tomcat

catbirdseat, Oyvind, Duchess and I summitted Rainier via Gib Ledges at 2PM Feb 25th. The route is definitely in, and slopes seemed fairly stable. The snow conditions on the upper mountain are horrendous for travel, and we postholed (sometimes hip deep) all the way to the summit from Camp Muir. The ledges themselves were very soft (as was much of the snow encountered on the entire climb), and so was the upper Nisqually/Gibraltar chute. The chute was what we were most concerned with as far as avi danger. The chute had sastrugi lining both sides with loose, shallow sluff in the middle. We hugged the rock and cruised right up. We decided to descend the Ingraham Direct then we split off down through Cadaver Gap to save time. Summit temps were a balmy 15 degrees with a calm wind (max 25MPH gusts). Wear a helmet! I got plopped on my hard hat by a 2 inch diameter Gibraltar pumice bomb.

We summitted at 2PM Feb 25th. The route is definitely in, and slopes seemed fairly stable. The snow conditions on the upper mountain are horrendous for travel, and we postholed (sometimes hip deep) all the way to the summit from Camp Muir. The ledges themselves were very soft (as was much of the snow encountered on the climb), and so was the upper Nisqually/Gibraltar chute. The chute was what we were most concerned with as far as avi danger. The chute had sastrugi lining both sides with loose, shallow sluff in the middle. We hugged the rock and cruised right up. We decided to descend the Ingraham Direct then we split off down through Cadaver Gap to save time.

We'll be up at Muir tomorrow night. See you up there.

$70. I'm not sure how I got that much, but I'll take it!

I'm not sure how much time catbirsdeat has, but I've only got 3 days (Monday-Wednesday). I'd be interested in waiting an extra day if conditions weren't just right on Monday night. Are you going to be on the mountain? They're forecasting the winds to change direction [North] as high pressure builds Saturday evening. But will 2 days be enough to settle this huge accumulation of snow we're getting tonight? And will it solidify enough to not make it a wallow fest up to Muir?

I like to think I'm in good condition. As of now, the avi conditions don't bode well for Sunday according to the latest report. If the outlook for Monday is similar to that of Sunday, I won't be interested in being on the mountain. However, the weather outlook for early next week [sunday - Tuesday] certainly looks conducive to the settling of existing slab layers, in which case I'd definitely be interested.

I am interested. What time are you leaving to Muir?

Colonel, You can't go wrong with the SM Experts. I was apprehensive about buying them because I thought they would be too stiff for long approaches. It turned out they were just right. I wore them on slushy snow on Shuksan and my feet stayed completely dry. I also wore them in the wet brush on the approach to Dome Peak. My feet never got wet. I think I'm going to buy another pair ASAP. Did you find any good prices on them? If so, where?

Bomb Iraq!

I have the Salomon SM Experts and they're some of the best boots I've ever worn. One of my climbing partners has a pair of Salomon Pro somethings .. maybe it's the Pro Ice .. not sure ... but he loves them. That's about all I have for you on Salomon.

You can't go wrong with the Lowe Alpine Adrenaline pants. I bought a pair for $80 .. they are super light and are fairly durable .. watch out with crampons, but that should go without saying. You can stuff them in your pocket and they have full length side zips.

For your purposes, I'd either go with a Wild Things Ice Sac or a Wild Things Andinista. They're both light, they both have lots of accessory loops and daisy chains, and they're very well made. I would go with the Andinista because of it's versatility (you can zip it down smaller for day trips). The weight difference is negligible between the Andinista and the Ice Sac considering the huge difference in volume between the two. Also if you haven't looked into LaFuma's packs, give them a look. I have the Baltoro 70 and I love it ... it's not light like the Andinista, but it's very comfortable, durable, and quite functional (minus the bells and whistles that the Wild Things packs offer). Things I like about the LaFuma : Well made (heavy fabric), 2 large [1.5 liter] water bottle pouches on each side, aluminum frame with arched construction and ample adjustability, the most comfortable pack I've ever carried, simple. Things I don't like about the LaFuma : It's too simple. The LaFuma doesn't have enough accessory loops for me .. it looks like it was designed to carry only a mountaineer's axe (not ice tools). In order to pack on bivvy gear, brain bucket, snowshoes, snow shovel, skis, ski poles, etc you pretty much need to bring an extra 60m rope with you to tie it on there with. Other than that it's a great pack. I have heard really good things about the Arc'teryx Khamsin series (my pops owns one), but have never personally carried one.

OK, I'm going with Buck again. Upon further review, I see Helmet Butte way in the background on the right .. the portion of Buck we are looking at in the photo should be the East [Northeast?] Face, and directly behind Buck should be Glacier Peak.

Yeah I agree with Trask. Fuck Buck.

Looks like the infamous Buck Mountain.

When you need to separate two complete ideas, use a semicolon. A colon is used when you have a complete idea followed by an incomplete idea (for example, a list of items). For example : I climb all the time and I work all the time. The above is an example of a run-on sentence. To fix this, you would say, "I climb all the time ; I work all the time." As you will notice, what comes after and before the semicolon could stand alone as a complete sentence, but when the two are included in the same sentence, it becomes a run-on, hence the inclusion of the semicolon.

I just tried to upload ~1 MB photo to the gallery and I got the following msg, "Your file exceeded our limit of 250kb. kb. Please go back and try again." I tried again and got the same thing. The "Disk space remaining for your account" says "10240.0kb (10,485,760 bytes)". What am I doing wrong?

Well, I guess it all depends on what you're reading when you really get down to it. There's a big difference between reading the funnies [naked] and reading the latest copy of studpuppy [naked]. I get cold easy, so being completely naked in the mountains only happens to me when I'm changing my britches out -- something that only occurs when the conditions are primo. I guess if it comes down to it, I could always hide in my bivvy sac when you're having one of those naked reading episodes -- this is the type of thing I'm willing to do to climb great mountains.

Whoa ... wait a minute, I didn't see the part about reading naked. I usually make it a point not to get too close to naked men. Plus I wouldn't want to get in the way of your solitary hobbies.

I want to do this same trip in late Spring exactly how you mentioned. The only problem is none of my climbing partners will be able to get 4 days off at once for quite a while. If you don't have a partner in mind when the time comes, drop me an e-mail. Climbing resume available upon request. I was thinking late May-Early June (maybe late May will be more likely with the low snowpack we have thus far into the season).

I love my Thommen analog altimeter. Those Swiss really know how to make things with tiny parts.

What don't you like about the Andinista Iain? What sucks about it? I've carried lots of packs from Dana Designs (old Dana Designs), La Fuma, and even Schoenhoefen. This is the best back I've ever carried. I like its light weight (under 3.5 pounds), it has a LOT of room (5200 CI), it's well made, it's versatile (with two ice tool sheaths, a LOT of daisy chains, and it can zip down smaller for increased agility and maneuverability on day climbs), and did I mention it's LIGHT? The best thing I like about the Andinista, though, is the weight distribution. The pack has a large surface area against my back and I find that I don't notice the larger loads nearly as much as I would with, say, my LaFuma Baltoro 70. I guess buying gear is all just a matter of opinion, but to say a pack "sucks" indicates to me that you have a pretty strong dislike for the pack. Is it the weight you don't like? The fabric? Have you ever carried an Andinista? What qualities about it make it a "sucky" pack? I'm not picking on you Iain, I'm simply curious. And who knows, someone may be reading this who may be considering purchasing an Andinista and may benefit from the discussion.

Jim is a class a guy for sure and his shop is in my opinion the best hands down. He has the best selection, and the best service out of anybody. If you're looking for portable waffle makers, he's probably not the guy to go see .. but if you're looking for good, practical climbing equipment, he's definitely the guy to see. I agree about him being the anti-salesman (in a good way). I went in there with the intention to buy a sil shelter and a Wild Things Andinista and even as I had the money on the counter to pay for it, he was asking me if I had seen the other makes/brands/styles/etc ... its obvious that he wants you to leave his store with what you want, not just what he wants to sell you.

I'm watching the Super Bowl right now (GO RAIDERS!!!) because I'm not climbing. I'd much rather be climbing mountains, but not in the rain.

Maybe I'm in that 40 percentile that Dru was talking about. Or maybe it's the beer. http://www.bsa-troop237.org/prevent/pages/ghiar.html "the EPA says 80% of all water in the wild contains this protozoan, typically in streams and lakes, but even in the snow you might melt. Giardia protozoa spends part of their life cycle in the intestines of mammals. Think of all the mammals that poop in the water, directly or indirectly: the marmot on the boulder surrounded by snow, the pica scurrying around the rocks with a stream flowing under, the beaver that fouls the stream, the horse or mule that stops at each stream crossing to relieve, the infected Homo Sapian who did not wash his/her hands before preparing food."