sean_beanntan

There is a good hostel in Banff called Banff International Hostel or more fancy but never been there called The HI Banff Alpine Centre Hostel. The Alpine Hut in Canmore is also a good bet. It depends on how many climbers you have. We pack about 4 into the Drake Inn in Canmore and its a cheap sweet setup close to food and beer.

Thanks for all the beta, here is how the trip went. I can post more details later or just ask more questions Feb 16th Haffner Creek, good Ice conditions, lots of climbers mixing it up Feb 17th Moonlight, Evan Thomas Ck on h/w 40, good shape, picked Feb 18th Balfour Wall, just like Haffner, good group site Feb 19th Louise Falls, Fat but no plastic Feb 20th Snowline, Evan Thomas Ck on h/w 40, good shape, picked Feb 21th Candlestick Maker in the Ghost, great shape Feb 22th The Sorcerer, in the Ghost, great shape Feb 23th Wicked Wanda, in the Ghost WI5 shape out of cave. It snowed a lot up there but access to the ghost was good, climbing temps around 10F....no sun on the routes. We parked the camper at the base of the hill and drove a jeep to the climbs. Access times to climbs in the ghost match the guide book ie Sorcerer about 2 hours. I notice no one mentions the sweet hottubing at the White Swan hot springs. Nothing better than a soak after 8 days on the ice. Dont pass this place up, about 10 miles south of Canal Flats Hope this helps,

Hi does anyone have any recent reports on the ice conditions in Canada eps in the Ghost or Field ro Canmore or the parkway. Sure would appreciate it. Any good current sites, even Will Gadd's site is a little old for TR's Thanks

Because of the recent rain crust and the ice layer and lqaack of snow, its difficult to find deep enough pockets to build a cave before you get to 10,300ft on Hood, (platform near the old engine). The Hogsback is a good place but you need to get to 10,500ft. Illumination saddle is an amazing location for a cave, just build on the west side on the snow ridge, dont go onto the Reid side. "heavy snow on top of pretty consolidated snow isn't safe as it can shear off easily." .....a heavy layer on top of a weak layer can create a weak shear but if the snow underneath is consolidated then in Oregon, we call that a good layer..most of the time. The two things to consider are the bonding of each layer and the composition of each layer. "And to avoid West Crater Rim as it's a high avy site"." .....It is not a high avy site but has higher avy potential then the south slope. There is a difference. I have been on the slope in a low avy condition. It gets crosswinds and pillows that can remain for a long time after a storm. Hope this helps

Nice Work Boys: Hi Geoff, heard that you were on the Hill. Climbed Leutholds and summited at 12.45pm. I was hoping to see you at the Queens Chair. How was the wind? it was blowing hard and cold when I was there. J

Not wearing crampons???...I know that when climbers are hiking above a cliff looking for a ice fall to rap and climb, a lot of folk dont wear crampons since the top can be a mixture of frozen turf, snow and rock. If the climb is not in...you continue hiking?. You may not think it worthwhile to put crampons on for a few seconds.

Hi Folks, dont wanna spoil the skiing off the west crater, but a loose ski tumbling down the slope nearly hit some climbers accending the hill over the w/e.

Found Ice Axe on Mt Hood Jan 29th on the heinous south face. Describe and its yours. 541 915 7520

I am selling a Bibler Tripod if anyone is interested. It is great condition looking for $170obo, i thinks it reails for $298

I have used both the ahwahnee and the Hilleberg Nallo. I prefer the Hilleberg. Its huge vestibule is a plus even with the extra footprint. The inner tent can be used on its own. The outer nylon can also be used like a Betamid in the snow. There is the facility to use two poles in the slieve for big winds. Easy to put up since the outer nylon goes up first. Hope this helps. Also a price of $450 is cheap compared to retail. If you do buy the ahwahnee, i have a vestibule, groundsheet and spare poles that I can sell you.

Forgive the double post but i brought this over from the old treead in case folks misssed it. A few comments on SAR and how we plan a search may help some folk. ONE method is to use POA (probability of Area ) and POD (probability of Detection). After looking at all the available facts, the search area is divided into sections. Each section is given a POA priority ie the highest priority section is searched first etc. Each team going into the field has to ask/answer questions like, what is the percent chance that i can see/hear the missing person? what is the percent chance that the missing person can see/hear me? what is the percent chance that the person is consious/unconsious? what is the percent chance that the person would be moving if s/he could.? All these effect the probability of detection. If its cold and you are injured, you might be holed up in a tree well and so the POD is low and lower yet if you are unconsious. Please if this happenes to you. Mark the nearest Tress or Rock with some marker. OK so when you get back to SAR base and report in, all this info is takedn down. A POA of 1 with a POD of 50% means another team will go search the same area to try to bring up the POD to a number where we can say we think s/he is not there. At any time the Sheriff can look at the map and see POA and POD as each day developes. POA's are also subject to change as more data becomes available.....hope this is clear.

Nice Story..love the screaming part to release the slabe. For those less informed, please remember screaming or other loud noises do not release avalanches. Airplanes passing overhead do not cause avalanches. Cowboys in movies shooting bullets into the snowpack do not release slides....(anyone remember 7 brides for 7 cowboys or somthing like that ha ha). A really recommended read is "Snowstruck" by Jill Fredston, a big avalanche forcaster in Alaska. Also remember Whomping is not a sign of weakness in a snowpack, IT IS weakness, its collasping of a layer. When that happenes you have to ask the question, "how heavy is gravity today"

Thanks luzi3, to confirm what he said, I was on the team that got inserted at the summit and was actually one of the two folk that found James ie I was actually in the cave on Sunday. So those were the facts.

Quick update: sorry but again i have not read every page to see what is being discussed..bear with me. Again it would help to limit speculation at least to the folks that were there. James did not have a sleeping bag or bivy sack. His backpack was under his torso, no insulation under his feet. Extreme living conditions existed. This is what i meant as limited equipment if you find my last posting. I did not see a stove. For all those ready to critique his gear requirements, I have also done similar routes with limited resources. A few comments on SAR and how we plan a search may help some folk. ONE method is to use POA (probability of Area ) and POD (probability of Detection). After looking at all the AVAILABLE facts, the search area is divided into sections. Each section is given a POA priority ie the highest priority section is searched first etc. Each team going into the field has to ask/answer questions like, what is the percent chance that i can see/hear the missing person? what is the percent chance that the missing person can see/hear me? what is the percent chance that the person is consious/unconsious? what is the percent chance that the person would be moving if s/he could.? All these effect the probability of detection. If its cold and you are injured, you might be holed up in a tree well and so the POD is low and lower yet if you are unconsious. Please if this happenes to you. Mark the nearest Tress or Rock with some marker. OK so when you get back to SAR base and report in, all this info is takedn down. A POA of 1 with a POD of 50% means another team will go search the same area to try to bring up the POD to a number where we can say we think s/he is not there. At any time the Sheriff can look at the map and see POA and POD as each day developes. POA's are also subject to change as more data becomes available.....hope this is clear. On climbing, passion in this world is everything and also sadly lacking. In my experience, people that find passion in the mountains bring it down with them and share that passion with others, many non climbers. Many people would have you stay safe in your house, live without passion if it means nothing bad would happen to you..and suddenly you are 80 years old and have done nothing passionate with your life. I am not saying that you have to climb to have passion, you can be passionate about reading. Both its clear that these men were passionate about climbing among other things....sorry to veer off the climbing facts. Quick note to Debra Leming-Ross ....Mark is one dedicated person. Very Solid and a honor to work with. Sean for you and all of the guys on the summit you are my heros. My brother was with you. I have the highest respect for all of you and what you do for people. I hope you are as proud of yourselves as we are of you. Debra Leming-Ross

To answer the cave question. The cave was found by trying to connect the tracks leading to Wyeast to the tracks on the Cooper Crest. The cave where James was found was not visible on the slope and was only found by probing the snow while traversing beneath the East Face. The entrance was completely covered by snow with no external markings, no foorprints around the cave, no wands etc. These could have been blown away by 100+ winds. Needless to say the cave could not be seen from the air. The cave was found near a small rock outcrop that would have helped escavating the cave. It was big enough for 3 people, had not collaspsed. Since I know how some folks react to information, I am hesitant to describe the site or equipment, suffice to say that there was not the equipment resources needed to stay at that elevation and temperature for any lenght of time. From a rescue point of view, RESCUE personnel would have needed complete visibility to find the cave where James was. Had we somehow reached the summit earlier in the week, there was no chance that the caves would have been found given the weather and the search area.

To answer a question. It seems that the climbers did summit because faint tracks were found near the summit plateau leading towards the Wyeast Route. Most likely they were not trying to descend down the Pearly Gates (as per news reports) but looking for the Cooper Spur route. They miscalculated (got lost) and descended too far SE to the Wyeast Route instead and dropped approx 350 ft. There they discovered their error, traversed East about 150ft and built a snow cave (big enough for 3) to await the next morning. The next day James remained in the cave, one or two? climbers traversed further East on very steep terrain towards the Cooper Spur crest. There they continued their decent another 100ft down the crest. They then chose to go further to skiers left beyond the crest where they established another smaller cave and the rap anchors on steep terrain. After that.... is a mystery that left behind one backpad pad, some pickets? and 2 technical axes in the cave. There is evidence that the rope was cut. Please appreciate the conditions that these climbers were facing. To error is human and maybe some were made that day. But its also likely that they fought long and hard to make it down. They operated for a time under extreme conditions and as a human being and as a climber I have to respect that.

Hi Everyone: I was a member of the summit team on Sunday. I would like to help answer some questions but this thread is so long (been on the mountain 4of7)and not sure what has been covered unless i read all the latest pages. I know Iain has covered a lot of it. Maybe we should start a new thread.

In the field were Portland Mountain Rescue, Eugene Mountain Rescue, Corvallis Mountain Rescue, Crag Rats, 304th Pararescue, NorthWest Search and Rescue, Mountainwave, Forest Service Personnel, Clackamas County Personnel. I apologize if i have forgotten anyone. Most teams well capable of keeping searchers in the field every day. The Sheriff is the incident commander, I am just a searcher, so i dont know all the details and plans and resource requirements. I have climbing partners outside of the unit and have not been asked to get them involved.

Hi Everyone: I have just come off 2 day of searching on the North Side. Conditions were challenging. Monday had high winds and driving rain/snow, very limited vis. Wind slab was quickly forming. Winds strong enough to lift folk off their skis at 7200ft. Tuesday, the winds increased and now had all the recent snow to blow around the mountain so that it looked like a 50ft snow wave constantly rolling down the mountain from evry direction. Temps were -6C at 12.30pm at 7300ft. Natural avalanches were heard releasing higher on the Mountain. Snow surface varied from bullet proof to snow pockets with track infill happening within minutes on Tuesday afternoon. One of our big objectives was to cut for sign from Newton Clarke over to the Coe . Assuming that they were on foot, boot pen might have been deep enough on Monday to be observed but that possibility decreased tuesday and the winds hurled the snow down mountain. One of the huge tasks on the search is to monitor where the searchers are. This requires radio coms and the more people in the field the more difficult it is to keep everyone in radio contact. There are dead spots on the mountain when a group drops into a drainage and breaks radio coms for a hour or maybe more....more issues with more folk in the field. The rescue can be brought to a slow down by resource management. So a big THANKS to everyone who wants to head up to the hill and help with the search. I know how fustrating it would be for me if climbers were missing outside my area. On the location of the snow cave, even the pings are not real accurate. Enough to say that the margin of error can stretch from the top of cooper spur route to the queens chair. There was a huge lenticular on the hill all day with a big snow halo observed from the northside indicating the serious wind at the summit. Also everyone that has climbed the mountain also realizes the difficuly of searching several hundred feet down the northside along the entire northface with the winds blowing from the south and west at your back at 90+ mph, vis reduced to zero. Hope this helps you

Go with Cold Cold World Packs, light, durable, functional and cost less then most packs. That said, I have also slimbed in Wild Things packs like the Ice Sack and the Andinista which are very sweet!!!

Anyone read the label on the Jetboil that says "do not use to melt snow".hmm

A great exercise to simulate high altitude is swimming. The exercise involves working out without breathing. Swimming forces the body to exert itself during low O2 intervals. Hope this helps,

hey if anyone hears of cheap flights to any ice climbing destination, i would appreciate a quick email. Calgary, Ouray, Montana anywhere........... thanks

Nice TR, how was the approch down the castle dome trail. I did it back in 93 and hiked in from the West side of the park on a real good trail before the last mile of 50 degree sloping manzenita. No water so gotta bring everything. Too bad you dropped too low on the decent, its a common mistake. It pays to try and figure out the traverse point out of the gully on the approach. But a very sweet climb.

I climb in a pair of Lowa Civetta's and they are a great fitting plastic boot. The toe is low profile unlike most other plastics. Warm, climbs great ice and good on the approch. When the ice gets tough, i usually change to some montrail verglas leathers. S