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Trip: Mt Stuart - Stuart Glacier CouloirTrip Date: 04/05/2019 There is no bergschrund, the ice pitches are so minor that we barely slowed down. The top West ridge was full value, ice & mixed conditions were fantastic with cracks open to take gear, but accumulation in the backs of cracks in the top pitches making the best mixed conditions I've ever had in the Enchantments, but I would say that since Danny lead the technical jazz. No photos up there as we were hauling ass & cold. Very scary avi conditions on the descent with propagating cracks on the Sherpa Glacier & enough slabs peeling off to make a guy very happy to be down. Also white-out & nuclear winds on summit were unforgettable. We climbed straight up the west ridge after the tiny notch on exit from the north. I thought this was great, but the ledge ~30 below the tiny notch may be a better route.. 14 hours tent to tent (in the 5400vf meadow) Photos are not in order..... Looking down N face exiting to tiny notch:Exit top of couloirIce pitches...minor Gear Notes:Small cams 0.3 -2", rack offset wires, pins: LA, KB, beak, didn't use screws except one shit one.Approach Notes:Snowshoes from 1/2 way up road & to camp. No snowshoes above 5400vf. Very bad avi conditions on descent on Sherpa Glacier. GPS (or solid previous knowledge) essential to get off summit in nasty storm.

Trip: Dragontail Peak - Triple couloirs Trip Date: 03/31/2019 Trip Report: This last weekend a friend and I climbed TC's on Dragontail peak over two days. Ski'd in to and out of Colchuck Lake on the approach, continuous snow coverage on the road in the first day but on the way out on the second day there were several patches of bare road about 20-30' long. The trail was very firm, packed snow. got to the lake around 1pm the first day and just hung out as we were going to get an early start the next day. There was another group of two coming in about the same time we were to climb TC's as well. We got up at 2am the next day and did the morning routine and started to head up to the base of the route. The ice on the step up to the hidden couloir is in good shape and was very enjoyable. We made our way up to the base of the runnels in the dark and the first pitch had great coverage. Not super thick ice but enough to be secure climbing, couldn't put a screw in it or anything though. We ended up bailing off the runnels as the following options proved to be too thin for us. We then rapped down and opted for the runnels bypass, which was a mix of snice and sugar snow on slab requiring some excavating for dry tooling in spots. Rapped into just below the second couloir from there and climbed up the mixed chimney which I thought was really fun. Good sticks in thin ice and stemming. The pitch between the second and third couloir was in not great shape as it was sugar snow over slab. I chose to keep to climbers left as it offered more placements for dry tooling and protection. This turned out to be quite loose in places (very sorry to the party below us!) and steep. The third couloir was very straightforward with no complications. We either simul soloed or simul'ed the couloirs as they were very wind firmed dry snow and made for solid steps. The way back down through Asgard was pockets of loose dry over wind firmed snow. I was told by another friend who met us there on the second day (he was skiing) that the Colchuck Glacier was about the same. Glad we got a decent weather window that actually turned out to be better than expected. Just intermittent clouds the whole time. This was a really fun climb! Gear Notes: -Cams .3 to 1 -Half set of nuts -4 tri cams -2x 10cm and 2x 13cm screws (didn't use any) -A bunch of pins, mostly knife blades and one small angle, as I knew the snow wouldn't take a picket. Definitely proved the most useful along with small stoppers. Approach Notes: Still a bunch of snow on the road but it feels like its melting out fast. Was surprised how much bare road there was on the way out. The trail is packed and bootable in the morning but in the later part of the day post holing is pretty common. Same goes for the road too. I was glad to have skis as it expedites a lot of the travel on the way out.

They've extended the comment period to May 13th 2019. There is still a lot of time! I am already a party of record and will try and update this thread as I know more. The Skagit Tribes and Seattle City Light are on the record already opposing the current application and calling for an EIS. Not sure about the NPS. There is a mining resource area in the Skagit County comp. plan for this location (outright denial isn't on great legal ground) so I think comments are best expressed in the vein of trying adequately understand the likely effects (noise, traffic, etc.) of expanded quarry operations. I think most feel that the current SEPA application doesn't do a good job of this. Most have been stressing that an EIS is warranted to fully flesh out the possible effects and what effective mitigation measures might be. At some point Kiewit will be seeking a comp. plan amendment to expand the mining resource area. That will be another opportunity to make your voice heard.

Trip: Snoqualmonix - Pineapple Express Trip Date: 03/30/2019 Trip Report: Another lap on it w/ Rolf. Thinnish ice down low but well adhered to the rock and more quantity than expected. The upper NYG pitch was quite dry. Still a very fun outing for this late in the season. It was a GroundUp-TeamFree-SmashAnGrab redpoint our sponsors (Geritol and Dr. Scholl's) would like to point out. No good pics on the route so I included a shot of the start of last year's instant classic, the Turf Testament... --I'd like to add a recommendation to rap after the 4th pitch since the traverse to NYG is a bit tedious, but more importantly the turf on the last pitch of NYG is not frozen. We had to be very careful not to damage it. Gear Notes: Don't forget the Tricams. Approach Notes: Need younger knees.

Brexit, my fine friend, is the resurrected zombie corpse of Thatcher-era anti-Europe nationalism. Brought back to life by the lackbeard Cameron (who then resigned to become a fucking shepard, for real), and fueled by viscous Trumpian down-economy jobs shortage, and kneaded by the bitch May into a great big mess, the kind of mess that when you make one, you apologize to all concerned and ask forgiveness and can everything please go back to how it was before. 'I'm really sorry', that kind of thing. Unfortunately no one over there has the political chops to execute a climb-down, so that's the end of the UK for a few more years. Oh Woe is me...………………...

Trip: North Cascades- Boston Basin - The Boston Marathon Trip Date: 07/10/2018 Trip Report: This is super delayed, but i was looking though old pics and thought this trip was worth sharing with y'all. Kyle was most certainly the brain-child behind this absurdity. I think it was sometime in the summer of 2017 he mentioned this idea of solo circumnaving boston basin. I was a bit suspicious that things might be a little more involved than was anticipated so told him i'd join in for a recon mission. We trail ran the sahale glacier route one day and gawked at the rest of the ridge, reading the unknown v known terrain and looking at the way the ridges tended to run. It was clear we were going in the wrong direction. For one, we would have to do the tft backwards, which would have honestly been the most chill weirdness. Downclimbing the ridge to sharkfin looked damn near suicidal. So we regrouped and planned a 2 day mission from the other end. We decided to start at the hidden lakes th and start on the triad via the sibley pass approach. When we hit the triad it was clear the "triad traverse" approach as described for marble creek basin didn't really let on to how gnarly the scrambling would be if one were to stay true to the ridge. We estimated summiting the triad sometime before 10 am, somewhere around mid afternoon we finally were running up the eldorado glacier. After tagging eldo via the east ridge, we ran over to the torment col while the sun was setting. After soloing the s ridge of torment in the morning, we realized we again had underestimated our objective, so we bailed down b basin and gorged on berries. One last attempt that summer would be thwarted by an overuse injury. And the september rains came, and boston basin stood like that itch you just cant reach all friggin winter long. Summer came around again and we were racking up at our first opportunity. Sometime in early July. looking back towards eldo and the triad on an early recon We Again set up the car shuttle, but this time the road was closed at the eldo th, and we had 4 days off, so we figured we'd tentatively plan on just tossing the triplets, cascade and j-berg in on the final day (our plan was to scramble the j berg summit ridge and bushwack down the gnar forrest straight back to the eldo th.). Weather ultimately meant this final link would not go, but its certainly something to aspire to. We set off from the trailhead for the triad. This time, we were prepared for the choss. early scrambling Kyle down-soloing some 5.6 choss on the triad Some 4th class funk on the triad 100ft tower we climbed along the way, 5.7 nothing on top suggested we were the first to visit such a bizzare place some more down climbin w face of w triad 5.6 R super aesthetic The first time we visited the triad we stayed true to the ridge crest east of the eastern summit and down-climbed somewhere about a third or half way down the east ridge. This proved to be an extremely dangerous experiment in natural jenga. We pushed off multiple oven to mini cooper sized blocks that impeded safe passage. We ended up bailing down some 500 ft 5.4-5.7 wall to the glacier. This was the boldest down-soloing i've ever committed to and would never be recommended. Remembering this experience, we opted to drop off the ridge after the eastern summit of the triad. A quick jaunt accross the glacier brought us over to eldo. We decided the truest line would be to climb the south ridge of eldorado. We found info on the south face, but none on the south ridge. We thought this odd, but the ridge looked quite reasonable. It ended up providing 4-6 epic and high quality pitches of easy rock climbing. A worthy stand alone mission and my second favorite (second to the west arete) way to summit the mountain. the first pitch gaining the s ridge of eldo second pitch some good ol' fashioned knife ridin good conditions meant a casual walk down the e ridge From the summit of eldo we decided to stop and rest at eldo camp rather than push through the dark to the torment col. I mean, there is a toilet there, thats pretty darn good motivation. We woke up early the next day and scurried across the feint climbers path leading over to torment. The torment col is always a neat place to hang out and fill up water. The true line here is the NW ridge of torment. We quickly glanced at the beckey bible the first time, and saw that it had gone. But when we got to the base of the ridge the gnar choss was quite strong, and we weren't entirely sure if we had the beta memorized, so we bailed back around the mountain to the south ridge. This time around we had taken some photos of the guidebook and decided to turn reason off. Getting on the ridge was the crux, purely mental, it turned out to be fairly easy going. There was one exposed and runout 5.8ish knife-edge pitch somewhere in there, but it all kinda blurred together. Soon enough we found ourselves on the summit of torment and in familiar terrain. The TFT awaited, finally some classic easy ridge travel! A classic b basin white out slowly creeped up as we reached the w ridge notch. It became apparent a storm was comming in so we scrambled to get the tarp up. We knew we were in for a wet night. looking over at the nw ridge of torment the entrance to the ridge, what looked like 5.10 from afar turned out to be 5.6 some more ridge scrambles on torment topping out the crux pitch of the nw ridge looking back at the entrance to the tft. getting on the glacier required a 20ft pendulum, then we had to rap down that high bergshrund. our first overhanging rap off a snow bollard. things were wet and snowy on the "3rd class rock" bypass variation We woke up on day 3 soaked (i say woke up, but there wasn't that much sleep). Rain stopped around 1 pm. The whiteout however persisted. We eventually got restless and started up the w ridge of forbidden. Neither of us had been down the east side of the mountain before, so we knew we were in for a good challenge when the whiteout lingered, but we knew we had to keep going if the traverse was going to go down. Finding the raps down the east ledges was tricky, but not unreasonable, we eventually got onto the e shoulder of the mountain below the start of the east ridge route. and knew that we had no clue what layed ahead, so we tucked tails and pitched the tarp. west ridge with a fog break another little break in the whiteout while descending the east ledges our bivy the next morning, j-berg looking classy as ever We awoke on day 4 with the sun and our first view of the nw ridge of boston. And we were decidedly a little concerned. Nonetheless we packed up and found our way down to the end of the e shoulder of forbidden. if ya think boston peak is choss, try scrambling around out here, it will change your understanding of the word. We reached the end, and the large cliff that would feed us to the the notch below the sharkfin ridge. this was truly un-rappellable terrain. So we backtracked to a low 5th class gully. A very stressful hour of downclimbing and rappelling spat us on the edge of the Qiuen Sabe. Another gully by the notch led us up to the steep hanging snowfield below the sharkfin ridge. We were short on time because of weather and opted to leave the subsummit west of sharkfin for another time. We quickly found ourselves at sharkfin. We climbed something on the sw ridge of the tooth, hard to remember exactly what we did. It was solid, exposed and 5.8. Had a hanging belay and no other signs of climbers. Not sure what we climbed, but it was fun. After some victory food on the summit we rapped off and set sail into a sea of virgin choss. I think there was maybe 1 more rappel to access boston, then we started up the ridge. We soloed about 1500 ft of low 5th class before hitting a vertical section and roping up. A circuitous combination of rappeling and ridge climbing brought us to the famous "ore" describing boston. A knife edge ridge guarded the easier looking summit headwall. The prospect of bailing at that point seemed worse than climbing the ridge, so i pushed up. The rock was best described as feta cheese. And i had to mow about a foot of the surface rock off as i au chevaled to ensure the entire ridge wouldn't collapse with me on it. I fabricated a belay half way across this called "off-belay". Kyle didn't look convinced i had found gear. Climbing delicately through the remaining pitches we found ourselves in unprotectable low 5th. So we soloed to the summit. The register up there is pretty rad, its a neat summit and the regular route doesn't look that bad. A few rappels and we knew we had done it, sahale was like the icing on the cake. And a 2000 ft boot ski down to the sahale arm was the reward. We blasted obscene music and trudged down to the cascade pass th. Overall we pitched out 26 pitches, rappelled 26 times and the gps read 26.2 miles back at the eldo th. A proper cascades test-piece. Some day we might go back and add j-berg. Maybe when memory fails us. "The Boston Marathon" VI 5.8R scouting the downclimb to the qiuen sabe looking over at the nw ridge of boston starting up sharkfin the final approach to boston. We ended up climbing just under the ridge crest for good 4th and low 5th class traversing until the gendarme right before the ridge starts gaining elevation, thats were we roped up the first roped climbing on boston finishing up on the first pitch of the au cheval Heres the track i took of the traverse loaded into caltopo, my phone died for about half of boston peak, so there is a straight line through that section. Gear Notes: Single Rack to 2, 50m half rope Approach Notes: We approached via the hidden lakes th with a car shuttle to the eldo th

Trip: Mount Saint Helens - Worm Flows Trip Date: 03/24/2019 Trip Report: Last weekend @Bronco, @Kit and a couple others went down to join the gong show that is the pre-limited entry St. Helens spectacle. It has gotten a bit more popular in the 18 years since I last skied it, making for a loud and chaotic TH bivy. There was plenty of snow from the car, however, making for an efficient skin to the crater rim (if you had ski crampons). The sheer humanity visible along the way was pretty entertaining, although I think the entertainment value was lost on the two older Asian dudes we saw consulting a map, who were later rescued by helicopter (cold, but fine). We escaped the masses by traversing west to the highest point on the rim (we left our skis where we hit the crater). The ski down was OK, but the visibility less than ideal. Still, it was pretty great to be drinking beer at the car less than 30 minutes from leaving the summit. That, at least, hasn't changed. Gear Notes: skis (or a splitboard if you are mentally deficient like me), ski crampons Approach Notes: Follow the conga line up the snowshoe superhighway from the Marble Mountain SnoPark

Trip: Colchuck Lake area - conditions Trip Date: 03/16/2019 Trip Report: Given the spectacular weather this past weekend, (March 16th-17th) I considered making an attempt on Colchuck’s North Buttress Couloir on skis. But due to a lack of mental realism about how out of shape I’ve gotten and just how much longer approaches take during winter conditions, plans evolved into just a nice camping trip next to Colchuck Lake with about 10 lbs of pro/pickets/crampons/ice tools along for the ride as bonus training weight. Everything is well snow-covered, we were able to skin right from the car. Snow on the gated Eightmile Road has almost every kind of human tracks you can imagine on it: snowshoes, skis, split boards, snowmobiles, it was even packed enough to be bootable with only a few inches of boot penetration, but I’d still recommend floatation of some kind. At the normal summer trailhead, snow looks to be about 4 feet deep right now. The trail up to Colchuck Lake has a well-packed snowshoe track the whole way up. Skinning up was fine (though it took me longer than I’d like to admit) with only one occasion where a fallen tree forced us to take skis off to hop over. Without skis, the packed path was supportive to boots for 9 out of 10 steps, but when postholes did happen they were waist deep. When we reached the lake, there were probably half dozen other parties in sight, most camping. We briefly talked to a group of 3 who had made an attempt at Triple Couloirs, but found the runnels to be way too thin right now and were forced to turn back there. We just camped and went no further than the lake. Just for the sake of curiosity, my avy probe went 7 feet deep in the snow by the lake before hitting what felt like ground. Skiing back out along the trail the next day was quite challenging, the most difficult tree-skiing I’ve ever done. We kept skins on to help keep speed down with all the sudden maneuvering required. My girlfriend soon opted to just A-frame the skis on the pack and walk instead. I stubbornly kept skis on the whole way, but with all the shenanigans that “skiing” there required, I progressed at exactly the same pace as her walking downhill. It is unclear which mode of travel was actually more effort. We observed a wet natural avalanche let loose on the distant side of the Mountaineers Creek valley, around noon on a very sun-soaked southeastern aspect slope, fortunately comfortably far away from us and coming to a stop well before reaching the trail’s elevation below. Finally, at the lower of the two places you cross Mountaineers Creek (the bridge at 4000’) the skis finally felt efficient again, with some worthwhile stretches of gliding down the path. And of course, once back on Eightmile Rd, the gliding on the skis was heavenly, with only two significant spots that required some skating for some otherwise non-obvious uphills. Triple Couloirs up close The Runnels on Triple Couloirs with maximum camera zoom Colchuck Ski shenanigans coming down from Colchuck Lake The bridge across Mountaineers Creek at 4000' Gear Notes: a 50lb climbing/skiing/winter/overnight pack Approach Notes: solid snow cover all the way from Icicle Creek Rd

Trip: Mt. Rainier - Ingraham Direct - Ingraham Direct Trip Date: 03/18/2019 Trip Report: Start: 0200 Muir: 0600 Muir Departure: 0715 Top of Cadaver Gap: 0900 Bergschrund crossing: 1100 Summit: 1415 Muir: 1730 Paradise: 1930 Takobed in the winter – an objective since first touching foot on the summit three years ago. Last year, attempts were called off due to lack of ski ability; however, after having my first season of skiing, plus this winter season, confidence levels were enough to give this a shot. Departing from Yakima, WA, you can see glimpses of the Eastern routes and even the summit from some houses in town, so the stoke was extra high – naturally. Car camping at Paradise, we awoke around 0030, opting to have an extra hour for travel above Muir – will come handy later on. Leaving the cars by 0200, under a near full moon travel was smooth until we hit Pan Face/ Point. Immediately equipping ski crampons was necessary for the face – then, we opted to boot the three-small terraces up to the Point. Guided by moonlight we cruised up the Muir Snowfield seeking an uphill path on the breakable & slippery crust. Peeking into the public hut, we were the only folks at all of Muir it seemed at 0600, although someone did leave a bag of jerky – cheers. Getting a full hour break in was the plan, enough time for snackage, drinkage and rope time. My friend chose to ditch his skis at Muir, based on a broken/ finagled binding and less time on skis this season thus I decided to carry my skis up to the summit for easier rope/ glacier travel. Marginal-minimal rock activity and decent snow conditions lead us up to the top of Cadaver Gap as we sought a more alternative route. The top inch of crust, shin-deep powder and layer adjustments landed us at the top around 0900 still plenty of time to plug away to. Stepping onto Ingraham Flats, there was immediately a huge bergschrund to our right with covered shooting cracks fracturing outward. To the far looker’s right somewhat left of The Icebox, there was a boot-pack & skin-track coming from Cathedral Gap. Looking over to the cleaver, their path continued however we chose to follow a boot-pack hugging Gibraltar Rock – mistake. Navigating minor three-foot splitters, my friend stepped onto a solid-looking bridge and fell in about knee height before crawling forward. Walking a few feet further left, the bridge was much firmer. Just one of three sketchier crossings. Soon after we took our first proper break since Muir, scoping out the rest of the Ingraham. A few hundred feet higher the path mounted a bergschrund with no other immediate option around. Initially, we thought we could borrow steps about 10m left of the primary step, but hollow snow proved too sketchy. Making a deadman picket (in case he fell off and into the schrund), I belayed my friend as he made a high left step and pulled himself up by plunging his axe and kneeing into the snow. Note: the schrund appeared to be full at least at this point of entry but remained untrustworthy. After mounting the bergschrund, travel became much easier, crevasse crossing became more benign, a perfect time to put the head down and chug away at the elevation. Snow conditions remained consistent as earlier and wind conditions were quite dismal compared to the 20mph forecast. Nothing to report up to the summit. Reaching the crater rim around 1355, our initial route did not seem feasible as a huge moat had formed but was simply surpassed traveling 30m to climber’s left. Tagging the windy and cold summit, we immediately began descending but hastily got off trail and found ourselves exposed above massive gapers to skier’s left of Lil’ T so throwing crampons back on we ascended 30m or so and were back on track. Skiing conditions were mainly survival skiing: firm snow mixed with ice and wind runnels left edges and whippet useless. More precise turning was essential, especially between 13k’ and 12k’ where it changed to 3-inch crust on 6-inches of powder. Navigating down the bergschrund was quite easy, we chucked gear down and slid/hopped down off the overhanging portion. Roping up again, descended few hundred feet to the flats, where I threw skis back on and my friend ran back to Muir. Snow conditions from here until Paradise were awful – refrozen sloppy snow now crustier than the crab itself. Once at Muir we repacked out bags, stuffed face with all the food left in our bags and began the slog down being pushed by massive winds. Gear Notes: Crevasse Kit, Skis, Ski Crampons, Whippet Approach Notes: Crusty Crab

Hello, I'm coming back to Western Washington next week and I'm planning to ski and climb until fall, with no pesky work commitments to use up the good weather windows! I need more partners for weekday adventures. I've been climbing for 8 years and backcountry skiing for 3 (I am coming back to WA after a half-season in Alta). I have taken the AIARE 1 and companion rescue courses and will be taking a WFR course at the end of the month. I'm happy to tell you more about my mountain experience (and hear about yours). Here are some example objectives I have on my list for the next few months: Fuhrer Finger on Rainier, Whitehorse, White Salmon Glacier on Shuksan, N Ridge of Baker, Watson Traverse, Logan, Daniel, Chimney Rock, Overcoat, Dome, Fernow, Snowfield, Cathedral.....I'm also hoping to spend a few weeks in Squamish later in the summer. I think I am in the middle on the risk-taking spectrum and it's important to me that our fitness levels and senses of humor work together. Let me know if you want to talk more/meet up to see if we can climb/ski together! Alisse 36O-224-778three

We are all, it seems, just seeds cast into the wind, searching for the right meadow in which to take root, grow, and bloom, before we too are folded back into the earth when our summer finally draws to a close. Life is what we make it, each day precious.

It's reopening this Thursday!

Finally someone explained Brexit!

Thanks @Water, those are great (especially the second from the bottom)! Clouds are pretty necessary for great imagery. Something I have to remind myself when I am groping around in a ping pong ball.

Thanks for pointing out that trip report. These all fail for various reasons, sometimes it's because the images were hot linked from some other now non-existant site or service. In this case it appears we actually have the images but our redirects are not working correctly: https://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/3363LJT_Routes_V2.jpg Obviously this is something we can fix I'll look into the best way of doing that.

So, I tried guiding for a season, I was terrible at it. Anyhoo, one guest showed up with 4 gallons of water. I explained that we would be melting snow for our water and she did not need more than 2 liters.

Shirtless Tech bro sighting IMG_2732 2.HEIC

Thanks for sharing! @JasonG I was up there for said festivities that day as well. Yeah a zoo--in large part due to that permit BS. Visibility stunk. But I've had worse. And the snow was fantastic for most of the way down. Here's a few of the brooding clouds if you don't mind my piggybacking to the same date? not sure if that's proper/improper etiquette here these days

Amazing images!!!

Definitely bring gaiters, I accidently left those off my list. Yeah, don't bring a rope, I just cut and pasted my personal gear list to give you an idea of what I bring and I always rope up for Rainier.

So, Jason has pretty much hit the nail on the head. You really don't want to be on any route with rockfall potential after June, as a generalization. Emmons has the least amount of objective hazards relative to most of the other routes. The Kautz is steeper and in later season turns into a real ice climb, so if you are looking for that kind of action take that into consideration. As for best time to go, beginng of the season and September would not be either of my recommendations. Look at in terms of a chart with two lines. The chart starts in May, ends in September. As the season progresses, the weather becomes more stable (the line rises in terms of % chance of good weather). It takes a pretty big jump around July 5th and then more or less becomes asymptotic through the end of September. (Basically, weather is stable July 5 through Sept 31). The other line is the condition of the glacier. It starts out high in May and decreases throughout the season, bottoming out in October. The guides do a good job maintaining the routes, installing ladders and fixed ropes and what not, but there is only so much they can do, especially when the route becomes bare glacial ice. In a low snow year the D.C. becomes completely impassible and gets rerouted below the cleaver onto the Emmons as early as August. What you want is to time your trip at the nexus of these two lines - select the time frame when you have the best chance of good weather and good glacial conditions. This is typically July. June is not a bad time, but your chance of having good weather is not as high as in July. Also, have you really looked at all your options? Maybe a skills course through AAI (American Alpine Institute) on Baker would be a better experience? Really not much difference than Rainier except a bit lower in elevation, much more of a wilderness experience and better views.

The way I understand things, the core zone permit allows you to camp in any of the zones. So you could climb Stuart initially then go on to enjoy the rest of the core zone afterwards, leaving you with only one trip up and down Aasgard.

You could follow the ridge from colchuck to stuart, but that is pretty intense undertaking...otherwise you will have to drop from the core to ingalls trail or to mountineers creek somehow from the core. i would enjoy your core permit and see that area, then come back some other time for stuart. If you are totally set on stuart, i would take your core permit off your hands

Yes, June, and yes a 20 degree bag should be fine. The guides will do a good job of looking out for your safety, I just was letting you know that all routes on the mountain are not equally safe.

Whoops, that was DPS' list, for some reason I though it was yours. Carry on -

You don't need the stove or the rope. RMI will provide those and will probably be annoyed if you show up with them. You might add gators to your list, it seems like that was a requirement in the olden days. I'm sure they'll send you a very detailed packing list once you register.

How about a custom built custom built CCW Valdez or Cherynobyl? Cheaper and way more durable. Randy is very amenable to making packs to order, not just for size but fabric and features so you can get pretty much what you want.

Sorry, should have been more specific. They may teach you stuff, but that is not their *goal*. This is probably true of most guides taking people up the DC though. Again, this is hearsay. I don't have any personal experience. Edit: Put another way, there are people who hire guides because they want to become more competent climbers, and there are people who hire guides because they want to get to the top. From what I have heard, RMI caters to the latter. I don't think there is anything wrong with that, but it's something to keep in mind depending on what your expectations are.

So, FWIW, here is my DC gear list, assuming I'm sleeping in the hut. This kit weighs ~25 lbs total with food and water for an overnight trip. Clothing Head Warm hat Fleece, should fit under helmet Helmet Black Diamond Tracer Hands Warm gloves Lowe Alpine Primaloft Liner gloves Cheap poly pro/light fleece Feet Boots Kayland Super Ice Evo (similar to LS Nepal Top or Scarpa Mont Blanc) Warm socks Goodhew warm (x 2 pair) Sleeping socks Smartwool -heavy Legs Briefs Poly Tights/long johns Patgonia mid weight Pants EMS Pinnacle migweight softshell Torso Warm shirt Patagonia light weight, long sleeve, zip tee light fleece jacket Marmot DriClime Shell Montbel Versalite (10 oz hard shell) Vest Marmot Alpha (highly breathable synthetic down) Belay Jacket Mountain Hardwear Super Compressor (or any other 100 gram Primaloft with hood) Personal climbing equipment Backpack Montbel Balance Light 40L Harness Black Diamond Couloir HMS Carabiner Small Black Daimond Small carabiners locking x 2, wire gate x 2 Slings 2 x 120cm spectra with small lockers Ice Axe Petzl Summit Evo Crampons Grivel Air Tech Prusik cords 5mm perlon Picket MSR Coyote Pulley REI Odds and ends Water bottles 1 Nalgene, 1 bladder - bottle doubles as mug TP Partial roll First aid kit Blister stuff, gauze pads, analgesics, athletic tape, asthma inhaler Camera with pouch Panasonic Lumix Essentials Kit Stuff sack Small, red silnylon stuff sack Sunglasses Cebe glacier glasses Knife 2.5" Buck with 1/2 serrated blade Sunblock Aloe Gator Gel Lip balm Bannana Boat SPF 15 Lotion Coconut oil Lighter Small Bic with guard removed Extra batteres for headlamp 4 x AAA lithium Headlamp Black Diamond Storm Water treatent tablets ClO2 Compass Brunton Spoon Titanium Shared climbing equipment Ropes 50m x 8.5 mm Edelweiss Sharp Everdry half rope Camping equipment Sleeping bag Stoic Somnus 30 degree Sleeping pad Evazotte Stove MSR Pocket Rocket with heat exchanger Pot 1 liter, black anadozied aluminum with handle Fuel 16 oz MSR Isopro Spoon Titanium Bowl Thin plastic Lighter Mini Bic Hygeine Kit Toothbrush Travel size Tooth paste Trial size Floss Trial size Hand santizer Trial size alcohol gel Foot powder Gold Bond trial size

Krikes, you are discussing bringing MULTIPLE items of the same thing: two pairs of foot wear, two types of crampons. The only thing I bring a second pair of is socks. The one BIG recommendation I would make, is look into outfits other than RMI. They would be my last choice.

It's in good shape, likely will be for about 2 months. Was up Sat and Sun.

I'd ditch the water filter. Once you get above snowline the only source of water is melting snow, at that point you may as well just boil it. Also the guides will likely take care of that for you. The guides also typically take care of tents/shelters and will likely discourage you from bringing your own tent. In mid to late summer the snowline could be as high as 8000ft (parking lot is at 5400ft) so depending on how comfortable your mountaineering boots are for hiking on trails you might want to consider some lightweight approach shoes. Don't under-estimate how hot and sunny it will get. I'd recommend a sunshirt, sunhat, thin gloves and good sunscreen. Cover up as much skin as possible and apply sunscreen to the rest frequently. A sunhat that you can fit under a helmet (I have an OR sun runner hat) is a huge plus.

I don't mind sleeping in the shelter, I have always slept well and if you don't have to carry the weight of the tent all the better. Transceiver is not needed in July/August. Don't need a BIG puffy either, a hooded 100 gram Primaloft or similar is the ticket.

Welcome to CC.com! I'd suggest getting your pack weight down (80 lbs!) and do some steep snow hikes if you have access. RMI should have some other recommendations for your gear (don't bring more than what they list) and training on their website. I was able to climb the DC route with RMI in the year of 2000 so keep that in mind. The RMI bivy shack at Camp Muir is a smelly place that I wouldn't depend on getting a lot of sound sleep the night before summit day. You're in one room with a bunch of other strangers farting and snoring. I think they get you up at midnight anyway so it's not like you're trying to get 8 hours of sleep. On summit day, you'll be teamed up on a rope with people who don't have as much experience/fitness and some folks who have more than you. RMI may turn around folks who aren't comfortable or able to continue at certain points. When I climbed with them (a long time ago) on summit day I switched rope teams 3-4 times as folks dropped off. So long as you have ok weather and you're able to physically keep up, you should be able to continue on to the summit. The DC route in prime climbing season is a circus but interesting enough terrain to keep your attention. Hope that helps -

Trip: Banks Lake, WA - Zenith, Emerald, Cable, Razorblades plus others Trip Date: 03/03/2019 to 03/14/2019 Trip Report: With reports of an incredible season at Banks Lake, my partner (Joe Peters) and I decided we needed to get over there. We drove over on March 3 to find a good place to set up a camp. Joe had to finish a couple things at work, but my wife Trisha came out to climb for the 1st two days until Joe got back. Then Joe and I were able to spend another 9 days climbing some of the wildest ice I have ever been on. Banks lake is that good!! I didn't list any grades in this trip report. Banks is a funny place and I found that grades were tricky to judge. In the end I decided that Wayne Wallace was right when he said..."Grades don't matter, everything here is hard." We camped in Joe's tipi tent which is pretty luxurious complete with stove for heat and drying gear. The best spot we found to camp was right across from Salt and Pepper. Camping limit is 15 days, it was free, and there was a toilet. We were able to sit in camp and stare up at Salt and Pepper every evening. Evening light in our camp. The view of Salt and Pepper from camp. (photo credit Joe Peters) Living it up inside the tipi. With that stove we could be sitting around in a t-shirt. It was absolutely essential for drying out boots and other wet gear after climbing every day. Here is a brief overview of our trip. 3/4 - Peewees #2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 3/5 - Climb below Emerald, Trotsky's Folly and Trotsky's Revenge (also called Phase Transition) 3/6 - Peewees #1 and 5 3/7 - The Emerald and Satan's Panties (also called Absent Minded Professor) 3/8 - Tea 'n' the Sahara 3/9 - The Cable and H2O2 3/10 - Unnamed climb in Moses Coulee 3/11 - Bombs over Old Baghdad (the climb across Banks lake at MP3) 3/12 - Shitting Razorblades 3/13 - Salt and Pepper 3/14 - Zenith I will just let the pictures tell the rest of story with a few captions. Peewee's Playground. I referenced these from right to left starting with 1 and ending with 8. Me leading Peewee #4 on the 1st day. A great place to start getting used to Banks ice! (photo credit Trisha Thorman) Craig Pope had just put up this line which he thought was probably an FA. It transitioned from the ice through the rock and out to the hanging dagger. It is Peewee #2 and he named it Turn the Page. This is a couple guys from MT climbing it on TR in the beautiful afternoon sun. The next day Trisha and I climbed this little flow. It was fantastic steep climbing that eased off about half way up. It is right off the road at the Emerald Pullout. It is amazing to me that there are so many of these lines that don't have names. Anywhere else and these good pitches of ice would all be named! Trisha doing a TR lap on Trotsky's Revenge. Day 3 Trisha headed back home and Joe arrived. Here Joe is arriving at the top of the fantastic Peewee #1. This is Satan's Panties (also called Absent Minded Professor). Rumor is that it hasn't come in for multiple years. It was a really fun multi-tiered climb that was a great warmup for the bigger climbs at Banks. The Emerald sits tucked up in a small valley above the main Banks Lake proper. It was a fantastic steep pitch of excellent climbing. It even faced north so it didn't get any sun to ruin the ice! Me leading the Emerald. (photo credit Joe Peters) Joe topping out on the Emerald at the end of a great day! With a cloudy day we decided to brave the lake and head across for some of the bigger lines. Thankfully the lake ice was thick and solid with no noises. The climb directly above me is Tea 'n' the Sahara. The one to my right is unknown.....it never came in this year unfortunately (or at least the dagger never touched down). (Photo credit Joe Peters). A closer view of Tea 'n' the Sahara. This was definitely my favorite climb of the trip. It consisted of 4 steep pitches each about 90-120 feet in length. The ice was typical Banks with plenty of excavating but the position and length of the climbing make it a classic for sure. Joe climbing the final steep 4th pitch. Looking back up at pitch 4 of Tea 'n' the Sahara from rappel. We were able to rappel the entire route with 2 rope stretching 70m rappels......take 70m ropes! (photo credit Joe Peters) The Cable....it is such an amazing, steep, crazy, gymnastic, different route. An absolute must do at Banks. Here Brian Williams is a little past halfway up the long pitch. Me leading the Cable. It is so good......just go do it! (photo credit Joe Peters) The Cable in the setting sun. Next we went to climb H2O2. Here are a couple of unknown climbers on it the night before. Yet another great pitch of climbing right next to the road. Here Joe is putting up H2O2 in the evening sun. The following day we drove over to Moses Coulee. Unfortunately Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were pretty wrecked by the sun. This is an unnamed climb on the same road about 1/2 mile before Butch Cassidy. Looking up at the Unnamed route was awe inspiring. There were so many hanging daggers through the steep upper roofs. I gave it a go on lead but ended up sitting on a screw in the roof. I found out I wasn't fit enough to lock off on a tool and clean hanging daggers for that long. Still an awesome experience! Me approaching the large ice roof of hanging icicles. (Photo credit Joe Peters) The next day was cloudy so we headed back across the lake. This climb is right across from MP3. It isn't in the WA ice book and nobody seems to know what it is called. After staring at it disappearing into the fog above we decided to call it Stairway to Heaven. (Edit: sounds like it is called Bombs over old Baghdad) Here is Joe leading up pitch 2. The next day was time to get on Razorblades. This is a climb that had been on my list to do for a while and it didn't disappoint. Some years the first pitch isn't in or so thin that you can't protect it well. This year it was fat! Me leading up the crux first pitch of Razorblades. I don't think I have ever climbed ice by pulling on ice mushrooms with my hands instead of swinging my tools into the ice....fun but funky! (Photo credit Joe Peters) Finally after staring at Salt and Pepper every night for a week, we decided we needed to go and do it. The guidebook made the 1st pitch sound hard and scary. It climbs the loose rock on the left and traverses up the snow ramp to the ice. It was loose, but I found a decent pin and a couple cam placements. You definitely don't need a #3 C4. I would take a couple of KB pins and a set of cams from BD .3 to #1. The crux step of rock is easy 5th but it is loose and a fall would be very bad. Joe climbing up the steep ice of Salt and Pepper. It was a fantastic climb with big exposure. This is looking straight down for about 300 feet. We wrapped up our trip with Zenith. A fitting end to a fantastic trip. It was very fat this year but still steep and long! (Photo credit Joe Peters) Joe and I on Zenith. Being a roadside crag, many times a few people stop and watch. Sue Tebow was one such person but she was kind enough to leave us her contact information so we could get a couple pictures she took. It is always a treat to get both the leader and the follower in the same picture. Thanks Sue! (Photo credit Sue Tebow) A final parting shot of the huge deathcicle above Zenith. It was so fascinating to look up at but we wasted no time in getting out of there. It consisted of a thin hollow tube of ice that extended 30 feet or so below the cliff. Out of the center poured a huge amount of water. (Photo credit Joe Peters) Gear Notes: Ice screws and 70m ropes Approach Notes: Short and easy unless you are crossing the lake!

THIS. The OTHER THING to remember is to WEIGHT YOUR RAPPEL SYSTEM TO TEST IT BEFORE YOU DISCONNECT FROM THE ANCHOR. You'll catch all kinds of rigging errors that way. Wasn't there an ALL CAPS avatar around here somewhere? Days gone by...

but the bigger issue than brake backups is TIE KNOTS IN END OF ROPES! (speaking from personal experience) That is what kills people.

Great beta TR! Seriously, you headed off nearly every possible question....

@taywen We topped out the line and equipped anchors but didn't make it back to hardcore clean and free it yet. We will definitely be putting in some work this summer and will keep you posted! There are some really good pitches. Cheers!

Trip: MT. HOOD - Devils Kitchen Headwall Trip Date: 03/10/2019 Trip Report: (please forgive my subpar writing ability) Mike and I started up from Timberline at 5am on Sunday with our eyes set on the Reid headwall. As we headed up the groomers to the top of palmer everything was going smooth. Once above palmer we slowly made our way over to illumination rock, breaking trail in some good old thigh deep powder. One would think that this would be a pretty good sign that the Reid headwall is probably not in, but we were both too stubborn to call it. We stopped for a quick second once we hit Illumination rock to put our crampons on and then headed down to the base of Reid headwall. The first 20 feet started out as really nice hard packed snow and them quickly turned into thigh to mid chest deep powder. We managed to make it about 70% of the way to the base before we decided that it would take us a week to wade through the snow to the base. At this point we had two options, option A) head home, option B) slog through the thigh deep snow back up and over to the Devils kitchen headwall. Naturally we went with option B) After a good effort to get up to DKH we ran into another party down below that was aiming for the DKH. On any other day with snow conditions not so unforgiving we might have beat them to the base of the route. Not today though, these smart guys were skinning up like the rest of the smart people on the mountain. As we followed up through the deep snow we were faced with another dilemma. Do we follow these guys up the regular DKH route or give them some space like good humans and find another route. Once again we went with the second option and decided to head up to the DKH Variation on the right. As we headed up the snow was just getting worse, but we kept going optimistic that maybe we would find some ice or firm snow. Once we got to the beginning of the first step in the DKH variation route it quickly became evident that this was not in. To really confirm this i headed up the first step to see what the snow was like above. To my surprise it was total shit.... Now what do we do? Give up and finally call it a day? Definitely not! So we headed back down and waded through the snow once again over to the standard DKH route thinking that the two guys in front of us must be more or less off by now. Bingo! finally some decent climbing conditions. Looking up into the main couloir. Mike climbing up the first Ice step. Looking up the Second ice step. Conditions were really good on this and the Ice was thick. Mike at the bottom of the second ice step. getting the rope organized below the second ice step. Mike topping out the second ice step. Looking up towards the final slopes to the summit. The climbing was really mellow from here on up. mike coming up the last little bit before the summit ridge Summit ridge finally! All in all our day was longer than usual but we finally managed to climb something! DKH is definitely in good conditions right now. Ice is fairly thick and does take screws nicely. No need for really anything other than a handful of short screws right now. Gear Notes: 3 Ice screws Approach Notes: Thigh deep powder

Jason, my sanguinity comes only after much reflection and decompressing on the issue. We talked a lot about it that night in the tent. It really makes me think about basically every snow anchor I have ever placed and not loaded simply because no one fell. Both the axe and the picket were buried vertically, clearly this was the critical mistake. I dug down through the powder into what I thought was firm snow, and tested it. I have decided that we need some snow school time to practice these techniques. We are pretty experienced snow climbers and I have placed pickets as pro a number of times, though mostly in spring conditions. Everything seemed secure. It was very eye opening to put it mildly.

I’ve heard a lot of people say the same about always considering them, but not checking them out. They’re definitely worth it even if the approach is a bit rough!

Joseph, I submit to you that there is one reason, and one reason alone: Names In the Guidebook.

Trip: Moose's Tooth - Shaken, Not Stirred Trip Date: 04/15/2018 Summary: Ascent of Moose's Tooth to the summit via the route "Shaken, Not Stirred" 19 hours camp to camp with Doug Shepherd April 15th 2018. Details: Alaska. Finally. After multiple trips to Alaska every year since 2009 life priorities had forced me to take a "leave of absence" since my last trip in March of 2016. It was nice to finally return and with Doug Shepherd, someone who I've done numerous trips with including my very first trip to AK in 2009. Various existing commitments limited us to a 3 day trip but weather and temps the week leading up suggested we would likely find something we could climb during the short window. I grabbed Doug at ANC early Saturday morning and we blasted for Talkeetna. After the usual shenanigans (weight in, repack) Paul zipped us in. After looking at possible objectives on the flight in we settled on Shaken, Not Stirred on the Moose's Tooth. Though I had climbed the Moose's Tooth in 2010 it was via Ham and Eggs. I'd always wanted to climb Shaken but had never seen it in. A SLC team was coming out at the same time we were getting dropped off and had attempted it the day prior. They had bailed at the crux due to lack of ice but after quickly looking at their pictures we thought we should at least give it a try as it appeared like it would go with some mixed climbing. We departed camp later than normal on Sunday (~6 am) to allow temps to warm slightly; this allowed us to wear single boots. I took the first simul block to just below the narrows where Doug took over. Doug fired a few amazing pitches that took us to the crux which was ice free but Doug was able to safely protect and find a mixed way through the crux. Following the pitch I have to say it was a very impressive lead. Some more climbing took us to the Englishman’s Col where we enjoyed an extended hydrate + coffee break before heading to the true summit. I will say the terrain between the Englishman’s Col and the true summit is a lot of up and down with at least two rappels and nearly constant crevasse and cornice danger. "Enjoy" We tagged the summit sometime after sunset but before dark; Doug's first time and my second. We managed to start the rappels down Ham and Eggs before it got truly dark so at that point it was just hitting rap anchors and/or making naked threads as needed. We arrived back at camp ~19 hours later and flew out the following day, Monday, before heading back to the lower 48. Good times. Gear Notes: partial set of nuts, single set 00-2 c3, double set 0.4 -> 4 ultralights, 10 laser speed light ice screws, 3 micro trax, single + tag line Approach Notes: Talkeetna Air Taxi is the best

good christ, i thought my only audience was crickets

Trip: Denali - Cassin Ridge (Alaska Grade V, 5.8, AI4, 8,000ft), Alpine Style* Trip Date: 06/09/2018 Video: Between June 2 and June 11, Priti and I climbed the Cassin Ridge on the South Face of Denali approaching via the NE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier (the “Valley of Death”), spending 6 days on route (including 1 rest/weather day at 17,700ft), summiting on June 9, and descending the West Buttress route. The whole trip was 10 days 7 hours door-to-door from Seattle. The Cassin Ridge is the second most popular route on Denali, with an average of 9 successful climbers each year, compared to an average of 584 successful climbers each year on the West Buttress route over the past decade. We carried everything up and over, climbing Ground-Up, with 38lbs packs each at the start, no sleds, and moving camp as we climbed, without caches. It was a Smash ’n’ Grab, meaning we decided to go at the last minute when we saw a good weather window. We watched Denali weather every day since early May until there was about a week of good weather. It took 24 hours from being at work on a Friday afternoon deciding to pull the trigger to being at Kahiltna Base Camp (including packing, Ranger orientation, flights, etc). We climbed Rainier 3 times the month and a half before our trip (Gib Ledges, Kautz, and Liberty Ridge), sleeping in the summit crater the weekend before. Still, we took Diamox while on Denali and had 2 weeks of food/fuel in case we felt altitude on route. Luckily, we had no altitude issues, and were only bounded by our own fitness, weather, and desire to move only when the sun was on us. Overall, weather was windless, clear, and sunny during the days with a few flurries at night. It was an “old-school” style of climbing, slow and heavy, while most folks nowadays opt to acclimatize on the West Buttress and climb the Cassin Ridge starting from 14,000ft camp on the West Buttress, then climb light-and-fast via the Seattle ’72 ramp or the West Rib (Chicken Gully) in a few days — this was our plan for our attempt last year with Ilia Slobodov, but didn’t get the weather window. Overall, a very successful trip, and we’re so excited to have pulled it off, after 3 years of dreaming of this route. *Alpine Style: The route was completed Alpine Style with the following exceptions: -Snowshoes were cached at Camp 1 in case the lower Kahiltna Glacier was sketchy on the way back. Didn’t really ever need snowshoes. The NE Fork was boot-able. There weren’t tracks going up the NE Fork, but it was wanded to the base of the West Rib. -We clipped into the existing fixed lines on the West Buttress descent above 14k, but this was unnecessary since it was basically a staircase. We didn’t clip into the existing pickets on the Autobahn above 17k. Google Street View: Apparently, nobody had done a 360 Photo Sphere Google Street View of the summit of Denali, so we obliged https://www.google.com/maps/@63.0690675,-151.0060278,3a,75y,78.91h,50.18t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sAF1QipOR4OLfMm5iBn15nn4OdiMbVTWa7lwk40pPUlnH!2e10!3e12!7i8704!8i4352 Itinerary: -June 2: Arrived at Kahiltna Base Camp at 3:00PM and moved to “Safe Camp” in the NE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier (“Valley of Death”). We cached snowshoes at Camp 1 and took a right turn up the NE Fork. This “Safe Camp” is the widest part of the NE fork, where you are least threatened by avalanches and serac-fall sweeping the entire valley floor. -June 3: Hiked from "Safe Camp" halfway down the Valley of Death and climbed the Japanese Couloir and camped on Cassin Ledge with a sweeping view of Kahiltna Peaks and the entire NE Fork. -June 4: Climbed the 5.8 crux, Cowboy Arete, and Hanging Glacier, camping at the Hanging Glacier Bergschrund at the Base of the First Rock Band -June 5: Woke up to Colin Haley strolling by our bivy site on his 8hr7min speed ascent of the Cassin Ridge (he approached via the East Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier). This was a total surprise and very inspiring see him up there! We climbed the First Rock Band that day and bivied between the First and Second Rock Band just next to the rib. -June 6: Climbed the Second Rock Band and found the crux to be the sustained "Hidden Rock Couloir" at the entrance, which is sustained mixed 70-80deg for about 50m. At the end of the Second Rock Band, a Chilean Team of 2, plus Colin Haley, plus our team of 2 all took the wrong (harder) exit. From the overhanging triangle, we all traversed right about 40ft then went straight up, finding difficulties to M4-M5. We should have traversed right another 40ft or so to find the 5.6 slab pitches and the 5.6 dihedral as described in Super Topo. This ended the technical difficulties of the route. That night, we bivied at Mark Westman’s “excellent bivy site” at 17,700ft. This turned out to be very hard to find and we spent several hours looking around for it. It is way further up and right on the col than expected. -June 7: Lots of snow! So we decided to sleep all day, acclimatize and waiting out the weather. -June 8: So much snow accumulated on the upper mountain the previous day that it took us over 12 hours to ascend the final 2,500ft to Kahiltna Horn. We were knee to waist deep almost the entire day. Mark Westman told us later that he was watching us all day through the high-powered scope from Kahiltna Base Camp and he could see the long trench we left in our wake. Presumably, many day-tourists at Base Camp watched us in our embarrassing slog to the top. This was by far the hardest day of the trip! When we reached Kahiltna Horn at 10:30PM, we had no energy to go to the summit, so we slept on the “Football Field” at 20,000ft. The night was beautiful, calm, and cold! -June 9: Went back up to tag the summit, then descended 12,500ft to Camp 1. -June 10: Got to Kahiltna Base Camp from Camp 1 at 10:00AM but it was overcast all day so TAT could not come and pick us up. -June 11: TAT finally picked us up around noon, after we endured the most miserable and wettest night of the entire trip! Left to Right: Sultana (Mount Foraker), Begguyya (Mount Hunter), Denali Denali, the High One Heading into the NE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier (the "Valley of Death"), the West Rib visible up the center of the peak The West Rib in the Center, The Cassin Ridge roughly up the right skyline Closer up view of the Cassin Ridge. The Japanese Couloir is the gash on the right. The Cowboy Arete (Knifedge Ridge) is above, followed by the First and Second Rock Bands Looking back at the West Rib and the Chicken Couloir Looking up the Japanese Couloir and the bergschrund at the base of the Cassin Ridge Looking back at the NE Fork Looking up at the crux of the Japanese Couloir (AI4) The Cassin Ledge. Razor thin, great views fo the whole NE Fork, Kahiltna Peaks, and Sultana! The 5.8 Crux just off the Cassin Ledge The Cowboy Arete The Base of the Hanging Glacier, the Cowboy Arete behind A short overhanging step to get over the bergshrund Colin Haley approaches! The crux of the First Rock Band, just above the M-rocks Somewhere near the top of the First Rock Band The South Face! Looking up at the "Hidden Rock Couloir", the beginning of the Second Rock Band, and the crux of the route, in my opinion Just below the V-shaped overhang in the Second Rock Band Slog to the top Denali Summit Ridge Summit Marker The Football Field on the West Buttress Route and our bivouac Heading down the Autobahn, 17k camp below on the West Buttress The Cowboy Arete Base Camp with Moonflower Buttress behind (North Buttress of Begguyya, Mount Hunter) Gear Notes: -6 screws (1x21cm, 2x17cm, 3x13cm) -40m rope -Small Rack of nuts -5 cams (.3-1) -2 pickets (didn’t use on route; just for glacier travel) -5 single alpine draws, 2 double alpine draws (no cordalette) -2 ice tools each (Nomics for him, X-Dream for her) -Monopoint crampons -Boots: Olympus Mons for him, G2SM+overboots for her -MSR AdvancePro2 Tent -Feathered Friends Spoonbill Sleeping Bag -2x Thermarest NeoAir Xtherm + 1x shorty closed cell foam pad (for emergency) -MSR Reactor + hanging kit + 3 medium cans of isopro Approach Notes: Approached via the NE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier

Fred said it was a great incentive to not fall.

And here a GPS tracks! Cassin_Ridge.gpx And a couple extras: IMG_9713.mov IMG_9702.mov IMG_9659.mov

Impressive outing. Nice work. "The climbing was often loose, sparsely protected, somewhat lichen-covered, and wet..." You're not selling it. Maybe "splitter" it up a bit: The rock was SPLITTER! The weather was SPLITTER! The approach was SPLITTER! The bivy was SPLITTER.