genepires

msr whisperlite international. just my opinion though as i haven't used any other. because the msr works so good, no need to try others

not sure how MM runs their courses but alpine ascents has a course that sounds similar. The way we did it basicaly day 1 to 6 basic mountaineering skills (very important for your rainier trip) day 7 to 9 rock skills day 10 to 13 take those skills out to other peaks and climb good stuff. Learn other skills also but mostly solidifing basic skills, review, build experience and so forth. This would be the section to ask if you can go to heavilly glaciated areas. I don't know their schedule or permited areas. Ask for peaks such as Baker south side glacier peak shuksan pk, sulphide glacier also, if possible, ask to lead your rope team and find the path through the glacier. don't hang out in the back. you will learn more in front. as the course goes on, make the leadership calls. the guide will make all the calls if you let him/her. the guide should welcome your desire to lead. (may not like your calls but that is why you are there. to learn) enjoy your beautiful area! tie knots in your rope before rappel. (my new mantra) gene

patagonia (as well as others) have white poly glove liners which work pretty good in warm air/snowy ground conditions. if there is snow on the ground, it usually is good temps for liners. if there is no snow on ground, the sun affect is less and you don't need as much sun pro anyway. When on snowy angled terrain, you need to protect your hands in the case of a need to self arrest. I have seen a few badly scraped knuckles from rubbing in snow during the fall. I heard an interesting arguement against using aloe vera after a bad sun burn. Aloe causes skin cells to multiply. So you got a bad burn with possible dna damage to living skin cells and instead of letting it die, you command it multiply therefore possibly creating the initial skin cancer group. This was told to me by a good doctor. food for thought.

no one mentioned wild things yet. i have a rock sack that has taken serious beatings and keeps going. very light and no BS features. I would bet that the ice sack would fit your requirements. they have been making them for decades and found a make that works, so they stick with it.

price glacier on shuksan. used to be "classic", now a rubble field. never been on it but has anyone here been on it or heard of anyone? global warming. the black slab pitch on sw rib sews used to be licheny but now you can see the boot path from below. did it late 90's and it was still licheny and unsure where to go. now, follow the trail. used to remember there being more bail v threads in the can rockies but now i can't find very much anymore. standards (people) have gotten too good for bailing. maybe less single rope use. so anyway, less free protection mid pitch, therefore a little harder. yeah, reaching. next 20 years, our ice climbing will be much harder when it is all sick little pencils. aren't most mixed climbs getting easier when it is all scratched up and obvious? Fisher chimneys used to be really mellow in the 90's. (did it four times over 6 years) Went through it 6 years ago and it was much more broken up and almost impassable (reg glacier travel wise) in a couple places. not sure about recently. n face athabasca is gettin harder due to ice recession

you will get from the course what you put into it. if you want to be ready for rainier, then let your guide know so and pay attention to those parts of the course. review those portions many times (snow school, crevasse rescue, weather prediction, snow camping, ect) often during the course. there may be other books available so read them in the evening. ask for latter portion summit climbs to mimic rainier. steer the course in your direction and desire.

was me. right hand in cast so typing is a struggle. rapped off end of rope. rope wasn't even. was real dumb and can't believe it happened as i am usually very deligent. all it takes is one time. keep on it 100 %. got off lucky. broken right wrist, sore left hand, small crack in lower vertebrae, sore hip started today. lots of stiffness. hope to be mobile soon( when back stiffness lessens) and cast off in four weeks. sucks cause i had plans that i have to back out of. sorry matt! gene

how can a hammer dig snow and chop ice as easy as a good adze? Plus, a regular ice axe pounds pickets just fine when you use the top part of the head. At least around these parts, the snow doesn't get hard enough to demand a hammer to place.

fischer chimneys on mt shuksan has lots of variety. lots of 3rd and 4th class to snow to rock to good glacier to summit pryamid. Just when you've had enough of what you are on, it changes to another climbing medium. Getting through hells highway is very thought provoking too. Can do a bivy sack bivi below winny's slide for classic mountain experience. Not many crowds due it's exclusion from nelson guides. But a good description in found in Kearney and Beckey guides.

I hope you are right. But there is a tendency in humans to "see" trends when the concept is imprinted on the brain, as in this case the post about declining population of climbers. Then while you are thinking about it, you notice all the evidence to support the claim while ignoring the contradictory evidence. All unconscious and this tendency is brought up in court cases when dealing with eye witnesses. If I said the crags were all crowded (and I was a reliable source) then I could bend the common perception such. Only quatifiable things can be used to support a rising or declining population. (such as permits, maybe gear sales, mag subscriptions, ect) With all that though, I would agree with you in that it doesn't seem so crowded anymore. But then maybe it is because I steer clear of smith, hood, DC cleaver, and Baker on the weekends. Also, the guiding industry localy has slowed down a bit (maybe 20%?) after the heyday of the late 90's. whatever the reason, I like it. I hope the rock routes stay clean though.

read "freedom of the hills" cover to cover. (after that book, there are other ones too) You got the time. If you aren't commited enough to read the book, then maybe you aren't commited enough to be out there. Then you should be able to make up your own determination of risk which is specific for everyone. You will also learn about equipment. (another very specific set for different people) For me. when the weather is nice, it is a very safe place to be. But people die up there in bad weather. People slide out of control on the snow and crash into rocks. People manage to get themselves into all kinds of trouble. It is a good goal though. Read up, get in shape, come out here, and have a backup plan if the weather turns foul. But no need to fear about ice worms devouring people, they are vegetarians.

Solo ascent of rainier required a permit. Application for permit was meant to weed out the unqualified. I hope your friend is aware of this and has gone through all the hoops. Maybe they are done with this process. Maybe a rainier climbing ranger will reinform us of the rules.

haven't been on it, but clean break? the formerly mazama guides shack (in mazama, duh) had several photocopies of new routes, free. There are outside the front door. The guides shack can be found right next to the mazama store. They had route topos for spontaneity arete (looks like a nice 5.7) and gato nego (5.10+ on the west face of silver star or whine spires). They also had two topos for routes on goat wall which while technically is not wash pass, they are good destinations when it is raining in the pass. The routes are 10.c ao (11a) and a 5.8 or 5.9 depending. Did the latter and it was fun and pleasant. maybe they have new topos now? (marks line on burgundy?) Maybe one can download them from their website? There is a large potiential for new stuff also. Look on all sides of silver star for unclimbed rock. (or at least unpublished new rock) hope that helps

neutrinos are fine. all this detailed analyse of biners and their correspnding weight (difference by a 10 grams or so) and functionability is a bit funny. A difference in 10 grams for 30 biners comes out to .6 pounds. Huge deal? Functionability. You will learn how to use whatever biner you buy and probably like it. I got hotwires and regular biners (enduro and light d) and I really like them. As far as I know, there are no safety issues with any modern biners, wiregate or regular. (except for a kong biner, I believe, that is very small and has a small rope bearing diameter) So I would reccomend just buy whatever is on sale and they will be fine. have a couple solid gate biners (oval or closely symetric) for biner brake rappels. Not sure if wiregates can handle the sideways loading.

To answer your question "sky ledge is a hiking tent but what's the difference?" The difference is when the weather turns where you can expereince winter in the summer, then a 3 season tent may not have adequate strength to withstand the winds. Hiking tents are for below treeline where winds are not a issue. Some 3 season tents have pretty good strength though. I used one such tent (MEC tarn 2 ) in pretty tough wind, snow and rain and it survived. -Look for at least 4 (better yet 6) guye lines attached to midway up the side of the tent. Low guye lines and ground corner loops for staking are worthless in wind. (think torque and lever arms) -Also the amount of netting that comprises the body of the tent matters in storms too. Winds will blast moisture under the fly and up the body. Excessive netting will let that moisture inside. (look at 4 season tents and you will find very little body netting for this and temperature reasons) -Also, demand that your tent have taped seams, especially in the fly. (except for the firstlight which you must seamseal) "why use a single wall tent in the summer?" You get 4 season protection for 3 season weight. (except for 3 season single walled of course) Single wall tents have bug netting that allows you to ventilate keeping it cooler in summer. Four season tents are not like a down jacket. Easy to ventilate. SO the questions you must ask yourself is What conditions will I be exposed to? (mostly wind) Will my tent be able to withstand it? (guy lines, strength of fly) What will happen if the tent fails? (simple walk out?)

check out the tatoosh range. specific names elude me now but I remember a very cool little snow climb. best in spring. sauk mountain in spring would be good too. snow climb. while it is a "hike", mt dickerman on mtn loop highway is very good this time of year. has a summer trail under the snowpack. mt vesper has a mellow side (south side?) which is approached via another buried summer trail. there are climbs for you but my brain is dome for the night. gene

there are still ice routes in canadian rockies. don't blow off there yet. N face of fay and athabasca should be good. If you want, I could email you some info for them. I heard (rumor!) that humble horse wasn't in very well due to climatic conditions. If I was going in there, I would talk to a local (will gadd has been very generous with advice) about the condition of the route. while up there you could do some alpine rock routes also for a grand 10 day adventure.

Did skyladder in august years ago and I would NOT reccomend going down that route during that time of the year. We had lots of rock fall from a bit of exposed (melted away snow) terrain above the ice face. You would be dodging those rocks especially inthe afternoon. The "selected book of lies" descent is crap. epic in the making. We did a long glacier descent to the north (I think) and then came back on the main glacier with all the tourist bus. Way long but managable. Haven't done it but it seemed like v thread rapping down the north face/bowl ice route would be a quick, reasonably safe way to get to the base of skyladder or any other route on andromeda. If skyladder is all snow covered, then that would be a good one too. Last time I looked at the route in question was many years ago but it seemed to have melted out alot from the guide photos. Would expect it to be less ice this summer than the photos.

the straps are long so that you can stuff things underneath. The largest thing I can think of under the compression straps are foam pads and maybe ski boots. So, put those under the straps and see if there is extra strapping. If so, then you could cut the straps down to a reasonable level. Leave 6 inches of extra webbing beyond the buckle. those extra straps will fly around in the wind and they will hit you in the face many many times. and it hurts. lots. To tame the extra, you could roll them up and tape the roll so it won't unravel.

from monroe today, it looked like it was raining hard in the foothills. I would guess index is soaked.

ask for $20 off due to the rust. make some BS about it needing to be changed out or some other crap -ola.

Didn't look for a kitten as we have two cats already. Also, I wouldn't want to make the glove unhappy so I will leave it "lost".

are we to assume the best way to get it is to order it on line in the 26 serving bottle? If you have a better way, educate us please.

tard? retard?

check Pm's