Josh Lewis

My beef with them is they are expensive! I call them the hollister for climbers. Ok so maybe they are not that bad.

I've liked Joey's software for a while. I have a map generator for those who want static maps: http://hikrs.com/maps

I'm interested.

Can't wait to climb this Mountain Again!

I forgot to mention, I apologized to the rangers and had a formal agreement not to be camping at Cascade Pass. Because I could not edit my trip report, I did not include that. I usually do well in being kind to the environment, I have friends who are witnesses, I pick up trash and encourage people not to litter. But I will be honest, that was one of my favorite comments ever "Holy Train Wreck".

Edit link dissappears after a certain amount of time which is why I have not been able to remove any images. Notice my trip reports after this one have less photos.

Well, they might have had a slight effect. But the sleep deprevation is what really did it. Going to Glacier Gap on 0 hours of sleep and being up 30 or more hours is what really did it in on me.

"The Mountains are calling and I must go." -John Muir "The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes " -Marcel Proust " Life is NOT a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming -- ’WOW, what a ride!!! " Trip Stats: Distance: 39 Miles Elevation Gain: 11,000 feet Time: 2 1/2 days Who Came: Gimpilator, Redwic, Michael Lewis, and Josh Lewis Peaks Summited: Glacier Peak, White Mountain, Portal Peak This was the longest adventure of mine yet, but at the same time a very rewarding one. This is the sequel of theGlacier Peak Adventure. Gimpilator and Redwic wanted to climb this peak as well, they wanted someone who had done this route before, so they hired me. I suppose one could say "I am never finished". Before the trip Michael went to bed nice and early, I had youth group that night which I could not pass up. Then I decided to read books, trim my beard, take a shower, walk the dog (twice, he kept whining which contributed to me staying up) and then packed. By the time I was done with all this it was almost time for Redwic to pick me up. "Oh boy" I thought as I was having breakfast because I knew I was in for a long day of endurance. I bought some chocolate milk in Darrington (as always) and from here we got to the North Sauk River Trailhead. The hike started out relatively easy, and I was glad it was cool out. I was to concentrated with the climb to worry about photography until we got near White Pass. As we got towards White Pass my sleepyness started to catch up to me. At the Pass we took a break, ate some donuts, and carried on hiking. After traversing the bottom of White Mountain, we missed the turn off for Glacier Peak because the lower fork in the trail looked more used. I told the group I did not remember traveling as far east as we were, but I guess we figured this was the summer trail. As we were walking along, Redwic says "How far does this trail go?" and ironically a few seconds later it ended. "Now what?" I was wondering as I looked up the slope. We decided to go up a small ridge to a highpoint. From here we traversed down the ridge and onto the original path. This must have added a few extra miles... oh well. I took a break to get some water and food while everyone else went ahead. It took me an aweful deal of time to get everything repacked and head out, by the time I started running, they were out of view. I did not want to be left behind so I charged up the hill, which ended up tiring me out. Fortunately they were not as far as I had worried, they stopped for me on a rock out cropping. As I layed down, I was told to find some shade to protect my face from the sun. I was very tired by this point, and laying on the ground was not comfortable. When I tried to reach my water bottle I noticed how hard something as simple as that became. I suppose the fact that I been up 28 hours had an effect on that. Once I got up, the dizzyness faded off, and I felt well enough to head to Glacier Gap. The going was tiring, I was getting more and more drained as we headed up. "C'mon, you can do it, you must do it, no giving up this early" I kept chanting in my head as we were heading towards Glacier Gap. I'm amazed I was able to endure it, not just mentally, but earlier I had feared that if I stopped, I could easily fall asleep in an instant. Before heading out for the trip I had wanted a challenge, but I soon realized this was a little much for me, next time I think I'll get a better nights rest. Once we got to Glacier Gap we set up Camp, and I was finally able to rest. In the distance we saw a small cloud which at first I did not think much of it, but it kept getting bigger and bigger. Once it got quite big and dark, we all wondered if there was a forst fire near the city of Holden or around Lake Chelan. Michael cooked me some romen which was very nice. This was by far the hardest day of the trip, as I went to bed, I hoped that tommorow would not be worse. I slept right away until wake up time. ------------------------------------------------ During the night in a sense one could say I am still climbing, I had a dream I was climbing a mountain and we got caught in a terrible storm. When we got down, we were in the city late at night and were wondering "how are we going to get home?" A nice bus driver said "I'll take you home" which we trusted. She ended up being a crazy driver. Fortunately it was only a dream which was similar to my Rainier trip on the bus ride when we swirved and I almost fell out of the bus. ------------------------------------------------ At 1:49 a.m. I woke up to mice trying to get our stuff. "They're still after our food at this altitude?". Michael and I had to chase them away, but they were very persistant and would only come back 10 seconds later. I checked the time on my camera watch which was 1:59 a.m. "Awww man!" I said aloud, because I had wanted some more sleep, but I knew in less than a minute the rest of the party would wake up for the climb up Glacier Peak. We stashed our stuff in the snow, got our stuff ready, and began heading towards Glacier Peak. Once we got over the small pass, we started dealing with hard snow, which got a little steep. Everyone except for me started putting on there crampons, but I knew there was not enough time for me to do so, so I used the time to put on gaitors. The group seemed concerned that I did not put mine on. Michael and I headed down a slope which led to some rocks, after this we rejoined with Redwic and Gimpilator. Once we got on the ridge, we were finally on Glacier Peak. The starting out was tougher on me then most of the group, I was always pushing myself to keep up with everyone. As we were climbing up I could see a big cloud to the south, and to my amazement I could see red lightning bolts. Eventually we all had to put on crampons, and shortly after roped up. As usual I was the guy in the front, things got easier from here. I figured the team still wanted to go fast, so when I went fast everyone told me to slow down which was a relief. After crossing the bottom of the Dissapointment, we got to the Cool Glacier which is when the crevasses started coming on. I had to carefully traverse a few, but after this it was much easier. Although I did not travel on a boot path by this point, I saw one in the distance which I got onto. There was one other crevasse which involved some careful crossing, but beyond this there was little crevasse danger. Once we got to the ridge we unroped. From here we scambled up the final approach gulley to the summit. There was no ice coming down this time. I was very happy when we got to the top, even though I had already been there which it was 8:15 a.m. Gimpilator had redvines and some other food to share. We took plently of photos, and of course got a photo for Eastking! And yes it was cold! We noticed the temperature rapidly getting warmer, so after 15-20 minutes on the summit we started heading down. When we got back to the lower portion of the ridge we reroped up. As we headed down towards one of the crevasses, I was suprised at how much softer the snow had gotten. At the snow bridge I tested to see how solid it was, my ice axe went straight though. I could see it was also over hanging. I told Michael "watch me!". I carefully traversed to the right until I found a good enough spot to cross, my ice axe still plunged through, but now I could atleast some what safely jump it. After I was done, Michael crossed it, Redwic decided we should go even further over so that he has a safe crossing. When he jumped, his foot partly sank in, but he had enough speed so that he was fine, then Gimpilator crossed it, now we were all past it. From here there was only one more crevasse crossing. On the last one I realized it was not going to last long, Michael predicted it would only last a day or so. From here the danger was out of the way. We then headed for the ridge. At the ridge we unroped, and headed down. I got a pretty good glissade, but soon realized I was on a Glacier and headed back to the ridge. From here we went back over the pass and to our camp. I went to sleep quite fast. An hour later I was woken up because we had to go. "I was in my nice warm bed sleeping, and now I have to wake up to the miserable reality" I mumbled to myself as I was getting up. I felt soar all over, and was quite tired. Fortunately some water helped fix that. Now we had to head over to White Pass. Travelling was not as bad as I had expected it to be, we reached the bottom of the Plug in decent timing. From here Redwic and the rest of us got in a debate on which way to go to White Pass. We ended up going the Standard way. As we were resting, a marmot came up to us, which it was begging for food. I would have loved to give it some, but not only was I low on food, but I hear your not supposed to feed the wildlife. After a while we started to head up the pass. I wondered how bad the next two days were going to be, not only was I tired, but Michael and I were low on food. As we got towards White Pass we separated a little, Michael and I were in the front while Redwic and Gimpilator were in the back. While Gimpilator and Redwic took a stop, they saw an amazing marmot fight which I thought was one of the most interesting things I have ever heard of while in the mountains. From here we got to White Pass, searched for a camp ground and set up camp. The misquitoes were back. As I was unpacking our things, BadDog was walking towards our camp site. Redwic told Gimpilator and Gimpilator said "I'm not falling for that one" which it really was her. I had told her I was going here, but was not sure if she acually was coming. I took a few photos of the sunset and went to bed. The next morning there was clouds all around, it was quite misty, and I was very tired. Michael told me my boots were wet as well. Now I was unsure if I wanted to climb White Mountain or not, if there were no views, I would for sure get blisters, and it would be tough, would it be worth it? I almost gave up and went to sleep. But in the back of my mind a voice rang to me "Where is your sense of Adventure? This is not like you, your going to go out and do this!". Of course I gave in, and put sense to the side and got up. I had to filter some water before heading out, Michael made some tasty hot chocolate for us. We then went to White Pass to climb White Mountain. At the top the views were quite good. Not long after we summited we traversed over to Skull Cap Peak. As we went along, BadDog knew that the PCT was only 50 feet below us, and from there it was a nice walk to Red Pass. Once at Red Pass it was a little bit of a scamble over some rocks, and from there we were near the summit. On the summit BadDog gave us some chips which we had a mini party. Redwic said "oh too bad, the peak is only 6,999 feet, just short of 7,000 feet". "I'll change that!" I exclaimed to Redwic, and he did not believe I could change it. I found a slanted rock, stashed it on, found more rocks, and after a while got it well over a foot taller. After this we headed down to White Pass. At Camp I heard Thunder which we all knew it was time to dash out of there. We packed up camp, and went down towards the car. I met HulkSmash as we were heading down. We took a break at the shelter below. Then we met Opus, and were soon at the trailhead. It was a amazing trip, and it was neat to see more nwhikers. We had Denny's on the way home. And then I had to head off to Camp until August 21! To see more photos click here.

Thanks! I appreciate it! We will have to take extra cation in the future on that.

Did it? We wondered as we were heading down if it was going to. So did you place it back on the same spot?

Currently we need more people to attend this.

Here is the facebook page on it: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123546207692078

For kicks. I figured I would admit that I've almost climbed Mount Adams.

Trip: Mount Adams - Pikers Peak Date: 8/26/2008 I been wanting to go to Mount Adams for many years, and even had plans but they never really worked out due to my mother having a very busy life and money issues and of coarse us all being prepared. But fortunatly for me and my brother, an oppertunity arose when Mark Straub, one of my friends mentioned he wanting to go, and that his dad would be taking us. Unfortunatly Adam could'nt go do to knee problems, so my brother went in his place. Atfirst my other brother would'nt let him go, which really frusterated me and disappoined me because if he could'nt go, I could'nt go because of liability issues and such. But thank goodness my mother stepped in and convinced my brother into letting him go, the reason I would'nt have been able to in the first place is becuase of my other brother who is Handicaped who needs some one to help him. Also we had to rent some mountaineering boots, which were $30 per pair. I pack all my gear, and was about to pack extra water but Mark tells me he has a purifier and that it is fine. So on the Night of August 25 we head out to Mount Adams. I could'nt help but be so exited.... and had to wait a long time due to it being 300 miles away and strangly as it sounds, we had to go from Seattle to Oregon and then back into Washington to access Mount Adams. When we were close, we got some what lost but found a ranger station but it was night so it was closed and we read the signs for directions and got our passes, and I could see Mount Adams as a dark shadow from the slight moon light. We drove up to the parking lot, which the road was better than I thought, although at parts its best to go slow due to some what rough roads, not because its dangerous but because its hard on your car. At the parking lot, there were plenty of spots to choose from, although most were taken up, it was a nice forested area to spend the night in. I slept good as I always do in the Mountains, and woke up to some nice breakfast pancakes but no syrup to add on it, but hey, they were great anways! I could see part of Mount Adams though the trees, and it looked as though there had been a light dusting of snow, which to me is a good thing! One thing that still bothers me to this day is when we were about to head out, Mark said do you have enough water, and I said thats what your purifier is for and he said "You guys are screwed" and that really made me feel almost uncomfortable.... to start the trip like that? Oh well, some times it's best to let things like that go and move on. We stated the hike out nice a flat like along this unmaintained jeep road, and through the forest some views broke out, and Mark was upset at me for taking some photos. Perhaps I was a little irresponsible with the sense of taking photos, but I cought up and all and was not too over carried away as I normally am. Evenually it became more trail like, and it split up into Two groups. Mark and Dan (Dan is Mark's Dad) and I was with Michael (which is my brother) and as usual Dan and Mark are the faster ones. But to me, to rush is not my game, I come to the mountains to enjoy them, and go at my own pace, and truly enjoy the scenery and the wildlife. But I still could'nt help put feel weird that Mark is already getting upset with me. As we go up, it gets hot, so we find a good spot to stop and eat. At this point, Mark is way ahead, and soon we got to the first snow. Because some of it is fresh from a few nights ago, we were able to scope it into my water bottle for later, and refresh our selfs. As we hike up, it startes to get late, but we finally arrive at lunch counter. At Lunch Couter, at first we cannot find Mark, but a waving figure in the distance waved us over and sure enough it was them. At this point, I could feel the altitude have its toll on me, I was dizzy and exausted, but fortunatly had some headache medicine. We were above the snow, and near a small creek, which turns out was my only way of getting water, at this point it was 9,000-9,500 feet. Mark and Dan drank from it and said it was fine. At first I was worried about there being parisites and such, but there was hardly any vegitation at this altitude so I hoped for the best and we all drank from the creek. We set up camp, I relaxed a bit and has some beans and took a bunch of photos of the view, it was awesome! It was as if being on the planet Mars, there were some much rock, but hardly any to no vegitation for a long ways around. And above was the scramble which we would wake up at 3:00 A.M. to go up to the false summit and attempt the true summit. As we went to sleep, the wind picked up. http://www.joshklewis.com/images/hiking/mount_adams_sunset_panorama.jpg http://www.joshklewis.com/images/hiking/mount_saint_helens_panorama.jpg I slept great for the amount of time that we slept which was'nt that much, but enough to keep me going until the rest of the next day. I did not have a head ache to my suprise. We woke before we originally planned and the wind was howling a lot, causing me to worry a bit, but it was mostly clear as I look out the cold tent, unfortunatl because our tent is weak from a broken poll, it dipped inward, so we had to take down the tent mostly so that it does'nt blow away during the accent which we would be leaving a majority of our gear at base camp. While I was going out to get some water for the trip before we left, as I came back, it turns out while my brother was taking down the tent, a rock which was on a rock pile shielding our tent fell over onto his finger, which sprained it, and at the time we were worried that it was broken. This worried me, not only could it have endangerd the trip, but I was a bit concernded about it, but my brother decided we would atleast attempt to make it to the false summit regardless of his finger. Thanks goodness I thought to myself. And we packed up our gear, and I had three layers of shirts, and the moon was shining, enough light to make the scramble possible without a headlamp. At first my brother kept falling behind because he kept having some trouble arranging his gear or something like that, and Dan was getting upset because he kept ignoring us, and would fall behind without communicating, and he was listening to music, which we made him take off. The accent at first was'nt as bad as I thought it would be. I mean it was some what tiring, but nothing of the extreme. It kept going up and up, and I could see lots of headlamps below, we took the boulder route, while the other climbers below took the icy snow route. As I went up, I would be careful of rocks, because at some parts it got loose, and after all this going up I down layered so that I would'nt over heat. Later I could start to see some blue and other colors in the sky as the sun started to come up, but it was a while before that. By this point, Mark and Dan separated from us, but not by too much, because we could see them in front of us. The scamlbe up was so exhilarating, it was something so diffrent from anything I have ever done, yet It's felt like i have done it before. I even did'nt take photos until the false summit because I was so consentrating on making it up. It eventually got less boulder like and more of a icy rock, and once again the altitude started having its effects on me, not just on my breathing, but also my brain. I could see the deep firy reds and the ridges that were coming into view. What a beauty I thought to myself. I kept going and going, and soon could see the false summit above glowing from the Alpen Glow, and soon the sun finally rose. I watched as my brother walked by me, and he stood right were the sun was, and glowed as if he were some legend and looked like a professional climber, it was a classic moment, but at the same time he did not know because he was going by. I was to exausted out of my mind to take any photos. Evenaully I gradually felt my self get weaker and weaker, and it soon began to feel as though we were crawling up the mountain. We were on icy rock, which was'nt a very good combination, and we did not have crampons. It felt like those guys in the book who climb those big mountains and are just crawling at the end from being so tired, and could not feel any feeling exept the desire to summit, the burning ambition. We got to a point were the wind picked up incredibly and we were so close to the false summit, yet I felt as though I could not make it, my energy so critcally low, and I was gasping for breath, but I managed to pull through and make it to the false summit. The summit view was incredible, you could see half way from Oregon and down through Eastern Washington, and so many ridges upon ridges, it was magnificent! The false summit was no exeption to the heavy winds, they were so intense, I could hardly breath when facing the wind, and it almost knocked me off balance, so I went out, touched the False summit rock, snapped a few photos, and headed down 20 feet were the winds were much nicer behind this rock, and just rested. After a long time of resting and eating as much as I could, which was'nt as much as I wanted to because my hands felt like they were so cold. At this point Dan mentioned that it was too dangerous to make it to the summit, which was a wise dissision, due to it being dangerously windy, and we did not have crampons and the ice on the summit was very icy and one of those situation you might not want to be caught in. So he started to head down with Mark, and we stayed up for a while longer. I just kept starring at the summit. "It's so close, just a thousand feet or so, and I would be there". I was very tempted to attempt it, but not only is it dangerous, but Dan would not be pleased to find out that either something go bad, or us spending extra time up there. The reason we could'nt wait for the snow to melt which I gladly would wait, but Dan had work the next day, and it was a 5 hour drive, and he had hardly any sleep within the past few days, and it was a long ways down. The way down was also difficult. I thought it would be a nice easy glissade down, Mark after all mentioned "It's one of the best glissades in the Cascades" which I believe him, but it depends on the time of year. The way down was tought, it was very slippery, and I would have to take great cation in each step, and below was very steep, so no mistakes would be pleasant, although it was'nt deadly as long as you try to do all that you can from tumbling, which if you don't catch your fall, thats another story. The sensation of it. It made me in ways sort of scared, because I'm always getting myself into sitiations like these. Evenaully as we went down, me crawling would send down boulders or snow balls and even if I was way off to the side, as luck is with me, they go flying at the people below even though I wonder how is that possible.... they are way off to my self, but its a mini dip which attracts all of it. As carefully as possible I go down, which is painfully slow, and again a very loose rock would slide from under me, and I would yell out rock, and the climbers below would have to move out of the way once again. It was frusterating to have this keep happending, and the climbers must have thought "how irresposible of that kid" even though I was trying to be very catious. Eventually when I could take it no more of crawling, I attempted to cross the icy steep snow field. As I was crossing it, I was kicking in my steeps, and evenually half way across they would'nt quite step in. I was very nervous and dizzy by this point, and was wondering what to do. Either way was difficult, so I attempted to go back to the original side that I was on, but having to slowly get back across because of the intense steepness, and eventually one of the climber guys come up and say "were's the rest of your group"? I pointed way down the mountain, and he says "I would'nt go climbing with them again if I were you" and he made sure I got across safely. It's nice to know that there are people up in these hills that care for other people. I evenually cought up with my brother who was waiting a little ways below, and Mark and Dan were way down, but it did'nt matter. And evenually after crawling down, we got off the ict rock and it was back to normal rock, but I noticed it was also difficult, so the ice field to my left became a bit less steep. (although very scary if you did not have an ice axe, and a bit scary even with one) I decided to go down the icy slope, and I would have to ice axe arrest every 30 feet or so because I would gain a crazy amount of speed. I would'nt do a standard arrest, but would have it were it was under my right arm were it would catch me, so that it would'nt be as annoying to stop go, stop go. The ice would scrape against me and was very uncomfortable, and would hurt, but it was the easiest way down, and evenually we finally got to the bottom of the scramble part. After this, we returned to lunch counter which we packed up our gear, and Mark caught there tent out of reaction because the wind was blowing away. It was a good catch, or else we would have had to go chasing after it. The way down after this for a while was much easier, and unfortunatly on the last easy snow field, I ripped my good pair of pants, which is a bummer, but it was hard ice after all. We all hiked down as a group, and Dan would ask me "Is this the way?" and I would tell him yes, because I remembered it. And after a while, it ws a little bit questionable, and at one point Mark said "You really don't know were your going do you?" and I said the trail is right there, but unfortunatly he did not believe me. To be honest, we should have looked at the map at this point, but instead, Mark insisted on going West, even though I was pretty sure it was the wrong way. I told him "I don't think this is the way" but he said to me "Why should I believe you, you got us losted!" And at this point we were truely off trail. I was carefully following him though the fields of flowers, but I was slow because I was trying not to damage the fragile plants and stepping on dirt as much as possible. Mark and Dan eventually started to become very frusterated with me! Even though I was the guy trying to help, but some how my opinion was'nt valid. "It's not what we don't know thats the problem, but it's what we know for sure that just ain't so" -Mark Twain The main problem was a storm was coming in, we were lost... sort of.... and Dan had work, so we had to evenually go back up the ridge. My brother wanted to find the right way, so he went off back to were we were, and Mark and Dan called out back for him, yet he did not responde. At this point they were very angry at me and my brother, and thought he was ignoring them and that he would be listening to his ipod even though he was not, and I was sure he was'nt. Mark even began crying to me that the whole thing was all my fault and that I'm so irresponsible. At this point I was very dizzy, but could'nt help feeling very strange that I knew were to go, but no one believed me, it felt very unfair. I saw a road below us, which I pointed out if things were bad, but Mark did'nt believe me until we got on the road home. Eventually we got back on the trail above after travelling aways up. Then we asked this one group of hikers which way the trail was, and they pointed toward were I originally wanted us to go, but Mark said to them it was the wrong way, but they convinced us. "Told ya Mark" I said, but he said back "Oh yeah, you just want to get all the credit of knowing were to go even though you got us lost!" This made me very angry and I yelled out to him "Ok fine, I'm the most irresposible, stupid person ever, and that perhaps I'm not a good friend" this came out because I was feeling bad for something that was'nt something I should have. Mark's dad nicely stepped in and said that I was'nt and fort of fixed the conflict and made it so that there was no more agueing. I could still feel Mark's anger, and could see the expression on his face of the intense anger he has towards me. I began to feel very sad. I was not sad that we were lost or any of that, but that one of my best friends was angry at me for something I'm not resposible for... that in a sense even if it was me, I could almost get the feeling that he would never have the heart to ever forgive me, and that perhaps he would not want to go hiking with me anymore. I felt this great deal of separation from him. It made me feel absolutly awesful that one of my only friends who loves mountains would some how no longer enjoy my company. Wether this was his acual feelings or not, this was how I was thinking at the time. I told him and Dan I was sorry as we were walking toward the car. To be honest to this day, I was sorry that Dan and Mark had to go through that, but I am not sorry that it had to do with me. It feels strange to think in this sense becasue I don't have a reason to be sorry for what I did, exept that perhaps I should have had the courage to step up to Mark and Dan and tell them and talk it though, but instead I was sorta silent, and just heard about how terrible I am for what I so called did. As for my brother, he was missing ever since he split up earier, so we yelled out his name all around and called home on a cell phone which fortunatly got range, and told mom if he wants to know were we are, were at the car. And a few minutes later after telling a few guys, word was going around, and someone had found him. He was ahead of us, and found the trail much sooner than when we did. They guy who told me not to go climbing with this group near the false summit cought up with us, and told Dan and Mark about how I was having trouble and such, which in a way seemed kinda funny. But the rest the walk down was just very tiring and quiet and my feet hurt due to a few rocks in my boots, but finally we get to the trailhead. Another crazy hiking adventure as I like to say. All in all, even though it was crazieness, it was all worth the while! Special Thanks to Mark and Dan for taking me here, I'm quite appreciative of it, weather it was getting lost or not, when it comes down to it being able to go to the mountains, to me it's always worth it!

You were on Glacier Peak?

"Adventure isn’t hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life -- facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our resources against the unknown and in the process, discovering our own unique potential" -John Amatt After just doing a 30 mile backpacking trip, Collin invited me to go climb Mount Baker. "The fun does not stop here" I laughed as I was getting my gear ready. Michael and I checked the forecast which looked very nice, and we even checked the satilite thing on noaa's forecast which also looked good. The next morning Collin picks Michael and I up from my house. Before leaving we practiced z-pulley (we already knew it, but wanted to refresh on it). Then we head over to the Heliotrope Trailhead of Mount Baker. Last time I was there, I had to walk the road to the trailhead. At the trailhead it was time to get ready for adventure. When we started hiking, I already felt my blisters from the previous trip. :shakehead: I instantly thought "This is gonna get epic real fast", but then I loosened my boot and it suddenly got a lot nicer on my feet. From here I had the opposite thoughts, "this trip is going to be as casual as it gets". We passed a few water falls, got a nice view of the Baker Seracs, and to my amazement were already at the Coleman Glacier. Going up the slope for me was fun, as we kept walking, a helocopter flew over, I guess they don't call it heliotrope ridge for nothing. :lol: After this we crossed the mostly flat section and were already at base camp, in total it probably only took 3-4 hours (with us taking our time). At Camp the place was nice, it was not cold, had an interesting spot I call "The Window" because you could take photos through a narrow rock pass of the Twin Sisters. Michael and I hiked up to Point 7200 to get a good view of Colfax Peak, I could see now that clouds were rolling in. I figured they were just passing clouds. Once we got back to base camp we cooked some food, boiled up some water, and I had a talk with a guide. They said they just climbed the North Ridge which I want to do some day, but plan on having practice ice climbs before then. Collin whipped out his cigar (he rarely ever smokes) and we got a photo for my cover of "The J-Team". After this we watched the sunset and went to bed. Fortunatley we kept waking up in the night because we did not have an alarm. At 3:30 a.m. or so we decided it was finally time to wake up and get climbing. We decided to put Michael on lead because he has never gotten a chance at it. As we go up, we pass a 2 person rope team which was nice to know we were not the only ones going up. As we climbed up, there was some faint morning light coming through, but at the same time there was some clouds coming in from the West. I started to wonder at this point if they would interfer with the views above. Once it was dark blue out, I loved the atmosphere of the place, it's almost like I imaged misty days in the mountains, crevasses to the left, dark mist to the right. As more mist rolled in, the view of the mountain was out, we were now in fog. For some reason the expression comes to mind "Who flipped the switch?". As we took a break the other team passed us, and I could hear dripping noises of the crevasse near by. It sounded like music, I was impressed by how nice it sounded. Then we preceeded on to the pass. From here there were some winds that started to come about. As we went further, the winds got heavier as we gained more altitude. I eventually had to layer up in everything I had because it was just getting to cold. Earlier it rained a little, but now I could see that it began to snow. "This could be bitter sweet" I thought as we went up, I liked the feeling of the place, but at the same time I wanted to be able to complete this route. The winds started getting even heavier, and I became quite cold, my hands were starting to go numb as well as my feet. We reached a giant flat zone which I knew exactly where we were. We were close to the summit. Stopped in front of us was the other team, and they had no idea where to go. The boot path was gone, our tracks we starting to blow away. One of the guys mentioned he had a gps which made me feel better. I knew from last year where the summit was. I found a snow shelter which was a hint that I was going the right way, then I found the faded tracks from the Easton Glacier route, and soon found the mound that was the summit. When we reached the summit, we did not stay long, perhaps 2 minutes? The winds were at least 70+ miles an hour, and we were getting pelted with ice which was painful. This was the second worse conditions I have seen in my mountaineering. We tried to get off of the summit area as fast as possible. We were following the other group which it seemed as though it were the right direction, but we still were too far south. As we descended, we found a crevasse that cut across the path. "I don't remember this!" we all were thinking. I instantly realized this was the Easton Glacier trail, which if followed we would be on a completely diffrent side of the mountain. I asked the other group to check there gps. Unfortunately the gps ran out of power. "Typical situation" I thought as I fortunately knew the general direction in which to head towards. We traversed going North which was working out, but there was some some what deep snow involved. We passed a crevasse or two, but my main concern was I did not like how the slope was softening up. Fortunately we found the trail, as we went down, the winds were less, and eventually I could feel my hands well again. From here on out we hiked through the fog to our camp site. From here we packed up fast, and headed down. As we were passing some small crevasses Collin decides it would be fun to see if he could fit in one. We all get ready to catch him, but they were to small. Then we met some guys that were heading up, and I tell them it was snowing. "Have you checked the calandar lately? It's July incase you did not know" they cracked up joking to me. After this there was a steep section which was excellant for glissading down. Must have dropped almost a thousand feet in a minute. From here we ran down the trail, and I just so happened to see Priscilla which was nice to see her again. As we were running down, I tripped and fell. As I got up a moment later, I had noticed that I ripped my climbing pants! :rant: Oh well I guess I can always sue them. At the trailhead Michael showed Collin some photos of the trip and then we headed home. The next day I wondered where my camera was, turns out it went missing! I looked all over the house, Michael checked all his gear, Collin checked his car, nowhere to be found. The last place it was remembered being seen was the trailhead of Mount Baker (although it's possible we thought we viewed photos at the trailhead and it could be further up on the mountain). Besides that part, it was a fun trip. Thanks Collin for taking us, I had a blast up there! Thanks Michael for leading. Unfortunatley because of the camera loss, that also means photo loss. For Collin's trip report, click here. Here is a link to more photos: http://hikrs.com/photo?func=viewcategory&catid=76

No skis although I would like to someday. Saw some guy with skis climbing up.

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt "... the most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wonderings." -John Muir "I consider mountains like this a success when you overcome something." -Michael Lewis "We try to go and Climb Rainier, with hoping that there is not much to fear We walk along the compact snow, which each step it kicked in with our toe We struggle on with all our might, as we travel on though the night The rocks that are on the wall above, lets just hope they don't fall The view just gets better and better, as the sky gets redder and redder As I start to get real cold, I think to myself this is getting old As we reach the top the air is thin, but at least then we win!" -My Adventure up Rainier This trip was something I had been wanting to do for years, I would day dream at school wanting to go up. I've had people ask me time and time again "so your a climber... have you climbed Rainier?" and I would always have to tell them I did not. Last year I was finally given "opportunities to climb Rainier, but it never worked out. I had two attemps which one of them was a wrecking experience Broken Dreams (aka Mount Rainier Attempt) which brought me into a major conflict which I called The Cold Conflict. I recovered some after this, and in late August had my Mount Rainier Attempt II which had its ups and downs. After this it was a long before I would have another whirl at it. Bad weather, transportation issues, and avalanche danger made getting the the trip hard to pull off, until came July. Pre Day 1: The trip idea sparked when Adam from Colorado wanted to climb Rainier and we spoke over the phone about the trip. Bill Rogers wanted to jump in on the trip, plus it would help us with transportation and it's always nice to have an extra person on the rope team. We decided to meet Bill in Tacoma in the late Afternoon, getting there was more of a hassle than I had expected. There was some getting to the bus station drama (I'll spare you the details) :embarassedlaugh: . From South Lynnwood we took many buses, and it kept stripping our cash because they raised the price and transfers did not work with other buses. :rant: (Perhaps it's time I start biking everywhere?). Once we got to Tacoma we met with Bill and headed to Paradise. Mount Rainier still had some clouds swirling around it which gave it a beautiful look, and the sunset was very nice. Day 1: The next morning we woke up around 7 a.m. and wondered "how are we going to find Adam?". I told him I would be wearing a orange helmet and blue coat just incase. We saw a car parked right next to us and the license plate said Colorado, and sure enough it was Adam. From here we got the permit deal all figured out and we hit the trail. The hike up to Camp Muir was much easier (all those adventures paid off) than in the past. I met the osat while I was up there, which was good to know we had plenty of other people around just incase anything went wrong. At Camp Muir Adam and I waited for Bill and Michael to catch up. Once they got to camp, there was a debate on whether we should stay at Camp Muir or go to Ingraham Flats. We stuck to our original plans and headed for the Flats. Once we crossed the Cowlitz Glacier, things started to get more interesting. Just after passing a spot, a few seconds later rocks fell where we just were! Once past the pass, we could see Little Tahoma and our route up the mountain. Soon we were at Ingraham Flats, and set up camp. I was a little surprised at how cold it was up at 11,000 feet in July. It was now very late in the day, so we had to cook our food, boiled our water, and get to sleep as soon as possible. It was neat seeing crevasse fields a little ways below our camp. To my amazement even though it was cold, I slept quite well. Day 2: I woke up around 2 or so, which Adam now agreed to wake up. Many climbing parties had already passed by us in the night while we slept in a little. "I slept well" I told Adam. "Good for you Goldilocks" he replied which I found it amusing. Now it was time to wake up to the problem that was neglected... could Bill summit? Bill had a slow pace going up, Adam did not want Bill heading up with us because he worried it might ruin our chances of summating. He did not want to tell Bill that the could not, and perhaps hoped for another way. I felt like I was in the middle of the tension. "What to do, what do do" I thought to myself as I was walking back and forth trying to make up my mind. Eventually I decided I wanted Bill to at least have a chance, I remembered what it was like myself last year when I was not given a chance, and sure enough I believe I made a good call here. As we headed up onto the Disappointment Cleaver, I believe I hear more rocks fall in the distance which had me a little concerned, suddenly I was hit with a spell of the umpa lumpas, and started rhyming in my head (as seen at the Start of the trip report). Bill was using a flash light which was running low on power, I found out real quick that this was starting to look bad for Bill. I used my headlamp to help him find holds and such as we scrambled up this one rock section. Eventually things got a little nicer for me, until we reached 12,000 feet. There were some issues that went on (don't worry not conflict ) and as I sat there waiting for about 40 or so minutes, I was becoming extremely cold. As I watched the faint glow in the horizon and I kept getting hit with the winds, I was shivering a lot. Eventually Bill had to decide to turn around here, it was a unglaciated spot, and he got associated with another team that was going down, and from here on it was the three of us. We still had communications because we had three radios total. Although the rock fall danger was now out of the way, now we had to traverse around crevasses. The air was starting to feel thinner, although I was still in high spirits that I would be fine on the summit. As the morning colors came on, the sun rose which was firey red. As I climbed, a song came to mind Broken Wings. I was to into the climb to take photographs (plus Adam seemed very much not wanting to stop). As the sun got onto us, the temperature rose, and my heat became itchy from the helmet. I went a while with trying to ignore it, but eventually it became too much for me, so I paused, and took it off. This was a big mistake, I some how dropped it, and it went tumbling down the hill, and we all thought it was gone for sure, but I decided for entertainment reasons I would watch it roll away. It just so happen to be rolling in the boot path which I watched with amazement, and then suddenly it stopped! We were all amazed. From here, I had to unclip from the rope, dash over a few hundred feet (the lightest wind could have blown it down the mountain) and I hurryingly grabbed it. Then I went back up and reclipped back in. Going to the summit seemed to go on and on, when we got to what Adam thought would be the summit, he said "What! There's more?". I laughed in my head because I knew there was still more even after getting to Columbia Crest, but I did not say anything because I did not want to discourage our team. After pushing on up to the Crater, we get shielded from the winds which was a relief, and we take a break. From here I carry only my camera and ice axe for the last 1/3 or so mile to the summit. I was amazed to find out that there was a little slope to the Crater walk, and we had to take a few breaks in the short distance (perhaps the thin air had an effect). When we get near the summit, for the last 20-30 feet Michael and I race to the summit which proved to be a bad idea, immediately I got a headache. Then we stopped on the summit. Victory was Ours! The winds on the summit would never let up, so we only spent 10-15 minutes on the summit, which part of that time was resting. Adam was getting cold, so we had to take a few photos, and get ready for the decent. The way down was easier than I had worried it would be. We would head down 1,000 or so feet in little time, when going up it would take so much longer to go up. It was amazing how much harder the last 3,500 feet of the mountain was compared to below. Adam finally confessed that it would not be wise to do it as a single day trip (we earlier talked on the way up Camp Muir and he believed it would be doable in a single day). Once the snow thawed a lot, we got to the usual plunging in the snow. Once back at camp, we were able to pack up our tent and get ready for the rest of the distance. From Camp I saw major rock fall come off of Gibraltar Rock. When heading towards Camp Muir there was some more rock that fell right in front of me. "The Mountain is out to get me" I thought as I carefully descended through the rock section. Fortunately we made it safe to Camp Muir. It was neat to see how much warmer Camp Muir was compared to Ingraham Flats, now it was acually warm out. The rest of the way down there was much slush which was no good for sit glissades, but great for run glissades. Even though the way down took a long time, it was not as bad as I had feared. Soon we reached the parking lot. As I waited for Bill and Michael, I was so tired that I slept on the side walk for perhaps an hour or so until they arrived. From here Bill drove us to Tacoma, which was not the end of our adventure, it was bus time. As I was riding one of the busses home, there were no more available seats, so the only place for me was standing next to the door. As the bus drove, I would nearly fall on the floor with my heavy pack and would have to hold on to railings. At one point when the bus really jerked, I fell on the door, the door partly opened, and I pulled myself out of there as fast as I could. "Wooo, that was a close one. Is the bus going to create more dangers for me than Rainier?". Michael Tired out from all the adventure and Bussing. Then on the way to Lynnwood I happened to meet another guy who I met on Mount Pilchuck on the 4th of July. He was the first person to introduce me to the card game Hearts. Sometimes it's a small world after all. Once we got to East Lynnwood, we had to walk a ways up and down a big hill until we reached the last bus. When we got home it was very late at night. I slept for 14 hours that night. But I made up for it by going on another backpacking trip soon after. This was a very fun adventure, there were some things learned, and met a new person. Bill seemed pleased that we got him to 12,000 feet, although I could come with him when he retrys this mountain. After this trip I was glad to have made it, someone once told me that I could not make it. That was far from true, I was also told that this would be 10 times harder than the hardest thing I have ever done, which was also not true. Jolly Mountain still kicked my butt more than Rainier. But after all the struggle for Rainier, Victory is Ours! Special Thanks To Bill for driving, Adam for providing the rope, and Michael for carrying the tent. Click Here to see Michael's trip report on this trip. More photos of this trip can be seen here: http://www.hikrs.com/photo?func=viewcategory&catid=75

I was wondering if anyone was wanting to climb Mount Baker via Coleman Deming route. I am avalible after tommorow until the end of this month. I climbed Baker twice, I climbed it this route a few days ago, but would like to do it in nicer weather (we were in a fog storm) and see if I left my camera at the base camp. Conditions were good (not so much weather that day). I also have my brother who could come along to make it a three person team. And yes I am in very good shape right now.

I am Missing my small point and shoot camera at the Heliotrope Trailhead at Mount Baker. It is a Canon and is light blue, and has a black case, it's fairly small. I'm pretty sure we had it atleast at the trailhead before heading home, although it could also be at the base of the Coleman Glacier. If anyone finds it, please let me know.

Within the next few days I got more stories to share, I been climbing so much that I have not had time to post the stories, today I was on Baker, a few days ago Summited Rainier, and some other backback trips here and there.

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." -John Muir "Me and Pavel like to Travel Glacier Peak is not for the weak, but a trip of hard endurance As we slog through the snow, we say again "here we go" As I sweat and soak my garmets, I see I am in a land of Marmots The mice at camp come to steal in attempts to get a nice meal That night we slept quite well, and by morning I felt quite right Over the snowy pass we go, not a single blade of grass By now I feel quite tired, but at the same quite wired... for the adventure that is As we travel for hours to the top, I see around we are surrounded by rock towers We soon reach the top, and are over joyed and hop Going down was quite tiring, but atleast by camp the stove was firing The food gave me what I need, to finish the deed Getting back was quite long, but alteast nothing went wrong. I had such a blast, that I wish it had not been so fast." -Glacier Peak Adventure More can be seen here .

It was certainly a fun adventure, but that last summit block felt scary for me. I don't think you had horrible cramps, got your foot stuck, and crampon fall off. You mentioned something about me kicking in extra on the way down from the summit block... well yeah, it's my life on the line, would you not do a lot to protect yourself? Although you saw some of the dangers on there, I think you don't know all the cliffs all around there as I do because I've been close to the summit in clear weather. What made the slope feel dangerous was the unstable snow, the rock was a bit wet as well, Michael also recalls it being one of the scariest things he has ever done. Any friend I asked about this trip told me they would have bailed, most mountaineers would agree. I feel much safer rock climbing, and feel safer going up steeper, but more stable snow. The potential danger is what had me scared, plus the footing was not so great which is why I kicked in more. When you told me to high dagger my ice axe, that would not have been a good move. It's great on steep solid slopes, but not for loose snow. I'm certainly no sailor, and I don't intend to be one.

I feel bad for having so many photos in the trip report, some of them did not even load. Should I take some of them out?

"There are old Mountaineers, there are bold mountaineers, but no bold and old mountaineers." -Ed Viesturs "A sense of uncertainty that is potentially fatal is what makes climbing an adventure. Anything less is just working out" - Jim Bridwell "I refuse to believe in a risk free society where the thrill of living is traded for the safety of existence." -Nick Ienatsch This was my most intense adventure yet. When heading out to the mountains, most of the time I put a decent amount of reason into what I'm getting myself into, but every now and then I get over my head, this time it was all the way. This took place June 30 - July 1, 2010 After just climbing Mount Hood, I check my email at home, sure enough another trip invite. As always, most adventures are too good to pass up, this one was no exception. The plan was originally to climb Mount Baker, but I looked into the forecast which was not looking so great, there was a potential chance we could get lost on the Easton or the Colemen depending on what route. Then it dawned on me that Sahale would be the perfect choice, it had a easy to follow ridge, so even if the weather looked bad we would be able to go down with little difficulty. Bill drove all the way from Oregon to pick me up as well as Michael. We had to sort out a lot of gear, go to REI to buy more perlon and then it was time to head out. I was still a bit tired from the previous trip, but the idea of adventure had me beckoned. At the trail head we tried to figure out a good place to camp, the trailhead said no camping. So the idea was brought up to Camp up on the mountain. The down side was I did not bring a sleeping bag (I did not bring it because the plan was to sleep at the parking lot, and for some reason mine disappeared at home). The sunset was quite nice with Jburg looming above and had a light dusting of snow on it. Walking to the pass for me was tiring, especially with the heavy load in my pack, there was some snow we encountered as we were heading up. As we neared the pass I had to break out my ice axe due to some steep slopes below. At the pass we were all tired by that point so we decided to set up camp here. Unlike last time though, we took time to find a camp site that would have as little impact on the enviroment, we found a nice dirt area that had a trail that led to it. Once we were ready to go to bed, looking out at the moon had a very creepy appearance, it almost looked like a nightmare the way the clouds came in and gave the moon a almost swirl appearance with the trees and the mountains as dark shadows. I suppose this was a foreshadowing of what was to come. Michael let me use his sleeping bad, while he slept in his warm clothes although he said it was a cold night for him. The next morning there were clouds all around, it was just like I had imagined it, clear day before and storm coming in, the only diffrence was I was not alone. We headed out going up Sahale Arm taking the strait up path (the trail was barried in snow so we decided it would be best to follow the foot prints). On Sahale Arm the place had a excitingness to it, the clouds were rolling in thicker yet the sun made an appearance through the clouds making some of the peaks glow. In such a place like this I could once again say to myself "What a beautiful world" because every angle you look around, you are surrounded by natural wonders. We only saw one other person the entire trip which he did not summit, he told us it was a bit icy above, and once he left, we knew we now were the only ones on the mountain. Once we got to the bottom of the glacier we roped up, and I now was on lead. We were now heading into a white out, Bill fortunately had a gps (it's mostly for back tracking, it's not very good when it comes to finding your way up mountains). The fog became quite dense, I could only see a few feet in front of me, and when ever I would look without my glacier glasses it would be even less, although sometimes I could see a distance high point. After passing the steep section of the glacier and the more gentle slope, I was plunging my ice axe which fell through the snow, to my amazement it was a hidden crevasse, I dug around it and sure enough it cut across, so I figured a way to get over it. From here the slope began to steeped a lot, and the snow was compact making kicking in steps harder. Going up was slow going, I would have to kick 10-15 times per step, although I might have digged them more than needed, but I wanted my team to feel comfortable on the steep slope. It went on for over an hour (Michael says it porbably took 2 hours) which had drained a lot of energy from me, and I was becoming dehydrated. My fingers were becoming quite cold, my middle finger on my left hand as well as a few other fingers were becoming numb, I had to beat them together to get the motion and feeling back. Soon we reached the ridge which was corniced. Getting on to it was tricky because I did not want to put me or my team in danger, there was some rock above it, so I traversed below the rock and did a rock climbing/ difficult scramble move to get onto it. From here we unroped, Bill decided he was going to try to figure a way to the summit. It looked bad, I realized this was the same ridge I was on last time I was here, but there was not much I could do by this point. Bill soon turned around because the exposure of the South West ridge. Bill said "Were turning around" and we started to head down, I down climbed a diffrent way off the ridge because I did not want to deal with the cornice, after all it was a long ways down. Bill decided to traverse the bottom of the summit block, slowly I wondered if there was still a chance of us summiting. We reached the South East side which is the standard route for climbing to the top. The snow slope was a bit steep, I would not have minded except for what was below. We reached an interesting little snow ledge which I decided if I'm going for it, I'm taking off my pack. Things got much scarier from here. Bill climbed over some rocks which involved a rock climbing move, during late summer you could have easily avoided this, but the slope to the side was covered in a snow, which a fall could be potentially fatal. As I headed up the snow slope I became more and more uneasy. If Bill was not leading I would have turned around, if it were not Sahale my favorite mountain I would have turned around, but the mountain still beckoned me. I found out real quick that there was some choss (loose rock) and the rock as wet. After getting over the rock I got onto the snow slope, using the rock as extra support. I even did some hand jams and such to make myself more secure. With my ice axe I would always make sure it was fully plunged in, and make my steps nicely kicked it, yet it did not feel like enough. Part of this was that the snow was becoming less stable due to the faint sunlight coming through. This was some of the most nightmarish climbing I have ever done. As I went up, I suddenly got a terrible cramp, I would lean onto my ice axe and just pray that it would some how go away, and it did. The cramps made kicking in much harder, so now I would have to take smaller steps, I could not drink any water because I had left my pack behind. I would take a grab from the snow and eat it, I didn't care if it had dirt or whatever, I needed water, and I needed it now! I kept carefully climbing up, and then suddenly my crampon got caught on my butt as I kicked to high. "This is not good" I thought as I tried to get it off. One hand was holding the axe, and the other was holding the rock. I had to do some wierd wedging with my leg, it took a few minutes, but I some how managed to get it out. What a relief! As I was approaching the last 20 or so feet from the summit, I realized that the snow was a partial cornice, and I saw a repel sling which means people repel off this, not something you want to down climb, espesically in these conditions. I know a lot of climbers would be fine going up and down this on a nice day when dry, but the conditions are what made it scary, plus the exposure. Getting to the summit was interesting, I crawled between the cornice and the rock, grabbed on to the rock just short of the summit, and another rock. As I pushed off the snow, it broke loose... Thank goodness I had my hands well on the rocks, I pulled myself up as fast as possible and thankfully Bill cleared away some of the snow on the summit. I was quite happy to have reached the summit, but I was at the same time fearful of what I went through and what I had left to do. The summit is very narrow and has room for only a few people, it had snow on it, so I had to get good footing just to sit down. Michael was below, and he got 2 feet from the summit, but decided it was not worth taking the risk, I encouraged him not to go up the last few feet. If you want to be technical about it, I did not touch the rock that was 10 feet away and was perhaps a foot higher, but I stood above it, which I think it's fair to say "we all summited". The way down had me concerned, now the snow was softer, and down climbing steep scary slopes to be difficult. If I were roped up I would have no problem going fast (although chances of falling would still be great), but when your life is at risk, I will take as much time as I need to go down safely. But not too much time because of the snow softening up. Across from us I could see the ridge from the Quien Sabe route which was corniced but glowing with intensity (it was about 15 or so feet away from us, we could not see much beyong 20 feet). According to Michael there were flutings that ran past the summit cornice, getting off the summit rock was a challenge, my foot instantly fell through a snow hole with rocks below it. It took about 5 minutes for me to get it out. From here I got back into the scrawl section between the cornice and the rock (which was narrow). From here I got back to kicking steps in, and the usual cramps would return, and I was forced to lean on my ice axe and wait for the pain to go away. Never had I ever felt this much on the edge. I fell though yet another snow hole with one foot, getting it out was difficult, and then I would kick in steps as though my life depended on it. I began to get the feeling like the odds were against me going down, after the trip I asked Michael and he said the same thing. As I was taking a large step down and kicking in, one of my crampons fall off. Michael looked up, and knew this could be bad. I instantly felt like a character from a book of some crazy climbing story. I had to reach down in such a way (I did not want to get a cramp here, and I had to make sure I was stable) that I would have one hand holding the slope, and the other hand reach down to get it to make sure it does not fully fall off. But then I realized my right hand was leached to my ice axe which contributed to the problem. Eventually I managed a way to get it to my hand, I carefully tied it to my ice axe leash and then was able to continue down climbing. It was wierd having the crampon attached to my axe, but what other choice did I have? My left foot placement now had to be more cautious than ever. When I finally got to a ok standing place, I rested a moment, and then looked up and thought "I should take a picture of this", it seems so strange, but then I figured I'm on a safe enough spot, and how often will I see this steep section? I put myself in little danger taking the photo. From here the down climb to the packs was not too bad, although there was a rock move I had to carefully get off of. From here I grabbed my pack, drank some water (although I was low on water by this point). We now traversed down to the lower summit block area, and headed over to our old tracks for the decend. As we were travelling along, Bill Slipped. He went down the slope, ice axe arrested, but started to dissappear through the fog, I felled out "Billlllllll!", fortunately he managed to stop after a ways down. The slope now was much more unstable, which I was thankful we left the summit when we did. Michael and I traversed back to our old foot prints. We then started down climbing which with the nice steps that were kicked it, it was fine going down. Once we reached Bill we headed down to the glacier. At the glacier we passed the crevasse, which we glissaded past to have as little of wieght on the snow as possible, I had a few plunges right before it that had me a bit concerned. The white out ruined our glissade, we could hardly see a few feet in front of us, we had our tracks, but we did not want to loose them. Near the bottom of the glacier we were able to see the bumps which meant it was safe enough to glissade. We had originally planned to study up more on z-pulley, but Bill did not feel like it, Michael was tired, and I was very cold from the wet conditions. Although getting down Sahale Arm was not that difficult, there were some times were it became so wide that it felt out of place. We had some more fun glissades although they were cold. The Decent to Cascade Pass was a little tricky, now it was raining making the foot prints harder to see, although still visible. According to Bill's GPS we were off route, so we headed to the right, which was not acually the right way, I suppose the clouds had created some interferance. Going down the steep woods in slushy snow was not my version of fun, this was the only time turning the trip that I broke out my ice tool (I did not use it easier on the summit because I left it with the pack) and I still had to take caution on the slope. After getting past the logs at the bottom, I did a test ice axe arrest which did not work very well until I reached the bottom and swung my tool which worked like a charm, but probably would not have worked above. Soon we found the camp, I was miserably cold, most of my clothes were soaked (although the inside of my jacket some how remained dry) and my pack was soaked. Bill talked about sleeping here, but there was no way I would want to do that, as it was, I feared getting hypothermia, I was shivering a lot, and much of my body heat was lost through my legs due to thin pants. The heavy mist that rolled in plus the wind made it even colder, packing things became difficult with cold hands. We packed the tent and headed down to the car. It felt like a long time going down, switching back down the pass, some areas of the trail were flat and I started to wonder "did they purposely make this longer?". By the time we reached the car I was so glad and we rested, and drank water, and Bill had a few remaining cookies. This was the most scary adventure I have endured. On the ride home I said to myself "This is No Country for Bold men". Thanks Bill for leading the way at the top, you were an excellant mountaineer, also thanks for driving us to Sahale for free and being good company. Thanks Michael for helping kick steps on the way down, lending your sleeping bag, and carrying the tent. It's not always good to be bold in the mountains, sometimes there are times when you should say no. As for the Cascade Pass deal, had we slept higher up, we would have been much worser off, the weather was terrible above Sahale Arm. My perspective on steep slopes have changed in the past week, my friend Mark once told me "Steep snow climbs are not that safe because it is usually unprotectible" and now I see what he means. In the future I do not plan on doing this kind of mountaineering. But in all it was a good learning experience.