spionin

i believe the latter moniker is still reserved for mr. alex lowe

Trip: mt baker - coleman-deming Date: 3/20/2010 Trip Report: on friday night my friends lee, rok, and i drove up [within 5 min walking] to heliotrope ridge trail to climb and ski baker. this was our first time up there. the weather was mild enough that we all slept outside, no tent, next to the car. we had followed noaa pretty carefully in the past weeks, and felt that the window we'd chosen was pretty decent. we weren't alone by far. once we got properly caffeinated, we started skiing at 2:15 a.m. the weather was clear on the approach, we had no prob with route finding. with a few stops for food we made it to the base of the climb about 6 hours later. at this point rok wasn't feeling well, and following a little discussion we decided to split up. lee and i would try to tag the summit, and rok would descend and wait for us. so we all had snacks (power bars and rye bread) and pressed on. lee and i pressed on as this pesky wind started to pick up... by the time we reached the top of the roman wall it was pretty difficult. we were intent on skiing down, so we carried our skis up. we definitely pushed it on the time, and selfishly decided to push for grant peak, despite being beyond the time that we'd told rok we'd turn around. anyways, we tagged the actual summit, and then all hell broke loose. i talked the NF ranger later, and she said that despite the clear forecast the rapidly changing weather brought on this tempesuous wind (do i hear 60-70 mph?), which really made it ... an experience. by the way, skis on back make for awesome sails. by the time we were descending, the wind was pretty tough to deal with. i crashed and tumbled pretty well on the icy descent and semi-busted my ski binding. after fixing the situation (read: putting the skis back on the pack and boot-packing down), lee and i made it down to the saddle. i was able to keep the ski on my boot by locking it (not good, but i felt pretty ok by then), and we skied our way down to the trees. this was another interesting experience: ski for a second, lean down to avoid getting blown over by the gusts, wait for clearing in the wind, ski again... the wind was strong enough to blow me uphill when i was clearly aiming down. we encountered one unstable north- northwest-facing slope that fractured into a 1,5 inch slab under my skis. yikes. but we made it down alright and met up with rok at a bar in glacier. huge thanks to the people who told our partner that we were still on the mountain, and told him that my binding was busted and it slowed us down, and who gave him a ride down to town. this was a series of marginal decisions on time allowance that nearly turned into a fiasco. but overall, an awesome day out, thanks to lee and rok! Gear Notes: axe! crampons! avy gear - the north- and northwest-facing slopes are wind-loaded!

nice to run into you guys, glad you made it! i hear you on the wind - pretty intense! -veronika

wow - awesome pictures. love the chunks in the one with "liz shredding"! i was in marseilles at the end of march last year, and it was frigid - none of this beautiful clear sky, splashing in mediterranean, or climbing on warm rock. looks great!

thanks for the report! check your pm, please.

awesome pictures of very happy-looking people. what's not to love? thanks for posting!

ooh! oooh! just looked at the picture, and it's got a drop tail! imagine that - i'm not alone (even though it's unisex) ...just sayin'

We should just make down booties. Just kidding! i know, sorry. i'll settle for a dropped tail then, how's that? my point was that if you look at the pictures, and then imagine a harness under that jacket, with an anchor/rope going up, you can pretty much guess what the front of the jacket will be doing. some coats have a cinched bottom, and some don't. the former pretty much guarantees that the jacket will end up sitting at the waist in a big bunch. i don't want that, mmmkay?

so i think i looked through the comments fairly carefully - please let me know if these points has been addressed already... since it's a belay jacket, i'd expect to know how it works with a harness on, in a belay stance. no extensive testing required. maybe i'm just overly picky, but when i'm standing and belaying, i want 1) to put on the insulating jacket over a few existing layers (my softshell, ligh insulating layer), and yet to be able to fuss with the belay loop, adjust my footing, coil rope, etc. without forcing my jacket up and having it bunch up too much, and 2) to protect my ass, because it gets cold. to me, this generally means that a nice jacket will have a dropped tail, and/or a 2-way zipper that will allow access to the front of the harness. yes, details, but it's a climbing jacket after all...

that's just awesome doug - big props

an FA (first arrival) on chair peak on a weekend? AWESOME!

...right. maybe after global warming has its way with the hanging glacier

great job, what a climb you guys! the photos look awesome, thanks for the bit on the "unclimbed ice" - those scouts and reports are always so generous, in my opinion. cheers!

thanks a lot everyone, really appreciate the advice!

manimals. wow.

nope, that definitely doesn't look like ice right on, jeremy!! p.s. happy birthday!

pm sent. THANKS!

nice! beautiful pics for sure. that cornice is really impressive!! did you by chance find a pin at the bottom of the NEB? dropped it yesterday

that obvious, huh? yeah, the exact request i got was for "granite as clean and polished as in yosemite". thanks much!

hi all, i don't even belong on this thread, but i've got a question... i've got a slovenian visiting in late june-early july for a few weeks, who's intent to climb hard. i'm not really an alpinist and my shit is weak, but he leads about 5.12d sport (on chossy polished limestone), 5.11a alpine and 5.10d yosemite trad. i don't even know where to begin as far as recommending routes for him. can anyone recommend a menu? here's a list of routes from high sierra he's been looking at (so perhaps something comparable?): - Harding route, Mt. Conness - Dark star, Temple Crag - Harding route, Keeler Needle - Positive vibrations, Incredible Hulk thanks in advance!! -veronika

wow - very nice, good descriptions. scepter looks way healthier than it did in late november

That's not a 'dude'. no prob i'm regularly called "dude" or "bro". no, i don't think i look like a man. andy - thanks, that's excellent to hear. just the type of beta i was hoping for. reid - awesome! looking forward to our skiing reunion!

holy shnikies - looks like a fantastic time! well played, gentlemen.

flew to europe three weeks ago with crampons, tools, screws, slings, etc. in my checked luggage. no problems whatsoever.

they totally recycled the opening of nutshell on that one.