jeffwesley

Great trip! I was in that area in August but the weather was much more befuddling and we had to alter our plans too. Tried Challenger from the NE but as you pointed out the glacier was pretty cracked up and we ran into major bergschrund/visibility issues. Also had to forego an attempt at Fury because we ran out of time. Heavy packs + not enough food + steep travel + interesting weather = Fun in the Picketts! trying to find a way around the schrund on Challenger looking south from Luna Peak

P.S. I forgot to mention (just for conversation sake) that guided parties do have a much higher summit success rate than private parties on Rainier.

Sorry Frank, didn't mean to jump to conclusions about you. It just seems like every time I go in the climbing partners forum there's another post by someone from Kansas or West Texas or Florida looking for a non-guided group to join to make their dream come true. Given your experience, I think you'd do fine on a private party with partners experienced in crevasse rescue techniques. Good luck on your summit attempt.

beautiful photography! great send!

Is it just me or does this seem to be a bit of a trend on this forum? Everybody and their dog trying to get a free, basically-guided trip up Rainier. Maybe it just comes with living in close proximity to such an iconic climbing objective. Either way, I agree with the previous comments. Hire a guide for your first time and let a professional assess the risk OR if you still don't want to spend the money on a guide: learn the skills on your own through reading and practical application so you can prove yourself to potential partners on something less risky first. Baby steps. A safe progression like the one I just outlined can be accomplished in under 2 years. I know that might sound like a lot but, if your goal is to do it without a guide, remember that big mountains require a big commitment and take time. If you're still gung-ho check out a copy of The Ledge by Jim Davidson and Kevin Vaughn to see what can happen to experienced climbers on a standard route.

I might be able to help. Jeff

Some friends and I did the South Sister from green creek a couple years ago and it was definitely an epic bushwhack through amazing old growth. Nice to know there are still places you can go to be alone. Good job! J

Hayduke Lives!

Trip: A bit of Disappointment on Glacier Peak - Standard-South Ridge Cool and Gerdine Glaciers Date: 6/7/2013 Trip Report: Joe, Brad, Yessi, Sprinkles and I decided to take advantage of the high pressure system last weekend and make a summit bid on Glacier Peak via the North Fork Sauk River trail. After a rendezvous at my place in Marblemount on Thursday night to sort gear and go over the plan we drove to the trailhead and got started around 8:30. We were the only two cars there. This was my first time on this trail and all the stories I had heard about the spectacular old growth were immediately validated in the first mile of hiking. Beautiful displays of trillium, skunk cabbage and other forest flowers lined the trail and gave us something to look at on the long approach up river. We stopped at the Mackinaw shelter for an early lunch before starting our steady climb to White Pass. Some thin Altostratus made our ascent up the switchbacks a little easier than if we had done it in full sun. We hit snow around 4400' and followed our intuition and the odd piece of orange flagging tape to White Pass. Joe and Brad found a patch of bare dirt in some trees to set up base camp. After eating some dinner and speculating on the next day's weather and what time to get started we went to bed with an alarm set for 3:22AM(don't ask me why). Morning came quickly and we couldn't have asked for better conditions. The sky was clear and the snow had a firm crust on it. We donned crampons to ascend the ridge running East of White Mtn. Yessie stayed in basecamp for the day and worked on her novel. After getting on the North side we kept contouring East and dropping slightly as we went. Rather than maintain elevation the whole way we decided to take a more direct route and descend into the basin heading straight towards the Whitechuck Glacier. Joe's crampon broke on the flats before the glacier so we took a long break to fix it and brew a quick cup of joe in Brad's MSR reactor. After fixing the crampon we hiked NE between the toe of the receding Whitechuck and the meltwater lake. Here we gained some elevation and eventually got onto the upper part of the Whitechuck on our way to Glacier Gap. Rather than climb to the gap we chose to go up and over a steep snow slope just to the west. Once there our objective was obvious. The lower part of the South Ridge was melted out and we made up some time on this chunk of rocky trail. We stopped for lunch right before the ridge walking ended, then roped up for the section across the Cool Glacier. There were no visible cracks until we reached the gap between Cool and Gerdine. Brad punched through at one point and felt his feet dangling over a chasm before pulling himself out. As we headed up towards the saddle between Disappointment and Glacier the wind got gnarly and the clouds began to drop steadily and obscure the summit. Upon reaching the saddle we were exhausted from the long approach and the white out conditions on Glacier convinced us to summit Disappointment instead as it was still clear on top of it. Brad flew the tu-tu flag and after a couple pictures we started the long slog down towards base camp. The snow conditions went to $#!+ on our way back and we kept switching between snowshoes and boots. I developed a dry cough around 8500 feet and am still convinced it was a minor case of HAPE. I was also having trouble keeping up which isn't normal. Our total distance covered on summit day was 14 miles and the time it took from base camp back to basecamp was 13 hours. Suffice it to say we were dead on our feet. The hike out was uneventful and my cough went away after descending from White Pass. We celebrated with beer and chips at the trailhead and none of us were disappointed with what we had accomplished. PICS: lunch at the mackinaw shelter base camp Brad and Yessie holding the tu-tu flag(Chinese version of REI) strange evening light to the West of White Pass a look at our route from base camp on the ridge, objective in sight morning light on White Rainier in the distance summit of Disappointment Glacier in the background the beginning of our hellish descent into madness boot-skiing! Gear Notes: crampons, snowshoes, 60m 8.1mm rope, whiskey

I'm not really a skier but if you wanted to march across any of the glaciated peaks you mentioned in boots or crampons or snowshoes, I'm always looking for partners (especially for N.Cascades objectives). I know my stuff on a glacier and have my WFR from WMI. Jeff p.s. I'm 31, fit and have a bucket list of glacier climbs a mile long.

one of those guys was me. i wasn't affiliated with the other two. i was checking out the approach for El Dorado as I had friends from New York flying in the next weekend to attempt it with me, but as you know you guys scored the good weather and the following week it went to utter shit. We ended up at the Lookout mountain fire lookout instead and did far more drinking of whisky and bs-ing than climbing. J

I made it to mineral park campground last week with 4WD and parked next to a subaru with a trailer. A jeep arriving at the same time as me went for it and got stuck. On the hike out though a sizable group heading for Forbidden had managed to power through the deep spot beyond Mineral Park and got a mile or two closer to the Eldo parking lot. J

I'm heading up El Dorado with friends the weekend of the 5th. The climbing ranger said to expect snow before the trailhead and high clearance 4WD conditions. Weird weather lately though; one week it's high 50's and the next the snow level is at 500' J

Hey all, There is a strong possibility that I will have the entire summer off from work this year. I've been thinking out of the box and in addition to picking away at my list of peaks in the cascades I hope to roadtrip to various wilderness areas and parks across the U.S. for something new. I'd love to have some company for various climbs and trips. Possible wilderness areas of interest to me include High Uintas, River of No Return Wilderness, Grand Tetons, Jedediah Smith, Lee Metcalf, 3 sisters, and of course anything in the North Cascades. My bucketlist in the Cascades is long so I won't bore you with it here. About me: 31 year old male. I'm typically into class 3-4 alpine summits and know my stuff on a glacier. I also have a WFR certification. If any of this sounds appealing, pm me with some info about you. Before committing to something longer perhaps a daytrip in the N.Cascades or Chukanuts to get to know each other would be in order. Jeff

Try the NE ridge of S. Twin Sister if you want an epic oldgrowth bushwhack! J