snafflehound

......................and how is your day?

Yes, same person

Hi Pete, check your PM

When 9 friends tell you that you're drunk you should go lay down.

I find that as I get older I'm climbing harder and harder. The only problem is that it's on routes I used to consider easy. I still get just as much fun and satisfaction from it. No change there.

D'Artagnan Tower, Three Musketeers Ridge

Some first hand from climbers http://www.ofoto.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?sh...3dtrue&Ux=0 http://www.chockstone.org/Forum/Forum.as...&Replies=31

Man plans,God laughs. Good luck, have fun.

"The squirrel taunted Bubba about having more teeth than him for the very last time."

I heard it this way; Never eat at a place called Mom's Never play cards with a man named Doc An' never ever fuck with a guy named Baba.

My friend Don and I summitted on Wed. the 19th. This was one of our first summits together in back ‘82. As we stepped down into the top of the gully the snow broke out from beneath his feet right next to me. He cart wheeled for 700’ and kissed some of those rocks on the way down. I really thought I lost him. He broke his hip, lower back, hand and got a slight concussion. He’s very lucky to be alive. Mt. Rescue was able to get to him with a chopper just before dark. He’s home now, semi mobile and he should fully recover. Thank-You to Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, Whatcom Mountain Rescue, the Park Service and NAS Whidbey. They all did a stellar job and we should support them any way we can. Also, some of our things are still strewn about in that gully. If anyone reading this is headed that way we’d really appreciate it if you could scoop it up on the way out. Don’s axe is of special importance to him as it has great sentimental value. I haven’t had a chance to get back up there yet. You can contact me at snafflehound’at’cliffhanger’dot’com. Thanks.

No need to search. Just PM me.

Found it. 1978, High Alaska by Waterman. Duh! I remember reading thier account after they did it and thinking if I climb Hunter that will be the route.

I think that's it. I still can't remember where I read the account though. Do you know where it was written up?

<1999: It was climbed by Brits Dave Wills and Dan Donovan.> I've been trying to find the account from 20 years ago. I have it around here somewhere, can't seem to find it. I'll keep looking. I think there might have been a husband and wife in the team. I think thier names would be familiar to some people here but I just can't remember.

It looks like it may be the quickest way up doesn't it. From the photo you'd probably want to cover that 2000ft pretty quickly. That's a lot of time under the gun. I think the Raman Coulior is a first ascent/descent. In the late 70s or early 80s I read of a party accessing the ridge from the south but I think they topped out further left at 9500. Avalanched as well. These guys flew out and back on the same days as my group. I was glad to hear they were successful. A pretty ballsy trip.

FWIW, here's what I can retrieve from my badly abused memory. , , = No guarantees on its accuracy. RMIs' monopoly on the mtn. is out dated. After WW2 concessionaires couldn't make enough money in the National Parks to stay in business. The Govt. offered them an incentive to stay [meet the publics need for services] and make a buck. The existing concessioner was given preference over other bidders to ensure continuity of services. They would meet but not have to beat the other accepted bids. On another thread here RMI said something about having their contract extended multiple times. My numbers may be wrong but they are close. The last contract they signed was probably in 1985. [they run for 7 years]. At the first or second [2 yr.] extension of that one I think they were pulling down around 3 mil per year. The cost to them of doing business on the Mtn. was 1.5% of gross, maintain 2 buildings and make guides available for rescues if needed. If they're charging $6-700 for the service, around $10 goes to the Park Service. A good business to be in. When the Concessions Act [NEWSTIPS, look it up] was first enacted there was little competition for bidders 'cause no one could make any money. Now though, there's a high demand from the public, good money to be made [of which the park service should take a much bigger slice of i.e. get rid of the $30 to climb BS] and a long line of Guide Services willing to compete that are up to the task of meeting the publics needs. Which ever option that fits into is the one I prefer. Hmmm, around 1500 people go up Denali a year, half [?] may be guided, 5 or more Guide Services that meet the Park's standards and the publics needs. There has never been a limit on the number of guides on Mt Rainier, only a limit on who can profit from them. What the f**k am I doing up so late. I'm going to be too sleepy to ski in a few hours. GONE!

We skirted around from the north then up the west ridge of and over Pt. 7580 because of avalanche activity. You should be able to scramble it from any direction this time of year. Have fun.

Ya, it's pretty nice up that way. That was my first peak ever. I'm not sure I understand your question though. Why do you want to go down to Rainbow Cr? It's a thrash. If you just want to climb it, the best way in is up from the Twisp River to South Pass then to lake 6303 then up. You could scramble up from the pass but it would take longer. 6303 is a nice place to camp as well. When we were there the snowpack was still pretty deep and the lake wasn't melted out yet. We dug a hole down to the water near the outlet and jumped in. Made everything else seem warm by comparison. We rolled around in the snow to dry off. I don't think I saw my 'nads for a week after that.

This is probably worth a look; http://www.acmeclimbing.com/index.html bottom of the page.

Limnologist, You learn something new every day. I'm not very educated but I'll have a crack at it. I still think that's a lake on Rainier. I found these on the web; Limnologist study the 'physics and chemistry of the water and the biology of plants and animals in it' The scientific study of the 'life and phenomena of fresh water', especially lakes and ponds A limnologist is a person who studies 'inland waters' It seems like a Geologist would know all about holes in the ground and a Limnologist would know all about the water that's in them. If I wanted to know the difference between a fjord, inlet, bay or sound I'd want to ask a geologist not an oceanographer, right? Many of you folks spent good money for what you know so I'm all ears {so to speak}. Now I'm curious. I think it’s worth a trip up there next summer to go exploring.

I'll still stick with Rainier.{The challenge of Rainier, p.190} If a geologist {I assume} researching the area calls it a lake it's good enough for me. Who better to quantify what's a lake and what isn't. The others mentioned I think, are far nicer places to visit though.

I'd guess the highest lake would be the one in a grotto in the west crater of Mt. Rainier. I'm not aware of any name for it tho. -The Challenge of Rainier, Molenaar-

J_B I think so. I don’t know what the norm is in the Wrangells yet but it was a low snow year through out Alaska similar to here. Snow levels caught up in April but the snow density of a usual winter wasn’t there. I expected the snow to melt back quickly. I need to study more of what a normal snow pack looks like there to better plan my next trip.

Great TR and a great area. No trip to a place like that is a failure. Being remote is a good reason to climb there. The snow seems to melt back pretty fast in that range. I was on the south side of that area 3 weeks ago and the glaciers were dry to 5500 or so and the icefalls were WIDE open up to 9000 or so. When I return I'll be coming OUT no later than the middle of May. cheers on your adventure