Rad

so CLOSE they could taste it. This one's gonna sting for a long time to come.

Very impressive, particularly with days so short this time of year. Thanks for the detailed beta. Might have to put this on the list. @dberdinka 'casual' and 'Pickets' have never been found in the same sentence, but if you're rope gunning this sign me up!

The Sea to Sky gondola is a way to access alpine terrain quickly and easily, and your family can enjoy the station/restaurant if they go. March could definitely be stormy and wet and there will be tons of snow up high, but it's something you might watch. Sky Pilot, Co-Pilot, and Habrich are all accessible from the lift in a day, depending on conditions. Internet suggests it's open year round.

That note

Nice work! Thanks for sharing! So much to celebrate here. Glad to see the old dog got to feast on some tasty runout alpine choss.

"The climbing is moderate, but generally solid and fun, with adequate protection." "We opted for the safer option" Nice job, BUT WHO ARE YOU GUYS and what did you do with Eric and Rolf???

Wonderful tale. Thanks for sharing. Super cool you found a life partner who is also your partner partner. That's rare.

Her name didn't come up on an AMGA search of guides, for whatever that's worth. Then I read the article you posted, and it doesn't say she is a guide, only that she was 'leading' three people. Probably just means she has more experience than the others. We've all been there. Punching through a hole is a classic early season hazard that can catch almost anyone off guard, unless you're probing every step, which is completely impractical in the mountains. Vlogging the rescue isn't something I would do, but it isn't illegal and doesn't harm anyone. So yeah, "old man yelling at clouds" here pretty much sums it up. Go out and get some yerselves before yer dead.

It's nearly impossible to climb an alpine route without getting off the trail. The NPS must know this. Another reason not to post GPS tracks online.

There are lots of fun adventures to be had by choosing a class 2, 3 or 4 route in a Beckey Guide. Keep an eye out for the 'obvious gully' and prepared to be humbled. Thanks Fred!!!

It totally depends on conditions. In my mind it was totally chill, but last year when I took my son and friend there was 30+ degree bare glacial ice and we only had lightweight shoes and micro-spikes. We had axes, but I didn't feel there was enough margin of error in the event of a slip, so we pulled the plug. If it had been 30 degree snow with bootprints we would have been fine.

I'm hoping we get the Gator back to run MRNP at some point. He's got the cred, paid his dues, and he's one of us.

Thanks folks. Great additions (maybe I should object more since this is spray?) Here's an interview with Doorish and Burdo that covers a bunch of PNW history. https://becominghumanpodcast.com/episodes/highroutesandsportclimbs

I thought about listing Fred. He certainly had a huge number of FAs, but I don't think there is a case that his climbing abilities were head and shoulders over peers in any era. Bachar might make sense if you consider free soloing as its own category, in which case you should also list Honnold. If you're just talking about ability, I would say neither of those guys is high enough over peers. I thought about Leclerc. He feels to me a bit like Gullich: cut down too soon for us to really know if he could have been high enough to be considered a generational talent. I would add Robbins, a pioneer in several ways.

Generational talent candidates. Could be in the running for GOAT and clearly the best in the decade of their prime in their climbing discipline. Rheinhold Messner Jerzy Kukuczka Will Gadd Wolfgang Gullich (but he was so young when we lost him) Chris Sharma Adam Ondra Janja Garnbret Who is missing? Who should be cut? Discuss

Wow, I missed this. Was cool to share a beer the day before you left. Too bad you're getting soft and lazy in your old age

CC.COM was my first social network experience, complete with avatars where some people used real names, some used fake names, and Dru used dozens of names. Like the rest of internet, there was some incredibly useful information and some time-sucking garbage. I mostly stayed away from Spray. We raged on the internet here before other social networks were even invented. Back then, we knew that behind every user name - whether real name or cheesy avatars - was a real person, a climber, with whom we likely shared a lot. I was always surprised at Pub Clubs to see that as much as cc.com seemed like a diverse community, it was almost entirely white, moderately athletic, friendly, dudes who would gladly give you a belay or swap a story over a beer. Then Social media turned into something else. We've all seen how truly toxic and time-wasting much of it is, how algorithms feed us whatever will keep us engaged, and we've come to understand that tech companies could care less about creating community and are just extracting our data like giant mosquitoes so they can instantly sell it to hordes of other waiting mosquitoes whose goal is simply to separate us from our money. Not to mention bots who aren't even human. There's no satisfaction in arguing online in that enviroment unless you are pathologically deranged or pathetically lonely or both. Sigh. Spray was something here because it was actual people with stuff in common in a virtual mosh pit. Them's were the good old days.

"Gravity always wins" - Radiohead Looks like it needs to be upgraded from the pink circuit to the red circuit.

Nice backcountry choss linkage. Glad it worked out.

Impressive!!! Thanks for the detailed report

Dave Page and team do repair work on boots, shoes, and sometimes other things, involving sewing leather. Give them a buzz?

Return Everything Inc They used to be fairly unique in that regard, now not so much. Amazon is likely eating their lunch and they'll have to decide what their model is going forward.

Nice. Thanks for posting. We didn't find the gotchas you mention to be an issue, though I'll say this route isn't a good fit for folks who don't have experience navigating up chalk-free alpine rock where there are mutiple features and possible ways to go. I know you and P have an abundance of those skills. FWIW, when I went w Steph in the link you shared, it was misting the entire day. We did the first move on FITM and backed off due to the wetness and just scrambled up and down the descent to tag the summit. Here is the original TR with beta and such...

@eeelip I did the E Ridge BITD and remember the upper section of the West ridge gully as quite sketchy. Piles of loose stones from baseball to refrigerator size are poised at a critical angle. Moving one stone sets off many others, including large ones. Might be OK early season w snow there. Perhaps @Nick Sweeney avoided this? I've heard the S face route is a high quality line. See: https://www.mountainproject.com/route/108154541/south-face. But honestly, you could just go climb the E Ridge. If you have to hang or yard on gear once or twice who cares? You'll still be on the incredible E Face, whose position is unbeatable. You can even bivy on the summit, as we did, if needed. Our trip:

If it is free YOU are the product.