genepires

There is probably just enough snow up there to make the rock climbing miserable, unless you like it that way. Go for it. If it is too snowy then the hike is good anyway.

It is only a matter of time till one of them does.

The topo has a pretty good approach info. The old dirt road is about 50 meters upstream from the parking area. Follow old road to a old bridge thingy. Find small trail around right side and follow it to the talus field. Grunt up that pig to the base of the rock and follow small climber trail to the base, which on the right side of a large gulley. Find the bolt to start. Fun route. Bring lots of draws. Having two ropes doesn't help that much when going down. I would bring just one single rope.

While is possible to generate as much force on 4th class as 5.10, it is highly improbable. Falls on fourth class would be more of a bouncing down ledges which absorb alot of force. The rope would most likely keep you form rolling off a ledge after you crash into it. 5.10 falls would be steeper with the rope taking a higher fraction of the force. So a half rope could be "acceptable" for fourth class terrain. Personal call.

hi there. I am planning on going to cascade crags fairly regularly on mon and wednesdays. around 5 to 7pm roughly. Anybody interested in some gym time? gene

hybrid aliens too?

agree with alex. If the nepal or nepal extremes were acceptable up there, you would see more people wearing them. But I have seen lots of frostbite toes from people wearing GOOD plastic with overboots. You think any leather boot can compare to a good plastic? I think not. Even the scarpa alpha boot is a bit lacking in insulation Get a pair of plastic that fit your foot and has a good liner. A good plastic boot will cost something around $300. That is only $30 per toe. Cheap. Don't skimp money on important things, like anything imperitive to your existence. Hillary may have gotten up everest with shitty boots but he might have had excellant weather. You probably will not on Denali. (locals call McKinley by its indian name, Denali) Many Everest summiters were shocked by how much more brutal Denali is than Everest. Please, do not underestimate Denali. People of all expereince die every year up there. Plus, from someone who spends weeks in the hills, leathers have a hard time drying out when compared to plastic liners which are pulled out of the shells. Weeks of sweat will drentch the leathers and make you more suseptible to frostbite and trench foot. Don't get me wrong about leathers. I wear them a lot but they have their place and don't belong in some places. gene

I never said he was an evil boss. You should read these posts closer instead of jumping to conclusions. I work for him and I don't work for "evil people". Heck that is why I left amer. alpine in the first place. Jeesh.

evil cause the owner for alpine ascents worked for dunham for a summer before making his own company.

Still looking for a pair? I have a pair of head weights. gene

Time doesn't matter as long as you are first. You are competing with the other applicants. Try sabotage. I tried the guide tryouts a long time ago but failed when I realized my gaiters, socks, and lots of clothes were at home. They didn't look too kindly at my lack of preparation. I think someone must have stole my gear and then left it in living room. Tricky! But seriously, consider sending applications to Amer. Alpine Inst., Alpine Ascents and Mountain Madness as well. If you get a job with any of them, you will have a more diverse summer, doing different summits and having a better time. Why do rainier all summer? I have worked for AAI and now work for the evil AAI so feel free to PM if you have any questions. gene

not sure of the insulative quality of the salomon boot but -20F can be pretty cold for non insulated leathers. Sounds like you are unhappy with plastics from your post so you may want to check out some insulated leathers. I have used my nepal extremes in -20F and been fairly comfortable. Probably more than $180 though. Might want to check out insulated super gaiters (around $120) to add to the salomon boots for very cold days.

The practise area on sahale is the snowed slabs right below the glacier on the far left side of the glacier area. Some smaller crevasses right above that which is right below sharkfin tower. It takes a while to get there from the regular campspots. Might be hard to find non glaciated snowslopes later in the year. If you go light then your kids pack shouldn't be so bad.

quien sabe glacier on sahale peak. The skills area is a little far from camp (hour or so) but the glacier is mellow. South side of baker. Sounds good for what you are asking for. Are you looking for a glacier that you will unlikey fall into? Baker too big? Give the easton another consideration. Daniel is not that great of a route for what you are asking for. Could climb it without any glaciers at all. Shuksan sulphide glacier would be good. Mellow glacier. Cool little scramble to the top. Great skills area but very few crevasses that you can do actual crevasse rescue in. Mt hood? Colchuck glacier area. Very little (if any) crevasses. Pretty cool though.

I got some nepal top and nepal extremes. Love them both. Good reliable leather. Good steep ice boot. I also have some older freney which I like also. I bet the new ones are nice too. (I probably have as many leather boots as your girlfriend has shoes) gene

You are too kind Mike. I wish I climbed half of the stuff you do. Maybe I should get a non summer job. Rainier is kinda "gnar" for a guiding gig. Lots of work but I have to give big congrats to all my "peeps" on that trip. They sucked it up real good and kept the momentum, even when we were all freezin our kiesters off and tired. One of them lives here in seattle and works at the childrens hospital. She dug deep to get to the top. They all deserve a good beer gene

alright, how the heck does one add pictures? My pictures were in gallery.

Climb: Mt Rainier-Emmons glacier Date of Climb: 6/15/2005 Trip Report: Went up to rainier last week. Conditions on the mountain are cold and excellant. Conditions: The trail is snow free to past the glacier basin campground and till about the sma elevation as the start of the inter glacier if you stay in the trail. The snow near the creek is melting out fast and getting thin enough to hear the roar of the creek underneath. The ranger climbing report mentions needing snowshoes for the inter glacier and it would be helpfull but not worth the weight. We had shin and knee deep postholing the whole way to camp sherman. Getting down to the emmons is 90% snow covered. When we got to Sherman, it was deserted except for David the ranger and he was busting out soon. There was lots of snow walled camping spots which is an indication of what life has been like up there. We proceeded to move up the emmons flats for some unknown reason. Got another uncivilized wakeup call of 11:30pm for a alpine start of 1:20am. (this is a guided trip BTW) Great crampon neve to the summit. Lots of snow cover and a fairly straight line up the glacier. Up to the corridor then when at the top of that, trend right to another straight shot up to the schrund. Pass it on the right and up to the crater. There was many wands already left behind from the corridor to near the top. About four cracks are poking through and might involve bypassing by next weekend. But my guess is that for the next month, it should still be in excellant shape. One could also go straight up from the corridor to the summit as well but there is a boot pack the way I mentioned. One bit of beta for anyone going up there soon. Expect some extreme (for cascades) cold temps and wind. Everyone had semi frozen water bottles on the summit. I have only done rainier in the summertime, but this was very winter like. ]http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/925IMG_2919-med.jpg' alt='925IMG_2919-med.jpg'>]http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/925IMG_2930-med.jpg' alt='925IMG_2930-med.jpg'>]http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/925IMG_2932-med.jpg' alt='925IMG_2932-med.jpg'>]http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/925IMG_2936-med.jpg' alt='925IMG_2936-med.jpg'>]http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/925IMG_2935-med.jpg' alt='925IMG_2935-med.jpg'> Gear Notes: regular glacier gear. Approach Notes: snow free till inter glacier area, then knee deep stuff till sherman, then firm snow to the top.

Heading out to the adams glacier next week and I was wondering if anyone has been out that way recently and has any info on the route and approach conditions. thanks gene

I had that happen in AK one time. I took the battery out and left the back uncovered. Set it on the dash on the truck for a couple sunny days and the moisture was gone. My trick may not work till august though.

1st question> Don't mean to be a party pooper but you will die if you try the coleman headwall right now or soon. It has been snowing alot up there. Freezing levels have been around 6000 feet all week. If the wallowing doesn't kill you, then the first of hundred of avalanches will. 2nd question> When the conditions are right, you will need 2 tools. Beckey and chouinard could do it with one 75 cm axe but we are mortal. 2 tools offers much more security on steep terrain. Plus there is a good chance you will need to cross a couple bergshrunds. If they open, expect steep ice. 3rd question> I got away with your approach once but i doubt that it is always feasable. We got lucky. Use the same glacier approach for the n ridge. Start traversing from the black butte area instead of colfax area. Make sense? There is a TR with some guys camping near the base of the headwall that used your approach though. Ask them. They had a good idea to cross the glacier in the daytime so see the fatty crevasses.

While rated 5.8 (I think), the improbable traverse route on guye is pretty cool and well protected on the cruxes. The first couple pitches are a bit loose though. Maybe as a beggining trad climber, you might be better off hitting the crags alot more. Once you get a better grip on things (no pun intended) then you take take it down a notch and hit the alpine. The alpine is no place to push limits. L'worth and squamish has tons of good multipitch lines to do. (like outer space!, just kidding) Vesper can be bit challenging with finding anchors and is not a place for beginers, BTW. But a few more 5.7's to think about Prussik west ridge (yeah it is not on your areas but do it!) Ingals south face (same as above) sharkfin tower (sweet alpine 5.0 granite) be safe gene

The early winters campground (near mazama) is sweet. Cool creek (the early winter creek of course) near your spot. (re: cold beers) Water from spigot. $5/night. Not sure about the enforcement of the driving limit at night. But only a insane crackfiend from seattle would drive fast on that road. The place is littered with deer carcasses. (slight exageration) Winthrop has a pub/restaurant just north of the only interestion with good chili. I forget the name but it tasty and outside seating and good beer. Worth the drive and danger.

Hey Mikey, Rad = radcliffe roberts not rolf larson. The flowers worked wonders when I stumbled home at 9pm. Been eyeing that climb for so long, especially when driving out of the colchuck trailhead. Real glad to finally have been up there. Thanks for being the positive energy Rad.

tikka, tikka plus, and myo 5. call me a petzl fan. But I like these headlamps. The one time I didn't bring a spare battery for my tikka, it withered away and I was stuck descending steep woods with the equivelant of a match. a couple AAA don't weight that much.