Dustin_B

FWIW I use this stuff Really good info on poison ivy here for those interested/infected.

I am severely allergic to poison ivy and have gotton it an uncountable amount of times. I moved here to WA from TX 2 years ago and hadn't encountered it here until 4th of July weekend. Coming back down off of Easy Ridge (after attempting Challenger) bushwhacking until we found the trail. At some point during that bushwhacking session I picked it up. I got a systemic infection (I think that is the term) which is where it gets into your blood stream and causes swelling. (probably got into my blood stream through a bug bite I was sratching at the time). My arm swelled up pretty good with the normal yellow, pussing blisters, so on Saturday I went to the ER and got a Cortisone/Steriod and a Benadryl shot in my Swelling started going down about 36-48 hours later. My arm is much better now. I have recieved at least 6-8 Cortisone shots battling poison ivy in my life. I would rather get cut and recieve stiches than battle poision ivy. I hate it more than any thing besides maybe a broken bone. I once had it for over a month. Not fun. And for some reason, it is very unattractive to the ladies.

As Toast mentioned we packed out a lot of that trash. I'd venture a guess of 15 - 20 lbs between the 5 of us. (not to mention that one of our party members sprained their ankle near Hannagan Pass so we had to divide that 50 lb pack between the other 4 of us for the last 4 miles out). We still didn't drop the trash although very tempted too. We bagged up what trash was left in a big black trash bag so hopefully more people over time will pack the rest out. There are couple of sleeping bags and some other random shit but we took a lot out (~ half). We left a note with the garbage at the Glacier Ranger station saying our party was the ones to bring it out, where we found it, and what was left. Maybe the mountain will appreciate that and give us some good weather next time...

Iain, we (Toast and my group) passed you at the low point as you skirted around the impasse. I was in the front; were you the one who asked where we were camping and if we had permits to camp at Perfect Pass?

Did FC last year this exact same weekend (high snow year). There was still some snow in the chimneys at that time but we were able to scramble up the moat in those areas so it was pretty easy. FWIW, I'd guess the chimneys are mostly snow free at this point. The rest of the chimneys had a climbers path. No problems finding the entrance, seemed pretty straight forward. We had a small avi dump on us as we took a break right before the entrance into the chimneys, so watch out for avi chutes above you in that area. The chimneys are mostly 2nd class hiking with a little 3rd class thrown in there. There is one ~ 4th class section/move (called Fat boy's misery or something to that effect) and another ~ 10-foot step that has possibly a low 5th class move but no exposure. I found the Chimneys to be the least technical part of the climb and quite fun. There were some crevasses at the top of Whiney's Slide to contend with that made me more nervous than the chimneys proper. The summit pyramid also seemed to be more difficult than the Chimneys but there was a mixture of soft snow and wet rock so that might have had something to do with it. The base of Whiney's Slide would be a fine place to camp if you wanted to lug packs up there (I wouldn't). Otherwise Lake Ann is a fine place with a great view. Have fun and we look forward to a TR.

Toast and I and 3 others were up attempting Challenger this past weekend and we passed a guy coming down just as we gained Easy Ridge (around 6 PM) who had started at the trailhead at 1 AM that morning, summited Challenger, and was returning. I'm sure he would have no problem getting from there to the trailhead in less than 7 hours thus completing Challenger in a day. We were awe struck then, but had even more appreciation for his feat over the following 3 days when we found out the amount and type of terrain he covered in such a short time... I think that is a pretty impressive feat. I wonder who that was? Anyone care to take the credit?

How long did it take you other way? We took 23 this past weekend and it took 4 hours from Trout Lake to Seattle.

A friend and I skied Adams this past Saturday. It was both of our first times skiing outside of a ski resort and on AT gear. We got the hang of skinning up pretty quickly. (knowing how steep you can go took a little more practice). It took us 7 hours from the car to summit. Skiing down was cake until the slop got deep and made things tiring. 2.5 hours back to car. Grinning ear to ear the whole way down. I'm hooked!! Perfect weather. Shorts and tee shirt (or no shirts) on the summit. Calm winds. Awesome. There are far more people on that route and summit than any other mountain I've been on (by 10 fold). All ranges of experience too. Too many people glissading with crampons on, etc. I had an alpine experience with 300 of my fellow mountaineering friends... Road open Cold Springs, trail completely snow covered about 1-1.5 miles in (as was mentioned above). The drive from Seattle to Trout Lake is so suck. First time on Adams, first time skiing a mountain. So far I've summited Baker, Rainier, and Adams all for the first time and all in the month of June. Bring on Glacier. Now its time to start looking for an AT setup for myself PS - thanks for the beta. don't know anything about any one being rescued. didn't see anything on Saturday.

Back on topic.... I'll be on a 4-day climbing trip on some mountains in the PNW. I'll tell ya more when I get back but I don't want anyone getting any ideas and crashing our party. We're hoping not to see anyone because its pretty remote. Have fun whatever you do.

Eiger Sanction has nudity (not on AMC though), Cliffhanger does not. Eiger Sanction wins.

Any one been up there this week or last? How far is the road to Cold Springs melted out now? gracias. One of the most popular routes in WA in no one has been up there in the past week or so??? beta?? Can you skin up out of the parking area right now or is there bare trail for a while?

Any one been up there this week or last? How far is the road to Cold Springs melted out now? gracias.

It would have to be between 5 and 0-degrees to get a -30 degree wind chill with 60 mph winds. see here I agree 15 degree (or even 5 degrees) and 60 mph winds are quite possible. We had 15 degree and 40 mph winds the weekend before up there and that was in great weather. That wasn't my point though. My point was the media always glamourizes this kind of shit and it pisses me off. They were all to happy to print in big headlines "9 climbers stranded on Mt. Rainier" which is crap. I guess since there haven't been any local mountaineering accidents this year they are 'thirsty'.

I was up there 2 weekends ago. We summited at 7:30 AM and when we got down close to camp around 10:30 - 11 AM we saw people starting to head up!! So, that makes summiting at 11 AM not seem so late I guess. I wouldn't want to be up there that late though.

From this newer article: "Visibility was only about 10 feet, and winds whipped at 60 mph. They wore six layers of clothing on their upper bodies and three on their lower bodies, but still began to feel the effects of minus 30 degree temperatures." hmmm. here is another source quoting -30 degrees and 60 mph winds. These conditions yields a wind *chill* of -76 degrees (and a frostbite time of 5 minutes) from the NOAA website. Are we sure this wasn't in Alaska someplace? I think without down suits they wouldn't be able to climb in such conditions, but what do I know? I find the quoted conditions unrealistic for summer time on Rainier. Do you?

Instead of getting used to the pain - get new boots! Seriously, unless you use your boots once or twice a year, or use really crappy socks (buy some smartwools!) your feet shouldn't hurt! My ankles are too week to use approach shoes with any kind of pack, so I go with lightweight hiking boots. My boots are very broken in and I wear them, on average, every other weekend this time of year. I can't imagine technical mountaineering boots being any more comfortable for short to moderate approaches. I'm very interested to hear what kind of mountaineerng boots you have that are still comfortable after 45 miles though. seriously! will you share? And I already wear smartwool, exclusively. they rock. thanks,

This is what I am leaning towards for my trip. My boots only weigh 3.5 lbs so it shouldn't break my back too bad when I have to strap them on the pack. Thanks for the advice everyone. You guys are the tops

What do you wear when doing a glacier climb with a long approach (15-20 miles or more) such as Olympus, Challenger, etc? Do you: a) wear your mountaineering boots the entire way and suffer the pain; b) wear trail shoes on the approach and carry your boots (hopefully they’re light) for the glacier; c) wear trail shoes the whole time (I can’t imagine this being much fun on the glacier/snow) ; or d) wear lighter, more comfortable (possibly waterproof) hiking boots the whole time including the glacier portion (this would seem better than option c))??? For c) or d), what about when it gets technical and you really need some good stiff boots. Did I cover all possibilities? I’d like to know what you do?? Last summer I climbed Olympus (40-45 miles roundtrip) and wore my mountaineering boots the whole time. They are pretty comfortable, generally, but I can’t imagine a pair of boots being comfortable after 3-4 days and that many miles. My feet were really hurting by the end. Should I just get use to the pain on such climbs? Generally its not much of a concern for the ~12 mile or less approaches, I just wear my boots; it’s the longer approaches that I don’t have a system for and that I’d be interested in trying something else out. gracias

I have the same 'insulated' boots. The solution is to keep moving. They are not good boots for moving slow or stopping in. I'm afraid you will need plastics because those are probably some of the warmer leathers made.

Sweet!! good TR, thanks.

After hearing a story about a proficient downhill skier struggling on AT gear their first time out, I'm thinking I might need to be more concerned about the descent on AT gear. I'm a relatively proficient downhill/resort skier (blacks and doubles), but does the sloppiness of AT gear 'level the playing field' between proficient downhill skiers and never-been-skiers? Is Adams a good place to learn? gracias

I assume you actually mean 'above' Schurman as in on Steamboat Prow / Camp Curtis. You could find a bivy spot there off the snow for sure. We took a break there on a nice large level spot that was mainly dirt.

I was thinking about renting some AT gear and skiing Adams this weekend. Never skied outside a ski area (and local backcountry there). Is this a good mountain for my first time? How is the snow on the south side right now for skiing? Never rented AT gear, is it pretty easy to ascend? Not worried about going down, only up. Thanks.

Tony, Mark, Dave and I hiked up to Emmons Flats on Saturday, 14th. Left camp at 1 AM Sunday for summit. Pretty cold and windy at camp, only got worse. On summit at 7:30 AM. 1 other team of 2 on summit, which was cool for Rainier on a Sunday in June (what gives?) . Back at Emmons Flats at 11:30 AM. 1 hour nap. Hike out. Route fine, no dicey snowbridges, bergschrund can be avoided by heading to the notch between Russell Cliff and Columbia Crest and passing on the right. Basically to top of Whinthrop Glacier. A little out of the way but safe. It was so cold and windy up there we were climbing in down parkas, shells, balaclavas, hats (all our clothes) and were still cold. Nalgene froze every 15 minutes or so even in semi-insulated holster. Full moon was awesome, cast shadow of Rainier to the north. Estimate 40 mph winds at top (conservative) and probably 15 - 20 degrees. It was nice not see anyone all the way up. Sort of alpine-experience like. Different story on the way down. Clear and beautiful at the top. Pit toilet at Schurman nice and clean! Coming down around 11:00 AM (almost down at camp) we passed a couple groups starting up! With the slop we were coming down in I thought those guys were nuts to be heading up so late. No reason to rope up on Inter Glacier as the 2 or 3 crevasses are easily avoidable. Anyway, that was my second attempt of Rainier (same route) and my first summit. Yeehaw!!

I agree, it is a nice pleasant walk and it keeps people away. I hope the bridge doesn't go up.