ridehikeclimbski

Conrats to you and especially your son , wow what an accomplishment ! My daughter is gonna be jealous ! LOL shes tried 3 times. Anyway the HB route is awesome , more physical demanding due to steeper slope , 45 deg most of the way . The road to the TH is rough , averaged 10 mph over the 8 mile road from Hwy 97. Took 3 hours to reach the high camp , nice trail and the glacier creek was just a few steps from the campsite , about 10 sheltered sites there. Excellent views of the glaciers , ridges and crevasses allowed easy route planning the day before. Left at 5 am , saw only 2 other people on the way up resulting in a wilderness approach. Mostly snow with a few risky areas of ice above the bergshrund going up the ramp so be AWARE as you cant see the shrund when youre close to it. The scree and talus from Rabbit Ears to the summit ridge was easy , handclimbed over a few boulders for fun. Summited at 10 am , beautiful day with just a breeze and no wind at the summit however saw BUSLOADS of people coming up from AG , LOL. The descent was easy except I tried to glissade down the path below the shrund but the snow was too firm so I skied in my boots in the sun cups. Reached TH by 330 pm, got to Eugene around 815 pm. I looked for you guys at the summit but didnt see any other kids ,you mustve been on the plateau as I left ...the trail goes to the north end of the summit ridge and it joins the HB path....I put a post on the DC route conditions thinking of soloing Mt Rainier this month but theres 2 snowbridges getting dangerous so I prob will wait till next June and go up Emmons , the White River /Glacier Basin is awesome ! Doing the Cascade Volcano tour , completed 8 of them so far . Shasta is awesome as you can climb it in various ways w/o all the dangers like Mt Rainier . Take care

LMAO over the post , glad I am a registered independant voter . I have pros and cons of both parties but I think Bush is the worst president in years . Trying to convert Iraq into a single democracy with 3 major groups (Kurds,Shiites, dont know the other) who cant possibly sit in the same room w/o killing each other is ridiculous. Spending 29 billion a year in Iraq while us Americans suffer at home is BS, rather see programs in the USA with that money . I do believe there are too many crooked politicians hellbent on their campaign contributors...shows why nice guys finish last ! the Republicrats !! Show me what it takes to be an Independant !!!!!!!!!!

Holy smoke, put that joint out , its smoky enuf in the Willamette Valley, besides Cheech and Chong dont need competition !

http://news.bellinghamherald.com/stories/20030822/TopStories/152839.shtml

Has anybody been up the DC in the past few weeks ? Is September the best time to solo since the snow bridges are apt to melted out and the crevasse dangers reduced for solo climbing ? I understand theres increased frozen water slabs and rockfall danger , I have experienced these on Shasta. Thanks for your input.

Glad to hear the info is helpful , my nike altimeter watch is +- 200 ft depending on barometric pessure , I dont update the watch to current baro press. The TH is approx 6700 ft , where we camped is 8700 ft, to the left above the springs... the sheltered areas next to Watkins , I assume its 9300 ft . Took us less than 3 hours to campsite ,probably 2.5-3 miles ,great veiws of the canyon on the left, parallel with trail. Didnt see any running water around Watkins Glacier , the springs is your best bet , fill up there , crystal clear , however we didnt boil it but we survived ! LOL I know its ideal to camp higher but I think you have to be at least 10K for a longer duration of time to really acclimate, so we drank LOTS of water to help ,also an aspirin helps thin the blood out in the am before heading up. Also on the annual pass, its good for a whole year from date of purchase ,not Dec 31st. Under 16 yo ,no summit pass required . I want to try skiing Clear Creek next May/June , terrain looks awesome. I am leaving for HB Ridge in the am, should be fun on the ice ....Have a great time !

Skiing in powder , the DEEPER the BETTER !

My 13 yo daughter and I attempted it twice this month , she pooped out at 12500 the first time , the second time we experienced up to 80 mph winds reaching 13300, didnt want to get blown off the icy summit plateau so we turned . Anyway , the road is up to trailhead is a little rutted but doable with car . Just hike up the wooded then open area trail up to 8000 ft , the trail starts to turn left and drop down a little gully ( the left of Wintin ridge ) stay on trail , and eventually you will see springs on right of trail . Awesome clear water !! pick any area to camp , not much for sheltered sites here , we used the brush, trees for protection. There are some rockwall sheltered areas up higher next to the Watkins Glacier but we didnt want to drag gear up there . We followed the path up to the Watkins Glacier which will be to your slightly left going up but not into Mud Creek canyon which is below Konwakiton Glacier. We cramponed up for this but I assume the glacier might be melted out a bunch by now , so its scree all the way to above the Wintin Glacier and onto the summit plateau ,take a left on plateau and you will see the little summit ridge , be sure to look at the fumeroles up there pretty cool ! Have fun ! I might try Hotlum Bolam ridge this weekend if the winds calm down , 40 mph on summit on todays NWS Mount Shasta forecast , it said 25 mph the day we had 80 mph so its a crapshoot . BTW annual summit pass is 25 bucks at ranger station so you will save if you decide to come back within the year , no parking pass required now at TH .

From November till June on Whistler for $300/Can ? I looked up their website , 03/04 prices wont be out till Sept , geez a 15 day pass last season was over 700 bucks . I have been buying my tix from the Super 8 motel in Squamish when I stay there , 38 bucks US for daily adult , that was the season before 911, been skiing Jackson Hole since. Blackcomb in and out of bounds kicks ass ! Please gimme more info , thanks

I was up Clear Creek last weekend , its mostly scree except on the Watkins Glacier from 9500 to 11000 ft . We didnt summit due to high winds , approximately 70 or 80 mph . What an experience watching clouds below sail by quickly at 13400 ft . The talus below the summit plateau is the worst part of the trail . The water from the spring is Crystal Clear and yummy !