genepires

usually open by may. depending on how much snow we get this winter (currently getting plenty) you may have to walk a little bit to get to actual TH. they don't plow it for a opening date. just melt out.

if you are talking about the easiest way up, I would say the spring time before summer exposes all kinds of nasty rock. I have climbed n ride baker in ealry may and it was good. Colfax should be fine that time too, weather permitting. If you are talking about the ice line on colfax, no idea how long that season lasts. I saw that Roger Strong climbed it this year.

Prolly the best opinion of this is the owner of pro mountain sports. He is into crazy lightweight options. Jim Nelson. Ask him.

No experience with this item but it looks more useful to take along on a alpine rock climb with the chance of a bivy. Something where you are trying to sleep while sitting on a ledge in the rain. I think you would be better off with a first light or something. A tent may weight a pound more than this bothy but at least you can sleep in it which is the point right?

You need enough of a diameter difference between prussik and rope for ithe prussik to grab. Most people use 8 or 9mm climbing ropes so I go for 5mm prussiks. Stiff or supple, it will still grab at that thickness but the supple ones are easier to tie and wrap.

I used a simple dana designs thing that allowed the snowboard to be strapped on vertically. nothing special, too heavy and with all the suspension still flopped around on my back. not a good pack to use and luckilly is not made anymore. I would suggest a BCA float pack with airbags though. yes it is expensive but safety first!

add ankle mobility work after running?

I must have missed something. I did not know Obama was running for president this time around!

nice one.

The conservatives really wanted to destroy Obama's presidency. Having this whiny child Trump for president is only going to solidify how great Obama is/was. Should someone propose a bill to make twitter inaccessible to presidents? He is just going to embarrass himself daily. Can't wait for the day he posts something that is secret information on twitter.

maybe a better lessen is to not put a bolt within 5 inches of running water? was this a canyoneering anchor? for advice on hand drilling, in addition to Berdinka, try asking David WHitelaw and his crew. they put in crazy amounts of bolts all by hand.

don't mean to sound like your dad, but get the health insurance. it may seem tat you can not afford it but what you can not afford is trying to pay off even a simple hospital visit. not the same situation as you are in, but in one year my wife got a hysterectomy, my son spent 4 days in ICU at harbor view with a lacerated liver and I got some knee meniscus work done. Well over $200K of hospital bills but it cost me personally only $500 deductible. It seems like you may be thinking that since you are not doing technical climbing that health care insurance is not critical. That is delusional. General life has plenty of opportunities to smack a person around. Several friends have bike accidents. Couple friends have had avi accidents that put them in the hospital. (or worse) Hikers simply fall off the trail. Basically, life is dangerous. If you get out often enough, you will need to help of a health care system. be prepared to pay for it, either beforehand with insurance or afterwards with bankruptcy or a lifetime of bill payments.

awesome looking mountain and topo. there may be some frenchies skiing those lines.

actually if he drills the bolts on lead, he is trad climbing. bolting and trad climbing are not exclusive to each other. bolting on rappel and trad climbing are different beasts.

that is the nature of predictions. if the accuracy of predictions follows a bell shaped curve, like most things human, there will be times that they get it wrong. Those are the times people remember, not the 90% of the time they get the forecast right.

You have a pretty hard list to fill. Many of the cities at altitude, like Denver and SLC, don't have the quality air you also wanted. A couple of places that fit part of your list; Bend, OR and Bellingham WA. If you were willing to drive to places like rainier or north cascades, Issaquah would be good too.

my favorite time is late feb early march. statistically warmer temps but not too warm. Most south facing ice still good. cold enough that sloppy avi less likely. More daylight for longer days without headlamps. it is all a crap shoot though. you take your chances and play with what you are dealt. plenty of options if less than perfect conditions. AFAIK, there is no compreshensive guidebook out there. Didn't all the Joshpheson guidebooks go out of print? Maybe someone took up the job but there is a select version out there that gets the good stuff.

nice!

taking kids alpine climbing reminds of the father and son fatality on late season colchuck glacier years ago.

or the tent used while having the most fun with your girlfriend inside.

truth there! very cool photos. But Alex, Lisa would be a much more pleasant climbing partner than me! maybe I should have sunbathed in my undies?

Above ideas are good. If you go to eldorado, make sure they have solid self belay and arrest skills. The ridge is exposed and solid snow climb skills are needed. While Vesper standard route has no glacier, it is a scenic lake side camp. I saw a outward bound or a NOLS trip base camp out from that lake for lots of scrambling. You may be able to get two summits from a trip there Assuming you go midweek, a trip to Boston basin would be stellar. Camp in the basin (BTW, there is a box toilet there, maybe something to think about), then then up shale via Quine sabe glacier. There is a short 4th class scramble at the top though. Maybe 20 fett of fourth class but solid granite scramble. Go mid season to avoid cornice and snow on the scramble bit. That would involve a short rap though. If weather is iffy on the west side, make a trip to wash pass. You could hike up and over burgundy col to camp on the silver star glacier. Summit silver star. Very scenic. Think about making it a summit on day two and then hike out on day three instead of the summit and death march on day three. Do you want them to be finished beat and exhausted or energized and desiring more?

south arete of SE winter, yes. Use knots on the end except for the one rap with lots of snaggy trees in the way. I would say this is the first of three raps that lead to the ground. Also this tree anchor is not easy to find. it is not used on the way up. But if you are at the top of the third pitch, on a easy ledge, if you were to look climbers right, you will see a scrubby tree. below this tree and to the climbers left is a good tree with slings. it is easy to get to but it is exposed, so a simple belay is good to get to do for this. If you use the small scruffy tree at the top of pitch three along the route, I am not sure your 50m rope will reach the next anchor. for sw of the bell route, there is one bolted anchor that reaches the ground if you use a pair of 60 m ropes. There is a good solid tree part way down but I think that it is still greater than 25 m from this tree to the ground. not really sure about this though. The rappel line goes from the bolts, past a tree, down a small gulley/corner and then trends skiers right to the saddle between lib bell and concord. At this trend right portion, there was a small solid tree that I used to split up the rappels to minimize the chance of getting rope stuck when pulling. It had rings on it but I am not sure of the health of the tree now. It has been a while since I did that route but I seem to remember that the tree was not doing well last time. Use knots on the ends of your rope for sure. best option is to wait for someone else to setup their rope and go down on theirs.

the good father. noah hawley

as usual, beautiful photos!