chris

I'm equally biased in the other direction - I believe that historical and current traffic of the Muir corridor has made this area a non-wilderness, in fact if not in name, and that we should do everything we can to minimize that impact. Someplace that gets 500+ day hikers, sleeps 100+ at night and another 72 on the Muir snowfield or Ingraham flats is not a wilderness. Wild - for sure. But not wilderness. If you've been lucky enough to use a hut in Canada or New Zealand, then you know what I have in mind. New Zealand's Department of Conservation decided back in the 1970's to encourage hut construction, believing that concentrating the human impact in an area was more valuable then dispersing the impact over a borad area. For camp muir, we're talking about concentrating 50-60% of the impact into buildings and 17-25 tents outside, instead of having 35-50 tent platforms on the dirt and surrounding snowfields. I would prefer equal shelter available for guided and non-guided users, and the shelters should consist of nothing but unpadded sleeping platforms or bunks and a fire-proof, ventilated cooking counter. Its already been cited that toilet facilities provide better sanitation than blue-bag policies. Consider the camps at the Kahiltna Airstrip and 14000 on Denali if a blue-bag method was applied instead. Because 100+ people are getting their water from snow melt at or near Camp Muir, it makes logical sense that toilet facilities are preferable to blue bags. I would have a different opinion on this if: the day use traffic wasn't as high and two we weren't reliant on the immediate snow around Camp Muir for water. Because of the heavy foot traffic, remediation of the saddle has to occur. So my talking points are: *The Muir corridor is not wilderness in fact due to 700+ day users and almost 200 night users. *Fixed shelters preserve what wilderness character still exists by concentrating impact into a smaller radius rather than dispersing it over a greater area. *Because of the high user traffic, toilets provide a higher level of sanitation, critical for the water supply at the sight. *Remediation of the trails and platforms must take place to preserve Camp Muir as a viable site. *Therefore, I prefer Alternative 4, although the public shelter is too small and should be expanded into the 3 unit structure depicted in Alternative 3. Mt Rainier is wild, but Camp Muir is not a wilderness. It shouldn't be managed as such. Let's be realistic and trying to create a concentrated, minimum impact for the current use.

This is inspiring - thanks for the TR!

FWIW, I usually tie a kiwi coil with a normal tie off, and then tie an 8 or an overhand on a bight and clip in. A butterfly is unnecessary (the pull is still in one direction).

Trip: Boston Basin - Torment, Sahale - S Ridge on Torment; Quien Sabe - Sahale Traverse Date: 8/11/2012 Trip Report: Photos to come later, but I wanted to post a conditions report. Just got home last night from a three day trip into Boston Basin. We camped at high camp on Wednesday night, but only found one small spot melted out, and a second wall just starting to show. In the morning we climbed the S. Ridge on Torment. Getting across the Taboo was straight-forward, and the bergschrund bridge is 150-200' wide right now. While we didn't see any rockfall or ice fall on Thursday, a descending team did witness a BIG event on Tuesday, and we saw the debris littering the fan underneath the 'schrund. Don't hang out here. The South Ridge notch is a straight forward step across. A rappel station at the top of the 25' first step (described in the Select) gets you back to the snow. 60m rope mandatory for the rappels on the ridge. On Friday we carried up and over Sahale via the Quien Sabe Glacier/Sahale Glacier routes. The hike out was surprisingly long - we thought smoother trail would make up for the longer distance. In the end, we agreed that the alpine scenery made it worthwhile, but you need a good pair of legs and light packs to feel good about it. We saw some folks hiking up to climb the Sahale Glacier route with 65+ liter packs - what's up with that? Gear Notes: Cams - 1 set to #3 Stoppers - I set #4-10, even sizes only 4 shoulder slings 2 double-shoulder slings 1 cordellette biner bits and bobs crampons and ice axe Approach Notes: The trail is completely melted out - hike high to find a crossing at the last creek before low camp (high that low camp's elevation), and drop back down to camp.

FWIW - 5mm cord is rated to 1169lbs, or 5.2 kn. Which is more than enough (in my opinion) for the static loads it will be tasked with when used as part of an anchor or as a friction hitch in a rescue. Also, I usually use kleimheist and autoblock friction hitches with dyneema slings. Regarding the stopper knots - DPS and I can attest that they work, when I fell into a crevasse on the Ruth Glacier the knot actually stopped my fall before the rope even became tight on DPS. Made me a convert. For crevasse rescue, I use (and teach) a drop C to the victim, then I build a 6:1. If the rope isn't long enough, I'll try to extend the locking carabiner to the victim with my cordellette. If that's not long enough, I'll resort to clipping into whatever stopper knot that can be reached - although that's never happened to me in practice or actual application.

I'm looking for the old Exit 32 stapleback. Don't need to buy - but I'd like to borrow it long enough to scan it into a PDF. If you have a copy you're willing to share and you're in Seattle, please send me a PM. Thanks - Chris

You're looking for A Rock Climber's Guide to Bellingham Rock! by Jason Henrie. The Outdoor Center at WWU used to have a reference-only copy.

Good one, that makes you somewhere between 50 and 80 years old to anyone who doesn't know you... I wish I still had my Jrat harness - the first harness I ever owned...

FWIW: Feel free to contact Mammoth Mountaineering, Sierra Mountain Center, or Sierra Mountain Guides for the latest conditions. They're happy to share. When I lived in Bishop, that big dark streak down the U-Notch was the sure sign that its season was over. If you absolutely want to climb ice, send me a pm and I'll recommend a few routes to you.

I'm looking forward to checking them out at the Summer OR Show - I'll try to post some more photos afterwards!

FWIW, I regularly travel on a team of three with a 30m rope. With 15m spaced out between people, safe, effective and efficient crevasse rescue can take place. Sometimes I'll add butterfly "stopper knots" every 2m between the first and second climbers on the rope as well. Likewise, with two people a 30m rope is adequate. Either have both climbers carry 7-8m of rope at the ends, or give all 15m to the back. I almost always use butterfly "stopper knots" for a two-man team. Just my two cents.

Trip: Forbidden Peak - East Ridge - West Ridge Traverse Date: 6/27/2012 Trip Report: After climbing the North Ridge on Mt Baker earlier in the week, warm temps and rainy forecasts dissuaded us from attempting another North Face like Shuksan or Buckner, as well as a longer rock route like the Torment-Forbidden Traverse. A fitting compromise was the an integral traverse of Forbidden Peak via the East Ridge to the West Ridge. A photo from the previous weekend showed the East Ridge snow-free, it would be in the sun, and a full day climb. Tuesday's storm did put some snow on the mountain, but Wednesday's sunny weather melted it all away. On Thursday, the warm temperatures were evident in the post-hole boot pack we kicked in from our camp at 6000' to the East Ridge, but the ridge itself was snow-free except for one 15' notch. The climb is very straighforward, and we mostly downclimbed the West Ridge, switching back to our boots about 200' short of the col. Four 100' rappels got us most of the way down the couloir, and then we kicked steps and plunge-stepped the rest of the way out. Note - the East Ledges is still largely snow-covered, especially on the upper half, and was not a viable descent option. The West Ridge Couloir is still in good shape for travel, although I would stay to the climber's left side of the couloir. The buttress anchor/rappel stations on the climber's left and outside of the couloir have not all completely melted out yet - I spotted only one anchor 200' below the ridge. There is a lot of snow in Boston Basin - an AAI guide told me he probed 6' on top of the toilet bin. The weather had turned while we were descending, so under a threat of rain we packed up and hiked out in the evening, reaching the car before dark - although it did start raining in the last hour of the hike, and we just accepted the soaking as part of the admission price. More photos and information can be found at my blog - Climb | Ski | Sleep | Repeat. [img:center]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-WnNtGIqFwmc/T_M6c3DFpZI/AAAAAAAAQ2E/h9xmb93_2vg/s640/7476777022_934a689220_o.jpg[/img] [img:center]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-zL9Y71qfDK0/T_M6gcuf9bI/AAAAAAAAQ2U/Osi-kxuIzJU/s640/7476750196_58a852810c_o.jpg[/img] [img:center]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-kI6txkIKq2k/T-8ejXWoGQI/AAAAAAAAQ0s/acVhTA-bIKU/s640/DSC01629.JPG[/img] Gear Notes: rock shoes recommended one set of stoppers, #4-#10 one set of cams, #0.3-#2 (six total) 6 shoulder length slings 2 double-shoulder slings 1 cordellette 1 60m rope Approach Notes: The trail is almost snow-free to treeline. Almost. Still, we lost the trail for the last 200' or so of elevation into the bowl.

Photos added.

Nice work!

Trip: Mt Baker - North Ridge Date: 6/24/2012 Trip Report: Hit the weather window perfectly for a Monday morning ascent - went to bed in the clouds with a few light showers, woke up to clear skies and a weight bearing neve/crust all the way. The traverse across the Coleman at 6500' works fantastic right now. The right hand (western) slopes to the ridge looked awesome, but we went to the left hand (northern) side to move a little bit faster on lower angle terrain. If you want more technical climbing, go right. The ice cliff that has guarded this variation looks really spooky, with a lot of hang-fire just waiting to come down, and a lot of fresh debris below. We moved through the firing range one at a time very quickly, then traversed some more along the bergschrund/crevasse to gain the ridge. At the headwall, we went far left, around the ice arete, where we found a single 55m section of AI2/3. Above was 2 1/2 more pitches of steep snow. Instead of topping out on the dome and then traversing to the summit, we managed to traverse low at aproximately 10300'-10400', into the north face bowl, and had a direct, simple walk to the summit. By the time we started our descent, the southern aspects and lower elevation snow became boot-top to knee-deep post-holing. The Coleman-Deming was quite the experience. Times: 3:00 - TH to Hogsback 8:45 - Hogsback to summit 3:15 - summit to Hogsback 2:15 - Hogsback to TH [img:center]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T-u38OpN0QY/T-8eFuhVBlI/AAAAAAAAQz4/dmF1pkEPApo/s640/DSC01618.JPG[/img] Looking at the west face of Mt Baker on the morning of Monday, 25 June. The "right-side" slopes to the North Ridge are very apparent, and look really, really good. [img:center]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rNEhRbXOTG8/T-8eH9YnAyI/AAAAAAAAQ0I/8eoWzDlYC68/s512/DSC01622.jpg[/img] The sole ice pitch on the face left side of the headwall, to the left of the "ice arete". Gear Notes: We took 6 screws to protect the ice pitches. Instead of bringing pickets, we deadman'ed our second tool for anchors on the steep snow pitches. Approach Notes: Road is open all the way to the trailhead. Patchy snow until the Kulshan cabin site.

Trip: Mt Baker - Circumnav, ascent BP Cleaver, ski Park Glacier Date: 6/12/2012 Trip Report: Skied a counter-clockwise circumnav tour on Mt Baker from the Heliotrope Ridge last week. Camped at the Hogsback, at 6500' on the Easton Gl, at the toe of the Boulder Park Glacier, and at the Mazama/Rainbow Saddle. Had hoped to climb and ski Colfax and Sherman Peaks, but the weather wasn't cooperating. Had blue bird skies on Friday morning, the day we planned to climb to the summit via the Boulder-Park Cleaver, and skied the Park Glacier via the Cockscomb entrance. Fan-freaking-tastic day. Saw the helicopter circling to the west and thought that there may be a rescue in progress on the North Ridge. That same day, as we were 1500' below the summit, we saw a team of 10 who appeared to be following our traverse track across the Boulder Glacier toward the Cleaver. I assumed this was a guided group or climbing club who hoped to climb the BP Cleaver in the morning. That evening, at the Mazama-Rainbow Saddle, we were shocked to see this same group of 10 coming down the Park Glacier at 9:30pm. They had just traversed the entire east side of the mountain on foot in a day. They were moving slow, so we went to sleep before they arrived. In the morning a set of tracks leading past our tent 30' away and into the clouds were the only sign they had been there. A lot more details can be found at my blog. LINK My top five photos from the trip below. [img:center]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-qsGls4kg4Go/T-KnNFuT6tI/AAAAAAAAQpU/wxEMfw4soso/s720/IMG_5446.JPG[/img] [img:center]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0l5bVSuH6UU/T-KnvzPkp-I/AAAAAAAAQtk/dEQniNkwbk4/s720/IMG_5754.JPG[/img] [img:center]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EZ8Xg3agUBw/T-Kn51lxi5I/AAAAAAAAQu0/s8b6w4REsIk/s720/IMG_5860.JPG[/img] [img:center]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aQvNfWLILjg/T-KoG2Csb6I/AAAAAAAAQwE/JXd1ubP4wNw/s720/IMG_5932.JPG[/img] [img:center]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-muVjkEBRdj0/T-KoXTQrKkI/AAAAAAAAQxs/Zu8mAeSWupQ/s512/IMG_6019.JPG[/img] Gear Notes: We had 1.5 clear days out of 5. GPS, compass, maps, and navigation skills were essential to this trip. Approach Notes: One last pile of snow blocked the TH parking lot, which I imagine is melted away by now.

Thanks folks - this is exactly what I was looking for.

Brooks Range makes a great version of an 8'x10' tarp with a velcro lining that seals it into an 8'x5' "envelope" bivy sack that easily fits one, fits two in a pinch, and fits three long-wise sitting up. I take it with me on most trips. Note: They're now made 10'x10', 9'x6', or 8'x5'. There's also a KISS groundsheet that's really reasonable. LINK: http://brooks-range.com/tarps/

The shop at Snowboard Connection has possibly the best splitboard kit service available - they've bought the tools to do it as precisely as possible, and quite likely will do a better job than most of us could do on our home benches. Drop in and ask them about it.

Kurt- I'd be stoked to help out - give me a call and let's get a beer.

I have two - unrelated - problems with my feet and I'm looking for a podiatrist and a sports orthopedic who understands our activity. Any referrals for such here in Seattle?

Rockclimbing.com has a bigger international following and a searchable members list. Repost there and take a look.

This is the team I saw going for the summit on the one possible day, and who passed us two days later going down. Nice work! The incredibly bit - after getting avalanched off the east ridge, they circumnavigated the peak to the west side to climb the Kings Trench instead.

Are they then going to belay you with a munter on the next pitch? Or is this assuming that this is the topout pitch? I know Blake likes to mix up his belay devices, but assuming you and your partner are both using a reverso, once you nick his reverso and put him on belay to lead the next pitch, he cleans the reverso off the anchor before he takes off. This saves time faffing with the anchor and gear.

We were certainly the slow and steady itinerary. Hans Kammerlander and Marcus Neumair climbed it in 9 days and were back at the airstrip in about 24 hours from their high camp at 5000m (Windy Camp).