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Bronco

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Everything posted by Bronco

  1. Trip: Mt. Buckner - North Face Date: 7/10/2010 Trip Report: Mr. Goodtime aka Juan Sharp and I met in downtown Everett at 4:15 am on Saturday and drove to the Boston Basin TH while slurping coffee and Gatorade. This would be my first return to the Cascades since returning from several years in Montana. I was a bit nervous that I would slow the pace but we seemed to be pretty evenly matched middle aged beer gut deskjockey dads. We were on the trail by 6:50am and made good time to the notch near Shark Fin Col. Conditions were good, not as soft as we had anticipated on the Boston Glacier and we continued a good pace to the foot of the face. We intended to checkout the N. Couloir but realized we were already part way up the N. Face route and decided unrope, get out the crampons and second tool and continue. Soft snow provided secure steps and plunging on the route, sticking to the left side of the face we quickly ascended to the rock band about half way up. Some easy rock moves put us on the upper snow field and access to the summit at about 4:00 pm. One of the most stunning days of weather I’ve ever seen. We were glad to find a small waterfall a short ways down from the summit to rehydrate our dried up bodies. I know I consumed 8 liters of fluids and was still a full 5lbs lighter the morning after. It was definitely hot up there on Saturday. We tried to move quickly and completely missed the trail to Cascade Pass at the bottom of Sahale Arm. We ended up linking brush belays through a cliff band to gain the bottom of the valley and hike back up to Cascade Pass on the trail from Stehekin. We made the pass just as the sun set and discussed taking a direct “path” to the parking lot but decided that we should stick to the demoralizing trail in the darkness. We arrived at the car at 11:00pm. What a fun day in the mountains! Not sure how many miles we covered but it sure seemed like a lot. I'll add some more photos once the que is processed. Gear Notes: Glacier gear, gu, sun screen,second axe and crampons. Approach Notes: We used the notch about 100m closer to Sharkfin than the notch described in Nelson's book to access the Boston Glacier. This allowed us to use a 50m rope.
  2. Awesome TR - Looks like you guys had a great time. Might this possibly belong in the "Alpine Lakes" forum (for the sake of future reference)?
  3. Awesome adventure. Amazing how much snow is hanging around in July.
  4. Cool series of articles on Index Town Walls at Climbing.com
  5. Ok, ready to shop for clipless pedals and shoes. I've never had more than the toe cage so I'm just really trying to get educated. The Crank Bros Candy eggbeaters seem like a no brainer for a cheap pedal and allowing me to use commuter friendly shoe in case I need to do some walking. Any feedback would be great. [img:center]http://tenerife-training.net/Tenerife-News-Cycling-Blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/crank-bros-candy-mtb-pedals.jpg[/img] I had a squirrel run out in front of me this morning and couldn't dodge him with a car passing on my left. The feeling reminded me of a dog that ran out in front of my motorcyle once in the dark a few years ago. Glad to not have wrecked but sorry for the animal. Guess it wasn't his day...
  6. While I haven't done the route in question, I have found that if all I have is small gear, (4-6 bigger nuts, pink and red tri-cams) then I can get usually get ok protection and don't have to haul a bunch of cams 20 miles for 60' of low fifth class climbing. I am kind of lazy though. I.E. if there are big hand cracks, there is a good chance there are smaller cracks in the vicinity. Any thoughts from Hiney or anyone else who've done the route?
  7. Looks like a "personal attack" to me That is, a personal attack on the last half hour I spent watching the video and reading the thread. Too funny!
  8. Thanks Sobo! I have IE "Ocho" so none of this blather pertains to me.
  9. Can one of you guys explain how to figure out which version of IE I'm using? Or just hack into my computer and tell me which version I'm using?
  10. at the south trailhead for baker lake today. send a PM to identify
  11. Bronco

    Want to trade

    [img:center]http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/data/500/bathtub-race-nanaimo-boat-man.jpg[/img]
  12. Thanks for reporting back, I always wonder what happens to the climbers who've asked for advice and never post again.
  13. Rubber bands are aid
  14. Good sized slide on Three Fingers at about 6:30am Saturday AM.
  15. I just read that Seattle set an all time weather record yesterday - Latest date not reaching 75 degrees since January 1. To me, this says the snowpack above 10,000' has not had a chance to settle yet, at all. I believe conditions will change pretty rapidly once it does warm up so don't rule out a Wednesday summit by what conditions are today. One of the fun things about mountaineering is constantly assessing conditions and adjusting your plans (route, gear etc.) to adjust risk factor in your environment. If it were me, I might camp out at Muir and talk to the rangers about conditions. This puts you in a good position for a summit attempt if the conditions present an opportunity to make an attempt. If it doesn’t work out, come back in July/August when the weather is better.
  16. June 8 marks the date in 1924 that George Mallory dissapeared on Everest. Did he make it to the top? I would like to think so...
  17. It would be interesting to see the comparison in staffing at Grand Teton/Rainier and broken down as a ranger/climber ratio.
  18. I just wish there was a Hardee's closer than Helena, MT....
  19. Bronco

    Fred

    Gotta' love the Fred....
  20. I don't know if Rainier is a good place to skimp on your shell. I did it once and wouldn't do it again. You might consider leaving your windshirt and micro puff out and put your hardshell in. The extra insulation may not be that useful if you are carying a belay jacket anyway. Save your windshirt for lower, less stormy mountains.
  21. Anything else we should know?
  22. This really sucks and I'm sorry for the loss of these two guys. Having lived outside Bozeman in the mountains for six years, I was curious about the telemetry for this location and pulled up this: http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/nwcc/site?sitenum=384&state=wy data for the Snotel site very close to the site of this accident. It seems difficult to belive there would be any ice left to climb after such warm temps and it serves as a good reminder for all of us to check these sites as part of our trip planning protocol.
  23. A single second tool for the entire rope team that will be shared by each individual at the bergshrund is also a common approach and nice way to shave pounds off the packs.
  24. Thanks Gene! We're planning to do some trips like the Lakeside trail on Lake Chelan and Baker Lake in the N. Cascades. I thought these might warrant some extra filtration but am happy to continue to use Aqua Mira if it's appropriate.
  25. I've typically used idodine tablets but am begining to be concerned about parasites more than the taste of it. I don't see where Aqua Mira comes out and says it kills giardia etc. Anyone know if that's the case? I typically boil water when melting snow but we're talking about doing some lower elevation backpacking trips this summer where there wont be any snow. Not too concerned about weight.
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