JBC

It has been at least 20 years so my memory could well be off. (It was never great anyway!) I seem to remember 2 pitches off of Library ledge with a bit of mixed aid and about 4 or 5 reachy bolts near the top of the second (last) pitch off the ledge.

Iconoclast does go straight up at a run out 10b to a bolt ladder (aid) finish. Rumour is that it has been top roped at 12+ but I don't think it has been lead. Edge of space does go left and is rated 11b. Jim Couch

If you are close to Tacoma, Spire Rock in Spanaway is a good place to do crevasse rescue. Jim Couch

Tons of stuff out there - here are a few: Both the Colchuck glacier route and the NE Coulior on Colchuck. N face of Lane Peak in MT Rainier NP has 3 to do, depending on conditions there may be a small bit of mixed in any of them (like a move or two - good place to learn.) This time of year usually all three are pretty fat. After the last few weeks of snbow, the NE route on the Tooth is probably in as well. Once the N Cascades highway opens up the Couloir On S Early winters is a good one as well. Jim Couch

I like it! I like the fact that there is no gate 'hook' - makes one less thing to snag the pro on when removing it. I have been using a couple of wild Country blind gate biners for racking screws/pins/nuts - the opening could be bigger, but the blind gate is nice. Another reason to not make it full strength is the cost of liability insurance, which I suspect is a large part of the cost of any carabiner. If these will rack tools as you are planning, you can put me down for five of em. Jim Couch

Try to get laid off. You may be eligible for UI if you are fired for cause, but you also may be ineligible A few note on unemployment - (which may vary a bit from state to state), but in general is accurate for most places If you are fired for cause - you are NOT eligible for unemployment. You can dispute this and MAY win, but most likely not if your employer has adequate documentation. also getting fired for cause will not make it easy to get back into the job market, and very difficult with that employer. (Relates to burning bridges mentioned earlier.) In order to collect unemployment you must be actively looking for work. Some places this is easy to fudge, but many require monthly or weekly paperwork showing when & where you have applied - tough to do when traveling. Even more difficult is that some may require face to face meetings. Just a few things to think about when considering unemployment.

From 'smokeout ledge' at the top of pitch two if you go up and right for a bit (off route) you will reach 'Big Honker Ledge' Plenty of room for a comfy bivy, even has a nice set of bolts thanks to the Swim route which uses it as a belay. Jim Couch

How was Lover's Lane?

I'm curious, has any of the folks who seem so concerned about this, taken the time to contact the CPSC and forward the information and test results to them? Jim

Edgeworks gym if you want to play on some plastic. Point Defiance is well worth a trip. I can second the Antique recommendations - great place for lunch or breakfast. The Rosewood Cafe and Mandolin cafe are also good sandwich places. Museum of glass, Tacoma Art Museum, and the Washington State Historical Museum are all downtown and worth the time. Across the street from them the Harmon is a great brew pub. Just up the UWT stairs on the left is Metro Coffee, best espresso/coffee in town. The Swiss is also a good pub with great sandwiches. The rock serves decent pasta and good Pizza. 6th Ave has a number of clubs with a variety of music including Jazzbones, a great Jazz venu. The Antique does Open mic on tuesday nights and shakabrah java does open mic on Weds. Italian - Il Fiasco and Primo Grill on 6th ave. Pomodoro in the Proctor district Indian - Gateway to India on 6th, and India Mahal in University Place Thai - tons of em but my favs are Silk Thai on 6th, East & West on Proctor, and Indochine downtown. Mexican - Vuelva A La Vida REAL mexican - best in town. La Fondita on Proctor is not bad either. Pizza - Farrellis on 6th (but can be very busy Fri & Sat) Puget Sound Pizza, The Rock, all have good pizza. Jim Couch

Wild things EP jacket - hooded 21oz with primaloft insulation. http://www.wildthingsgear.com/ep_jacket.html Jim

My major concern was rockfall late in the day. I also did not want to cross the Wilson glacier again (the only real crevasse we had to cross all weekend was on the way into the base of the finger.) The Kautz chute varies from year to year. It was no steeper than a few pitches we did in the Finger this year. The chute is actually in excellent shape, and had no ice whatsoever. It was also kind of fun to let them see a different route on the descent. Jim

Climb: Mt Rainier-Fuhrer Finger - Descent via Kautz Glacier Date of Climb: 6/18/2006 Trip Report: How I spent my Fahter's day: A very quick trip report from Father's day weekend - Climbed the Fuhrer Finger and descended the Kautz Glacier this weekend with my daughter and her (now) Fiance this past weekend. (She proposed to him on the summit!) We took a leisurely 3 days to do this climb. A three day summit climb is a great way to do things if you have the time. Conditions on both the Fuhrer Finger and the Kautz Glacier were excellent! I have never seen the mountain this time of year with so few crevasses! We climbed to high camp (9200' on Wapowety Cleaver) on Saturday. Camp was approached directly via the Nisqually/Wilson glaciers instead of the fan. the approach was extremely straightforward with no open crevasses to deal with. I highly recommend this approach over the fan right now! Sunday we summited via the Fuhrer Finger. We encountered a few crevasses crossing the Wilson to get the base of the finger. One crossing involved using a snow bridge to get across a 6' wide crevasse - the worst one of our whole trip! Snow conditions on the route were excellent - well frozen and consolidated the entire morning. The trip up the finger was very straightforward with no real route finding or rockfall issues. The route was very straightforward all the way to meeting up with the Kautz Glacier route. The upper Kautz was also very straightforward all the way to the summit. The route is relatively direct from 13000' clear to the summit weaving only slightly to avoid a few crevasses and ice falls. Once again there are virtually no crevasses to cross! We descended to high camp via the Kautz Ice chute. In the afternoon the chute was fairly soft snow. There is still no ice in the chute. Once again the route is very direct and there are very few crevasse detours or crossings. We spent Sunday night in high camp and descended Monday morning back via the way we came. Our efforts to wand the route in were well worth it as we hit the clouds at about 8000' and had relatively poor visibility the rest of the way down. We followed our wands down the Wilson and across the Nisqually with no problems. Weather BTW was very nice above the clouds which stayed at about 7500 - 8000' the whole weekend. Monday's descent from high camp was completely windless and I would guess anyone who summited had a perfect day! We did have a fair amount of wind on Sunday, but again it was a wonderful summit day! Jim Couch Gear Notes: 'Standard' glacier gear Helmets Pickets Wands Approach Notes: The approach from Paradise is still all on snow, well packed with no need for snowshoes. Approach to high camp via Nisqually/Wilson glacier is direct and straightforward.

MSR XGK. I have owned two of these stoves over the past 25 years and they are great. Maintenance is more an issue of how clean the fule is than anything else and the XGK runs better on dirty crappy fuel than anything else out there, and is very easy to clean. Jim

My short respones is "If you have to ask you are not ready and it would be very foolish." The longer answer is that it takes exceptional judgement and considerable skill to SAFELY ascend Ranier solo. Regardless of time of year and route there are considerable objective hazards, one is at greater risk when on is alone on Ranier. It is my opinion that if you have to ask about what the objective hazards are you don't have the required experience on big mountians to safely solo Ranier. A climber with a lot of mountain experience will know what the hazards are in general, even withgout familiarity with a particular route. With a lot of experience, solid skills, and very good judgement one should be able to weigh the risks and hazards for ones self and do ok. some routes are safer than others for the solo climber - gain something that becomes more apparent with experience. Experience on big glaciated mountains is essential. One may be able to climb at a very high standard on rock, and have many years of rock experience and still not be adequetly prepared for a Ranier climb for example. I don't know what level of experience your acquaintance has, but it is certainly something to consider. If they are an exeprienced mountaineer with the right mindset they will probably do fine. If it someone who wants to solo Ranier because they just don't have a partner available, they might want to rethink things. Jim

It could be downclimbed I think, but it is a LONG route. I think it is better to pack light, carry over and descend either the Kautz or through Muir. Of course that leads to some issues with where to leave the car. Jim

It sort of started out as an joke/unoficial name, but kind of stuck after we got done. Ken was probably just being modest, the name was his, as was the idea to do the climb. Yeah it is a long ways up - and of course we hauled all of our stuff over the top and came down through Muir. Also a lot of work to dig a platform at that elevation, not a lot of room for a tent up that high! Ah but the view! Just watch that first step out of the tent in the morning! Jim

Somewhere around 12,000'! It has been years, but when a partner and I climbed the Middle Finger on the Success Headwall we wound up camping near the top of the ridge. There are much better spots lower, say 10,000' A note for Mike Gauthier - BTW, it's the Middle Finger, not the Central Couloir. Jim

I have also done the Middle Finger of Success. It should be very skiable in the spring. It does get icy & rocky later in the year. Rockfall can be a real problem if it warm. (The nearest I have come to getting creamed in the mountains was in the Middle Finger!) There can also be a pretty good crevasse at the bottom. I am sure that the right hand would be skiable as well. Jim

Pack is sold. Stove is still available.

I have a couple of items for sale: Older MSR Whisperlite stove. $30.00 Stove is in good shape and works well. Includes stove, newer pump, and an MSR fuel bottle (bottle not shown in photo.) Jandd Zoor Alpinist pack. $60.00 Pack has been use three times. 2700 ci capacity with bivy extension that allows for overfill capacity. Pack makes a great overnight/weekend alpine/ski pack. Weighs in at 3.75 lbs. Features detachable top pocket, side compresiion straps ski/wand pockets, bivy sleeve, two tool loops, and crampon patch. More details at: www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FZA Items are located in Tacoma, but I ma happy to send via US Postal or UPS for the cost of shipping. Payment via PayPal, Money Order, VISA, MC, AMEX, or Discover. E-mail me at: jimc@spokeandsprocket.com to arrange purchase or with any questions you may have. Jim Couch

My Asolo on-sights just came back from resole #3. To be entirely accurate it was a 1/2 sole. Previously the shoes have had 1 resole and rerand and one full resole prior to this one. The uppers are definatly starting to show some wear, but I would guess that they still have at least one more resole left in them. Now that high top boots have pretty much disapeared I will try to get as many more resoles as I can out of them! Jim Couch

The laundromat has showers (or at least it used to.)

Yeah Sunday was windy! Monday was still as could bethough. The problem with the hot week is that the freezing level stayed high as well (above 11,000'), so no chance for anything to really consolidate. A lot of stuff slid off though!