Bigtree

Been there the past 5 years in a row in mid-June. Needlessly booked a climbing permit reservation the first year, learned my lesson and have never gotten/needed one since. In summary, permit - yes; reservation - no.

AlexandraOnIce, Kurt Hicks has an informative/comprehensive blog post on this topic here...http://kurthicks.com/

Great way to spend ~ 45 mins or so. Provided a much richer understanding of the fellow than I got in Crystal Horizon. Thanks Dane and Zoran.

Seems rather spray-like, but fun to watch... [video:youtube]

Nice post climbercam. More of the isl. please.

Great TR/pics Marc. Smoke Bluffs area?

Dane, I just got myself a 40l Worksack. My back measured out at 20.5 " so I got the large. Have used it a few times for backcountry skiing and love it. Intent is to use it as a day pack for skiing and climbing, or a go-light overnight pack in fair weather. Good quality workmanship on mine and looks like it will be as durable as my 3 deadbird packs of various sizes hanging in the back room. My only complaint was the shipping/duty I had to pay to get it to Vanc Isl. Should have picked one up when I met Graham at Feathered Friends in Seattle at one of those rep days a few months back (nice guy).

I received the goods this evening. Thanks Kev.

Le Piston, I ate my words and coughed up for the rte cards. Got a deal at $10 for shipping instead of the $14 I originally thought. Regardless, thanks for the tip, the info was worth it. I found the following quote particularly thought-provoking in speaking about the ledge section below the hanging glacier "This is the crux of this route with fatal consequences if there is a slip or major ice fall." PM me with your e-mail if you like and I'd be happy to send you a scanned copy. Cheers.

PM sent on the Soloist, harness & biner.

So sad. $6 bucks for the route cards, but $14 US to ship. I'm far too cheap for that nonsense.

Good stuff Feck. So, I gather you guys summited from the north and descended via south rte? Regardless, I had forgotten I had a copy of Dougherty buried in a pile of books and he offers up some good beta on the route. Sounds like the greatest objective hazard is the Schwartz ledges with some spicy exposure below. Do you recall how long it took you to pass through the section and were you roped and using pro, or did you just cruise by? Buckaroo, thanks for the tip. I had a membership with them for a few years, but dropped it. They did have some good information here and there however I just couldn't accept the notion of subscribers paying their dough to contribute/build up content on someone's website; particularly when there are great sites like this around.

Selected Alpine Climbs - of course. Thanks.

I'm looking for a reasonably detailed route description (book or internet) for a climb of Mt. Robson via the normal route i.e., south face/Ralf Forster hut. There seems to be some web based stuff on the Kain route, but I can't seem to find much on the route I would like to climb. Tips/advice welcomed.

Explain further please...ref. is too obscure for me g-spot.

Fantastic read. The guy can write as well as climb. Get yourselves a copy. I don't understand the economics of the publishing industry though. I bought my new copy over the web through Amazon.ca from some company in England for $18 Canuck bucks plus a few for shipping.

Nice work. Thanks.

I have an Eldorado and a Fitzroy - patience is the key, but it can be frustrating with cold digits and/or a good a blow.

Joe: "This mountain [i.e., the Eiger]. Its quite addictive."

Gary, your linky is buggered, but this one appears to work: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20090930/NEWS02/909300310/Doctor--climber-Houston-dies-at-96 Houston was an impressive guy.

Here's the background story that accompanies the vid... "In April of 2008 I drove from Lake Tahoe to Haines, Alaska up the Al-Can highway through British Columbia and the Yukon with an enclosed 4-snowmobile trailer and a ton of gear. I told myself the year before after a few years of getting shut out that other than for a surgical strike, last minute type of spot open for the weekend or something....that I'd only come up with sleds from now on instead of sitting around drinking myself into oblivion on a "down day." Well thank God we did that because we definitely had down days again right from the get-go. The sledding up at Haines Pass is out of control good. Even staying closer to town like below Old Faithful is great. Can't say enough about how much fun it is to ride snowmobiles up there with no trees. So the first legit day after that main snow storm cycle, we still went out snowmobiling one more time wanting to let the snow set up a bit more....while another part of our group went up in the bird. Actually two groups went up in the bird, and the first group did all the normal day-after-storm-cycle snow pit and snow quality tests. The first group decided that while the dangers remained elevated, that it was good to go. They all made some of the sickest pow turns in their lives I was told. The next group then - a couple hundred meters or so over - set up for their descent. The guy in the video was the first one to drop from their group and while not a guide, he had a lot of Utah and AK backcountry experience. He had a Black Diamond Avalung on, but as you can tell from the video while he's talking as he's dropping in, it wasn't in his mouth to start. He tried to shove it in the instant of starting to get sucked down, but it didn't stay. It was just off to the corner of his mouth he said, and he definitely got snow / ice build up as you'll see on the second sweep of the mouth by the guide after they get to him. So as he drops in you can also see the sluff to the skier's right immediately start building....and that's actually the chute that was the intended route down. For whatever reason - well pure, unadulterated powder will do it to you - he didn't go make some strong "skier cuts" into the upper pack to do one final snow check as instructed by the main guide who was doing the "tail gunner" work. Instead he just sent it. And it didn't take more than a few turns out on this big shoulder above this cliff band to break loose. This was a decent sized avalanche. 1,500 feet the dude fell in a little over 20 seconds. The crown was about 1 - 1.5m. The chute that he got sucked through to the skier's right was flanked on either side by cliff bands that were about 30m tall. He luckily didn't break any bones and obviously didn't hit anything on the run out. He was only buried for 4 and a half minutes which is incredibly short. I cannot stress these next sentences enough; that in and of itself to be unburied in ONLY 4:28 is miraculous if you have any understanding of being caught in an avalanche and what it takes to be found. It could literally be some kind of "world record" just on how good the guide and supporting cast of other skiers was in getting to him. It also shows why you should ALWAYS be going with people trained in avalanche rescue / first aid....as well as why you'd want to be going with a guided heli operation. Sure this was terrifying for him, but he would've probably been dead if not for going with a guide. He also got very lucky to be honest. In the time that he's buried, you can hear his breathing already accelerate. The ruffling noise back and forth is his chest rising and falling and the noise that his jacket makes. The intermittent whimpering noise you hear is him trying to swallow and get some air since the avalung wasn't fully in his mouth and instead just to the corner of his mouth. Still sends chills up the back of my neck. Oh...the luck? They located him so fast because his right glove came off just before he came completley to rest and there was an excellent visual of course. And then the digging out is utterly amazing. I don't think that you could've paid a Hollywood crew to stage something better. The fact that he could've been facing any 360 direction and yet he's looking right up into the sun-filled blue sky with that first full scoop away of the shovel is borderline spiritual. This is simply a very sobering and unbelievable video. However, you should take away from this video all the positive things that you can learn from it. Yes there are risks to the backcountry - but with proper gear, training, and guide(s) with avalanche and EMT training - you can greatly lower your chances of getting caught in an avalanche in the first place.....and coming back alive if you ever were to get caught in a slide. Respect Mother Nature for sure. Learn from this. But just like a Craig Kelly in the snowboard world or a Shane McConkey in the ski world who died out in the backcountry (Craig via avalanche and Shane via ski B.A.S.E. jumping), they left this earth while doing the things that they were truly passionate about. And while they would stress the need for the proper gear and training....neither one would want backcountry enthusiasts to curtail their adventures because of their accidents....or this video. Please check with your local resort for classes on backcountry training, or try starting with a place like AIARE - the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Training. Their website is avtraining.org."

Good post. Here's the text that accompanies the vid... "In April of 2008 I drove from Lake Tahoe to Haines, Alaska up the Al-Can highway through British Columbia and the Yukon with an enclosed 4-snowmobile trailer and a ton of gear. I told myself the year before after a few years of getting shut out that other than for a surgical strike, last minute type of spot open for the weekend or something....that I'd only come up with sleds from now on instead of sitting around drinking myself into oblivion on a "down day." Well thank God we did that because we definitely had down days again right from the get-go. The sledding up at Haines Pass is out of control good. Even staying closer to town like below Old Faithful is great. Can't say enough about how much fun it is to ride snowmobiles up there with no trees. So the first legit day after that main snow storm cycle, we still went out snowmobiling one more time wanting to let the snow set up a bit more....while another part of our group went up in the bird. Actually two groups went up in the bird, and the first group did all the normal day-after-storm-cycle snow pit and snow quality tests. The first group decided that while the dangers remained elevated, that it was good to go. They all made some of the sickest pow turns in their lives I was told. The next group then - a couple hundred meters or so over - set up for their descent. The guy in the video was the first one to drop from their group and while not a guide, he had a lot of Utah and AK backcountry experience. He had a Black Diamond Avalung on, but as you can tell from the video while he's talking as he's dropping in, it wasn't in his mouth to start. He tried to shove it in the instant of starting to get sucked down, but it didn't stay. It was just off to the corner of his mouth he said, and he definitely got snow / ice build up as you'll see on the second sweep of the mouth by the guide after they get to him. So as he drops in you can also see the sluff to the skier's right immediately start building....and that's actually the chute that was the intended route down. For whatever reason - well pure, unadulterated powder will do it to you - he didn't go make some strong "skier cuts" into the upper pack to do one final snow check as instructed by the main guide who was doing the "tail gunner" work. Instead he just sent it. And it didn't take more than a few turns out on this big shoulder above this cliff band to break loose. This was a decent sized avalanche. 1,500 feet the dude fell in a little over 20 seconds. The crown was about 1 - 1.5m. The chute that he got sucked through to the skier's right was flanked on either side by cliff bands that were about 30m tall. He luckily didn't break any bones and obviously didn't hit anything on the run out. He was only buried for 4 and a half minutes which is incredibly short. I cannot stress these next sentences enough; that in and of itself to be unburied in ONLY 4:28 is miraculous if you have any understanding of being caught in an avalanche and what it takes to be found. It could literally be some kind of "world record" just on how good the guide and supporting cast of other skiers was in getting to him. It also shows why you should ALWAYS be going with people trained in avalanche rescue / first aid....as well as why you'd want to be going with a guided heli operation. Sure this was terrifying for him, but he would've probably been dead if not for going with a guide. He also got very lucky to be honest. In the time that he's buried, you can hear his breathing already accelerate. The ruffling noise back and forth is his chest rising and falling and the noise that his jacket makes. The intermittent whimpering noise you hear is him trying to swallow and get some air since the avalung wasn't fully in his mouth and instead just to the corner of his mouth. Still sends chills up the back of my neck. Oh...the luck? They located him so fast because his right glove came off just before he came completley to rest and there was an excellent visual of course. And then the digging out is utterly amazing. I don't think that you could've paid a Hollywood crew to stage something better. The fact that he could've been facing any 360 direction and yet he's looking right up into the sun-filled blue sky with that first full scoop away of the shovel is borderline spiritual. This is simply a very sobering and unbelievable video. However, you should take away from this video all the positive things that you can learn from it. Yes there are risks to the backcountry - but with proper gear, training, and guide(s) with avalanche and EMT training - you can greatly lower your chances of getting caught in an avalanche in the first place.....and coming back alive if you ever were to get caught in a slide. Respect Mother Nature for sure. Learn from this. But just like a Craig Kelly in the snowboard world or a Shane McConkey in the ski world who died out in the backcountry (Craig via avalanche and Shane via ski B.A.S.E. jumping), they left this earth while doing the things that they were truly passionate about. And while they would stress the need for the proper gear and training....neither one would want backcountry enthusiasts to curtail their adventures because of their accidents....or this video. Please check with your local resort for classes on backcountry training, or try starting with a place like AIARE - the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Training. Their website is avtraining.org."

You sound like an intrepid one Jay. Thanks for posting this TR along with your other one.

An enthralling read...the duck tapped crampons/"that's ghetto" was my fav part. Please post another TR on you Rainier attempts.

Very tasty TR/pics Ryan. Wedge is always a treat. You should go back and try the entire arête next time in similar snow conditions - you'll enjoy it for sure.