snowball

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)

Getting cold feet? Not here... My girlfriend Patty is selling her super-warm, super-cool-looking La Sportiva Climbing/Mountaineering Boots. She is getting into ice climbing and needs a smaller boot: Model: La Sportiva, Olympus Mons! Size: US Lady 8.5 / US Men 7.5 / EUR 40 / UK 6.5 Use: Cold Weather Mountaineering Type: Double boot with integrated gaiter Price: $350.00 (shipping included to US address) Original Price: $720.00 Condition: Used 1 season, but they look virtually new and are 100% fine Description: If you know about mountaineering boots, then you know these are the top-of-line cold-weather climbing boots by La Sportiva! They are super-warm. Perfect for winter climbing. Perfect for high-altitude climbing (Rainier! Denali! Hymals! South America! Everest!). These boots are the 2004 model, but here is a link to this years model which is very similar: La Sportiva Olympus Mons I am posting this because my girlfriend doesnt know squat about how to post this stuff for herself. Buy with confidence. If it means anything to you, I have 100% positive feedback rating on EBay (40 transactions, Ebay member name ClimbingSnow), so people have never complained about anything bought or sold thru me. If you are interested, you can send payment to me via PayPal.com to my email address (not posted here, send me a PM). We will pay for any shipping to a US address. Thanks for looking! Photo showing Patty using them on Casaval Ridge, Mt Shasta in winter:

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)

Thanks sweatingoutliquor... the story was just waiting to get typed.

Jerry! It was a pleasure climbing with you on Rainier. Mailing you the prints! Looking forward to ice climbing with you in New England this winter. Oh, by the way, that snowball i took from the top of Rainier almost lasted to the parking lot! Back to work...

Thanks y'all. Rob yes, meant to reply... still going to Dana Couloir this weekend? I am free this fri, sat, sun. Will give you a ring...

Climb: Mt Rainier-Emmons Glacier Date of Climb: 7/17/2005 Trip Report: Arrival Day 14 July 2005, Thursday: Drove to Seattle Airport to pick up my new climbing partner for Rainier, Jerry from New England! We are climbing as a 2 person team. Skills Day 15 July 2005, Friday: Drove to Rainier, parked at the White River Campground, hiked up over St. Elmos Pass, and stopped at the start of the Winthrop Glacier. I knew Jerry was an experienced New England ice climber and experienced cascade climber, but for safety reasons we spent an hour reviewing crevasse rescue since we had never climbed together before... just to make sure we were on the same page. We roped up and Jerry pulled with full force on the rope, simulating his fall into an crevasse, while on the other end i jumped into self-arrest. From self-arrest, proceeded to transfer the load to an anchor. I disconnected a fluke from my harness, plunged it into the snow with my right hand, and clipped its carabiner to the free-end of the foot prussik (the other end is already attached to the climbing rope between me and Jerry). The primary anchor is set. I slowly get up from self-arrest as the load begins to transfer from my harness to the fluke. It see that its holding... i back it up. Okay Jerry, your turn! We swap roles. In one scenario, Jerry jumps into self-arrest and sets a picket as the primary anchor. In another scenario, he jumps into self-arrest and sets a fluke. We also review our rescue pulley systems. Jerry is familiar with the Z-pulley. I express my preference for using a c-z pulley because of its considerable mechanical advantage. After reviewing the systems, we begin to cut accross the Winthrop Glacier and review glacier travel. 40ft of rope between us. Stay in my tracks, please. Lets keep the slack out of the rope, please. It starts to rain, softening the snow bridges. Jerry falls into "small" crevasse up to his knee. I have him tight from a standing position. Clouds envelop the glacier. Visibility is about 100 yards. Seeing its no longer safe to proceed for the night, we back track from halfway across the glacier to an icy moraine island. At the camp, Jerry puts me on belay as i probe a "safe perimeter" for our camp. Approach Day 16 July 2005, Saturday: We rope up to get off the Winthrop Glacier, unrope as we hike back to St Elmos Pass, then rope up for the Inter Glacier. Its foggy on the way up, but a decent boot track winds through the minor crevasses that spot the glacier. At Curtis Camp, its windy so i put on my shell. We descend the rocky trail down to the Emmons Glacier. We remained roped-up for this traverse/descent, but in retrospect it would have been wiser to unrope, since a fall by either one of us would undoubtedly rip the other climber off the trail and onto the Emmons glacier as well. WoW! The views... the clouds intermittently float accross the landscape hiding Little Tahoma Peak, then hiding the Emmons, then revealing Little Tahoma, then hiding it again... I snapped a few shots. I cant resist. I am sucker for photographs, even bad ones. We arrive at Camp Schurman, stop at the ranger cabin, and ask if there is any room left at Camp Schurman. "No, Emmons Flat is full too. You have to camp on the Winthrop." Whatever! I drop my pack. I U-N-C-L-I-P T-H-E R-O-P-E, and drop my end of the rescue coil. I use the facilities (hey, i dont want to use those blue bags). I R-E-C-L-I-P T-H-E R-O-P-E, check the biner, re-clip the waist-prussik, stuff the free-end of the foot-prussik into my pocket, i look at my pack-tether and biner, and decide that i dont need to clip it to my harness since we are just going up the hill to Emmons Flat. Okay Jerry, ready? I see him look at the rope, everything is still clipped since he did not unrope as i just did. Yep! Lets go... "Okay guys, see ya later" i tell the rangers. We leave Camp Schurman and start the 10 minute, wanded walk up to Emmons Flat. Boy! A million boot tracks between Schurman and the Flats. Boy! Looks like fun up there at the Flats, people unroped, walking around, womens laughter. Jerry, you good back there? "Yeah." I turn around and see some slack, more than i like. I keep walking... i am now falling... "F A L L I N G!" God! I stopped. My boots are hanging in mid-air. I am in a deep crevasse, about 5ft wide, blue ice walls, pure bottomless blackness far below. I have fallen approx 10ft (about 4 feet above my head is the hole i just created in the glacier). I am wedged in the snowy upper-section of the crevasse. "SET THE ANCHOR! SET THE ANCHOR! JERRY, SET THE DAMN ANCHOR! DID YOU HEAR ME? SET THE ANCHOR!" My right hand is high above my head still holding onto the top of my ice axe, which is plunged into the snow/ice, but i can see the bottom of the ice axe poking out through the bottom of the snow/ice, then there is nothing. These are sights climbers do not want to see. The rope is tight, but i know i am holding some of my own weight since my hand is holding me too. My hand is slipping, i cant keep holding, its too much weight, my hand is slipping, my wrist loop is not tight, i cannot hold anymore. "JERRY, IS THE ANCHOR SET" No reply. What the f* is going on?! My hand slips off the ice axe, which remains plunged in the snow far above me. "F A L L I N G!" I fall sideways and down. "DAMN IT" I reach out to the sides but nothing helps, i am falling. My boots skate against the walls. I stop. I have fallen another 15 ft. "JERRY SET THE ANCHOR!" No reply. I am now 100% hanging on the rope. I look at my harness instinctively. Is it rope clipped? Yes. Is the biner locked? Yes. Is the harness double-backed? Yes. My pack is falling off of me. I am tilted somewhat sideways and my pack is almost off my right shoulder. Snow and ice is falling from above. I am getting all wet, i am glad i put on my hard shell at Camp Curtis! Everything is getting wet, wet snow in my face, in my jacket, in my gloves... My pack is slipping. I look for that pack-tether. Is it clipped to my harness? NO! Damn it! Why didnt I clip it at Camp Schurman? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I didnt think i would fall into a crevasse. Of course... Who does? I look down. Crap, i am gonna die in a stupid crevasse. So, stupid. "JERRY!" "YES!" i hear Jerry reply from above. "IS THE ANCHOR SET?" "NO! I AM SETTING IT!" "HURRY UP!" I have gotta get off the rope... My right boots fits on a small ice ledge just below me. I manage to get a little bit of weight off the rope, but if that rope goes, i am dead for sure. I look at the rope again. 9.2mm. I will never go out on a glacier with anything thinner. "OKAY, THE ANCHOR IS SET!" "IS IT BACKED UP?" Jerry shows up at the lip of the crevasse, self-belayed with his waist prussik. "YES, I HAVE 3 PIECES IN, SHOULD I PUT ONE MORE IN?" "NO, I NEED YOU TO GET MY ICE AXE. ITS STILL UP THERE." He gets it. "I NEED YOU TO HAUL MY PACK. ITS FALLING OFF ME. DROP ME SOME ROPE WITH A FIGURE-8 ON A BIGHT. I WILL CLIP IT TO THE PACK. YOU CAN THE PULL IT UP. OKAY?" "YES." I get an end of rope tossed down without a knot. "SORRY, I FORGOT TO PUT THE KNOT IN..." My right arm is wedged against the wall, so i am effectively a one-armed person. With my free left hand i tie an overhand on a bight, with a little help from my wedged right hand. I cannot reach the pack-tether, so i unclip my fluke from my harness, clip it to the rope, and clip it to the pack haul loop. "JERRY, PULL UP THE PACK! WAIT, ITS STUCK, I CANT GET MY ARM OUT, OKAY, PULL NOW." Jerry hauls it to the lip but it get stuck there. He ties it off. "THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE OVER HERE. SHOULD I GET THEIR HELP?" "YES!" He leaves. I am still not good hanging here not knowing if i have a solid anchor. My insticts tell me to set anchor. I look around, blue ice everywhere. My ice screw! I unclip it from my harness and toss the orange tip-protector. I hold on to that screw with a hard grip. Cant drop it... I start to screw it at waist height, but i realize it will be too far away to clip to my harness since i am hanging away from the wall. I restart, now screwing it at chest-height. It wont grab! The ice is too hard. Please, go in, please go in... The threads grab the ice and i screw it in 22cm. I clip the screw's biner to my waist prussik. I am safe. I know i am safe. This single ice screw lifted 90% of the panic i was feeling. Now i wanted out! Many minutes pass, i hear voices overhead, then i see Pete! Jerry summoned 2 climber on the Emmons, Pete and Drew, to help out with the rescue. "How are you doing down there?" Pete says. "I am okay. I want to prussik outta here. Can you take my pack out?" Pete pulls the pack but the trekking pole and picket are getting stuck in the lip of the crevasse. He rotates the pack and it comes out! Yay!!!!!! "Pete, how is the anchor up there?" "Good! We have a deadman and your original anchor." I unscrewed the ice screew i just placed, looped my foot loops onto my boots, and started prussiking up the rope. When i got to the lip of the crevasse, i could no longer lift my waist prussik, so i needed help to get over the lip. Pete was there with all smiles. "Here grab my hand." I grab it but i still could not step out. "Here grab my hand with both of your hands, we will just pull you out!" So i grab his left arm with both of my hands and with a huge force, i am pulled right out on top of Pete and the snow! I AM OUT! My second chance! I look across the glacier and i see Pete, Drew, Jerry, and a couple of other people too. I cant believe it. I almost died and now i am out!? I thank all parties especially Jerry. "Hey, David, you know, we dont need to climb this thing. Lets get just get to camp and rest." "Okay, let me just rest and see how i feel then..." We walk another 100 yards and park ourselves without knowing right next to Pete and Drew, my rescuers! Life is good again. We take pictures, set up camp, and have a meal. "You know, i am good to go again. Lets climb..." Went to sleep at 630pm. Summit Day 17 July 2005, Sunday: Woke up at 1030pm. All stars, no clouds. Started climbing at midnight. We were the 3rd team to start climbing. Many and many headlamps down below. Cold and windy climbing this morning. Wore my parka for a good amount of the climb. Reached the bergschrund. Bottleneck of people there. Lots of waiting. Set a picket to protect the step through the bergschrund. Lots of breaks. Really slow. Altitude hitting Jerry. Summited at approx 9am. Saw that really old climber who was setting the record for being the oldest person to summit Rainier (82 years old!). Many pictures at summit. Uneventful descent. Lots of soft snow. Returned to camp. Made coffee. Roped up for both the Emmons and Inter Glacier. Ran the rest of the way down to the car (in boots with pack). Jerry arrived shortly thereafter. Gear Notes: 2 ice screws, 2 pickets, 2 flukes, 1 60M 9.2mm rope 1 picket used to protect bergschrund at 13000ft. Approach Notes: NOTE: This was my first fall in a crevasse. The snow that collapsed under my feet looked 100% good. Boot tracks all around. No characteristic slumping of snow to hint of a hidden crevasse. I solo non-glacier climbs all the time, but I will never solo glaciers. Many lessons learned that day. We used 40ft of rope between us, but i will now use 50ft of rope between climbers on a 2-person climbing team. Everyone on team should know how to execute rescue procedures (anchors and pulleys) by themselves even if climbing on multiperson rope team, because that person might be the only person left on top. Photos: Climbers on Interglacier Approach: Emmons Route and Crevasse Fall Location: Camp Schurman and Ranger Cabin: Emmons Glacier and Little Tahoma Peak: Camp on Emmons Flat and Crevasse Fall Location (photo taken on descent): My rescuers, Pete (in red), Drew (in foreground), and Jerry (not seen): First light of dawn: Daybreak (12000ft): Approaching the Bergschrund Step (12500ft): Liberty Cap in background (13000ft): Teams queue to pass the Bergschrund Step (13000ft): Bergschrund Step (13000ft): Jerry (13500ft): Columbia Crest, Summit Crater (That 82 yr old climber is sitting down in blue parka)(14300ft): Summit! Me (left) and Jerry (right) (14400ft): Descent on Crest scree slope (14300ft): Descent to Emmons Camp (10000ft):

Hey, thanks Clint and Rob! okay, back to doing what i do best...

Here are some photos from the TR:

GONE! Thanks y'all!

Hi Pete! That was me in the hole, Snowball! Thanks for helping me out of that Blue Ice Cavern to Hell! Thanks to Drew as well as my strong partner Jerry. Thought i was going to die when i started falling straight down with the full acceleration of free fall. Never fallen into a crevasse before. First time, but i never thought it was going to be like that. Glad to be roped-up even on that "benign" stretch between Camp Schurman and Emmons Flat where there is a million foot prints all over the place and where people casually walk unroped because its "safely wanded". Many lessons learned that day. After setting up camp, i got my head back together and we topped out the mountain with y'all that night. Will post a full TR soon on the incident.

I climbed the Emmons the same day as the 82 year old guy. I saw him climbing with his son in the lead. He didnt look winded or anything. Didnt use a helmet or anything silly like that. Just 2 trekking poles...

Climb: Mt Rainier-Disappointment Cleaver Date of Climb: 7/13/2005 Trip Report: Arrival Day 11 July 2005, Monday: Came solo to the mountain. A few days sooner it was raining up higher so i waited until today. Got a Hook-up permit and went up to Camp Muir. Got there late in the day because i had a great lunch at the Copper Creek Inn near Ashford. Walked around the tents and the first 2 people i saw were Wil (30) and his girlfriend (25, Lehia?) whose name i could never remember so i never tried to say it again. Nice couple. Asked them if they could use another person on their rope team. They said sure but Wil said he only had a 30 ft rope. Hummm. Bit short on rope in my book, but i said i had full 60m 9.2mm rope we could use. Asked them if they were climbing that night. No, they wanted to climb the following night and use tomorrow (12 July 2005) as a rest day then summit. I walked around camp and setup my tent site near the Stone Muir bunk cabin. Fresh snow from 2 days ago made for good snow walls and melting for water. Got to sleep around 930pm. Windy all night. Heard climbing teams leaving for the summit that night at midnight. Rest and Training Day 12 July 2005, Tuesday: Wil and his girlfriend had never climbed the mountain before so i told them what to expect. I also asked them if they had any glacier rescue training before... They said yes but didnt really recall all the procedures. So i went over the basics of roping up. I would lead, the girlfriend would be in the middle, and Wil would anchor. Rope spacing was 25ft between each of us. I figured there would be no way they would remmeber how to set up a Z-pulley or C-Z-pulley (my preference) in case a rescue was necessay, so i focused on reviewing with them the primary requirement of a crevasse fall: SETTING THE ANCHOR FROM SELF ARREST POSITION. We went over this many times on the Colwitz glacier right in front of camp muir. Since they had no pickets or flukes or ice screws, i loaded them half of the hardware i had brought up with me. So now they were set. Part of the mock rescue involve me pulling full force on the rope with them jumping into self-arrest, then Will and his girlfriend settting an anchor. They got good at it and i figured they would be able to save my life if i went into the hole. About 1/3 of the teams returning from the summit bid made it to the top. Not bad. RMI started taking teams up the DC instead of the Ingraham Direct after that RMI 4-person accident happened 4 days sooner. I went to sleep at 6pm. We would wake up at 1030pm and leave for the summit at midnight. Summit Day 13 July 2005, Wednesday: Camp muir: Woke up at 1030pm. All stars and almost no wind. Tonight was a good night. For breakfast i drank a liter of my favorite hot drink: International Coffee instant coffee which has a TON of sugar and caffine in it (read energy). We roped up and were the 2nd team across the Colwitz, then at Cathedral Gap we passed a team of 2. We were now the first team headed up to Ingrahams Flat. Wil's girlfriend expressed concern of down climbing all the loose rock at the Gap. I told her we would have shorten the rope for her and keep it tight in the return. Ingrahams Flat: Teams were just waking up. We rested for 10 minutes by one of the camps. Drank water. Wil ate a powerbar which he shared with his girlfriend. We kept moving and the route was wanded to the base of the Cleaver. I had previously climbed the Cleaver but i knew it was always different so i was wide awake as we approached the Cleaver. The Cleaver: There was a fixed rope in the ice/rock that RMI had installed. We clipped in and moverd accross the deathfall that loomed to the right precipice. The fixed rope ended and we continued the traverse of darkness. Then a new fixed rope appeared along narrow snow ledge with another precipice to the right. Fun... The Cleaver was mainly snow 30-40 degrees. Our pace slowed considerably on the cleaver. The light tracks that followed us were now right behind us. Wils girlfriend was slow. Teams started to pass us by breaking trail to the side of the boot trail. Then they stopped to rest. I started to pass on one side by breaking trail as well. Then Wils girlfriend expressed concern about not climbing in the boot track. She felt unsafe on the slopes. This would prove to be the issue that kept us behind slow teams all day. We started to climb a wanded route that went directly up the rocky spine of the Cleaver. She expressed concern about climbing on rocks with crampons esp given the wind that morning. So i had Wil downclimb a 30 degree (Class 2) rocky slope back to the boot track in the snow. I kept him tight then Wils girlfriend followed, then i followed. We were back on the snow moving a descent pace again, until we ran into the many climbing teams now all around us. Top of the Cleaver: Daybreak. Beautiful. I took pictures. Many many team stopped at the rocky outcrop at the top of the Cleaver. I pulled out my parka to keep warm. Will and his girlfriend shivered in their wind shell jackets. They apparently did not have any parka with them. They didnt think it was going to be as cold as it was. I wasnt that hungry but i ate my Goldfish and Cadbury chocolate bar with nuts. Will girlfriend expressed concern downclimbing the snow slopes in the Cleaver. I let her know the hardest climbing was over and we would keep here tight on the descent. Time to move on... Crevassed Slopes above the Cleaver: LOG JAM. Teams waited behind teams in the boot track to the summit. But few teams passed each other. We waited then moved, then waited, then moved. It was quite silly. A party of 2 passed everyone off the boot track and kept a stong pace until they disappeared... I convened a team meeting. "If we are going to make it up there, we need to pass teams off the boot track. This will get us up there early and we can descend while the snow and bridges are still cold. Are you good with this?" "Okay..." So we got off the boot track. Broke trail. Snow was hard then icy then soft. Fun. I kept the pace strong and they followed suit. We started passing teams. 1 team, 2 teams, 3 teams, 4..... "Wait! I am not comfortable off the trail. Lets get back on it...." We lost our lead and were back where we started. Oh well. Columbia Crest: We reached the crater around 9am. We unroped. I ran to the summit. Took some pictures. Signed the summit book. Wil came up 10 minutes later. His girlfriend stayed at the crater. Descent: Uneventful descent. We reversed our climbing order. Wil was first, his girlfriend was inthe middle, i was last. At the top of the Cleaver we rested. I took a solid 10minute nap. I was sound asleep and loved it. Ate a Jolly Rancher and removed all my layers except my base. I felt the first steep snow slope on the Cleaver could be soft (with a deathfall just beyond) so i had us descend the rocky spine of the Cleaver to get past those slopes, then we moved back onto the Cleaver's snow slopes for the rest of the descent. Clipped the fixed ropes again. Snow was soft across Ingrahams Flat. We short roped thru the rocky descent at Cathedral Gap. Quickly waled across the Colwitz back to Camp Muir. Back by 2pm. Good summit day all around. Colder weather than my previous climbs up the mountain. I think every team summited that day (approx 40 people). Gear Notes: 1 60m rope 9.2mm, 2 pickets, 2 flukes, 2 ice screws

NEW! (download image attachment) Gift from girlfriend. I have got too much gear. Selling new in box, unused. $100. I will pay shipping. Will accept PayPal payments (just setup an account at PayPal.com). Send payment to: valdes (at) stanfordalumni (dot) org. I have a perfect 40 rating on EBAY with no negative feedback! My EBAY member name is Climbingsnow. Thanks for your interest! David Product Description from Kong Lightweight and durable, the Kong Scarab utilizes the Perfix adjustable system to insure that you have the perfect fit. CE Certified for 4 sports: Mountaineering, cycling, watersports and equestrian activities. [Weight: 255 grams [CE & UIAA Certified [size= 20.5" to 23.75" Product Review by Climbing Magazine CLIMBING.COM - EQUIPMENT No 227 Kong Scarab Helmet Review By Matt Stanley Photo's by Zach Reynolds Kong Scarab, $117, 10 ounces Summary: “Straight out of Milan” is how one tester described the Kong Scarab’s appearance. This bike-hemet-style polystyrene model was easily the most exotic-looking lid in the test — the helmet’s well-shrouded vents do indeed remind one of a scarab. Aside from the excellent ventilation, the Scarab also earns top marks for comfort, with a generous — but not chunky — layer of padding inside, and a padded chin strap. While the fit system was very easy to adjust, there were occasional problems with the push-and-rotate button popping open when bumped. Headlamps were difficult to put on and difficult to adjust for position, due to the headlamp clamps also functioning as the end points of the chin strap. Ponytail wearers may have issues with the rear of the suspension. Pros: Comfortable; easy to adjust. Cons: Adjustment dial can pop open. Overall grade: A- P.S. I put on the helmet and it works fine with my BD Xenix Headlamp and the adjustment wheel works great. Also, this helmet is hard to find, if that matters any... -Snowball

bummer, no replies... anyone rock climb? instead, i may just hang out at camp 4 (yosemite) for that week (july 8-15). the mountain isnt looking that great right now anyways. futile justification

Climb or Read this board... Climb or Read this board... Climb or Read this board... Hi, i am seeking a climber. When? July 8-whenever to climb something on Rainier. My girlfriend was going up there with me but she cant make it again so i need (eeeks!) a new partner. I will be up there anyways from July 8 to whenever (finishing a climb on Baker and Shuksan the previous week). I have plenty of time. Looking for someone with good crevasse rescue skills. I have my skills all dialed for 2 person climbing. I am a safe climber, easy going, and patient (which my girlfriend can attest to...). Climbed Rainier twice before (Kautz and DC unguided). Would be up for climbing the Fuhrer Finger, Wilson Headwall, or something like that. I hope the weather is good while i am there. Maybe i can trail run parts of the wonderland trail if its crappy... Gosh, i think posts from California are invisible. Opps! Me talking aloud again. Face to name:

I will already be up there that weekend climbing Mt Baker and Shuksan. If my girlfriend can't make it, then i am free to climb LR.... Training for West Rib, are you? Me too but for 2007... (motor oil, used)

The info center is nice. Good job! BTW are there any bunks upstairs i could crash on before a climb? I should have asked while there... Sobo, i found a copy of your summit pix sans manboob!

I would be up for climbing if the weather looks good for those days... But have you checked the radar and pressure systems? It shows a giantic low pressure system moving into Washington this entire week. If next week's forecast shows a clearing for 3 consequtive days, i would be up for it... Would you be up for Fuhrer Finger?

Ive seen solo climbers on Kautz Glacier route if thats any indication of comfort level...

Very impressive you guys. Never aid climbed but pics like these always give me a serious dose of willies. Keep at it and good luck on El Cap. Look forward to your next post...