Juan

Good job guys. Long day. John

What Owen said. Great route.

Off White: Thanks for your input. My thinking is to get some extra mileage before the Pickets, to show my wife a cool peak or two, and of course to try to add two more summits to the annual total. The competition this year with Mr. Nelson is really heating up. As a senior climber, he is prone to exageration, as you can imagine, and counts "peaks" like Capital Hill, Queen Anne Hill, and the like. I play it straight, but need a few more! Cheers, John Sharp

Wondering if anyone has taken the Daniel Glacier Route as shown in Nelson (Vol. 1), then continued down then back up to Hinman. When I did Daniel in 1994, we didn't scout it out. Looks like a fun jaunt. Anyone done this? Thanks much, John Sharp

Dan is right. A mild approach compared to others. Walk the road from the White Salmon Lodge to the end, then cross to the edge of the clear cut, get in the forest just a bit, then roll yourself straight down hill. Cross the creek, go up the other side, and keep angling toward the obvious bivi bench at the base of the face. Have fun, John

As long as you leave the little knot on the end, it feels sooooooooo fine.

Two thoughts on this thread: Regarding cell phones: When Bob Davis, Jim Nelson and I climbed the N.E. Buttress of J'Berg in mid-July 1999 (see pictures in Jim's second book), we tried it as a day climb. At 5:30 p.m., sitting just below the top, we realized we were not going to be home that night. No chance of even making the CJ Col before dark. Had we brought a phone, we could have called and prevented the rescue attempt the next day. Completely our mistake for telling our wives we'd be home late on day one, instead of the next day. We were very embarrassed on day two, in the late afternoon, watching the helicopter land at the Cascade Pass picnic area with rangers on board, dressed for a rescue. We were changing our clothes by that point. They were glad we were fine, but had lots of questions. We could have used a cell phone on day one to simply say "we are fine, but this is taking longer than we thought." No phone meant no way to communicate, and panic back home. Cell phones are not bad things when used responsibly. Regarding sudden changes in weather: Bob Davis and two other guys and I were caught by a bad storm this June in the steep gully on the upper portion of the Ice Cliff Glacier route on Mt. Stuart. The storm was 100% not predicted. The four of us have a combined experience climbing of about 100 years, and we were not happy campers once the storm hit. The point being that the forecast can be dead wrong, and anyone can get caught. I think that Krakauer guy wrote a book that touched on this topic. Anyway, good for the Glacier Peak group for recognizing the situation and dealing with it in a level headed fashion. Nothing to be ashamed of, in my opinion. Cheers all, John Sharp

What is "HC" and what is an "HC Lover"?

You are right. I didn't read Bob's deal that carefully. Single 50m is fine, or was for us both times.

Bob is right in his details. What he neglected to tell you is that his boot soles delaminated on N. Ridge of Forbidden, meaning we had a clown shoe thing going on during the entire descent. I believe Bob has the first double floppy sole descent via the E. Ledges. All other info is correct. The first time I did this descent we had cairns to follow. Not so the second time. Go figure. Cheers, The unnamed partner

Oh gosh. I'm just sure that's never happened before. I mean, you're talking about Bart here. There's just no one faster!

Avi, shmavi. Go for it. Colin, Dan and I didn't start until 9:00 a.m. from the bivi last July when the clouds started to part, and we were still at Atist Point by 7:00 p.m. We took Fisher Chimneys down. We were lucky to get a ride to the car, though. Maybe stash a bike. Have fun, John Sharp

Cool. Sounds like Crooked Thumb and Challenger in a day would be a long one. Thanks for the info, Alex. John

Anyone out there done this one, most likely after bagging Challenger? Thanks much, John Sharp

So what are you going to climb once you are over there?

Same as BobInc. (Chiwawa Lyman Glacier) but way faster and with two beautiful women. Sorry Bob. Had to say it. =;-)

I paid Ben to say that. =;-) As to the above comment about there being snow in the gully, I'm sure it is harder when dry. When we used it to get to Boston Glacier it was early Aug., and still had plenty of snow. So, should be fine now and for the next few weeks in any event. John

Owen: I contributed to a thread on this sometime in the past, but have no idea where it is. So, here it is again. Skip the Sharkfin Col. When you get to the point where you would walk to the base of the Sharkfin Col, go to the right and up the gully that is maybe 100 yds. right of the start of the Sharkfin Col. It is obvious. The gully should have snow in it still, and angles up and right. Climb this for maybe five to ten minutes, but not to the top. Part way up you will see a weakness up and to the left. Follow this to a notch. I remember the rock in the weakness looking kind of grey. It's just scrambling. At the notch you will find slings. Maybe old ones, so take a piece (maybe 6') to leave if necessary. Short rap to snow finger on other side. Way faster than Sharkfin Col, no 5.7 move, and only one rope required (we had a 50m 9mm and were headed to N. Ridge of Forbidden). This is the way to go. Nelson told us about it, and it worked great and saved time and energy. IF you get lost, you can always line up and wait your turn at Sharkfin Col. Good luck and have fun, John Sharp

My wife and our friend Laurie Andrews and I climbed the route this past weekend, and Bob Davis and his two friends did too. Lots of fun, and not real hard. We roped up on the glacier not so much because of crevasse danger but because there is a fair amount of 40-degree snow. One axe and aluminum crampons was all we needed. The so-called ice pitches were disappointing; we went to the right. We camped Sat. p.m. at about 6,300' at the base of Spider Glacier. Nice site; lots of people; running water. Started climbing to Spider Gap at 5:15 Sun. a.m., topped out at 8:30, got back to camp at 11:30, and to the car by 3:45. Amazingly, the summit register showed only one other party having climbed the mountain (by any route) this year, on 6/22. Seems odd given its beauty and relative ease. I recommend this one to anyone who likes climbs like Mt. Daniels, Colchuck, Silver Star, etc. Cheers, John Sharp

Ray: Call me for beta. You know the number. And the route in Nelson's book is the 1957 variation, not the 1951 route. It's not as bad as it looks. It took Jim and Bob and me 12 hours up, then down a ways to the bivi spot, then another 12 hours down. Can't recommend the CJ couloir descent, but that's what we did in the interest of simplicity, and we wrote it up for Jim's book. Lived to tell about it, but we were stressed and tired of dodging rock fall for about six hours. Have "fun" and be careful. John Sharp

Sounds like the trail is much more obvious than it was in 1987 when I fought my way in there in the rain with a friend. We did the easy route on West. Mac. Spire that's now in Nelson's first book, then the next day did the 5.5 ridge route on the Chopping Block. Very worthwhile. Good for you for doing the whole trip so fast. Cheers, John

So it's at the Alki? At 7:00? Mapp P will you be there? Dave Parker? ChucK? Ray? Fred? See you. John

Would love to, and will check with Kirsten. Weekends are in short supply right now though. Do you think we should ask permission, or just go for it and risk a ticket or Deliverance-style encounter? Can you squeal like a pig?

It's easy to shoplift at the Redmond REI. They carry them. Wear a big shirt; no one will know. Possibly take Cavey to create a diversionary scene. Good luck. John

Smoker: You'll never make it. = )