Water

here is a TR from last year: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/902472/Searchpage/1/Main/69375/Words/Cathedral+/Search/true/TR_Mt_Hood_Cathedral_Ridge_6_8#Post902472 the approach is going to be hell until you can just drive to Top Spur TH..which will be a while still, even with low snow pack. though if you can just get to the top of lolo pass that would probably be sufficient as it would add maybe 2-3 miles max following PCT general direction and about 1000ft extra gain from lolo to the topspur/mcneil/PCT trail junction. cooper spur is a fun non-southside route without a bfe approach

what were your last two tents? I used a squall 2 on the AT for a number of months...and have a double-rainbow for summer backpacking and good conditions in the shoulder seasons. my fiance used a contrail before I joined her. both were great for the AT. However this past summer, after 4-5 days straight of rain on the North Boundary Trail up along mt robson park/jasper... i have to say a negative on the silnylon. Perhaps the 4oz liner would have helped if I had bought that, but unless you can get good airflow with the silnylon, it will get a good amount of condensation, and eventually it will start misting onto you with each heavy-rain drop that hits the tent. This is fine on short trips but 40miles from the nearest trailhead and the only form of shelter is misting your sleeping bags, no thanks. Other factor is that as it gets damp and cold, it sags. it just never strikes me as a good material for alpine-unless as a summer tarp. on an intuitive level the scarp2 doesn't seem like a good shape. I could see it getting torn up in serious wind. I'm sure mr shires would defend the tent vigorously, and I don't blame him, but my 2cents comes as someone who's spent ~$700 satisfied dollars on his tents.

april 9th listing on forest service web page says that due to snow the road is closed ~6 miles from marble mnt snow park--you can only partially get up 83. ahhhh... i see WA only services snoparks until the 31st of march. bet they saved a bundle this year with low snow. hope so at least.

from the last post on the TR thread it looks like 1 of the two is dead.

lodestone/chad: those are streams of water that come down each afternoon with the daily thunderstorms. the setting in rio looks incredible, the rock looks quite similar.

there was one on sale on pdx craiglist for $100 i think http://books.google.com/books?id=f94DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA158&lpg=PA158&dq=%2B%22tempest+23%22+%2Btent&source=bl&ots=ThnOkOaper&sig=vsNntzXOAUUSabIlPbXrDeru0LY&hl=en&ei=wG-7S-6yJYz0sQPEoIGDBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCkQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%2B%22tempest%2023%22%20%2Btent&f=false

i too read about it on the blog when it was there, but cannot find it now-it seems that post was removed.

of course go do it! just really look at why you're doing it now, specifically, and not the other times. lousy work and looking out the window on a sunny day can give an emotional response.. Is it just that now is the first juncture where your savings is high enough for you to see the adventures materialise and make a much more tolerable vision than 6 months more of work? being an engineer and looking at numbers, what hugh said holds a lot of water--i dont know what kind of lifestyle you want to live but if its not pretty low, it gets expensive quick. i am basically your age and traveled in south america for 3 months and spend 5 months hiking the AT with my girlfriend/now fiance. I regret none of the time and though the counsel i generally deem wise and have found valuable in my life advised towards making conservative choices (not quitting a job after a ~year, etc), today they laud the experiences gained, especially in juxtaposition to their own youth and hearing what their niece, nephew, co-worker's child, etc is doing with life.. you do big things (for yourself) you'll have a big impact (for yourself). from thru-hiking i can say many potential employers were impressed by the 'feat' and it helped to differentiate me -- though it is important to emphasize that they are not just your next potential paycheck to the next voyage, unless its a clear short-term job. a few things that run through my mind are: how hard is it to get rid of any debt you have now? how hard to double what you've saved already? whats your skillset--do you think you can get hired decently quick in an economy like this or maybe a bit better? whats safety net? ie: you travel/climb for 2-12 months, come home penniless, or at it's worst some credit card debt, plus student loans, and can't find a job for 3 months. living in the parents basement? i spent 3 unemployed in michigan in my parents house after south america with no more than $100 when i got back. after thru hiking i had $1000 and my gf had $300. we left michigan for oregon and spent 3 months on a flea encrusted couch in a 700sq ft condo with a family of 4, living out of a suitcase in the corner and everything else in our car. And i owe that family forever for their tolerance and patience while we got established out here. fortunately we had and have no debt. of course it will generally all work out, but if i could give advise, its to save more, and try to plan a tiny bit for what you'll be coming back to. and in my experience, being anything close to satisfied with work after incredible extended travel and adventure is near impossible. there will always be that worm of an idea in the back of your head after that. its why we're planning a pct thru for 2012 probably =]

MattS: Here are some reviews off REI's site. Looks like at least 3 people have said they used them for ice climbing in ouray and in cody. I suppose there is probably stiffer if you're going to be spending hours and hours on the ice and ice alone but if the fit is good and the price right it sounds like it would work well. http://www.rei.com/product/719735 in addition you might try picking through this original thread of mine that landed me on the Mnt Experts. please ignore the extreme nubism on my part in it Some people discussed the predecessor of the silberhorn there i believe. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/876847/mountaineering_boot_advice_for#Post876847

dust cloud in mnts found this pretty impressive. suffice to say i would not have wanted to be even camping anywhere in those mountains during this, aside from it being mexico and near the border..

mjaso: thanks for the additional clarification! much appreciated. right now i have a good price on a summit mnt so i am leaning that way. Though i saw an old event nemo on ebay that i had my eye on. stl if you're out there, I sent you a PM and would love to hear your take on the rab summit mountain (other than the lack of a rear vent) as i'm leaning towards that one but would love to read at least one field-based testimonial (odd there isn't a single one for that tent on the entire internet that i can find at least..maybe my 20-something google-skills are shameful)

the sno-park should be plowed as that is what the over-priced washington sno-park pass is suppose to pay for. i am sure there are some sledders whove been waiting and waiting to get their rigs out in the area so im sure they've been happy to have the snow level finally drop and get access there too.

sorry i cannot comment on the silberhorn directly but i have been extremely satisfied with the mountain expert boot. to me the silberhorn somehow seems higher on the ankle/calf than the mountain expert--though in counting the lacing it seems to have the same number. contact lowa, they might be able to offer you differentiation details that obviously aren't on the website. also the silberhorn does not seem to have a spot in the middle of the upper tongue to help with lacing techniques (depending on how you lace up), which the mnt expert has. also the silberhorn seems to have a single piece of un-interrupted leather while the mnt expert has some plastic/fiber panels near the heel. Lastly the silberhorn's listed weight is pound? or something (maybe not that much) more than the mnt expert. To me, it seems like a bulkier boot, somehow.

great april fools

i really enjoy the wallowas in the summer, would love to get over there in the winter though for approaches and the likes it seems prudent to first learn to be proficient on some form of skis. love the pictures, looks like ya'll had fun which sounds like you accomplished that mission perfectly.

no helmet. the blog use to say something about wondering why he didn't have it on since he normally wore one, but i can't find that content anymore.

apologies if this is in the wrong forum/area/not appro for this site. thought some rock folks might enjoy seeing these. if I recall correctly, I'm told they're the ancient granite? cores of the old mountains that use be. What remains today is the Guiana Shield. i wasn't into or really aware of any kind of climbing when i traveled to south america about 4 years ago. Going through pictures I found, among things, this formation we visited in the Colombian Amazon (Río Inírida) Cerros del mavicure.. I heard some french team climbed the tallest of the 3, about 15 years?~ ago. approach is about 10-15hrs of boat rides depending on how fast your boat is. would love to hear anyone's musings. since it rains and is the friggin amazon, there is a nice black slime/algae that grows. try to walk on it too early, its like ice. once it dries it gives good traction. however, since it rains every afternoon, you'd be screwed to walk down until the next-midday. bigger versions in my gallery

condition?

OffTheSteppe: I will ask him. He had a bunch of clay'ish mud caked onto him all over, so i am guessing he was between snow/ice and ground. I wasn't really interested in details considering I led him up there (first time) and after hanging out for an hour, without telling me he just glissaded down the hogsback and walked in a spiral like water going down a drain, ending with a jump into the fumarole and out of sight from any spot on the hogsback. I'm no climbing, mt hood, or fumarole expert, or even close, and my buddy is even less so, so to me it seemed very stupid to do, especially without even communicating about it. It gives me fears that if he was interested in climbing, he'd pull a stunt like dropping off the north face of hood to 'check it out'. I don't want to deal with that. though i would probably take it as constructive criticism if someone said I needed to lighten up. Joe Poulton: http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=10009.0 that TR may interest you a bit in the inner environ of vents/fumaroles. I assume you've found this site as well: http://glaciercaves.com/html/mounth_1.HTM

OffTheSteppe, Yeah, I was steeling myself for him not emerging from the hole and having to figure out some sort of extraction sans rope (not really anyone up at the hogsback then). It was an uncool thing to do, imho. There is a great read, I forget where, maybe turnsallyear? about a guy who got separated from his partner at the top of rainier in a whiteout and ended up doing a night in a fumarole/vent up at the top of rainier. There was a lot of inquiry into "how did you know it wouldn't kill you???" on the thread and I think he said he'd read or been involved in actual monitoring research? I've seen some sensors of sorts embedded into the mud/clay/whatever on the bare ground just to the west of the hogsback. Seemed like it was mostly temperature monitors, couldn't tell if they were 1 year old and battered as a result of the extreme conditions, or had been there for a few decades.

first few times i found it sickening. now i kind of like it, reminds me of fireworks or matches, which i have always loved. Levels must really fluctuate based upon the wind of course, but also just what is coming out of the vents at any given time. for instance a buddy of mine went down into the fumarole right at the base of where crater rock and the hogsback are (the one that is extra toilet-bowl like). he was in for about 30-40 seconds, under the snow/outside of visibility. I was pretty much freaked out since he voluntarily did it without telling me what he was doing and it was his first time at the hogsback and all.. but he said it wasn't bad..

yes there is. I'm not sure what image editing programs you have on your computer but feasibly you have some software that came with your digital camera. If you can open the BMP you can likely save it as a jpg/jpeg which would allow it to be uploaded here. in whatever program you will probably have to do such a process as: open > save as > select file type (jpg), save.

read your facebook post -- glad you put it up here. wonderful feat and smartly played. loved a lot of the descriptions, esp the first gendarme, 3 foot wide going down to a 4 inch wide (probably all rime? =] ) fin...crazy muchos kudos to you both

rmick: wow you're right, just checked stuff--that is pretty solid wallop of snow

Letiger, What route on adams, southside? do you have any beta on the approach? (road snow levels?) cheers, good go of jefferson for sure. best to call it than find yourself up the creek, or mountain, without what you need.