kurthicks

yeah! And to add, the Eldo trail was pretty easy to follow up (if you know where it normally goes) to the boulder field last weekend. There was about 6-16" of snow over it most of the way, but I bet a lot of that has melted off since we were there.

see above.

Waterfall ice - flowing water that freezes into ice. Like an ice cube. Alpine ice - ice that forms from snow being compressed. like a snowcone in the freezer. in the PNW, folks often call any ice found in the mountains Alpine Ice. Snice - a type of ice that is a mixture of snow and ice. often easy to climb, but impossible to protect. dinner plating - a characteristic of cold, dense ice where it fractures when hit into large circular plates. Common in waterfall ice climbing. Plastic - ice that deforms when hit instead of fracturing. This often occurs when the temperatures are near to, or above, freezing. sometimes this is called "thunker" or "hero" ice. Styrofoam - a type of refrozen snow (not ice) caused by melting and freezing. It feels like its namesake. Often it squeaks under crampons and ice tools.

A couple trees that varied from 14-20" diameter. There are a lot of downed branches, but those are easy to deal with. I bet the road is melting out more by the day. The Hidden Lakes Peak/Sibley Road was drivable to 1800' according to some other folks who we ran into.

3/23 -- Drivable in a normal car to mile 13. With high clearance, a shovel, and a chainsaw, it would be possible to get to mile 17. Beyond that, the road has 2-3 feet of snow on it.

Cale, I think you're off to a good start for most of the moderate trad climbing in Washington. I'd drop the #4 C4 and double up in the .75C4 or 1 C4 since you're way more likely to be climbing hand sized cracks than wide stuff early on in your leading. Also, you might consider getting Fixe Aliens or Metolius Power Cams instead of the Master Cams (though this is another personal preference). You could also wait for the new BD X4 cams since they are pretty nice. No need for the tiniest cams (e.g. metolius 00 and 0), but rather I'd double up in the fingers and hand sizes.

If you're not using a guide service, then you are asking to be guided illegally. Although many of us (both guides and the guided public) would love to see the guiding regulations amended in our National Parks to allow for independent access for AMGA and IFMGA certified guides, that is no reason to circumvent the system. Any illegal guiding in the park is just that--illegal. Not to mention the probable lack of insurance and formal guide education of the illegal guide. My recommendation would be to hire a legally permitted guide to teach you the skills you want/need to climb Mount Rainier, but do so on another mountain (such as Baker, Adams, etc). There are many more legal options for this type climbing instruction. Afterwards, you could attempt to climb with friends you meet on CC.com independently and legally.

At best you can park at the Eldorado trailhead. At worst, probably mile 10 or so. approaches will be almost entirely snow, excepting maybe the first bit of the Eldorado approach.

Thanks Marcus and Bryan. I'll be okay with the gear I have lying around, so long as I don't go climbing a bunch of wide cracks. I do have renters and I'll see what they say to me. Fingers crossed!

My car was broken into last night (March 13) in my garage in the Eastlake neighborhood of Seattle. Basically, it was a red cragging pack with a double rack in it. I'm not expecting the gear to ever be found, but in case it was everything is painted with orange nail polish. Police and insurance reports are underway... Just keep an eye out if you would! Kurt Missing list: Petzl attache (4) Petzl attache 3d (1) BD Vaporlock (3) Camp Orbit (2) Camp Photon (35) metolius Gray 00 power cam (1) metolius Blue 1 power cam (1) metolius yellow2 power cam (1) metolius 120 cm nylon runner (2) Omega .75 Link Cam (1) BD Stoppers Set (1) #1 C3 (red) (1) # .3 C4 (blue) (1) # .4 C4 (gray) (1) # .5 C4 (purple) (2) .75 C4 (green) (1) # 1 C4 (red) (2) #2 C4 (yellow) (2) #3 C4 (blue) (2) #4 C4 (gray) (1) 10mm dynex 60cm slings (8) Positron quickdraws w/carabiners (12) Bluewater Lightning 60M bi-pattern dry climbing rope (green) (1) GriGri (1) ATC-Guide (1) CAMP Joker V-thread tool (1) Trango Piranha knife (1) First aid kit (1) Pieps alpinist pro backpack (red) (1) Epi pen (1) BD Spot headlamp (1) First ascent Sirocco windshirt (red) (1) Outdoor Research Equinox pants (1) Patagonia R1 fleece pullover (1) Canon G15 camera (1) Sandisk 16gb memory card (1)

There are many, many options for tents on Denali. A few thoughts: 1. Do NOT take just one three-person tent for three people. Taking a three-person (for use at 17k by itself) along with a two-person tent down low gives you way more space and makes it less likely to get on your friends' nerves. Plus, two smaller tents make it easier to move into pre-built walled campsites compared to one larger tent (and if one person bails, they can take the small tent). 1(a). Use solid and tested four season mountaineering tents. This is not a place to save weight. 2. Take a megamid as a cook tent. Worth every ounce. 3. No one snow caves unless they're stuck at a camp for an exceedingly long time and are bored. Take tents. Save weight by getting in shape, not doubling up on much gear, and by going mid-to-late season when you can get leftovers from descending teams at 14k camp.

I've got a set, but they need some new heel pieces. thinking $80.

Mine (pictured above) popped out when I was putting it on this morning. The field repair is to slide the bar out of the plastic housing, reposition it, and reinsert it where it should be. Then it stayed on all day. Thankfully, it happened while I was chatting with a British guide. He'd seen it a bunch before and knew the fix... I will be ordering a replacement, however.

Here are my heel pieces from pre-stainless Cyborgs with probably 50 days of use on size 44 Nepals. I have a similar thing going, but less severe, on my 2012 stainless Sabertooths. I wouldn't call this a failure by any stretch of the imagination, but they are wearing out.

Saw folks on February Buttress on Sunday. Looked dry to me.

armatron (often w/the Myster Z start) Olive Oil Ginger Cracks (w/top rope of Power Failure on rappel) Purblind Pillar Cookie Monster Y2K (5.8 w/one .10a move) Buelah's Book to upper Solar Slab route of your choice *and for the Rendezvous, it's in April and will only affect certain crags, but nothing in the canyons.

feels like it to me.

Gerber-Sink on Dragontail got climbed in the last week. Heard it was scratchy. I bet you could wallow up the North Buttress Couloir of Colchuck.

seattle.

O'Grady's Pantry out at the Sleeping Lady. Turn off Icicle Road and park in the first lot on the right. wifi too!

Who cares what it's rated? It looks like a great route that I wish had stuck around a while longer. Nice work guys!

$475. you pay shipping.

Going to Denali? 90 Liters should do it! Still up for grabs. it's like this, but blue (see below). $360 new...you get a deal!

Sold.

I've got a brand new Hilleberg Nammatj 2 GT (extended vestibule) that is just sitting in my closed, unloved. It's red, brand new, never set up. It still has tags on it! Retail is $740. Asking $550 (OBO) shipped.