JoshK

Yeah, I gotta second this. My buddy gave me some for free and they were excellent. I went to buy my own after that, coughed at the $1/packet price and instead went for the nescafe instant packs. That was a mistake - the nescafe packets are terrible. As pricey as the 'bucks via packets are, it tastes damn good and it's ground in to a fine powder that mixes perfectly. Now I need to find them at a bulk discount price...

Mostly because Ivan climbs there a lot and us Washingtonians would rather he be associated with Oregon than the rest of us up here...

The car-to-car strat: 1. Drive the car to the trailhead. 2. Leave lots of valuables in the car, tell me where you'll hide the keys 3. Go climb 4. Return to car 5. Find valuables missing, blame it on the local meth heads.

There is a follow-up story with the dad if anybody is interested. Apparently she was alive for a little while after the accident. Very sad... http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012520882_icecaves04m.html

lol?

That stuff is incredible. It's holding together some parts on my car at the moment.

Calls in to be rescued then refuses to agree with their plan to send him to a hospital...hmm, should have left him there then IMO.

I wonder if I force myself to rock bottom sooner I could speed up the Canuckistan rehab program.

If you have the time for the longer approach via Whatcom Pass, the route might be worth it....=) Yeah we looked at going in "the long way" but schedules didn't allow for all that extra hiking. (though that might just be my excuse for being lazy...)

This is now a national story, and I heard it being discussed on the radio a few minutes ago: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/02/washington.ice.caves.death/index.html?hpt=C1 According to the radio, the father criticized the slow response time of the medics. "Brand said ice at the popular attraction is melting so much this year that it is not stable, and warned visitors to stay away from the ice caves." Not sure why they would say ice is "melting so much this year" when it's been a fairly low melt year by comparison.

It's definitely a very easy descent back to Ice Lakes. I haven't descended to the Maude/7FJ Col though, so I'm not sure how it would compare in terms of difficulty. I can recommend Ice Lakes as a pretty cool place to see, however. The "beach" above the lakes is comprised of a bunch of pumice stones from an old eruption and is pretty unique from any other area of the Cascades I've been in. LeRoy Basin is very cool too, so it'll be hard to go wrong either way.

Nice job, that looks excellent! Ivan and I were hoping to do that this summer but unfortunately Canada doesn't want me. :'(

Damn you can cover some terrain! What an absolutely incredible area, and great pics to show it. Are you back in WA for a while, or just came up here to get in some runs?

Was it that nice, warm rain? I was up on the N. Cascades highway and actually enjoyed standing out in the warm rain the other night. It had been a while since I felt rain and it cleans the air out. I'm sure if I'd been actively climbing in it, I would have felt differently.

We had done Booker earlier that day, but took our time getting packed up from the bivy and heading back to Sahale Arm since the heat had its way with me for a bit. It worked out well, though, since Sahale Arm is a mighty sweet place to be at sunset.

Were you the group of three that traversed lowed through Horseshoe Basin and camped below that exit gully to Sahale Arm? If so, I was one of the two guys that traversed higher across the Basin and went up the gully while you guys were setting up camp. /wave

And in vintage gear!

Reality check time...the "hardman" aspect of these climbs is a thing of the past. Us wimps with the benefit of 21st century gear, an internet full of beta, established approaches, popularized objectives, GPS, cell phones, etc. shouldn't compare our exploits to those who did these climbs when they actually required being a "hardman." I think it was Ivan that coined the term "blue-collar trifecta" to describe J-berg, Nooksack tower, and the Index traverse. I think that is a fitting description.

Burgundy Spire is kind of an outlier in Dallas' list. Everything else on his list seems like significantly more work than Burgundy, which involves a downright easy approach (albeit with lots of vertical), and a straightforward climb and descent.

I can't say I have much experience with dogs in the alpine and what they are capable of, but I can say the route up Daniel from Peggy's Pond is quite easy and, as I recall, nothing much more than a hike. I remember crossing one short section of glacier but it wasn't very steep or broken. In my uneducated opinion, I'd think a strong dog would make it up there.

Wow, a LOT more snow than I've ever seen below that glacier this time of year... Sorry the weather failed you, it's a good climb worth returning for though.

IMO, the objective hazard on the buttress itself isn't that high. The ice and rocks largely fall on either side of it so you are well away from that action. It's a great vantage to watch from!

I think this guy has some amazing ideas. http://www.victorycities.com/.

Very very cool trip, and awesome pictures. I have wanted to get in to this less traveled area for years now...

I'm pretty sure if we can find a way to integrate bull fighting in as well we will have the ultimate chest beating hardman badass sport. We can share our exploits of bravery and get major respect on the innarnets.