Didgie

ah that was you with the kite - nice idea! we were having lunch just below you. so the micorspikes worked? i was toying with the idea of taking yaktrax but went with full 'pons instead. good day.

We went yesterday (Sunday). I left the skis at home and was glad I did. It couldn't have been a better climb (except maybe for the wind on the way up). Glissaded most of the way down. What better way is there to spend a sunny February Sunday :-)

Looking to climb/ski St. Helens this Sunday. Does anyone know what the snow is like up there right now? Thanks!

Trip: North Cascades - Silver Star via Burgundy Col Date: 7/26/2009 Trip Report: Undeterred by the ever worsening forecast our group of four headed to the North Cascades to climb Silver Star this past weekend. It was quite the adventure. Driving up through Marblemount everything looked very wet and there were big clouds in the mountains. We also saw evidence of a recent mudslide. And the forecast continued to call for daily thunderstorms. Hmmm. We reached the TH at ~4pm. It was hot, muggy and the weather was questionable. While we searched for the trail and pondered our options two friends of M2's and Em's came scrambling up to the road! They had just attempted to climb Burgundy Spire and had been dumped on twice. They mentioned the word firehose... Given the lateness of the hour, the iffy weather and the uncertainty of water at camp we decided to car camp at Lone Fir. The night was clear, the stars amazing. Under faint protest from Kim we got up at 3am the next morning, and when we set off at 5am there was not a cloud in sight. In about two hours we climbed the steep trail to the first campsite, which turned out to be quite mozzie infested but had a great view of Liberty Bell. We ran into two guys who showed us that there was a small creek with flowing water a mere stone's throw from the trail! Although I am not sure if that creek flows permanently or if it was flowing thanks to the recent downpours. From there we hiked up through steep dirt, scree, slabs (with Em grumbling something about how she loves snow) to Burgundy Col. Looking towards the East we could see clouds starting to build, but they didn't look threatening at this point so we decided to carry on. A short rappel down the steep snow followed by a bit of down-scrambling on loose stuff (more grumbling from Em) brought us to the snow traverse (very happy sounds from Em). From there it was quite easy going, no crampons needed. We roped up for the glacier and started up towards the summit. There were a couple of crevasses to our left and at the top of the glacier all the snow had melted off except for a band on the right side. The clouds were starting to look more threatening but appeared to part and move past either side of our mountain, so we decided to set the saddle as our goal for the day. M2 did a stellar job leading the upper, steep section of the climb on the glacier, which was tricky as the snow was shallow and crumbly. She even took a bit of a slide once when a step broke, but Em who was behind her was in self arrest and helped stop her in a flash. We reached the saddle at ~1pm. As we were enjoying the view and well earned lunch and pondered whether we should scramble the last 300ft to the top (it looked so FUN!), a loud ka-BOOOOM from the Heavens reminded us that maybe that wasn't such a good idea. We retreated rather hastily down the glacier as thunder continued to rumble around us. Thankfully we never had any of that electricity in the air feeling! M2 punched through a snow bridge with one leg but extracted herself with a little tug on the rope. We filled up water on the traverse, then headed for the col under ever more threatening skies. A short but unpleasant snow/mud/crumbly rock scramble brought us back to the col. Looking West we saw the weather brewing in the mountains. All we got was a pleasant drizzle that kept us cool on the long, steep, knee-jarring hike back down to the car. Back in camp we checked back in with our camp hosts, who were the nicest camp hosts ever and had been more than willing to be our emergency back up - they would have sent in the troops had we not returned by Monday morning! Then it was on to dinner and bed. After large quantities of breakfast in Winthrop the next morning we hit the road for the long drive home. Summary: Excellent trip despite the missing last 300ft Excellent crew Car to car 14 hours Shortening the rope on the steep snow traverse was a good idea Got the decision making right regarding weather, phew! After two days of hobbling we now all have GIANT quads Gear Notes: Ax 50m, 9.5mm rope for rappel and glacier travel Approach Notes: 2 hours to the camp on the bench There is water at the camp on the bench - and lots of bugs, too Burgundy Col has room for on tent and two, maybe three bivys. Snow to melt for water is 20ft down. Soon the snow bridges on Silver Star Glacier will have melted to the point where crevasses will be open all the way across, making the climb difficult if not impossible.

From the Seattle Times... YAKIMA — Searchers are intensifying efforts to find an Oregon man missing since Saturday on Mount Adams in Washington. The Yakima County sheriff's office said Derek Mamoyac, 27, believed to be from the Corvallis area, left Saturday afternoon to climb the mountain, Family members contacted authorities Monday when he didn't return or show up for work. A limited search began Monday. His car was found at the Cold Springs trailhead. One searcher reached the 8,000-foot level but did not see any sign of Mamoyac. The 12,277-foot mountain is about 31 miles east of Mount St. Helens.

Read this if you're doing Adams for the first time and would like to know what you're getting yourself into! The last few miles of the road to the TH are gravel, but it's a good road, no problem for most cars. Just go slow as it's narrow. The hike in is a good trail until below the Crescent Glacier. There it becomes a bit of a rocky/talus-y climbers trail with a 30-ft low angle section of snow. It's very sunny and HOT. You hit snow about 1000ft below the lunch counter. Again, rather slushy and not steep. No crampons/axe required for the hike in. The campsites at the lunch counter are snow free. There are lots of spots with already built rock walls to shelter you from the wind :-). There is running water as well. Hike time to LC was 3hrs 15min. On climbday you get onto the snow 10min out of camp. I put on crampons, although some people did the whole thing without. The snow was pretty hard, and I just liked the security of knowing that I won't slip as it's already a lot of work getting up to that dang false summit... which isn't so bad as long as you are mentally prepared that it's there. Right at the false summit are a few rocks that provide some shelter from the wind, a great spot to grab a snack and layer up for the summit. The summit looks super far away, but really it isn't that bad. It took me 2hrs to the false summit, 15min break, 45min more to the true summit. The hut on the summit was starting to peek out of the snow, but the door wasn't accessible yet. There was some shelter from the wind behind it, though. No super steep or icy bits, I did everything with 1 axe and 1 pole, could have done it with 2 poles (but you need the axe for the glissade). The snow was still pretty hard when I went down, so I had to hike a bit below the false summit before I could start the glissade. Still GREAT FUN!!! And a frozen solid butt-cicle at the bottom... I didn't use my glissade device, as with the hard snow it would have been too fast. But lower down it was great to have. I took a 30min, butt-thawing nap at camp before hiking out. Easy hike back to the car. Hiking in it was hot and sunny. The climbers coming down said the snow from the summit had been in glissading shape by 9am. When I got to LC the winds started picking up and clouds moved in. Overnight temps were in the upper 30s with consistent wind of ~15mph and some raindrops. When I woke up at 4am it looked really gray, so I slept in a while longer. By 5am it looked more appealing, so I finally started hiking at 5:30. The wind never let up and got stronger as I went higher. On the summit ridge I measured 32F and 25mph sustained winds, brr! So it was quite a bit colder than the day before. The sun came out as I went down and softened things. I was already thinking, rats, I should have slept in longer and climbed later! But then, on the way out, I turned around and looked at the mountain - dang! The summit was surrounded by a huge broiling dark lenticular cloud! Guess I lucked out with my timing! Gear notes: I took my 40L pack, 30lbs including 3L of water and food. Items brought: Clothes: Waterproof boots, gaiters, 2 pairs of socks + liners, schoeller pants, polypro t-shirt, smartwool long-sleeve shirt, softshell jacket, micropuff jacket, precip pants, paclite gore-tex jacket, buff (thin hat), baseball cap, windstopper liner gloves, overmitts (with handwarmers for the summit = lighter and smaller than an extra pair of thick gloves). I wore everything on the summit! Just right. Camp gear: BD lightsabre bivy (1lb 4oz), InsulMat, 40F synthetic bag (1lb 8oz, this was a gamble that paid off! I was super toasty), silk liner bag, water filter, jetboil, prayer flags, small book, ipod, toiletries. EARPLUGS!! I also wore these on summit day all the way to the top. Wind wears me out big time, the noise, how the inside of my ears gets cold... Sometimes even hats don't work for me. Therse did, like a charm :-) Big plastic bag to cover pack overnight and store bivy gear while climbing. 2 blue bags + TP. 10E's Food, spork Light crampons, poles, ax, I didn't take a helmet. Glissade device. Brought a foam pad but didn't use it except for the nap in camp. Other unneccessary items: none :-). Potentially nice items to have but not neccessary: long johns, warmer hat, warmer gloves, camp shoes, camera (I didn't bring one). Oh and one necessary item I forgot: a coffee filter to put around the intake of my water filter as the water coming off the snow is very silty and will clog your filter. I hope this helps! Have a great time on the mountain!

What do you think about during the last 2-3 hours of a climb? If your answer is "Where can I get a burger and a cold brew once I'm off this mountain??" you need to check out www.climb2eat.org! I look forward to hearing from you! Any tips and suggestions are very welcome. Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestion! Piz Palu is one of my favorite mountains (and the first one I climbed!). It was great to see what the now giant restaurant-lodge used to be like! Plus a fun, action-filled flick that makes all of us today look like wimps... :-P

Post deleted by Didgie Sorry I was responding to an earlier post of someone interested in climbing Hood. These three were clearly very experienced climbers not in need of a class.

Me too. We were the team with the prayer flags. Jerry had a "No Whining" sticker on his helmet :-)

has anyone come up with a pic/map of the mtn with the locations of the caves, tracks etc.?

Today's the day! The Gods are with us, sending everyone on the mountain a clear day! Our combined thoughts will help carry the searchers forward.

It can be amazingly quiet in a snow cave. Still, helicopters are loud enought that I think they'd hear them.

Ditto