alpine et

Enjoy all the work you folks have put in, and love sifting through the TRs for future trip stoke. Best way to plan a trip - see a peak on the horizon in person. Second best? stoke from a TR. I won't post much for a few years since I moved back east... but for some reason keep popping up here to see what's happening, only to find out that noone is climbing, I guess . The highly tentatively likely to change life plan is to return to the PNW in 3-5 years, and I'll post up lots of hikes with toddlers then:

+1 for GAIA, but doesn't mean you can't CalTOPO... I usually plan stuff out in CalTOPO since it has such a great web interface, then the last day of work before the trip... err.. i mean at home on my own time.... I export the gpx out and load onto my phone..

From the quote above it sounds like 2 feet of fresh is brought up as a good thing... which I can understand if you're worried mostly about rocks and wanting them buried. Note that 2 feet of snow is a lot, and would almost certainly make avy risk rather untenable. In general spring is a somewhat easier time for summitting since the snowpack has consolidated, is deep, and avy danger is generally lower and predictable... since the dangers are usually associated with daily changes... sun warming surface layers etc. Winter, and its snowpack of various layers, can be much more complicated. NWAC forecasts don't apply above Palmer on Hood. Not to say that reading the forecast doesn't help, but one needs to extrapolate for those areas outside the forecast zones, and that can only be done with a good background of avy knowledge. Good luck and be safe.

looks a lot like this gear list to me: http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web14w/newswire-fitz-traverse-caldwell-honnold dude is gonna send the gnar!!

..... where ya going?

jake - was just about to send this to you... i'm game once we get another cold snap!

raps down the bugaboo spire and pigeon-snowpatch col are all fine and dandy with a single 60m. all the other climbing is too hard for me.

Cool thanks - sounds like the plan, and sweet photos btw.. dig the zoom in view of n. ridge approach.

what'd you find useful for rapping? Just one rap into the gully and boot down, or did you set up another? I've been up before, but hadn't rapped, and was curious what folks usually do... planning on taking a buddy out and would want to be equipped to rap if necessary...

is that rap shot looking down the Shuksan summit gully?

cool thanks for your thoughts... I think the mediocre weather and lower snow melt will have us waiting for another year.

Anyone been out on the spearhead of late? I have not been closer than Baker so would appreciate any snowlevel / glacier conditions updates. Only info I've found is the whistler webcams, which aren't all that useful. I have not been to the area previously so not sure what "standard" conditions are, but I figure the last few warm months have melted away quickly at the above average snowfall. Still worth it to spend a few days finding lines out that way?? thanks Erik

though it's probably assumed it wasn't mine, I should say, it's a Patagonia ad from... 80s? flipped through their book they put out of catalog photography... worth a borrow from the library!

Cool thanks Rad - I'll check out those sites too. We've had a few other parents we've been talking to, but it just occurred to me that if we shared some outdoorsy-ness, it'd be easier to coordinate a day at the crag together too or whatever.

Might seem an odd forum to ask, but was hoping to team up with another family to do a nanny share... if other family are climbers, I figured it might transition well into logistics for getting some mellow rock time sorted out too. The pertinent details: Located in NE Seattle (Maple Leaf); small house but workable for nanny plus two blobs. Also willing to switch weeks etc. Not sure about schedule: hoping to only do 4, possibly 3 days of day care a week. Looking to start mid-November (due beginning August) Immunizations a must [img:left]http://www.supertopo.com/photos/8/31/204642_26145_L.jpg[/img]