JoshK

Nice job, that is a great climb. I know the feeling of the "fun" glacier ice in tennis shoes action, being forced to use mine after the great trango-toss of 2008.

Well done, great TR and pics. I agree the rap instructions are pricelss and I plan on handing down the knowledge at my first opportunity.

Well done, Wayne, great video!

i *heart* big brother

if folks only started tauntaun-pooling!

I have no first hand knowledge, and this is simply my guess. With that said, I'd imagine you'll find a lot of windfall not only the road but on the trail. I'd expect some washouts on the trail as well. Frostbite Ridge is a great route on that mountain, so if you're willing to risk dealing with trail obstacles, I'd definitely endorse the mountain bike idea so you can come back and give us the beta.

Verizon still has the best service in the mountains, bar none. For years I've been able to pick up service in places where climbing partners with other networks cannot. As for the iPhone, I chose to stay away from a pricey toy in the backcountry. I got a cheap Motorola Q, which is a pretty simple smart phone. It takes an SD Micro card on which I store music and I ordered 2 replacement batteries from eBay for $5 (shipping included) Without a spare battery the phone will still last an entire trip if I am careful with power management and turn the exactly phone hardware off when I'm just listening to music. With the extra batteries I can now use the phone for an entire trip for music and still have a full battery for any phone use I may want. My big complaint with the iPhone is for something so expensive, it t does not feature replacable storage or battiers. This is typical of Apply, which is one of the worst companies (ever) in terms of developing their products for planned obselesence. I stay away from their products whenever possible on that principle alone. In any event, I like my phone/music system since it is simple and it works, although it lacks the trendy coffee-shop appeal that an iPhone has. Edit: I do believe there is some way to obtain (or hack?) a CDMA equipped iPhone and get it to work with Verizon. I heard this a while ago, and I'm not sure if it's true. In any event, I maintain it's still a toy and there are better ways to go, especially for backcountry use. Edit 2: It's true text messaging is often the only thing that'll work. In areas with slightly better connectivity phone calls will sometimes work, and I've even had areas where I get internet service and was able to browse NOAA for weather updates. If I recall, Eldorado's summit let me browse the interwebs at fairly good speed.

Ouch, that poor Price Glacier looks worse and worse every year.

Yeah, you gotta love the "mostly sunny" forecast. Expecting some clearing Thursday night I camped on an exposed open ridge on the side of White Mountain, around 6600 ft. Around midnight I heard the sound of sleet hitting the side of the tent. It took me until 10am to motivate to trudge my way back to the car in rain all day. Nice to see I wasn't the only one that got to take advantage of the nice forecast.

I wonder if they removed the crazy Serbians from the road...

Fwiw, that slope on Klawatti is an absolutely awesome ski when it's covered. Highly recommended for those making the trek up to Eldorado with skis.

Yeah, I read the report you guys had, taking note of the mentioned SEVEN HOUR drive.

OK so I found Cathedral on the topo map. It looks like there are trails coming in from the south (U.S. trailheads). Are the better approaches coming in from the Canadian side? All of that high open terrain at 7,000+ looks like it would be truely badass. There is also a pass to the SW named "Crazy Man Pass". It seems fitting I visit that sometime in my life.

Unfortunately I don't think I'll be climbing 5.10 solo in the alpine any time soon. ;-)

For the past several days, sat photos have looked like this. Notice the cloud breakup roughly along the Whatcom/Okanogan county line. I have never climbed/hiked/skied in Oakanogan county at all. Can anybody recommend a good place to start? Honestly I don't care if it's skiing or just hiking and scrambling - I really just NEED some sunshine + mountains.

I better get up and climb that thing before you and your crowbar get to it...

Wow, it was cloudy in Seattle until 6pm and you got sunshine. /jealous nice job!

It's 45 minutes from Seattle and has a 15 minute approach, but I'm not sure that qualifies it as great, just easy to get to.

Haha, I had always pondered the idea of riding one of those scooters to a trailhead...

Will do. Now only if we can get Pakistan and India together for some turns on the glacier in Kashmir...

Don't listen to Ivan about the road being difficult for tall people...I've carried skis in there. It's the Serbians that are the most frightening aspect of that climb. The trail finding is definitely worth the effort since that basin is absolutely amazing.

Unfortunately not. The coverage looked good but thunderstorms had just built up and being alone I didn't savor the idea of getting soaked with a long ski back to camp. Of course within a few hours the clouds began to clear. I will most definitely be back to ski that basin. Hal Foss peak had a perfect line from summit to base.

Royal Basin was a great suggestion. Unfortunately the threat of weather limited the length of my ski, but I had a nice time up there. Those basins hold endless perfect skiing terrain! I definitely am planning on a future trip, but probably will aim for May next time.

Thanks for the recommendation, Fairweather. Coincidentally, I was just looking at some trip reports from Royal Basin. Looks like there are a lot of great lines in there! The pictures from May 24-25 showed a lot of snow remaining, so hopefully there hasn't been much melt.

Weather forecast is mostly crap with a chance of piss all week in the Cascades, but the next few days look great in the Olympics. I've never skied in the range at all, so other than Olympus I'm not that familiar with what peaks people ski. An area where I can spend 2 or 3 days in would be great. I realize I'll be walking with my skis for quite a while. I'm also open to suggestions for nice summits on foot. I'd just like to get up in to the Alpine in the only mountains in the state that are supposed to get sun. thanks! -josh