wotan_of_ballard

for wetter spray try weatherplanner.com they claim to forecast up to 1 yr in advance and don't do a forecast within the next two weeks! wow, this is one of the best spray threads I've seen for creativity. coarse I'm from ballard so don't expect much. and running concurrently with best current beta on route conditions (see Mt Maude thread)! UFF DA!

mes amis! le dictionary parlez:: tetin = nipple teton = breast au revoir vive la france and Gaston!

another descent option is the steep heather gully to the west of the couloir. this avoids schrund problems and the need for 2 ropes. it has several anchors established but could use a couple more or some improvement in the existing ones.

it's probably a bit early, crossing the Sauk without a bridge could be epic! unless you have a BIG bar on your chain saw. another option is the Bedal creek approach, go around the South side of sloan, not the North. and give us a report. I'd guess there's still a fair amount of sloppy snow but the S facing rock will be ok.

speaking of Annapurna, an excellent read is David Robert's "True summit -what really happened on the 1st ascent of annapurna" he dug in to the true story of the expedition, it's a great character study of the frogs involved. herzog comes out more of a jerk than a hero, the way he used Rebuffat, Lachenal, and Terray.

as of june 1, Wenatchee NF website says road closed at Atkinson flat, miles from maude trailhead!

I was up there about 5 years ago. apparently a key ledge has fallen off and the climbing is significantly harder (5.7 or 5.8?) and hard to protect the 2nd as the leader works down and left, then up on funky moves to bypass the missing ledge. we decided that it wasn't worth it. Nelson's guide seems to be unaware of this problem. we seemed to be on route, its pretty obvious. the snow couloil approach is steep, good chance you'll want crampons. an interesting place, even with the disappointment of not summiting.

I was up there last july. we did the last bit to the top via the north ridge(or R edge of glacier) as access to the east ridge was blocked by a schrund. almost no rock scrambling at all but the snow was steep 45-50? for a bit. all depends on the freezing level, clear night, and how early you start if you have a mush avy problem. greta place. trial recently cleared of blowdowns. ditto on W's road description.

the biggest factor is what are you going to use it for? I occasionally use my soloist for leading and for top roping and it works a lot better than guessing how much rope to let out between knots, and any fall you take will probabbly be shorter with some device. no experience with the other gizmos. even tho I only use mine 1x/yr recently I'm not going to sell it. you can also use it to speed up a party of 3 on a multi pitch climb as the first 2 climb normally, trailing and fixing a second rope for the third to come up on (top)self belayed

buddies of mine dug a rutschbloch on tues 5/1 at 5000' on a 30 degree slope near stevens on a north aspect and it released before they stepped on it!

a much more mellow, but probably in condition (in May) route is the N ridge of Atwell. check out a good photo in Bivouac.com, search under Atwell. Brohm Ridge approach is shorter than elfin lakes.

late april may not be the best time to attempt Nooksack Tower, there tends to be a lot of wet snow ready to avalanche if its not already in the process. (unless its unseasonably cold)