Kraken

I'd like to do this route before I have to head back up to Alaska in mid August. I'll be on Rainier a lot up until then bagging various routes and getting more experience and a feel for expedition climbing by possibly climbing to camp Muir, then doing multiple summit trips with separate parties. This will help me prep for Denali in 2006. In August though, I'd like to do the Emmons and check out Schurman and the Steamboat Prow. Seeing as how I have never been to that side of the mountain and want to climb it as much as possible, this seems like a great route to try out. If anyone wants to climb the Emmons route and needs a partner, let me know. I'm 20, have already summited Rainier in March, just got blown off the Kautz by incredible winds just after the 4th of July weekend, and am heading back on July 11th to do a few summit pushes from Muir. If interested, let me know.

Yeah Richard Baranow is a friend of mine. I swear that guy knows more about the Chugach than anyone else alive. If you ever want to get ahold of him, PM me and I'll put you two in touch.

Dude, do as I did. Start out small, read, and practice. I have never taken any course, yet I consider myself knowledgable. Perhaps its because I'm a fearless and immortal 20 year old. Start small. Go out hiking. Then go climb a small peak that people do a lot. Hike to Camp Muir. Get a feel and observe things. Most importantly, read read read! Suggested books: Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue by Andy Skelters Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills Just read books, learn what to do, and practice them. Taking a course is obviously a better way for lots of people because it gets the hands on experience and you're bound to get practice. I'm a rebel though so do whatever makes you comfortable! Good luck!

...a hot dog (or whatever they are made of) because i'd be delicious. I'd smother myself in mustard and eat myself.

i can't decide if that girl in the first picture is black or not.

haha Tweezer, were you drunk when you wrote that or just in a hurry?

watch out, you might get reamed like I did when I asked "what truely counts as a summit."

Shoulda' happened this year, but my would-be partner broke his shoulder. I'm not sure he's going to be around next year. I'm looking for a partner to climb the Rib in May 2006. Someone in the general range of my age between 20-26 would be nice. Trying to get prepared early so we can get together and climb a few times and get to know eachother. If you're interested, PM me and we can discuss. Sooner the better.

Not a date, but actually this happened this last 4th of July weekend. I flew down from AK on Friday at 5 AM. Went to my lake property that evening after catching up on sleep. Picked up my friend and her friend at the ferry and drove to the lake. We all got drunk that night, me and my friends and the girls. I ended up sleeping with the girl that night. It was SO loud, literally headboard banging against the wall, screaming sex, I thought the cops were going to come. Sounds great right? Next night she turned nuts and her ex boyfriend starts calling my cabin. Next thing I know she drank ALL my alcohol, not sharing with friends or me even. Then she gets toasted, pukes in my car. Still remains psycho. I kept the snake in the cage the rest of the weekend. Bitch!

Sure, that 12 for a dollar Top Ramen is great and all...I mean, Lime Shrimp and Teriyaki Chicken flavoring packets are hard to beat. But...sometimes we need a little variety while cooking behind a sheltered rock at 10,500 feet or playing chef 50 miles from the trailhead. I figured it would be nice to have a thread where people could submit recipes or methods for cooking while out in the wilderness. Try to keep in mind that the recipe should also be efficient (for weight of food, type of food, fuel efficiency, time, etc). Also remember that it may be used at altitude, so freshness and weight are a big factor! Submit your own recipes or ones you have found that you like. Here is one that I have yet to try, but really want to. (Taken from Alpine Ascents' website) Mountain Pizza Ingredients Boboli pizza – 1 personal sized pizza crust that is small enough to fit inside your cook pot Pizza sauce – usually comes with the pizza crust but you can use an instant pesto sauce. 1 shallot/onion and/or 1 mushroom 4 or 5 pieces of pepperoni One stick string cheese Directions Put the pizza sauce on the crust. Thinly slice the onion, mushroom, pepperoni and cheese, then layer the ingredients on top of the sauce. Place the pizza in your cook pot with butter in the pot if you have any. Cover with your lid. Now we’ve got to get that stove simmering to heat the bread and toppings and melt the cheese. Keep the lid on the pot to keep the heat in as you simmer. If you have an MSR Whisperlight, then you have to get the pressure in your tank very low. Release all the pressure in the tank and then give it 2 pumps. (It helps if the tank is half full). Restart the stove and control the flame output to a sputtering. It should be on the verge of dying and you will have to be focused on it to keep it that way. Too hot and you will burn the bread before melting the cheese. Once you have simmered the pizza for about 10 minutes, turn the stove off and let it sit covered for another 10 minutes. This extra time will melt the cheese nicely and then you can walk around and show off your creation. Watch others salivate! -by Gene Pires

Climb: Mount Rainier-Kautz Glacier Date of Climb: 7/7/2005 Trip Report: I drove up to Paradise after a weekend of wakeboarding and debauchary at my lake cabin in Belfair. It felt good to be back in Washington. I felt a little sore from a few too many inverted wipeouts on the water that weekend and my head was still gathering the events of the past four days. I arrived in Ashford to pick up a few last minute supplies from the Summit Haus. As I walked to my car, I noticed a big group at the RMI house with an older man standing tall above all others. I quickly recognized him as Lou Wittaker. I walked up and introduced myself and told him that I just so happened to be reading his book at the moment. It was nice to meet a man so renouned both locally and worldwide in the mountaineering scene. At Paradise, I bumped into Andy, a fellow CC.comer (Soggyendo34) who I had climbed the Ledges with in March. I was thankful that he allowed me to crash in his room that night. At 5 AM I met my partner, Mark (MarkyD) also a CC.comer in the parking lot and we quickly prepared to hit the trail. By 5:45 we were off. We hiked up to Glacier Vista from the Skyline Trail and descended down the unmarked trail across the stream to the rocky moraine of the Wilson Glacier. We negotiated it quite easily without crampons. Upon reaching the terminus of the Kautz Glacier we located the Fan and the rock gully on the left. We climbed the gully, which reminded me of the good ol' Alaskan 'Chugach choss'. It was a mixture of sand, dirt, and rock with little to no hold. It was like scrambling up a hill of oatmeal. While not hard, it was more of an annoyance. We put our crampons on at the top of the gully and began the trudge up the Turtle. By this point, we were making decent time and contemplated several spots to set up high camp. We opted to stay at about 10,200 feet or so on a semi-protected rock band on the left of the Turtle. We found an old bivy site with a wind wall constructed of rock. I rebuilt it a little since some of the rocks had fallen over time. We set up camp and marveled at the beautiful weather, wondering where and when the storm would come in which had been predicted. We melted water behind a large protected rock and milled around camp. Wind began to pick up at about 4 and I was quite glad I'd brought my down jacket. Wind really began to pick up more and more as the evening wore on. By 7 I was in my sleeping bag, and asleep. Wind was probably at about 35-40mph at this point. The weather was still clear, both the summit and Paradise were still visible. I was awoken at 10 or so to see a lenticular cloud forming over the summit and knew that we were in for a rough night. I also knew that we were probably being robbed of a summit. At 12:45 winds were insane, I was guessing at least 60mph. I was still sleeping but somewhat awake. I heard a huge gust of wind and the rockwall collapsed onto our tent. God knows how stong it had to be to knock it over. Outside it was hard to stand. Our tent was being ripped apart. Poles were bending and we weren't sure we were going to keep hold of it. It was quite impressive. We guyed our tent out more and leaned against the walls as it ripped around in the gail force wind. We saw spindrift coming off the summit and the lenticular forming even more. No summit this time. At first light wind was still as intense as it had been. We hastily broke camp and could only imagine how heavy winds were higher up on the mountain, I'd guess in excess of 100mph. We descended into heavy clouds as the weather moved in and soon preciptation was falling on us, soaking everything. Luckily I had good equiptment and clothes and was perfectly dry and warm underneath. We arrived in Paradise and signed out. Rangers said Muir had winds at 65mph that night, and they were way more protected than our ridge was. Winds on our ridge had to reach at least 70mph, it was intense to say the least. I count this as almost being as much fun as reaching the summit. I'd be suprised if anyone summited on Thursday July 8. I'll come back to the Kautz soon and get 'er. I'll be back on Rainier on Monday. Pictures coming soon. Gear Notes: Ice screws (3) Pickets (2) Extra ice tool Extra guy line for tent (didn't get to use hardware since we were turned back by weather) Approach Notes: It's important to note features such as the Finger, the Fan, and specific ridgelines on this route. Not too hard to find, but in the whiteout that we had were glad we had made specific note of objects and features.

Norman, while that's possible, I doubt the glacier would have brought the plane from the top of the mountain to the bottom in only about 20 years. Good theory though. TreknClime, your information sounds correct.

Thanks for the links AlpinFox. I have heard of the Tahoma crash before, but am still puzzled since the Kautz and Tahoma glaciers are seperated by quite some distance. No, the stuff I found on the lower Kautz has to be something different. I still remain confused.

While crossing the terminal moraine of the Kautz Glacier a few days ago (both on the way up and on the way down), I came across several pieces of shredded and maligned industrial grade metal on and in the glacier. I saw one on the way up about the size of a football and thought it may have been an old anchor of sorts, possibly an old dead man anchor. On the way down, I found several other pieces. I stopped and picked one up, it was roughly the same size as the last piece. I noticed it had divots and bolts in it and seemed like the wrong type of metal to be an anchor for climbing. I found several other pieces along the way, all of them bent, twisted, and seemingly torn apart. I then spotted a large piece of metal probably 200 feet away which resembled a frame of some sorts. It was probably about 5 feet high (from what I could see above a large rock) and had some sort of orange paint or something on it. I also saw several tiny pieces of the same metal ranging from the size of a finger to a fist. I know a few planes have crashed on Rainier, I just wasn't sure if one crashed on the Kautz. Has anyone else seen this type of stuff or does anyone know anything about this?

why does every thread have to divert from the topic at hand and turn into a mud slinging-insult fest?

Thanks Scott. Nice to get some helpful information. If there is considerable snowfall this upcoming winter, I will hopefully do the Rib. I've bought a few books on Denali and have been studying Washburn photos of the Rib so I think I know what I'm getting myself into.

I was on the Kautz Glacier route yesturday at about 10,200 feet when all this happened. A white helicopter was flying back and forth all around the south side of the mountain, and I thought maybe something had happened, then I learned that they were taking human waste off the mountain. Shortly after, the Army helicopter flew right over my head towards, then over Muir. It went out of sight and I knew something had gone wrong. It then lifted off and flew right over my head again. When I got off the mountain today, I was barraged with several messages on my cell phone from people who thought I may have been involved. Anyways, I hope those four guys are OK.

Eyes like a hawk my friend...eyes like a hawk.

I'm pro Lowe! I like all my Lowe Alpine stuff.

my friend has the Pentax 5mp, loves it. I just bought the Canon Digital Rebel XT, it arrives on Tuesday.

I was up in Talkeetna and went to Todd Burleson's house (Owner of Alpine Ascents, Himalayan climber, 8 time everest summitter) and he has a pack of Himalayan yaks which he had sent up here to Alaska from Nepal. He is raising them to pack around the Talkeetnas. He just flew down to Seattle and flew in a few Sherpas from Nepal to train the animals. It's pretty damn cool. He has about 8 or 9 of them.

shit i'd pull a gainer flip over those itsy bitsy thimble sized holes, yo!

I want to climb the brothers while I'm down there. I can see them from my house and have never climbed them yet, even though they are quite close.

Oleg, PM Mike and ask him personally. That thing looks fucking hairy from the close up shots I've seen, which haven't even been that close. It would be a serious, chossy, 1500 foot rock climb. I'm guessing it would be similar to the Willis Wall without the avalanche and icefall danger. Talk to Mike though, he's seen it up close, I haven't.

How about you call me soon, you know my number. If you don't, PM me and i'll re-give it to you.