Buckaroo

Seattle cuz it's centrally located between Banff and Yosemite. You could live in Index but you'd be commuting to Seattle to work every day on 2 lane hiways. Why not just live close to work and drive 1 hour to Index to climb on the weekend? I also drive up there after work sometimes on the long summer days. Exits 32 and 38 1 hr. L-town is 3 hrs. WA pass is 3.5 hrs. Smith is 5 hrs. Lilloette is 5 hrs. Banff 13 hrs. Yosemite/Sierras/Red Rocks 14 hrs.

I would take crampons and an axe regardless of if you need them or not.

I would take 2 liters each and one stove for the party. You can split the weight, stove and fuel. You're not taking sleeping bag or tent on summit day so you won't notice the weight. On a mountain this big I think a stove is one of the 10 essentials even though I don't really have a list like that. There's just too much that can go wrong causing you to get pinned down. Water is the first thing you run out of, and you can't live long without it.

I think you are right if you are on a majority of low angle slopes. Once you get 40deg or steeper though you might want a shorter axe. I have a 70 that I would use on one of the Rainier walk ups like DC cleaver or the Emmons but I want my 50's for something like Liberty Ridge. In some cases I've taken both a 70 and a 50. I don't climb the volcanoes as much as I used to so the 70 has been collecting dust.

The pictures are a little on the small side

It differs by time and distance. On anything that involves hard hiking/climbing the only thing I eat all day is energy blocks and water. Then for dinner I'll have instant soup or a freeze dried meal with bread and plenty of olive oil, sometimes instant potatos. For longer trips I'll include canned sardines or something like that. Also plenty of vitamins, C, multi B, or something like EmergenC. I did the Ptarmigan traverse with 6 people in 9 days. We had a guy that was 76 yo. He brought a bunch of sardines and a pound of butter. We all laughed at the pound of butter but near the end of the trip we were asking for some.

""Got them welded at the shop our company uses and they broke again next time out, very near to the weld which made me think the heat of the weld somehow weakened the Al."" all aluminum used for climbing gear is hardened. When you weld aluminum the heat brings it back to it's dead soft condition, IOW unhardened.

Looks like you had a good trip. You don't get that kind of ice here even in the dead of winter. March is the best time for Banff, warmer and longer days, but late March you have to be careful. We were on Weeping wall one time and our belay screws were melting out within minutes. Kept having to cover them with snow and re place them.

I remember one year there was a team of 3 that climbed Liberty ridge and were hit by a storm near the top after summiting. They dug a small snow cave but then one of the party stepped through the roof. I seem to remember only one of them survived. Not sure if it was summer but it def was not winter. One of the early deaths on Rainier was on the Emmons. Delmar Fadden was found at 13,000'. Victim of a fall, found with one crampon missing and the other half off. Another crampon related fatality on the Emmons involved a climbing ranger who had borrowed some crampons and one of them came off, which led to a fall. A front had come in and turned the upper 2,000' into hard alpine ice which contributed to the crampon failure. You want a really bomber fit and the points need to be sharp.

I've spent time in snow caves on Rainier in winter. The longest was 5 days at 10K. The hardest part is maintaining air holes through the night hours. When the snow is coming down hard you have to clear it about every one to two hours. It's tough getting up at that interval throughout the night, you better have a good alarm. I was solo, it's probably easier with a team where you can do shifts. Granted it is conjecture to say whether the recent victims dug adequate snow caves but it seems quite frequently people going to Muir get killed in a snow storm and they don't dig snow caves and it's usually during the normal climbing season. So if they dug snow caves why would they still not be alive? Avalanche maybe. I would guess that more people have died from storms during the regular climbing season than have in winter. Granted less are climbing in winter but summer is still not something to be trifled with.

Probably a good idea if you are getting on Rainier is to know how to dig and maintain a snow cave. Four people died this January, 2 were going to Muir and 2 to the summit. They might have lived if they had their snow cave skills down. Granted that was winter but sometimes there's not much difference. You can take a shovel but if you don't have one you can dig with a cook pot.

On Big Four, the regular route from the East. In spring, drizzle and white out. You have to go past a restriction in the gulley then up and and it turns West. The white out got so thick couldn't tell where to go. Decide to turn around I hear this noise that starts subtle but then increases to a deafening roar. But with the low visibility can't see a thing. What the heck? So I'm going back down and notice that my tracks have started a point avalanche. Oh NO! I'm stuck and have to down climb through the avy zone. Being a point avy there's still a bunch of snow on the sides and I have to traverse at one point through the snow that still hasn't slid. If you've never prayed before, you start praying. Went back down through the restriction, totally avalanche scoured. The snow slid about 2000 ft all the way to the base, huge debris pile. Back when I was young and dumb, and lucky. Before the internet and online avy reports. The other worst incident was getting chased by a ma grizzly with two cubs at Mt Sir Donald. Set the Guinness World Record for putting my boots on.

I think it's just generally accepted that aluminum 'pons are for like you say short sections of easier hard snow and such, and not for something like vertical water ice. I've been on hard ice with aluminum 'pons. It was on the descent of Dragontail at the top of the glacier, it was about 100 yards of 30 to 40 deg alpine ice. It was scary. I think it's because they flex so much that you don't get as good of a stick. I think with really hard use, like on vertical ice, that if you tried to bend them they would bend. You just don't see that because people don't use them like that. If you stay on neve you shouldn't have a problem

I can agree with this. The key point if you do the quick way, getting up, and back down quickly.

agree with that One thing that can happen with acclimatization is if you've ever done something like a Colorado 14er then you think Rainier is the same. It is not because the CO take off point, the valleys, are all a mile high. Compared to Rainier where you are usually starting near sea level. It's the total gain that you are dealing with. 14K in one day is near the limit for humans. There is two things that your body is adjusting to. One is the thinner air, less oxygen. When you go to elevation your body builds more red blood cells to flow more oxygen. You can somewhat offset this by being in good aerobic shape, with a margin before max aerobic effort. The added red blood cells thickens the blood. If you have compromised circulation, like from hereditary conditions you can use a blood thinner like aspirin. I use Ginkgo. The other thing that is adjusting is pressure differential, there is no training for this, and it only happens so fast. Basically your body is a sealed unit. When you go to altitude the external air pressure drops and your internal pressure has to drop to equalize. It's like a diver that gets the bends, same principal but in the other direction. HAPE and HACE are caused by this pressure differential. No amount of training is going to improve or compensate for this. I climbed Rainier with a group of about 35 one time, in two days. Everyone was in pretty good shape having trained for 2 months or more. About 1/2 the group either didn't make it or got dragged up. The ones that got dragged up did not have a good time.

I would NEVER get on Rainier with aluminum crampons. The Emmons is the easiest route and people have died on it due to crampon failure. The single most important piece of gear. Period. You're spending 3 to 4 days. If a little cold front develops you're not going to want to back off just for that. What happens is you get a couple of warm days that melts things up high then you get a cold front, or the mountain making it's own weather and you get boilerplate ice. A couple 1000 feet of boilerplate ice is no good with aluminum crampons. If you don't have the strength stamina to climb with that amount of weight you shouldn't be on the mountain. Same for goggles, have fun with a localized ground blizzard, especially if your wearing contacts. I've seen 60 mph winds even on clear days. A large factor towards success is acclimatization. It's really difficult to go from sea level to 14K in one or two days, for many people it's a sufferfest. If you stretch it to 3-4 days, it becomes easier and more enjoyable.

that's insanity. You fall in a slot you are probably going to hit your head on hard ice.

I wouldn't trim anything from your initial list (except maybe the extra rope). Especially not the mits. That's just safety margin on a big mountain. Especially if there's an injury. Ski poles you are using on approach and leaving at high camp. Also you are going to be leaving your bag/tent at camp so weight shouldn't be a problem on the climb. I would do the 45L pack though, just get some sil compression stuff sacks to get it all in and tie the rope to the top. the only thing on your gear list that's questionable is the BD SS cramps, known for cracking/breaking, some more of them broke this ice season. Probably a really slim chance but people have died on the Emmons due to crampon problems.

So very true! Lockers on draws is overkill and extremely annoying to the second! When I'm on a climb at my limit and there's only one piece holding me from a death fall, and the piece is at a good rest spot or a spot where messing with the locker is possible, I like to use a locker draw.

I've never seen caribou (at least not that I know of) but I have seen a small herd of elk up at the trailhead to Mt Si, two weekends in a row now, about 7 or 8 of them. Just drove through the Idaho panhandle in the middle of Feb, didn't see any game though.

The main mistake this guy is making is not using slider aiders. Step aiders are a thing of the past. Sliders are quicker, lighter, and allow you to get higher each piece, plus with the slider system you can eliminate the daisies which cuts down on the clutter and speeds things up. Comparing costs you break even, Sliders are more but you don't need daisies. It takes me 20 pieces to climb City Park with step aiders and only 18 with sliders. The reason being is the higher step. Step aiders are fixed length, sometimes the top step is too high and the next lower step is not as high as possible for the piece. With step aiders the highest step is a compromise because it's set to a height that works with a vertical piece. If it's just off vertical it physically possible to step higher. With sliders they are fully adjustable so you can get the highest step on each piece. The clove hitch is pretty good for aid, you don't move the knot every piece, only every other piece. Another thing you can do to increase safety is tie a backup knot, about 2-3 of them per pitch depending. I rope solo free climb with an aid soloist, I know it doesn't protect upside down but I figure if you climb like a cat and use backup knots you'll be okay. I've done a couple of 6 pitch routes, you have to go at the summer solstice cuz it takes all day. My best climb to date was Davis Holland Lovin Arms. I fell at the 10c crux on a .75 DMM Wallnut, it gave me confidence in the system. The trickiest thing is rope management. Depending on the situation I will stack it at the belay, rope bucket at the belay, or rope bucket at my waist. I have a really light homemade rope bucket, a sleeping bag stuff sack with a wire velcro'd to the rim. No one makes a light weight rope bucket. The Silent Partner might be good but I don't like the fact it forces you to use 2 lockers and the cost. I just haven't got around to getting one.

approach tennies will work with alum crampons but you have to realize their limitations. Your going to be sketchy on hard ice especially when it gets steeper. Good for short sections but wouldn't want to try any 1000' ice faces. I like the Camp Nanos with the steel inserts on the front points. Looks like the Exum Guide is the better shoe for the money.

Hey, I have copyright on that one.

Sweet. Nothing like a multi pitch with some air under your heels to ramp up the fun factor. My first multi pitch was what got me hooked on rock climbing.