Ryan

Since we're on the topic, how cold does Rainier get in May? I'll be climbing a couple routes on the mountain then and I've got Koflach Arctis Expe boots...will these be too warm?

I'm planning a trip to Rainier in May, and I have never been to the area before...what (if any) steps need to be taken to secure a climbing permit? How far in advance should I plan on getting the permit...and is there a cost? I'm sure this question has been asked countless times...thanks for putting up with it!

No changes- all the experiences I had taught me so much, even if they were a bit dangerous. I learned alot more by experiencing everything than by going by the book the whole time.

Thinker- yeah, it's definitely a decent spot to wait out a storm, but we were just pissed that the rap was so close to use, and we had no idea. Better safe than sorry I suppose. I definitely treasure that experience greatly, though. Taught me alot in the long run.

My partner and I were climbing the Direct Exum Ridge on the Grand Teton two summers ago. We had a terribly late start, but decided to go for it anyway. We cruised the Lower Exum with little problems. By the time we reached the top of the Golden Staircase, dark clouds had started to dot the sky. This is where we really made a smart decision (note extreme sarcasm). We decided to book it the rest of the way, and started hauling ass up the rest of the Upper Exum. We got right below the Friction Pitch when I looked behind me (to the southwest) and nearly shit my pants as I saw a solid wall of water moving at us. Within seconds the wind started to pick up, but my partner said that we could make the summit still. This time I decided against it, and we began to downclimb the Upper Exum. We made it down below the Wind Tunnel just as the heavy rain started. We were hiding underneath a huge overhang, and we had all of our climbing hardware piled on one side of the overhang, while we sat shivering on the other side. All of a sudden, an intensely bright flash lit up the sky, and the air felt tingly. I realized that a lightning bolt had struck the rock roughly 30 feet to our left. At this point, I am incredibly strung out and want to get the hell out of there, but the heavy rain does not allow us to move from our location. Soon, the rain lets up, and my partner and I, not knowing how the fuck to descend (it was our first time on the mountain) decide to downclimb an "easy" gully that pointed to the southeast. We began to downclimb, but the gully soon turned into a waterfall, with water gushing over my shoes and hands as I tried to make my way down. At the bottom of the gully, we were delighted (again, note sarcasm) to discover that we had downclimbed to the top of a massive drop to the east. I'm not sure where we were at this point, but I have a feeling it was somewhere near the Stettner and Ford couloirs...? Realizing that we were fucked, we climbed back up the gully, which was twice as scary as downclimbing it. The water was still running down the gully, and at this point I was chilled to the bone. After that mini epic, we reached our "cave" again, and sat there for an estimated 4 hours or so (didn't have a watch, either- smart!). Once darkness rendered us completely fucked, I realized that I had forgotten my headlamp back down at the Moraine. At this point, I racked my brain for solutions. Suddenly, I noticed some lights down and to our left, to the southwest of where we sat. I wondered if it was climbers, but concluded that it couldn't be at this hour. Then, I realized that it was all the tents at the Lower Saddle! I grabbed my partner's headlamp (which probably saved us in the end), and began signaling to the Lower Saddle. A flurry of headlamps soon assembled, and a lone light began to trudge up towards Wall Street. Our "rescuer" was Exum guide Kevin Mahoney, and he soon reached our position just above the Golden Stair. He led us down 30 feet, and then announced that we would rap to Wall Street from there. 30 fucking feet- we were that close to the rap the whole time and didn't even know it. I was too knackered to care though. We rapped down, walked off Wall Street, and headed down towards the Lower Saddle. We parted ways with Kevin at the base of Wall Street Couloir, becuase we had to go grab our packs which we had stashed at the base of the Lower Exum. After this, we began making our way back towards the Moraine. We reached the Lower Saddle headwall, and could not for the life of us find the fixed line that would have made the downward passage of this headwall a hell of alot easier. At this point I was convinced that we were just plain retarded. We ended up downclimbing the northernmost section of the headwall (good thing it was dark, the exposure probably would have scared the fuck out of me in the daylight!), and began to hike down a small boulderfield. Halfway down the boulderfield, my partner set off a small rockslide, which I narrowly escaped by hugging the lower section of the headwall. We finally made it back to camp, God knows how many hours after our departure. Our plan to climb Irene's Arete in the morning was scrapped, as we slept late and then broke camp and descended further into the canyon. Definitely got schooled on that trip!

The Twight epic on Nanga Parbat involved the four team members being forced off of the face by an incoming storm and spindrift avalanches...at one of the rappels, all four of the climbers were clipped into a sling girth hitched to a Snarg when they got hit by a massive avalanche...miraculously, the Snarg held, and they continued downward. Later, due to miscommunication between Barry and Kevin, they ended up losing the two ropes they had. They then ran out of food, lost a tent, and had to rely on fixed lines to keep heading downward. At around 22,000 feet, the team found an old pack from a previous Japanese expdition. They cut open the pack, and found 60 pitons, 12 ice screws, chocolate bars, and two new 50 meter ropes. Holy fucking luck!

This may not be the most hardcore, but it sure ranks up there- I'm thinking of Mark Twight, Barry Blanchard, Kevin Doyle, and Ward Robinson on the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat...anyone hear of this epic? It was in Climbing awhile back...

Cool, thanks!

What type of shape is the route usually in during May? Not enough ice on the ice runnels? We won't be able to make it out there until May...would the routes on Rainier be best for this time of year (Liberty Ridge, Ptarmigan Ridge, etc)? Maybe we'll just stick with Rainier...I'd still like to experience some of the less oft trod areas of the Cascades. What peak is the Ice Cliff Glacier on? Thanks for the info!

Excellent...thanks for all the info. Hopefully we'll tag Ptarmigan, Triple Couloirs on Dragontail is looking incredibly enticing as well! We'll be out there for close to three weeks, which will allow for a number of attempts on some of these awesome routes. I'm psyched!

Got my ass hauled off the Grand Teton by Kevin Mahoney...he soloed up to us once he found out we were stuck on the mountain due to a BAD storm...and it was past midnight (we were up there awhile.) Nice guy though, and very understanding of our situation... Climb with Conrad Anker out here in Bozeman from time to time...whenever he happens to be out and about. Climbed with Gadd, Ogden, Tackle, Roberts, and all those guys at the Ice Fest out here...spoke with Twight for a bit, also a very cool guy, Met Dale Bard, Chris Sharma, Tommy Caldwell, Steph Davis, Dean Potter, and Lisa Rands at OR in SLC...John Bachar sat down next to me at lunch one day out there...and, a semi-highlight of OR was listening to Bridwell recount his journey from the east coast to Arizona for some climbign competition in a car that he bought for some ridiculously low price...listening to him tell a story about this car barely surviving on the way out there was funny...ahh, you had to be there. It's fun to interact with these people, but at the same time it allows me to realize that they're normal people, except they can climb incredibly well.

I'm looking at doing the Ptarmigan Ridge on Rainier this coming May- who all has been on this route? Experiences and beta would be much appreciated, from what I understand the route doesn't see much traffic. Thanks!

I use Metolius Cam Lube for alot of my stuff..works great!

I started climbing 2 years ago, and have really been doing nothing else since then...this summer I have climbed probably every day- all types as well- sport, trad, bouldering, alpine climbing. I really don't know why I keep doing it, but it seems like it's the only thing that keeps me sane. If I haven't climbed for a couple days I get really on edge, it's like I have to go climbing in order to survive. And when I'm climbing I feel great (even if I'm climbing terribly or we're on a bad route)- so in short, I am addicted to climbing for reasons unknown. I suppose it's better than a drug addiction...

The MIOX water purifier is a cool little gadget, but I think I'll wait a couple years until they get some of the bugs worked out...who knows, maybe they did a good job with it the first year??? Another thing that really caught my attention was the new Trango gri-gri style belay device...half as big as the Petzl Gri-Gri, half the weight...sick! Petzl also came out with the "Reversino," a belay device that specializes in usage with twin ropes- so ropes from about 7.5mm to 8.2mm...sweet! Mountain Hardwear also had an amazing new single wall four season tent that weighed in at about four pounds...this thing is fucking nice. Arcteryx, as usual, was the shit...such nice stuff. La Sportiva had the Testarossa- sick shoe, tested it on the climbing wall....Five Ten has a new Anasazi slipper, kind of cool- did away with the Anasazi Mesa, and now has the Anasazi Southwest...cool shoe for sure. Grivel had some cool packs, and their ice axe leashes were fuckin' sweet! BitterSweet (a bouldering company out of Logan, UT) had some cool crashpads, and some new chalkbags...all cool stuff...overall I thought the show was fun, it's always fun running into all the sponsored climbers as well...

I have a pair of Garmont Pinnacle boots- they're great for summer mountaineering and heavy duty backpacking use...and they're crampon compatible, with a toe and heel bail...I used them on snow in the Tetons back in May, and they performed very well- I'd recommend them for sure!

Has anyone been up to the Tahoma Glacier on Rainier in the past couple weeks- what condition is it in? We will be attempting the Tahoma in early August- any info is appreciated!