Bug

After summiting Dragontail, head south along the base of the cliffs. When you get out near the end of what you can see, there is a scree gulley that goes straight up to a notch. Take it. The other side is a gulley with loose rocks here and there and a couple steep parts lower down with loose rock above them. Be VERY careful! It will be a fun trip.

Not down the glacier. You would have to go back the way you came. It would take quite awhile. With non-climbers, I would give the round trip from Asgard to Colchuck to Asgard most of a day. There is not an easy way down from Colchuck. The west face might work but even that is very steep in places and drops you into Mountaineer creek. With the glacier melted down to ice you are pretty much out of easy options. The Dragontail approach is by far the least technical. Good luck!

I off loaded mine at Second Ascent when nobody here wanted them. They had some decent looking stuff there for pretty cheap if you can't find it anywhere else.

I went up the Colchuck glacier Sat the 6th. It was hard ice with a little slush on it here and there. Not real steep (45+) but not a good place for "non-climbers". I then continued up Dragontail via the "obvious gulley" and then continued along the ridge crest or just east of it on ledges. There is an "obvious gulley" on the south end of the ridge that you could trudge up and then descend the gulley I climbed up. Watch for loose rocks on the steep sections if you have a group.

Way to go guys. I met you on your way up Ass Passer. Did you see the bear on the way out? He was a 200 lb cinnimon with a fly bitten butt about a mile and a half up form the trailhead.

One thought about coming out here for winter sports. The snow is often heavy and prone to sliding. Take extra care to stay out of avalanches.

By far, the most likely danger you face is the sun. Take serious sun glasses. If you have ski goggles, you may want those too. 50 block sunscreen used frequently is a must.

I've been thinking about selling off some stuff. I have a few alien type thingys and several nuts and whut nut. You would have to come and rummage through my bags of gear and make a reasonable offer. The alien thingy's are going for $20 each. Everything else is negotiable.

Check the route conditions page for Rainier. Be ready for the snow to be melted out to hard ice in places. Sharp points would be helpful. I would not trust poles to stop me on that. I have a long shaft I use for dog routes. Helmets on the Emmons are good if you fall in a crevasse or slide fast.. Not much rockfall.

My general rule of thumb for leaving gear behind is "does it cost more than a day of skiing?" Now that does not meat you could start a rack by following me around in the mountains. I just don't worry about expense when it comes to being able to so an anchor is "good". I once watched a friend tie his prussick to a carabiner used as a brake bar. I tried to talk him out of it but he just blew me off and bailed. part way down, the prussick stopped and pulled biner out of the brake configuration leaving him with a pulley system. It took three strands of rope to get down from that point. Good thing we were not far up.

Would you like fries with that?

Zoroastr thusly spoke. The frog must have an effect. Nice pics.

Space shuttle is slow by comparison.

Are you calling him fat!? When I am getting ready to climb something big I start running to get my lungs in shape. Run hills. If you are fat, start dieting seriously about 1 month before the climb. By seriously, I mean count calories and eat less than you burn. Make sure you are getting a well balanced diet though and plenty of protein. Fad diets will kill your stamina and decrease muscle mass. Get a light pack. My 3000 cui pack weighs 2 lbs. Kelty made it. I don't remember what it's called. My moonstone synthetic bag weighs 1lb14oz. My gortex is small and lightweigh. No long tail or extraneous pockets. I love gortex (and it's similar copies). Can never figure out why some people don't. It cuts wind better than anything and I have been through hellatious storms of all kinds and stayed dry and comfortable. Keep it clean so it does not whick water through the pours. No wool anything. Synthetics will cut the weight by at least half. 2/4 pad. Use your pack and rope under you. I have a whole set of gear that I use for lightweigh trips. Very thin nylon gloves (mnt hardwr). hardshell shirt & pants. Wind shirt for layering. Lightweight helmet by Petzl. Thin webbing. no 1" stuff. No pocketknife unless it is tiny. Weight on the foot is worth four times that in the pack. Light boots are important. Everything else has been covered. Oh. No underwear. Useless for anything but getting soiled and your polypro is going to stink anyway. Now go climb.

Cool stuff Chirp. Thanks for posting it!

Let's take our fur whelers up ther.

Noting the nodding tendency of my driver, I took the wheel and had us at Index by 4AM. The Approach was the old gulley scramble up the avalanche chute complete with dead hiker at the base of the lower shoulder (we didn't see him but found out he was there when we passed). We opted to simulclimb immediately and cruised to the traverse pitch in no time. From there, we went straight up into the fog hoping to break through. It was pure heather scrambling for three or four pitches until we got to the top of the tower left of the snowfield. This was where we finally got a glimps of the upper wall. There was not much more brush. Just rock and ice. Unfortunately, we did not have any ice tools with us. We continued up the face to a right leaning corner that was going quite easily until I hit ice. Then it was over. Bad bug. No summit. It was a fun looking route though. I keep meaning to go back up and finish it but the time just keeps getting scarcer.

And one more thing. This was a fun thread. Why are you leaving?

"OFF, I am sorry my friend blew up, the tequila did not slow us down, we enjoyed a route got down to the lake before 11pm via headlamps and then got separated. When we started and how my gut felt had nothing to do with my friend being loud. My buddy does not hold back his feelings so he voiced it. Obviously, anyone telling someone unhelpful advice should rethink the stupid advice... Yeah good idea, tell a pissed off person unhelpful advice." After he cursed a few times, I asked him POLITELY if he was looking for a place to camp. He replied that he was looking for the F... trail in a very angry voice. I told him he was out on a point. That seemed like useful information but hey I was just awaken out of a deep sleep by a very angry man. I am the kind of person who would have gotten out of bed and walked him to the trail but I DID NOT WANT TO GET PUNCHED. Glad you all had "fun".

Nope. 3 chickens and a goat.

At about 1:15 AM Saturday morning, my girlfriend and I were awaken by violent cursing and stomping about. We were camped on the point by the pond on Colchuck lake. This person had lost the trail and had come out the point to try to find it where we were graced by his tantrum. We ran into another party Sat that had heard him further down the lake still cursing like a 2 year old sailor. WHO WAS THIS JERK? Hasn't he heard of prozack? There was a full moon and he had a headlamp on and still lost the trail?!!! RETARD! Here is the prescription; stop stomping and cursing and flailing about randomly. Take a deep breath. Think about where you last saw the trail. Go back to that point and find where it really goes. Hike out, drive home, and call your doctor and tell him you have a SEVERE anger management problem you need a pill for.

Bummer.

That would be totally cool.

Saturday afternoon a rescue helicopter went into the Enchantments. I heard from a guy at the boulder camp on Colchuck lake that a 23yr old was climbing by himself and fell. His father reported him missing and went up there to help look. The father found him. This is all second hand info. I have reported it as I heard it and do not know anymore. My condolences to the family and friends.

It was mostly hard ice. There was snow up next to Dragontail by the Boving route but then you are too exposed to rockfall for my tastes. We did kinky things with the chipmunks instead.