lukeh

Added some pics above from Jason of his perspective on us while we climbed the Gendarme (with some annotations). Thanks Jason for sending those!

My favorite lines from this : "flashing gloriously one last time in the sunlight before it disappears into the moat" "hot roof on roof action"

goskac - glad you guys survived the rock fall and congrats on the climb. This pic is great, very cool to see another perspective. Yes I'd love to see any and all pics you have of us - will PM.

Here's another pic showing that chain/bolt and the other party:

Trip: Mt. Stuart - Complete North Ridge with a DSLR Date: 8/18/2013 Trip Report: Mt. Stuart summit via the Complete North Ridge route, one of my proudest so far. Click the pic above or most pics for a much larger version of Facebook. After a failed attempt on the North Ridge a few weeks ago, Audrey and I decided to give it another try this past weekend. Her friend Jack was in town and decided to join. Jack actually made the thing doable. He's a really good trad climber and ended up leading the entire route. I generally suck at climbing, Audrey is an amazing sport climber, but doesn't have as much experience as Jack doing trad. Neither had experience in alpine climbing (correction, Audrey has done der Sportsman on Prusik a couple years ago), but if you can climb a handful of pitches with a shorter approach, you can probably climb 30+ pitches with lots of extra hiking. I'd fill in the gaps around navigation, gear, etc., and how to work the walkie talkies (the "on" button can be hard to find on the pair I have). I have to say this was the greatest climb I've been on. I was mentally high for a couple days after just thinking about it. I was very glad to have these two on the climb. I considered myself mostly along for the ride given my limited trad/rock climbing skills, but they proved just good enough to follow and simul-climb without getting anyone killed. I'd definitely go back and lead the upper with the Gendarme bypass. I'll let the pictures/and caption tell most of the story, but here are some high and low lights: We made Goat Pass faster this time, 5h, starting again in the dark to avoid the baking sun. 4h is probably a better, still realistic time. Getting from Goat Pass to the base of the Complete North Ridge took way too long, almost 3 hours. We probably didn’t pick the best line and mostly avoided the snow, except for a sketchy section where it took a while to do the whole crampon thing. We also didn’t really know where the route started, but eventually found it. A picture printed out of the base from Steph Abegg’s TR was really helpful. We filled up on water under the Stuart Glacier, the same place as our first attempt. I filled up 3 L, Audrey Jack did 2. I still needed more, they needed less. There was a section below the Stuart Glacier that seemed to have frequent, dangerous softball-sized rocks coming down. We moved through this section quickly. The Ice Cliff Glacier sounded and looked like it was coming down, which was pretty amazing to watch and hear. Massive ice and rock avalanches would pour down it's lower slopes and the sounds would be deafening. It continued like this all day. Audrey has some video/shots and demonstrate a little bit of this she'll probably post. As I belayed Jack up the second pitch (5.8 slot), I let the rope slack hang and it ended up getting caught in a crazy tree that impressively swallowed the rope in its tangled branches. Audrey had to rap to get it undone. We lost time. The 5.8 slot really sucked even after I took the pack off and draped it on my right side. Very awkward for all of us, but we persevered. The 5.9 hand/finger crack that follows is the hardest pitch on the whole route, except for maybe the last little face pitch near the summit. I say that because that last face pitch requires hand jamming, something which I really just haven't done. Due to lost time I was just going to prusik up it, but immediately found out that prusiking up slab is slow as hell. I climbed the thing, taking a couple times to rest and clean gear. Simul-climbing became more pitched-out, belayed climbing, mostly because I wasn't yet super comfortable on the exposed low-mid 5th stuff and didn't want to kill Jack and correspondingly he didn't want to die. Thank god this changed the following day as we simul-climbed the rest less the 5.7, the Gendarme pitches, and the one 5.8-9 face pitch. The original plan was to bivy on the summit, we actually bivied below even where the upper ridge starts due to some slow-downs. (7300' vs. 8200'). That said we had an awesome view of the Ice Cliff Glacier and the surrounding valley. I ended up kicking off a night time-lapse and had to get up in the middle of the night to change the battery. The next morning we got into a groove and simul-climbed up to the 5.7 pitch a bit above the notch pretty quickly. The climbing was super fun and easy and we made pretty good time. The knife edge section below the "slab with crack" pitch (pic below on the slab with crack pitch) was the highlight of the trip for me. There's a big section of super exposed open space you have to step over and doing so freaked me out and excited me at the same time. Views from this area of the climb are also really breathtaking, and the slab pitch is so fun and easy, but super exposed. After taking pictures of Jack on the "slab with crack" pitch with my big, bulky DSLR, I dropped it in a crack and my heart almost stopped beating. There were large cracks everywhere that seemed to empty into thousands of feet of exposure. Thank god it was wedged near the top of the crack and I immediately clipped it into a foot prusik for the rest of the climb. That would've been a $4500 mistake plus the loss of pictures already taken on the trip. We were at the Gendarme in good time, and I followed Audrey and Jack up the first pitch w/o too much trouble, except near the very top where my arms got fairly tired. An Asian party that we had passed took the Gendarme bypass route. We watched as small-medium sized rocks came down from above more than once very close to them. Some of these rocks would've certainly killed them immediately if they impacted, so I count this party as very lucky. If I ever take the bypass route I'm going to cruise through that section as fast as possible. The offwidth pitch was super awkward – I can't imagine leading it. Jack did an awesome job. The lower part wasn't as bad I thought, but I got stuck in the middle of the pitch and had to take. We opted to rap down shortly after that rather than traverse the V3ish moves, after this Jack lead the last more technical pitch up a face which required hand jams. We were losing time so I just pulled on gear and got up this thing as quickly as possible, Audrey did it clean behind me. The rest of the climbing to the summit was fun, and the summit was visually striking. Audrey and Jack shared some Scotch while I snapped a few pics. Getting down the Cascadian was so much nicer than I was expecting after reading a half-dozen TRs. It's scree, sure, but it's a pretty noticeable trail of mini switchbacks. With some little hiking gaiters the scree actually softens the blow to your knees. Too bad my hiking gaiters didn't close up in the back so my feet filled up with rocks. You don't need crampons/axe for the descent, you can go around the snow. We took a wrong turn on the Cascadian, but it still went. See the map below, looks like there's a slightly more direct line to Longs Pass, maybe that's easier. Having rationed water, by the time we reached Ingalls creek I was done. A fever/headache and general dehydration slowed me more and more down the Cascadian. Jack helped fill up my water, then electrolyte-mixed water, peppered salami, and wheat thins brought me back to life. We cruised from Ingalls creek back to the car in the moonlight. At one point we saw large areas lit up on the hillside below Longs, and it looked like snow. It turned out to be slick boulders in a Talus field, but it looked a bit surreal in the moonlight and the blueish-glow of the surrounding landscape. What an unforgettable experience. We reach bivy sites above Stuart pass in about 3.5 hours as the moon sets. Mt. Rainier is on the left, Ingalls Peak is on the right. Click for a larger version. Goat Pass in the morning. Stuart Glacier is on the right. Click for a larger version. Filling up on water below Stuart Glacier. Rockfall increased as we traverse down to the base of the North Ridge, which took longer than expected. We heard what sounded like a large jet liner coming out from behind the north ridge base for 10-15 seconds as we descended before seeing a massive avalanche on the Ice Cliff Glacier. These would become more powerful as we made our way up the ridge, providing an eerie soundtrack to some already tough pitches. Click for a larger version. Jack and Audrey at the base of the ridge. I guess we're finally really going to climb this thing...that is if the Ice Cliff Glacier doesn't completely collapse and kill us, which it sounded like it would about every 15 minutes. The lower ridge is harder than the upper ridge IMO. Pay close attention to the route we followed at the very bottom here, some pretty critical maneuvering is required. Me turning the corner past our hanging belay on the 5.7 first lieback pitch. Around the corner is the 5.8 slot, which is the most awkward pitch I've been involved with in my short climbing history. Per Jack I took my pack off halfway, then I can't remember, but it wasn't fun. Photo by Audrey Sniezek. The moon disappears above the Ice Cliff glacier. Colossal ice calving had been sending a flood of seracs, snow, and large boulders down the glacier all day. Click for a larger version. Jack belaying Audrey up some mid-5th pitches around 7300ft on the lower ridge. Fresh Ice Cliff glacier avy runout is seen over a thousand feet below, the moonlight over Stuart is reflected on the left, lower slopes. Click for a larger version. Jack before a bivy on the lower North Ridge. The Ice Cliff Glacier and Sherpa Peak are in the background. Click for a larger version. Jack in the morning before continuing up the ridge, connecting with the upper ridge after a handful of 5th class pitches. The Ice Cliff Glacier is missing a large section of its lower shelf due to an avy Audrey witnessed the previous day. Click for a larger version. Getting my shoes all sandy before doing some exposed slab climbing. This is just before a 5.7 slab pitch above the notch (maybe 8300'). Upper Ice Cliff and Sherpa glaciers are in the shade. Photo by Audrey Sniezek. Jack making his way up one of the most enjoyable pitches on a slab with crack. Just before this slab you climb a knife edge ridge with high exposure on either side. A large, exposed gap in the ridge can be stepped over with a large step and lean of faith, one of the highlights of the climb for me. This section of the route represents some of the most enjoyable alpine rock climbing I've ever experienced. Click for a larger version. Another party making their way up the mid-5th class pitches behind us. Stuart Lake can be seen several thousand feet below. Click for a larger version. Audrey coming up towards the Gendarme. I'm adding a few pics taken of us from Jason Shin who got in touch with me below. He was in another party that took the route to the right of the Gendarme. Thanks Jason, I overlaid a couple with some lines/annotations. Gendarme bypass (original route) with rockfall hazard. You can't really see them well, but there are people in the center of this photo. Click for a larger version. Me following Jack on the upper part of the the first 5.9 Gendarme lieback pitch. This pitch was much easier than the lower 5.8 or 5.9 pitches, but as I reached the top I was running out of energy.Photo by Audrey Sniezek. All three of us on the little belay ledge on the Gendarme. Photo by Jason Shin. I clip a jesus piece for Jack's lead on the second Gendarme pitch, an awkward 5.9 offwidth with a lot of exposure. Belay ledge here is small, exposed, and has great views of the Gendarme bypass route where we watched the other party nearly get killed from some of the fastest travelling small-medium sized rocks I've ever seen.Photo by Audrey Sniezek. Jack leading the 5.9 offwidth, didn't look easy.Photo by Audrey Sniezek. I’m in the blue coat, Audrey is the short one beside me , Jack is leading the offwidth pitch. Photo by Jason Shin. Showing a bit of the upper section of the second pitch. A large belay ledge is on the right that precedes a rap down to avoid some hard moves. Photo by Jason Shin. Me reaching the top of the offwidth pitch, very happy to have made it up. I had to take halfway through as I couldn't figure out how to get over these weird middle section. I'm sure I was missing something obvious. For the lower part of the pitch I used the lieback technique vs. hand jamming and it wasn't too bad.Photo by Audrey Sniezek. Jack on the summit with another party coming up from the West. Click for a larger version. Audrey passing me to join Jack on the summit. Mt. Rainier can be seen in the far distance. Click for a larger version. Audrey and Jack share celebratory scotch on the summit. The sun begins to set. We soon are hiking down the Cascadian Couloir, then up and over Long's Pass by moonlight. Click for a larger version. Summit shot just before descending. I'm shy.Photo by Audrey Sniezek. Just enough damage to make the first couple showers sting a bit.Photo by Audrey Sniezek. The original plan was to spend the second night on the summit so I could take a time-lapse and we could explore a bit more night climbing photography, but we lost too much time getting to the CNR base and on the lower, more difficult pitches. We also took what I believe is a slightly longer route down the Cascadian. The pink line shows what appears to be the more efficient route. (Update: My friend Cecil just did the pink line descending from the West Ridge and he said it sucked). Goat pass is on the right where we bivied after hiking 5 hours at night. Our second bivy was still on the lower ridge vs. the original plan of the summit. The pink line shows the traverse line across Stuart to start the climb ~2,000 feet higher on the upper ridge. My GPS freaked out on the lower ridge hence the schizo path. Gear Notes: We used cramps/axe to get to the base of the route, but I'm pretty sure there's a path down there that would not require them. No cramps/axe required anywhere else or on the way down. Rack was Metolius cams to 10, doubled I think up to 5-6. 10 single, 5 double runners. 8mm 60m Petzl half rope. For belayed pitches we tied into center/end. For simul we separated by about ~60 feet I think. Left a yellow camp mini biner on the rap station above the Gendarme. Copied from my blog.

Thanks Jason, 'ppreciate that!

Trip: Bonanza Peak - East Face Date: 7/25/2013 Trip Report: I don't have enough time to copy/re-format here as I'm heading off to another climb, but you can read all about this trip on my blog. There are several more descriptive maps, more pics, and the full story, laced with one-liners. AFAIK we're the only ones who made it up there this year. I added a lot of detail in the maps to help anyone else trying this peak, which I highly recommend. More on FB or the blog. Gear Notes: Axes, cramps, extra slings, 60m rope were essential, although stronger climbers could probably down-climb everything. We also brought a second tool just in case the bergscrund crossing was going to be tricky, and a small alpine rack. Didn't need the tool, but you probably will shortly as the glacier is really broken up and likely impassable for the less hard core. I left a nut in a sketchy rap station, so I'm glad I brought the rack. Approach Notes: Figuring out transportation logistics and getting through the alder between the lake and the pass is probably the hardest part, although the rest still is a bit challenging (for me at least).

White River rangers confirmed the death from the fall injuries as well.

tcweiskopf - No, mostly they were just videos of skiers hucking off cliffs to heavy metal . JK yes they were. Forgot which ones, a few series, one with a dude with an Australian accent in France. Just search "ski lessons" on youtube and you'll find plenty. I think I'll probably take a lesson this season though so that someone can watch/correct me on form. Good luck!

It appears that unfortunately this skier died after a fall 2 weekends ago on the Emmons at 13,500. It was the exact same day I skied down the DC side (was icy until closer to 13,000 ft where it started to soften in the sun). Very sad, RIP.

Very cool. "Sunset on Redoubt" is gorgeous!

Yes those are ski tracks above and below Emmons Flats. No clue as to whether rangers ski while on duty.

Trip: Mt. Rainier - Steamboat Prow (Inter Glacier) Date: 7/14/2013 Trip Report: My friend and I went up to Steamboat Prow last weekend to camp and take pics of the Emmons, Winthrop, etc. Info might be interesting to anyone planning to travel the Inter Glacier, or who wants to see what the Emmons/Winthrop look like about a week ago. Or if you like composed alpine pics and a brief story! Blog entry + route info, story, and even more pics | Larger pics on FB Brendan overlooking the Winthrop as the sun sets (cell phone pic). Those little dots are tents at Camp Schurman and the Emmons Flats, not skittles as I originally thought. View back to Freemont Lookout, Burroughs Mt., Sunrise area from 9700ft. Blog entry + route info, story, and even more pics | Larger pics on FB Luke Gear Notes: DVD of the 1989 Tom Hanks/Corey Feldman classic film, "The Burbs". No DVD player. Approach Notes: Didn't see any bear unfortunately, just bear shit.

Agree, coming back up to the Sahale arm from Horseshoe Basin is more like 1k ft, not 600ft, My GPS showed 7530 the high point on the arm before descending to 6540ft. in the basin. And this is using a steep ramp up to the ridge, you went even lower to the toe.

Trip: Buckner Mtn. + Horseshoe - SW Face and whatever Horseshoe's route is called Date: 6/29-30/2013 Trip Report: Linsey on the summit of Buckner Mountain. Sahale, Boston, and Forbidden Peak are just ahead. Click here for a larger version on FB. I’m going to keep this one short as Linsey has a detailed report I hope she’ll post. The annotated map below should give you the high-level summary. Aside from stats and route beta, however, I have to say that this definitely a memorable climb as we stayed out for over 24 hours with only a short 1.5h nap literally in the dirt around 3am. We passed out on the Sahale arm as our headlamps and eye-lids gave up, but not before eating wheat thins and salami like zombies, and leaving it strewn about savagely as we curled up in the dirt. Somehow the open salami did not cause a bear to find and eat us. When I woke up shivering the next morning I thought about this picture of a grizzly taken probably right around where we passed out. I only took a few pictures, the first being me and Linsey waiting out a fierce downpour Saturday morning while watching some Ali G. I’m glad we did because it was over in an hour and things were fairly dry for the next 6-8 hours. Linsey also tagged Horshoe while I belayed. Leaving our crampons/axes lower on this route caused this little climb to extend the epic nature of the whole adventure (a steep, small snow patch became the crux). We primarily did Horseshoe because Linsey is trying to climb the 100 highest peaks in WA and she’s in the sixties I think - pretty darn cool. Gear Notes: Light axe, light crampons, small rack for Horseshoe, GoPro with dead batteries that was useless weight (a must!). Approach Notes: Some 4-5th class down-climbing to get to a steep snow ramp that empties out into the basin. The basin itself was the sketchiest part due to a ton of running water under snow from the glacier above. I kept expecting to fall through and drown. We roped up here on the way back in the dark.

So awesome...congrats!

Trip: Mt. Rainier - DC - Single car-summit push + ski descent (solo) Date: 7/7/2013 Trip Report: [video:youtube]NroFYIkU0VU Some cell phone videos I took while heading up/down the mountain, put together in what I hope is a slightly interesting way. I didn’t feel comfortable skiiing while holding a phone on the upper mountain, however. NOTE: All pics/video are from my phone. For a while now I’ve wanted to do a) A single push from car-to-summit on Rainier, and b) a snowboard or ski descent of Rainier. I finally did both—sort of casually—this past Sunday, adding a twist of making it a solo mission. I wasn’t going for speed—and I’m def. not in the shape I was in last year. I injured my ankle pretty badly in Oct and have only done a couple climbs since, so really I’m just glad to be climbing again. I snowboard—not ski—so I’ve been learning by watching youtube videos and going the last 2 days at Alpental, and the last-ish 2 days at Crystal and doing laps. I bought a mountaineering ski setup because my snowboard/splitboard setup is just too heavy and not as flexible. Typically I’m carrying a ton of heavy camera gear, adding a 12-13 pound splitboard + binding + skin setup isn’t practical. After the 9th or 10th youtube video I felt like I got good enough as to not kill myself in the backcountry. I skied down a chunk of Baker and from the summit of Adams over the past month to warm up for the big daddy, Rainier. Saturday afternoon I drove out to Paradise to get a permit before the ranger station closed. I had a solo permit from last year, but I think you have to renew each year. Anyway the young ranger couldn’t get into the computer system for solo permits, so after cursing at every computer in the place he just let me go. The guy looked really young and seemed really nice/shy, so it was kind of entertaining listening to his frustrated “fucks” and “goddamns” as he fumbled around on the keyboard. My route - left parking lot at ~1am, arrived at the crater rim at approx 9am. Took my time getting down (I suck at skiiing). Park pass I buy almost every year. I tried to sleep in the back of my rig listening to comedy CDs from Todd Barry, Steven Wright, and Anthony Jeselnik. The comedy actually helps calm the fear and negative thoughts about doing something that sounds kind of crazy and dangerous to a lot of people (well I guess to non-climbers/mountaineers). I couldn’t sleep and almost considered bailing in self-doubt, fear, and rationalizations that Sunday would be much better spent in more casual, relaxed ways. But I knew when Sunday night came around and I hadn’t done anything truly interesting with my 4-day weekend, I’d regret it. I also knew I solo’d the route last year around this time and it was pretty straightforward. I pushed everything else down and finally fell asleep sometime around 10 PM. Midnight arrived and I snoozed a bit more, then drove from the overnight to the to the day parking lot, right up front (I’m lazy). It felt a bit surreal putting skis on my back and walking out into the dark woods—alone—at 1AM. Feelings of fear and loneliness are contrasted with feelings of confidence and pride from conjuring up the self-motivation to try something like this. Those feelings then fade and are replaced with the sensations that go along with being out in nature, under the stars, facing a towering silhouette of rock, ice, and that sense of fleeting freedom. Those feelings dull and you’re left with the sound of your footsteps in the snow, one-thousand times. I see headlamps up near Camp Hazard on the Kautz route, a route I’d rather be on. Then ski skins against snow. Then at 8,000 ft ski crampons and skins scraping the snow. It’s getting really icy. I pass a tent. I hear two people glissading down from Muir at 3AM. I’m happy because this is strange and interesting and abnormal and other things I could’ve done are not, like watching golf or something painful like that. I reach Muir at 4am – 3 hours with a ~15 pound pack wasn’t breaking any speed records. I did that last year with 60 pounds. Who cares, the light from the sun is coming out and I’m now on the Cowlitz skinning across a few deep, but very narrow cracks in the glacier. I didn’t grow up knowing much about mountains, skis, or any of this. It’s still very new and exciting for me and I’m really enjoying being here for the first time with barely any weight on my back to slow me down. Cathedral Rocks, 4:30 AM, 10,500ft. Top of cathedral rocks. In the most rockfall-prone place on the route, right before taking the Disappointment Cleaver in “the bowling alley". Sunrise behind the DC and shines on the Emmons, Ingraham, and Little Tahoma (11,200 ft). Emmons Glacier. Icefall on the Ingraham Glacier above the DC. The most interesting part of this route terrain/visual-wise. I met another French solo climber on the route who took scary fall a few minutes later in this section, but was able to grab a fixed line. I jumped the second largest crevasse on the route around 12,500ft, then made my way through the “crux” of the route – a large icefall that is visually a bit stunning. I caved and put on crampons, traded pole for axe, just to be safe due to exposure and some uphill crevasse crossings. The route went close to the top of Gibraltar Rock, and I was tempted to actually go out on top of the rock to the very edge. There was a knife-edge ridge that looked doable, and I wondered if anyone had actually ever done that. I’m sure they have. I’m a bit fascinated with Gibraltar Rock due to the stories about Cadaver gap, and from witnessing some humbling, giant boulders fall off of it while on the Ingraham. The most intimidating rockfall I’ve ever seen that close. I’m in awe of things I fear the most. Tents on Ingraham Flats. 13,000ft to the crater rim was tough, it always is for me. Half the oxygen vs. sea-level + fatigue def. slows you down a bit. I reached the crater rim just after 9am and immediately tried to nap behind some rocks to wait for the snow to soften. The wind was cutting, and even after putting on all of my layers I couldn’t stay warm. At 10:30 AM I finally said f-it, put on the skis, and started to descend. I still had to get some “work work” done that night, so I couldn’t be back too late. Crater rim 8 hours after leaving the car. After putting on all my clothing, I was still cold so I eventually headed down on rock hard snow. Lightweight ski boots with lightweight crampons while I try to nap—unsuccessfully—on the summit crater. I love these crampons. I didn’t bring a lot of food, and I ate even less. Little Tillamook Cheese blocks and almond butter saved me, I couldn’t eat much else. The snow was rock hard and sun-cupped, making holding an edge close to impossible for me. Once the snow steepened and emptied into a crevasse crossing, I knew I had to climb a bit lower or die. As I descend I kept poking at the snow, waiting to get to an elevation where it would be soft enough to put the skis back on. Somewhere above 13,000 ft it seemed doable again, so I re-mounted and was off. The snow was still hard, crusty, and bumpy, and I skied it without much grace (read: I probably looked like a complete idiot to good skiers). I skied over a snow bridge on a crevasse and made it to the “crux” I mentioned earlier, which was not skiable. After climbing through that short section and jumping the route’s second biggest crevasse again, I put the skis back on and headed down the DC. It gets pretty steep here and the snow was much softer, but it still had all of those reverse-tear drop shapes that didn’t always cut nicely against my edges. It continues to get steep until it cliffs out, so I skied down the whole thing with no poles, clutching my ice axe, until the route turns to rock again about 2/3rd -3/4th the way down. I remember thinking that I should’ve practiced turning right more at Crystal, I’m not as comfortable that direction on the steep stuff. Like Derek Zoolander I’m not an ambi-turner. Upper mountain, skiiing down in crappy snow that made me look like the noob I am. Back on the lower Ingraham I meet an AAI and IMG guide. They just put in a ladder on the first largest crevasse crossing at about 11k ft. on the Ingraham. I felt really cool that I did not need the ladder going up and I told them that ladders are for p#$$@, pounded a mountain dew, then ran away (ok I’m lying I didn’t feel cool and I didn’t say that to them – having a mountain dew would’ve been nice though). I did, however, strip to a t-shirt as the heat was dialing up. I walked across the ladder a couple times for novelty video, then skied down to the Cathedral Rocks, somehow avoiding falling into the comically large Ingraham crevasses and rock fall debris despite my lack of ski chops. Upon returning to this crevasse at 11,000ft, a ladder had been installed so I had to test it out. Skiiing on the flats avoiding rocks and crevasses. My Cowlitz run where the snow actually got nice and corny was coming up. Once I reached the Cowlitz the real fun began. I pretty much just tucked and made it across that thing in what felt like 20 seconds. Dodging rocks and cruising over crevasses too narrow to swallow me up. Easily the highlight of the trip was rocketing across this glacier! My dream of a ski decent of Rainier was finally getting really fun. The snow past camp Muir was even better. I actually felt like I knew how to ski on this snow, and I cruised down to the top of Panorama Point in no time where I immediately lost a glove messing with my pack at the creek crossing (black OR stormtracker if you find it). Once at the bottom of Panorama Point you can still ski almost to the parking lot, which is awesome because I hate walking back to the car. I turned in my permit stub at the climbing station and headed back to the Issaquah to refuel on a Chipotle burrito. I can’t imagine anyone read this whole thing, but anyway…it was an experience I’m still feeling a bit high on happiness and satisfaction from. Gear Notes: Skis and hardware La Sportiva GT Skis 184 and RT bindings (7 lb, 14oz) Skins/crampons (~1lb for skins, 77g/crampon) Sportiva Spitfire boots (6 lbs for the pair) Grivel Air-tech light crampons (switched from Stubai, happy I did) Camp Corsa Nanotech Ice Axe (~9oz) Didn’t use cramps/axe until close to 13k. Pack Camp Rapid 260 backpack (awesome ski carry system that doesn’t require pack removal, I’m super lazy so this is nice, but probably also easy to build onto any pack with 2 slings and 2 biners) Full pack w/o skis/skins and only 1 L of H20 was about 12.5 pounds. Add skis and the extra water and maybe closer to 25 lb. Clothing This is the first time on Rainier I brought lightweight puffy vs. a huge Denali-ish puffy. I wasn’t warm enough to take a real break on the summit, or any break on the upper mountain until after maybe 9am though. Food 3 Tillamook cheese squares, 1 pack of Almond butter, a few packets of Gu (or the Cliff version), and a bunch of Cliff blocks, 1 Snickers, 1 Milkyway (the candy bar not the galaxy full of billions of stars). I ate maybe a quarter of this. Live chicken (let go in the wild around 9000 ft). Liquid 1 liter to the river above Panorama Point, then 4 liters to the summit, bringing almost 2 back down to Ingraham Flats , Camelbak Elixir added for electrolytes, taste. Camera equipment: Cell phone Reading materials: 2 large hardcover Holy Bibles. Approach Notes: Snow all the way to parking lot, skiable to a quarter mile-ish from the parking lot with a few places you must take off skis. Copied from my blog.

Ice axe to the crotch self-portrait. Just below Mt. Baker's North Ridge on some crazy anvil-like formation. Photo and jumper: Luke Humphrey.

[video:vimeo]27133765 Large version here.

Trip where we camped the next night on the Little Tahoma summit with full packs and 20+ pounds of camera gear. I don't know if anyone has ever camped up there. There's not one flat spot on the narrow ridge next to the impressive (3000ft?) drop-off to the Emmons glacier, and the biggest rat I've ever seen haunted us all night as we slept out in the open under a meteor shower. Photo by Luke Humphrey.

Across the Frying Pan towards the Whitman, looking forward to weaving around crevasses on the way down. Climber: Cecil Groetken. Photo by Luke Humphrey.

"It's ok to eat fish, because they don't have any feelings" Coleman Glacier Icefall, Mt. Baker. Climbers Alin Flaidar, Linsey Warren. (No photoshop, contrast adjustments in Lightroom only). Photo by Luke Humphrey.

Aurora over the North Cascades, Sahale Mt., July 2012. (No Photoshop, minor contrast adjustments only). Photo by Luke Humphrey.

Trip: Mt. Baker - Lower Coleman Icefall Date: 9/30/2012 Trip Report: Alin getting ready to ascend the northern serac on lead. We made our way in between two large seracs separated by a deep crevasse. Towards the far end ice blocks had filled in the top of the crevasse. Linsey belays from the ice blocks, anchored into the south serac with a screw or two. After visiting the serac-filled Coleman Glacier icefall several weeks ago before a North Ridge attempt, I knew I had to return to get more images. This time I enlisted Linsey Warren who I also thought would be perfect for some Steadicam shots in heavily crevassed areas during the day. I've been reviewing my Untitled Time-lapse Project and decided it needed more of a human element to better connect the spectacular landscapes with our relationship to that environment. Alin also agreed to join the adventure and ended up leading on ice at night. For this trip I ended up bringing my 10-pound large Gitzo tripod legs and Sachtler tripod head to get some smooth pans. This made my pack around 75 pounds after offloading some group gear to Linsey/Alin. After arriving at the lower Coleman glacier near some large seracs around dark, we setup camp and starting preparing to do some icefall exploration by moonlight. We made a B-line for the most interesting, largest seracs and climbed through several block systems until finding the perfect spot. As Alin lead I began to feel more nauseous than I've ever felt in my life. I struggled to setup a time-lapse wedged in-between these two massive seracs on a small ledge next to a black hole. I became so sick and developed such a headache I couldn't continue and had to climb out back onto the flatter area on the glacier. There I tried again to setup a time-lapse and could not due to the nausea and pain. I made it back to the tent and then puked up a ton of liquid and went to bed still in great pain. I was devastated that I would not be getting a motion-controlled time-lapse in these seracs as the scenery was gorgeous and I had carried all of the gear up here. There was, however, nothing I could do. I've been sick before and still managed to setup my shots, but this mysterious force kept me pinned to the ground. Luckily the next day the photography/cinematography gods shined down on us after what looked like a dead-end path through an extremely broken up serac system. I wanted to turn around after climbing up a series of ledges only to face steeper terrain and more crevasses, but Linsey was determined to break on through to the other side. She placed a couple of screws and made it up past a crevasse/ice wall that I thought would drop off on the other side. Turns out it lead us to a perfect playground of crevasses, ledge systems, moats, and seracs. We spent the rest of the day filming travel across these systems. Running out of time we weren't able to descend into a crevasse/moat system for ice climbing footage, so hopefully the weather gods allow for at least one more weekend of filming before winter arrives. Alin leading up the northern serac while Linsey belays. A mysterious and powerful nausea and migraine headache starts to come over me as I take pictures on the ledge of a crevasse. The next morning we make our way through a maze of seracs. Linsey follows me through this hole, which I barely fit through to gain a series of ledges. Photo by Alin Flaidar. Linsey easily takes the lead up some steep stuff after I turn back, concerned we would spend all day in the icefall and possibly get stuck. She found the perfect playground you see below after we had to make our way over more ledges with even wider crevasses. Photo by Alin Flaidar. Alin and Linsey look out across the late season lower Coleman glacier. We had reached this point through Linsey's perseverance at ice climbing through a jumble of intimidating seracs.Click for 500px.com version. Alin takes a picture of Linsey perched atop a narrow bridge in a large crevasse moat system. Me planning a shot with Linsey up a narrower ledge between two moats/crevasses. Photo by Alin Flaidar. Steadicam footage will go into my Untitled Time-lapse Project, which I hope to release by year's end. Copied from my blog. Gear Notes: Pickets couldn't be placed on/near the icefall - too hard.

Nice work guys, makes me want to go back next weekend and try'er again on the middle line.