ScaredSilly

WAG: The helicopter crew looking for him probably did not have any survival gear with them and thus were not prepared to drop any one in. Also given he had snow on him and did not respond to their presence they thought he was already dead. Thus the decision to come back in morning. Bummer as now there are what if questions - though remember the park has no duty to rescue. That said good on the guy for letter someone know his plans and for them to contact when he failed to check in. Sad it did not help.

Nice ... looks like some wallowing ;-).

Very nice...

Slightly OT, but something like 99% of the climbers who check out for Cassin Ridge on Denali never step foot on it and end up doing the West Butt. I would guess the same can be said for Yokum Ridge and the South Side on Hood.

Nice, what was the bergshrund crossing like? We had a nice snow cone to hike up.

Duct tape and bailing wire are your friends.

Very cool, looks like they did the Gib Ledges.

In the mid 80ss I did the Crater Lake loop over two days. That was good fun and something everyone should do once when the weather is good. In the early 90s a friend and I skied across the Wallowas. We started at Moss Spring which is above Cove, OR dropped down into the Minam River, up to Minan Lake, and from there to Wallowa Lake on the last day. That was hoot as I hiked the same route as a teenager. I want to head into the Cornucopia area now especially as there are some huts in there.

Yeah, I am ready for some ice and snow. Where abouts were these shot? Some feed back on the shots. Composition on the first is good but what I can not figure out is why one would dull up their tools and poons trying to climb rock when there is perfectly good ice 20 feet away. Second, nice pillar but no contrast between the climber and the rock. Third and forth are nice enough but a little dull. The fifth is good composition but the sky is washed out as is the back ground might have been shooting into the sun. In these cases try shooting with a flash especially as it would appear the shot was take from close by. That will let you drop down the amount of light coming in so the background is not washed out while still giving you foreground light for the subject. Using a flash is a great tool and not just for low light.

Yeah, no kidding. Check out the weekend list of slides in Ooootah: http://utahavalanchecenter.org/services/avalanchelist One death, one serious ride, and 30+ slides.

Damn, that is harsh Dane. Best of luck with it all. BTW ... last summer while visiting a friend who's brother like to hang out in Thailand he told a story of being advised that if he wanted to engage in oral sex he should put a condom over his tongue! I thought it odd but now I can understand.

Just a quick comment about the Spur based on a solo trip up it about this time of year but many years ago. As some have noted the Spur is nice firm snow and with some ice. I too found similar conditions which I was not expecting. Further, there had been a recent storm so there was a few inches of snow on top of everything. In places this new snow hid the hard snow/ice nicely. What one thought was firm bonded snow was not - in many places it slid off when punched through. Near the top, the snow was quite unstable and was at the perfect angle to avalanche. The ice was hard enough that in a few places I wished I had a second tool. Not because of the slope steepness, but because of how hard the ice was. All of which had the promise to send one skating down to the Elliot if they were not being heads up. Also I declined not to down climb the route and instead walked back around via the Newton Clark - which was great especially as one can scope lines out on the spider.

October can be a great month on the hill. BITD I solo'ed Cooper's Spur one October. A phenomenal ascent. And like Loomis I had the hill to myself not a soul on the north or south side.

Think back twenty years ago when lycra was cool :-)))))

Well said. In the big scheme, most things in life are inconsequential. Climbing is nothing but the conquest of the useless. Go forth and conquest and enjoy.

Pretty humorous, though you might want to take an inclinometer with you as I doubt you would have been kicking steps in "hard alpine ice" on 60-65 degree slopes and if so ole Toby would have been hanging on the rope for all it was worth. From your pictures and description you were on the Old Chute and IIRC the slope going up it are at best 45-50 degrees with firm neve. The West Crater Rim starts further to the west on the other side of Crater Rock. That said when ya got back to T-line hopefully Toby bought ya a beer and sausage for getting him up there.

Wow!!! And I thought things were chummy at Teton but that certainly out does it.

I use the old Alpine Club books cause I am old and in the way and have yet to modernized ;-).

What ??? you missed the Little Brother, gotta start over :-). Other wise it sounds like you had a nice little jog in the woods. Cool!

Nice!!!!!!

A friend has one and uses it frequently. Seems to have good luck with it and using it for checking in. I guess the question is what do you want to use it for? Checking, emergencies, tracking your movement, etc. I have a PLB - though I have not yet registered it.

I have found Oct to often be a great month for poking around. However, the slopes will be very hard unless there has been some snow. You might consider something like the Sunshine Route on Hood. Definitely more of an adventure if you can team up with someone with glacier skills. I would suggest Cooper's Spur but one really needs to be on top of their skills to be in it in the fall lest they be in a fall.

Hey Jason, Sorry that time came. We had to do the same with our pup earlier this summer. Hard day for sure.

Shave so the icicles do not freeze to my face :-). Of course snot icicles are another story :-))).

Nice, great photos of my old stomping grounds.