Darren

Do you have an old rope/s waiting to be retired for which you have no use for? If so, I would like to take it off your hands. It won't be used in any sort of climbing or life safety capacity or for profit. Just a craft project. I will come to you. Thanks for your time and consideration. Darren dj_rainey@hotmail.com

I climbed the west ridge last Thursday. There is a break in the snow that requires you to move onto the rock to the climber's left. I imagine it's still easy to get by. Break is visible in the above photo.

Climb: Dorado Needle-NW Ridge and Big Bags of Sun Baked Stool Date of Climb: 7/25/2006 Trip Report: This is more of a rant than a trip report as the theme of our trip to Dorado Needle was of human feces and used butt wipe…and not our own. First, thanks to the people who neatly packaged their feces and TP into blue bags and left them at the Eldorado bivy area. This really goes a long ways towards maintaining the beauty of this amazing place. The only thing I can add is that it also really helps if you actually carry them off the mountain with you as opposed to leaving them to bake in the sun. We could smell this from several hundred yards away as we approached. If you haven’t had the opportunity to carry someone else’s bag of shit off a mountain, trade with your partner next time your out. You will be forever grateful to carry your own in the future. Next, to the person who left the nice dump and covered it with snow at the Inspiration Glacier, Marble Creek Glacier Pass, for some unexplainable reason your shit didn’t evaporate once the snow melted off. We were without bluebags at this point, so unfortunately, were unable to address this. If this dump belongs to you, you can find it right where you left it. It hasn’t moved at all. It’s in plain site for all to see and smell as the walk past. We also found at least five piles of used TP, a shoe sole and plenty of other trash during our trip. And it’s not like we were combing the area for detritus, it was just everywhere. Sorry to be so negative. It was just super frustrating to be in such a beautiful place and come across filth at every turn. I understand that much of what we saw may have been simple mistakes or Mother Nature calling when she’s not supposed to. If you’re still reading and want to know, the route was super fun. Glacier travel between the bivy area and the rock was straight forward with one or two trivial crevasse problems. We were able to walk into the moat and get onto the rock. We climbed one pitch to the notch and belayed at a huge chock stone and one 50 meter pitch to the summit. Reversed our 50 meter pitch back to the chock stone and made a single rap with our 50 meter rope back to the moat. Aside from a few people going the down as we were going up, we had the area completely to ourselves. Please let me know if I can answer any questions. Gear Notes: Used crampons, small rack Shoulda had more trash bags

Josh - If I remember right, the main slope where our ascent line is drawn in the first photo seemed to be about the right pitch for avalanche concern. I think you would be pretty safe if you stayed to the left and followed our descent line. Make sure to post some photos if you go! Darren

I climbed Snowking two winters ago. Very little snow that year. We did it a day with knowledge from an attempt the week before. Good luck. Link to my friend's trip report. http://www.alpinefever.com/summer-fall%202002/snowking.htm

Leaving tomorrow for two weeks down there. Were thinking of doing North Arete Bear Creek Spire and South Face Charlotte Dome among other things. Are they in good shape? Thanks for sharing. It's appreciated!

Thanks for the suggestions. I guess we'll have to watch the weather/snow pack and decide if we should go there or elsewhere. Thanks, Darren

My buddy Dave and I are headed for Toulome Meadows area in late June/early July. I have the SuperTopo guide and am stoked about Connes, Mathes Crest, Cathedral Peak and Tenaya Peak among others. Wondering if those of you who've climbed in the area can reccomend some other good climbs with similar character. We'll have about 10 days. Looking for anything up to 5.8. Long approach is OK. Thanks for your insight. Darren

Scarecrow Video in the University District. I've heard they have one of every video made

My friend Matt and I had a great trip to the Tatoosh yesterday. Unfortunatly, when I got back to the car, I realized I was missing one snowshoe. It must have fallen off my pack. It's a yellow MSR and it's on the trail somewhere between the Narada Falls parking lot and the Reflection Lakes. If anyone out there finds it and feels like gaining some great mountain carma and my total appreciation, I can be reached at dj_rainey@hotmail.com. Thanks, Darren

Thanks, MountainMan! It's a bummer but ultimately a small price to pay to the Climbing Gods for a safe, beautiful day in the mountains.

Good job, MountainMan! I enjoyed this route last Friday. Only low point in the day was misplacing my sun glasses. Did you happen to find a pair of black oakleys in a black cloth case?

I heard this trail will be closed sometime after June 15th or so for construction of new bridges? Has anyone else heard this? Anyone have other details?

I haven't been to Azure lake but got a good look from the summit of one of the McMillian Spires last summer. If I remember correctly, it was surrounded on all sides but one by very steep terrain. You could access the lake via the Stetattle Creek valley but that would entail many, many miles of off trail travel. If your goal is to simply photograph the lake, you could use the Goodell creek approach for the Southern Pickets and get close enough for some sweet photos. That approach ranges from 6 to 10 hours depending on size of pack, conditioning blah blah

Thanks for all the info, everyone. Bronco - I think the company is called The Maple Leaf Company or something very similar. They have an add in the most recent Climbing Magazine. The number is 800.671.5323. Call them and ask for a catalog. I'll be placing an order for a 9.6mm later on today.