Water

i've read/researched discussion about rope freeze into v-thread and never read of an instance of that happening. If there is flowing water and the rope is wet maybe its a less than great idea. Seems fine in this instance. put me in the camp of don't give a rats about the lock. but ride your sled in wilderness ok i'd be pissed. rainier is a bitch about access even when things are 'open'.

Chris, if you haven't checked out Mike Gauthier's climbing guide thats pretty solid over-view of almost every conceivable route on the mountain. I'll email you some camera phone pics of the pages on this route if you'd like, pm your addy. http://www.amazon.com/Mount-Rainier-Climbing-Guide-Edition/dp/0898869560

we climbed kautz that weekend and came down the DC. lets just say I was a much bigger fan of the kautz than the DC. At least on Sunday afternoon the 'wall' or whatever was pretty chill to negotiate but we did see the remaining team behind us take about an hour to do it. With 'some' experience climbing it took about 5 minutes but for those not use to such situation I guess it was a real impediment. it was a gorgeous weekend for sure, great climbing conditions.

bivy doesn't have wifi? I get wifi when i'm just in the parkinglot--and even down by the river. But it doesn't make it over there?

i tried bumping it for a while. I certainly haven't put the work in but would be willing to do whatever I can. It is hard to believe there isn't a good, modern, comprehensive hood book.

end of may being a few miles from the TH is more than par for the course. But this is a low snow year so might get as close as a mile away, depends on our spring. Rain melts snow faster than sun. as for glacier, especially on the 'early' season variation that goes a little more to the East and past Red Butte, you never cross a glacier from TH to the summit. It is debatable if the 'crescent' is a glacier anymore or more like palmer snowfield.. it may be more of a permanent snowfield than have much ice or ice movement. really dont think you need to spend any energy worrying about crevasses on the standard southside route up adams.

um..no bikes in wilderness areas amigo. the boundary is about 200ft from the TH.

when you say gatorade is absolute garbage that will negatively impact performance..do you mean for an athlete at the top of their game, trying to maximize their training or execute their craft to the highest level? For the weekend warrior who is in good shape but not setting any speed records.. does it matter vs if they got a good night of sleep or ate something else beneficial or detrimental the night before? Anecdotally I've found the 'ade of whatever sort to be more beneficial than plain water when I'm doing something, assuming I take the same snack consumption breaks, I like having those extra calories with my agua while I'm going up--to me it seems to help.

great TR. a real hoot. lots of pics, and a quick entertaining read. i laughed good at the squirt, nice recovery.

MattP is correct. I am a very incremental climber so in my research Kautz seemed like a good progression from Emmons ..anyways in my research I believe I came across info that said Kautz was one of the main ways up the mountain for a time--somewhat like Cooper Spur on hood being the primary route until road access on the south side. In an average snow year I think you're looking at a mostly snow climb for Memorial Day, weather conditions aside. We took a trip there in early June last year to ski it but maybe blessing in disguise wind issues forced us down in the middle of the night. Only because in retrospect I'm not sure I want to ski that even with good conditions...hehe. We did climb it later (july) and it was a blast, but had two melted out sections about 50ft each of rotten glacier ice, but it wasn't very technical, big steps and shelfs in a lot of places.

i dont want to come down criticizing (for the record I like your TR's and adventures!!) but i think that you're talking about solo'ing and saying it's not rolling the dice is what jared says sounds foolhardy. Every fall, roped or otherwise, will certainly have science behind it...biology of muscles, psychological state, environmental conditions, geology, physics. Sure probability stats won't explain an accident, they're just a number. You can quantify all sorts of factors but without frankly acknowledging that 50ft up soloing a 5.6 is much more dangerous position than 50ft up with your last clip 10ft below, it doesn't seem like an honest assessment. Comparing to driving isn't appropriate, unless it is to on average driving faster than the speed limit or conditions would indicate, or, driving with a very low-level buzz, or without a seatbelt maybe is an even better example. by solo'ing alone it seems like that is rolling the dice--you never know when a few wasps could swarm you on a 5.7, or the day you develop a slight allergy to the fennel seed bagel you tried for lunch, causing you to feel faint or dizzy. is solo'ing not undue risk? id post a TR but hey, i hurt myself climbing... haha

never an excellent climber for sure in part due to other interests. And 3 weeks post op of lisfranc ligament surgery so probably never going to get any better than whatever I was before. Nice full circle hurt myself climbing and now permanently have dyneema going through two bones in my foot holding them together. Anyways... 1) backpacking (wife will do this almost every weekend when its nice so that puts it at the top) 2) fishing 3) photography (goes with most outdoor activity) 4) skiing 5) gardening (really like cacti and succulent plants. Brought my collection out with from Michigan almost 8 years ago)..one day when i'm old and creaky i hope to live somewhere like new mexico where my cacti and succulents can thrive. things I would like to get into: road biking kayaking ..maybe scuba

well none of you lucky bastards has had this injury or heard of it except someone who responded to a pm who mentioned Lisfranc in a post 10 years ago. For any poor soul who gets this injury down the road and goes hunting on CC for info, feel free to pm me even if it's years from now. Injury blog: http://lisfranconsciousness.wordpress.com

how can these talked about shirts be acquired by pdx folk?

i'll second going the dynafits if the intention is BC, get going on them now, fooling around with alpine bindings doesn't gain you any knowledge for BC as far as binding understanding goes. One other thing if you're a new skier, you'll probably rip gouge and scuff your shiny new planks pretty good through your first year. If you roll with that fine, no worries. I considered it badges of honor but at the same time was happy I hadn't opted for some primo full price cottage company ski running $750 and north. No sure where you are with finances but the initial entry cost to skiing.. once you have all your stuff and are 'ski-worthy in ability' the idea of springing for a more primo ski becomes much more palatable and accessible. From someone who put off getting into skiing for a few years due to the initial costs. i was told 90-100mm underfoot of course with rocker. I opted for a ski with a bit less side cut for skimo objectives vs touring. my tails also have a very slight rise which is great for sideslipping, i like that. look up praxis--thats cottage stuff but they have some great deals right now..Also i hear only positive stuff about the offerings from G3--their entire touring line has been lightened.

gotcha.. there for a job, gotta wait till less windy..only been in night. makes sense. Hey if you go up to Taos...this is just north of there, google but I think its maybe a 30min drive out of town. I have been there twice, once in december and once in late September. Both times brilliant. camping down by the river (covered pavilions) or up at the rim, is great. Both times it was not busy at all (almost nobody). Or for a day trip just hike down to big arsenic springs (true definition of a spring with water gushing out of a huge hole in ground) and then hike south along rio grande to confluence with the red river and back up out, rt maybe 4miles. Other cool factoid I learned is that there are ancient lava tubes flowing with water many hundreds (or a thousand?) of feet underground in NM--in some places the rio grand has cut down and intersected them so clear water gurgles up into the rio grande at some decent flows (big one is 6000 gal/min) http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/taos/wild_rivers_rec_area.html https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/periodicals/nmg/downloads/32/n1/nmg_v32_n1_p26.pdf

I learned how to ski in the 'same' year--practiced in the resort in the winter and spring and by summer was doing stuff like adam's southwest chutes at a level that was fun for me and didn't involve a shitshow or holding up more experienced partners. Not that that run is particularly bodacious but its solid and a great way to spend a summer day. If your intention is to be in the BC you've got nothing to lose with having BC gear while you learn, imo I think it is better to get to know your equipment and how it behaves in a more controlled setting like the resort. Some people will poo poo about using dynafit inbounds but thats really a personal thing. Maybe if you're going 70 days a winter on lifts theres no reason for dynafits but if its you know 10-15 times while you're learning more nothing to lose. get after it! cheers

Where in nowhere NM are you? NM is a beautiful state. If there weren't even less jobs than Oregon it's a state I'd enjoy living in.. Thanks for the pics. Curious about night shift work.. Work contact dictates completing services in short time frame, or what's the situation for being up at the top of a turbine in dead of night? do wind fields require 24/7 onsite presence?

We'll there was property damage at the minimum, so I'd think you'd need or want a police report if you're looking the get insurance to cover that. And just because you walked away and are "sore as hell" doesn't mean in two months you might still be dealing with something. A lingering back injury, doctors appointments, missed work, pt... As much as everything may be cool and worked out at the scene, you'd almost be foolish not to cover your bases with a police report. I'm no fan of police involvement but when bodily injury is involved it's just prudent, no different than if a car contacted a pedestrian or cyclist. Glad you are okay and the sledder sounds decent aside from hitting you.

Well I will write more on this... first of all this experience has taught me not to expect medical system to be the advocate for your health. You must trust your gut and be your own champion to make sure your issues are addressed to your own satisfaction. There may be good and bad doctors but i'd rather think of it as right and wrong doctors for an individual. Nobody I saw had bad intentions, but, the right doctor resonates with the patient and has the expertise to reflect back that they understand what is going on and present a firm basis of diagnosis and options. Secondly this injury is very very easily misdiagnosed (as I was twice) and can go undiagnosed if original dx do not hold up. So it often gets overlooked. It occurs 1 out of 55,000 in the general population but there still appears to be a ton of info about it. It is the second most common NFL foot injury behind turf-toe. My hunch/self-diagnosis from almost 2 months ago was spot on. While that may seem smug I sure as hell wish I had been wrong. Even though I wasn't in much pain, my foot felt weird and I certainly wasn't jogging on it or climbing. MRI results were quite clear of at least a partial if not complete Lisfranc ligament tear, and signs of damage to the plantar surface Lisfranc ligaments that go from the medial cuneiform to the 2nd and 3rd metatarsals. General soft tissue edema around the head of the 2nd meta and possible a small avulsion (bone fleck) which is highly indicative of a ligament tearing off. Also marrow edema (bone bruise) on the medial plantar surface of the medial cuneiform where the Lisfranc ligament connects to it. I was shocked that the edema was visible still 8 weeks after the injury to be honest. Got those MRI results Tuesday Feb 18th and had surgery on the 21st. Instead of drilling a screw between the medial cuneiform and the second metatarsal I opted for a somewhat ingenious but more expensive method that runs a wire-like suture between the two instead. A hole is still drilled through the bone, but it is smaller diameter (2mm vs 4mm for screw which has threads that go to 5mm) and then a shirt like oval button is put on one end of the hole with the suture material wrapped around through it. On the other end a 'cap' button is used. This has a small cylindrical base which goes into the drill hole and then has a smooth head which has a tiny hole in it for the wire suture to come out of. Think of the fly rivet/button on jeans. Thus the suture is pulled tight and tied off with the joint and bones in proper alignment. It is not a bionic ligament--but it is quite strong. Like the screw the important part is keeping the area in tight alignment like it normally was. The real healing/recovery comes from not bearing weight on it for 2-3 months, as the Lisfranc joint is an up-and-down movement in your foot (dorsal to plantar). The main benefit is that this does not require a second surgery to remove with the risks that come with surgery. Also there is not a strong consensus on when to remove screws and to allow them to bear any weight, so it bypasses those variables. There is no consensus due to the wide variety of simple and complex foot injuries and each doctor tends to have their own view. Also depends on the patient of course (age, athletic, non-ambulatory, etc) Generally recovery has been faster with this method due to no second surgery but also because unlike screws the wire does allow the joint to move, weight bearing can begin sooner. My doctor said this was the method he had been using on athletes. I would have to believe having less bone material drilled out of the foot is also inherently better. Downsides are that it is a newer technology (maybe 8 years? I need to research when it was made available by the FDA? not just in trials). It costs a lot more. Stainless surgical screws are ~$50 and this tight-rope method by the Anthrex company is ~$500 (probably $2000+ on the bill I'll get). There have been some reports that the wire has laxity--ie if ti was not tied tightly (really can be mitigated easily) and that over time it could loosen, however the time scales seemed much longer than the 8-12 weeks in which it is thought that the ligament heals, so that is not considered an appreciable problem. General recovery from this injury is 6 months to 1 year. At 24 months one should have an accurate view of what their foot health should be like going onward, assuming there haven't been complications from surgery or recovery. Timelines can certainly be adjusted up or down depending on the wide amount of healing and patient variables--good ol' luck of the draw, to be exact. Iong term prognosis from Lisfranc injuries generally are not good. There are better ways to hurt the foot for sure. At a minimum arthritis is very likely, in many cases almost a guarantee. Joint fusions are sometimes done in the first place to treat this, and are used when this injury has gone untreated or misdiagnosed for too long (months-years). If initial surgeries are not successful then fusion is what is done. If arthritis gets to be debilitating, fusions are done (patient option in all cases of course). That said, people do recover full from this injury. Just like cancer and broken backs and comas and all sorts of things that are SO much worse than a foot injury! My injury was a grade II sprain. The joint had normal alignment at rest. If it did not it would be grade III. That is generally better for long term prognosis. So I'll take that. A custom orthotic will be needed of course. I have no idea if this will have any bearing on my situation, but as the Lisfranc joint is somewhat a keystone or linch pin of the arch, I'm curious if my naturally pretty damn flat feet will have any impact on recovery and long term results. Being flat maybe that joint does not get loaded as much as i hold weight on most of foot vs being high arched the weight is carried on the fore and rear foot. I'm doing a blog for this and will post a link to it later but figured I'd at least wrap this up because the whole of cc.com doesn't have a single report of anyone doing more than briefly mentioning this joint 1 time.' cheers

bump. didnt resolve after 4 weeks of diligently wearing walking boot, but did improve. Pain only in odd situations (side to side compression of foot/pushing down on outer 4 toes while lifting foot up...and that foot/ankle being weak from wearing a boot for a month. 1st sports med doc dx hairline fracture of second metatarsal--but was just guessing on xrays, and wholly discounted possibility of anything to do with lisfranc. saw a specialist this week and they immediately honed in to lisfranc. appears to be a subtle injury if so. anyone been there/done that with this injury [midfoot sprain/lisfranc damage] (to any degree?)

http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=18049 for pictures down lower. whats always open this time of year, and years prior, is the road to cooper spur sno park (at 3800ft) then take trail up to TJ. from there keep going up.

wtf... i give you kudos for two huge things---one, you started at the mazama lodge--seriously? good on you for that, seriously whats that another 2000k added for a route that doesn't require it. In my wildest dreams I wouldn't... except to ski down the extra after a climb. and secondly, how'd you rent boots in the wee hours (or did you walk up to tline the day before??). damn you must have had some serious mental drive and self-justification to go through the process of renting boots and still going for it. thats some really unflinching commitment or impressive self-deception. Certainly helps me frame myself as a puss, I'd probably abort if i forgot my socks..let alone boots. Glad those rentals didn't turn you into hamburger foot in the middle of your route. safer with a partner--generally, yes. A line attributed to Bruce Temper but relayed to me through an avy instructor prior climb ranger on hood and rainier said "You live and die by your habits". It is a worthwhile line to consider. All variables aside you're generally safer with a partner. And getting mixed up on that side of the mountain --- the first time I gave it a go we did a wrong gully but then were able to traverse over to the upper part of Leuths. I swore and swore I'd never make that mistake again, I studied multiple images, google earth, etc. 4 years later going back there we made a wrong turn (for about 20ft). though after the 3rd time i think that was the charm (no issues). cheers, thanks for sharing.

consider posting this on portlandhikers.org and nwhikers.net as well, both places should yield helpful reports. as you may have gathered there is a dearth of snow here (especially in Oregon more than WA..). There are a handful of hikes in the Columbia River Gorge that could be a ton of fun for you (table mountain, mount defiance, hamilton mountain, munra point) Beyond that you could go pretty high up on the south side of Mt. hood wearing microspikes/snowshoes--at least to 8,500ft the top of the ski area could go a bit higher but if its icy then probably best to call that your top-out. Good luck, have fun.

ill be a bit of a party pooper and eat any crow served back my way but generally if you're asking some of these questions perhaps you're not yet ready to tackle that objective? your questions are somewhat general and can be answered with basic climbing knowledge and a topo.. maybe learn what makes it a non-technical climb in the summer and extrapolate that to winter conditions you've experienced on another volcano? that said this year may be one of few years mere mortals could get up during the winter, due to lack of significant snow down low--you may be able to drive fairly high. skiing wise if indications on hood and helens are much of anything, things may be pure shit on the southside where the wind and sun left ice, though it could be great corn, I'd guess pretty variable conditions and some sections unrideable fwiw ive maybe only seen 1 or 2? (if that) winter adams ascent TRs [aka this time of year]. I have no doubt its been done a fair bit more than that though.