Stephen_Ramsey

You can discount any posts you like, but just to be clear, I fully seam-sealed my Firstlight before using it, and yes, I know how to apply it. It just wasn't enough to keep the thing from leaking. YMMV.

Hi Bruk, Congrats on the Lib Ridge climb. I'm glad you and your partner made it down safe. Cheers, Steve Ramsey

Here's a picture from Sunday June 20, 2004.

Breezy, Are you talking about routes on Mount Rainier, or in the Cascades in general? (I noticed this is posted in the MRNP forum so I wasn't sure). If you're talking about any alpine climbs in the Cascades, wow, the list would be long indeed. I think Alex K. has compiled good list of moderate alpine rock, glacier, and snow climbs on his web site... If you're talking about Mount Rainier, I don't know, maybe the Kautz Glacier?

Yeah, the Firstlight was kinda leaky. It didn't bother my partner as much as it bothered me; she still thinks it's a great tent, for carry-overs. I'm gonna give it another chance. I slathered a lot of seam sealant on it, and I'm hoping to take it up Mount Baker soon.

Fantastic trip report! Very well written.

Greg_W, Thanks for the reply. I hadn't thought about the bouncing and stress on the rap anchor... good point! Hopefully JJA will post the video. That would be cool to see. Cheers, Steve

Hi Greg_W, Thanks for posting the trip report. The down-climbing part sounds pretty sketch. Nice work getting out of a jam. I'm just wondering, would it have been possible to prussik back up the rappel rope, to unstick it? (the one that was stuck). Cheers, Steve

Carrying all your camping gear up and over the mountain, and then coming down a different route. I've only done it on Glacier Peak, Mount Shuksan, and Mount Stuart (none of the routes absolutely required a carry over, but we chose to climb them in that fashion). In all three cases, having the light tent was helpful.

My wife is my climbing partner, so for us it is "cozy". The Eldorado has a bit more elbow room, but I-Tent can work for two climbers who are not too big. I like the Eldorado for winter climbs, where the small margin of extra room is really nice. But for carry-overs, it's the I-Tent for sure.

Munckee, I'm 5'6" and the I-Tent is perfect for me, with a few inches to spare no problem. If you're 5'8" you should be OK. I wouldn't recommend it for someone over 6 feet, however. Cheers, Steve Ramsey

Hi Paul, Good point about cost. It's pretty pricey unless you buy it on sale, and cost-share with your partner. Even then, it's a big initial purchase. But compared with round-trip gas to the hills 45 weekends out of the year, and amortized over the many years the tent will last, it's really in the noise. As far as weight goes, yup, nothing is going to be lighter than the Basic Bivy Sack. But if we're comparing to the Deluxe or something more fully featuerd, the tent weight without poles compares pretty favorably to two bivy sacks. Perhaps my perspective on tents vs. bivy sacks is influenced by the fact that my climbing partner is my spouse!

I'm just a gaper, but I still don't see the point of a bivy sack. My partner and I can share our I-Tent (4 lbs) or Firstlight (2.5 lbs) for less weight per person than using hooped bivy sacks. And we get the benefit of shared heat, better ventilation, and the ability to actually do something like study the map or eat or sort the rack, while sitting out the weather. For situations where weight is REALLY an issue, we can leave the poles behind and use the tent as a bivy sack for two, and it is definitely less weight than two minimal bivy sacks. Maybe for the dreaded 24" rock ledge bivy, sacks would be better, but in the PNW isn't that sort of like being inconvenienced 99% of the time for the 1% corner case? Am I missing something great about these magical bivy sacks?

Here's some good reading for you to ponder: http://www.nps.gov/mora/climb/cl_rpt.htm Search on "Hommer Incident". Granted, the incident was on September 23rd. But rockfall on the D.C. can certainly happen in June.

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Just curious, how did you clock them? I didn't think they had a working anemometer at Camp Muir. I always heard the NPS "extrapolated" based on meterological data from Paradise.

Talk to Craig Van-Hoy at www.gotrek.com; he is a great guide who leads trips to South America.

16-cm BD ice screw

Hi Paul, Do you know how close one can get (by car) to the Phelps Creek Trailhead, at this point? Thanks very much, Steve Ramsey

Paul, Were you on Mount Stuart this past weekend? Which route? Elain and I were on the Ice Cliff Glacier. Small world... Cheers, Steve

Just wondering, why did you post this in "The Yard Sale" forum?

That's going pretty light! Here's to you for having the guts and ability to pull it off.

Dmuja, Have you considered recruiting a fourth climber? That would solve your problem. You could travel in two rope teams of two, each with a 30m rope. This is (arguably) faster and safer than a rope team of three. Andy Selters's book glacier travel has a good discussion of the advantages of traveling with two rope teams of two. Stinky does make a good point about Cascades crevasses. Still, I personally wouldn't use static cord as a glacier rope under any circumstances. Just a personal preference. As for whether one 30m rope would be enough for a rope team of three... well, in a pinch, you could make anything work. But if I'm traveling through crevasse country, I'd prefer to have 40m minimum, if climbing with three. I guess it mostly depends on where you plan to use it. Will it be some small minimally crevassed glacier remnant? Or a big, highly crevassed glacier on Rainier or Baker? Cheers, Steve Ramsey

Trango S are pretty good, but watch out, they seem to run a bit small. I'm not sure if the Trango S would qualify as "3-season", though. I use them mostly in summer and early fall, then switch to plastics during winter & spring. The Trango S can slog in the snow, up to a certain point. But once the exterior wets out, it won't insulate very well. Thus, it would not be my boot of choice for the Cascade volcanoes, except perhaps in late season. Then again, the gear sages at Rock & Ice recently suggested the Trango S would be a good boot for climbing Liberty Ridge.