montypiton

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update: my son and I climbed the south face of East Ingalls on June 21. approach has consolidated to great neve - firm in the early hours, soft in the afternoon. we had intended to climb the main Ingalls Peak, but found a line-up of parties comprising nearly thirty climbers ahead of us, so switched objectives, and had East Ingalls all to ourselves. we were "underequipped" for the couloir start of the route, having approached in light approach shoes with trekking poles, sans boots, crampons, or ice-axes, so we belayed the couloir section - overkill if you just bring an ice-axe... second the 70-meter rope suggestion. we were consistently a few feet short on a single 60-meter, even with rope-stretch. not a huge problem if you're paying attention, but rapping off the end of your rope is a very real risk on a 60. still complete snow cover on the north aspect of Ingalls pass, in case you're thinking of camping... Ingalls Lake is still fully iced in

two weeks ago Colchuck Glacier and the NBC were perfect spring neve -- firm enough for easy cramponing or "iffy" step kicking in the early hours, softening to creamy glissading by early afternoon. the past two weeks have been cool, and snow seems to be holding up high, so I'm guessing you might have prime neve conditions if you get on it before we get a heat wave. -Haireball

Id have to know your climbing style before making a strong recommmendation, but here are some criteria: index finger supports (triggers)are like power steering on hard ice. for me they make a huge difference in the effectiveness of my swing on steep hard-or-brittle water ice. if you're not climbing waterfalls, they're less of an advantage if you're on neve - hard snow - soft ice, at moderate angles, your spike has got to be functional for the cane position. most pinky and trigger supports are unacceptably obtrusive. I have seen some streamlined versions that don't interfere so much in the cane position. on steeper neve - hard snow - soft ice, you'll likely be doing a lot of daggering, in which case neither the spike nor any finger support really assists function.

dont own one, but a partner acquired one recently and absolutely loves it. I tried it, and was impressed -- seemed to lock dependably; no, I wouldn't trust taking my hand off while belaying - but I don't trust "guide" style auto-lock belay rigs either - I want control of the brake. just old-school, I guess. but - I found it easy to manipulate when threaded correctly, and didn't experience the jerkiness others have noted. use of the release lever felt fairly intuitive. on rappel, I did find it locked dependably when I let go brake hand -- seemed like a plus. final judgment - if I didn't have a bin-ful of belay devices, I'd buy one in a heartbeat, but the very real advantages it offers are not so important to me that I'm gonna add another $40 variant to the bin.

for a school program, good value can be had from Chinese distributors on ebay. I've seen zippered tall gaiters as cheap as $6/pair -- and have bought, because I wear them primarily to protect expensive schoeller pants from crampon points. they typically last me a year or two of hard use, which seems to me like good value. they'll do pretty much everything the big-name gaiters will do except break your bank.

poor Dave - I sold him on the idea of traversing Stuart-Sherpa-Argonaut-Colchuck -- and he was probably strong enough to do it, but this crippled-up-old-fart was most definitely not. Getting up and over Stuart was plenty -- lotsa rock-climbing in crampons meant moving slowly, and belaying ground that most would not in summer conditions -- still - FULL VAlUE!, and judging from my romp up Argonaut on Saturday, conditions are only improving - get it while its good!

yeah - like Kyle says - flawless firm shaded neve for effortless daggering, no need of a rope, (except rappel exit on south side) then by the time you get around to the Colchuck Glacier, nice soft creamy glissade from Banshee Pass all the way to the lake. doesn't get any better, but don't wait, won't last more than a week or two...

for approaches on non-technical glaciers and snowfields (like around Prusik Peak) - consider microspikes. a fraction of the price of a twelve-or-more point crampon, and can be worn on ANY shoe (nice when you want to hike in approach shoes & climb in rock shoes) -- not a good choice for hard-core glacier use, but some do summit rainier using them. for bargain-of-the-century, keep an eye on ebay for the old salewa adjustable twelve-point. this twelve point adjustable crampon was by far the most widely used crampon worldwide in the seventies and early eighties. they usually go for $20 - $50, and come up fairly regularly, probably from estates of old hard-cores. you can pay more for newer, but function wont be much different

yet another vote for Icicle and Tumwater canyons. for virgin trad leaders, mountaineers' dome is hard to beat with four short easy and easily protected pitches with gigantic ledges between pitches. a "four-pitch climb' from which escape is easy at the end of any pitch. good for easing new leader into "multi-pitch" mindset without overwhelming them. castle rock - a horde of moderate classics that offer the new leader the additional mental challenge of exposure, without overwhelming technical difficulty. I've had best results, over 40 years, starting trad leaders on AID -- they make a placement about every three feet, load every placement, and after about two or three pitches have a reasonable sense of placement soundness, and easily graduate to spreading their placements apart on moderate free climbs. Leaders seem to progress faster this way, in my experience.

big hands -- mine are ENORMOUS -- wide and thick with short fingers so that most gloves that I can find big enough to pull on usually have quarter-to-half-inch too much length in finger. in most black diamond models, the largest size is not big enough. I've used xl ocun mitts for three years now. they're cushie, thin enough to feel the rodck a little; I still prefer tape for more sensitivity in some jams -- feel like i lose just a bit of feel in these even as thin as the padding is. still - for most work, and especially LONG stretches (multiple days of multiple pitch jamming) hard to beat

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impressive, kid! I guess you found a way to make the "kit" affordable after all. -Haireball

also looking - I'm in Leavenworth, have three days sat-sun-mon, hope to do three days of climbing in the Stuart Range. Lotsa seasonal mixed opportunities right now. fantasizing a traverse of the range: stuart-sherpa-argonaut-colchuck-dragontail and down asgaard and out (if Croft could do it in one day, I oughta be able to do it in three). open to suggestions. have scoped unclimbed seasonal mixed lines on stuart, argonaut, dragontail if those opportunties interest. have one local maybe partner, would like to firm up something. pm me. -Haireball

just live a while longer, John -- these days, even a measly 5.8 evokes sighs of admiration: "gawd I hope I can do that when I'm in my sixties...) -- Paul Myhre, Mark Shipman, the two Freds, Dave Jaecks, all in their sixties and seventies, holding their own with guys half their age. Proof that if you REALLY want to CRUSH, just get old.... -Haireball

climbing around Goat Dome on May 5, my partners and I cleaned off about a dozen or so ticks apiece for the day. With snow barely gone, tick season is really just getting started... but SCW has a less brushy approach, so perhaps less exposure to ticks... just have your partner go first!

unlike Dane, I don't detest lockers - rig half or more of my quickdraws with lockers on the rope end. if placement is secure, I don't have to screw it closed... and I use lockers on ALL screamers, because of their stiffness. quicklocks address the disadvantages Stevie demonstrates with screwlocks - speed and unscrew hazard - but I've yet to see a truly lightweight quicklock. looks like there could be a weight-saving for me on these, but I'd have to look at the price penalty before I could commit -- cost/benefit, y'know? And I'd have to handle one and verify Dane's rave, also. I have big hands, thick fingers, and some carabiners I just can't operate efficiently. but it sure looks like it's worth checking out.

by now, I imagine most of us have heard of the sherpas who were killed on Everest this week while attempting to extend the fixed line route for the sahibs to use to access the south col. the American Alpine Club has already established a fund to benefit these men's families. tax deductible donations can be made through the AAC site at www.amercanalpineclub.org - there's a link to the fund on their home page. As far as I know (and please correct me if I'm wrong) the commercial outfitters who hire these guys do not provide them insurance, so please be generous.

I made two Denali trips with a bag rated to -20, and it was more than enough. consider: will you camp in tents, or depend on igloos and snow-caves. The major challenge with an igloo or snow cave is not warming it up, but keeping it cool enough so it doesn't drip. If you're sheltering in snow, you can get by with less bag. Eventually, I saw the light and realized that the -20 bag was too warm to use anywhere else, so I ditched it in favor of an FF "widebody" 15' bag, and an ultralight "pounder" summer weight bag that fits inside it - so I have the summer ultralight, the three-season "everyman", and the two in combination for an expedition rated rig. and the combination weighs under four lbs - less than my old -20 monster.

as you describe your skillset, I do not believe that the DC is an inappropriate objective. I would consider taking more than just a single extra day at Muir for acclimatization, though. Rainier boasts the highest incidence of HAPE of any mountain in the world for good reason -- major metropolitan areas within an hour, and hordes attempting to climb it from sea-level in a weekend. consider that if you were attempting Denali via the West Buttress, you'd likely take a week to get to 14K. Yet climbers who would happily take a week to acclimatize to 14k on Denali get sick trying to summit Rainier in two days. take a day at Panorama point to work on ice-axe skills - self-arrest and ice-axe belays (if there's snow there, which there is most years), take another day at Muir, build an anchor to rappel into a crevasse, and practice hauling one another out. then take a very short day to Ingraham Flats, and make your summit camp there. you won't set any records, but you're likely to enjoy yourselves a lot more...

lose the aluminum stays, plastic framesheet, and worthless 1/8" "bivvy pad" that come with so many so-called "climbing" backpacks. replace all of the above with a half-length evasote or ridge-rest pad folded to create a soft "frame" for your pack. now you have a real functional bivvy pad, and you've lost a buncha useless crap. then, as Oly-mtn-boy suggests, forget stuff-sacks and stuff soft gear into nooks & crannies created by less maleable items like stoves, pots, hardware. as layton suggests, bladders trump bottles - the part that isn't full folds away to nothing. carry NO single-purpose items. every item needs to be multi-purpose - an item that performs three functions means you carry only one item instead of three -- doesn't take long for this to add up. tools like camera, gps, cell-phone ride in holsters that clip to pack-straps or hip-belt -- keeps them at hand, and they don't take up space inside the pack. I've carried snacks this way as well - don't have to stop walking/climbing to eat.

"there's lies; there's damn lies: and there's statistics" -Mark Twain

I'm a little bit surprised that no-one has commented on the absence of toilet paper from your list! Having noted it, I will: GOOD FOR YOU! It has long irritated me when partners have whipped out the t.p. in the backcountry, while they're surrounded by snow (much cleaner) and leaves (no litter).

most of the sar units with which I've worked over the years (40+ years, both professional and volunteer units) have done their training in house, free to their personnel. what you get depends on who's doing the teaching. the National Ski Patrol system provides courses for their members. most clubs and college outdoor programs offer the basics, and the "gold standard" is AIARE. For what it's worth, I feel like you can approach the AIARE standard without taking the formal course IF you're willing to devote a number of years to cultivating partnerships with folks who know more than you. Over the course of those years, you'll likely spend at least what the AIARE course would cost you, just spread over a loooong time. if you really don't want so spend the money, join your local sar unit or the National Ski Patrol.

one word -- supergators. I use a version of the Trango year round in the Cascades, and supergators have been my solution for trips longer than overnight. I've never found any boot treatment to provide dependable waterproofing for longer than a couple of days of real wet. my supergators have kept boots and feet dry for month-long trips in Alaska and South America. When its warm, I scrunch the upper "leg" part of the gator down to my boot-top to keep from overheating.