cascadesdj

I've parked in multiple towns in the west for bike trips, usually for less than a week. I always ask a resident if I can park in front of their place, and have never been refused. In fact, they usually seem to take a protective interest in it.

So this must be the Dave Yount I met at Riverview Park at Vantage in April 2002 with Andy Fitz??? You had all the routes dialed by name, grade, and beta. Still going to Vantage? Doug Johnson, Roslyn

Another impressive outing, with great photos! But "tired legs at the end of the day"???? What a wuss...

You save a lot of time using that Commonwealth cutoff old trail. The crest trail was built with specs requiring low grade, so it has to meander around and contour to avoid the steeps. To start on the old trail, begin in the PCT and in a couple of hundred feet or so, keep looking left and see a narrow gravel wash/trail with branches leaning in from both sides. that's it. You'll cross the creek in less than a mile, and then meander around the creek basin until eventually coming to a junction that could link you up with the PCT. That would require a hairpin right turn. Instead, take the left, or straight and follow it up the ridge to Red.

Except those candy-asses wouldn't tell what the original name of Wedding Day was. I've always wondered......

Required viewing for anyone who goes into the backcountry in winter!

East 5th? Exposed? Casual descent? Sounds like my kind of alpine climbing! Is there a book onthe location, or could we get a little more detail on the approach? Thanks for the TR

I know another very good climber that tried this, but used the Ingalls approach and ran out of time/water at around the same location, and had to bail down to Ingalls Creek. It seems to be a common experience.

Uhh...that's run, not ruin. I never had typing lessons, but i can spell sumtymes.

Well, that's no problem. We've had snow making technology around forever. Just build a coal fired power plant to ruin all the gear for that and you're in business!

That looks like fun. Thanksfor the idea!

Nice pictures. I did this with a friend in 2000. It was a cluster. There were people basically lined up to get on it. The jerks behind us were yelling and bitching to us to hurry up, which we could not do because we were waiting for the party ahead of us the whole way up. And someone high up dropped a large cam that came whistling by, soon followed by a grapefruit-sized rock, etc etc. It was a wonderfully scenic area, though.

So if I've done the 5.10s at Nevermind and the Ptarmigan twice, do I get to be a super alpinist? I wish!

I just make sure there's redundancy, usually by using two separate slings, one attached to each anchor with a locking biner.

Oops! In my previous post, I the last part should say getting on to the lower part of the gully, not getting onto the glacier. Aluminum crampons were perfect for the hard snow/ice parts.

Definitely needed crampons 8/20 late afternoon to get to gully for upper NR. Also, some dicy work getting off the glacier onto the lower glacier.

That was a good, albiet diaturbing, link. Good work. Thanks.

So, did you get up it via the East Ridge? If so, what did you think of it? And how long do you estimate it took--for your 2 day SKT record?

No, I'm not just realizing climate change is happenng. In fact, for 15 years now I've been driving cars that get 40+ mpg for that exact reason, among others. I just wanted to start a discussion about climbers' observations about this issue. Of course, there will be a myriad of other effects, many far more earthshaking than those on mountaineers--sea level rise, lack of late-summer irrigation water, fires, spruce budworm blooms, ocean acidification, on and on. given that this is climber's site, I brought the subject up vis a vis its implications on NW mountains.

True, but that does not explain the aforementioned Ptarmigan Traverse observations. I think there's a real trend here. It's implications for mountaineering could be profound.

I guess my record is for one day ascents, with no camping. So you can get a new type of record for overnighters. That's a great win-win situation for us both. Now, if you got lost trying to find Bumblebee Pass, you can beat my record. However, I would not want to admit in public that I couldn't find it!

Hmmmm! As the only owner of a SKT record, i just might have to try one on this trip. Well written. I enjoyed your TR.

Wow! thanks for the great piece of writing. We can all learn from your experience. Glad you're "OK" and wish you a full a speedy recovery!

Last week my wife and I did the drive over the NC highway, and took two hikes along the way. I was amazed at the lack of snowfields, the large brown mountains, etc. I've been hiking/climbing for 40 years in the range, and it seems to me most of the late summer snowfields have disappeared and the glaciers are becomming sad remnants of their former robust glory. In fact, Lake Ann (the Shuksan basecanp one) used to be in a cup of snowfields late into the summer, and last week was in a dirty barren bowl. The lake looked like it might even drop below its outlet level and turn scuzzy. I did the Ptarmigan Traverse in 1996 and 2002. Getting on the Middle Cascade Glacier in 96 was a matter of following the trail right onto it, but in 02 we had to scramble up a couple of hundred vertical just to get to the toe of that side of the glacier! Have we reached the stage where permanent snowfields in our beloved Cascades are a thing of the past, and glaciers themselves are soon to be a memory? Are you other long-time mountain travellers noticing a big difference?

Nice job with wonderful pics. So....he spent the whole night in camp w/o sleeping bag? Or did you get to share one?