snowball

Hi All Been outta touch. Is Rainier open for climbing in April or May via the northside (i.e. via WRCG)? I know the southside road is closed but my assumption is that the WRCG is mostly unimpeded. Thanks! FYI: Jerry Cooke's family had a service for him this wednesday. Some wonderful words are written on the memorial service announcement.

Very cool! Thanks!

Anyone know if its open? Me and a buddy are headed up the north side, so we would like to get one at the WR ranger station to avoid having to go to the south side. Thanks!

i like...

sweet boys

Sweet Barry.

good info kit_from_montreal. n, that wasnt me who you talked to but probably Bill... the guy i went up to muir with. he said he did a recon hike up there on friday and that he spoke to 2 guys coming down from camp muir. arc, nice solo. when did u climb it? this year?

Looking for a partner for Gib Chute or Gib Ledges. Experienced climbers only please... meaning someone with rope skills, crevasse rescue skills, avy beacon use, winter climbing skills, can climb fast, etc. No newbies please. Not looking to guide anyone. My thoughts were to climb Gib Chute or Gib Ledges because of their directness to the summit and their relatively easy approach. On my trip up to camp muir last weekend, i had a close look at Gib Chute. The route appears to be in sweet shape with snow/ice all the way to the chute exit (past Gib Ledges to the upper glacier). The approach to the chute can be done with minimal glacier/crevasse exposure by staying right and close to the ridge. We can minimize the avy danger by waiting for snow settling and climbing while the chute is frozen (this coming week???). If you prefer, we can simul-solo the chute for safety. Down in the the sierras, I eat up couloirs like Gib Chute for lunch. My schedule... I am staying with a girl friend up here in Kirkland (seattle-area) until March 18. My schedule is 100% open. Presently killing time runing in the rain and skiing in Snoqualime waiting for the next weather window. When winter ends, i am leaving town. I might be up for climbing Mt Hood in the meantime... Shoot me a PM if interested!

Nope... we did not go higher cuz i did not feel like dying in an avalanche with the new snow dumping on us and 50ft visibility. Wind and snow was blowing all night. By morning there was already 6inches of new snow. Getting down from muir in 50-80ft visibility and blowing snowfall was interesting to say the least. Descent was all by compass/landmark. We basically followed the "ridge" down to paradise. By elev 7500ft, we finally broke out from under the clouds, tho it was still snowing. Snowshoes.... Snowshoes were particularly helpful the first 2 miles or so, then after that they were not totally needed but only because a handful of climbers ahead of us had already stomped a snow trail up to muir. After this storm tho... I would suggest bringing them. My partner Bill and I were using those older plastic MSR snowshoes. Those things sucked and were falling apart on me.

Climb: Mt Rainier-Camp Muir Date of Climb: 3/4/2006 Trip Report: Nothing special here.... Hiked to Camp Muir (MARCH 4/5) with Ingraham Direct on our itinerary. Under clear blue skies, me and another CascadeClimbers.com member Bill went up to Camp Muir. Partner said he was gonna rest instead of climbing any higher, so while there i met another climber in the hut named Geoff (Denail solo climber). Ironically, his partner was gonna pass on climbing higher as well. Geoff and i planned on climbing the Gib Ledges. Before hitting the sack, we discussed roping up for with his 60M 8.5mm half rope and using ice screws to protect the ledges traverse if needed. We both discussed our crevase rescue background and felt satisfied with our experience. We also reviewed our avy beacon use. Mountain started to get socked in by evening with thick fog. By 4am Muir was in a snowy whiteout with high winds. We all descended back to Paradise. Storm hitting Rainier right now. Should dump a good deal fresh snow for the next week. On the approach to camp i had a closeup look of Gibraltar Chute. This would be sweet to climb possibly by next week (March 12-???). Will post another partner request...

humm... i decided to stay cuz rainier is now under clear blue skies. was hiking up on the muir snowfield tday under clear blue skies. making an attempt this weekend with another cc.com-er... anyone else free this coming week (march 5-11), possibly for a 2nd attempt. where are all those hardcore PNW climbers??? solo-ing it, i suppose. heheehehe. being on the mountain got me all pyched again.

I am up here in seattle. Been tracking the weather... rain/precipitation expected for next week as well (thru MARCH 10!). i am bailing out of here and going to colorado for some ice climbing. Rain sucks. If there is a weather break the last week of winter (MARCH 10-17) then i will come back up.

Good hearing from many of you! Latest news is that Gib Ledges are in! I plan to be in Seattle Feb 22 - Mar 6 to climb the Ledges (1st choice) or Ingraham Direct... I got a car and all the gear we need. PM me if you want to climb this puppy.

So far: It appears that we may have one commited climber (on the mountain) and one climber on the wing (on call)..... plus myself. It would be great to have a 3rd person on the mountain! Anyone else...?

bumping up...

Robby Robot Yang.... dude, get a girlfriend and relax. Too bad you're still harboring hard feelings for not finding your 2 biners...

Looking for a partner to climb Rainier end of February... please see my post in the Climbing Partners message board. Thanks!

Looking for PNW climber who is interested in climbing/attempting rainier this winter. Ive summited rainier 4 times (Kautz, Emmons, DC) in spring and summer. Interested in Gib Ledges or ID for this attempt. My regular climbing partner (my girlfriend) cant make this trip hence i am looking for at least 1 other person who is likewise knowledgable of crevasse rescue (pulleys, etc) and winter climbing. Not looking for a newbie (sorry). I can hold my own and am hoping to find the same in a partner. I will be driving up from Southern California. My tentative plan is to arrive Feb 23 (or so) to stay in Seattle or at Rainier for 7-10 days and hopefully a weather window appears in that time. At the very least, it would be great to hike to camp muir then decide from there if there is safe passage to the higher worlds. My guess is that you would need to have a fairly flexible schedule cuz a weather window could happen at any time... Worst comes to worst, i will be going up there to Rainier anyways and hope to meet a partner at muir. Shoot me an PM. Lets see if our interests overlap. FYI, i will be climbing casaval ridge (shasta) with my girlfriend feb 17 weekend, so if ya wanna meet, perhaps you can climb with us (?). Peace, peeps...

Agreed. Nonetheless, we just gotta keep the place clean. I do think that the Creek could benefit from a few toilets at higher trafficed areas such as Supercrack Buttress.

Hi Fat Squirrel! Cool TR and pix from your climb! Way to stay another day to give it a 2nd shot! I recalling seeing you all up there as well as your camp. Looks like your team was having a blast. Were you the ones living high with the charcoal BBQ, lounge chairs, and prayer flags? Hehehe... (10-shot espresso)

Supercool, lawgoddess! Agreed, the shooting stars and the sounds of climbing are the greatest, esp alone... also, cool summit shot

SJ It happened between 4pm and 5pm. Jerry and I saw you. You were descending by yourself from Emmons Flat and were walking about 20ft from that crevasse! I had just come out of the crevasse, Pete and Drew had just started heading back to camp, and Jerry and I were just putting on our packs to find a camp site on the Emmons. When we saw you unroped walking in the boot tracks, we both told to you to move away from the hole. If that wasn't you, then it was some other lucky soul on the roulette wheel. Like to hear your story...

I just added photos! Sorry, no photos from inside the crevasse. It never occurred to me for a second. (no surprise)

Recommend the Yashica T4 Super or Zoom. Stylus is good for sure. I bought the Yashica to replace my girlfriends Stylus camera. Stylus has a faster lens, but you can make up for this in the Yashica by just using a 400 speed film. The lens in the Yashica is sharper than the Styus lens, as it uses a Carl-Ziess lens. The Yashica has exposure compensation as well (good for snow photographs). My scanned photos with the Yashica start to come close to those taken with my Leica. Good luck.

yeah, i thought about giving up, but then i thought 'maybe thats not such a great idea...' (too funny)