Kraken

Ohhhh right yeah...I didn't see those eggs, but I heard about them...and I think I smelled them yesturday while roped up...ewwww

Hannah if the weather is good the first week of August and you're free for a few days, we could do the Emmons. I don't know though, I may want to go do something over in the Olympics. Yeah...I realized there are other mountains besides Rainier

Heh, I was in the green North Face Nebula and the other guys were in the yellow North Face Mountain 25 and a Walrus tent, on the east side of Muir. Hope we weren't too loud

Climb: Rainier-Dissapointment Cleaver Date of Climb: 7/15/2005 Trip Report: After getting blown off the Kautz last week, I was still itching to summit Rainier again, so on Wednesday, I headed back to Paradise and registered as a 'Hook Up Only' to climb to Muir. On the way up, I met up with a few guys and we kept meeting up every now and then. I was carrying a heavy pack that weighed in excess of 50 pounds (tent, pickets, tools, food, etc) and it took me four hours on the dot to reach Muir. I met up with a guy named Riley, who was in the group with the other two I'd met before. He quickly invited me to join his team (with me included it would be six in all) to climb the Dissapointment Cleaver. I had never climbed that route and although it is known as the standard route, it sounded fun. The last two climbers in the team got up to Muir late, at about 10:45 PM, while the rest of us arrived 3 hours earlier. Seeing as how these guys were going to be extremely tired, we opted to wait a full day and start our summit bid that next night. Thursday was spent sunbathing and relaxing in the sun, it was an absolutely immaculate day. There wasn't a single cloud to be seen anywhere on the horizon in any direction. I got really burnt on my legs, threw rocks at the Camp Robbers all day, and watched the rockfall bombard the path under Cathedral Rock. A shit ton of people came up that day, a bunch of teams attempting the DC. We knew some of them were going to be slow and we had to leave early. We finally decided to be up at 10:45 and on the trail by 11:45. I never slept, just layed there. At wake up time I shook everyone up and we got ready. A team from Stanford college left before us...all nine of them. We left 15 minutes after they did to give them a headstart. By the time we reached Ingraham Flats to put our crampons on, we had been on their tails for five minutes. We couldn't get past them and ended up being stuck behind them for more than an hour...moving at a pace that would drive a slug crazy. The rest of the teams were far below and we could see their lights at the Flats as we were on the Cleaver, at a practical standstill behind the Stanfordians in the rockfall area. Finally...FINALLY, we reached the top of the cleaver. The team stepped aside to change gear and we took a 30 second breather, then promptly stepped out in the lead. There were several awesome crevasses on the route with skimpy snow bridges and it made for a little excitement. I once heard the bridge shifting under my foot...and thought how cool it was to be out there. Weird thought, I know. I was roped in the back and Riley was in the front, as we were the strongest two climbers. The other four were pretty damn tired and slow moving, but we kept them going and held the lead by more than 1/2 mile. We later learned the Stanfordians turned around at the top of the cleaver. We reached the crater rim a few minutes before 5:00 AM, just as the sun erupted over the Cascades. The amazing mountain triangle shadow spread out perfectly to the horizon in the west. It was quite a sight. The trip down was uneventful, we passed a bunch of groups from 13,500-12,000 feet. At Ingraham Flats, an older woman greeted us on the route with a handful of Jolly Ranchers as a reward for our trip. It was great! We arrived back at Muir at 9 AM, only to discover that the other guys' tents were gone...vanished...who knows. Turns out, they had blown away...all the way down the Cowlitz and into a crevasse. My tent was left standing since I had anchored it properly. I packed up and wished them luck with getting their stuff out and rocked it all the way down the snowfield to Paradise in less than 80 minutes. All in all, it was a fantastic climb. Never would I say it was a 'hard' climb in any aspects. It was however, a beautiful climb with incredible crevasses and seracs. I had more fun than I thought I would on it. I was just happy to be up on the mountain. Gear Notes: Pickets (never used them but could come in handy if a snowbridge is out) Approach Notes: There is tons of rockfall between Gibraltar rock and the Cathedral Gap. Move fast and watch out. Also, there was tons of rockfall scattered around the Cleaver, as is expected.

I heard a story about these two guys high on PCP who decided to play russian roulette with a shot gun.

right on man. Gotta love the little T

scary stuff. I'll look for that when I am on the route in a few days. I haven't climbed the DC or the ID yet so it will be good to do it, even if they are standard. I've already climbed the Gib ledges this winter and the Kautz...got blown off, but oh well. STill wanting to do the Emmons. I just want to see schurman and the steamboat prow. Any word on how the victims are doing?

why'd you start your summit climb at 7 and not earlier?

Yeah man, my buddy and I both picked up one of these tents at the same time. He's used his all over the place...Rainier, Adams, Hood, and even on Denali. I however have only used it several times for little overnight trips. I bought it for 300, since websites are now selling them new for 225, i'd sell for 150.

I heard a story about these two guys high on PCP who decided to play russian roulette with a shot gun.

North Face Nebula Profile I'm selling a 2004 North Face Nebula Tent. It's been used 2 times and is in damn new condition. Great tent, made for all use. Worked awesome on Rainier and in the Alaska range. This tent has never been used for anything other than a car camping trip so it's in as good as MINT condition. Make me an offer. Super cheap shipping.

Here it is for $379 new. http://store.yahoo.com/mbstores-store/mounhartran4.html

...and this was in Washington, not Alaska...not that it matters.

Sounds like you were shagging a bear. But, then, it is Alaska after all.... no it was really good sex and she was really hot, just didn't find out until later on that she was one of those quiet nutjobs. You do have to watch out for those Alaskan bears though, there's plenty of them

hahah, i've had plenty of times like that where i've had that happen. Gotta love them as soon as they are over...but while youre in them, they are the worst thing in the world.

check your PMs, Divot

or he could have -stuck out his tongue -turned around and mooned the reporter -made a pig nose -or made the 'neener neener neener' sound

no, but it's on the basic route straight off of the Glacier Vista paved trail down to the Fan across the Nisqually. I misnamed the glaciers, my bad. There were multiple pieces located.

I took the standard route, may have misnamed hte glacier. You're right though, it would be the nisqually and wilson.

i haven't seen that show in better than 8 years but i still can sing that entire song from memory. Long live Ren and Stimpy...you EEEEEIIIIDIIIOOT!

I was working carpentry a month ago. My foreman wanted to smoke...not cigs. We go to the truck and smoke. I come out and he tells me to cut a 2x6 at a 4 3/8 inch with a 45 degree angle on the chop saw, a big radial saw with a 13 inch blade that you drop down. My fingers were just inches away from the blade and i pulled down on the wood. Being high, I wasn't thinking right. The blade hit the shorty wood and ripped it out from under the saw and it flew about 20 feet. My finger got pulled right to the blade and past, missing my finger by less than a 1/4 of an inch. I should have lost my finger. It scared the shit out of me so bad i never smoked at work again.

I'll be up at Camp Muir on Rainier from Monday, July 11 - Friday, July 15. I'll be hoping to climb to the top at least 2 times. If you are going to be up there and need a partner, or a third, look for me. I'll be camped in the snowfield in a Green North Face tent. It's supposed to be a beautiful week, hope it all works out well.

That's a black bear, not a hedgehog. The resemblance is quite similar though!

i really should be institutionalized just for the pure fact that I've lived in WA my entire life, now I live in AK, and have never really climbed, hiked, or camped in the Cascades outside of Rainier. Don't worry, you need not say anything. I hang my head in shame!

Good for you man! Muir is a cool place, and yes, the mountain is daunting from it indeed. Glad you are working towards your goal of summiting instead of just going out there blindly and attempting. Good luck, maybe I'll see you up there next time.