saxybrian

Where did you get your tauntaun at? The REI on endor was closed when I went.

I'm not in the best shape, but I'd be down for going on if we could possibly do 5-6 bivy's on the way up the wall. Another thing, do you guys take your own wood to burn to melt water or what? I've heard so many different rumors for that side of the mountain.

Do NOT do it. Weather looks great, which is a major concern for the rangers. I spoke with one today and asked that if he thought the snow pack would be good enough in 10 days (when I'm flying out) and he said he didn't think the ID/DC route would be safe even then. He said the problem layer was 100cm down and that there wouldn't be enough warm weather to consolidate that pack. Rainier blog spot shows that guide services turning around at Cath Gap due to bad snow conditions. If you're heading up, think of another route not on the NE/SE face, something like Emmons he said was in decent shape but was kicking everyones butt. Just be safe and remember just cause it's a sunny day it's not a great day to climb.

I think the retort to that Dane would be, why would you take compass berrings on your trip? Because you want to go in bad weather? Or as an exercise of caution? Waypoints don't add any weight and could mean the difference between life and death in certain circumstances. I'm not trying to be rude but in almost every post that someone asks a question you almost always be-little them or egg them to start a spray fight. I don't doubt you know your stuff, but if someone asks something why not give them the info if you have it or not post. Just my 2 cents

Dane we've gone over this already, I'm replacing plastics next year.

Every time I see a gear list like this I'm amazed it fits in my backpack.

Having been to Rainier 3x already and each time taking less and less items up the mountain. I'm curious to see what everyone brings up on their trip to Rainier doing the DC/ID routes in the June-Aug time frame. I'll start by throwing in my gear list and see what everyone would add/take out and you can post yours too to see if the same would apply to it. I may have left some stuff off, but this is my gear sheet pretty much on my trips. Also if you guys want let's post stuff to make your trip more enjoyable. I've noticed that easy to eat food and sugar water like gator-aid is best used on the hike to muir/summit. Personal Gear: Head (everything is NOT cotton) -bandana -Beanie -Facemask -Glacier Glasses -Goggles -Helmet Upper Body (everything is NOT cotton) -Under Armor -TShirt -Fleece -Gortex Medium Weight Jacket -Parka Hands -Glove Liners -Light Gloves -Mittens Lower Body (everything is NOT cotton) -Underarmor -Cargo Pants zipable into shorts -Soft Shell Pants Feet -Gators -2x Sock Liners -2x Wool Socks -Double Plastic Boots Misc. Personal Gear -Harness -Crampons -Ice Axe (with 6ft of Duct Tape wrapped around it) -Belay Device -Sleeping Bag -Sleeping Pad -Thermarest inflatable -Headlamp -3xLocking Biners -4xNon Locking Biners -Snow Picket -2xRunners -2xPrusiks (premade) -Compass -Whistle -Compass Berrings -Backpack -2x32oz Nalgeens -2xInsulation for water bottles -Toilet Paper -Sunscreen -Lip Balm -Treking Poles -Knife -Blister/First Aid stuff -Extra Batteries -Food (Obvious) -2x Plastic Bags for (External Blue Bag removal) Group Gear -Tent -Rope -Stove/Pot -Fuel -Lighter/Matches -Cell Phone -Shovel

I'll give you my 2 cents because I was in your exact shoes 2 years ago. Also don't listen to half the people on the boards as they just like to start crap on the net. Getting up Rainier isn't very complex, but shouldn't be taken lightly. On a great day it's pretty much a hella hike to the summit. On crappy days, you can be in 80-100mph winds, white out or have an injury to deal with. Do what I do for people, have them look at RMI's website for gear they need "Personal Gear" and have them pretty much get everything on that list. Then look at Group gear. Such as Stove/Tent/Etc. I'd look at bringing 1 stove per 3-4 people that go up with you. Also remember you don't want to pack you're entire collection of stuff, and you also don't want to go underprepared too. A good medium is perfect. When I went in April, I took all my cold weather gear, but didn't take a camera/phone things like that, that would lighten my pack up. In the summer months you may not need as much cold weather gear so you could probably take things like a camera instead. However if you haven't done it, I'd probably have 1/2 camera's on the trip and consider it group gear. As far as being prepared. My first year out I did very little to no cardio work out and got my butt handed to me on the way to Muir. I thought it was going to be easy and it was the hardest thing I've ever done. If you have hills/mountains get on them, load up with 50-60lbs and get on them. if not, jog/bike/hike, if you can't do that, stairmaster with 50-60lbs +10lbs of weight or do treadmill on a 15% incline. Keep an eye on your teams cardio when you train as you're going to be as fast as your slowest member and in certain situations that can really suck. I've been that slow person before and there's a real crappy feeling about being it. Work on learning c/z pulley systems before you get there, make sure everyone knows it, make sure everyone knows their knots backwards and forwards. If you can do that and they can make a pulley system w/o any issues, you should be fine if you have a crevasse fall. Arresting. Hike up to Muir, find a spot close to muir or in that area and work on self arresting on something small, not something that has a 600ft fall potential Get that down, on belly, upside down, sideways, andywy you can think to fall do it. Take an extra day! Don't do the summit in the typical 2 day push, make it 3. If it's your first time you're going to be tired, not know what to expect. I enjoy the hike to Muir day 1, day 2 hike to Ingraham Flats scout the route get used to glacier travel and head back and rest. Day 3 hit summit and return home. Summit day. Wake up somewhat early 12am-ish and try to find a guide group and stay behind them, don't follow super close, but enough distance to know if they turn around, you are too. Basically don't be the first or last team to leave camp. Also remember that having a successful climb isn't always hitting the summit it's about learning and having fun. As long as you always learn each trip and have a good time it's a success in my eyes. When I went in april and encountered 89mph winds / white out / and minus 20 temps I learned more on that trip than I had any other outting ever. I also had one of the best experiences even though it was nasty nasty weather. Another thing. Youtube videos on anchors, rainier, packing your bags, how to adjust them, cramponing, snow caves, arresting falls, etc... Make all your friends read the Rainier accident reports from the past and what happened to the climbers. Look how they got injuried or died and look how you could improve that on your team. Almost every one of them were/are preventable with the exception of 1/2 that I read. In other words, you don't need a guide, just do your home work, and in the end it's your life. If you're willing to pay 1000 for a guide, then go for it, if not, do 40-80 hours of home work and save yourself the cash and learn it because you'll be able to retain that and use it over and over again.

Mike posted about the solo permit a while back and I believe it went something like this. Cascadeclimber01 "Getting a solo permit is very hard. you should make them able to be gotten there." Cascadeclimber 02 "I've never seen anyone ever turned down on a solo permit" Mike G "It's true, i've never seen anyone turned down, just let us know if you need one ASAP, fax it in or mail it depending on time and make sure you let us know so we can get it through the system" Doesn't sound over the top for me. I think what they're wanting to do is discourage people from climbing solo on a mountainlike this.

Sad day, hope things improve within the next few weeks, we're heading up from TX to do the ID/DC route (depending on what's in shape) However, if conditions aren't ideal, I hvae no problem just hanging around Muir and doing day hikes.

I'm going to get them from REI as they have that 100% money back guarntee which I can use them and if they suck, take them back and get a new pair.

Thanks duder! Heading up on the 20th so getting excited. It'll be nice to get away from this 100+ weather into some snow and ice! Shooting on a 3 days push from car to car but will add in a 4th if weather craps on us, we Texan's just want to make sure if we fly out we have as many chances for the summit as possible since it's a pretty penny for the flight. On the top side we may end up doing in in 2 if we're all in tip-top shape at Muir and feeling fantastic that night. I just hope it's better than my April trip with 80+ mph winds on the snow field.

Emailed RMI and got a pretty awesome response. In short they said the plastics will do and you shouldn't have any issues going up, but the issues going down are pretty common in those type of boots. He stated that those are boots usually used on Denali Exp'd. They stated what they would suggest is the following, get a pair of nice leather's or if you can't do that, duct tape should help stop the blisters on the way down since you go down so fast and those boots are meant for a slow steady pace. Hence going up gives me no issues. Gonna take the boots, tape the feet and see how it treats me this year. I've done it 3x in the past and been fine with the exception of this last trips blister. Taping should make things a lot nice and if I actually take the time to make sure the laces are a LOT tighter going down it should help with the uber blister on the way down cuppled with the tape I think I may get away scott free.

You may want to think about floatation as it just dropped like 2 feet of snow over the past 2 days from what I'm reading on NWAC for paradise.

Yah it's pretty much happened each year, however that blister was by far the worse one I've ever seen. Usually it's half that size and maybe a few smaller ones on the other feet like I had. I think I'll do the duct tape thing on the trip to the summit/down but to muir i'll go w/o duct tape. If that fails me again this year, then I'll fork up some bling sell those boots and buy a new pair.

thanks about the diabetic question my buddy going with me this year is and I'll bring that up to him and let him know to keep a very close eye on his feet.

I've been to the summit in rainier on these boots before and my feet were a bit tender when I got back to muir, but for some reason, going from Muir down it ripped them in shreds again. I don't know what that one strech of land has against me but it only seems going down from muir kills me. Maybe I go down too fast? Maybe it's the lack of crampons? Maybe I don't lace my shoes up tight enough on the way down? It's weird, I mean hell my insulation is so tug around my feet and laced up so well it doesnt' move around at all, but the insulation/boot layer is what's a bit loose and tha tseems to casue the issue I think. My feet always stay warm and haven't gotten cold once in those things. This is just weird it seems. I think we're getting some where, but i'm not quiet sure where it's getting. I don't think it's an issue with being to hot/cold on my feet or wet since I've never seen them wet. And it only appears to happen going down, but my toes always end up fine whcih is odd... and only down from Muir. And even at that, I seem to notice the blisters around pebble creek if that helps.

Not poor by any means just trying to pay off debt and I can't justify 400 bucks for a new set of boots this year. And no, i'm not diabetic. I've got everything dialed by down-hill in my feet. As I've stated uphill = fine, just the downhill is what turns my feet into ash.

I'm almost positive that it's a friction blister. I didn't tie my shoes super tight that day on the way down and my feet always move fotwards my toes going down. I never have issues on the way up, it's only down, so my assumption is and what I feel is my foot sliding forward. Maybe I just have baby feet, maybe my shoes suck, maybe their a bit too large, but regardless I've made it down in a blister like that and it sucked and I want to avoid that again. I was thinking of stuffing the bottom of the shoe with maybe some foam or something to give me less space to wiggle.

Awesome Maybe I can get those for next year, it seems it's plastics for me again this year. Thanks for the info here guys, I've got a pretty good knoweledge about everything else, the only thing I wasn't 100% sure on was foot wear. I'm gonna duct tape my feet on the decent this year to avoid the blisters as that's the only time I got them so that should help prevent anything super nasty. And the previous year I was on teh summit it was 3.5 miles from Muir and I didn't get blisters on the way down which was odd, only from Muir to parking lot does it seem to destroy my feet. (Maybe fatigue?) Anyways, good advice and perhaps i'll have a nice pair of those next year!

Check the trip report in the rainier TR for the april 20th - 23rd trip and you can see a pic of the blister. I've got the experience on that but just had one question regarding the shoes~

Yah that's what I was affraid of. The only thing that really irks me about them is when I step on my tip toes the boots bend giving me a LOT of flexability and piviting on my toe which is something the expe's don't do. I don't mind wearing them but saving 2.5lbs would really be awesome, however if my feet get cold I'd have to call a trip off and coming from texas there's really no place to test these at all Also no way in hell I'm going to lug up 2 sets of boots i'd rather deal with the discomfort. But on the side note I'm more concerned about the flexibility on them than anything else as they do fit crampons, gators, water proof and are rated for neg 40.

Ok I have a set of plastics I use for mountaineering but they kinda destroy my feet on the decent and weight about 6 lbs total. I recently purchased the following boots http://www.pacificnorthwestoutfittersstore.com/servlet/the-141/Mens-Sorel-Timberwolf-09/Detail?site=www.shopping.com These Sorel Timberwolf 09 Winter Hiking Boots offer extreme, waterproof, cold weather ratings down to -40F/-40C while they are made for hiking, showshoeing or snowmobiling. Check out a few of the great features of these boots: Upper: Waterproof seamsealed synthetic construction Built-in gator loop on the vamp 400g Thinsulate™ insulation Removable molded EVA comfort footbed Molded EVA midsole for weight reduction and thermal protection Molded TPU toe cap for protection and molded snowshoe grip in the heel Traction enhancing multi-directional rubber lug outsole with shell bottom rated to -40 F Boot is rated to -40 F/ -40 C These boots are about 7.75 inches tall and weigh just around 24 oz. per boot. We carry them in two styles - Bark(shown) and Black and in half sizes 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5 and 12 in medium widths. That's the specs it has. It looks like it's rated cold, water proof and everything, and is crampon compatable too. I'm curious if you were going to Rainier June 20th would you opt for the plastics and just duct tape the feet on the descent and lug the extra weight, or take these up in it's stead? I'm kinda scared because I don't want to get cold feet or something happen to my feet as that's my transportation however, saving 2.5 lbs expecially on your feet is a pretty huge deal when doing a quick push up the mountain. Anyones thoughts on this? I'm leaning more towards these for this trip as I don't foresee it going below negative 20 at any point even if a storm blew in. Plus I'll be wearing high gators to avoid snow going in the boots.

The blogspot has great info updated a few days ago on ID and DC route.

Want to tell me how to navigate landmarks in this. [img:center]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-sjc1/hs324.snc3/28797_386109148170_634153170_4046024_3871184_n.jpg[/img] We were on course with the compass bearings but I was more affraid of the 70mph wind blowing us to the east (paradise glacier) and getting stuck on that in a storm.