Rad

Nice. Did you bring that chicken home and cook it up? Looks perfect.

Gorgeous photos! Thanks for sharing. As beautiful as they are, your shots of the bare ice of our receding glaciers is disturbing.

Well, there won't be any seasonal snow left, for better or worse. If temps drop low enough there may be fresh snow on the peaks. The river crossing should be easy. The Imperfect Impasse should be fine IF it's dry. I can't comment on Whatcom because the only time I was there it was covered in snow. Should be a lovely time to be out there if you can find a break between storms.

Sounds pretty boring.

You can bet the insurance company is investigating.

Moved to the partners forum because, well, you are looking for partners.

Moved to the partners forum because, well, you're looking for a partner.

Wow! A great TR. Your story adds a really nice human dimension to the fantastic visuals, which we all have come to expect from you. So no more pics-and-done TRs, @JasonG, you've set a new standard for yourself! Thanks for putting in the time and effort. I miss the Pickets. Must get back. Will get back. But the depth of suffering and density of objective hazards give pause. Only true masochists and seasoned alpinists need apply.

If you want to find partners and go with them, you'll want to build up a lot of experience along the path. Do some reading, take a course, get out on snow and ice where you are and start learning. You can practice crevasse rescue techniques without being on a mountain with actual crevasses. You could find some equally passionate people willing to spend time w you to learn and practice the skills you all will need. In that scenario, Rainier will be a later objective in a long progression that may take several seasons. Or you could hire a guide and skip a lot of that progression ramp and get instruction, practice, safety, and a lot of friendly service at the same time.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing the story and pics.

The entire world is coming to Index on Sept 7th for the climbing festival (not me, I have a wedding to attend). If you're around consider putting stuff out that weekend as well.

A good rule of thumb is not to push too many envelopes at once. Really, try to just push one. Get some glacier time on the Quien Sabe and go up Sahale, which has a very short, easy rock section. Up your number of pitches and rappelling skills by climbing Mile High Club or part of Infinite Bliss or some routes in Darrington (Total Soul is a great one). Up your choss management skills on a route like the West Ridge of Mt Thompson or Pinnacle Peak in the Tatoosh. Up your approach skills and mountain sense by going up the West Ridge of West Macmillan in the Pickets or scrambling up Del Campo. Up your vertical by hiking and scrambling up the Cascadian Coulour on Stuart or the backside of Dragontail via Asgard Pass. Up your crack and trad skills by climbing all four pitches of Aries at Index (or Davis Holland to Lovin Arms if you can climb 5.10 trad). You get the idea. Over time you can start combining these elements, and before you know it you'll be climbing the Beckey Chouinard in the Bugaboos! Even though they really are geared toward hard core alpinists, I think Steve House's videos on alpine principles have a lot of great philosophy you should embrace. The most relevant one for you might be "Pay attention":

A nicely written obituary is here.

That wall is taller and steeper than you might expect. I would def not recommend descending this side of the feature. I still think the best descent will be the way we went, S/SE to the gully, or just next to it, that leads North. It seems much safer, has way fewer raps, and would be far less exposed than the lines you suggest in the pic above. This climb falls in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area. We didn't place any bolts and do not have plans to add any. Power drills are not allowed in any case. If you want bolts, go climb Infinite Bliss or Training Day or Mile High Club. If you want a more committing mountain adventure and are willing to embrace some risk, uncertainty, and discomfort give this route a shot. Rapping in the dark may just be part of the package unless you're super fast. You could bring a light kit and sleep on top. Be safe and have fun!

When I first heard about the Sea to Sky gondola proposal here, I thought it was an April fool's joke. Rumors then were that it would go to the top of the Chief (I'll admit to not following it closely). Last year, our family went up to check it out. I have to say I'm a convert. It's not on the Chief but to the East, so it doesn't affect parking or views at the Chief. More importantly, from the top of the gondola you can access a host of trails, a suspension bridge, a restaurant and shop, a deck with great views, and perhaps some other things that I missed. I used it as part of our approach to Skypilot, which is now a casual day trip. Views for the Insta-selfie-masses. Hikes and/or climbs for a wide range of people. Plenty of space for everyone to spread out. I've come around to think this was a good idea after all. Squamish was getting developed and crowded long before the gondola was installed, so I don't really understand why someone would want to destroy it.

Thanks for the TR and note. Sounds like a fun day. As we discussed via PM, the intermediate anchor is fine. The bolt hanging out is not an anchor but one on the 3rd pitch. It was botched and a new one was placed nearby, and we haven't had the tools in hand to remove the botched one and patch the hole. Hopefully we will get to that this fall. FWIW, you can now get up and down w a single 60m rope. From the summit, rap to the LOWER anchor at the top of p6. Then rap to the UPPER anchor above the dihedral. The rest is the same, with separate anchors to reduce congestion. Warning, if you use the dedicated rap anchor skier's left of the p1 anchor, be careful not to let your rope run into a constriction. I got a rope stuck there once at night by myself. Escaped by moving back to the original p1 anchor and flipping rope. Last week I was careful not to let the rope run in the constriction, but it was still really hard to pull. Not sure why. So maybe just stick with the original p1 anchor. You can get down to the starting ledge from there w a single 60, but it's close so tie knots and be careful.

Impressive!

There were a lot on the glaciers around Eldorado last August. if you set up camp there you can examine a lot of glaciers and snowfields within an hour of camp. The approach is is steep but there is a good trail. You can see some in the photos in our TR from a trip last year:

Yep, plus if you repeatedly bang your big toe on the end of the boot you'll end up bruising the nail bed, which is painful, and you will likely lose your toenail(s) weeks or months afterward. Been there done that.

Thanks for the TR. I've got to put this on my list as I love that area but might have outgrown the type 2+ fun of J'berg...

Thanks for the additional info @Lowell_Skoog I've talked to two other parties that had epic experiences getting off the mountain. I'm glad you and they all came out OK.

Yikes! Sounds like he was lucky to come out OK. Look forward to hearing about your next adventure!

I was up on Pinnacle peak last weekend with my son when a friendly S WA dude said there was this AMAZING thing called Tower rock near Randle that just saw it's first ascent a few years ago, and he heard it had amazing potential for more routes. I looked at Google earth and images online and got interested. Then I went to Mtn Project and found Rapunzel, and that brought me back here to all of your Beowulfian tales @ivan @billcoe. Your immortality is now complete. Any new lines or projects down yonder? Has Adam Ondra done the FFA yet?

Sounds like you had a classic trip on a classic route. Thanks for the report! You can add photos easily too if you want.

Thanks for such a detailed account. You gave a very intimate account of an adventure that was powerful in many ways. You also showed the kind of perseverance needed on trips like this. Personally, I've never aspired to do big mountain, high altitude trips, and that doesn't change after reading your report. Too much objective danger for my taste. Years ago I trekked in the Kangchenjunga region, so your story brings back memories of mountain villages, friendly Nepalis, and our own stories of crappy logistics.