petek

Mizuki, I just missed you on Hunter, now on the North Ridge. I think I saw you headed up the trail on Saturday about noon, looking determined. We climbed the ridge Saturday morning, camp to summit in a little under five hours. Great conditions!I took off first thing Wednesday morning, having a sense of perfect conditions for the week. We climbed the Price Glacier on Shuksan Thursday,and conditions were ideal. Both these routes should be good for a few more weeks, as long as you get a really early start to beat the mid-day mush. One of my best weeks in the Cascades ever.

My tent was next to theirs at Denali Base and we talked to them the day before they took off for the spur. What a great pair, lots of yelling and laughing, and lots of borrowing of my corkscrew. I sure hope they're hanging in there, as they are definately tough enough. The Infinate Spur is a monster of a route, and the weather has been pretty rough this year.

I just got back from a Hunter West Ridge attempt. Same results as Pochi, with lots of quality time in our tent at camp 2. Two Spaniards out of a group of six summitted in really sketchy conditions. They all carried snow boards up to camp 2, then carried them back down. The epic Hunter ascent for this year was two Japanese who climbed Deprivation on the North Buttress, over the summit, then down the original West Ridge route. I heard them go by our tent in the middle of the night. Amazing effort. These will probably be the only summits on Hunter for this year, as the slopes were really mushing out on our descent. I can't wait to hear about Sue Knott's I Spur attempt. I think they were fairly committed when big weather moved in.

Don't underestimate what it takes to get across the White Salmon to the base of the North Face. I was thouroughly thrashed by it the first time. I've been shut down twice on this route by whiteout conditions. The best start is at the base of chair 8 at the ski area, and skirt the valley without dropping down too far. Be aware that the big sea to sky race is this weekend, so the road up there will be crowded.