Superman

Wow, she's a real hottie.

Fa sho .. that sheezy is all good .. go hit it up.

I think he's talking about Spring (May), not winter?

I'm feeling the Sierra Nevada Christmas Ale or whatever it's called.

Dome from Sentinel?

You definitely won't need an axe this time of year.

klenke, The summit of GH isn't really a problem .. it's a couple of fairly easy moves.

We're just on Ama Dablam for those days. We're giving ourselves a nice weather window for the actual climbing (it should only take 2 days to climb Ama Dablam once acclimatized). We will be trekking for 3 weeks before going to Ama BC.

Yeah, we're doing the SW ridge. We will also be climbing the East Peak of Lobuche East, trekking to Island Peak, Everest basecamp, and Kala Pattar for acclimatization. Good times!

I know this is a long shot, but myself and some friends have 2 slots to fill on a permit to climb Ama Dablam. We will be climbing between October 3-16, but the permit is good for 40 days. Price of $800 per slot includes only your share of permit and liaison officer costs. Let me know via e-mail or on this post. Thanks. keepen_bearem@yahoo.com

Climbed Rahm, Custer and Spickard Sunday from a camp at Ousel Lake (approach was made Saturday afternoon via Depot Creek). Rahm was fairly straightforward, and offered excellent views of upper Ross Lake and the Devil's Thumb. We opted to traverse Custer Ridge rather than drop back down into the nasty scree below to climb Custer. This proved very worthwhile. The ridge is comprised of relatively solid rock and offers views into Canada as well as the peaks of the Northern N. Cascades. The traverse took about an hour and a half and soon we found ourselves under the SE Ridge of Custer staring at a big pile of choss. The reported route on the SE side of Custer looks impossible (without rope) from afar, but is actually quite easy once on route. We followed a series of steep gullies (class 3-4) and traversed a few false summits before finally reaching the true summit. The views of Redoubt from Custer are phenomenal. The NE Face of Redoubt looks very ugly right now, and I would not recommend trying it. Bring some kahunas and a rabbit's foot if you do! We were thinking about making a trip out of NE Face Redoubt on this outing, but decided against it due to a TR found here on cc.com .. thanks for the warning! From Custer we dropped back down into the Silver Lake basin and picked up our glacier floss, and crampons that we had stashed earlier. We then ascended Spickard's N. Glacier and exited to rock about 400' below the summit. The rock on this side of Spickard is relatively solid and fun scrambling (class 3-4). The best part of the trip was the Custer Ridge traverse -- lots of fun with extraordinary views. Another fantastic trip into the N. Cascades.

Better route (IMHO) here ... http://www.ericsbasecamp.net/trips/JackMtn/JackMtn.htm This is the best way I could describe our S. Face route to you (there are MANY variations) : line yourself up with the big butte looking thing below the S. Face (you will be East of the summit by about 300m, at the base of the S face -- if that makes any sense). From there, begin with a class 4/low class 5 move up onto a ledge. Follow this ledge on a generally rising traverse towards the summit (at times, you will not be angling towards the summit, but away from it) -- you will find mainly loose, chossy class 3 with the occasional class 4 move (and one class 5 move near the summit, depending on time of year and amount of snowcover). We topped out below and to the East of the summit where the SE and E ridges meet. From there we traversed down and below the summit block then up the gulley on the W side of the summit block. I personally think the best time to do this route is in September, but I like loose chossy rock and I'm too lazy to put on and carry crampons if I don't have to.

I wouldn't suggest walking another mile up N. Fork to cross the snowbridge when the log works just fine. The slabs aren't problem enough to warrant walking an extra mile (plus whatever it is back down to the bivvy site -- maybe a half mile). Just my opinion. I've seen easier 3 day climbs.

Stefan, No I did not hear the choppers, but I heard briefly what happened up there ... hopefully everything is going OK.

We came back via Storm King col, packed up camp in ~20 minutes, and headed back out to Rainy Pass .. it made for a v-e-r-y long day on Sunday. We got home this morning at 3:30. With the bivvy on the ledge, we had basically been going for 36 hours with about an hour worth of sleep in the cold (sleeping up there was not really an option after dark).

Climbed the NE Buttress of Goode from Rainy Pass 7/4-7/6. The creek crossing is rather cruxy with only a small, slippery log spanning it. The snow bridge has already collapsed just upstream from the log (~1 mile upstream from Grizzly Camp). There is a rather large snowbridge about 3/4 mile further up the N. Fork that should remain for another couple of weeks, but would take you out of the way if trying to bivvy at the usual ~5100' bivvy spot. The glacier is straightforward right now except for the snowbridge spanning the moat at the base of the buttress which is deteriorating fast. I expect it will get a lot more interesting to gain the lower buttress in 2 weeks. A large portion of the glacier has fallen away into the great abyss adjacent to the lower buttress ... had that snowbridge not been there, it would have required some degree of creativity to gain the lower buttress (there are other ways, but they aren't pretty). Climbing was technically fairly easy and very enjoyable. We roped up for most of the route above the middle 600' of class 3 and 4. From there, we belayed about 9 pitches to the summit (at ~45 minutes per pitch, this was very time consuming). I highly suggest going with a 2 person rope team. Belaying 9 pitches really wasn't necessary in my opinion, but it's all going to depend on your comfort level on low-mid 5th class with blocky holds (but insane exposure). The descent was fairly spicy in places due to loose rock. I suggest going with a base jump from the summit. This climb was epic. With our 3 person rope team combined with a late start (alarm clock issues combined with weather issues -- it's a long story), we wound up doing an unplanned bivvy on a ledge at ~8500'. It made for a very cold, but beautiful bivvy. It was a real character building experience. Mosquitoes were pretty nasty and black flies are beginning to appear. If you're not into that sort of thing, bring plenty of juice. Overall an exciting climb on arguably one of the most rugged peaks in the range. If I could do it again I would have gone in from Stehekin and taken an extra day. The 15 mile trail slog was not very fun.

Nice job! Go give Jack Mtn. in 24 a try .. give us the full TR when you return!

Although not overhanging, when I climbed the route 4 weeks ago the schrund was at least 15' tall and vertical. This is not to take anything away from your climb, just a small discrepancy I thought I'd throw out there. Nice climb though .. sounds spicy!

Anyone interested in doing Fernow as a day trip Sunday 06/29? Would also be interested in Boston Pk., Clark/Luahna, or Big Snagtooth. Respond to this post or send me a PM.

I'd just like to add one thing to sverdina's account ... Right now, there are two possible routes over the bergschrund ... one to the left, and one to the right (you can't miss where the bootpath diverges). We took the option to the right which featured a clumsy move up and over the schrund via some relatively soft snow .. the schrund is pretty wide here, and it is fairly tall, so you may need to do some digging to get over it if you forgot your ladder ... you won't be two-tooling it over the schrund, more like knee-stemming if you take the bootpath to the right. If I could do it all over again I would have gone to the left to check out the reported pitch of WI3 that we missed. Overall though, a fantastic route with fantastic views and dramatic exposure. I hope to get back up there for a shot at Ptarmigan Ridge when I know there will be some alpine ice hanging around. If Thumb Rock is full and you are unable to obtain a permit, there is a nice bivvy ledge dug out at ~9900 right on the ridge large enough for a two-person tent. It sure beats hoofing the whole route from the Carbon.