alpine et

Thanks! Ya know you make a good point, I have a battery grip that I've never used... that would have been a good place to use it, but I felt like I carried enough stuff on the trip already. I actually started it off on the battery I had in the camera with about 50% charge. I hung out for an hour or so with the camera, and inbetween exposures I swapped in a fresh one. Recently upgraded to a 60D... it has much bigger and heavier batteries than my old Rebel, so I'm sure that translates into longer life... I hope! They seem to do real well. Timelapse was shot over 6.5 hours (30" exposures spaced 35" apart. Put together at 24fps).

Trip: Cascade Pass Area - Eldorado peak east ridge Date: 8/12/2012 Trip Report: We took off for the mountains bound for something with a north / northeast view with a nearby peak to frame for optimal meteor viewing. Thoughts of a long carry into Glacier Peak area were cast off once Everett traffic reared its ugly head... so we opted for Eldorado instead. A quick stop for a new map (despite having 2 gps units with us - I love paper) and we were off to grab permits and get some shut eye. Up the trail in the morning was pleasant, that is to say that it wasn't blisteringly hot yet. We scampered up the boulder field and across the ridge and up the Eldorado glacier. The snow started on the flats before the ridge crossing, and the scramble down to Eldorado glacier was easily found and navigated. We set up camp and enjoyed the views and watched a group climb to the summit in the early evening. Set up a timelapse that caught the meteor shower (and some planes and satellites) along with the aurora anmd moonrise and then sunrise. The climb was straightforward. We roped up for the ascent but scrambled rocks beside the glacier on the way down and avoided roping up on the way down. Then the long slog out to the car... Meteor timelapse: Perseid meteor shower over Eldoardo peak Taking a breather adn enjoying the views towards Cascade pass Topping out on the flats of Eldaroad glacier Open crevasse near route - still a rather stable bridge across on far left near rocks, though. camp in the early morning when I woke to stop the timelapse Gear Notes: standard glacier gear Approach Notes: Trail in great shape. Easy trail finding through boulder field. Snow before Rousch / Eldorado Ridge, easy scramble down to glacier.

great - thank you! that place looks awesome!

Doing the honey moon thing along the Haute route this August. We'll be hopping from cabane to cabane along the mountains, but looking for a somewhat decent place in Zermatt. Anyone head that way often and know of a good place with private rooms / views right in the town? thanks, Erik

Nice writeup - your cam conundrum made me think of this resource: http://info.rockrun.com/cam-size-comparison-chart.html but I realize friends aren't on there (unless DMM uses same sizing?) either way, as a new trad climber I've found that chart useful...

yeah enchantments is the best that time of year. the thru-hike between Stuart lake trail head and snowlake is great (go in that direction!) also check out Ingalls Lake area for great views of Stuart, similar larch tree density and a bit more off the beaten path.

pm sent on #2 if it's not already taken... actually that isn't conditional. I sent a pm on #2, it doesn't matter if it's taken or not.

Has anyone ventured up the N. Fork Sauk River road since it opened? Its my understanding its open to the North Fork Sauk trail now. I'm curious if anyone has gone up towards Bingley Gap and further along what is labeled on the USGS topo as "Lost Creek Ridge Trail". Seems like a silly name... creek ridge? We're scheming on a Glacier Peak trip soon and weighing options between a new adventure out of the N. Fork Sauk area with a somewhat known bushy approach out of White River....

Awesome images! Great writeup, thanks for sharing.

...yup Subaru got through just fine. Freaked the wife out with water coming over the hood, but that was mostly because we went in a little hot. If you ease your way in, shouldn't be bad. When we left on the afternoon of the 4th there were a bunch of cars in the lot... some small sedans.

second Adams. Shasta Hood earlier in the season if you have a few folks along with. Sahale is fairly straightforward as well, and offers great views into the N. Cascades...

I'm sure some folks will chime in with more recent information for ya, but I was up there about a month ago. There seemed to be tons of snow on the glacier at that point, though. A few wet slides had slid on a pretty bullet proof base, but it was still easily managable with crampons / single axe. photos here: http://www.highpressureadventures.blogspot.com/2012/06/june-9-colchuck.html

hmmm man the weather has been bad, eh?

Sweet trip - way to get the weather window dialed... oh just checked... was a weekday NICE. Doesn't look like you needed to lug the SLR on that one... amazing pictures - thanks for the encouragement to get out on this route - it's been moved up the list...

ability to self arrest on steep slope. knowledge of how/when to use crampons. how to stay warm. when to turn around if weather is coming in. i wouldn't count on following too much of a track up there yet.... though there have been reports, and I could be wrong, but it's a little early yet for the masses to have stamped out a large staircase.

anyone been up here recently?

Anyone head in via Snowlakes side recently? I've never gone this early - any issue getting over that spilldam?? After having been up Colchuck we're just going to approach via Snowlakes to be lazy, and hoping to leave ice axe and crampons at the car... anyone been up snowlakes and up to prussik recently?

I was up at Colchuck at the col and Aasguard pass over this past weekend (June 9-10). There was evidence of some recent wet slide activity on Colchuck, but felt pretty solid going up that in the morning - don't think anything moved on it all day. Went up Aasguard in the afternoon and it was getting sloppy by 2-3, but still skiied well and especially if you follow the decently well placed bootpath, travel was easy. I'm headed back there this weekend and have been watching weather...NOAA has been going back and forth between partly sunny and 20% chance rain. To me that means GREEN LIGHT.... although our rock climbing is more of an after thought to our thru hike, so rain isn't such a game changer...

Cliff Mass' blog is an interesting read as well: http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/ If anyone wants to dive into reading the UW model linked above (on a basic level - precip and column integrated water...ie clouds) then drop me a PM. I'm trying to find an email I sent to a friend where I described my whole process of using that tool... I'll find it sooner if I know folks are interested in looking at it. Not terribly detailed, but will keep you from wasting some of the time I did. Erik

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=46.1881498281879&lon=-121.49333953857422&site=pdt&unit=0&lg=en&FcstType=text be prepared.

You can borrow a pair from me in exchange for some emmons route beta. It's on the list for later in July, but I'd be curious what you find in early June. We'll be a split party as well, but probably only up to camp... not between Sherman and the summit since I haven't been up there previously. Erik

...well after I post about something not working, it usually begins to work... so I can see maps that are on sale, but haven't found much that I need for climbing unfortunately thanks for the reminder about this sale, though! Erik

This link gets you closer: http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/zInvReductionSearchStart.do though I still can't search for what maps are on sale. When I go my normal route and select a 24k topo, it comes up as the normal price... anyone had success with this? Erik

I think I still have an old pair of ascension skins (at least they are the right color and that'd what the stuff sack says). I'm fairly sure they'll fit your size requirement... I'll try and remember to check tonight. If they do - they're yours for $20 bucks. THey'll get you through a season.

3 on a rope? wait... I've seen your video on the interwebs! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvJK5IuS5Z4