lukeh

@DPS via Fred Beckey reference: "Mary Green Glacier was named after the wife of a prospector and lies along the most popular route to the summit of Bonanza Peak." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Green_Glacier

One of my favorite climbs - such an adventure. Nice work! Agree with the sticker shock on the transportation, add a bike fee on the ferry and it really starts to hurt.

Trip: Mt. Ranier - DC Date: 7/4/2015 Trip Report: Quick conditions TR for the DC route on Rainier. I guess it can be a supplement to a recent post on NPS’s blog which has good info/pics. I haven’t had much time to climb lately, so I’ve been mostly doing Tiger Cable trail weightless mid-week and Mailbox Peak on weekends with a heavy pack to stay in shape. I haven’t done anything that took longer than 3 hours round trip in a while, so I needed a bigger conditioner to test myself for some proper climbs I have planned for the end of the month. Doing the DC in a single push seemed like it would be a good conditioning test while not taking up too much time. Due to high temps I def. wanted to do the whole thing in the dark (or as much as possible). We ended up taking a more leisurely pace and had to turn back just around 12.6k ft due to my partner getting AMS, but it was still nice to get out for a night and do something besides a local conditioner hike. No pics as I sold one camera and the other is the shop + my cell phone can’t do night photos. Too bad because with how broken up the route is and with the full moon, the visuals looked spectacular. Started climbing from the Paradise lot at ~6:15 PM sat night. Still warm, but cooling as the sun lowered. Brought 1L to Pebble Creek, then filled up 4 liters. 1 tiny patch of snow before Pebble Creek, then snow from the creek all the way up to Muir if you want. Sun disappeared behind Rainier shortly after leaving Pebble Creek. Ahhhhhh. Aside: The lower Nisqually looks like it disappeared in a sea of rock/scree. What a transformation from our crossing during a Fuhrer Finger climb early May. The Finger actually still had continuous snow all the way up, although I imagine in these temps you’d surely get a rock-to-the-face partway up. Very consolidated, but slightly softer snow from Pebble Creek to 9k-ish (skiable), then harder to Muir. Sunset lit up the Cascades to the south in soft, low angle light and was gorgeous per usual. Arrived at Muir taking a leisurely pace by 9:30 PM. Darkness came, then headlamps, layer adjustments, harness on, etc. Our 2 friends were a bit behind so we decided to separate and maybe meet up later. Muir was not very packed at all. Maybe 1 person was in the hut. Surprising. Wasn’t sure if it was due to the 4th of July holiday, the heat, or both? We cruised across Cowlitz just after 10pm. A few savvy parties had already left early to beat crowds/bottlenecks and get down before the heat came the next AM. Cowlitz had 1 tiny crack, super straightforward. No rope, no crampons yet. Surprisingly not a ton of rock fall evidence yet near the trail (but some). Cathedral rocks has one of the best scree-ish switch-backy trails I’ve seen, very easy/straightforward compared to some years. A tiny crack or two on the lower Ingraham, still no rope/crampons. Ingraham also was looking thin in terms of tents. Everyone on the mtn. seemed smart though given the temps. While I typically see people leave around midnight-1am, almost everyone was leaving no later than 11pm. We arrived at the top of the flats (11k-ish) around 10:45PM to try and get ahead of everyone, but they had the same plan so we failed. I guess leave at 930-10 and you’re in better shape, but stuff hasn’t had much of a chance to freeze by then. We used crampons + the rope under the Ingraham icefall + DC entrance. There are 2 ladders and a slightly sketchy opening right before you take the DC. It’s not too bad. We heard a lot of running water. We took the rope and crampons off for the rocky DC, passed some parties, but them back on once back on snow. Passed more parties, top of the DC, then headed south across the Ingraham. Once you got across a small ladder and around a serac corner, this stunning amphitheater of huge crevasses and seracs opened up, with the nearly full moon lighting it up and casting large shadows. Climber headlamps dotted the steep ascent up through this thing, with building-sized seracs handing over a narrow traverse up towards Camp Comfort near the top of Gibraltar rock. The DC boot path had been made through a bunch of huge seracs leaning on one another with large gaping holes and steep, icy fall-offs. We waited until the two parties ahead of us were past the area exposed to seracs hundreds of feet overhead, then cruised up behind them. I crossed at least one really sketchy snow-bridge over a deep hole that I promised myself not to cross in soft snow. We set a 4:30AM turnaround, but we were on track to make that if we could manage to pass some parties. There’s another ladder halfway up the exposed traverse that has a steep, direction-changing entrance and exit over a deep crevasse. We got above Gibraltar Rock, my partner doubled-over and puked or tried to puke. He’d been doing OK and was in great shape, but AMS hit him hard up here. I was on a sketchy bridge so he moved 10-15ft. forward and then doubled over again. I knew immediately we were going down. This happened to me on the Fuhrer Finger in May, but this time I was feeling really strong. Didn't matter, I mainly wanted to get out and get some exercise + enjoy the outdoors. A Nepalese solo climber w/o headlamp speed down past us. This was probably like a morning jog for him. Our problem now was that we needed to get down asap, and that meant going back through this exposed, crux-y section which really felt like a one-way street coming due to the narrow boot pack having a wall of snow on one-side, and a steep drop on the other. We pushed through anyway, managing good timing to squeeze past some parties. At the top of the DC we met our other two friends who were on their way up. We donated some extra water and headed down. My partner took a 30 min nap at Muir, was feeling better, then we started down around 5:30 AM. We both eventually put on crampons after realizing the snow was gonna be rock hard until Pebble Creek this early. By 7am it was hot, getting uncomfortably hot, but we were nearly at the car so it wasn’t too bad. Skiing: You can probably ski from the top of the Ingraham flats to Cathedral Rocks, then across the Cowlitz, then from Muir to Pebble Creek. But only if you waited until the snow to soften. By that time you’d be in such intense heat I don’t think it would be worth it. You’d then have to ski boot it from Pebble Creek to your car in blazing temps. Doesn’t sound fun to me. Maybe at the end of the day around sunset would be good, but the snow felt too hard above 9k right as the disappeared behind the mountain. Here’s a pic of a dad showing his son a deer: Here's a pic I tried to take in the dark with my cell phone at around 11k: Here's a cool shadow around 5:30AM before heading down: Gear Notes: Soft, comfy hikers. Lightweight alum crampons. 7.7mm 30m rope. 3L camelbak bladder, 1L extra water from Pebble Creek. Min. clothes + medium puffy. Whippet + lightweight alum w/steel tip axe. Having a pole or whippet really makes the ladder crossings easy. Helmet. 12 GUs. I brought wheat thins but I think a fox or marmot stole them at some point, I couldn't find them in the car or my bag and I ate one at the car. If you see them please turn them into the ranger station or call 911 and ask for the non-emergency line. There were about 56 wheat thins in that bag.

Nice - looks like an awesome climb. On my list for next year.

awesome

awesome photo

Very cool

Yes, I'm not an ambi-turner lunger. I'm not an ambi-turner.

Nice. I'm not sure about the passage, but we went out right and it seemed pretty straightforward. You can kind of see the way we went at 2:39 here. This was June 2013. Btw if you put http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/20150503_105104.jpg'>http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/20150503_105104.jpg between those http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/500/20150503_105104.jpg' alt='20150503_105104.jpg'>

Trip: Mt. Rainier - Fuhrer Finger Date: 5/3/2015 Trip Report: To camp Slept in the Paradise parking lot Fri night. Headed out around 5:45am, reached our camp at 8500ft. ~9am Sat. morning. Morning was really cold, a cloud had enveloped the lower mountain, soaking the outside of my tent. I questioned whether I’d brought enough layers for the summit, seeing how it was this cold next to my car. Dropped down to the lower Nisqually below Pan Face (see GPX track for exact spot). Quickly scanning the lower Nisqually, I didn’t see a clear path up to the Wilson. We saw a single boot track heading over to The Fan, so we skinned beside it. Little to no crevasses were on this path. The Fan is notorious for rockfall/avy danger, but it’s also really straightforward in terms of route-finding vs. navigating through a crevasse/icefall maze. It was early enough in the AM where both should be at a minimum. I was on skis, my partner Dereck was on a splitboard. We put them on our backs for the Fan ascent. A very large avy had snaked its way down the entire Fan ramp recently, otherwise the Fan ascent ended up being straightforward. Almost too straightforward. Later a skier told us that the Fan started firing rocks down its gully as the day warmed up. The single boot track trailed off into nothing shortly after the Fan exit, so I started kicking my own long traverse track up the west-side of the lower Wilson. The snow was getting softer, but by the time we reached a flat spot around 8500ft, it was rock hard. I hadn’t slept much in the last two nights, which is a bad combo for climbing a strenuous, higher altitude route. We set up my favorite 2lb tent, then abandoned plans to scope out the base of the route and/or practice crevasse rescue in favor of getting rest. It was warm out, but the wind was icy. I’m not sure I’ve experienced a wind that was so much colder than the ambient air. Just a slight breeze caused me to put on my puffy in the direct sunlight. I’d been sweating buckets 20 minutes prior. Camp and the high-orbit skiers 2 skiers came through around 10am out of nowhere. I assumed they had come down the Kautz, but was amazed to hear they had traversed the entire mountain at the ~10k ft. level. They had camped on the Success Cleaver the night before. I learned a few interesting things from talking to them (man and a woman, didn’t get their names): o I’d never heard of anyone doing a traverse like that, so I asked them if it was a first. They said it was much more common 15-20 years ago when there was more commercial guiding on the Westside of the mountain. I never knew there was commercial guiding over there. I did a 3-day solo climb of the Puyallup Cleaver a couple years ago and only saw the fresh footsteps of one other person. Westside road access changing probably played a role. o They said the hardest parts were getting off the Ingraham Flats down over to the Emmons, and getting off the Puyallup Cleaver down onto the Tahoma Glacier, then getting across the Tahoma. o She thought the Tahoma Glacier route wouldn’t go this year anymore. ID was also out. They saw one person on the upper DC over near the Emmons. Liberty Ridge had good snow up to the Black Pyramid, then icy above with a cross-able bergschrund. o The guy then launched off a cornice next to our camp and they both followed down a path we should’ve come up, which is skiers left of the cliff between The Fan and the lower Nisqually. A much more direct line to the base of the Nisqually Chutes, albeit a bit more crevassed. Several other parties started arriving past noon. We counted around 12-14 contenders for the Fuhrer Finger route come Sun morning, including a couple people I knew (Gavin and Rich). I suggested we all drop in at the same time. I stared back down the Wilson and saw my boot path was now well worn. After chatting we tried to get some sleep. We decided we wanted to be at the top of the Fuhrer Finger (heading down) no later than 10am-ish. We wanted to hit it just as it was softening enough to ski. Everyone who’s skied it talks about the rockfall danger, which we’d experience intimately later that morning. Up the Finger I knew the moon would be full, so we weren’t too worried about route-finding through the Wilson Glacier at night. We set out around 2:40am. We could see two sets of headlamps already a good way up the Finger. One set had posted up lower near a rock out-cropping on the Finger for a while. I hoped everything was OK. On the Wilson I spied a line through the crevasses lower down, but Dereck thought it would go higher. Because I didn’t see any tracks lower down and there were intimidating looking depressions on the snow, we continued upward, picking up a skin and ski descent track. We crossed a system of two very deep crevasses that weren’t very wide by themselves, but together they were too wide to really jump across in one bound. They were also dramatically overhanging with very thin lips. I wouldn’t want to cross them during the day wearing boots. The thought of even crossing later on skis kept weighing on my mind the rest of the climb. I guess my fall in Jan on the ID had affected me more than I thought. I typically would go through crevasse fields without a lot of hesitation, now I was very nervous on any sketchy crossings or suspect curves on the glacier. I’ve since scheduled a therapy sessions with a psychologist specializing in snow-bridge collapse-related PTSD. Starting up the steep Finger around 9500-10k ft, we were happy to see the snow was perfect for cramponing. Just soft enough to sink those teeth in and self-arrest if needed. 1500-2000ft of sustained 40-45 degree steep climbing later, I called my surgeon and told him to cancel my calf-implant procedure, it was no longer necessary. Top of the Finger – Nisqually or Wapowety Cleaver? Wapowety Cleaver. The rumor was the Nisqually had a large impassable crevasse. Plus the parties ahead of us were already kicking steps up near the cleaver. We didn’t want those to go to waste. It took us 3 hours to get to 11.5k ft (we arrived around 5:30am). 1k ft of steeper sections on the side of the cleaver would get you onto a ridge around 12.5k ft. There were only a couple sections that felt around 50 degrees of steep snow, but the snow was good. On top of the Wapowety Cleaver it looked like a mellow stroll up to the summit. We were near here last August after coming up the Kautz. The only problem then was making a significant detour to end run a large crevasse protecting the last stretch to the crater rim. Not sure that would be the case now, but we wouldn’t find out. Embarrassing failure I can barely talk about By the time we reached 12.5k I was extremely nauseous and lightheaded. AMS had hit me. Despite all of my training I still struggle with it, so I usually take Diamox for stuff higher than 12k. I didn’t take any until the top of the Finger, which was too late. I just wanted to lay down and puke now. Dereck said we should turn around, but I instead started crawling on my belly, planting my ice axe a foot ahead and pulling my whole body forward, 1 foot every 30 seconds. Puking every third pull then dragging myself through the vomit. I had recently watched “The Iron Lady” so I was on this will power/show of strength kick. Of course this was on the very mellow Wapowety Cleaver ridge (10 degrees). I kept mumbling in a dramatic, choking whisper “summit or die”, “summit or die”. The last bullet might have been exaggerated. I actually chilled (pun intended, that icy wind was back) for 10 minutes on a rock, choked down some water, and tried to see if I could shake it. It wasn’t happening, I just felt worse. We went lower to get out of the wind, waited a bit more. Still felt like shit. I looked over at the upper Nisqually. I saw the large crevasse that blocked passage. Everyone had been talking about it, but no one really had a source, so I had some doubts. But I finally saw it. It was real. I wanted to take a picture, but I was too sick to even pull out my phone and press the little button. My 4-pound DSLR had also been sitting in my pack this whole time. I hadn’t taken it out because I was worried about the time-sensitivity of this route. Plus maybe I was being lazy or not motivated. I later regretted not getting pictures up the Finger in the dark with the full moon out. I actually didn’t mind descending at 12.5k. We’d already been up this way to the summit doing the Kautz, and I didn’t want to be on the Finger when it was too warm. If I was an expert skier I would have more tolerance for being late as I’d cruise through it quickly. But I kind of suck at skiing, at least when the snow isn’t great. Descent The snow was softening up. We carefully navigated down the steep sections, and once back on the Nisqually we put our skis/boards on our feet, then headed down to the Finger entrance at 11.5k. On my way down I looked left. I saw a bowling ball-size rock cruising 30-ft. away at high speeds. Then another softball size rock followed. Turns out the upper Wapowety Cleaver is kind of a dick. The snow hardened around 11.5k to an icy crust. Dereck and I skied out left (east) to try and get out of the rock fall path. I was nervous about dropping into the steeper part of the Finger with things this icy. We sat down and waited, and waited. The snow didn’t change. I heard rocks clanging together above us. I looked up and another bowling ball was headed toward us. We both got ready to shuffle, but the angle of the slope made it such that it took a climber’s left and hauled ass down into the Finger gully, where we’d be skiing in about 10 minutes. Another rock followed a bit further left. It was just past 11am. We decided that by noon if it hadn’t softened we’d just go for it. I was nervous because I’m not crazy about skiing steeper stuff when icy due to inconsistent turning skill (I can’t turn left). I don’t mind steep stuff with softer snow, but I didn't want to fall while turning on icy stuff. Booting down seemed like suicide due to the rocks we’d seen go straight down our path. We looked left and I suggested Dereck board down to another safe zone a couple hundred feet lower, skier’s left, near some crevasses on the Nisqually. Then he could wave me down if it wasn’t too bad. Plus we both figured the snow could be softer at any point below our current altitude. He started down, and said it was icy but edge-ble, plus the snow started to soften the further down he went. I came down immediately, looking over my shoulder for bowling balls every now and then. The snow turned into great corn and we made pretty good time down the Finger. A solo skier named Tim caught up to us and we skied back down to camp together. About 2/3rds of the way down the Finger the snow turned to icy shit again, but we pressed on. My lightweight setup chattered all the way down to the Wilson where it softened up a bit. I voiced my hesitancy to cross the double crevasse in the heat, but looking at it now, end-running didn’t seem like a viable option. Tim went first and picked a perfect line across the two crevasses without issue. Dereck followed, then I said f-it and went for it, following Tim’s line, yelling out a whoohoooo! after realizing I hadn’t died. We broke down camp, watched Tim jump off the cornice next to our camp, then headed down after him. The snow became too soft by around 7k feet. Heavy and wet, it made turning a bit more challenging. I bit it hard and watched my pole disappear into the snow as I inadvertently probed in the process, causing me to think I was on a bridge. We followed the line others took left of the Fan. It was maybe around 1pm and three guys were booting up in this heat, with this soft snow, over the crevasse ridden lower Nisqually. It looked sketchy/painful, but at least they were roped up. We crossed maybe 10 narrow cracks over the lower Nisqually, only having to stop once. I made it all the way back to the ramp leading up to the base of Pan Face w/o putting on skins. Dereck wasn’t as lucky with his splitboard. There were a couple of hidden holes that looked big underneath, one snuck up on me and I peed my nylon pants a little avoiding it. I’m probably switching back to splitboarding as I’ve finally found one that’s light enough (and I’m a much better snowboarder than skier), but times like this I appreciate the flexibility/speed of skis in rolling terrain. While Dereck would get stuck, I would just push or side step a little and be on my way. We made it back to the car just past 2pm. The snowfield above the parking lot is actually starting to show large patches w/o snow. Quite the contrast to the last 2 years where we’ve seen full coverage into July. Epilogue - where are they now? I brought my climbing gear and skis into my house from my car w/o issue after getting home, slept, then wrote this blog after eating french toast. I assume Dereck went back to work today. Photos I didn't get any photos with my DSLR for a variety of reasons, but I managed to get some snapshots with my phone. We ascended via The Fan on the lower Nisqually, descended climbers right (everyone ascended/descended on the climbers right). Take the Fan route if the site of a crevasse scares you and you're good at dodging rocks (or it's really early morning). Fan-to-camp leg (left): 1.6 miles, ascent 2232ft, descent 91 ft. Other more direct route up lower Nisqually (right): 1.5 miles, ascent 1909ft. Hug climber's left at the top of the Finger against the Wapowety Cleaver. Where we topped out it's super mellow, and it looked like a straight shot to the summit. Dereck putting on crampons at the base of the Fan on the lower Nisqually. Large avy debri came down the entire length of the Fan's chute, going around a corner and emptying into the lower Nisqually. Looked pretty deadly. Avy debri in the Fan. Dereck above the Fan, headed up the Wilson. Dereck at the top of the Fuhrer Finger around 5:30 AM. What a leg workout. Glancing right toward the upper Nisqually ice cliff and the Nisqually Cleaver from the top of the Finger. From the Wapowety Cleaver looking across what is the typical ascent route up the upper Nisqually. If you look in the shadows up top, I think that's the large impassable crevasse that requires you to ascend of the steep sides of the Wapowety now. This is a poor view of it, higher up I was too sick to take out my camera. Around 12k on the upper Nisqually, about to head down the Finger before it gets too warm. I really can't believe a skier of my questionable ability actually made it down this thing. Lower Nisqually around noon. This is the route you should go up. Nisqually Chutes out left with recent avy activity in the chutes. Dereck boarded across the lower Nisqually over a half dozen narrow cracks in super soft, heavy snow. The path up is just to the right of this pic. The Fan is out left. Skinning up the last stretch to the base of Pan Face, then it's mostly downhill back to the car. Gear Notes: Brought a long screw and 2 pickets, didn't use them. Barely used my ice axe as the snow wasn't too hard, mostly relied on my whippet and I hadn't cut my finger nails in 5 days as a back up.

Very cool - I just ran into a guy/girl on the Wilson yesterday who were just finishing a similar traverse. Amazing - I didn't know people actually did this. They said the most difficult part was getting off the Puyallup Cleaver onto the Tahoma Glacier.

amazing - congrats guys

Trip: Utah Towers: Pt. II: Photos - Ancient Art, Castleton Tower, South Six Shooter Date: 3/15/2015 Trip Report: A collection of still images from a recent trip to Utah, for anyone interested. More on Instagram if you use it. IPHONE PICS Copied from my blog.

Oh nice I hadn't seen that - thanks stamati. It looks like Rock and Ice featured it as well on their home page today, kind of cool: http://www.rockandice.com/video-gallery/desert-towers-from-the-air.

Thanks Stefan - slo mo was from my iphone.

Awesome! Loving this shot especially

thanks guys - yeah i was blown away by the landscapes around the towers.

Trip: Ancient Art, Castleton Tower, South Six Shooter - Part I: Aerial Video Date: 3/24/2015 Trip Report: Brandon, Ken and I did a few of the towers in Moab/Indian Creek. We slept on top of the Stolen Chimney pitch just below Ancient Art's Corkscrew Summit and then climbed it a couple times at night. I rap'd down in the morning while they quickly climbed it again. We planned to bivy on top of Castleton, but a late start + hauling heavy pack overhead contributed to us bailing 2/3rds of the way up Kor-Ingalls. Me being terrible at off-width climbing didn't help either. South Six shooter in Indian Creek was really fun and easy (South Face). We had it all to ourselves. I slept on the summit which can just barely sleep one. It's sloped and it got really cold, so I shivered through the night, but you couldn't beat the view. A really fat mouse/rat wasn't shy about running around my bag. This was my first time trying any of the Utah towers, wow are they spectacular. As we left Castleton another party was headed up with overnight gear for a summit bivy. Definitely still on my list. More pics/info in Part II.

thanks guys. such a gorgeous place.

Trip: Snow in the Desert - Mt. Potosi and Red Rocks - Date: 3/3/2015 Trip Report: [video:youtube]UXxA9Yc_ZOE I flew down to Las Vegas to spend some time with Audrey and climb a little, maybe get some aerial shots and take a few photos. Also maybe visit Home Depot, Bed Bath and Beyond...I wasn't sure if we'd have enough time. We made it out to Mt. Potosi (just a bit south from Red Rocks) Sunday where there was a healthy chance of precip. The Clear Light Cave is pretty sheltered from the rain, so the worst that would happen is that we'd get soaked on the Tiger Cable Trail-esque approach. I didn't pack any rain gear on this trip. I didn't even pack any pants. I guess I thought worse case I'll make a waterproof shell out of cactus skins and pants out of a cyote or wild donkey hide. I didn't count on cacti being so sharp or donkeys being so hard to catch. Elevation at the Clear Light Cave is probably around 5200ft, and it was cold. Audrey and Keoni got on the warm-ups (easiest are in the mid/upper 11s), then they both did a few harder routes. Keoni has been working on a climb Audrey has done previously called Power Windows (5.13d). I TR'd one of the warm-ups and bailed after my fingers felt like they were going to break off from the cold. After trying it again post-warming up it wasn't nearly as bad, I guess I just needed to get the blood flowing (or quit being such a p#%@y). It started snowing pretty heavily about an hour in. Big flakes made a curtain in front of the cave, and landed on some of the desert cacti. Keoni and Audrey kept climbing a bit while I got some footage and explored some other vantage points outside the cave. There wasn't much wind, so you could stand there and listen to the snow flakes hit the rock, interrupted only by the occasional sound of draw clipping, which would echo in the cave. I didn't have much time in Vegas, but I made it out to Red Rocks proper after a storm the next day while Audrey got a massage. Nobody was climbing due to the weather/damp sandstone. Things looked pretty empty outisde of the tourists driving the loop + using the scenic pull-outs. Stormy skies hung over textures and colors of the park and surrounding mountain, and the red against the snowy backdrop reminded me of fiery, late fall larches in the Enchantments. I headed back as it got dark, thinking again about how much I like the landscapes out here. I think most people that visit Las Vegas miss the best part. You can click on any pic to see a larger version. Copied from my blog.

Thanks all. Matt yes a decent chunk of work involved. Stefan not while climbing, that was me with a DSLR posting high on the route. Not sure I'd feel comfortable with the drone above her, plus it's a super tight space there at World Wall I. Good comedic suggestions, maybe for the sequel. glassgowkiss - thanks for your take. Thanks everyone who checked it out, will pass along the kudos to Audrey.

So awesome.

Thanks Jason and Doug.

Definitely really surprised at the controversy around this, especially in a non-NPS, snowmobile stomping ground where anyone could also charter a noisy plane for less than the cost of a UAV and fly over any mountain here. Not my intention to ruffle feathers, I've mainly posted here to share with anyone interested in conditions and what I considered to be interesting visuals. I've removed the report. I'm not really up for engaging with hostile strangers, but respect that everyone has a right to their opinion and people have strong feelings about their relationship with the wilderness.

No, it means I'm grateful for the beautiful and unique perspective aerial photography can provide of these mountains I love so much. i've been inspired by Scurlock's photos of some of my favorite peaks for years. Airplanes are a way to achieve this perspective, they aren't invisible or silent. Last year I charted a JetRanger to fly over the North Cascades for an upcoming film I'm creating to pair with my time-lapse footage. It was the experience of a lifetime for me and a chance to see a lot of these mountains I've climbed with new eyes. There are many ways to gain these perspectives now. There's a difference between some oblivious a-hole fucking around with a toy and someone trying to pay homage to places they respect and regard as special or sacred even.