ScaredSilly

There are many big wet slides. One from the Salmon/Avy Glacier did its thing and went into the woods. Quite impressive!! What I found quite impressive is that things are sliding quite far on very low angle slopes. Which says lots of water and firm snow underneath.

FWIW we went in and climbed the Pinnacle Headwall yesterday. We went in via the Sled/Reily and found snow once you get to the Reily/Reily Cutoff junction at about 4k. From there, there is snow on the trail intermittently. One will travel a fair amount on snow above 5k. It is nicely consolidated. Great avys down the Salmon/Avy Glacier.

Dane, I had a little chat with a climbing ranger after coming down to Paradise on Sunday. I commented that it was bummer the blog was not kept up as for $30 that was the only added value for the climbing permit as I do not use the DC or Emmons except as a descent route. His comment was that the climbing rangers were all on the hill 4 days a week so it was hard to update. I said that folks are not expecting daily updates but if they saw a blast of reports once a week folks would be happy. And they could do not when they come down. I plan to followup with a letter to the super. Part of my comments is that Gator set a very high bar and at the present they are falling far short and folks are going to start skipping the registration.

The hill is pretty plastered with snow. About the same time as Bill we walked up Furher Finger (most others were skiing). The Finger is in amazing shape for this late in June. Even 25+ years ago we saw more cracks on the glacier than this trip. We did not bother with a rope until descending down the DC. While mostly clear the winds have been strong. Made for a bit of a white out coming down. I think they have settled out a bit now though we found some up high on Adams yesterday.

You will not be pissed but drinking piss. The person who drank your beer will be pissed* and be doing the pissing. But that is what you get for doing a piss poor job of hiding piss beer in some pissy little creek. *pissed - slang in Britain for being drunk.

Just remember what goes around comes around ... so be prepared for the favor to be returned. That said - hide your beer better.

Hey Shapp, next year shoot me a note if ya go down the Owyhee. I'll drag my boat and gear over from SLC and join ya. I have not been on the Owyhee since Carter was president!!! And now that the wife has a boat it will be easy ...

Been there done that from 11k on the Willis - not so bad. What blew was the wall less than an hour after we stepped off the Carbon. Did manage to get up the Cassin though.

To be honest I can only think of a few preset way points that would really be helpful - those from Liberty Cap to Columbia Crest and down the Emmons along with perhaps the base of the ridge itself. Anything else to me would be so transient as not to be useful unless taken while on the way in. That said I do not have any - for that matter I am still in the analogue era and take a map and compass.

The point release was after the main fracture as the debris can be seen covering the bed of the main fracture. That said the small slab to the right of the point release and above the main fracture could have been the principle trigger. Amazing to see it rip wall to wall.

But will the birth count if the conception is elsewhere?

Thanks for posting this link. Decently written and sheds some good light on the situation.

A little on site video ... http://www.king5.com/news/local/Climber-still-missing-after-Mount-Rainier-avalanche-95737794.html BTW as for the OT guiding/cancelation/refund comments. Guiding has nothing to do with the situation. It is all about paying your money for a service that is condition dependent. Ever go to a concert and after one set the lead singer pukes and goes off stage? NO REFUND. Ever charter a fishing boat that goes outside the harbor and then turns around cause conditions sucked? NO REFUND. Had either not come on stage or left the dock you would have been rescheduled (not refunded). The examples could go on ad nauseum. The bottom line is that while most have cancelation policy rarely is there a refund because you have hired someone for their services.

Of the folks on the hill I wonder how many are "locals" vs visitors. Obviously, the missing climber is a visitor but how many others are as well. I would venture that many are visitors and have planned their vacation around a climb and thus go when the weather is good though conditions are questionable. The same happens with backcountry skiing after a good dump.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA .... If going to Muir a bivy sac is fine - but IMHO only because if the weather is shitty you can utilize the public shelter. In general, for the Cascade peaks where one can not easily descend when a storm hits I prefer a tent. The reason being is that Cascade storms are wet. So if caught out your outer gear is wet and then climbing into a bivy sac with wet gear it just stays wet. At least with a tent you crawl in take the wet stuff off, fire up a stove, get a brew, and dry out a bit. BTW - After doing Curtis Ridge we ran into a party of four coming from Liberty. Cause of the weather we all holed up. We all crawled into our tents and were waiting it out. About an hour later a group 3 came along with bivy sacs two of them ended up in tents cause of exactly what I described above.

The guy went blind ... and was being assisted down but was taking too much time. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/everest-team-forced-to-leave-sick-british-climber-to-die-1988979.html

The Kautz can be a cruise or a slog all depending on snow conditions. We took our time and did it over three days in mid July. Seems like we took five hours to get to a camp at around 8k-9k and then slept in before walking up to Hazard in may be three hours. Not super fast but we got up the next morning left Hazard around 6am, post holed through some sun cups and made the summit around noon including a side trip over to Point Success. We carried over, went down the DC and were back at Paradise by 6pm. Mark - take three days and make it fun. Late afternoon going across the Nisqually is fine the slopes heading up towards the Turtle may be a bit soggy but you are not on them for long. The nice part is that you get a long rest the next day at Hazard which is great for acclimating making the summit day nicer. The infamous ice step is quite moderate for the person who is comfortable with 45 degree glacier ice. We did it with a single 60 cm ice axe. Early season like it will be for a while the step will be snow covered.

I have a half bag made by Wild Things. Weighs in about a pound. Perfect for summer bivies when combined with a bivy sac. Unlike my other bags which are down my half bag is synthetic. One comment if you have not cut it already having the bag come up to your rib cage is better. Then you have overlap with a jacket. Which at night things slide around so no cold spots.

Nice little video. Funny I rarely use my headlamp at night once climbing on a glacier. I find the natural light is typically enough and my eyes adjust that while I may not see fine detail up close I can see farther.

Should have fucking left her ass in the snow.

In other words you bought low alcohol piss water swill beer. Cans of Shapiro hold much better as they are slightly higher in alcohol. Plus they're bigger!!

This is better ... http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/superb_new_route_on_mt_logan/

Hmm, lets see warm sunny spring May weekend with lots of people on the SS. Sounds like the perfect storm for people avalanches.

Neither ... Carbon River. And it is open year round. It is just the first six miles that ya gotta walk (or better ride a bike).