If you summit before sunrise you greatly reduce your chances of rockfall. For most people this means leaving T-lodge around 11:00pm the night before. I agree though AT, it gets sketchy this time of year.
Maybe I'll make it up there Ian.
Oh, and another thing. Twight is the shit at what he does. If your into slow alpinism thats ok too. I guess everybody needs their own genre. Kind of like the trekies and the people who call riding around in go-karts on groomed grass a "sport"
The gendarme only has two tough sections as far as soloing. One is in climbing a 5.9ish dihedral to the ledge and then the real crux is traversing out and up a short offwidth section. Probably a 5.9 offwidth but 5.9 offwidths are none too easy.
I own a set of RP's because I got a good deal on them but I have used the HB offset's and they are the shit. Definetly worth the extra money, especially for the valley. Lawgoddess, I thought you were more of a sport climber?
The best place to prussik would be from 50ft down inside a really deep glacier. Then if you find your not a good prussiker we can just cut the rope and your body will never be found.
Ok, it might be found many years from now when the glaciers receed from Mtn man's SUV exhaust and all those cow farts releasing gases into the atmoshere. By then though I'll be an old man however and will be so revered as a climber in the NW no one will believe I would have killed you unless you deserved it.