Water

really beautiful-thanks for sharing. also, no better humor than borat to assuage the impending 'no-fun' of the shittake bivy.

ive heard full wax will more or less waterproof it but also make it non-breathable if gortex liner in there. Do you have Lowa Mnt Experts? I use the nikiwax water based leather waterproofing stuff. just sort of a spongy stuff you wipe onto the leather. I do it a time or two a year, though really never have had water issues in the 2 years I've used my boots.

duh! thanks. I was freaking out. didn't think of the date as everything else today has been spoof and hoax free.

So click the link or read below. http://www.timberlinelodge.com/heli/ I didn't see any news about timberline being granted some exception to the wilderness act. I'll contact the number below to get clarification. So really, helicopters in wilderness area for recreation, didn't think that was allowed outside of frank church river of no return wilderness area with landing strips they have. I'm surprised this is allowed. Or if they don't put a skid on summit are they clear of having a motorized vehicle in the wilderness area? ---------------------------

benb dont apologize. your relxed and patient response is humbling. whats your bivy setup? sleeping bag + outer? glorified space blanket? etc. probably room there stove setup? jetboil? whisperlight? bag of charcoal? =] might be room to lighten up there fluke? the name itself implies its value..i think most shovel head can be rigged fairly for such pro puffy pants and jacket - whats the setup there, can go lighter? using down or synth? take single warmer jacket is good advise, pants are (20oz?). i'd probably drop that, dont see big value in day-jaunt up hood..what is avg winter temp at 7k-probably 20? puff pants maybe if i spent a lot of time on rainier at 9-11k camps in shoulder season. but not hood stuff much of winter/spring, if windows avail. use backpack and/or light foam pad ($5 gardening kneel pad at bimart/walmart) for standing-still warmth (stand on pad, sit on pad, lean against, etc..)

just want to throw out that i have these boots and for my foot (low/no arch, narrow heel, low-medium volume) they are excellent and the durability has been phenomenal from snow to scree surfing. Have found the waterproofing to be excellent (no leaks, only get damp from natural born swampfoot), and the insulation to be warm. Climbed in them with thick woolies down to 5 degrees and was fine, though not sure i'd go much lower. I use them in the summer with a thinner synth sock too.

so.. people dog on the mazamas but i get the impression they are not a 1-to-1 of the mounties..anyone have any feedback on how the two orgs square up? I took their basic course and 90% was a recap of my backpacking life. You get what you pay for most of the time, non-profit with volunteers teaching/assisting/leading.. people do not expect the same as an AMGA, ACMG, AAI course, right? I didn't.

check those noaa links for the extrapolated data for adams and rainier @ 10k+ during storms. I've seen it showing 38"-41" for a 'night', then 31"-33" for the next day, etc, for a few days/nights. those extrapolated point-forecasts are a marvel of modeling and a dollop of deceit. frequently the 6k timberline post-snow measurements don't square at all with what the point-forecast for 6k were, at least on hood.

glad you had a good time and got a taste for some fun on hood. Any consolation my fiance's sister was here for a similar time period during memorial day weekend....so two months later--and she never got a decent glimpse of any volcano either, and we had a fresh inch of snow at the clear lake lookout we managed to rent at the last minute. Until you can get back, you can use these to assuage your lack of summit views: Mt. Rainier from Paradise: http://www.nps.gov/webcams-mora/mountain.jpg Mt. St helens view: http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/hdimages/volcanocamhd.jpg Crater Rim view of Crater Lake: http://www.nps.gov/webcams-crla/camerasinnott.jpg Mt Adams: http://www.petries.net/troutlake/camera0.jpg Central OR-3FJ, Wash, Sisters: http://www.callatg.com/~nsps/weather4.htm

Awesome TR! I would like to know if you ever figured out the who and why of 'everything is normal' and the ice cream. Who was it, and why the ice cream purchases--friendly hospitality of a drunk? Or the local visitor association representative? =] Thanks for sharing, the rock and mountains looks beautiful back up in there!

I most definitely did not step up to prove your point as you have listed it. like I said, I enjoy watching the drama unfold and have found good bits of info and some thought-provoking dialogue at times. You may argue otherwise, but most of the time when you post, the lines are drawn, and from both, it is all

for the record, i care. -to watch the shitstorm unfold whenever raindawg posts. there is often good food for thought with bits of good dialogue but the majority is: btw can we make that one of the standard smiley icons?

great TR, loved reading it--beautiful scenery also. love your digicam navigation technique, used that to some effect before, incl. pictures of maps.

mountains aren't going anywhere. You need to keep doing research about climbs and maybe even make a phone call to forest service ranger districts. Mt. Adams is probably a 25 mile trip from where you can access the road. Same issue you had with south sister. Why don't you talk with your instructor and get their assessment of what you think would be a good thing to do during your time off? you can probably call them now and get an idea. finish the class and sign up for one of their climbs. and/or make friends with people in class and climb with them when it is finished. If you look at your syllabus for BCEP you will see there is an outdoors snow weekend, likely in April, up on hood where you will practice self-arrest. Doesn't seem like you should be on anything where you may need to self arrest, until you know more about it.

*face palm* you need to keep researching. may i suggest snowshoeing around trillium lake?

you need to clarify. At first you said you're doing MSH then hiking to muir-that is work, but reasonable for two days. Now its MSH then trying to summit Rainier. Unless you're in really good shape, most people would indeed feel bombed to do MSH on thurs and then go to Rainier and summit it a day. But if you're an endurance person then it may not be unfeasible-it would be about 14,000ft of elevation gain between the two, presumably with some weight on the 9k of rainier. Just be realistic and it will be more fun. MSH is beautiful and will give you a great view of Rainier, if it is clear. driving to rainier than night (remember you'll have to go back out to I-5, don't try to cut up through the east side of MSH.. that road will still be snowed in probably-confirm before you leave) and going up to muir the next day would be feasible for just being in 'good' shape in my opinion. You'll feel tired from MSH but it isnt unfeasible if you're use to doing 5k gains.

any that have good weather conditions and reduced avalanche hazard, within your abilities to research approach and route.

better check on being able to get there next weekend... the road is closed until it melts. unless you ski or have sled friends

june 15? very likely not. but you could always just pay to rent them for a few days when you get here, if it has just dumped a number of inches higher up, late season.

can't offer any empirical input on the avy situation. personal opinion with the forecast right now, even if Sunday or Monday were to be bluebird, I'd probably still sit on my hands due to whats been coming all this week and prior. Now if it gets clear and stays clear and sunny for 2-4 days and nwac is showing decreased risk, well, I'd probably be out. Not that such a situation is just an auto-pass from avy danger. As far as the pink line you're referencing. That pink line is only what you'd do if you were going from the hogsback taking the old chute early as opposed to going UP higher on the hogsback and traversing over to the old chute. It is still a south-facing slope and still can have avy risk there. I can't find any photos at the moment but have seen some with slide that has a crown cutting through the pink line on the old chute slope. These three photos should help. edit: I only photograph, not sure who created the snow wand in the last picture.

it was not a natural trigger: artillery fire from avy control at meadows is responsible, i thought. "It was determined that the avalanche was triggered during our Artillery mission on the morning of the 10th just after 6:00 am." as per the meadows blog. total novice with avy analyzing, I'm wondering if at any point, does snowpack mass above weak layer help to consolidate/compress it/bond the layers better? just wondering if it plays a role. My gut tells me just as having a weak layer 6 inches down is going to respond diff. to environ than a weak layer 60 inches down, not sure if it is temperature alone? thanks

bad weather. big avy on SE face. see link posted a few hours ago.

talk to mnt soles in portland http://www.mtnsoles.com/tents

pcg: how are you getting a picture of the south slope's incline with mt hood behind it, since the slope faces south.. This taken from far to the east side towards mazama glacier? having trouble placing it I think the term headwall is not the correct geographical term? maybe just me but compared with the term headwall used on many a volcano that term would never come to mind for southside route of adams. As far as adams slope being something you have to self arrest on in firm conditions -- the same could be said any moderate snow slope of any size with a bad runout? slope + firm conditions generally warrant self arrest no matter the mountain, nothing unique to features on adams. larger size available in gallery. image 3 is just before pikers, so, the 'steepest' part of the south climb. at least in june conditions of 2010.

like others have said, unfortunately you cannot specifically train for any activity without doing it, by and large. I ran into this before I joined my fiance who was doing a thru-hike. that said, for indoors, stair mills or treadmills on maximum incline work for me. outdoors, you're well within a 5 hour drive for opportunity to hit some incredibly beautiful country in the spring (March/April/May). bucolic valley, climb to a ridge to some views and breezes, few miles of minor ups and down on the ridge, back down to another bucolic valley. repeat repeat repeat. This is actually where I joined her and I can assure you, following the trail, you can get in multiple 2000ft~ climbs in a day. the section just north of pearisburg goes WEST-EAST, mostly perpendicular to the ridges. http://www.fivemillionsteps.com/trailmap.php