spionin

great report! hey, what did you think of CO grading (compared to LW, or Bozeman)?

i was going to play christmas, but i think i'd rather go climbing or skiing. gotta be back by saturday a.m. -veronika

looks awesome! wow... thousands of feet... of WI... ... 36 hrs in single push?

i figured out how to read the original. sounds like a great toast. thank you!

whoa! way to start the season ...in full sprint! congrats, badasses.

nice! you guys look like you're having a stellar time!! and thanks for the conditions update!

cold temperatures... pros: A LOT of stuff is in. the ice looks beautiful. the weeping wall looks like a page out of the guidebook. cons: the fresh snow makes approach more tedious (hike wallow up to r&d took a while). climbing in -38 deg C is not feasible.

to the edge of it. we couldn't see anything, so figured that it would be no fun to try route finding down the field. i'm guessing the field itself would have had pretty stellar snow.

awesome pics, kevin! thanks for the stoke!

it was great! posted a few pictures in the freshiezone: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/985179#Post985179

just a little conditions note... freezing level was around 6500, very overcast. intermittent precip 10:00 - 13:00, some wind. the road up is great, yet there's enough snow to be able to start skiing from the parking lot. the snow was great! well bonded, though it did get quite velco-y by the end of the day. we didn't dig any pits, but there was no sloughing, and higher up (around 8k) we had some pretty loose powder. a few pics: the visibility got really bad after 13:00 a person named andres loaned me his beacon in the parking lot. if you're on this forum - THANKS!

hi ed - we skied up to muir yesterday in really foggy conditions. the avy potential was very low - the snow is well bonded. nonetheless, we always carry avy gear. there is plenty of snow in most places, you can start skiing directly from the parking lot, but a few rocks sticking out here and there. good luck, stay safe.

i carry a generic light softshell glove (leading) and a medium-weight glove. but i also carry a super lightweight mitten that's waterproof, which i can put over either. that's the money piece for me. the mitten is for belaying and for climbing less-than-vertical slopes that involve dipping my hands in the snow. acts as an insulator, wind- and waterproofer.

omg dude - that looks like unbelievably good times! inadequate for having good foods, fishing, chilling, swimming, etc.?? great pics, thanks for sharing!

great pics, smiling people - awesome! The Flake looks very impressive as well!

thanks for the conditions report, aaron!

took a quick day trip up there yesterday. forgot how long it takes me to cross asgaard, so only had a little bit of time to cast my line. i don't think the fish liked my lures (super duper and yellow leopard), but i could see them show interest when the hook went in - they are definitely there! i considered tying a little mosquito fly upstream of the bobber, but didn't get to it. i also have an orange lure that i wanted to try, but ran out of time. here's a bloody little rainbow for ya: some tripod-assisted action (prusik in the background): many of the lakes are getting iced over. i fished at inspiration, which was fine. but the fish definitely went away as the shadow moved in. on an unrelated note (wait, is it ever unrelated??)... asgaard pass:

great! thanks for the report!

sounds awesome, way to get on it!

that's exactly what i was wondering about. awesome beta, thanks! no guarantees that i'll actually catch something, but i'll bring back a report

awesome, thanks everyone! i'd heard that fish/wildlife were going to stop stocking those lakes all together, so that's what i was wondering about - whether they had any fish in them at all at this point. i'll find out the trail blazers forum is great - just what i was looking for! again, thanks!

hi - does anyone know about the current status of stocking the lakes up in the enchantments? any recommendations? thanks!

according to summitpost, "From parking spot along Rock Creek it is approx. 5 miles to the base of the North Face" http://www.summitpost.org/route/167558/north-face.html#chapter_2 standard route (our descent): "The route ascends over 5200 feet elevation to the summit in less than 3.5 miles of trail" http://www.summitpost.org/route/155410/southwest-chicken-out-ridge.html plus about 2 miles to walk back to the car. - even if we doubled the approach, that's still about 15-16 miles. - gmap pedometer says that the trip was about 10.5 mi "as the crow flies" (not sure how far we walked past our trailhead, but let's say at most, an additional 1.5 mi) - so 12ish? http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4104845 thanks OMB - close enough! well, thankfully, oleg remembered the piece of beta about the first couloir being a dead-end, so we didn't actually even go up it

great report, nastia! cheers, guys! let's swig vodka on some summits again soon!

2nd ascent in seattle is supposed to get some in soon. i really wish these came in small sizes - they feel AMAZING.