dougd

haha, all I know is they were there in early June of '09 when I did the route... Rangers were trying to warn everybody off due to "winter conditions"... Required ice axe and crampons. I carried that shit all the way and didn't need em... I know they're just doin their job, but still... I ran into a herd (30+) of elk at 11,500ft. I'd love to get back to RMNP someday soon... d

It's always very sad to have to say "farewell" to such a good and faithful friend... Sorry. d

Yeah, it is a fun climb. The ice made it interesting when I was there. Moisture would seep out of the cracks at night on the home run and freeze into these glass runnels that you had to watch out for... d

Until, you get to the home stretch, no more dots... http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/IMG_0340.JPG d

http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/IMG_03172.JPG'>http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/IMG_03172.JPG On Longs Peak (keyhole route) they use red/yellow painted dots... http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/IMG_03172.JPG Follow the bouncing ball, easy schmeezy, lol. d

Such a cool looking climb... Might just have to do that one someday... d

hmmmmm

Solo'd the Owen Spalding route on the Grand in the '80s... It was fun. The climbing's not that hard. When I topped out who did I find on the summit? None other than Jim Donini and a guy he was guiding for Exum. We descended together and did the double rope rappel... That, was a good day... d

magnifique!

Cruel shoes indeed! Those heels look pretty bad. Even worse than a buddy of mine after hiking across the Grand Canyon (S-N) some years back. They just got worse every day but that tough little bastard limped up and out the N Rim... It was either that or the suffer the indignity of the evac chopper... It was hard to watch him try to walk... Nice work fellas and thanks for sharing. d

Lisa, Looks like fun to me. I suspect I'm not the only one... All these N Cascade TR's have me thinking about spending a lot more time there in the future. d

Good Job. Nice TR and pics. Wondering if it's the same Ian and Ben I gave a ride to from White River to the Paradise cutoff after they climbed Sunset Ridge on Rainier this year... The names sounded familiar. d

Can't imagine climbing anything seven times over... Always been ready to move on to the next thing. I can definitely relate to revisiting a climb to share the experience with good friends. Enjoyed the TR and pics. Thanks. d

My opinion on whether or not a climbing partner should or should not be posting potentially confidential information prior to discussing it with his/her partner first, or, someone on the periphery, posting about an e mailing exchange about said information would be somehow affected by my climbing with mito? Really.

sp: I enjoy the TR's a lot. Yours included. My sense is that Zloi has good reasons and Ed posted out of turn. My response to him was inappropriate however. Ed, please accept my apology for the impolite, tactless, inconsiderate response. d

If a person is reluctant to mention some safety concerns here, it may be that they are rightly aware of the importance of discussing them with their partner only. Not with a bunch of relative strangers that weren't even on the climb. Nothing wrong at all with discussing general mountain safety imo. d

Brews? I'm in.

There's a good reason for that Ed. The guy realizes this is not the place for such "concerns"... Note: This may be the first time I've agreed with Kaskadskyjkozak. stfu d

I started having back trouble in my early 20's. I used to jump off cliffs/bridges into local rivers back then before taking up more sane activities such as mountain climbing. Acquired two disc compressions when, after a day of partying jumped off a cliff on the lewis river and hit a rock shelf feet first... I'll still jump off a cliff once in a while. Some people never learn. ;-) My advice is to go to a real Doc and get it checked out. Chiro may be the way but get it checked out first. If you take care of it now you'll have a lot of good climbing, or cliff jumping? in your future. The pain may remain but will be more manageable down the road... That's how it was/is for me anyways. d

Enjoyed the TR. A very impressive, determined effort... Regards, d

Jim looks happy. What a beautiful day at the Beacon... Good to see. d

The approach from cold springs to the lunch counter is long enough without the extra miles for sure. Late May was plenty early this year... Good advice above on the boots. Good firm sole hikers are ok. Would not recommend running shoes in lieu. I found the ice axe handy for the descent from S Summit, and glissading... It is a lil steep, and can be icy depending on when you're there... Some instruction and practice glissading would be helpful. Might be someone up at the lunch counter to ask about it or just find a place to practice up there see how it goes... Getting up past the lunch counter and getting some practice in might be good goals for this trip. Summiting would be ultimate if you're all comfortable with conditions etc... Good luck, d

Trip: (Another) Granite Peak TR - SE Ridge/S Face Date: 8/14/2011 Trip Report: My partner Kevin (the mule) and I left Spokane Sunday morning @ 6:00am 14Aug drove the 8 hrs arriving at the Phantom Creek trailhead about 4:00 MST. Started the hike in in beautiful weather and decided to bivvy out under the stars at 8700 ft in a meadow while there was still some daylight left. The mosquitos were voracious, but we were ready for them for the most part. Slough Lakes: After rising early we proceeded up to the plateau, weather was still good but ominous signs on West NW horizon... Weathered a couple storms on the plateau, then, about 10 miles from the trailhead, we got our first peek at Granite in high winds with weather looking more ominous... Arrived at high camp @ 12,100 ft and quickly pitched our "shelter". In my desire to save weight, this rainfly was inadequate for the most part. In hindsight, it was ill advised and we suffered through some hours of intense squalls spitting rain, snow, hail and winds in excess of 60mph. Oh yeah, I mustn't forget the lightning... This is the third iteration of our "shelter". We set up, re set, and re set between storms... Character building eh Kev? This pic taken after things had settled down a bit... The obligatory goat photo. These guys hang out waiting for their salt supplement. Human urine. It's a tough life up there... Ready (?) for a very cold night... Awoke to great weather Tuesday morning so headed down to the saddle to begin the East Ridge. I hate giving up hard won altitude (600ft!) but whadagonnado? The snow field above the saddle and snow bridge were frozen and a bit tricky without crampons but doable. Impressive exposure but we went unroped with no problems. Kevin contemplating full snow bridge Kevin crossing full snow bridge Exposed? Yes. Kevin climbing one of the S Face chimneys. Summit shot. We had great weather. We felt like we'd earned it after stormy Monday. Spent about 40 minutes on top... We had fun (ok, maybe a little too much fun) with the six (yes, six) rappels we did. Rap station slings et al are fresh. I did feel it necessary to leave a biner at one of the stations as the biner that was there was pretty old looking... Descending the (rather large) frozen snow field above the saddle. Bootpack left a lot to be desired & we did our best to improve it... We hustled back to camp, and hightailed it (sort of limped actually) down to 9700 ft for one more night out under the stars and back to the trailhead the next day. Arrived relatively intact and went to work on fruit and beer stash. The mule was looking a little worse for the wear but nonetheless feeling very satisfied. Now all we have to do is drive back to Spokane... Ugh... We thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of Granite Peak. This mountain is so remote, the country is so wild and the climbing just challenging enough as to be very worthwhile. Two thumbs up... d Gear Notes: Ice axes, no crampons, no rack. 165 ft 9.5mm rope, a few slings and biners. Didn't need the slings as it turned out but did leave one biner to augment one rap station. Approach Notes: We really enjoyed the E Rosebud approach. Phantom Creek is a very nice trail, I'd say I prefer it over the Mystic Lake/W Rosebud approach given a choice.

+1

Never's a long time Pat... Enjoyed the TR & prose. d