Alex_Mineev

You do not have to summit on Columbia Crest to call the climb complete, any of the three summits would do.

Success Cleaver

I think sky view would be somewhat comparable to the one at Muir hut, may be even better.

Just wanted to use climbing pass one more time before it expires No pictures, next time

Climb: Rainier-attempt on Fuhrer Finger Date of Climb: 12/29/2004 Trip Report: Expecting bad weather not earlier than Wednesday noon Aaron G. and I tried to run up the Fuhrer Finger. Left Paradise at 10.30 yesterday in perfect conditions; we hiked up the Nisqually glacier to 9500ft (4.30pm) where we dug a platform on 35 degree slope protected by a rock outcrop almost below the finger. The plan was to start climbing at 10pm under full moon and meet sunrise on the way down from the summit. Well, it did not work that way. It started snowing at about 8pm, by 9pm we could see cloud deck just a thousand feet above us lighted by the moon. So at 10pm we decided to abandon and started packing out under increasing snowfall and spindrift. Way down was simple - most of the time we followed our tracks. Heard a huge ice avalanche rambling down from Kautz ice cliff. Few notes: Nisqually glacier was in very good shape - we had zero problems navigating it. All the way after descending to the glacier from Glacier Vista point we were postholing, sometimes few inches, sometimes knee deep. Beckey says there is a good bivy site at 9500 near the finger - we did not find it. It's all steep snow slopes, rockfall debris and steep walls, so we had to dig a platform. Anyway, it was a nice day on the mountain

Congratulations!

thanks! here is my b-day shot

http://www.mgear.com/pages/product/produ...Breathable+Tops

Use code 6V-RE9-CSZ6P by December 31, 2004

You will want ice ax and crampons. You will not need rope.

This would be a very long hike. Westside road is closed, so you will start at Longmire or Kautz Creek trail, both making it more than 11k elevation overall and 7-8 miles of approach to 7k elevation. Both trails are snow-covered above 4k. I would expect mix of wind-loaded snow spots and icy pitches along the cleaver (based on conditions of Muir snow field 3 days ago). Very unlikey that you will make it in 2 days this time of year - may be 3-4 days of strenious work given only about 9 hours of day light.

teeth grip is aid

Three days ago I was able to drive up to the Stuart lake TH on a 2wd car with chains. Road is Very icy, as the trail. Not much snow.

Well, the pair of Ice9k I got weighted 7+ pounds. Impressive boots. I was ready to forgive this extra pound+. If not the problem with the right inner boot - I’d keep them... I ordered Asolo AFS 8000 from www.zappos.com The shop has free shipping, free return shipping and they have a bunch of climbing boots.

I ordered and tried Alpinistas - too narrow in the toes area, other than that - just perfect... Returned and ordered ice 9k from mgear. So far fedex says the package weights 10 lb. I wonder how much of it are the boots...

Thanks Michael, I am going to give Alpinista a try - I can always return them to REI if something goes wrong. In few places they say Alpinista runs large and recommend ordering one size smaller - how true is it?

Thanks! I found couple one-year-old threads with some opinions. Would be really useful to know what people think now. I was pretty happy with my current boots in the beginning but then changed my mind after a couple difficult climbs... link 1 link 2

Hmmm... Sounds like it does not have to be fun to be fun. May I should just get Freney...

Can not find any decent reviews on them...

Does anybody have any experience with Vasque Ice 9000? Can't find any decent reviews on the web... Do they worth the money? I plan them for winter climbs above 10k in Cascades and warm season climbing on Aconcagua and Alaska.

We were constantly traversing left and up until we got to the spot with soft snow and with a 45-55 degree slope toping on the crest of the ice cliff. There were multiple opportunities to climb over the small overhangs, but I did not feel safe enough to attempt climbing over any of them + I knew there would be soft snow above the overhang and tools would not stick, so climbing over it would be very scatchy + we had backpacks which would make dancing on them a bit clumsy + we already had at least 2 hours of climbing thru icefalls on the approach to the cliff... (I am severely hammered at work these days. We'll get together as soon as I checkin my piece of code)

Dammit, Alex, I TOLD you not to post that photo! How come that when I look at the picture I see the mountain, but when tomtom looks at it he sees the polypro?.. Anyway, what is it kinda secret code? Polypro makes one look like a montee?

The spot is flat and protected by another couple hundred feet of almost flat terrain crossed by 10-15ft wide crevasses... We spent there only 4-5 hours in the coldest time of the day. I think risk was acceptable.

North Ridge Baker, east side NR Ridge Baker Sun reflecting of the ocean. View from our bivy site Tom, NR Baker Me at the bivy site, NR Baker Views from our bivy, NR Baker © Tom The ice cliff. Me going up. © Tom Me at the second belay © Tom Shuksan from NR Baker route © Tom 100 feet below summit © Tom Me on the summit, NR Baker Baker crater © Tom