Kraken

Gene, I was up there a few weeks ago to try it. The road to Mowich Lake is completely open. We hiked in to the 10200 ft level from the trailhead in under 8 hours and saw that the route was out of condition with lots of rockfall and active serac fall. This was during a warm spell and perhaps later on when the freezing level drops again it will get back into shape, but now the objective hazard seems to be too much.

I left my shades at one of the 10,300' bivy pads on Ptarmigan Ridge on 7/27. They are a pair of Julbo Dolgans, black with silver sides. Please PM me if found. Reward offered.

Looking for a partner to climb some moderates with in Squamish sometime around August 12th-20th. I don't get to hop on good rock often, so looking for someone looking to have some fun on the 5.8s and 5.9s. I've got a full rack, mostly singles up to 3. Multipitch trad, single pitch, sport even...anything. Just looking to get up there for the first time and spend 3-5 days on the rock. My car died so transportation would have to come from your end.

Sweet action fellas. Colin, what's the deal with this 2-person bag? Estimated temperature rating, weight, material? BTW, nice twin mustaches!

thanks for the clarification Billy. Good luck to the both of them.

The Diamond isn't that diamond looking thing on the right of the Cassin? That's what I thought it was, but I've been wrong before.

I'd rather get away from Rainier and go do some alpine rock routes. Enchantments...Marblemount...Smith...it doesn't matter. Just looking to get out.

Looking for a partner to do Ptarmigan or perhaps Curtis Ridge on Rainier anytime in the next four days. PM me. Also open to any other ideas too from North Cascades to Smith Rock. Just looking for some fun and all of my friends are locked into work.

BD Firstlight.

KWEB, were your condescending remarks really necessary? Jamin, good experience up there. Trial by fire is how most of us learned. Glad to ultimately turned back and will be able to try it another day. Good luck.

Sorry to hear about this. This article was in today's Anchorage Daily News. Daryl Miller sheds a little light upon what happened and what might have caused it. http://www.adn.com/sports/story/8898486p-8798379c.html

Just got back from quite possibly one of the shortest AK Range trips ever, can't complain seeing as how it was a free trip. After waiting for 6 days in Talkeetna, we finally were flown in to the Root Canal by Paul Roderick. With another trip planned for the St. Elias Range on the 19th, I had to get out soon. Upon flying in on Monday and being the first team to land in the Root Canal this season, the Ruth area looked to be in good shape. Ham and Eggs had lots of snow on it, the hanger below the Bear Tooth let go big time distributing semi-truck sized blocks all over the place. Ham was avalanching big time, and in seeing that it would need at least a few days to clear and I had already extinguished all of my time waiting in Talkeetna, I made the call and got out during a spell of high pressure and clear skies. Two feet of new snow in the Ruth area, people have reportedly climbed 11,300 (lots of deep snow) and the other standards in the area have all been seeing action. I had several buddies just come off the W. Buttress of Denali, none summited due to very cold temps, lots of new snow, and just nasty cold conditions. As of yesterday, only 5 people have summited the big D this year. Rangers in Talkeetna reported that 6 of the first 10 parties suffered crevasse falls on the lower glacier, and a party of 3 that did summit all suffered moderate frostbite. Ran into W, from here on CC.com as well as Ben Gilmore and Wilkinson. Here's a mini TR and pics I put up over at the Alaska Mountain Forum: http://alaskamountainforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2051 Stay safe, have fun!

Hahahaha. That Fire sauce is hot hot hot so bring a towel! I don't know about T-Bell girls though.

Just went and saw Spiderman 3 yesturday. Damn! It's good. I'm a big spiderman fan though...I had the PJ's when I was a kid. I'd say it's the best of the 3. Pirates comes out soon too. Should be a good summer for movies.

I saw one the other day at a trailhead that said "Give 'em the old reach around. They really love that shit!"

The West Buttress as of several days ago, doesn't show much, but that's all I've got. Da' Ruf Gorge

shouldn't this be moved to the AK section? Keep us posted.

Heading there tomorrow if the weather's good! Sweet man!

Two Italians came off the big D today. They did the Muldrow in 14 days and were flown out of Kahiltna. They said the headwall on the fixed lines out of 14k is blue ice (forget skiing out of there). They reported very cold temperatures and noted that last year's trail from 11k up to 17k is still visible, actually raised above the rest of the snow. BAD! Rangers are building base camp this week and should be installing the fixed lines. Ruth Glacier: about 6 feet of snow around the Sheldon Amphitheatre. Another skier came out today from there and said it had snowed roughly 18 inches in the past week, so there could be about 7 feet of snow. No news on route conditions in the Ruth yet. Some climbers did land on the Buckskin, little Switzerland, the Tokositna, etc. I have a buddy who's been laying tracks around the Range lately and is flying in again on Wednesday.

beautiful guys! Glad to hear you got up something. I have the same feeling lately, doing lots of climbing without much summiting Cheers!

the first time i went to attempt the Kautz, I met a guy off CC.com and he wanted to use a 20m rope. Apparently he didn't think tehre was a chance we'd have to do any crevasse extraction. Subsequently I insisted that we bring my heavier 10mmx60m rope, as it would at least be useful. That's one story from that hellish climb, I could go on.

I came up to Anchorage to go to school for a semester. I've never left. I've lived up here for four years and have few complaints about it, except that god bands rarely come up here, ugmos can be bitchy beauty queens, and beer is expensive. We have all of the amenities of a big city with a small town feel. Sure it gets dark in the winter, but if you are able to get out and enjoy your day while its there, it ain't so bad. How could it be bad when you are able to go climb a few pitches of ice inbetween classes on a week day?

has anyone used one of these before? Seems like a cool tent company. What are your thoughts on the inflated system? Nemo Tents

lookin' good up there

why not just call it what it is...the West Face Couloir???????