onetoole

Eric gave a really good description of where to find the rap stations for the S face. If I'm not completely dumb (aah! lurking doubt) we rapped down about forty yards west of where the route goes. The mountain really doesn't feature a lot of anchors, and the only rock horn we ever saw all day was the first rap anchor. The second one was made up of an old tricam, an old nut, and a little sling all attached to one flake which looks solid now but might fall off some day. Just bolt the danged thing, someone please. And can we also have a cable car.

The easier way is really not too obvious: you go up the snow finger, then up a short step either around the left side or straight up. Then a bunch of trails lead to the left, which is where you went and suffered. The good way is to go straight up, it doesn't look like it but it's only 10 feet of 4th class and then you're on the trail. One can also avoid crossing the ridge altogether, and just traverse around the bottom. It's more work, and you might get caught in a waterfall, but people have done it.

I'm assuming you're talking about the traverse of Boston? Just don't hold on to the rocks, they tend to not be attached to anything. But truly, it's not bad at all if you go as we did. All other traverses (Boston Glacier, Horseshoe Basin) were cake.

I liked the square toe.

Koflach Tour Extreme AT boots are on sale for 80 bucks on sierratradingpost. They seem to be rather wimpy on the downhill, but very comfy and thus a good choice for approach slogging. Does anyone have them, and an opinion?

What's the Luna Cirque traverse like? Has anyone done it? I'm just frightened because Beckey says the glaciers are all broken up and you can't do it anymore like they used to in the golden days before we were born.

Ahh...the most ferkin' beautiful climb! We did the N Face of Buckner yesterday, roundtripping from our Sahale moraine camp in 13 fun-filled hours. Clambered over the summit of Sahale, then went up high on the ridge toward Boston Peak until just below the last bump below the summit, and did a very short traverse on crap to get around to where Boston Glacier reaches high up on Boston's N side. Boston Glacier was just stunning, and easy to travel across. Same is true for Buckner's N Face, it sported firm neve that took good pickets, and easy-to-get-around bergschrunds and crevasses. I didn't get a good look at the N couloir, but from what I saw it's pretty much the same, with perhaps a little more broken up jumble at the bottom. Our option with Sahale camp went OK because conditions were perfect, but still a carryover might have been more fun.

Your trip sounds like the quintessential pickets experience meganerd. The pickets just laugh their ass off at people with ambitious plans. Sorry if I was rude specifying the type of information I'm looking for. Dude, I don't go around posting stupid questions before I check the information that's already out there.

I already know how to get to each of them separately, thank you very much. The question is how to link them.

NE butt of Fury is the main goal, Challenger would be the dessert. Might be too crunchy a dessert idea?

I know I know, I'll be lucky if I drag my bottom up just one of them, but I still like to entertain the idea of climbing Fury and Challenger in one trip. Any words of wisdom about this? Which end to start on, how to get from one to the other (Beckey seems to think that traversing Luna Creek cirque can be problematic).

It's still in great shape! Trip Report

It was dumb to start so early. Just an automatic reflex. I'd recommend leaving around 4 so that you get to the Ingraham ice fall when it gets light.

Ah fromage, tu es cruel.

A long story cut short because my oxygen-deprived brain isn't helping: A team of four dashing young people started out at 1am on Sunday after steeping in human fumes all night at the Muir hut. There were lots more dashing people starting out at that time, but by the time they hit the Ingraham Glacier, unpleasant winds made most turn around. We got to the snow ridge just above the DC, and there my clever friends decided they'd had enough of the darkness, uncertainty and cold. I dutifully complied and trudged on down, only to run into Huey and Dewey, who let me jump on their rope. We first tried to do Ingraham Direct. While we were working up the steep slope that gets you from the glacier onto the upper mountain and kicking loose little slabs, an airplace roared overhead and we got the hell out of that dangerous place. We went back up to the spot above the DC where I had first turned around. By now there was some daylight, and we could see a good line trending east. At 12,500' the wind had gotten pretty bad, but the wind-packed sastrugi (profigliano!) made for good hiking. It felt like a true Alaskan/Arctic experience. The wind blew us back toward the South side of the upper mountain, and we were pretty exhausted when the crater rim finally showed up at the horizon. The last 300 feet of elevation win the prize for ridiculousness: the wind was gusting at 60mph minimum, forcing us down on our hands and knees. I collapsed every twenty feet or so, panted, laughed madly, and carried on. We were pretty glad to reach the crater rim, and didn't feel like crossing the mad cauldron of a crater just to go sign the register. It took 9 (!) hours to get up, and 3 1/2 to get down to Muir. Other than the wind, conditions were splendid with firm snow and minimal crevasse problems. It seemed like we were the only ones that made it on the weekend - or were we?