Dane

Reilly you are unappreciated by the kids here. That answer deserves an entire thread!

Hey Reilly! was Rainier even a National park back then? rotflmao NPS paper work is only there to scare off the ones that shouldn't be thinking about it anyway. Soloing or climbing above 10K unroped and being ticketed means a day in Federal Court. Paper work is easier and cheaper. Federal Judges seem to have little sense of humor. Need a rescue for any reason? No permit and you'll pay the bill. What do you think a Chinook rents for by the hour? Back in Reilly's day bi-planes were $5 a day

Looking to buy a couple of the classic curved alpine picks that fit X tools on up to the current stuff. Any condition short of broken will work. Send me a PM and how much you want for them.

Earlier this week. One of several about the same size coming down during the week. 3s and 4s have been common. Not much better now and people still climbing on Cascade. Much to the wonderment of the locals. Sobering. Y'll be careful out there!

The Ninjas, the Marathon Scrapa rock shoes, and Kayland appoach shoes are gone.

Bird dog is right on...my post was assuming you had climbed Rainier. If not I would suggest a 3 day trip. Depending on the route a night at 9 or 10 and a second night out at 11 or above will make summiting a lot easier. I really don't like 2 day trips on Rainier because so many either get sick or are just too tired from the first day going from 4 or 5000ft to 10K. And yes, you do need a permit to solo Rainier (which takes a few weeks to get) or for that matter to climb unroped above 10K feet as we found out on our first one day climb. Three of us climbed "together" on DC. We didn't rope up and were seperated by several minutes on the route both getting to Muir and above Muir. That wasn't the original intention as we did bring a rope, it was just the way it worked out. None of us were concerned. Clients and their guides commented to the Park Service, who then made a point of talking to us. I wouldn't say soloing Rainier is hard by the easiesst routes. I live close to the mountain and it is the easiest way for me to climb it when the weather is good and conditions are solid. But and it is a BIG caveat I don't think soloing any route on Rainier is the smartest idea.

Don't be offended...bet the owner was just as shocked as you are just seeing the video. My dub-ass labor doddle puppy did the same thing through a half opened rear window out of my truck at 45 mph when he was 7 months old...trying to get to some kids on bikes. Why? I have no idea other than he loves to run with me on the bike. Bounced off the pavement and slowed him down to a walk to the kids...kinda in a daze. I get to see the entire thing out the rearview mirror as my wife looks on in horror. Scared him BAD, eyes the size the tea saucers. Scared us even worse since we were in traffic! I locked up the tires, skidded to the side of the road and bailed out to pick up what I thought would be a dead dog. Thank GOD he is a wooley bugger because he wasn't hurt at least externally. But didn't seem to slow him down later in the day. He hasn't come close to bailing out a window sense. Not that I give him half a chance. Love him to death but he's still a silly dumb ass Just like his buddy, our female Rottie. Gotta love them!

I've done Rainier in under 12 hrs r/t by two routes, several times. And almost half that time once on DC. With normal gear..well sorta because we never roped up and one of my buddies never bothered to put on crampons the first time. And in today's super lwt stuff, again unroped last summer. None of them would be considered a "speed" ascent. Gear you'll use isn't a big deal..gear you carry (or more importantly what you don't) on your back is. I don't carry much and not much of what the Mountaineers ( or NPS for that matter) would want you to have. Runners (running shoes or trail runners) to Muir or close to Muir every time. Boots the entire way on the other routes, Katz and Fuhrer Finger. I took 3 liters in bottles on the first trip and 4 liters on the others. Pushed fluids the day before and just before heading up. I like to summit with a full liter. Last time I took a MSR stove and brewed up at Ingraham flats on the way down in the morning. Didn't have too but wanted to enjoy sunrise and morning. I've started at any time between early evening to midnight depending on how fit I have felt. As I've gotten older I have found I like an early evening leave time which gets me to Muir in time for a nap in the hut and a little something to eat and drink out of the wind. The guided parties usually wake me up and I am out the door before they are and then long gone. Hate to be climbing under big rope teams or having to pass them in the middle of the night so better to just be off before they get started. Which is easy enough to do. Just my opinion but if you are in reasonable shape and take care of yourself during the climb with hydration and food a one day climb is the easiest way to do Rainer. If you start to feel bad just turn around. Pretty quick to get off if the conditons are good. Which they need to be for me to make a one day ascent. I look for a good cold spell with a clear sky just after a warm weather period. I also like to see the trails lower down clear of snow. But that isn't required as long as the snow is hard for easy walking to 10K. Planning on a north side route this spring, done in the same way and coming down through Muir. Couple of guys have posted on their one day speed climbs. Worth hitting the search function to look at those.

Yes, I still have the pair.

Rope bag, Marmot pack, black Alex wheels, N face Goretex, Chouinard biners, BD piolet and the Dbl boots are gone.

No question stuff falls off the left side as well just not generally in the hundreds of tons that you get off the right side on a regular basis. A lot of the left side gets wacked/knocked off over there by climbers getting on the pillar so the amount of ice is generally a lot smaller. Although we climbed up to the last tier on the left last year and did the tier on the right by walking behind it. Pretty common as well 'cuz the left hand exit can be a little spooky hiking out onto the vertical. The right hand curtain had come off the week before on that trip and again -30 temps during the day. Tons and tons of ice covered by the snow along the donkey trail. My point is that on a grand scale Louise Falls is one of the safer ice climbs in Canada. No real avi danger to start with. It is the first place I go when the avi danger goes up. Although in the right conditions you could easily get buried or dumped into a tree on the walk down off to the top. Ice fall is always a danger on any water fall climb. No disrespect but Louise looks awesome any time it is up and is only a death trap if you aren't aware of conditions and how those conditions might effect you. But that is why you call them "traps" You wouldn't go there if you are aware of the danger. Hey, we have all had good scares and get caught if you do it long enough. And trust me, glad it was you there and not me when that curtain came down. Even happier you can write about it. Again and I mean this, no disrespect intended. Be happy you can learn from the experience. Major weather changes either way, chinooks or big freezes, any amount of wind, snow in any amount, and the volume (high or low) of water in the falls are all things that need to be looked at closely while weighing what you want to or can climb. Fun stuff to think about on your next trip north Pretty obvious now but making the wrong choice on those things can easily get you killed on Rogans Gully or Weeping Pillar. Technical difficulty has little to do with how "hard" ice climbs might really be. Same climb, same week from a year ago, '08. Typical conditions in early Jan. I think 9 or 10 of us climbed it that day. Two of us on the left side at the top of the last pitch. At least one huge colapse off the right side recently that season although it is hard to believe from the hangers on there now. But hardly a "death trap". Also easy to see the trough where most of the shit comes down the first pitch.

Hey, at least you're out there doing it! New route as well...nice

You left out the most obvious..."he seems to fall off a lot" Nice photos though!

Rockies ice climbing isn't what most of us try to deal with on WA ice. In Canada it is generally the deep cold snaps that pop the hangers not the chinooks that come later. Gadd and Issac both note that fact in their technique books. I supect you'll find similar info in both the ice and mixed guides to the area. Same reason most locals don't climb water ice when the temps drop radically or below -10/15. That said Louise is one of the few moderate climbs that most can get on with big hangers above them. Instead of the desperates that are free hangers all on their own. I've climbed Louise dozens of times over the years. All but a couple via the far left side to the upper tier. Climbing on the far left you get a longer climb and are protected from any ice fall and trash kicked off by the others likely on the climb. Keep the temps in mind and at times the upper right hand curtain can make a fun climb. But it also falls off several times each season as they get deep freezes. Take it as a learning experience and just be thankful that you lived. Obviously it could have turned out very differently. There is nothing "safe" about climbing waterfalls, even the easy ones can bite you if you aren't aware of how conditions effect them.

Took snow shoes once. Next half dozen trips I took touring skis with lwt weigh touring boots not atc gear, carried my dbl climbing boots. Always left skis at 11K on the west but and no regrets. So much easier to move quickly in lwt gear it makes carrying your mtn boots no big deal.

I suspect this applies to any really big boot as well. I wear a 46 Spantik and have a really hard time getting crampons to fit properly to them. For those that haven't seen them, Spantiks have a big rocker and a huge sole profile compared to most single boots. Gone though a bunch of different crampon styles trying to get a good fit. Some of the modern crampons aren't wide enough under the forfoot to really perform correctly on these boots. On others the sizing seemed just a bit off. Enough so I wouldn't want to use most crampons on these boots on a difficult terrain. Not happy with the 'pons I was able to fit up "right" so I kept playing with the boots and the several pairs and styles of 'pons I own. Turns out what made all the difference was the heels on my particular boote were ground with a bevel to the outside of the boot sole. Rear bales and 'pon length sizing was really hard if not impossible to get right. I finally noticed the problem on the sole. It took 5 minutes on my bench grinder to change the bevel to the inside. Most crampons should now fit to my satisfaction and my own crampons fit perfectly. Most importantly to me I can get a pair of Dartwins on them. I suspect a close inspection of any boot sole is worth a look if you plan on using clip on 'pons and are having problems. Hope this helps someone else down the road. It has been bugging me since last year on the Spantiks.

Not saying you can't die doing this sort of thing but remember it is someone else speaking for Steck in your quote. If you have kept track, Steck seems pretty squared away doing this (climbing hard mixed) kind of stuff. Blood from Stone comes to mind as well. http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/pillagecanadaice07/ http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/swissrocketmen07/

http://www.alpineexposures.com/pages/ueli-steck-smashes-the-grandes-jorasses-north-face-record wowsiers!

Paul do you have time to come over? I know the drive is really shitty.....

I agree Ivan. I'd wondered about his motives when he bailed. Cricky though, I have to call my wife everyday when i am out now. If i don't make the evening call home she's not happy. It gets stressful for everyone. Me trying to make phone service and her wondering why the hell i haven't bothered to call yet. We are still trying to work that out after years of marriage and mutiple trips. So getting emails from your kids every night on a multiday climb that is beating you up physically would totally drain me mentally. With much more to come I understand it totally. Good on him for putting it all in print.

Well dude, you may not have been a prick then but you certainly are being one now. Super topo and Gadd's site as well. I have a few buddies that like shallow angles in the alpine as much as I do. So I have coughed up some to them. Not like you or I will ever use 50+ fucking pins. I've been doing this shit for 30+ years and bet I haven't left 100 total pins between Alaska, the Alps and the Rockies. And I have left at least 5 complete racks, including shoe laces a few times getting off things that I can remember right off hand. "Weak", dumb ass is having shit you aint using and never will...like the 56 pins you just bought (what, half of them baby angles) or asking for a deal 'cuz you dropped a C note. I aint selling as you noticed...what I asked was anyone want to trade. That would mean to me, "if you know what a shallow angle is and have need for a couple you look through your own alpine rack, pull out a double or two you could easily replace" and then send me an email. More like a public service to guys who actually know what they are and how they are used. If not, "they aren't here, you don't need them, now move along". But may be trade doesn't mean that to you. "Betters my take?" Dude they are freakin iron last I checked, shallow angles and hard to find to be sure but none the less pins....made to be over driven, dropped, lost and left. Replacing them one for one on a trade for a used (or new for that matter) pin hardly "betters my take". My plan this week is to leave a fairly long line of fixed pins up 6 or 7 pitches of mixed limestone. So I hardly worry about bettering "my take". But feel free to stop by the next time you see me out and I'll be happy to show you just how much of a prick I can really be. Till then, unless you see me post a for sale sign on "SMC shallow angles" shut the fuck up.

Although frowned upon there is pleanty (if you are careful) of room to walk down inside the tunnel.

I have a several dozen, new, short and long SMC shallow angles. Not going to use them all. Willing to trade one for one on long Bugs, blades or thin LAs. Used is fine as long as yours are still in decent enough shape to still pound on. Send me a PM. Not interested in any other gear trades, thanks.

I really like the Sportivas and had/have several but LWT is generally going to translate into not all that durable long term. From the Euro catalog, a little heavier but pretty much bomb proof. http://lasportiva.com/catalogue/catalogo.php?cat=1&cod3=338&Language=EN

Perfect PM sent.