genepires

you know WAY too much about synthetic bags.

I used my garmont towers on n ridge of baker last year in late july and those boots worked out great on the ice and everything else. Even with the recalled sarkens. how did I survive the weekend?

Baker and rainier? are you asking about non glaciated?

I always like the compost toilet above tree line on the south side of baker, with the glacier 20 feet to the left, camp is off to the right and the twin sisters is sorta straight ahead. Doesn't the cascade pass TH toilet look at j-burg? hard to beat any toilet in the bugs though. gene

the CO put out by the vehicles used for recreation is trivial compared to the amount used by our nation during the daily commute. So we should all stay at home, except when we climb.

2 tools would be needed when the slope is steep enough for piolet traction or for the daggering techniques. that angle is relative but most would start daggering at 35 degree slope angle. daggering on 20 degrees slopes is just awkward. ice that is too hard for daggering can be climbed with piolet anchor (one tool) technique. Traction (standard steep ice technique) works well at >60 degrees. a full description of these different techniques can be found in freedom of hills or most other ice climbing instructional books.

any peak can be done in a day when you use a heli to get in.

It would be a good idea to give yourself more room than a team of three or more would have. You would need this extra room to allow more time to hold the fall. You would have to assume that you won't get the arrest perfect and get dragged for a while till you can get it together. With that 45 feet would seem like a good minimum. If I were to go on rainier as a team of two, with uncertain self arrest skills, 55 feet would not seem unreasonable but my look unusually long. there is a length that is too long though due to rope stretch and rope slack. typical rope spacing for a two man should allow enough rope in carried coils to allow a rappel to your partner. This means that the climbers should be at 1/3 of the rope lengths intervals. But since you are on the dc, chances are you do not need to do a self rescue and can rely on other party's to help. unless you are on everest.

during day - warm when sunny, not warm when cloudy at night (alaskan night) - cold sorry but I couldn't help myself. I hope someone who knows can answer as I am curious myself.

thanks again y'all. see there is useful stuff on this site! it seemed like that approach could be used to base out of for a good long weekend. hint hint.

So nelson's guide shows a approach for early winter spire via eldo pk e ridge and deans spire. His SW buttress dorado needle approach shows coming over by the triad and traversing under eldo pk. Why not get to dorado needle via deans spire area? Is there something horrible about getting down near deans spire? Anyone here been on sw buttress of dorado needle? I met one guy who was on it and said it was ok but looking for another opinion. Always a little wary of the vol 2 routes. thanks again, gene

thanks y'all. will have to wait till next year. Those july photos look real sweet.

how much would 50m of tech cord cost? isn't it around $1.25/ft? Over $200? I would figure you would need enough extra to cover 3% stretch. so an extra 5 feet sounds good. Maybe the mountain gods will release colin long enough to answer the question personally.

So nelson's guidebook has suggested seasons as up to september. Has anyone actually been on this route that late and what is it like? plus, any overall opinions on the quality of said route. One more question- is the road repaired to get to that trailhead? thanks in advance gene pires

was wondering if intuition liners (or garmont thermo liners) would make better ice climbing boots out of my plastics. I have always used leathers for ice climbing because they kept my heal locked in better than plastics. No matter how tight I lace them, plastics just don't work for me. I suspect that I have low foot volume which makes it hard for plastics to mold down far enough onto the foot. Anyone have positive or negative experience with these intuition liners for ice climbing instead of just mountaineering or BC skiing? any other ideas? thanks in advance for reasonable responces. gene

asolo fugative goretex boots is a great hiking boot that does well in summer snow. strap on some AL poons and you are good to go. $170. Had mine for a couple of years and has held up very good. check it out at http://www.rei.com/product/706762

big old pickup with a snow mobile in back?

since you are getting the permit midweek, there should be no problem getting the permit the day you hike in. that would make your 1st day at wa pass better without waiting for the office to open. i suppose you can self register anyway early. there is another gulley you can use to get above the lower cliff band that is way right of regular approach. expect steep hardpack dirt but seems easier except for the long side hill traverse to get to sharkfin. forbidden- see last tr on this topic w face of sews is good and sounds like within your abilities. enchantment permits are also easier to get midweek. (prussik pk do the w ridge) call the wenatchee ranger station for availability. get better guidebooks like nelson or whitelaw's guidebooks.

exit 38 area great northern slab at index (very close but hard to set up your own topropes) lots of good places in the icicle in leavenworth to top rope, (fall is good)

9 years ago there was no gaping shrund there. damn global warming.

small bobili pizza crust with sauce, cheese sticks, whatever floats your boat. simmer with lid on.

a porcupine broke our wall once and chewed a lot of insulation under the car. we got away lucky.

if the ice routes don't work out for you, there are plenty of sweet alpine rock routes. There are also some scary rock routes. The 5.6 ish route on china mans hat is good. brewers buttress on castle is good too. If you manage to hike in with a bunch of tourists, then the grand sentinal is very good. (there is a large group minimum size due to local grizzly)

north side of baker can be filthy with poop also. Only place that I ever got sick drinking water without treatment.

also, how cold was it in the shady corner?