Dane

Wireless verifone? You got to be shitting me. Ever heard of a manual credit card imprint machine? Just how difficult does it need to be? I have seldom whitnessed such incompentence or arrogance that the NPS seems so full of.

I think I saw her once and Gibler's. Fast.....very, berry, fast

The good news is Mowich Lake Rd should be open by late next week (July 1?) with a meter or so of snow at the lake. But geezus make sure you call and ask specifically about the road if you are planning on parking at the lake. For the poor unknowing souls and the igit Ranger who can't be bothered to tell "everyone" that calls, "either bring cash or a check as they don't take CC or debit cards" for park entry fees and-or climbing permits. Carbon River is still in the stone age with pit tiolets so why should I be surprised at the level of help while trying to abide by the RNP climbing regulations. No cash (or a check) no climb! Nearest ATM is back in Wilkerson. Ask me how I know that? Why does the NPS even bother with a presence on the north side when it is so pathetic?

There is some beauty in throwing a man to the ground without hurting him (to me anyway) If you realise that every throw Segal is doing could just as easily be a break and a throw instead of a joint lock and a throw. It is about control. It reminds me of climbing in many ways. Both in the uke and in the teacher. BTW takes a very skilled artist working as the uke to allow one to show his skills. I am not a big fan of Segal but his art is very good imo. This is good: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1689807/steven_seagal_aikido_training/ The pants? The really funny ones are generally reserved the more skilled practioner granted a black belt. Basic idea is two things, something to grab and something to disguise your real form under the clothes. "Men's hakama The most formal type of men's hakama are made of stiff, striped silk, usually black and white, or black and navy blue. These are worn with black montsuki kimono (kimono with one, three, or five family crests on the back, chest, and shoulders), white tabi (divided-toe socks), white naga-juban (under-kimono) and various types of footwear. In cooler weather, a montsuki haori (long jacket) with a white haori-himo (haori-fastener) completes the outfit. Hakama can be worn with any type of kimono except yukata (light cotton summer kimono generally worn for relaxing, for sleeping, or at festivals or summer outings). While striped hakama are usually worn with formal kimono, stripes in colours other than black, grey and white may be worn with less formal wear. Solid and gradated colours are also common. While hakama used to be a required part of men's wear, nowadays typical Japanese men usually wear hakama only on extremely formal occasions and at tea ceremonies, weddings, and funerals. Hakama are also regularly worn by practitioners of a variety of martial arts, such as karate, kendo, iaido, taido, aikido and ryu-te. Sumo wrestlers, who do not wear hakama in the context of their sport, are, however, required to wear traditional Japanese dress whenever they appear in public. As hakama are one of the most important parts of traditional male formal dress, sumo wrestlers are often seen wearing hakama when attending appropriately formal functions. In addition to martial artists, hakama are also part of the every-day wear of Shinto kannushi, priests who maintain and perform services at shrines."

Watching a good martial artist is about as boring at watching a good climber. So no disagreement from me. But watching either should give you and idea of their respective skills. This is like watching Bachar in his prime on the Cookie. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/94751/steven_seagal_7th_dan_aikido/

"brings in washed up silver screen tough guy Steven Seagal to help him train in the deadly art of Aikido" Some of the best Aikido masters are really old guys. It is a western thing being fat. Aikido is serious shit and Segal still has some very fast and heavy hands. It could only be boring if you don't know what you are looking at. UFC? Segal as a human being? There is the rub.

Easy to go on but more fun to look here: http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/988679/Bad-Fixed-Gear-Pics

Nice catch Congrads to Jon and Will on their 1st successful Alaskan adventure!

Tuesday and Wednesday both had heavy percip locally with a freezing level at 5000' with a forcast 3" to 8" accum. of snow over the last two days on Rainier between 5K and 12K'. Suppose to clear up and dry out this afternoon through the weekend. That is the report but it would be more interesting and useful to hear from anyone on the mtn yesterday and today to see what really is happened up high.

Nick Hall wrote a great report. Nice of you to repeat it here Brian. You might want to make it clear that the info posted is not YOUR info by adding quotes. Because it gets confusing and suspect when repeated out of context on the Rainier blog, Nick sez: "In all my time at Mt. Rainier, I can't think of when I've known of so many people really worried about the avalanche conditions in June to this extent." as compared to this: On cc.com, Brian sez: "I'm from Texas, so Rainier is quiet a trip for me. I've done 2x before this trip, made it to the summit once.." Conditions are getting better as it warms up. And while still unseasonably cool the moisture we are getting hopely will be rain low instead of snow up high. Some sun will settle everything down quickly as the most recent climbs on the Ingraham show. This last Saturday and Sunday were good (everything being relative) for climbing. Hard to imagine the past week's weather now. While a little nasty yesterday and today, weather is improving again for the weekend and I would expect climbers summiting by most of the common routes. I plan on being on the mtn 6-18/21 myself with this forcast. Short of really terrible and rather unusually cold weather coming in again or even more unlikely, a heat wave, I suspect there is little reason to doubt good conditions for a summit attempt via any route on the mtn. for a few weeks. FWIW I have never missed a summit when climbing between June 15 and July 15 via 6 different routes.

From my own experience no one listed so far will be able to really custom fit a pair of boots for you locally. The guy to talk to is Martin at Sturtevants in Bellevue. Best to call and make an appointment with Marin I suspect. If you can, talk to him before you fly in so he'll know what to be be prepared for. I have had him do a couple pairs of boots. Generally takes an hr. or so. http://www.sturtevants.com/Sturtevants in Bellevue I heard he was leaving Sturtevant's this spring to open his own fitting business. North Bend..may be? Which is a few minutes from DT Seattle and a bit east of Bellevue. I don't know if that has happened yet. But he is worth hunting down if you want a really good fit done. The guy is magic with ski and climbing boots imo.

Most every shop in the area is limited on models and sizes. REI in Seattle, FF across the street and Marmot in Bellevue are all good but still limited in models. Likely the best place for a good mtn boot selection in the seattle area is Whittaker's in Ashford on the way to Rainier. http://www.whittakermountaineering.com/cnav/3/footwear Being a simalar size the other best place in Seattle to shop for boots is Zappos, seriously. http://www.zappos.com/climbing-boots?zfcTest=navAndThumbs:0

Chris I did ask just now and you are correct that policy is no longer in effect and hasn't been for a while. First time I heard of that decision was climbing unroped as a party of 3 in the mid '80s. No question we were told it was illegal and we would be fined if we didn't rope up. We were at Cadaver Gap and coming down from a ropeless ascent. We had a rope and did rope from there to Muir. But we were also told, "lucky for us we had a rope with us" or no question we would have been ticketed for climbing above 10K without being roped. I think it goes back to many things NPS related on Rainier, from several locations on the NPS web site: "Required for all who plan to climb above 10,000 feet or onto any glaciers." But thanks for questioning that....you were 100% correct. So much for that data being useful...

Ya, I agree on the tent issue but not so much the other one Matt. Nice idea but falls are more likely to occur on the decent when everyone is tired. Getting off any of the n. side climbs by down climbing isn't the smartest option imo. I've carried over a couple of times from the north and only bivied on the summit once. And that was a bad plan in retrospect. Did it the first time and thought better of it the next. We should have and could have just walked down to Ingraham flats or part way down the Emmons to 12K and spent the night in relative comfort. Over all, either would have been less of an effort than the bivy at 13,800 just under liberty Cap. Have to agree with Ivan. Best trips I have done on Rainier have been n. side climbs going down either the Kautz or DC. Those climbs seemed more like real mtn adventures.

Guess you missed my point Jimbo. I solo stuff all the time including Rainier. I just don't recommend soloing in general or Rainier in particular. Why the crusade? Easily answered. I think the NPS solo permit system as it is now, simply doesn't serve the NPS or the climbing community. And I think that needs to be changed. Nothing new about that. The recent death of a soloist just pointed the issue out to the NPS with some clarity. Your are right Success cleaver is "safer" than most Rainier routes. "Safe" being a relative term. Easy to forget SC as I haven't climbed on that side of the mtn. Thanks for pointing out my mistake. But between DC and SC as a solo route...anytime of year, all things considered? I'd venture to say DC is the more safe option. But everyone gets an option Success Clever is one of the longest climbs on a big mtn and no technical challange which might draw some. Awesome walk from Point Success to the summit though. I am looking for real data so I have links back to this poll on 4 or 5 climbing forums including supertopo.

Depends on why you solo. I suspect most of the Rainier solo climbs are just folks lacking a partner, wanting to do a quick ascent and not so much looking for the wilderness experience or technical challenge. Most will solo DC as it is likely the safest, big holes not withstanding and more people on the route to pack down that cow path. The Emmons imo is much more dangerious because of the holes between Sherman and the upper mtn. But there are no "safe" solo routes on Rainier any time of year. A few will do other more technical routes for the adventure and experience. But it generally takes some skill and experience to get on them or off them or both safely. And that doesn't even take into account the climbing. Much bigger commitment mentally and physically than on DC. Routes I'd recommend? Soloing on Rainier is a crap shoot...and seriously, a good way to die, cold, in a tiny little hole. I don't recommend it by any route. Mt. St. Helens is a good solo as is the N Face of Chair in winter. Rainier not so much. YMMV

I am so surprised that the NPS actually wants climber feed back that I am trying to take advantage of it and get a few of what I think might be improvments to the system. Suggestions are welcome or even better are your letters to the Park Service! I had suspected a big percentage of the solo climbers on Rainier were doing so without a permit. Maybe 60% from the guys I know. But I am really surprised from the small amount of data we have been getting, the non permit solo climbers are dbl that of those with a permit and register with the park. Even more interesting is 65% of the climbers who do solo avoid the NPS staff, doesn't matter if they registered or got a permit.

I had a good conversation this morning with the chief ranger at RNP, Chuck Young and a short email exchange with Stefan as well. I was mistaken in attributing all the changes over the last two years to Stefan. He was not the one totally responsible for what I might think was less services in the park for climbers. My apologies to Stefan for the misunderstanding on my part. Chuck Young (and Stefan) truley do care about how the NPS interacts with the climbing public and want to better the communication between the NPS and the climbing community. The poll else where on the forum is info that will help that situation. Hopefully more will get involvd there. I am hopeful from our converstaions today that the blog will become more active again, volenteers will step up to help and we'll see timely road and back country as well as climbing info incorporated from the NPS employees, private climbers and the guide services on the blog. The NPS doesn't want climbers avoiding the NPS employees any more than we want to have to avoid the NPS while on the mountain just to keep from being '86 out of the park. The NPS is at least willing to discuss some options available on solo requirments to bring Rainier National Park more intune with the NPS's typical" solo requirements and permit systems. Write a letter to the emails listed above if you have concerns or opinions you want voiced. They are willing to listen.

Yahoo, sunshine and dry rock! Nirvana!

BD first light. fits 3 very clsoe friends a little snug, 2.5# and will shake off any storm at least a time or two. I got mine on sale over the internet for $129. I never use my Bibler now, saving it for something big...besides just me

You have the right forum and lots of helpful people here. Although you may not like all the answers you get. But Whoaaaa guys.. I was't trying to start anything or be rude. I was just asked a simple question. Although you might not appreciate why I asked it. And you got a free bump on your question since no one had replied yet. Which you might wonder why no one has answered yet. I don't have the way points to share and if I did I'd still ask the same question. My apologies if anyone is offended it certainly wasn't my intention.

I'm a weight fanatic only because I am so freak'in fat and let's face it, old. I'm OK suffering more if I can carry less. Good bivy isn't suffering much. So far I haven't frozen anything drastic or really important. (wind briefs are important) If I have to carry it very far, I don't want to carry much

I'd find/rent a lighter tent for DC. Or better yet talk your buddies into packing it. I already know I'm a pussy. But you can use a lighter bag in a tent. Bivy sac, "if you're doing a carryover, by far the coolest way to do a giant hill" Ivan is, like soooooooo toooo cool

gotcha, thanks. Now if we can only talk you into doing just one more test but with the fuel cans packed in dry ice. Pretty sure that is the same exact temp last time I had to light my stove

I have been told the qickest way is via the email application..FWIW. Same day or next day return and approval is common.