nhluhr

Oops! indeed! Pray for big snow next winter! If you have extra time in your shcedule when you arrive, you could do Mount Adams which requires little to no technical skill on the south spur route but will give you plenty of altitude to start acclimatizing for Rainier. Just make sure you leave plenty of recovery time between the two. I realize this is probably not feasible for somebody traveling in from the midwest, but it's a thought. If you fly into PDX, Adams isn't far from there. You could go directly from the airport to Adams. PDX is also easier (but not as short) access to/from paradise so if you use RMI or IMG, you never have to deal with the mess of Sea-Tac and seattle traffic. It's also almost always cheaper to fly into PDX than SEA. If you're interested in doing an Adams trip prior to Rainier, I can provide some specific advice on logistics for the out-of-towner. Before I moved to WA this winter, I lived in VA. I did this exact combo - PDX to Adams to Rainier. If you're short on gear or partners, I am certain you could find a person willing to go up it with you if you post in the Climbing Partners section.

Precisely. Outside of a few nutjobs who haven't yet tripped the alarms, very few of the licensed carriers are going to pose a problem. The real danger will always be the unlicensed folks carrying for the wrong reasons.

The snowpack is gonna be thin this summer so I wouldn't push it into August if I were you. Mid to late July is probably the safest bet. Obvious advice: Train HARD and work up to a heavy pack on your back while training to make your exertion on Rainier seem less extreme.

I like the stretch of softshell over nylon. That and softshells won't have that cold feel on the inside of the fabric when the wind blows.

Have you tried changing where the little moveable tongue-pad sits? It's just attached with velcro and you can definitely alter the fit over the foot with it... Although if it's truly too short of a boot, there won't be much you can. FWIW, I bought Nepals as well and found them to be true-to-average-size.

Thanks for the amazing TR and photos!

I'm interested in a Glacier trip and can arrange my schedule as needed.

Truckers hitch = best thing ever for tent guylines, bear bags, etc. One tip though... instead of forming a loop with an overhand bight, just do a little slipknot loop... that way, when you undo it later, the whole thing comes out without any extra work.

By my calculations, 3mm of silica aerogel is equivalent to no more than 20mm of down insulation when one considers only the conductive/convective properties. I wonder if the much improved radiant properties of aerogel (plus the foil barrier) will give it that extra bit to meet the claim of 40mm down equivalence...

What you said... is not different from what I said; except that I provided an additional engineering equivalency that is widely accepted.

Aluminum has no endurance limit. Well, to be less brief... The "Endurance Limit" is really the maximum stress at which the material does not exhibit fatigue (at infinite cycles). Although aluminum does not have such a limit, engineering circles generally consider the stress to which it can survive 500million cycles to be adequate. Obviously the exact composition and temper will have a significant effect.

In a word... no. Dyneema is a dutch brand of Spectra and is relatively UV resistant, compared to traditional Nylon. It wouldn't be wise to use a material that is highly UV susceptible for boat sails. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailcloth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyneema

Thanks for pointing that out... it was what I was about to post. I just don't see the benefit of this. I call gimmick.

The nice thing about traditional wire-gates is that the gate itself is the spring... nothing to fail except the main structure of the carabiner itself. With this, I'm pretty sure they need a coil or leaf spring to make it work so I don't see the benefit over a normal gated biner. What did their marketing materials claim with respect to this piece?

I did my B.S. in Materials Science and for the most part, so long as the product isn't engineered to the limits of strength/mass (like a Tour de France bicycle frame), carbon fiber products can take a LOT of damage to the matrix (the clear part) and not be affected. Once the damage appears to be reaching into the reinforcement (the fibers), then you should begin worrying.

I definitely like my Canon SX200IS but it is definitely bulkier/heavier than the old SD850IS that I had. The larger optics do allow it to take slightly better photos though while still fitting in my pants or jacket pocket. I once carried my Canon G9 and it was just annoyingly large/heavy.

No... GPS is a tool that must be used properly. Thousands of people using the same tool did not make this mistake. The problem is with the user and all accountability/blame is on him.

I always wake up with dry gloves...Just have to keep them on my chest while I sleep.

Don't put too much value in the result of the weigh-in. You may or may not have lost weight depending on dietary changes but you can be SURE that no matter the result, you have traded fat for muscle, which is progress.

I'm not convinced about some of the other things you said, but you definitely got the kern (inner core) and mantle (outer sheath) mixed up You're right. We should just call it core and sheath. Fixed my post.

Liner socks will almost certainly solve your blister problem. If not, the problem will solve itself as your feet toughen up. Keep up the great work! I'm excited to see the one-month result. Also, no photo record of your physique? That would be a great way to help yourself see the progress.

Oh and, there's a video out there that Mike Barter has linked to that details a special way to munter which twists the rope opposite the way the rope would normally twist and thus mitigates most of the pigtail.

I was under the impression that rappelling, period, twists the rope... maybe i'm wrong. No, you're absolutely right. 95% of ropes out there have a kern-mantle construction. The kern (inner core) is the primary load bearing component of the rope. The mantle (outer sheath) is primarily for handling and protection. These two pieces are not bonded to each other. The construction of the kern is generally spiral while the mantle is generally a woven symmetrical design. This means that when they are heavily loaded and stretching, you get a relative torque between the kern and mantle. If the torque is great enough, it causes the mantle to slip on the kern. This produces pigtailing, regardless of flaking or proper handling. Certain types of belaying or rappelling can exacerbate rope twist while others minimize it, but it is near impossible to completely eliminate it.

I recently read "The Beckoning Silence" by Joe Simpson and in it, he talks about the first attempt to make "Touching The Void" into a movie. The directors were insane, wanting to cast Tom Cruise as Joe, wanting to give them radios to talk to each other since they didn't know how to portray the feelings of isolation and conundrum, etc. Hollywood sucks.