iluka

The Tahoma Glacier route notoriously melts out very early and I suspect that by August it will not be in good shape for an ascent due to the open crevasses.

If you were getting sick at altitudes of 1,500 to 2,000 feet it would extremely unlikely for this to be acute mountain sickness. It just isn't seen that low. I would look into other possible causes. As for prior experience being a predictor for future performance at altitude, mattp is right on the mark. There are very few things you can use to predict whether or not someone will develop altitude illness. One of the few reliable things is how someone has done before. If someone got sick at 10K on a prior trip, the odds are good (but it is still not a guarantee) that they will get sick on another trip to 10K if they go up at the same ascent rate etc. There's now some interesting data about how it's possible to identify HAPE-susceptible people (with exercise in normal air or with breathing a hypoxic gas mixture their pulmonary artery pressures measured non-invasively with an echocardiogram rise much higher than in non-HAPE susceptible people. No such test is out there for AMS

Check out this website: http://bobskiing.com/ It's a site about backcountry skiing in the Sierra but the guy who runs it knows a great deal about summer and winter travel in the range and has climbed all the 14ers (as well as skied the Sierra High Route in, get this, one day!). I think his email address is on the site if you want to contact him.

In case anyone is interested... some conditions for the route to Mt. Anderson. No surprise with the fact that the Dosewalpis road is still VERY washed out 5 miles from the trailhead and will remain so for a while from the looks of things. Trail from the TH to Honeymoon Meadows camp is snow free. The bridge across the river at Honeymoon Meadows camp is out and the West Fork of the Dosewallips is running very high making a crossing there challenging... even in the morning. We hiked about 200-300 meters out from camp on the south side of the river, hugging the bank and eventually found a large downed tree which you could easily straddle and move across to the other side. That was the only challenging crossing. Trail from the crossing up to Anderson Pass had snow in patches but made for easy travel. Little snow from Anderson Pass to the Anderson Glacier morraine. The lake is still frozen. The Anderson Glacier is not showing crevasses right now and there is snow almost all the way to the top of Flypaper Pass (bare for the last 20 feet). Snow all the way down the north side of the pass to the Eel Glacier. Once on the Eel, you can follow a snow ramp all the way to the summit.

It seems like a little perspective is in order. You're complaining about living close to a major mountain range with great terrain for which you need to drive 4-5 hours for your trips. You could be living in Iowa or Tennessee where you'd be looking at days just to get to a reasonable range with good climbing objectives. Plan some trips down the east side of the Sierra down Rt. 395. It's hard not to get excited with all the great peaks you can see from the road for miles on end... and you can break up your long drive with a stop at the Mobil station.

With all the sun and warm temperatures, you should take a black plastic bag along with you. Fill it with snow at camp. Lay it out on a rock in the sun or on your sleepign pad and let it melt. You can get a fair amount of water out of a such a system if you place it in the right spot. At this time of year, you may also be able to find some running water near camp or at least some drips off some snow patches on rock etc. I also don't think it's fuel efficient to keep bringing the water to a boil each time. Bring a little bit to a boil to start the process, then add snow in small amounts. As the snow melts, just keep adding moderate amounts of snow at a time and then pour into a bottle as you get enough in the pot. If you tend the stove vigilantly you can do it fairly efficiently.

Many more TRs on Turns-all-year.com after this weekend. The road is open to the campground at the trailhead but the parking areas are snowed in and people were parking along the road. Sounded like there were tons of people... glad we caught it last weekend when the crowds were minimal and the corn snow in the chutes was epic.

We were up near Colchuk and Dragontail yesterday. Hit continuous snow on route to Aasgard Pass at about 5700-5800 feet. Route up to Colchuk appeard to have continuous snow at about 5,800 feet. The upper Enchantment Lake area visible from Aasgard Pass had plenty of snow coverage but lots of bare patches as well.

Given that I don't remember seeing any gate around the trailhead, I'd have to say "No, it isn't locked" although perhaps it is under snow.

We were up there last Sunday as well. The few snow berms on the road just past Morrison Creek CG should be easily passable with a good 4WD and after that there is a lot of bare road before you get to more consistent snow. The route is all snow from the trailhead to the summit except for a few spots at the lunch counter that were melting out. The snow was very firm in the morning for us (some in the group used crampons) but the freezing levels are going way up this weekend (over 14K), even at night so it may be pretty soft. The skiing in the chutes last weekend was just plain amazing. Hard to beat 4K of corn. Before we left Morrison Creek, we took a GPS waypoint for the parking lot. When we got down to the bottom of the chutes, instead of traversing around to the trailhead and doing 3 miles of road slog back to Morrison Creek, we just beat a trail through the woods to Morrison Creek CG following the GPS lead to the waypoint we took that morning. Worked like a charm.

Yellow Aster Lakes on the way into Tomyhoi would be a great spot. Shouldn't take more than 2-3 hours to get there from the TH. Great views of Baker and the surrounding area, plus you could add in a quick scramble up the Buttes if you wanted some quick views up high. Good luck on the finals... the end is near!

Hey... looking for a partner to do either Dragontail or Colchuk as a single day trip on 6/24 using the scramble route described in Smoot's Climbing Washington's Mountains. If interested, drop me a PM

Current Road Conditions as of 6/19: It's possible to get to just past Morrison Creek campground. If you have 4-wheel drive and good clearance you can probably get past the few snow berms that block the road at that point and drive at least another 1-plus miles towards Cold Spring CG as the road is mostly bare. If you're skiing, you'll be walking most of the way to the trailhead from Morrison Creek as adequate snow coverage on the road doesn't start until near the campground.

For anyone planning a trip to high altitude and curious about learning more about altitude illness and how to treat/prevent it, there's a lecture this coming Tuesday at the KAVU store in Ballard: Title: "How To Travel Safely at High Altitude" Speaker: Andy Luks Where: KAVU Store in Ballard (5423 Ballard Ave NW 206-783-0060) When: Tuesday June 20, 7:30PM

For skiing, you should check out www.telemarktips.com. It's a very active backcountry ski site and it's heavily Sierra focused.

Our esteemed President made some other comment to the effect that we're turning another corner in Iraq just as he's said after every other noteworthy event over there. If you're turning corners all the time doesn't that mean you're just going in circles?

I hurt my shoulder last year while tele skiing... fell in a turn, skis downhill, left arm outstretched uphill. Never got an MRI or other work-up for a formal diagnosis but I suspect it was a minor injury to the rotator cuff... supraspinatus tendon possibly... or a injury to the labrum I laid off it for a bit then got in the gym and did a lot of cable exercises focused on the shoulder including internal and external rotation, abduction and extension and flexion about the joint and slowly the injury has healed. All basically focused on strengthening the muscles that contribute to the rotator cuff. No more pain, strength feels good and when I had a similar fall this spring, no reinjury.

Pyramid Peak out of Indian Henry's is a nice scramble with not too much risk. You can access this from the West Side Road... about 5 miles in to Indian Henry's and then another mile or two to the top of the peak. Likely still a lot of snow once you hit Indian Henry's and perhaps earlier on the trail. No crevasses down at that point.

If you're referring to the White River Entrance at Rainier, it's apparently opening soon... http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=4761.0

I can sleep fine, thanks. Not concerned... just curious. Also, for people into climbing 14ers, the 20 feet makes a difference in the case of this and, perhaps, other peaks with elevations near 14K.

A question regarding topo map altitudes. I was on a recent trip in the Sierra Nevada. We climbed Mt. Barnard which is listed on the topo map as being 13,990 feet in elevation. The topo map says the vertical datum is from the year 1928. I happened to turn on my GPS on the summit for the heck of it and it read an altitude of 14,010 feet based on a 3D fix on at least 8 satellites with crystal clear skies. The unit said it was confident within 20 feet (which just overlaps with the topo elevation). Which would you believe?

The "1000 ft/day" recommendation doesn't apply to the altitude you reach climbing each day. The recommendation is that once you get over 10,000 feet you shouldn't increase the SLEEPING elevation by more than 1000-1500 feeet per night. You can climb higher than that during the day but, in an ideal world, one would come down a bit and would not increase the sleeping elevation by huge amounts each day. The reality is, as the others have mentioned, that most mountains or places where people trek at altitude don't easily lend themselves to applying this rule. If you're concerned about your ability to acclimatize, taking an extra day at Muir is a great idea. You could also consider taking Diamox (Acetazolamide) during your ascent.... either 125 mg or 250 mg twice a day until you start coming down. Multiple studies have shown it is effective at decreasing the incidence of acute mountain sickness. It's not foolproof but can work well in most people. It's also a pretty well-tolerated medication.

Great photos and great TR! Have they opened the gate at MilePost 20 on the Cascade River Road or did you have to hike up from the parking lot for the Eldorado trailhead?

As I understand it, someone going up to 12k will likely feel the lesser symptoms of AMS, but: HACE rarely develops below 12k, and HAPE generally requires at least 24-48 hours before onset. Correct. Sky and Casey were probably not above 10K elevation for more than 5 or 6 hours. For someone to get HAPE that fast is almost unheard of. It usually takes at least one night. Indeed, Maybe safety at altitude was one reason for climbing in a 24 hour push. As they descended they were probably thinking, "Thank God our HAPE risk is diminishing!" The point about getting up and down is a good one... it definitely diminishes the risk. You are also right about the timing of these things... HAPE usually starts within 2-5 days of ascending. What's a bit different here is the amount of physical exertion associated with the climbing and heavy exertion is a risk factor for HAPE. HAPE has also been seen as low as 8,000 feet and according to one study maybe even lower. There also case in the Rockies where east coasters fly out in the morning and hit the chair to the top of the resorts in the afternoon and get in trouble. You're right... less likely. Not unheard of. As for HACE, it typically is not seen until above 13K but that's not a hard and fast rule and I have heard of deaths from HACE at around 12K. I've also been involved with some chamber studies on high altitude physiology in which we had people at elevations of 11-12K and within 4 hours, a few of them had severe AMS that quickly could have proceeded to HACE if we hadn't taken them out. A lot of this is anecdotal, of course, not a lot of good data on any of it. In the end, it boils down to someone's individual susceptibility and what works for some will not work for others as the response to altitude varies a lot between individuals. The key is to know what one's tolerance is... and clearly Sky knows his.

Wow...now that's a TR. While everyone is praising the achievement, it was surprising that no one raised any issues with the idea of leaving one's partner where you did. While a great skier, it didn't sound like his climbing skills were as good as yours... what if you didn't return and he had to downclimb himself. Now he's at risk as well. Also, 12K in one day is a HUGE risk for altitude illness. Suppose you had returned and he was unconcious with HACE or hacking up frothy sputum and in HAPE. All seem like reasonable things to take into consideration...