timmy_t

Hi all, REI just listed the new 2012 BD Covert Avalung pack online for $150. It's supposed to go for $250, and as they don't have it listed as a "sale" item I think it might be an error? Act fast! (I just bought one online) http://www.rei.com/product/837515/black-diamond-covert-avalung-pack

Brennan in Colombia! Good to see that you're still lurking on this site! Well, don't get kidnapped by FARC or shot at by the Colombian military, and maybe we can climb something in South America this winter? Or next.

Trip: Glacier Peak - White Chuck/Gerdine/Cool Glaciers Date: 9/2/2012 Trip Report: My wife, her brother, and I climbed Glacier Peak over the Labor Day weekend. There have been several TRs on this route recently, but it's such a beautiful area that I thought I'd share some photos. We left the North Fork Sauk Trial at dusk and hiked in headlamps for a couple of hours to make it to Mackinaw Shelter in the dark. Next morning we headed up and up...here we are after finally getting above timberline. We had a snack at White Pass and talked to a few guys heading to Stehekin via the PCT, then we caught the junction on the Foam Creek trail. After gaining the saddle above the trail, then dropping into the valley a bit, then gaining the next saddle we were rewarded with this view of a cloud-covered Glacier Peak. We had lunch in the basin... Then headed across the remnants of the White Chuck Glacier. A couple we met said it was better to cross the talus/mud area instead of climbing the shoulder past the White Chuck, but having gone up that way and down over the shoulder I have to disagree. Go up the talus early and get on snow. We still had a bunch of daylight so we went up and over Glacier Gap, dropped a couple hundred feet, gained the climber's trail toward Disappointment Peak and made a nice camp in a rock-wall bivy spot @7700'. Here's Derrick preparing to fly off into the sunset. The next morning we slept in, ate a good breakfast, drank lots of coffee, and headed up the easy snow of the Gerdine Glacier. There was a shooting gallery section of loose rock that was coming off Disappointment Peak. It's obvious, but I'd recommend staying further right than the boot pack highway goes. Here is my beautiful wife. It's her birthday today. There was a very short crevassed section where the Gerdine/Cool Glaciers meet, and one other crevasse crack that looked suspicious lower down on the Gerdine Glacier, but other than that it's smooth sailing. We gained the pumice ridge @9600' and followed the climber's trail to the summit, where we spent an hour watching the clouds come and go. Here the clouds come... And here the clouds go. A party with two dogs joined us on the summit. We scrambled back down the trail as a big party came up. Here Derrick catches some air on the pumice ridge near the top of the Cool Glacier. Here's the little crevassed section on the way down And the Mer de Glace that surrounds the Kololo Peaks Back at our 7700' camp Name the peaks: Back at Glacier Gap At the 6600' saddle, nearing the end of a long day Ptarmigan Mt Rainier above White Pass just after sunrise And again... Mt Rainier for breakfast One last look at Chossy Peak before heading back to White Pass Hiking back down the Foam Creek trail under White Mountain and a setting moon And one last look at Sloan Peak before dropping 3000' into the valley Approach Notes: Follow the herd

Thanks for the TR. I just sent a PM with a couple of questions, if you have time...

Yes, sort of. We went up the Boston Basin trail, then skied down Sahale Arm to Cascade Pass, then skied from Cascade Pass down the basin to the road, then walked a mile on the road back to our car (so technically we bypassed the Cascade Pass trail).

Trip: Sahale Peak (ski descent) - up Quien Sabe, down Sahale Arm Date: 7/8/2012 Trip Report: On Sunday my friend Brennan and I did a little loop on Sahale Peak: we hiked up to Boston Basin, skinned up the Quien Sabe Glacier, then rapped off Sahale's summit and skied all the way down to the road just below the Cascade Pass trailhead. There is so much snow yet! Here's Brennan a bit above the moraine in Boston Basin, with Johannesburg Peak towering in the background Looking up the Quien Sabe Glacier toward Sharkfin Tower and Boston and Sahale Peaks. We were able to skin all the way up to the Boston-Sahale saddle. The route is in awesome shape. Looking west again Taking a break below Sharkfin Tower. There's a small moat but the approach gully to the tower is in great shape. Forbidden, Sharkfin, and Boston from high on the Quien Sabe Giant cornice on the final traverse to the base of Sahale's summit pyramid. We skinned up to this spot but decided a boot pack might be a good idea from this point on. The snow was verrry soft up here. Looking back toward Boston and Buckner above Ripsaw Ridge while on the traverse to Sahale's summit pyramid The cornice from the other side Again On top of Sahale, with skis Rappelling off the summit pyramid Now for the payoff... Brennan gets ready to ski down the Sahale Glacier The snow was actually pretty good most of the way down, and at any rate with a 5000' descent in July you can't complain. Not too bad a view for a little ski trip The Sahale Arm is almost completely snow-covered, but we had to take our skis off 4 times: once to walk a short section of trail on the arm (pictured here); once to hike uphill for a couple of minutes on the arm; once to hike up to Cascade Pass after having skied a hundred feet below it, and once to traverse the slide alder below the pass to find a route down into the basin. Skiing down to Cascade Pass Gear Notes: Skis! Approach Notes: Approach to Boston Basin is in really good shape; snow starts about 200' below Boston Basin

Sent PM

Wow, great job! Thanks for the report.

Thanks. Jordan, I read your trip report earlier today. You seemed to not have really appreciated the beauty and complexity of the Rat Creek descent. (FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU)

Let me just add to this that it IS actually possible to be selected to go. I'm a weekend yahoo climber, very unfamous and average, and I got to go on the AAC's trip to Iran this past June after applying a year earlier. Apply!

Hi y'alls, I was going to do a trip to the Bailey Range in ONP this coming week (Saturday through the following Friday), but the @#%&ing weather is not looking ideal. So looking at forecasts I'm thinking about heading to the Enchantments area instead. Does anybody have any sweet 7-day itinerary ideas? I've spent a lot of time climbing/hiking along the well-worn route from the Snow Creek TH to Colchuck Lake (and I'd gladly go there again), but does anybody know any sweet XC routes in the area? Anything to make a loop? Up via Shield Lake to Prusik Pass, maybe down and around the back of Annapurna? Etc.

So much snow yet! White Rock Lakes are going to be permanently covered by glacier if we get a couple more years like this. Or not...thanks for the TR.

A short video of the NAS guy rappelling from the helicopter. Not sure who took it, but Jason had it up on his FB page.

holy shit man.

Looking for something for my girlfriend in the 0-20 degree range. She's 5'9", so nothing short. A good bag is preferred, since I will hopefully be getting into it some of the time (yessss). Feathered Friends, Western Mountaineering........

Thanks. I used a Nikon D3100, although the lens is more important (Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S). Knowing how to use it is the main thing though.

The 2 individuals who actually made it to the accident site were from Winthrop. There were a few more who had headed up the trail from somewhere else but they turned around a little bit past the start of the climbers' trail because the helicopter had already left, and I didn't talk to them. As the helicopter was leaving, we heard the crew talk to somebody at the trailhead and tell them that the 2 SAR personnel were "sticking around to help the victim's friends down." Which is funny because (1) none of us knew the guy, and (2) well, thanks for the help on the hike down? SAR guy laughed, said he would help us hike down now.

Not sure, we didn't ask. We left the trailhead @2pm and they were sitting on the back gate of their car chatting and smiling. There was a man and a woman, and she looked to be in worse shape with much of one of her legs bandaged, but I have no idea what happened or who they were.

Trip: Liberty Bell - Helicopter rescue Date: 8/13/2011 Trip Report: Since I know you guys are drawn to the macabre, I thought I'd share some photos of a helicopter evacuation that happened in the gully between Liberty Bell and Concord Tower this past weekend. I should mention that this is a very PG-13 rated trip report: no blood, sex, or foul language; just a broken leg... sorry. My girlfriend and I got a late start out of Mount Vernon and decided to head up Liberty Bell for an afternoon climb. We passed this mountain goat resting in the shade (and panting heavily) at the base of the gully. A few minutes later we came across a Kiwi who was laying in the middle of the gully between Liberty Bell and Concord Tower, maybe 200 feet below the notch. Apparently he had climbed Liberty Bell and had a freak accident on the hike down: his right foot twisted, resulting in what he believed was a spiral fracture of both the tibia and fibula below his calf. He was in good spirits, all things considered, and was hanging out with two climbers who had heard him scream when they were on the first pitch of the Beckey route. He had sent his partner down for help (after the other group activated their SPOT beacon), and they were awaiting a helicopter evacuation. My girlfriend was concerned. We had seen two bloodied/bandaged climbers at the trailhead, and a motorcyclist laying on the road (being attended to by paramedics) in Marblemount, and this was the last straw. We bailed on the climb and decided to wait with the Kiwi to assist with the evacuation, if needed. Plus it sounded fun to watch. After a couple of hours we heard the helicopter (a SAR blackhawk? from Whidbey Island NAS), then saw it circling overhead looking for us. Getting closer... After locating us the crew did about 15 flybys to assess the situation. We found out later that they were burning fuel (to make the hover easier) while waiting for the ground SAR people to arrive. Once the two ground SAR people showed up the helicopter lowered a guy into the gully. They asked the rest of us to get against the wall of Concord. The rotorwash was unbelievable, as was the noise. It felt like being inside a sandblaster, and we had to hold on to the rock to avoid being blown over. They resplinted the leg, slipped the Kiwi into a vest, clipped in... And headed up... Up... Up... And away! Sorry for the redundancy in the photos but it was pretty cool to watch. Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in space We still had to hike out. Parting shot of Concord Tower: Finally, in case you're wondering how SAR is so quick, here's one answer: motorized transportation to the start of the climber's trail.

Thanks for the trip report. Some year with good weather I'm going to link all 3. Meanwhile, since you're into dropping Bible passages... Exodus 22:19

Photo from the Bellingham Herald article: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/05/11/2011181/rangers-unsure-how-skier-fell.html RIP Tucker. Love to your friends and family.

It's always nice to see that the mountains are still there after a long winter. Looking forward to getting up there soon... thanks for the photos!

So obviously the Cascade River Road is now passable beyond mile 8.5 or wherever it was blocked earlier this winter?...

Thanks for the link and your thoughts. I just wanted to address one comment you made: I have a friend who is an "elite athlete". He's on the BMC Racing Team (they were in the Tour de France this past year), and he has told me that they are religious about their diets, at least leading up to/during races. They have it so dialed in that they eat a certain amount of a certain kind of protein, fat, etc. at a certain time of the day or exactly so many minutes before a stage. That in no way negates your comments, but it's interesting...

Some perspective is helpful. From his Associated Press obituary: "Mr. Loretan’s legendary exploits in the mountains were nearly overshadowed by his guilty plea to negligent manslaughter in the death of his 7-month-old son. He told police he had shaken the baby for a couple of seconds to stop him from crying, then put the child to bed. In 2003, he was given a four-month suspended sentence. The case helped lead to new research showing that many parents were unaware that infants, because of weak neck muscles, can die from being shaken for only a few seconds." Here's a link to a Swiss article that came out at the time, in which the writer says: "The Loretan case has triggered a debate on babyshaking in Switzerland and has lead to new research on the subject. A study, conducted by Zurich's children's hospital, found that one child in Switzerland suffers from shaken baby syndrome every month. The parents are mostly unaware of the fatal consequences that can result from shaking an infant for just a few seconds, says Ulrich Lips, lead author of the study and head of the hospital's child protection unit." http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/Alpinist_sentenced_for_shaking_baby_son_to_death.html?cid=3156844 Was it intentional? The shaking was, but the death of his child certainly wasn't. And what was it like carrying that with him for the rest of his life? It's very sad, but these are things to think about before making snap-judgments. It might be helpful to have this information in mind when you think about Mr. Loretan. Should this define him? Do people really think it's wrong to praise his climbing accomplishments and appreciate the way he inspired other climbers because of this incident?