YocumRidge

Who wants to climb NR on Baker this coming weekend 07/09-10 weather permitting? I prefer C2C, but will camp too if weather is decent. I have all gear and a car. Will be driving from PDX.

North side being a north side. As of yesterday 07/04/11, FR 2329 is mostly under snow, we parked 1 mile away from the intersection with FR5603 and hiked the rest 4 miles to get to the Killen Creek TH and 10 miles one way total to the high lake at 7505'. Snow is well consolidated though thus making cross-country travel a breeze but bring your GPS with as many waypoints as possible - the routefinding on the approach is not obvious.

Weird, we did not give permission to the channel 2 on the video release. Do you have the link, Gene, by chance? Or the channel 2 is the Weather channel in Seattle (which we did give the permission to)?

Yeah, the slide activity continued through Monday. There is more on this in the Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015453613_rainier29m.html Yes, we climbed a part of the N. Icefall next morning before the sun hit the cleaver - the only time window the slides subsided but oh man crossing that avy path was tough, cuz I really suck at sprint hurdling

I appreciate everyone's input! The stove with the now permanently integrated pot still works , however the ignitor blew for good but thankfully a regular lighter does the job just as well. Will wait on upgrading it though.

Likewise, Forrest!

No way, Dru - the heat exchanger is built-in, the stove was sitting on snow all time, and the cook pot never completely dried out but the set up WAS tilted.

Ok guys, I know it is weird but my titanium Jetboil stove annihilates itself. This is what happened to it on Rainier - melted plastic holder, ignitor connection and grill (made of Ti I suppose): Did anyone have this problem? Could it be due to the stove tilt while melting snow?

Yeah, too much excitement to be had for sure. Once the slides begun, the geologists could not even get to and retrieve the sensor set up on Nisqually in between Cowlitz and Nisqually cleavers.

Ha, V, you should have totally come and brought more screws - ice was calling you!

Nisqually Cleaver on Rainier has massively displaced itself when we climbed Nisqually Icefall and is out for the season. [video:vimeo]25645698 My sorry tent suffering volcanic fallout: Avy debris seen from N. Icefall:

Check your PMs.

My friend Nate is about to go do a ninja stealth climbing mission up the side of a building in downtown Portland under the cover of night. Bouldering: Taste of ice on Stuart in June. (Phil W on West ridge) Humor:

Will go aiding with Ivan in the rain at Beacon tomorrow and hoping he is not gonna blow his other ankle Sunday is a possibility if it is not too wet. John: do you wanna run up the North face on Hoodie C2C next week? Might be a good warm up for your upcoming voyage to Alaska Joe: I will be available mid-week the last week of June. I'll PM you.

Would love to go cragging this weekend in/around Portland or Smith. Or Teiton. I am mostly interested in moderate trad, but am flexible. Have a rack, ropes. Please PM or e-mail.

Scenic: Mount Hood Alpine: OlegV on the north face of Mt. Borah Ice: photo credit of Veronika (spionin) Cragging: Chad at Bulo Point

You cannot wish for a better partner . Bribe him with gas money, food, beer to go climbing Rainier or whatever with. Jon.

Yes. And some of them arriving from Portland! Thanks Doug!

I am multi-tasking, KK

Oh, and I thought the best climbing was at Beacon

Trip: Stuart - Stuart Glacier Couloir/West Ridge topout Date: 6/12/2011 Trip Report: Still being in a recovery mode after freezing my ass off in a snow cave on the Sandy HW, I bailed on Rainier and was looking for some warmer objective for a change. One of my favorite partners Phil Wesseler (LowLife) and I decided to head to Stuart and try the John Frieh’s “warm-up” route for Alaska – Stuart Glacier Couloir. None of us climbed Stuart before, so the “warm-up” (well, its extra bonus West Ridge in the current mixed conditions) turned out to be hmmm – stressful. I left PDX at 3 am on Sat, picked up Phil in Tacoma and we started at the Stuart lake TH at 9.30 am. Thanks to Kaskadsky Kazak for the north approach GPS track, we reached the Sherpa glacier basin at around 1.30 pm. Stuie from the approach: At the Sherpa basin: Next morning, still in the dark, we delivered cramponed ourselves to the Stuart glacier and got to the shrund at sunrise. Myself on the Stuart glacier: Great views: Stuart range: SGC from below the shrund: Phil approaching the shrund: The shrund is passable on the right - on rocks, snice and rime - before moving left back in the couloir. Phil soloing the crossing: The rest of the couloir was a composite of alpine ice and snice, the constriction was in decent WI shape and the topout to the summit ridge – melting snow. Lower in the couloir: Myself midway: Top out: We had soloed the entire couloir including the shrund crossing and the constriction, and so did Jens Holsten and his partner who were behind us (my apologies guys for raining ice down on you). Apparently, the couloir is supposed to be only the approach. West Ridge was up next. What a bitch, a great bonus for sure. We traversed the south side and simul soloed the snice/thin ice/rock steps to the twin horns. First 15 feet off the notch were shaky with tools blowing through the rime but things improved higher up or perhaps we became more immune to the terrain. Roping up for the north side: Phil is leading the double crack pitch: More ridge traversing follows: Phil has freed the crux. No hangs! Stoked! Finally, the rimey summit ridge and badassed dogs who will be skiing the Ullrich Couloir later: On the summit: Thanks Phil for being an awesome partner! Gear Notes: Used: Master cam #0, C4s 0.3-2, stoppers. Brought but not used: 2 ice screws, 1 picket, russian Ti pins. Approach Notes: Stuart Lake TH

It was nice to meet you guys too. Glad you made it!

I would just camp on the Collier gl at the base of the west face and get to the gendarmes in the dark. When we did the North last year, we overslept, started late, and once the sun hit the ridge, the posthole fest had begun - it took freaking forever. The Terrible traverse and the bowling alley were in the shade for much longer than we expected, but still, we got to the gendarmes on our way back at 1 p.m. Horrible slow descent, like you said "interesting" - in our case we triggered a wet slide off the ridge down the SE slopes (the ones that would go at 45 deg) and rode it for 1000' to get down to the camp.

Yes Alex, it took me a couple of days to digest the events but no regrets except I really wish I had brought a tent instead of planning on the "sweet" open bivy at 10K. In the end of the day, my intent was to spend 2 days on the mountain and an extra 2.5 lbs is a reasonable trade off to minimize the pain of the conditions.

What an awesome outing Doug and Aaron! Sketchfest at its best! Now Doug you are really really ready for the Yocum ridge! And that horrible orange linkcam is still following you around I thought your B-day is in August, or you guys decided to speed things up for the SGC treat?