Chad_A

I was hoping that the high freezing levels and sunny weather we'd had a week or two ago would've created some ice; alas, as some predicted, it had not, or not much. Stewart and I planned to go in and check out the TCs on Dragontail, and see if anything was climbable. I'd had the foresight to bring a small set of binoculars; I couldn't tell if the runnels were really thin ice fingers, or simply "snice". Either way, we instantly elected to come back another time, when it would be more fun, and in condition. So, we camped on the edge of Colchuck Lake with little or no wind (contrary to the forecast) and soaked up the views. One thing I learned from this trip was that the NF of Dragontail gets absolutely NO sun this time of year. I thought that maybe it might get a bit, but was surprised to see that it didn't get ANY. Furthermore, we took a walk up to Colchuck to look at the NBC and the NEBC, and on the way there, heard a tremendous "WHUMP" underneath what felt like a rock hard, icy slope. We traversed off of it, and realized that there's probably still some slabs existing on North facing slopes. (Even with the long dry spell, I guess the cold weather has kept things from consolidating a bit). Part of the learning curve, I guess. Here's some pics. The NW face ice/mixed routes on Dragontail: Stewart keeping himself warm: That shot of Glenlivet helped; the wind was lacking, but it felt much below zero farenheit at night

I know that Hannah spends a great deal of time up there, and that it must've been a worthy objective to her. For that, congratulations, Hannah!

Wow, very, very pretty. Nice job

Thanks

Hi, Doug; Rodney introduced me to you a while back. Sounds like you had a great time. Congratulations!

I'm assuming the road is still gated at Bridge Creek. How much time on skis or snowshoes to get up to Colchuck Lake? I know it's 4.5 miles to the lake from the TH, but I can't remember how long the road is.

Thanks, guys. Yeah, it was solo- I was in the right headspace for it; a couple years back, I soloed Leuthold, and I liked the mental challenge of it. Also, the Reid is a great route to refresh routefinding skills. Alan, thanks much for getting Meg's skis done so quick! I owe you beer for that, and your sunglasses that I found in my jacket pocket. I'll be looking forward to a photo class from you...this camera just doesn't seem that user friendly for it.

Climb: Mt. Hood-Reid Headwall Date of Climb: 2/11/2006 Trip Report: Got shut down on the 10th due to high winds; decided to head back up to give it another shot before heading back to work for my 5 day stretch; hence the ultra early start. I'll do it Colin Haley style, to save time. 00:54- Left Timberline. 02:38- At Illumination Saddle; spent ten minutes refueling, rehydrating, and geting out the tools and crampons. 03:30- Futzed around the bergshrund trying to find a way over. A couple of teetering blocks, and weak snowbridges- wasn't comfortable with crossing them solo. Diverted climbers-left over the rock ridge that separates Leuthold and Reid, to bypass it, then dived back into the towers and ice formations above. Found a fun gully with some WI2 in it. 05:15(?) above the Queens chair on easier ground. Ate and rehydrated; enjoyed the views of the beautiful moonlight illuminating all the ridges and features before me. 05:48- at the summit. Took more crappy pictures with my camera, that didn't turn out. Here's what little's worth seeing. The top of the WI2 gully: The worst picture of the summit I've taken, with the moon above Portland's lights: Pic of I-Rock on the way down: Gear Notes: Pair of Quarks- glad I had them, for some funky downclimbing I had to do. G14s, my minidisc player, and a crappy night-time picture taking camera. Approach Notes: Perfect walking on styrofoam the whole way. The Reid is perfectly closed up.

Very nice pics, iain! Looks like you did a nice ski tour. Last night, headed up there to do Reid, but it seems that after walking above treeline, someone turned a freakin' turboprop on, and faced it right towards us, from the east. Fearing the icefall because of it on the west side of the mountain, we bailed; but the walking (what we did) seemed really windpacked, and icy. Almost slipped and fell a few times on iced over snowboard tracks.

I looked around, but the best I could find is the Park Glacier route, that goes right up next to it. I think danielpatricksmith did the Park Glacier a while back; maybe he can chime in with what he saw up there?

Initial exposure was rock climbing in tennis shoes in Wisconsin. The name of the area escapes me, for some reason. But, what got me hooked, was that same person that showed me rock climbing, dragged me up to Camp Hazard on Rainier for my first time, in 2000. I never had set foot on a mountain, and I had no idea what I was getting into, but I wanted to come back; still haven't had a chance to finish off the Kautz. Anyway, I finished up school, and transferred out here. Haven't looked back.

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/473450/an/0/page/3#473450 It's all been well covered; here's our TR from last year.

I'll take a We sure need it!

1-30-06 from mounteverest.net: 02:42 am EST Jan 30, 2006 (MountEverest.net) There's been no further word from Jean Christophe Lafaille since Thursday. A small plane is currently on its way to the mountain for a reconnaissance flight. The plane will try to spot Lafaille’s tent. Home team fearing crevasse fall “If the tent is still there, that would mean Jean Christophe may have fallen in a crevasse somewhere between his latest bivouac place and the summit,” his home team reported on Jean Christophe’s website. “Although hopes are scarce, we can’t give up yet,” said Serge Koening, mountain advisor with the French Ministry of Youth and Sports and climbing instructor at ENSA School, Chamonix. Possible communication problems Lafaille last called home to his wife Katia on Thursday 26th, from 7600m. He hoped to leave his bivouac place by 5:00 am local time the following morning (Friday), in order to reach the summit by midday. He also mentioned he was running low on batteries. The French climber is soloing the mountain in winter. A cook and a kitchen helper are waiting for him in BC. However, apparently his BC staff has no means of communication – only Lafaille had a sat-phone with him, and he would always report straight to Katia. Out of sight from BC A helicopter has been requested to reach BC (5300m) as soon as possible - the pilots could then ask for details to Lafaille’s staff. However, the route on Makalu can’t be spotted from BC, according to Kairn.com. In addition, from Makalu La (at 7400m) the route follows a summit ridge located on the Tibetan side of the mountain, and thus out of sight from lower camps.

Very nice pic

Very cool- good job on getting back safely

FRI PM JAN 27 -FEB 1 HIGH -2°C -2°C -2°C 4°C 0°C -2°C LOW - -10°C -11°C -9°C -7°C -7° I did a historical search; looks like it got warm from the 23rd to the 25th.

I've been watching the temperature; not likely. Looks like there's definitely some cold days there.

Nevermind. Redundant.

www.climbaxe.com Here in Portland, they're a distributor of their products. I don't know if they carry the new stuff, but it's a place to start out at. Sorry- just saw that they've consolidated with Pagan Gear. If you search www.dexonline.com I'm sure you'd be able to find the number directly to their shop, here.

Squamish jacket looks okay; the switchback looks heavy and bulky. I'm not a big fan of windproof fleece; for me, it doesn't breathe well enough. At some point, it'll all come down to your personal preference, and you'll have to experiment to find out what that is. That said, going cheap is the way to go when you're first starting out. For cold conditions, my layering system goes something like this (there's a million ways...this is just what I use): Base layer short sleeve t-shirt, 100 wt. fleece (non-windblock) with a spare fleece, or other long sleeve layer in the pack. I throw in a light primaloft insulating jacket, and have a light shell to throw over top of that, for a final windblock. This allows me a lot of versatility. If it's cold and dry, but doing aerobic work (like approaching a climb) the t-shirt, fleece, and schoeller pants fit the bill great. Stop? Fine. Throw on the primaloft. If it's relatively warm, but rainy (hiking...not going climbing in this scenario), I go in my t-shirt, and throw on the light shell, with the zips open to ventilate. These are my basics, but I can use the same gear for multiple scenarios, and add to it, or subtract, as to what the forecast is saying. Sorry if this is too much information, or all too obvious. Chad

I have the Camp aluminum strap-ons. Very nice. Great for trips where you have short glacier crossings to approach alpine rock climbs.

Wow, this is crazy. Timberline is up to 138 inches. Neck and neck with Paradise, and more than Baker...

Oleg- I don't know what they are...but you can see from this copy-and-paste as to what they're going to be: Today: Snow showers likely. Snow level 2500 feet. Snow accumulation up to 3 inches. Pass winds southwest 5 to 15 mph. Tonight: Snow showers likely in the evening...then snow developing north after midnight. Breezy. Snow level 3000 feet. Snow accumulations 4 to 6 inches. Pass winds southwest 10 to 15 mph increasing to 10 to 25 mph after midnight. Friday: Snow...heavy at times. Breezy. Snow level 2500 feet. Snow accumulation 8 to 14 inches. Pass winds southwest 15 to 25 mph decreasing to 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.

Hi, another gent and I were on that route in the spring of '04. We had gotten a ton of snow that winter, and then it stopped, and turned to summer, just like that. What we found was that, going that early in the year, the approach was so much easier...on snow, the whole way, and the Nisqually was closed up enough, that we could have approached directly to the Turtle snowfield, without even using "The Fan". Depending on snowpack, it'll prolly have good conditions through June, but I wouldn't count on it much past that; if the snowfall peters out, plan on early June, or maybe May. It's south facing, so it can melt out pretty quick. As with any other gully, they're a natural rockfall/avalanche funnel, as well; I think I remember a TR where a couple guys dodged falling serac debris. Have fun and post a TR It's a good route that's not too difficult, gets you to the summit pretty directly, and gets you away from the crowds.