mattp

quote: Originally posted by russ: they've done some nice stuff. Including some total insanity. Those guys must be good skiers.

It seems to me that one of the most difficult parts of the climb was just after a break in the ridge, slightly above midway. There are a lot of variations, however, and I suppose one's challenge on any given day may vary greatly due to conditions and the route-option chosen.

Oh yes, and as far as the diameter of 8.5-9.2 goes, I think that is sufficient for "strictly mountaineering."

I understand the push toward lightening the rope, but I believe that for a party of two, if you are thinking you're self-sufficient, 30m may be a bit short. When traveling in a party of two, I usually climb on a little less than the middle third of the rope, so that each member of the party has enough rope to reach the other to facilitate a rescue -- with a 30m rope, this means you would be less than 10m apart. This is probably enough for most Cascade glaciers, but it is surely a minimum.

The terrorist threat is, I understand, B.S. My information may not be correct, but I read in the National Enquirer that there is no known toxin that could be used to poison a water supply as large as a mountain reservoir because it would be too diluted unless somebody were to drive up there with a tanker truck or something. Anyway, I just heard an alternate theory about the closure. They closed the access from downstream (is that the 5000 road?) a few years back, and now they've closed the upstream access to the reservoir. Maybe the dam is showing signs of liquification, something that is not at all uncommon for earthen dams and which would pose a serious threat to public safety (check out, for example, the Buffalo Creek Disaster). Are they keeping us out for our own good? Maybe its dangerous (and look out below).

Yeah, you may be inviting spray – but if you have a thick enough skin you'll get some information. The road to the normal (south side) approach to Adams usually opens rather late (July 4th in some years), but you may be able to drive within a reasonable distance some time early June. If you can wait that long, the S. Ridge is a great ski run, and the SW Chutes is one of the best (I took this picture in the chutes on July 4, 1994): There is a north side approach that somebody fairly recently posted here as being a good early season access point because the road is plowed, but I didn't find their post when I just ran a search. However, the north side routes are generally not very skier-friendly. I haven't climbed the North Ridge, but I bet it is not a friendly ski route, and I know that the Lava Headwall would only be good if you are a very good skier because it is definitely insane and there is a large schrund. The Lava Cleaver might be OK if you are a very good skier and the freezing level was very high. The Adams Glacier is quite broken, the NW Ridge would not be skier friendly, the N. Face of the NW Ridge would be totally insane, and the Pinnacle Glacier Headwall is a very steep and somewhat dangerous ski run. For a more moderate ski descent, I have climbed the NW Ridge and skied the SW Ridge, which is much more reasonable and leads to an easy traverse back around to the NW approach. [ 03-02-2002: Message edited by: mattp ]

Sounds like a good trip, Mr. K. How did they treat you at the ski area? I have found the staff at Blackcomb to be very helpful about offering information as to conditions and helping load packs on the chairlift, etc. Do they still offer the one-ride lift ticket for a fair price? That chute on Fissile is rather steep, isn't it?

Good news!

To properly mourn, you'd have to take your wine and go hang out on a wall for, like, 30 days. Warren was the real thing!

I'll probably get slammed for this, but I like a cotton shirt for comfort and breath-ability. I strip down when I'm heading uphill with a pack on so that I don't get all wet, and when I do soak my shirt with sweat, I take the first possible opportunity to peel it off and put it back on over a sweater so that it dries out. By carefully avoiding wearing a wet underlayer all day, I am usually warmer than my buddies who soaked their synthetic base layer that is supposed to be warm when wet. No responsible person could recommend cotton, but my point is that no miracle fabric will keep you comfortable without a steady effort and some attention on your part.

quote: Originally posted by avypoodle: There was no ice on the crux pitch that would have even came close to holding a climbers weight, yet alone a fall, and the 60 degree styrofoam lower down was nonexistant, just sugar covered shale ... Hope you had as much fun as we did! Sugar coated shale would not be near as fun as what we had. Maybe we had MORE fun than you did! Its an excellent route and, despite Dan's critique of Bart's prior report, I can tell you that both of us tip our hats to you guys for doing it.

Dan and I were the ones on Big Four. Read his trip report in the North Cascades section. Big Four rocks!

Indeed, snow and ice conditions change daily, so yesterday's beta may not be valid and the only way to know for sure IS to check it out yourself. Also, what to one climber may look "in" may look like a horror show to another. But recent reports can help. The regular route on the N. Face of Mt. Index was lacking for ice on the lower pitches on Monday. So too, the bottom of the North Face of Big Four (though there was fat ice higher up). Over the weekend, there was almost a foot of new snow over the consolidated surface on N. Face of Colonial.

Hey, don't be so discouraging. JPB just wants to go out and have fun, and with a small amount of common sense he (or she) can probably go out and do so. As a pup, I went out and set up top ropes with friends of mine who also knew nothing about climbing and I was only dropped once. JPB - read some books on climbing anchors and go climbing with someone who knows what they are doing if you can, but if you can set a top-rope anchor on a big tree, and if the rock you are climbing upon is not some pile of loose breakable crumbly junk (better yet if it is climbed often), and if there aren't loose rocks sitting around the cliff top or dangerous terrain at the bottom, you will probably live. Just be sure you have somebody show you and your buddies how to belay. [ 02-25-2002: Message edited by: mattp ]

Jesse's package will do for most locations. Some locations may require up to 30 feet of additional rope or webbing, for trees or other anchors that are well back from the edge. However, if you set something up with a long sling or rope from the anchor to the locking biners serving as a pulley, be aware that in some situations the whole rig can sweep back and forth and send rocks on your head.

I may be able to get away for what looks as if it may be the best climbing conditions thus far this winter, but my regular partners will be stuck at work. I may already have someone lined up but does anybody with alpine and mixed climbing experience want to try Big Four or Mount Index or something else Monday and Tuesday? mattp@seanet.com [ 02-22-2002: Message edited by: mattp ]

Fairweather - I share your frustration over the low priority given hiking and climbing access and I think both of us would agree that we'd like to see the local districts spend more money and effort on road and trail maintenance. However, I think we have entirely different ideas about the politics behind why that priority is what it is and, without diving into the question of whether environmentalists have destroyed this great democracy of ours (wink), let me just contradict one small bit of what you stated above – the idea that the Endangered Species Act should not be based on "what ifs." Indeed, that is all that it or any act like it, or any decision that may affect the future, ever will be based upon. There is no way "Science" will ever tell you that if you remove this or that rock or tree, a certain owl will or won't survive. Without a crystal ball, we will never know what will happen if we do or don't take any particular action and all we can do is to gather up all available information and try to make the best possible choice. If you are objecting to the misuse of quasi-science by environmental activists, I believe the truth is that all parties to these issues are probably equally guilty of engaging in distortion and showmanship when it suits their immediate needs. And the holler of the Washington Forest Protection Association and groups like that – that they want to see "hard science" before they think it appropriate to limit resource extraction – is just more of that same distortion and showmanship. The general question is and always should be, if we perform an honest cost-benefit analysis based on all that we know at this time, whether that information is hard science, anecdotal information or simply our best guess, what should we do next? - Matt

Ed - I don't know everything, but I do know this one. You can park at Narada, and there is usually a boot track up the left side of the avalanche slope just accross the creek. Then head right on the road, and drop off at the first major bend in the road if you are headed toward Lane Peak or thereabouts, or continue on the road to the first Reflection Lake and head up and right to reach Castle/Piinnacle. Alternatively, you can ski down the road from Paradise to reach the same roadbed in that avalanche area above Narada Falls. But it is longer that way. Alos, note that there is usually (BEck -- is it there this year?) a marked alternate route to Reflection Lakes that avoids the avalanche slope. If you ski down from Paradise, a signed turnoff will head left.

quote: Originally posted by Mike Gauthier: also consider that you'll have "moats" to watch. these moats form between the snow and rock on the ledges itself, matt, did you ever find this to be the case ....... Yes, Mike, I do remember that. I think the wind roll or whatever it was where we had to drop off the ledge a little bit was made a little more problematic by this situation. I seem to recall the difficulty being only minor, however. quote: Originally posted by Mike Gauthier: last bit of advice, when visiting rainier in the winter, always carry tire chains....... You bet.

Pencil Pusher - I have been up and down that route twice during the winter, once with partners and once by myself. I did not use a belay on the ledges either time. There has been at least one recent accident here where someone (solo) fell off the ledges and it IS very exposed, but the terrain is not really technical. I recall that, depending on conditions, there can be a windroll or something like that, perhaps 2/3 of the way accross, where one might want to belay and if you are worried about the exposure or the possibility that the snow you are walking on might fall off, you might use a running belay for more than just that little bit, but if you found the climbing difficult enough to "pitch it out" you would be spending a lot of extra time which would not only jeapordize your chance of a successful summit climb, but which would leave you exposed to stone fall longer and later in the day upon your return (the last time I suggested that stonefall was an issue on this route I was rebuked for making such a silly statement but the report from last week suggests that Don thought stonefall was an issue as well). Also, I should note that on the first occasion I climbed that way, we elected to descend the Gib Chute because it looked (and turned out to be) very straight-forward and we didn't want to walk back accross the ledges in the middle of the day. I don't know what it looks like now, and it may not always be a good choice, but on that occasion we had soft crusty snow all the way down the chute and we were down and out of harms wayin about 15 minutes. - Matt

Park at the east portal for the train tunnel, and head up the logging road that departs south from highway 2 a couple hundreds to the east. Follow this road into a clearcut, and climb to the upper left corner of that clearcut. Follow the logging road out and left a couple hundred yards, then cut up and right into or climb up the woods next to a second (higher) clearcut. From the top left corner of this one, head up and left to a glade below a rocky outcrop. Pass the outcrop on the right, and more glades lead up to the summit. This tour is mostly on west or northwest aspects and can be a safer alternative after a heavy snow when the usual southwest winds have created a wind-slab hazard for runs like the northeast facing bowl on Jim Hill. [ 02-21-2002: Message edited by: mattp ]

Tele skiing is just a dying fad, Pope. If you take that one up too, all the while eschewing bolts, you will truly peg yourself as some kind of historic artifact. I'd suggest you go for the split board.

Pack you sleeping bag and go grocery shopping. This weekend looks good.

Philfort reported that the road was blocked at about mile 5 or so just two weeks ago. Unless the situation changes, that would make for a very long ski in the Cascade River road to get anywhere near Boston Basin-Eldorado-Sahale. Snowking might be a little less distance, but I would think the effort necessary to get there would render it something more than a "moderate" even if technically it were relatively easy.

According to Frenchman's Coulee Climber's Association: You can buy the required parking permit for the Department of Fish & Wildlife at: The Colonial Store in George, Washington.