Wastral

Which used book store??? Is it still there? Brian

E-W ridge from beaver is easy. Head straight for it after 300-400 feet past the Big Beaver Shelter. Stay left in trees till you have to go right to avoid cliffs and some nasty brush ensues. Or head straight up 40 feet of class 3-4 rock and viola. There is some brush but it is not bad at all. On ridge when in doubt stay high. There are plenty of boot tracks to follow. Stay high around Wiley Peak and its tiny glacier. For challenger climb all you need are slings/biners. There are at least 4 pitons solidly in place for the whopping 50 feet of rock at the top. Take a 100 foot rope if you have it and save weight. You will run into a whopping 1 crevasse at the top which is easily cirumnavigated. 1 move of 5.4 at the start and the rest is class 4. Enjoying sitting on the summit block with your feet dangling 1000 feet over nothing! Brian PS lost a feathered friends down jacket over the side... If you can find it 1000 feet down, its yours!

For colonial 0 glacier travel. It is easier with snow since it hides some nasty scree, but hey its an AWESOME SUMMIT! End of August your first water may be ponds on the ridge, but I doubt it otherwise your only bet will be the lake at the head of Colonial Creek Glacier. Best campsite is above at the outlet stream from the lake. The one overlooking the glacier/lake is VERY WINDY in comparison. Otherwise camp at the col going to Snowfield. Pyramid glacier conditions not worth talking about if you like but, it makes it easier. Honestly the Colonial "glacier" is not even a glacier anymore. You have to look really really hard to find a crevasse you could actually even fall into. The whole thing is in compression so the "crevasses" are thin lines or at worst 1 foot wide buggers. At most you will find a bergshrund going to Paul Bunyans. Of course I was up there a month ago. I was up there a month ago and was surprised at how much the glacier has shrunk compared to 5 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if the glacier is not even moving anymore except maybe up high between colonial and point 7505 if I recall correctly. Brian

Welcome to the Weathered off N. Buttress of Terror Crowd. How did you manage to find 5th class rock out of Picket pass??? If you ever return take the ridge center and it is at worst 30 feet of class 4. More like 15 feet. Isn't Luna/Fury Peak Awesome?!>?!?!?!!?! I sure thought so! Brian

Food ALL protein/carbs = 1600 cal/lb FAT = 4200 cal/lb Candy bars all around 2000-2200 cal/lb Fritos 3100 cal/lb Toasted Pecans 3200 cal/lb Almonds salted flavored or plain 3000 cal/lb Peanuts (boring and tasteless but cheep) 2600 cal/lb Cheese 2600 cal/lb Top romen is very expensive compared to buying spagetti noodles for those wanting noodles add bullion cubes for some flavor and viola dinner at 1/3 the cost of top romen and 1/10th the cost of the "dried" meals which are nothing more than noodles and spices that you buy at REI etc. Gingersnaps and other hard cookies last 3 weeks. Heavy Breads like Bananna Bread/Raisin Bread when vacuum Packed last 3 weeks. Pizza lasts ~ 4 days easy Pop Tarts are only 1800 cal/lb but even if crumbs are good Beef Jerky that is actually dried unlike all the stuff you buy in the stores lasts 1/2 year. Stuff you buy in store lasts a couple weeks at best after being opened since its not actually dried. Real Dried Beef Jerky should be hard and sharp, not soft and chewy like what you buy in the stores. Corn Nuts stay fresh indefinetly and at 2000 cal/lb give you some corn flavor that we are used to in our diets. Fritos are the KING of cal/lb in chips at 3100 cal/lb and they last since they are a very hard dense chip. Brian

Trip: Waddington Area - Jubilee Various Date: 7/22/2008 Trip Report: Quick Post, Further later Just got back after 3 weeks had plans for 4 weeks, but... Hiked up to Jubilee with 95lb packs though NASTY aldered in "roads" 4500 elevation gain of nasty brush later... 8 days of rain later reached alpine country soaking wet and took a day to dry out. Now we don't have enough time to get Waddington, but Jubilee is right here... They must have had a mediocre snow year because the glaciers were all broken up and snow bridges non existent. In short got around to the SE ridge of Jubilee and took a look at its nasty loose rock and decided the glacier was better. Several giant crevasses 20-30 feet wide and 200-400 feet deep, some areas they are simply 100 foot tall ice cliffs going from the SE ridge all the way to the East ridge through the east ridges quote easy snow slopes and all the way over and through the North ridge route as well. So, in short if you want to climb Jubilee in the summer, you had better hope that the glaciers move allowing access to the top of the mountain without climbing lots of nasty loose rock on the SE ridge. Enjoy updating the guide book Don Serl! For now Jubilee is a spring ascent only! Jubilee is indeed a Premier ascent though. Awesome Scenery We reached within 400 feet of the top or so before being turned away by 1 final giant crevasse baring the North Ridge. Brian Pictures later after I get some rest, had car troubles on the way back too!!!

REI BLOWS their gear they sell Blows. 4 weeks ago had a dumb idiot employee who looked like a lobster after climbing rainier using his organic sunscreen trying to sell me organic sunscreen!!! I looked at him with a WHAT THE HECK look on my face, flipped over his organic sunscreen bottle and read the ingredients; Olive Oil, Coconut oil and some spices. So, after reading the ingredients I look up at him and say , so if I want, I go to Safeway and buy a 1/2 gallon of the stuff for the same price as this tiny 1oz bottle!!! Not to mention its NOT Water proof and runs off your face as you sweat!!! As your face obviously shows!!! How stupid are you!???? So, I grabbed good ol' Dermatone zinc oxide and went on my way. Guess what 3 weeks on Water, snow, and Ice in bright sunshine and I am not sunburned, oh yea. What a chump. Same store and the fools didn't even know that they had white gas fuel bottles hanging on the shelf by their water bottles. Had to point this little fact out to the poor customer, oh yea and if u want a small fuel bottle you had better go to GI Joes instead of a monster fuel bottle. Brian IF u want real gear go to Feathered Friends ProMountainsports or Marmot.

Well last time I got hasseled near cascade pass I basically gave the ranger the finger and ignored him and kept walking.

Most people I have seen only think about self arrest using the pick. On firm snow you aren't as likely to slip as on soft gooey snow due to snow buildup on crapons/boots. In those conditions you must see the conditions, flip the ice axe around and use the spade end of the ice axe as the pick end will only make a nice line in the goo snow as you pick up speed going over a cliff. Most slips are because you are tired. Know when you are tired and slow down, putting more care into foot placement. Almost all slips also happen going downhill. Brian

Dyneema line has Nylon sheeth, so your friction for your prussic is based on nylon. Dyneema/Spectra is made from HDPE which does have a lower melting point than nylon. It is stiffer, thus you would need another loop in the prussic arrangement. What is wrong with cheaper 6mm nylon??? You have to have backup prussic loops for rescue situations anyways. If you don't and your partner doesn't have any back up prussic loops you are royally screwed till he can get the calvary there because you need spare prussics to A) tie off and B) rescue your buddy. Why is the temperature point even relevant??? You are not belaying through your prussic loops where you will have continuous friction!!! If you are, something is wrong. Crevasse rescue is also basically a static endeavor, so once again dyneema would be perfect fine there also. In short there is no problem with Dyneema/Spectra line/webbing for prussics and cordage. It is stiffer and harder to work with, but 5x stronger for same diameter/thickness as nylon creating lighter climbing racks. Brian

3-4 trips means 2-4 day weekends. Which means you could sleep outside in the rain on most of your trips without your bivy sack/tarp and be just fine especially in Oregon where everything is pretty low except where u go up on a volcano for a morning jaunt. I did that for years here in the north cascades on 2-3 day trips. Had Dryloft on my down bag though. Otherwise if you can stomach the fuel prices, drive about 4 hours north to Glacier Peak wilderness area or North Cascades for some real mountains and then you will be at most 2 days(pickets only) from a road. In short Down + Epic Bivy is perfectly fine. If you really want Synthetic, it is 1/3rd the price! I wouldn't get larger/warmer than 20degree synthetic. Spend the money on a another jacket to compensate for the warmth if you need it. Lightest weight is the Montbell Jackets $140 warmer than 200 weight polartec fleece and weighs half as much 8.8oz medium size. You can order them online from ProMountainSports.com here in Seattle or probably from Montbell themselves. Brian

I have had this problem when using my dads ancient tiny locking biners. Once I got a big locking biner I have not had this problem. Its called rope management in how you thread your belay and which side you thread it so when tension is applied it does not get caught. Yes, others have same problem because like you then have not spent 10 minutes figuring out which side to put the rope through so when one does take a fall their biner/belay loop become tangled. Once you figure it out, at the start of a climb thread it through a couple times to remind yourself on how it is done properly. That way when someone does take a fall and maybe they get hurt you can easily tie off the rope and get out of the belay device and tension. Brian

The tarptent rainbow would be less weather resistant than the cloudburst 2. It uses the same front pole and is wider, thus making it less resistant to wind/snowload. In the alpine enviro I find "good" optimal spots for "tarps" to be set up like the mega-mid far and few between. Not to mention if you are camping on snow. Camping on snow with no floor sucks. Yes, snow caves suck. You are warmer in snow caves, but you get everything soaking wet. There really is no "optimal" solution. Always +/- to all options. I used to go without any tent/tarp/or bivy. Why? Because we owned the ubiquitous 6+lb dome tent that I hated to carry. Thus, never carried it. IF it rained I got wet along with my sleeping bag. OF course this was only weekend trips... Brian PS tarptent is made from sylnylon instead of PTFE fabric and will produce more condensation on inside which is a definite consideration in the ol' PNW

Oh, yea it has full mosquito netting. Cost for Tarptent Cloudburst 2 = $260. Setup time can be done in under 2 minutes on good ground. A bit longer if you have to tie to boulders... www.tarptent.com No, I am not a representative, just mighty impressed by their "tarptent" For most 3 season stuff you can probably go for the lighter squal 2 at 2lbs 2 oz and still fit 2 people in it. This tent I also own and it can take some snow also along with normal rain. It does not fare as well in wind though. Have used the ubiquitous 5-6lb dome tent +rainfly and find them HEAVY!!! They are freestanding though. Only reason I would go the Black Diamond route at over 3+lbs for a 2 person cramped tent. Brian

Tarptent Cloudburst 2. Weight: 2lbs 7oz Not freestanding, 3 stakes needed, but can take some snow unlike the megalight. You do need to watch which direction you set it up in for wind reasons. We had snow ice rain wind in the pickets and were fine when we had to pitch on a 30 degree slope in Cresent Creek Basin(W. of Terror). The guys with the megalight weren't. Not to mention it has no floor and their sleeping bags got drenched. Brian

I find this discussion FLAWED. The Meteor Petzel helmets under discussion is good for only 1 rock UIAA aprooved rock hit. When climbing there are a heck of a lot more than single rocks coming down when the crap hits the fan. 1 hit helmets are worthless in my opinion no matter how light they are. They are fine for biking because after you quit rubbing your skin on the pavement you get the option of not getting back on the bike. In the Alpine environment, the rocks keep falling if you are caught in the crapper which is usually the case. Wish DM helmets were still made. Got mine while I still could. Gotta love Carbon Fiber/Kevlar/Spectra. True my helmet cost a couple extra dollars, but its still the 2nd lightest helmet ever made to get the UIAA approval. Only the petzel 1 hit wonder is lighter. The carbon/Spectra DM helmet can take 10 UIAA "rocks". The other Petzel/BD helmets commonly found in Marmot/REI are good for 2? max. I get to live instead of being killed when the inevitable 2nd rock comes down. They really hurt when they hit your shoulder.... Brian

What time in August. I get back from Waddington at the begining of the 3rd week of august Brian Foote

Maps, used to be able to get them free at topozone.com then the "jerks" at trail.com bought them and now want to CHARGE MONEY FOR THEM!!!! Both trips I talked about are detailed on map number 34 of the Washington Atlas & Gazetteer posted previously. USGS maps needed would me Holden(113)15 minute Green Trails Map for the Chiwawa traverse. Cascade Pass(80) for the Dome Peak/White Rocks Lakes area Any Ridge traverse will not have trails and will be completely snow covered at that elevation. A lower traverse that may have some bare ground would be the Alpine Lakes High Route. Look in Becky's Southern Cascades Climbing Book (Brown Cover) Routes For climbing the moderate peaks I described in previous post are in Becky's Green covered alpine guide from Steven's Pass to Rainy Pass. If you want really moderate stuff check out Chelan Crest which would be great in June. Don't need Skiis in June. All the trail heads will be snow free. There will be snow in the valleys. You WILL NEED CRAMPONS/Ice Axe for all of my routes. WIll need glacier rescue technique for Dome Peak Region. Rope for Dome Peak Region. A very short rope for the vertically challenged coming off of Fortress in the Chiwawa traverse. Brian Foote greentrailsmaps.com Brian Foote

White Rock Lakes. 1 VERY long day in via south cascade river/glacier. Otherwise it is 1.5in 3/4day out. Can go anywhere for 10 days and there is no where more beautiful except maybe the pickets and the enchantments. Dome Peak/Sinister/Gunsight/Spire + all the moderate peaklets from Spire to basecamp at White rock Lakes outlet. Or go North to Sentinel/Old Guard. Overnight at Le Conte Lake. Another 10 day moderate outing is based from Chiwawa River end at Trinity. Go up Buck mountain, from there go to Clark or take the high route over to Liberty Cap/Napequa Peak. From there go over to Fortress Chiwawa mountain. From there head to 7 Fingered Jack/Maude/Fernow Mt. Carne. At anytime if you have to bail. Just take the excellent valley trail system back to your car with a maximum of 1 mile road walk between Spider Meadow car parking lot and Trinity Parking lot. 10 days in June???? GOOD LUCK!!!!! You will need it. June weather usually sucks. You will also be camping on 100% snow at either of the places I described or just about anywhere in the Cascades. Brian Foote

Hello Abe/Tenpeak We are not helicoptering in, but we are hiking in via Knight Inlet From July 19th through August 10th.(4 weeks) Maybe I could pay/beg you to drop food off where you land or hook up with you near Mt. Waddington or anywhere else. Our plans are also wide open. I know for sure that Mt. Jubilee and Mt. Waddington are on the schedule. May come in through the Munday region or even go over to Mt. Bell/Geddes. If you have not hit the weight limit for a helo ride maybe we could use it for some food? Brian Foote footeab@yahoo.com 425-392-0975