counterfeitfake

What does "in" mean? Real snow isn't falling in Washington yet so it's a function of the weather and how determined you are.

yup.

Is it a first ascent if you just go sideways?

I have a pair of the Mammut Genesis you're considering and I think they're good ropes. I think they're on the thicker side for half ropes (8.5) and I've felt good using them in a variety of situations. Double ropes are like a get-off-the-mountain-free ticket. If you led it, you can rap it. That said, the double rope system takes a little getting used to, and if you're leading something hard you would want to have it dialed in.

I climbed EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND between the end of May and the beginning of September. I never once got weathered out of a trip and conditions were generally fucking rad. EVERY year people complain about the weather all summer and then complain that summer is over the first rain we get in September. With fall coming, pretty soon people can switch to complaining about how the snow is not the right consistency. Whiners gonna whine.

Good suggestion. GREAT suggestion!! Those sound exactly like the mellow grade I/II low-fifth rock the original poster was asking for!!

Trip: Mount Stuart - Upper North Ridge Date: 8/28/2010 Trip Report: Last weekend, racsom and I headed up the Upper North Ridge of Stuart with Brandon and Nathan, a couple of students in the class we teach, for their graduation climb. The forecast called for cold temps and possibility of precipitation. Well, we got some- fortunately we were nice and high and it came down as snow/hail. In the morning we found the route in pretty good shape, with a little snow and ice to keep things interesting. Note that the Gendarme bypass looks pretty awful right now. Great work, Brandon and Nathan, on a very worthy grad climb! They led the whole way and it was especially impressive the way they slayed the Gendarme pitches. What an awesome way to climb this route. One thing I really appreciate about climbing is the seasons. Just when I am getting tired of warm rock, something comes along to remind me what is just around the corner. Time to tune the skis and sharpen the ice tools... Gear Notes: Rope Rack to 4" with a couple doubles .75-3 Bivy gear and puffy jackets Crampons and ice axe seem necessary to me Approach Notes: Glacier is bare and hard, the last 30 feet before scrambling up to the notch was pretty darn icy. Even as cold as it was we found a trickle of water through the rocks in the middle of the glacier. There is a LOT of snow in the gulley leading to the notch.

Does anyone have a picture of this spraypaint?

I think it is not crystal clear what the OP did, or was asking... but it sounds pretty clear he was off route. Go up, go right, go up, go right, following a trail most of the time, when you get to the top you step through the other side onto snow. You definitely do not "rappel down onto Salmon Glacier". I have only been down it, but it seems to me the hardest part would be finding the start.

Cunning Stunt seems like the most well-traveled sport route in that range that I know of. 5.10d but it felt way easier than similarly graded trad routes... There is a pretty dense concentration of sport routes at The Country: http://mountainproject.com/v/washington/index_town_walls/lower_wall/105790671 But I'm talking out my ass because I don't climb that hard.

Yes. Once on the summit the only beta you need to not wind up in Ulrich's is that you don't go down the first couloir you see, you need to traverse around the false summit before descending.

Why don't you call the shop?

All he said was that she was too tired to go on. But I'm sure she's glad you guys are around to defend her honor.

I think it doesn't apply to AT bindings, and it REALLY doesn't apply to Dynafits.

beacon is a wretched hive of scum and villainy

learn skills get better

If you only needed to rappel- what is the skinniest cord you could use? Could you get enough friction using a munter or monster-munter, on 6mm perlon? It's rated at about 7kN which seems strong enough. Would anyone have the guts to rap on 5mm rated at 5.5 kN?

shut up. OP, if you want to climb alpine ice, that is probably not the tool for you. It won't plunge very well and consensus seems to be that it swings weird. Like Farrgo says it's meant as a mixed climbing tool. Search for the recent "first tool suggestions" thread that had a lot of good advice.

We did this route Saturday/Sunday. It was awesome! I think it's in perfect condition right now, with a couple snow patches for topping off water while on route. There's an amazing range in the time parties spend on this route. I was expecting two long days, we ended up making it from car to summit in 12 hours, and walked down to a rad bivy site at the top of the Cascadian. Sunday morning was walking back to the car in 5 hours. I think it's all about: how comfortable you are at moving over 3rd and 4th class terrain with no rope, how light you go, and how well you manage the routefinding. We were helped out very greatly by this amazing trip report. I don't know what you climbed obviously, but the normal route goes up the second gulley, whereas you drew on the third gulley.

You are a wanker.

For anyone who is wondering, here is the beta. You don't always have to do something before deciding whether it's a good idea. The walk-off is so simple and fast I don't understand why you'd want to bring an extra rope just to rap. I don't think you can do four raps faster than the walk-down, even if you know exactly where all the anchors are. Plus, apparently you have to downclimb 4th class terrain? Plus all the inherent risks of rappelling. I don't get it. Why do that?

Listen man, I linked up Orbit and Outer Space a couple weeks ago, and just did the walk-down twice. It's easy peasy and it's the way to go. Rapping is not as good a plan.

I think people here have reported doing the Pearly Gates walk-off without rapping either. I remember someone mentioning rapping SCW recently, within the last couple months anyway. I thought they talked about going down Iconoclast or something... if you search you may be able to find it. But just to annoyingly reiterate what's been said already: I would seriously do the walk-off anyway, it's fast and easy.

When I did it in July a few years back, I had trekking poles, no ice axe, no crampons. There was one short section where the snow was really hard and I kinda wished I had crampons. If you have some instep crampons (micro spikes?) that would probably be perfect.

When I climbed the NE Ridge, I was a little surprised by the Kain Route descent, but found it to not be that bad. It took a long time but was easy. I was more surprised by how difficult and inobvious the summit traverse was (maybe noobish of me). The info I'd read made a huge deal out of the Kain descent, even suggesting climbing UP it first- and NO WAY do I think that is necessary or worth it. But everything had glossed over how to get from the N summit to the S. It probably shouldn't really be that hard but I think we just didn't know what to do. Rapping the east face seems way gnarly.