Peakpimp

The folks over at Conservation Northwest would be very interested to hear your story. With full disclosure. As they are currently working on tracking any wildlife activity in the I-90 corridor.

39 hours 16 minutes! I'm glad to hear you made it alright! Now go get on something before I get there and it starts to snow!

15 days, 15 hours, 31 minutes until my flight there! Man, totally awesome TR's like this one could keep a guy up nights in anticipation!

Oh man how sweet! There is also a badass recent video of this route on TV mountain right now.

Bump still for sale.

Sweet! I'm heading there next month so thanks for the awesome stoke! As if I needed to be any more stoked at this point!!!

I also had a partner bail at the last minute. As a result I'd love to get on chair with you if you haven't already found a partner. I live in seattle and can meet anywhere. -Josh

My partner got sick at the last minute. Our plan was to climb the Gerber-Sink on Dtail. Anyone interested in joining me? Hike in tomorrow and climb Tuesday. Pretty amazing up there right now. Please lemme know here via pm or email joshkali@email.com -Josh

Those flows were in fat when I toured that basin a couple of weeks ago and I was very curious what anyone knew about them.

Nice work! I love that route. Just curious, how did the rest of the North Face look? Did the Gerber-Sink appear in at all? -Josh

I thought that same thing.

Damn they look huge.

For Sale: Silvretta 500 Easy Go AT bindings. Used 1 year still in great shape. Size small $145 o.b.o. Pm me here or email joshkali@email.com

Thanks for the stoke! It was a lot of fun and yes so close to home. I had attempted it twice last year but the first pitches never really formed up enough, so I was happy to finally get it done. The tracks were about the size of my palm. -Josh

Trip: Mt Kent North Face - Burdick-Fortier Var. Date: 1/3/2011 Trip Report: On Monday Jan. 3rd. I soloed the north face of Mt. Kent near Snoqualmie pass. After receiving an email from Z-Man that the face was in good shape and that he had lain a nice track up and down, I couldn't resist. I left my car at 6:50 and hiked up to the Alice Creek drainage before leaving the trail. Upon reaching F.S. road 9020 I donned my skis and began skinning up toward the peak. After a few switchbacks I reached the point to drop down and cross the creek below the face. I then skinned up nearly to the base and wallowed the last 100m or so. I put the skis on my pack and began climbing around 11am. MClellan Butte in the morning light Frozen creek The foreshortened WI3 bit Ski boots and Sabertooths The first bit was approximately 50ft of WI3. I was unaccustomed to climbing with skis on my pack, and had to occasionally swing back between them to get a good stick, the ice was good and the climbing very enjoyable. I took my time soloing the ice pitch and eventually topped out into a large snow filled gully split by a tree lined ridge. The left side of the ridge appeared to be more interesting with small steps and bulges of water ice but I was unsure of the traverse back to the right where I knew the route would eventually go. I opted for the right side of the tree ridge and proceeded to wallow through deep soft snow until I could see a clear path up the gully. I climbed the gully until it terminated at a rocky headwall forcing me more to the right in the direction of the larger gully higher up. I came upon a snowy ridge crest in the trees and contemplated a rappel into the main gully. A few minuets of searching revealed that a steep snow traverse was possible higher up making a rappel unnecessary. I stopped here for a bit and had some water and a snack. I noticed these strange tracks in the snow delicately climbing up the crest of the small snow arete. At first I thought they were crampon marks but after noticing the waist deep trough I had been cutting up to this point I figured there was no way they where made by a human. After resting I completed the horribly insecure snow traverse with the sugary footing threatening to give way underneath me with every step. Animal Tracks Main Gully I was finally in the main gully with a light trail of intermittent boot steps to follow. The climbing was about 30-45deg and varied from nice hard frozen neve to waist deep powder. I proceeded up until the gully split again. At this point I believe the Burdick-Fortier takes the left branch to a small section of steep snow and the summit ridge. I took the right branch which eventually ended in a very sweet mixed headwall about 15ft tall. Nice verglas, turf sticks, and some rock holds for hands kept things interesting before the final 20ft of snow led through the trees to the summit ridge. Unfortunately no pics here due to frozen batteries. I topped out after 3hrs on the face (less time than the damn approach!) to beautiful sun and views of Mt. Rainier. I completed the slog to the summit and took in the splendor of the cascades spread out before me in the early afternoon light. After a short break on the summit I once again donned skis and began the decent by skiing directly off the summit. Alpental area The Olympics Sweet! The backside of the mountain was a beautiful powder run though perfectly spaced trees. I made some amazing turns while wrapping back around to below the north face once again and my ascent tracks which I followed back to the creek just as it was getting dark. I hiked up to the road cut and skied back down to where I first gained the road packed my skis and hiked back down to the car fairly exhausted but completely fulfilled. Gear Notes: Skis, tools, crampons and a good partner. Approach Notes: Skis or snowshoes a must

Anyone free tomorrow? I'm up for anything. Alpine? L-worth ice? Shoot me a pm or email joshkali@email.com Happy New Year everybody!

Hey folks, I've got four days off next week (Dec 27,28,29,30) and am looking to get on some ice in preparation for an upcoming climbing trip. All of my partners are bailing to Canada and, as I'm patiently awaiting my new passport in the mail, I won't be joining them. Anyone want to head over to Bozeman? I can drive/split gas and can be ready to leave as soon as 5pm sunday afternoon. Lemme know here via PM or email joshkali@email.com Thanks! -Josh

For those of us without a whole lot of time to read all of the great titles there is a book called "The Mammoth book of Adventures on the Edge." It's published in the UK and is essentially the Readers Digest condensed version featuring the climax chapters of many of the best mountaineering books. The Ridge by Hornbien, The White Spider by Harrer, The Ascent of Nanda Devi by Tillman, Annapurna by Herzog and many others. I found it quite enjoyable!

I wanna go too!!!

I don't know about you but I say lets go over and find out!

Tomorrow Dane.

Nope still have it chillin on my desk I'd love to see it get back to its home.

Yes! Do tell, Inquiring minds want to know!

I definitely plan on doing that this March in Chamonix!

I see you mentioned getting a Matrix Light. I have a set and here's what I said about em in another recent thread, hopefully it's helpful. "I have Matrix Lights and absolutely love them. Equipped em' with some sliders for both snow climbing and leashless ice/mixed. Great all a rounder. The only downfall I see of these tools is the laughable little hammer. One has to carefully monitor the hammer tool while on a pack with standard style Ice tool loops as the hammer is so small it can actually slip out and drop (had it happen once but knew to watch for this problem so I caught it.) Also the picks are definitely not easily changed at home without a few tools and certainly could not be changed on route." I've only gotten to use em on the N.R. of Baker and the right couloir on North Peak in the high Sierra so far, as I haven't had them all that long, but I'm pretty much sold on their reasonable balance of both performance and versatility.