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Now that you mention it, when I was there last a few weeks ago it wasn't there either. Either way, that crack eats up gear. Either a #2 or #3, I think... right in the corner.

I definitively would. Temps will be warm and the snowpack, especially for approach during the day, will be sloppy and deep.

Good stuff, Marc. Can those dudes help me set up a net under Luna's NF for me? Thanks

You can pick them up at various Ranger stations for free. The few that I have gotten them at - Longmire and Paradise (MRNP), Sedro-Wooley (N. Cascades NP station, on the way to South side of Baker), at Trout Lake (Gifford Pinchot NF Station, for South routes on Adams), and also at the Wilderness Info Center in Marblemount while heading East to the NCNF. I'm sure they're available at other stations. The only non-blue bag I had was gotten at the Trout Lake station, where it was a mixture of plastic and paper bag with kitty litter... and a complimentary paper with a bullseye. My advice: Don't put it inside your pack - try to strap it to the outside somehow - I use my outside crampon pouch if I can. If you don't or can't and have to put it inside, pack extra ziplocks or bags and double, triple, quad/quin/sex/sept... bag that s**t. The blue bag+ziplock combo they supply is usually insufficient for negating the powerful scents generated from energy-bar-fueled ascents.

climbing w/ 3 is generally slower than w/ 2 - the n face gullies w/ 3 doubly so - speed was what they needed - if it had been just 2 climbers, their odds of survivial in this case would have been greater. I heard Twight, Blitz, and House were really dragging ass on "The Gift..." Should've left House at the base, eh? Great thing about a group of 3 is that if one is being a dick you have 2 people to gang up on him.

Not sure about who climbed it first, but it has been used as a (ski-less) descent route by parties climbing the north face.

Nice stuff dudes!

The freezing level for this weekend, including nights, was supposed to be above 13K'. I guess what you saw makes sense.

If you're nice to them maybe they'll give you the key to the lock on it

There were no porta pottys yesterday. A mountaineering club from BC was down there for a week and brought their own.

Too many variables: Who's rack is it, who is leading, what is your partner relationship (long time, one-day), the mechanics of the situation, the climb (mountain or crag?), and the piece used. It's a case by case thing. My rule is that if it's my gear and the situation allows then I want to take a personal look at it to see if I did something truly wrong and can remove it myself - the last two pieces that I placed that were deemed stuck by the seconds (a nut and a #1 C4) were later removed by me in less than 30sec. I actually just recently had a case where I lent a few pieces to a new leader met that day and they placed my cam deep in a crack close to overcamming and then pushed it in by mistake, officially overcamming it and really lodging it in there. Bloody fingers and all the tricks resulted in nothing. I inspected the stuck cam and it was really leader fault - but could it also be my naivete for lending a stranger my gear without knowing their placement knowledge? Leader offered to pay full price for replacement, I resisted enough and took 1/2 of the offered amount. I felt that worked well for the situation as it was the leader's fault, I was out a cam, the cam wasn't new and gotten on discount, and the leader was very insistent on paying for it. IMO, as for pieces: -Nuts should (98%) be able to be removed by a 2nd unless it is fallen on. It is passive and got into a slot somehow and usually only set with a hand tug (exception is for aid)- it can come out with some messing around to unlock the sequence. -Cams are tricky - obviously overcammed or a cam that walked due to clipping directly to the cam sling or clipping with a stiff draw can be the leader's fault - all things that can be avoided by better placements. If the leader can't get it out either then he should be ok with eating the cost even if the 2nd offers to replace. -I like Tricams. They are one of the trickiest to remove - I always show my 2nds their mechanics for going in and therefore how they can't be taken out like a nut. The trickiest usually require two hands, one with a nut tool. Haven't had a 2nd leave one behind yet.

On Monday it was rotten and wet. From this week's activities I would assume it would be even more rotten and wet. Had snowshoes but saw some postholing prints all the way up to Source lake so yeah, sure it can be done. Freezing levels are going to be above 5500' for the weekend. But yeah, don't know until you go... and report back what you find.

You can adjust some AT bindings to fit your alpine boots. Fritschi bindings will adjust at the toe for an alpine boot. You could rent the AT skis and use your own boots. Might not be as comfortable for the skin up as an AT boot but it has been done and I know a guy who prefers to tour with his Lange boots because he likes them for the down... which its what its all about, right?

Lots of new snow since this weekend, and still going. Probably close to 1.5-2' of new once it's all done. And then you get some extra from winds on top. Freezing level is around 5K and dropping. I would imagine slides and unconsolidated snow in there.

Don't worry about "burning muscle". The goal is to tear muscle and let it rebuild stronger. As long as you give the muscle rest to rebuild feel free to burn it away. The same does not apply for tendons, ligaments... if you start to feel any non-muscle pain - ACL, achilles, ITB, etc - stop.

Kyle, There is no one set metric. You'll have lots of elevation so just go on more long and high elevation hikes in the smokies and throw a heavy pack on for good measure. I'd also throw in some lower speed, high weight stairmastering. That way you get the building of your hiking up leg muscles and the cardio from the intervals you already do. From my experience up there, your lungs will probably be hurting long before your legs. Make sure you're acclimatized at Muir and you "should" be ok for the top. Train hard and easy (don't overtrain yourself to injury) and go up there and see how you handle elevation.

bvl, I remember! We were above the DC, prob at around 13K when we met you guys and you/your partner said "I just took a really cool picture of you guys". No worries... but yeah, if you still have those pictures that would be cool

Trip: Graybeard - North Face Date: 4/25/2009 Trip Report: Kevin Hogan and I headed up Friday afternoon for the ceremonial gate opening of the N Cascades HW. After killing sometime in Marblemount chatting with Civil War re-enacters about the intricacies involved in fragging Yanks we drove up and found a building waiting line at the gate. Leading the charge was Tootsie, who for the last 20+ years has been giving out cinnamon rolls and coffee to anxious East-bounders. We picked up our raisin-loaded rolls while she says that I "look like the mean one. You need something sweet"... Tootsie is a sweet lady but luckily all I got was the roll. ... Gates open a little before 8pm and we roll to the Easy Pass TH pulloff. Just under freezing temps, snow down low is firm and consolidated... conditions look good, face looks good, morale and excitement rise. We use the remaining daylight to find the bridge over Granite and then head back to enjoy chilling views of the face before going in for the night. ... Started off at 3:40am, uneventful snowshoeing up the creek, got to the base a little before 5, geared up, stashed gear, probably started up around 5:30. First ice pitch was fat and blue WI2, snow ramp was firm snow, then the next ice band was sort off not much there. We found this left trending rock ramp traverse that Kevin excitedly took and deemed it M3ish... a few moves were pretty spicy. From there we headed up the ice band up the middle which was a little steeper and longer than it seemed from afar - AI3? Headed straight up toward the crux ice pitch, which we broke into 2- The first part longer and runout with steeper sections and the second, which was about 2 body lengths of vertical ice (yes, 90 degrees), tapering off towards the top - AI4. Up to this point we were regularly being showered with surface sluff slides, making it all that much more fun and picturesque climbing. ... From this point on the face the climbing stopped being as straightforward or fast... and fun? Nah. We had figured that previous warm days would've consolidated snow on the mountain. Well, from the last ice pitch on up the snow was mostly loose and unconsolidated, being held onto the slope by a 2" solid top layer. Repeatedly we found areas where we'd ascend only a few feet a minute if that, hopelessly kicking deeper into the face to try to find some snow that would hold. Axe plunges were worthless at this point. Loosing your feet was a scary probability. The order of the game was axe on one hand, picket on the other for pulling yourself up the loosest of the loose - this worked very well and saved a lot of time on the upper pitches. Protection was sparse/non-existant/poor, or just too hard to get to during pitches unless you spent some time chipping at hidden and iced rocks hoping it would show some weakness, probably only to find that it crumbled under your gear and you wasted all that time, now only having to run it out some more while your partner at first wondering and then yelling "WTF are you doing up there?!". The last 5 stretched out pitches we tried building the best anchors we could at belays and then the lead would basically runout the pitch... eventually with the 2nd unclipping and simulling until the next good anchor could be found. For some reason picture-taking pretty much ceased at that point. Other than for use as essential climbing tools, pickets were worthless as pro on the snows of the upper mountain unless you dug very deep. ... With a good early start and moving efficiently down low I figured we'd top out... 12-2pm. Well, we finally topped out on the ridge at 5pm, having been on the face for almost 12hrs. On the route we picked we avoided any cornice tunneling, instead finding a steep (with occasional 80+ snow steps) snow ramp. With one last picket plunge, I pulled up and onto the ridge. We had a quick celebration and headed up towards the summit with our minds on the descent. We decided on going down through Easy Pass, probably because of the inviting name. Finding the South gully was easy, walking down it was easy, the temporary whiteout was annoying... but easy, the long traverse was long and tedious but easy. Took some time, but it was pretty easy indeed. We were back at the base ~7, back at the car 8pm. ... The route is just stellar and delivered the full-on alpine experience we expected to get from it. We were mentally exhausted, but fulfilled. After the climb we told each other we didn't need to do that route again... maybe I just have a bad memory, but I'd probably do it again if persuaded. ....... Kitty enjoys a balanced meal of milkshake and screws with ketchup. Kevin trains crushing mole hills in preparation for mountains. Tootsie hands out sugar-drenched rolls. ...the waiting is the hardest part Bloody faces and Graybeard TRs seem to go together. http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=45472&cat=500&ppuser=15545 Gear Notes: 3 pins, 6 screws, 2 pickets, nuts, 2 tricams, and 4 cams - used most all. We sunk the pink good higher up and couldn't get it out... it's yours to booty. Approach Notes: Firmish snow all the way, snowshoes made it more efficient and enjoyable. Granite creek bridge is still there.

I doubt there's an established trail up anything yet. Guiding season usually starts in June, it's still snowing and blowing - tracks will disappear. DC doesn't start making sense until the Ingraham melts out more and the crevasses start opening up. Have you thought of the Gib Ledges? More direct (no traversing), less route finding, minimum crevasses, some exposure.

Dudes... nice trip... hella bonus points for the massive approach. Hats off.

Trip: Rainier - Gib Ledges Date: 4/5/2009 Trip Report: Great weather window... DPS,Z-man and I headed out to MRNP to join what we expected would be a plethora of altitude monkeys looking for a ripe banana after the monsoon. After acting as Muir greeters and goodbyers (well wishers?) for the afternoon we met unexpected solitude save for 3 sliders looking for some wind buffed glaciers higher up the next days. The next day we found ourselves alone on the upper mountain with 100 mile views, cool temps, unconsolidated powder/breakable crust/neve, and some light winds. Took a little longer than expected, but the banana was delicious and golden - much like our faces at the end of the 2 days. Gear Notes: Sunscreen Approach Notes: Sunscreen

Yep, looking at the right gully on the n face. I guess we might see how deeply retarded I might be

I'm curious about late April, May, early June...

Just wondering if anyone actually knew if in early season the N face's right gully gets any direct Sun. Being there in Feb it looked like only the top of it did and not for long. Doug

Dane, good find! Just checked those out at REI (clearanced?) although only in a L and S. Everything seems good and what I have been looking for some time (dexterous, slightly warm, not too bulky in the fingers, big gauntlet) but I just haven't had any winter/ice experience with that type rubber palmed gloves. Any experience with that sort of material? One thing I like about leather palms is that even if they freeze up, they still usually give you some friction. Some other materials I've tried just become scarily slick with even a slight frosting. BTW, REI had a whole side of a fixture with OR Alibis on clearance.