Chad_A

Haha, well, I have a legitimate excuse...I'm a health care worker, succeptable to random drug screens. Didn't matter, anyway, they were diverting traffic into the Narada Falls parking lot, due to (I'm guessing) avalanche conditions. Some new snow up there, with rain falling on top. Pancakes at the Copper Creek Inn sounded good all the sudden.

Anybody know of the conditions there? I tried registering and logging into montanaice.com, but either my browser doesn't like it, or the website has issues. Any ideas out there? Might end up going next weekend.

Hey, guys, I have a pal that lives there; the plan was to go there next weekend, visit, and do some ice. Then, yesterday, my other pal talked to the Black Diamond rep in SLC, and he said that it warmed there, and all the ice is gone. I know my friend said there's a premier alpine route there; from what I remember, it's in a cirque, and it sounded reasonably hard. Next time I talk to him, I'll ask him, and I'll post it here.

Hmmm...I don't suppose you know offhand the inseam of them, eh?

Bump for you...hurry up and sell them, because with a new set of Quarks here in the gear closet, it'll be hard to explain a set of Cobras to the g/f right next to them!

I second Josh. With the rate of global warming, it'll be a rainforest/garden area within the forseeable future.

Not that I plan on attempting to repeat the South Ridge, but since you've done it, how do you feel about that particular route? Any thoughts, or is it worth repeating? From what I've seen/heard from others, there's some routes that are obviously left unrepeated out of unnecessary risk.

No, not internet porn! Rainier. Looks like there's some good snow up there

Classic!

That Hunter issue is my favorite; I should pick up "Breaking Point". I can't imagine being strung out and stressed like that over and over again on difficult, remote climbs. Guess that's why Glenn decided to back off after those outings. Pretty amazing stuff, and it reminds me how far I have to go. Those guys did so much with much less technology than most people out there today.

I'm slowly coming to grips with that; something that, well, here in the Cascades, isn't the usual. Most trips here have a specific destination, for sure...and if that doesn't work, you're back at the pub early. I may just have to do that, and take a look at things when I'm there, and just suss out my feelings on a route when I'm at camp. Guess it doesn't matter much, anyway; the beta will likely be swirling, and if the rangers tell me that my chosen goal is out of shape/too high of objective hazard, I'll be choosing another. Thanks for your thoughts; feel free to post your impression of the SW Ridge here, if you like. Regards, Chad

Mr. Rogers? Haha, that's nice. I just don't see the necessity of bashing someone on their first post on the website.

Hi, Jim, check your emails.

Why make fun? Does it make you feel better?

His writing, I think, is pretty good for the most part; for a laugh, read "The Coldest Dance", a chapter in "Storms of Silence" that covers the topic of Water Ice Climbing. Pretty friggin' funny.

Hi, Oleg; I think that, from what I've heard, it's 3 days on, one day off. Shoot Donn and email; I know he's involved, and could probably give you a pointer or two.

Maybe you should fucking give him a break, eh?

That's a goddamned beautiful picture. Thanks for posting!

Thanks much for the enthusiasm! Tonight, I'm meeting up with the friend that is the potential partner, and we're going to hash things out. Since we're pretty new as partners, we've been saying "lets see how things go". But, May isn't far away, now, and we can't really keep saying that to ourselves. If we can't come up with a viable itinerary, logistics plan, etc, then I may end up waiting for '07, myself And, I'm sure he'd feel the same way. I received a good present for Christmas this year that will help out, if I end up down there: a set of binoculars. Although, I'd be surprised if I could actually understand the scale of things my first time down there

Will do, thanks for posting what you know. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on up there from the forecasts and webcams. Planning on heading up there Friday. I'll put up a few pics of what we find.

Fair enough, I get where you're coming from. Thanks again!

Joe- I really appreciate your input, and your taking the time to post it here. I realize that it's all too easy to be at the local bookstore, and choose high goals from a guidebook after one has a few steep Cascade routes under their belt. So, when is it time to turn up the heat? If a person is comfortable on WI4, can slog just fine, and deal with exposure on steep terrain (knife edge ridges, etc), then would you say "hell, go for it." Or, is it still better to do something much more gentle and just deal with the learning curve...and turn up the difficulty later? I don't want to get myself killed on my first trip, and I don't want to cut myself short, either. Maybe it would be better to try something on Huntington and/or Peak 11,300, instead...I had just always had my eye on Hunter, and it's hard for me to turn away from that. Thanks much for the input, again; just trying to understand the "Alaska Factor" the best that I can. Sheesh...maybe I should go to Peru, instead

Allright...someone must know somethin'!

Thanks for that information; that's the pertinent stuff I was looking for...the stuff that you don't read about, and from the pics, well, it seems ALL of the routes are exposed at one point or another to hanging glaciers. So, does the Lowe-Kennedy get done often? Any recent route information on that one would be great as well. I know High Alaska states that you're exposed at the base of the route to the hanging glaciers above (but seems to play it down a little.) I'll have to look into the SW Ridge, Dan, though I was trying to stick to the Northern aspect, as what I've derived is that much less time is spent approaching, and more time climbing, from that side. Thanks for all the help and input, and oh yeah...have a great Holiday, everyone

Looking for information on Mystic Jewel, or Rattle and Hum. I used High Alaska and Alpinist 9 as references, but the info seems to run out there. Looking for an Alaska Grade 4ish route on Hunter to cut my teeth on, without defaulting to the West Ridge. These two routes appeal to me, but I'm having a hard time finding information on them. I tried Googling them, but to no avail. Any information would be helpful; gear, weather, etc. Descent information would be nice, I'm assuming that the West Ridge would be best, but again, I'm open to suggestions. Also, if anyone has any specific pertinent information that I haven't thought of, I'd appreciate it. Highway of Diamonds on Foraker is another option. Leave the spray in the spray forum; I'm not looking for a smart assed opinion on this one; just the facts, ma'am. Thanks for your support.