly moving away, so looking for new partners Am based in Vancouver, BC, stoked to be in the mountains in general (cragging after work, long alpine routes, bc skiing, ice climbing, you name it!) Rock: can comfortably lead 10 sport/ 9 on gear, have a double rack and all the gear to do multis Ice: very limited experience, can follow up to WI4 but can't lead (yet) Very safe belayer, have a car, can shuttle you to the crag as well Shoot me a message here or @ 778-nine nine 7- five 5 two eight if you're interested. Lets go climb! J
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crisjordan551 changed their profile photo
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[TR] Mount Lago (8745'), Mount Carru (8595') & Osceola Peak (8587') - Shellrock Pass Approach 10/02/2021
JasonG replied to Kuato's topic in North Cascades
So great! This has been on my fall list....thanks for the details on an efficient link-up and the great images! -
jame1414 changed their profile photo
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[TR] Chiwaukum Range - Chiwaukum High Route 09/09/2021
nurserock replied to Kyle M's topic in Alpine Lakes
love it. -
[TR] Mount Lago (8745'), Mount Carru (8595') & Osceola Peak (8587') - Shellrock Pass Approach 10/02/2021
olyclimber replied to Kuato's topic in North Cascades
Great pictures! Beautiful...thank you. -
Barely used Patagonia Das Parka, Men's Medium. $175. Stopped climbing and hasn't been used for a few years. Email: ben.gossett@gmail.com Located in Shoreline, WA
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jackharry7109 changed their profile photo
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Double rack (some triples) stolen from Tacoma REI parking lot tonight. Smash and grab. More than in the picture but this is what I have. Mostly old C4s. Belongs to my brother, he is most distraught over the missing custom chalk bag our friend made him. Junkies suck, any advice on where to look is welcome. Sorry if this is the wrong place to put this. Andy 253.225.3134
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[TR] Mount Lago (8745'), Mount Carru (8595') & Osceola Peak (8587') - Shellrock Pass Approach 10/02/2021
nurserock replied to Kuato's topic in North Cascades
thanks for the wonderful pics in this and your other recents. -
Honestly I wouldn't worry about it, to the best of my knowledge the Adams permit website doesn't have a cap. In the past 2 years I have never had Issues getting permits, maybe due to the lack of interest. It isn't like St Helens where 500+ people try and go up in 1 day. I have been able to purchase them May 1st, before I knew the difficulties of accesses was on my standard route.
