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We rapped the whole thing. The snow was soft and the warming sun was sending a bunch of chunks down so we were glad to have the rope. We had a single 70 and a couple of the stations required a short unroped downclimb. With snow it was pretty straight forward (nothing for the rope to get caught on etc.) but I can see how it would be a pain if the gully was dry. Maybe just belay your buddy down?

yep.

Yes - thank you! I swear I looked all over their site for that.

Trip: Mt. Shuksan & Mt. Baker - Sulphide Glacier & North Ridge Date: 6/5/2016 Trip Report: Wanted to post a thanks to all who have posted TRs for Shuksan and Baker in the past. We flew down on a whim and managed to climb two great routes with little planning other than googling trip reports while driving on I-5. Choice pix below - all my pix are here: http://www.akmountain.com/index.cfm/2016/06/03/Mt-Shuksan-Sulphide-Glacier-and-Mt-Baker-North-Ridge There are toads in Washington. (woot!) Kind of scary to see something like this when you're coming into an area with zero knowledge of snowpack! Like good alpinist we ignored it & it never bothered us. The trade routes in Washington come with preset rap anchors! (woot!) Seattle traffic can be really bad at times. Only had to stay up till 10pm for a sunset pic. (woot!) It gets dark in Washington! Luckily I remembered my headlamp. At the ice cap I took the ramp climbers left that turned out to be a touchy snow bridge over a mean looking crevasse. I didn't fall in but I kicked a bunch of holes in it so my partner could fully appreciate the complexity of ice climbing on a glacier. Ice climbing in the sun is pretty awesome. Almost fun. (woot!) To make things really fun we climbed under those seracs at noon. They were dripping and groaning & I remembered my oath from 2015 that I would never again climb a route threatened by serac fall. We were going to go rock climbing in Leavenworth but we ended up drinking beers & eating sausages at some German restaurant and then killing a six pack at the campground. The next day we were so hungover we bailed off a 5.7 slab, drove to the airport and flew home.

Nice photos - glad you had a great trip. And thanks for joining the Mountaineering Club!!

They all charge the same. Go with TAT - not only do they have a bunk house and will they take you anywhere you want to go, they also go out of their way to support local climbing groups and avalanche centers.

On glaciers I sleep with my food. In the alpine I leave my food outside in my ursack with stove etc. stacked on top of it. Another way of looking at it... if a bear scratches at your tent to get food the best possible outcome is that the bear is later killed. To me that's unacceptable - especially given you could spend $50 to ensure that doesn't happen.

Then this proves my point even more. If bears that have no history of interaction with humans come into camp and kill people in a tent then it's more likely it will happen in an area where bears have learned to habituate humans with food.

Not always true. The example linked is from a super remote area and the couple had a totally clean camp. Never keep your food in the tent and if you're in an area that is known to have bears carry a canister or ursack.

Ditto on the ursack suggestion. I've carried one for years and think they are well worth the extra weight. Never personally had a bear issue (a friend once watched a bear unsuccessfully try to get into his) - but on a recent I came back into camp to see a marmot attempting to nibble through it. At the very least carry a good thick strong waterproof plastic bag to lock in food odor.

Are people still camping in the same spot on the Root Canal after the 2011 accident?

i used to climb on my ropes till they were well past time for retirement. One day I was belaying my wife up next to a guide who pointed out 3 core shots and called me a cheap bastard & told me to replace my ropes. I took it to heart... Ropes aren't that expensive. Buy a new one.

Oh my god... I cannot imagine. Took the slide for life 17 years and remember the feeling of sitting up to discover that my pack was completely empty. Makes me think I should figure out a way to sew a pocket into the base of my pack & lock it somehow.

F-CNFAIC Annual Fundraiser! Luc Mehl November 13 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm, Beartooth Theatrepub, Anchorage AK Join F-CNFAIC for our 6th Annual Fundraiser featuring Luc Mehl! Friends of Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center present Luc Mehl’s “Lust, Loss, and Things to Look At.” Local adventurer Luc Mehl has completed 4000 miles of human-powered traverses, including North America’s three tallest mountains: Denali, Logan (Yakutat to McCarhty, 370 miles, 30 days), and Orizaba, Join us as Luc examines finding the balance of challenge, reward, and risk in Alaska’s backcountry. All proceeds go directly to supporting the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center. [video:vimeo]105999115 [video:vimeo]47820741

Damn. Congrats to you and your son Rudy! Seems like it was just yesterday when we used to heckle you at the New. My how time flies.

I used to tell myself that until last summer when I found myself mere inches away from a grizzly with an open mouth and bad fish breath screaming at me. We were biking and he charged... thankfully it was a bluff charge but all he would have had to do was lift a paw and two mountain bikers would have been sprawled out on the trail for lunch.

I had a bad fall on steep snow in 1998 and dealt with the fear for many many years afterwards. Never took drugs and my single visit with a therapist consisted of him saying "You fell 2000' down steep snow and have fear when descending steep snow? And you think this is abnormal?" (I didn't go back.) I have never fully gotten over my fears and am always slow on steep descents and the first person to turn around and downclimb (rather than plunge step). I'm also routinely request a rope and pickets on steep snow whereas many of my partners would prefer to solo it. The best method is acceptance that you have fear and accepting the validity of your fear. Downclimbing steep snow is dangerous and my acceptance that I will always be slow on downclimbs and that I will always turn and face in on anything more than 40 degrees has allowed me to continue to climb. That said... learning to ski has really helped. Steep skiing combined with many years of downclimbing slowly and carefully has gone a long ways to helping with controlling my fear. I still get a sick feeling in my stomach anytime I have to downclimb something exposed and steep but I've learned that if I'm slow and methodical I can do it safely. Good luck. It's a long slow road. Attempting to speed it up with drugs and therapy won't really help you - it is something that you need to relearn slowly if you choose to keep climbing.

Damn that is a productive trip. The weather this year has been unreal - glad you made the most of it!

Nice job Rebecca! Glad the weather window worked out. Big route for a first AK trip! Next time stay awhile. Smash and Grab is fun but settling in on the Ruth for weeks is really really fun.

Try switching out the forward lean bar. Most newer ski boots these days have 2 forward lean positions (~15 and ~20 degrees) - sounds like your boots only have the steep position. I know you can switch out the bar on Scarpa boots - not so sure about Garmont.

Loving these Cham writeups and photos! Keep posting!

Just bought a pair of Madshus Annums. I have a pair of Fischer S-Bounds but only have NNN bindings on them for the trails. The Madshus Annums are mounted with Silvrettas and great for approaches -- but I'd never take them out on anything where I'm actually skiing. The Madschus fishscales work great for gentle rolling terrain - but the second you climb anything steep you either herring bone or need skins. Likewise coming down they're pretty slow. I think it's interesting that Madschus skis dominate for races like the Alaska Winter Classic whereas lightweight rando gear dominates in races like the Elk Mountain traverse. That said - this probably has more to do with economics being that a lightweight rando setup costs over a thousand whereas every alaskan has a pair of beater scaled skis.

Forever? That's what they said about GeoCities. As for that image loader... check out FineUploader.

Damn! More photos please! Terray was an eloquent writer. I love final words in his article about the first ascent: "We had ceased for several days to be slaves and had truly lived as men. To return to slavery was hard..."

I have a 15 year old NF -20. I tend to be hot at basecamp, just right at 14 and cold at 17.