waterboy

Hi Kaskadsky, Glad you were able to get out there. FWIW, the Temple is the peak on the left in this photo. Leigh and I did it last June. As for High Priest, this is the view from the base of the North Face. Having been up there, I agree that the route descriptions in Beckey and other readily available sources are confusing for High Priest.

Sol, Great Job. Good to see you guys up there. You guys rocked. We were the party that summitted the same day via the West Ridge (the non hardman sit-start). We had approached the day before via Aasgard - what a great day! Sorry about mucking up the rappel in front of you - one of our ropes got stuck! Here are some more photos: http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=344151213572637561/l=394847538/g=7172166/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB Again, Great job.

We went up there on Saturday. The road is now open to MP 19, which is 1 mile from the log crossing for eldorado. The rest of the way is blowdowns and avy debris, which I think would be cleared up soon. Not having to use the bikes that we brought, and the talus field being mostly covered in snow allowed us to tag eldorado in 1 Day. We were slowed a little by having to break trail above 6,100', but no big deal.

I thought they were worth it and I'm going to bring them again this weekend. It's 7 miles from the bridge to the TH, so it's probably 1-1.5 hrs on bikes, vs 2.5-3 hours on foot.

Piece of cake - even Bodie had no problem. Looking forward to Fisher Chimneys.

Yes I was up there on Saturday to do a recon for my Eldorado climb this weekend. First of all, as reported, the road is closed at MP 12.7 The bridge looks fine to me but I'm no engineer. We biked 7 miles (-500', then +700') to the Eldorado log-crossing. There are about 12 major blowdowns to hike-a-bike over. We hiked up Eldorado Basin quite a ways - the snow starts at about 4,000'. There is no need for any kind of flotation - I'm very glad I didn't bring skis and I can't imagine where you would need snowshoes until next January. Regarding the road, I don't understand the bickering between the forest service and skagit county, all I know is that it hasn't been fixed yet. They say June but then it will be another long while for the park service to get in and clear out the blowdowns and avy debris. Hope you have fun if you get out there.

CFire, Do you know if the officer was Michael Gardiner, Jr? If so, he drives a Sherriff's vehicle but actally works for the Forest Service and has been deputized by the county. He is usually the one patrolling up there. I've talked with him on several occasions and he is usually a pretty nice guy. He seems pretty professional and God knows he has a difficult job up there. However, this brings up my beef with him and the Forest Service: He has unilaterally made the decision to permanently (each season) lock the gate for the road to Pilchuck at the Heather Lake TH at a time he determines. This year it was well before there was any snow on the road to Pilchuck. It used to be that the gate was left unlocked, which opened up many more winter recreation opportunities on Mt. Pilchuck. Now, because of the extra 12 miles of round-trip distance, it rules out day-trip skiing and scrambling for a lot of people. I have asked the ranger in Verlot which user-group of the National Forest has advocated the locking of the gate (even before the road is covered in snow)? The Ranger said this was a unilateral decision by officer Gardiner. I asked officer Gardiner why he wanted the gate locked, and his response was it was difficult to Patrol the circus and the riff-raff that usually occurs in the winter time on that road. Seems to me like that is not right - to rule out a great winter recreation resource for thousands of people to make one person's job easier. Now, I realize that there are other (and better) winter recreation venues in western washington, but I do not see why this one should be ruled out. I have written to Officer Gardiner and I encourage you to do the same at mgardiner@fs.fed.us If this does not produce any results I encourage you to write your legislator. I believe the Forest Service's official policy is to manage public resources for the most prominent user-group, which in this case I believe is skiiers and scrambers. I'm sorry for your unpleasant experience and I don't mean to hijack your topic, but I believe that area is being totally mismanaged by our public servants. Thanks

Hi, I have the month of December off and would like to go ice climbing midweek. Probably Lillooet but also Banks Lake or Leavenworth if they are in. Been ice climbing 4 years. I've done the N Ridge of Baker, the N Face of Maude, the N Face of Chair (Winter). I would say I could only lead up to WI3 at this point, but I've climbed WI4 on TR. I have twin 60m ropes and 6 screws. I am also wanting to go BC skiing if it snows in December (I'm on AT Gear) - I am pretty fit and teach level 1 avy.

Hi Guiran, Those are mine - check PM.

Hi Thanks for the Trip report. I have a question about rapelling off the Blueberry route - you mentioned a single 60m for the first 5 and then two 60m for the rest. I noticed that you are using twin ropes in your photos - what is the length of them? I have the same ropes (edelweiss 8.5mm, I believe) in 37m length. How do you think twin 37m ropes would fare on the Blueberry route rappels? Thanks!

Mizuki was an ideal climbing partner. I was lucky enough to climb with her every season for the past 5 or so years. She was extremely strong as a climber but at the same time very easy to get along with, very accomodating, and respectful of everyone. Our running joke together was that every time we climbed we always accidentally went home with the other's gear, which required a follow-up meeting to exchange gear. More often than not she would volunteer to come by my work to perform the transfer - always laughing because it never failed that we went home with the other's gear - it was just the kind of person she was.

I heard that if you take a factor 2 on a figure 8 it actually becomes a figure 16.

Yes.

My buddy has 4 permits for the enchantments Sept 5-7 that he will sell for cost ($36).

I have two 2005 climbing passes that I will sell for half price ($15 each). _ These are sold.

Good report, Matt. I went up there on Oct 20 with Gary Shatswell to climb up the west buttress. We found the sidewalk equally slick and we only got one pitch up the route before being sketched by the slick rock.

I have the ice gloves (XL) and what I have found is that they are virtually impossible to put on if you have wet hands. The good news is that the gore-tex works well, so your hands will dry relatively quickly once you get your hands into them.