Mark_Husbands

Well thanks for the repies. the reason that I asked is that in 1998 (which was an unusually fair weather year I think) i climbed Sultana from late April till mid May. On the way up (say beginning of may) snow conditions on Crosson 6800-12800 were pretty darn good, but coming back down 12 days later or so it was awful wet sloghing stuff. and looking over into the NW basin on hunter we could see tracks totally buried by a big slough (after the climbers passed i mean). i've wondered whether that was an unusually warm May, unusually sunny, or if West ridge or similar snow routes at 7000-12000 are a poor bet that time of year. i think my sense is that late april early may is ideal but sometimes your free time doesn't match up...and conditons probably vary enough that some June seasons could still be good and cold at those elevations, others not. thanks for replies, mark

Anyone ever climb Hunter in June (or later)? Curious about snow conditions.

yes, overboots take on a new life in your snow castle. put your down booties inside them, and get busy stirring snow.

My opinion: Intuition liners + Vertical Shells + overboots = just fine Down bag would be better. Parbat is the minimum. Bigger coat better. The coldest I got (on Foraker and Logan) was standing around cooking as much as climbing on summit day. If you are going heavy expedition style (as I did) you'll probably end up hanging around snow forts running XGKs for what seems like hours. Hard to stay warm. Jacket and Pants combo or suit needed. If you climb alpine style and cook in your tent you could probably scale the down down so to speak. I have only been on 2 expeditions so there may be other more experienced persons with different advice. Mark I have a couple items I may need to sell. PM if interested.

give thanks for the wilderness act, and support its enforcement.

I wondered how it would look with a bit of ice on it. In general it looks like you guys found a bit more ice than we did. nice climb.

Photos of the chockstone?

North peak gully (right) was my first alpine climb. i used asolo yukons w/ smc strap-ons and 2 70cm rei mtn. axes. i was scared shitless. took us hours of picket pounding to go up 800 ft. went back some years later, climbed in like an hour, soloed over the N. Ridge of Conness and back down the E. Ridge to the car. (Recommended). Amazing that, even for a weekend warrior hack like me, your idea of what is possible can change so dramatically. I've climbed a lot of Sierra moderates, if you ever want info feel free to email me.

which gullies did you climb? get to Mendel?

G-14s seem to fit XT fine, even with stock bar. the sole of the xt is definitely a different, more curved shape than the old blue Freneys. I found that the old freneys were so lacking in rocker that they couldnt really accept g-14s withut a big gap under the ball odf the foot. the Xts have more rocker, and the curve seems OK too.

dunno

returned to BD.

I had a partial ACL tear in a ski accident in Jan 1999. Little bits were balled up in there clicking away. I had arthroscopic surgery--3 tiny incisions--and was well enough to climb Mt. Foraker in late April. I have about 1/2 the ACL left and everything seems OK.

I can return them but I thought I would put them out there if anyone wanted a pair...you can try them on, save yourself the heartbreak of getting the wrong size shoes in the mail.

Just purchased a pair of Scarpa Freney (old blue type)in 41; they don't fit. Bummer. Brand new with box $160. I paid $170 from BD web, but they do not have 41.5 or 42 to exchange. PM if interested.

When i worked on a patrol I used actual $20 insulated leather work gloves from the hardware store. covered them in sno-seal. worked fine.

they won

Please complete this scientific survey. No information you provide will be used to exploit your weakness for gear purchases.

That's helpful. Thank you, i will get plenty of use out of that. I just started going back to the gym after 6 mos. and I noticed that my harness put on weight... that = letter grade Mark

I think 1200 ft might be about right. we did 7 pitches with 50 meter ropes, the last being a long simul-pitch. only the pitch past the chockstone was short. it took us a bit over over 5 hrs, which seemed like a long time considering the easy snow conditions. but much of that time was spent tinkering with the wrong rock gear, building crappy belays. the little bits of rock climbing also took some time. plus our ice tools were no good, and i had a blister. nick was also getting over a cold. one of my boots was tighter than the other. these things equal about a 3 hour handicap, so in fact we climbed it in two hours.

There is no "Colin".

Mammut makes one that looks a lot like that Stubai

Climb: Eldorado Peak-NW Couloir Date of Climb: 10/1/2004 Trip Report: Nick (Fromage) and I made it out to Eldorado Peak last weekend and climbed the NW Couloir. It was my first time to that neck of the woods. One of the most scenic areas I've been in the Cascades, or anywhere for that matter. We took a Friday to hike in there to be in better shape for a long day of mountain travel on Saturday. Unusual? Got some great views in the evening on the glacier of course. We bivvied right at the base of the East Ridge at a well-used, flat and comfortable site. Next day we took a nice walk around the North side of the peak, past the Dorado Needle, and got a look at the gully. It looked white in there, no hint of water ice. And that's how it turned out, all firm snow, easy climbing, but no protection except for a bit of rock gear (we had lots of useless ice screws but no pickets). We would have been much better off with more small stuff. Alot of the small cracks were parallel, so it was sort of tough to get little wires in. Mostly you just wanted a little gear before the rock sections, whih weren't too steep but did have some loose stuff. Here's Nick on some pretty good rock. It soon got looser. The "crux" was a few moves past a chockstone. I was able to get up high enough to get a good initial slot with my left tool, then get an armbar/shoulder wedge behind the chockstone. Another slot for the left and I found a deep hand jam behind the chock on the right. A bit of groveling and I was able to pull out my other tool and get an easy stick above the chock in stiff neve. I followed this with another styrofoam stick with my left tool. Golden. Then, as I dragged my right leg up through the offwidth, I felt my foot hang up on something. Looking down, I could see that skinny sling I had put on a piece under the chockstone had hung up on my curlycue Grivel toe bail. No kicking would free it, and I was too spread out and pinned to my tools to reach it with my hand. I started begging Nick to tie me off and come over and unhook my foot, since I was really only a few moves off the snow! Finally I cut my left foot free and kicked at my right. The sling came off the toe bail, but hooked up on the inside heel tab of the left foot(that tab that keeps the crampon from slifding back and forth). Dammit! Now I was really screwed, because i couldn't stand in the nice crack I had been using on my left. Again, I begged Nick for intervention. Reluctantly, he started to tie me off, but in a sudden burst of desperation I kicked the damn sling off and was free of my micro-epic. I might replace my curlycue bail with a more conventional one. After that the angle of the couloir eased up even more. Nick led the final simul-pitch, and at alst found a tiny bit of ice to put a screw in. Soon we topped out on the awesome upper knife edge. After an easy descent of east ridge (several other gorups out there), we collected our gear and started out. The hike out was pretty brutal by my standards. Fortunately we made it down the last boulderfields before head lamps were necessary. All in all, a great trip and cool route. With more ice, it must be a real classic alpine route. As it was it was still very, very fun, and very beautiful. Gear Notes: puny cams knifeblades if you use that sort of thing Approach Notes: my legs hurt...

Clearly Moore's enormous personal mass would be an asset in an unarmed confrontation. Armed, Hannity's superior speed and dexterity would se him to victory. No what makes folks think the firarm abolitionist Moore could outshoot Hannity, who keeps a Sig under his pillow and spends his free time at the range? Something I don't know?

It already erupted but a conspiracy of scientists, land managers, and KIRO 7 covered it up.