jaee

Bump. Doing the same, later this week. Any info on Ipsut creek would be appreciated. Is the road open all the way to the CG? Is it better to follow the river onto the glacier or head for Mystic lake and trot up the ridge?

The key things to remember here are the mountain and the weather. You can certainly summit in 2 weeks, if the mountain lets you. If you do a single carry to ski hill and then move camp every 3 days you're there. This pretty well keeps you to the 1000' a day rule o' thumb. Day Loc 1 Kahiltna Base 2 Ski Hill 3 Carry to 11 4 Rest/Weather 5 Move to 11 6 Carry to 14|WC 7 Rest/Weather 8 Move to 14 9 Retrieve cache/rest 10 Carry to 16k|17k 11 Rest/weather 12 Move to 17k 13 Rest/weather 14 Summit 15 Descend Some years you can walk to the top whenever you feel like it. However, when I was there in '98 the success rate was 0% until May 30, which was the first summit day. The success rate went to 11%. I summitted on the 4th of June, which was the second summit day. The success rate went to 19% that day. That means that nobody summitted on any other days during that time. Not super-fit CO studs who sleep at 11k. Not sponsored VIPs with the finest of everything. The final tally for the year was 39%. Significantly lower than avg. Another friend was there in '02. They had 2 days of unsettled (not bad) weather during the 3 weeks they were there. They could do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Those are kind of the extremes you need to be aware of. Yes, a fit climber would have no problem punching out the vert without getting sick. Whether you get the window at the right time is really the question. Is it better to take 4 weeks off once or take 2+ weeks off, possibly 2 or 3 times to get it? Plus, it really does take 4 days to get picked up once in a while. The day we summitted an RMI group voted to descend. They were still at base camp 3 days later when I made it back down. We had 5 ft. of snow at 11 and were stuck there for 2+ days. I finally skied down, solo, thru the night because I was so sick of being there for like 25 days. Everyone who had been coming down was strung out between 14k and BC. I pulled in at 5:30 in the morning and got in line for Geeting behind the RMI group. The sun came out for the first time in 3 days and 150+ climbers came down and got in line for the planes. By 2 pm there were 200+ folks in BC, milling around. I got lucky and got out on about the second or third plane in. The flight services thought it was opening up and sent 4 planes in. The clouds rolled up the glacier and trapped the pilots in BC for 2 more days. I had to leave Talkeetna with my gear still sitting on the Kahiltna. None of this had anything to do with my motivation, skill, level of fitness, etc. I was lucky enough to hit the window and had the time. There are so many factors that can control you. There's really no reason you can't hit 14k in <10 days. Above that you're subject to a whole new ballgame. Good luck.

If you can stand to buy them from a Law Enforcement outfitter, here's a deal on the OR powerstrech farmer johns. http://shop.store.yahoo.com/diamondback/outressatsui.html.

Emailed Jeff. Turns out the stuff is on Ebay. Here we go again. C'mon folks, either you're selling it here or on Ebay. not both

The G14 is a great crampon, it is my first choice for waterfall ice. But it would not be my first choice for an all-around crampon for use in the Cascades. This is because of weight, insufficient front-point area, and cost. What's wrong w/ the G14 frontpoints?

Carry 'em until it isn't fun anymore. Good places to ditch gear: Triangle moraine, ~9500', Devil's Kitchen 10200', Hogsback, 10700'. Their all pretty obvious when the vis is good. If it's bad, rethink stashing your skis if you want to find them again.

I assume you'll only accept UTM

This one is a Hood cliche. Tried doing Leuthold's way back in the day and did Reid Headwall instead. I don't think my partner that day ever climbed with me again. All he had was a 75 cm aluminum headed cassin.

Ditto. I was up at 17k for 4 days in '98 also. I think it was June 1-4. Even w/ cloudy weather I could feel it at -25° in my Feathered Friends -25° bag w/ 2 oz of overfill. Slept in my down pants, goretex, & fleece. I usually stay pretty warm, but after a few days of hanging around w/ no activity it started getting pretty chilly at night. Feathered friends used to rent -40 bags for like $50. Is this still going on? It's a pretty good deal unless you plan on doing more Ak trips, winter in New England, or Himalayan trips.

Hey, it's even got cambered apexes.

Just think about laying on a siltarp will turn it into cheesecloth if there's rock or sand nearby. I've seen some ultralight guys use Tyvek (the building material) or mylar. Tyvek seems like a good idea, but I imagine the mylar would be a bit noisy. I think there are guys selling precut Tyvek chunks out on the internet for use as tarps. A bit more spendy, but still pretty light, is the OR winter sack. It's a sleeping bag cover made of dryloft. Not recommended for heavy precip, though. Don't know if they're still making them, but they're under a pound and can be zipped up.

Banned for life from REI. Now that's something to aspire too. But how will I get my campstove espresso maker and hand crank blender parts?

They start at zero, too. That's just wrong.

I think you have the wrong impression. I bought plenty from them before I realized how much they suck. I continue to take that stuff back and get refunds when it breaks or falls apart. I have all the receipts back to '96 or so. To assume that I'm "ethically flexible" is a bit presumptuous on your part. I've never taken back anything I didn't buy and I've never returned anything without a valid reason. 100% satisfaction guaranteed is a very broad statement, but I've never taken advantage of that. Probably the most questionable return was a couple pairs (one for my wife) of the OR expedition mitts. Big, bulky, and very cold. Kept 'em around for years, never used them. Finally took them back during a gear room clean-out. Got $240 smackers for them after collecting cat fuzz in the bottom of a plastic box for years.

The dividend deal is just a voucher. You have to wait until July to get cash for it. If the change is less than $5 you can get it in cash I believe. As for store credit, same deal. Buy it & take it back for cash (now you have a receipt). I believe REI instituted a new policy w/ regard to returns. It sure seems that the employees will attempt to talk you down and give you less if you let them. I don't buy much anymore from REI, but I still take plenty of stuff back.

Guess that settles that. 3 folks at CC.com for, none against. Looks like everyone is carrying shovels & probes from now on. Current Mazama policy only requires at least 2 shovels & probes be provided on climbs. Usually more shovels show up with climbers. The problem with regulating this sort of thing is that if you say "everyone needs a shovel" on a climb and someone forgets their shovel, you have to cancel the climb or you're negligent. So, we try to avoid specific guidelines or hard numbers. It's also the ski vs. climb mentality. I know most climbers don't carry probes or even beacons most of the time. Most skiers do. Kind of a double standard, don't you think?

I wouldn't start to leave shovels behind until after we hit 4 or more. I did say a group size of 6-8 in the previous post. I'd also always have shovels & probes for at least 1/2 the people.

Having run rescue scenarios with up to 12 people on the rescue team I'd say that 2 beacons & 2 shovels is more than enough unless there's more than 2 victims. Even so, more beacons don't make searches go faster. More shovels can, but most recoveries still seem to happen somewhat serially even with plenty of personnel. Next time you're practicing searching for a beacon see if having 3 people dig the hole at the same time is faster than one.

Volkswagen isn't selling them in the US anymore. http://www.vw.com/search/search_eurovan.htm Just when I was thinking a Westfalia AWD van would be the ultimate climbing rig.

OK, no nibbles. How about $155 including shipping within lower 48.

Looking for a little debate on the following: Should everyone on a BC ski trip, regardless of group size, carry a shovel and probe in avalanche terrain? This assumes everyone is already beeping. Also assume it's a big group, say 6-8 people. Pros: Always have more than enough shovels Cons: Extra group gear adds up, especially on multi-day trips. Please discuss

Size large. Color black. Used only 2x. Just a little too big for me. I need a 30L or so. Tons of features for both climbing & skiing. This pack has lots of bells and whistles, including tool holsters, ski slots, crampon pouch, shovel pocket. One great feature is that most of these extras snap off. So if you want to dump the shov-it pocket you end up with a pretty sleek pack that still has a couple of tool loops. This pack is black. Here's a photo from Dana's site: Here's the web page New it's $219. I'll take $160 + shipping for it.

Picked up set of these but they feel so weird I haven't tried them out yet. A good idea, though, especially for clipper leashes.

Just switched from ClubSports to 24 Hour. Paid the extra bucks for the initiation fee and now have $4.99/month plan. Beats the $80+ monthly fee even losing the rock gym. There are a bunch of hotties at both. ClubSports does have that extra snob factor. For an extra charge you can use the executive locker room.

rock: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/211645/page/4/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1 ice: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/295049/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1/vc/1 Do a search on Alpenjager for the rock, Gorge Ice or Crown Jewel for the ice. Let us know how it goes. Might be a bit damp right now...