Dulton

Here's another....

Pictures courtesy of Nathan Obergon......

I have some pretty nice pics if you guys wanna see em' but i'm an idiot when it comes to computers and i don't know how to post them... i think the file size is too large.. what do i do?

Headed down to Paradise to do the slog up to Muir for some conditioning and to check out the Gib Ledges route. The snow at Paradise has finally caught up to the average snow-pack, I think there was about 13 feet at Paradise so it seemed that Gib Ledges still could be in season and might be for a couple more weeks. The gate opened around 8am (an hour earlier than usual) and the drive up to Paradise was a little icy at spots but pretty good otherwise. Started out under blue skies with an approaching front from the east. The snow up to Pan Point was fairly well consolidated and the winter route was in pretty good condition. There have been many slides over the last few days (mostly wet slides), but if you go early enough the snow is hard enough that it isn’t a problem. Didn’t really need snowshoes the whole way although they would have been nice to have below Pan Point on the descent after the sun had softened up all up. About 1:30pm the clouds that had been approaching finally reached it to the snowfield and as they moved across small-scale whiteouts settled in. We made it to Muir around 2pm and the snow was still in good shape. One person made it up there before us (a skier) and we met a first-timer up there named Jim and he tagged along with our group. We descended after an hour or so up at Muir through the clouds again… the snow started to fall on us and the wind picked up from the south. Made it beneath the clouds and the snow was still falling (even though the temps were way above freezing… 38 degrees?). Other day hikers had turned around because of the deteriorating weather, after I gave some crazy confused directions on how to use a compass to a couple of guys (one who was planning on doing Denali in a year I think) we continued to descend. The snow was horrible for glissading (although Greg brought a little flexible sled thing and he got some good runs in on that thing as we watched and trudged downward L), I imagine that it would have been great skiing or snowboarding on the way down tho! I met a five man team heading up to Muir who were planning on doing the Ledges in the next day, I thought it was a little late to head up to Muir and the weather wasn’t looking promising, but WHATEVER! Made it down to the car in about 2 hours and realized that we forgot the sunscreen DOH!! We all got pretty burned, so that wasn’t fun. When we got to the car we had a car full of people from Chicago who didn’t seem to understand that we had only gone half way up the mountain and interviewed us for their personal home video as the people who “conquered the mountain” hmmm, that was a little strange but we got a good laugh from it on the drive back. One question for y’all… one of our group (who had never been up to 10k feet before) came back and is suffering from a punctured lung. Is this from the fact that he had never been at that altitude or something else, he wasn’t pressure breathing or anything like that, I just feel bad because Greg and I were moving fairly fast and he was pushing himself pretty hard and have never been up that high before. Hope that’s enough beta for ya! All in all it was a fun trip and good conditioning, hoping to go back in a couple weeks and complete the Gib Ledges, i'm hoping those guys that were heading up there post their TR somewhere (their from Minnesota tho!).

these days the days seem to run together, i think its withdrawls from climbing.... DARN school!!!

Going up tomorrow... (Friday), to check out Gib Ledges or maybe ID, and of course to whip my butt into shape.... I'll let you know.

is how i feel when i can't be in the mountains...... and and is how i feel when i am in the mountains.... I'm searching for good bouldering routes and first ascents on my school's campus... yea, i think i have a dependancy....

maybe a shell too...............

it looks like those guys have been too much.... its all good at least they know how to have a good time!!

Nice job! Sounds like a pretty sweet trip, what did you bring for gear?

OK.....has anyone been up the Slot Coulior route recently and if you have, what was the snow like?

Wow i never really thought of that.... I'm sure he'd be willing to "take one for the team"

DANG!! I thought i was being all creative too..... Sorry bout' the name too, I knew it was also called Slot Couliort but Enigma sounds so cool!! Honestly tho, has anyone been up there recently? Hows the snow?

Has anyone been up the Enigma Gully recently? Thinking about going up that route this weekend and was wondering how much snow was in the gully. Hmmmm, maybe if the avy conditions aren't too bad we'll make the first descent of the Enigma in a Tobogan P.S. Does anyone know any good tricks for stopping a Tobogan on a 50 degree slope??

I doubt you'll have trouble finding a partner, what are you looking to climb?

I think y'all scared her away.....

Stone Gardens on Sat.... woowooo

Climbing in the gymn on Saturday and going up to Bellingham area to climb on Sunday.... me like dry......

....i had that one coming....

Well winter is pretty much over... did anyone go for it?? Or is anyone planning on heading up to Olympus this spring, assuming spring doesn't totally suck for weather like it usually does?

Hahaha.... if we make enough cash, we could set up in the crater on Rainier.... (wow, i think i'm taking this too far......)

TTT, if you bring enough to share/sell I'll give you 10% of my cut!

I'm thinkin' the next time I go up Si, i'll take a couple flats of pop and an 8' table and set up on the top and charge 2bucks per soda..... good workout and I'll make some bank... anyone wanna help??

I got there relatively early - 7ish, so I caught the gaper show on the way down. It wasn't just the plastics and giant packs some of these folks had, but full alpine regalia complete with helmets, ice axes, and one dude with - I shit you not - wands!! .. but hey, if I wasn't such a gaper myself I would have been somewhere other than si. My calculations included... Plastics: 2 (Gotta break them in sometime right?) Helmets: 2 (Probably for the Haystack) Axes: 10 (Don't wanna slip on the muddy trail!! And besides they look so friggin' cool!!) Shovels: 2 (Lets make an igloo!!) WANDS: 2!!!!!! (I don't want to get lost... SHEESH!) Honestly tho... if you wanted to carry the weight wouldn't be easier to take a bunch of water and then drain it all on the top to save your knees?? I refuse to beleive these people actually think they NEED this gear, but are going for the workout (like me). I'm not a fan of weight... I'd rather go fast and light and go up and down a couple times rather than carrying 50 or 60lbs on my back.

Where does the trail to Bench lake start from? Does it follow the ridgeline? How did the traverse look from Bench Lake over to Buckindy? Thnx for all the help!