slogon

That's one I've always meant to do. Feel free to pm this spring or summer. I'm pretty experienced with the volcanoes and various other mountains. - Steve

Yes (as of yesterday). West Face Gully looked nice also (I went up Shastina). Way less people on that side (Hidden Valley and West Face Gully), not solitude by any means, but way less than Avalanche Gulch.

Haven't done it, but I think the real issue would be the stream/river crossings, especially the Sandy. Something to look into.

Yeah, but every year someone falls off it coming down. East exposure to sun turning it to slush I suspect.

South Sister, something in Goat Rocks of WA, or the Tatoosh range in Mt. Rainier Park might be good options for ya.

Wow. I think he did more this year than most in a career!

Seconded. :tup:

Since when did K2 become a slog? One of the 14 last I heard.

Anybody hear anything about this? We were watching the kid's crew race on Vancouver Lake through binocs and saw a big slide on the SW side of St. Helens (actually saw it moving, and could see large debris piles at the bottom). And we were thinking how great it would be to be skiing up there. Hopefully it was a natural thing and not set off by anyone.

Troll!!??

Don't think that Coooper Spur is that easy - it's exposed and people fall off almost every year it seems, especially if descending it. If you're coming from the east coast and not familiar with the mountain the south side might make more sense. You can go mid-week or do a variation (w. Crater rim, etc.) to avoid people.

Could depend on if you're planning to bivy or not. I have an OR advanced for camping in, or for maybe taking along on bigger things, and one of those "space blanket"-type things in a bag shape for taking along all the time.

I'd check with the Mountain Shop. They did some work on my plastic climbing boot shells and heat molded my Intuition liners. Don't know about Baruntse liners but I imagine they would. Edit: Actually was Oregon Mountain Community, but probably either would be good.

Was planning on going out from Portland on Friday AM to check out some easy ice (maybe Benson Lake, Mist Falls, or others) if you have any interest in that. Thin on specialized ice gear and ice experience. - Steve

Haven't been on Aconcagua, but I did replace the stock Arctis Expe liners with Intuitions for Denali and they worked well (it was mostly for fit issues, but also lighter and warmer). The intuitions don't really absorb much moisture and dried easily. I'd second what Dane and Gene said too.