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Nice work KingsMM! Keep posting your adventures!

What's "M&M Central" mean? Hopefully you're not too good to be supportive of Portland's next generation of alpinists. You may be amazed how capable these teens are on technical rock and glacier routes. Do everyone a favor and keep your demeaning comments to yourself.

It's sounding like a toss-up... Pros and cons for both set-ups. Like most gear, it just comes down to personal preference, eh? Keep posting your thoughts... they're helpful.

Check out the Portland-area's mountaineering and rock climbing club for teenagers: Post 58- Post 58

Anyone know what route zig-zags the face about Testament Slab (directly above Nightengales on Vacation)? We saw a party of two climbing this pitch on Saturday. Looks interesting.

I'm getting geared up with a new AT set up this year. I'm looking at getting the Dynafit TLT Comfort binding. Any thoughts/recommendations regarding the benefits and/or drawbacks of binding brakes versus leashes would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hey Paul! I didn't see the young couple at Low Divide. Rather, I spoke with a guy who had just finished the Skyline Trail. We chatted about the Bailey Traverse and the possibilites of linking it with the Skyline. We figured that would be one stellar tour of the Olympics! I was wondering about all the mushrooms I saw. They were all over! I need to brush up on my fungi id so I can harvest a few on my next trip. Nice work on the Traverse! Hope the steak, beer, and shrooms left you fat and happy ;-)

Great TR! After talking with folks at Low Divide about the Bailey Traverse and scoping the route, I'll be hitting it next year! Your photos are helpful. Thanks!

Video clips:

Letsroll, I know you're a glutton for punishment, too... maybe we should hit it up together!

Looking at climbing Mt. Challenger this fall. Any opinions on which approach route to take would be useful. Thanks!

Martin's Park is definitely worth a sidetrip from the Low Divide. With a beautiful waterfall, nice streams, alpine plants, mountain goats, and the all the mountains, it's an amazing place! Not sure if it's actually the "most beautiful". I'd put Seven Lakes Basin pretty high on the list, too. Which direction is Dellabarre from Christie? I didn't have a very detailed map when I was up there. I'm sure I have a photo of it. I'll try to find one and post it here. The last photo from my original post shows the "glacier". It has obviously been impacted by global warming and has receded greatly. It still looks like it would be a nice spring climb.

Letsroll... seems like your late-summer has been filled with lessons! We certainly learned a lot of Stuart! Now you have two looming projects on your tick list ;-) You'll be all over it next summer!

Saturday I hiked from the N. Fork Quinault Ranger Station to Martins Park. From the Park I continued up the trail towards Martin Lakes. At the last switchback, I continued southward across the meadows to a low-point at the far east side of the Christie massif. At the notch, I found small cairns that continued southwesterly around the opposite side of the ridge. I followed the cairns in an upward-trending traverse before I lost them after several hundred feet of elevation gain. Does anyone know where these cairns lead to? The best I can figure is they lead to the two icy lakes on that side. I climbed through a rotten gully to the ridge and found myself on a really exposed ridge with patches of dense brush and loose rock. A lot of the rock has been scoured smooth from the glaciers. A dusting of fine gravel and rock bits make for very sketchy footing. From there, I realized that Christie was farther away than I anticipated! I know that the standard route climbs the glacier along the north side of the ridge. However, I didn't have crampons or axe to negotiate that. That certainly looks like the most direct and obvious route. Instead, I managed to scramble the ridge for +/- quarter mile. My bivy that night was spectacular! The next morning I bailed off the north side of the ridge and slowly made my way down rock fingers and very firm snow. I hiked all the way out and arrived at my car at 4pm. Long (+/-42 miles), but enjoyable weekend! Can anyone identify the peak in this picture? Does it have a name? Sunrise on Mt. Christie: Looking up the Standard Route:

Could have been Snibble Tower: http://www.summitpost.org/route/165826/snibble-tower.html

I'm all for keeping the mountains clean. Earlier this summer I packed 11 long, old, manky, slings off of Mt. Cruiser. No reason for 6-8 worthless slings to remain wrapped around the same boulder. My ethic: if you absolutely have to leave gear... take something else out with you. I can understand accidentally dropping gear and not being able to retrieve it, but purposefully abandoning gear is plain lazy and irresponsible.

I didn't realize that... thankfully my pack is bright orange!

Nice work Bigeo! We started the North Ridge only to retreat when we saw the clouds moving in. Later, we were glad not to be on the ridge in that wind and wet. You must have been the party of two that was starting the second pitch when we arrived at the base, Saturday morning (8:30ish). Thanks for the loud "ROCK" call, too We were able to dodge the large bits, but a tiny pebble tapped my helmet. No harm done. Next time, I'll seriously consider approaching via Mountaineer's Creek.

This past weekend, we saw many signs of Goats near Ingalls Lake and the Stuart Glacier. Interestingly, we also found a large bullet casing in the sand on the east side of Goat Pass. Since it's a designated "Wilderness" area, I was very surprised! Shame if someone is actually shooting goats. What other game would they be targeting?

The Stuart Glacier and the rock slabs below are littered with gear... I was really surprised to find so much rubbish. At the beginning of the first pitch on the East side start of the complete N. Ridge (under a boulder; 15-20' below the arching tree), I found a set of Camp instep crampons. With the rusty buckles, it looked as though they had been there for a long while. I left them there.

Portland has one of the most active youth climbing programs in the country... Explorer Post 58! We welcome young, adventurous, and motivated teens to join the club. If you are between the ages of 14 and 17 (or know someone who is) and are interested in learning more, come see what we're all about- Wednesday Sept. 19th at 7pm. Portland REI (NW 14th and Johnson). We are a student-run, non-profit, volunteer organization that teaches students about climbing, the outdoors, and themselves. See more info at: www.post58.org www.post58.org

Yeah, the Post is alive and well! Right now we have some really talented young climbers... it's exciting! Hopefully their experiences/training with the Post will make them strong, safe, and innovative climbers as adults.

Trip: Carbonite Range/International Basin - Date: 8/11/2007 Trip Report: Early Saturday morning 8 student members and 4 adult advisors (including myself) of Explorer Post 58 gathered in Portland to begin the long drive northeast into the Canadian hills. Our plan was to gain International Basin and climb as many peaks over the course of a week as possible. With nearly ideal weather, good spirits, and teamwork, we surpassed our goals and gained a new respect for each other and the mountains. Burdened by monsterous packs on the approach, our team proved to be very strong and work well together. I'm happy and proud to have climbed with: Kip Beckwith, Mitch Burke, Joseph Carpenter, Maddy Case, Greg Conyers, Peter Green, Matt Henzi, Laura Laney, Jack Lazar, Michal Orczyk, Ian Wayne, Sarah Wolf. More detailed route descriptions to follow later (when I have more time).

Mt. Jefferson has lots of routes... Which route are you considering? I climbed Jeff Park Glacier the first weekend of July. At that point almost the entire bergschrund was open (we barely snuck by below Smith Rock). I highly doubt there's a way around now... unless you wanna pull some overhanging glacial ice ;-)

Nice work guys! We watched, from above, as you climbed the first few pitches of the Fin. Looks like a beautiful, solid slab! Cheers!