aikidjoe

Climbwa and I decided to take advantage of what turned out to be a stellar weather window. We left on Friday late morning, and started up from Paradise around 3 pm, enjoying a beautiful sunset and the clearest night sky I have experienced. I left my headlamp off through most of the walk, and let my eyes dark-adapt, which revealed a mist of stars I'd never seen in all my wanderings. We arrived at Camp Muir around 7, and after a couple of hours boiling water and resting, slept in the hut. We awoke and left Muir around 4:45, and followed the boot path to the ledges. Along the way we past two other teams already descending, one saying the Ledges were completely dry. We decided to continue anyways, and continued following the establish boot path to what we thought were the ledges, which we found to be dry and very sketchy. Dismayed, we sat to watch the sun rise for an hour or so (which was beautiful and well worth the pause), then realized that we were not in the right spot. We checked around the corner, and there they were. Definitely a lesson in keeping your eyes open, and don't let beta or a boot pack blind you. We found the ledges to be in excellent shape, and while there were dry sections, they were not problematic. The chute was in good shape, and I found it easy enough with a single axe by traversing left then heading up. We met up with a team of skiers at the top of the chute. Here we rested for a half hour, soaking in the view and the spectacle of a January day on Rainier without wind, and warm enough to feel like July. As we continued up, we ended up stripping down to t-shirts, and genuinely wished for a breeze. As one of the skiers said (paraphrasing), it may be a winter ascent, but it sure feels like cheating. The upper slopes were firm and made for great cramponing. Despite the 1.5 hours of lolly-gagging, we made it to the summit crater less than 7 hours from leaving Muir. We enjoyed the view, chatted with the skiers, took some photos, and again wondered at the lack of wind. I can't stress enough how amazing it was to be on Rainier in January with no wind, warm temperatures, and firm snow. Felt like cheating. We spent a little more than an hour in the summit crater, and I finally got to see one of the steam caves. We descended the Ingraham Direct, which wasn't terribly direct but was in fine shape. A boot path guides the way through, and after all the folks on the mountain we saw today, will remain at least until the next snow arrives. We stayed at Muir that night, and this morning skied to Paradise. The conditions were not terrible on the Muir Snowfield, though crappy for a mediocre skier like me, but we found some good corn snow in the bowls to the east of Panorama Point (which would be even better by afternoon I’m sure). A great way to end what is probably the best trip I've had to Rainier to date. Big thanks to Climbwa for a hell of a trip. I can't seem to get the photos to work, so here they are on Picasa: https://picasaweb.google.com/josephmontange/GibLedgesMtRainierJan2014#

Hi all, I'm looking for suggestions of some good options for the beginner ice climber, preferably top ropeable at first. Are there any good options at Banks Lake? Other areas? (Conditions pending of course...) Thanks, Joseph

That sounds great. Sent you a PM.

I'm looking for a climbing partner in the Seattle area interested in climbing this Sunday (10/20) and potentially beyond. Most of my experience has been on glaciers/icy slopes (Mt. Rainier via DC, Emmons, Gib Ledges, Fuhrer Finger and Thumb; Baker via Coleman-Deming, up the steeper section of the Roman wall, Park Glacier Headwall), but I'm trying to broaden my horizons into vertical rock, ice, and mixed, so I'm hoping to increase my experience in these arenas. I can follow up to 5.9 right now, and would feel ok about leading up to 5.6 trad. I have access to a trad rack. I'm hoping for someone with similar experience, or more who is willing to teach! Have car, will drive. I'd be happy with a long alpine day (Shuksan? Something in Snoqualmie Pass?), or just rock climbing. I'd also be interested in heading to one of the local mixed climbing crags to practice mixed climbing, which I have very little practice in.

I have the first week of September off and am thinking of hiking the Bailey Range Traverse in that time. I've climbed on glaciers quite a bit in the Cascades and elsewhere, but have never been to Mt Olympus yet (for shame!). I'd like to make a full loop by crossing the Humes and Hoh glacier, then down the Blue glacier, but I'm wondering if those with more extensive knowledge of the mountain can tell me if this is a viable option at this time of year? Or is it usually too broken up by now? Thanks for your input!

A friend of mine and I climbed Mt Stuart W Ridge this last weekend. It was our first time on the mountain and we had a lot of fun figuring out the route. Inevitably we got off the standard route once or twice. We were aiming for the standard 5.4 dihedral near the end of the route, and I thought we found it, but if so, we both found it to be the damn hardest 5.4 we had ever done (We are both 5.10 sport climbers for reference). Suffice it to say, I am curious if we were on the right one. So... Here's a photo of what we climbed up. Is that the standard 5.4 dihedral? If not, we're curious if anyone knows what it's rated? For reference, from the ledge I was belaying from, there was an old pin hammered in, hip height or so above the ledge.

Blake - just to be clear, you're referring to Sherpa glacier, not Sherpa pass?

A friend and I are thinking of climbing Stuart via N ridge this weekend. We are thinking of approaching from the N side, and I am looking for beta on descent route to get back to the N side (trying to avoid descend Cascade Coulouir and slogging back around). SummitPost suggests either Sherpa Glacier or Northwest Buttress; I'm guessing Sherpa Glacier is perhaps not in good shape at this point (if anyone knows otherwise please let me know!). All I can find about NW buttress is it's class 3/4 with some rappelling. Can someone point me to more info? Or does anyone have other suggestions?

Erik - Thanks for info. I've been up there a couple times, but it's been a few years - was any of the road gravel/dirt? Thinking I might try biking, but my buddy and I don't have mountain bikes... just road bikes. JonW2 - I will let you know.

Hi, Thinking of heading to Baker to climb Coleman Headwall this weekend. I know that Glacier Creek road is closed about 7 miles from the trailhead. I am wondering if anyone has been up there recently and knows if the road is skiable? Also, more generally, how are conditions on the north side of Baker? Thanks!

Hi all, I'm an intermediate skiier (for reference - can ski black diamond, and dbd but it's not pretty) who is just getting into back country skiing with a friend who is an advanced skier, but also just getting into the back country. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for good places to start touring? Looking for areas. My hope is to one day add ski mountaineering to the repertoire. Thanks!

Does anyone know the White Chuck River Road is open? A friend and I would like to attempt Glacier Peak via Frostbite Ridge and I am having trouble finding updated information about the access road.