Eben

Luc Mehl is giving a slideshow in Seattle next Weds Dec 10 about some of his Alaskan ski traverses. Luc has had some awesome adventures exploring the far corners of Alaska on as little money as possible. Check out some of the highlights on his website http://thingstolucat.com https://www.facebook.com/events/341104959407739/?context=create&previousaction=create&source=49&sid_create=2770069093 A slideshow featuring human-powered traverses over Denali, Logan, and Orizaba–North America’s Three Tallest Mountains Alaskan Luc Mehl and friends have completed 20 wilderness traverses longer than 100 miles within the past 6 years, most notably a completely self-supported 30-day, 370-mile traverse from Yakutat to McCarthy, Alaska, over Mt. Logan (19,551 ft.). The team uses a combination of ultralight travel techniques and multisport equipment, from ice skates to pack rafts, to power through remote swathes of wilderness. Weds Dec 10, 6:30 pm at the Outdoor Research retail store (2203 1st ave south, Seattle)

new in box. $50. you can try them on in the central district nights or in sodo days. ebensargent at gmail

lots of snow as of july 4, definately bring skis! more details: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1024909/TR_ptarmigan_traverse_ski_7_4_#Post1024909

Trip: ptarmigan traverse ski - Date: 7/4/2011 Trip Report: I skied the ptarmigan traverse yesterday, the big snowpack and a good overnight freeze made the travel conditions just about perfect. It's been awhile since i've had a long day alone in the hills and it was my first time into that corner of the cascades so i was pretty happy to be out there. On sunday I stashed my pickup on the suiattle and caught a ride up with some friends who were headed in to snowboard buckner. A little before daylight i left my sleeping bag at the boston basin TH for them to retrieve, and started out under the stars. There was a party camped at cache col with skis and I met another soloist at spire point who was out on a long trip (thanks for the bootpacks!). The snow stayed hard for a long time and even when I was dropping into batchelor creek (11ish) I was struggling to keep an edge I was able to start on skis at the cascade pass TH and there was pretty much continuous snow from there to 4200 feet in batchelor creek. If you are thinking about doing this traverse soon I think it will be very skiable for a couple more weeks, in many places (not all) there is perfect smooth no-cup corn, cracks seem filled in compared to pictures I’ve seen, and there is plenty of skiable lines on the peaks. There is some scrambling around the cols and scoured ribs and stuff but if you were traveling in the heat of the day you could ski almost the whole way. I skied up the gut to cascade pass (instead of the trail) and took a high traverse from spire point to batchelor creek (skipping cub lakes), both of which saved some effort. I definitely wished I’d stashed a bike or packraft at downey creek th ahead of time, it was a little torturous watching all the 4th of july mountain bikers roll smoothly by on the siuattle road walk. If you like shitty arms-length photos or are interested in snow conditions, I put some up here: https://picasaweb.google.com/ebensargent/PtarmiganTraverse# The whole adventure from boston basin TH to the siuattle washout was a little over 15 hrs and the cascade pass TH to downey creek TH part was 11:41. It was pretty fun to stretch the legs a bit but next time I’m gonna spend a week and explore a bit.

penoyar and i bivied on the west side of the notch 6/26/09, lots of snow in the notch proper but there were 2-3 snow free bivy spots there and a nice one a couple hundred feet past the notch on the east side. The bivy spots above this were partly or completely snowed over but if anyone's considering a bivy at the notch its definately possible now. definatly second the recomendation for axes/crampons on the sherpa

"perhaps probable" i like it. nice pics, well done!

I am looking for some scarpa freneys or sportiva evo extreme boots in size 44. I've got a pair of K2 Shuksan 174s, drilled once for dynafits that i'd like to trade. Skis are 2008 model in very good condition, skied less than 10 days, no significant base/edge/top damage. I'm only interested in the 2 models of boots above. Thanks!