genepires

well that makes it a moral conundrum. bought with private funds but sits on public land. seems like it could go either way. would be cool if let unlocked and accessible when not occupied by the guide services. or of fee required, it would be fairly cheap like the Canadian BC hut systems, but I think the alpine club runs those so the motivation is different.

Conflicted on this. if the structure was completely paid for by the guide service then i can see that they have control over it. but then it is also on public land. But then if some jackass leaves the door open in the winter and the inside fill up with snow. in the description "provide temporary winter shelters for the recreating public (both commercially guided and unguided). Three of the shelters would provide reservable overnighting facilities operated by three private commercial entities. One of the shelters would provide a free warming shelter day-use for the general public. All of these shelters would provide safe locations for the recreating public during the winter season." it doesnt say who is paying for it.

you got too much time on your hands now that you are "retired"

the best GPS is the GPS having the most fun. sorry but I couldnt let this one go.

Cool. Thanks.

this question is not a criticism but honestly just curious. Why did you choose chain for the perma draws over the commercially available cable type permadraws? is there something about the standard permadraws? too short or too costly? thanks for making routes out there.

you are old and cranky but the real question is why are you up at 11:30pm? go to bed old guy.

surprised texas still does the daylight saving time.

https://www.climbing.com/news/new-5-14-crack-washington-alpine/ pretty damn cool doing such a hard line way back in there.

from your list, the gerber sink is prolly the closest in character, especially if you brought bivy gear up and bivy mid route for experience. training for cassin should probably be focused on extended time in crampons on different angles and getting on moderate rock carrying a cassin sized pack. maybe climb polar circus as a 2 day climb? like back in the old days? those rock routes on list are fun and may help with endurance. a couple of them could be done in mountain boots which would be helpful. routes up in the columbia icefields have been looking rather nasty. so much ice is gone compared to 20 years ago. skyladder had pretty bad rock fall back then and half of the ice is gone now. must be horrible now. routes on andromeda may be holding better. maybe start in afternoon (rock fall permitting) and bivy on summit? all the extra time front pointing with weight! good on ya for getting after it!

I have never been on the cassin ridge, well beyond my skill set so take my opinion for what it is worth but I would think that the best training for doing the cassin is to do lots of routes that are similar but smaller and progress closer to cassin in scale. that means doing a bunch of routes in the denali park. how about start in the the ruth gorge area. moose tooth ham and eggs japan couliour on barill, peak 11,300 sw ridge (probably the most similar but smaller in scale to cassin) then some west ridge hunter then up west butt or west ridge on denali to setup stash at the high camp for return and some acclimitize run down to cassin and send? of course this would require lots of free time but imagine how cool that would be.

I have only one trip in there so my data set is unreliable but there was no one else anywhere. maybe just lucky. how many people were around on your trip? 2 other pairs on your route and one pair on sailor jerry. your photos look pretty vacant of people.

that is one stunning and fun hunk of rock. if it was within 2 hour drive of a major city, it would be loved to death.

or (shit computer) work?

just got snow in the mazama foothills. snow in bugs cant be far behind.

this FB group has some good info graphics on the non bug-patch col approach. maybe ask on that page? https://www.facebook.com/bugaboofriends the better question is the weather gonna cooperate though. There crazy canucks ice climb in there relative lowlands in early november. i imagine things start to get snowy up in the bugs early october. But if the weather or conditions shut you down, it is still amazing to just be there.

may be worth thinking about crossing into canada, north of whistler. mt matier North face?

looks like hwy20 is open with a pilot car through the burnt out areas. Must have been raining up there real good.

hoping for a wet tuesday night https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-120.64859390258788&lat=48.51752159136453#.XrqTRHt7laQ

the fire is almost summiting whistler mountain. https://www.fireweatheravalanche.org/fire/state/washington

or mountain ridges too https://gripped.com/news/big-rockfall-on-chamonixs-aiguille-du-midi/?mc_cid=ef6ceea73a&mc_eid=c39442b80c

I would look for some recent beta but N Face Maude was like that at least 15 years ago. no idea if it is still there. WA alpine ice without glaciers is rather rare.

I once tried the south side of baker around October 10. It snowed around 8 inches overnight and the next day, most of the crevasses were covered with a thin snow layer. We made a attempt anyway, with every step taken after being probed by a basketless ski pole. After an hour of this torment, my last climber on the rope team punched in while following steps. We bailed. but if the weather keeps the way it is going, early October could be fine except for the maze of open crevasses.

I am finding these selfies photos satisfying. cool to see faces to the names/avatars that are familiar but never met.

way to top off a amazing 3 week trip!