Terry_McClain

(Sat.) 1-19-2008 We did Rambles Centre today...it's in great shape. Snowed all day, maybe 3-4 inches came down and it is still snowing, but pretty wet in town right now. It was a great 1st lead WI3 for me. We top roped the Rambles Centre Top Step WI4 and ran laps. Great Day.

Couloir - sitting in Lillooet..sorry..just one pic I had in an email. Ice cliff & Ice Fall both look good.

Trip: Rainier - Camp Muir /gate/ snow conditions Date: 1/17/2008 Trip Report: Gate did not open till after 10am today- file complaints, it is the only way to instigate change- comment forms available at Longmire. I could understand it if they were plowing...they weren't today. Snowshoes could have been used, but totally unnecessary- especially above 7000' - if anything crampons would be nice in some spots. Snowfield was completely scoured/hardpack. Rest of upper mountain 'appeared' to be the same.

Way to go, Congrats Guys! Nice TR and pics as well-thanks...brought back some great memories.

Yes, I think route should still be good. We crossed Coleman at 6500' and went almost all the way to the toe of the N. ridge before cutting up. The whole way was mostly a a straight shot for us. Stay at 6500' and don't cut up too early and I think it should be fine for you. Enjoy this super stellar route!

Trip: Mt. Baker - North Ridge Date: 7/26/2007 Trip Report: This trip up the North Ridge of Mt. Baker was a trip of A Thousand 'Thunks'. The sweet sound of the pick sticking solid every time in nice pliable alpine ice. I met up with Chris Kouba from Phoenix and Verendra from New York for this climb. We had never met before so I am sure we were all hoping for a good fit, which indeed it was. We left the trailhead at 3:30pm on Wed. with a solid high pressure system in place, reaching our 6000' camp at 5:30pm with plenty of down time to relax. Terry chill'n. There we met an AAI team that was headed for the N. Ridge as well the next morning. 'Ben' from AAI was way cool being friendly and giving us some good beta. He had a report from another party that the left start did not go, so we probably saved some time taking the right variation. They took off at 2:30AM the next morning, and we gratefully followed their tracks across the Coleman 1 hr. later. Early morning light on the Coleman Glacier. We passed them at the base of the hourglass after 2.5 hrs of an easy traverse. They took a left start bypassing the schrund (looked easier but had some rockfall debris at start). I lead up the middle through a collapsed area in the berg schrund which worked nice as well. The next 800-1000' went fast with a mix of some ice and firm snow. As we came up out of the hourglass and started to traverse up to the start of the ice step the route took on a new flavor with increasing ice getting steeper and steeper. Every pick placement stuck so nice though! I set up a belay and Chris took the lead (sorry- no pics), heading straight up about 40 feet to pick up the upper ridge proper. He dropped a second rope from there and then continued climbing the full 60 meter rope up before setting up a belay. Verendra and I simul-climbed next up the ice step as Chris belayed us off a reverso set up in autolock mode. From there we simul-climbed the rest of the ridge with mixed snow and lower angle ice. Verendra on the ridge above the ice step Chris on the ridge above the ice step Approaching the summit plateau we traversed right between a cool serac and ice shelf. Chris coming out of the secret passage. Any easy slog to the summit had us there in 7hrs from our camp. A straight forward, though long, slog brought us back to camp, all smiles! This was a spectacular climb and the route is still in great condition. Get on it while you can! Gear Notes: used a few pickets in running belays, 2-3 screws on ice step. Approach Notes: easy crossing the Coleman at 6500'

Standard route, D.C / I.D unless the freeze level comes down. Looking for experienced partner that's in shape for 12-15hr push. Plan on leaving Paradise 8-9pm Fri. night. PM me if interested.

Awesome sounding trip there! John just might pick up some 'style' if you keep showing him how it's done. I especially like the photo of him napping, although I seem to remember him having more hair on his back and smaller horns.

Congrats CBC! I was one of those well wishers. Thanks for posting your TR. Great style! I'm super envious!

Tuesday I decided to do a day hike up to Success Cleaver. The west side road is washed out in a few places requiring some stream crossing. The park service is working on the road right now, so it should be much better soon. I brought my mtn bike for the 1-2 mile? road approach. I wondered if it was worthwhile on the way up, but was still very glad to have it on the way back. The last time I went up Tahoma creek trail was 2 years ago. Since then, alot more of the trail is gone now, making for tedious going at times. I think with a bigger pack it would be faster/easier to come in from Kautz creek. I ran into 2 climbers that were descending the ridge. They had bailed from Success Cleaver due to high freeze level. A team of two were up on South T headwall. One of their party of three (Ft. Collins, Colorado) had stayed behind (sick) at their camp. I would be curious to know how their climb went. The route looked in- but I'll bet it was a bowling alley with the 14,000' freeze level! Here are some pics looking up and down from 9500' on the ridge. This has become one of my favorite workout hikes. Looking up Success Cleaver from 9500' South T headwall from 9500' on Success Cleaver Looking down towards Pyramid Peak from 9500' on Success Cleaver

Humor- NOLSe at his best (sorry buddy)

Success Colouirs show from Indian Henry's http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=15290&size=big&sort=1&cat=503 Success Cleaver from 10,500 if this helps... http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=15291&size=big&sort=1&cat=503

treknclime- Check out Mineral Creek as an easy approach. We did that route and it made for an easy approach. I think total round trip dist. was about 12 miles. You pick up the PCT at approx. 4 miles, leave it in another 1/2mile or so at the 5400' notch that drops down to glacier lake.

We climbed on the 4th of July as well. My experience with trying to climb Rainier on Memorial Day has not been the greatest. I think the weather Gods have always frowned on me for this weekend. One of the worst storms I ever experienced was at the 9500' camp on the Wilson Glacier during Memorial Day- so good luck with the weather! For LR we had our bags packed for the entire month of June waiting for a decent weather window. When a good high pressure system did come in, it narrowed to 2 days so we pushed up to Thumb Rock in one day, and summitted on the 2nd day. This worked well, except for the rockfall hazard in the afternoon heading up to Thumb. There are smarter times to be on the lower ridge. Luck, or otherwise, there was only one other party at Thumb Rock with us on the 4th.

I went up to Muir today (Tue.) Hut is fine. Two teams up there in it right now- one headed for Nisq. Ice Fall tonight, other team for Gib Ledge tonight or tomorrow.