diepj

Cool, thanks for the reply. I currently have a pretty similar lowepro bag which I can rig to all my packs on the chest for hiking, scrambling and glacier/easy ice. I definitely wouldn't be looking to lead hard but just have something secure and not too cumbersome for those multipitch moderates. It sounds like the waist belt is key for keeping the cam from swinging around. I may have to try again to see what I can do to get up a few climbs with it. Also thanks to your post I am coveting a full frame again. I've got the same glass but currently shoot it on a rebel crop sensor. I keep convincing myself that better photographers not better cameras make the difference. I'm sure in my case both factors are in play!

Mark, I love the photos, they are really superb. Thanks for taking the time to share them. How do you carry the camera as you climb? I haven't tried real hard to find a good way but what I have tried hasn't worked out very well.

I've got a pair of Scarpa Mont Blancs that are slightly too small for me and as a result I avoid climbing in them. Its time to get them into the hands of someone who will put some miles on them. I would estimate they have 15 days max on them. The soles are in great condition, like new with a touch of wear at the toe. The rubber rands, toe welts and heal welts are 100%. The orange (mango...) leather is in excellent condition with a few scuff marks from where crampon straps or laces rub. Laces and eyelets, etc. are perfect. The gray rubber part is slightly discolored from scuffing, etc, but in no way damaged or degraded. Insides are excellent, no funk whatsoever. What else can I say? Take a look at the pics below. If you have any questions let me know. $225, buyer pays shipping or try and buy in the PDX metro area. Cash or paypal. PM or email me ar diepj13_at_gmail_dot_com

Was up sunshine last weekend 1/19-1/20. Conditions were firm all the way and the route was very straight forward. I marked our approximate route on the pic below, which was taken aroiund 9000'. It was a mixture of step kicking, hard snow/alpine ice and even a little water ice through the rocks. All of it easily solo'd. If you plan to bivy the last flat spot before Queen's chair is at about 8400'. Having never been on this route before I was expecting to be able to bivy higher on snowdome which I thought was around 9k. The schrund near the top is thinly bridged and open in a few places. We crossed it easily but it wasn't obvious until we were almost on top of it.

Here is some information I found via google regarding the grant. It looks to at least shed some light on the why question. https://secure.rco.wa.gov/prism/search/ProjectSnapshot.aspx?ProjectNumber=12-1851

I just did this. Its a super easy 8 question survey and only takes a few minutes...

July 7, 2012 - Rope team of 4 descending cool-gerdine cleaver on Glacier peak.

I posted a TR from early July from the White River Trailhead. We went up lightning creek. Take a look and let me know if you have specific questions. I can't help you out much with the late season conditions since I haven't been up on the glaciers that late. When we went they was still a lot of snow around. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1075415/TR_Glacier_Peak_Disapointment_#Post1075415

Trip: Glacier Peak - Disapointment Peak Cleaver Date: 7/6/2012 Trip Report: With a mid-week 4th of July holiday and the opportunity to take a couple days off work Kelly and I were eager to get out on a trip that could use a few extra days to pull off. Glacier Peak definitely seemed like a worthy objective. Last fall on a Clark Mountain trip I had gotten a taste of the White River trail and the high routes on the south side of the Dakobeds so to make things a bit more interesting we decided to approach via the White River and Lightning Creek. We got to the trail head late on Tuesday night and after a car bivy and proper breakfast we headed out on the White River trail. The trail is in great shape as far as Boulder Pass trail and we made it that far in about an hour and a half. After Boulder Pass trail the White River trail is not maintained and is quickly overwhelmed with brush in the river bottom. There are a few small breaks from it in the trees, but more often than not the brush is shoulder high or above. The photo below is from one of the tamer areas. In another hour and a half or so we reached Thunder Creek and scooched across on a slippery log. This was as far as I had been and I expected the trail between Thunder Creek and Lightning Creek to be more of the same. Happily it was not and the trail enters more wooded terrain. Downed logs and small streams obscure the trail occasionally however the trail is over all easy to follow to Lightning Creek. Upon reaching Lightning Creek we used some beta I found in another CC posting from '08: We didn't quite find the trail in the same way even though we tried. The info would still serve you very well. We headed on up and followed the trail until we hit snow in the woods at approximately 5000'. Continuing up we camped on snow at around 6200' in the lightning creek basin. The next morning we continued up snow fields and briefly scrambled on rock where we easily found our way onto the White River Glacier. We contoured around to a broad gully leading across the Cascade Crest and onto the head of the Honeycomb Glacier. A short distance later we found our way onto the Suiattle Glacier and after a day and a half, our first glimpse of Glacier Peak. A long falling traverse brought us to an excellent camp site recently melted out at Glacier Gap. We set camp, scrambled the local peak and slept early to attempt the summit the next day. The next morning the snow surface had frozen up pretty nicely and we set out under a near-full moon just before sunrise. The route from glacier gap it quite obvious and we headed up Disappointment Peak Cleaver. With the firm snow we decided to try the cleaver all the way rather than a rising traverse on the Gerdine around Disappointment to the Cool Glacier. The cleaver went well, with the last 50 feet being the crux of the entire climb. A few low fifth moves yielded the ridge. Now just below the Disappointment summit we took a few extra minutes to tag it before dropping through the saddle and onto Glacier's summit block. We summited easily and spent plenty of time relaxing and taking photos. It wasn't clear which of two gentle mounds was higher so we hit both before plunging down the now-softening snow. We descended the Cool and Gerdine Glaciers back to the cleaver and to camp at Glacier Gap where we camped again the 3rd night. The next morning we set out from Glacier Gap and decided to tag the high point between the Suiattle and the Honeycomb Glaciers. I think this may be considered a Kololo Peak and the elevation on my 15' USGS map is 7941'. After scrambling the high point we dropped off the backside and traversed straight back across the Honeycomb Glacier for the Lightning Creek basin. Crossing the crest we descended open snow fields to the tree line, then snowy woods and finally open brush and timber. Rather than follow the same trail out we bushwacked our own way all the way down. Early season conditions certainly helped as up higher much of the low vegetation was not yet leafed out. The crux of the schwack was crossing the west fork of lightning creek. We had to drop several hundred feet along side of it before finding a wadeable section. Back on the White River Trail we headed back to a nice camping spot near Thunder Creek for our last night, leaving a few hours of nasty brush and then easy trail for the pack out. Interestingly the mosquitoes were absolutely terrible on the way out, necessitating a headnet and rain gear to keep at bay. What a difference a few days of warmth makes as they were negligible on the same section of trail 4 days earlier. Approach Notes: Recommend a 15' map for navigating in Lightning Creek. Bring Deet for the bugs and a good measure of patience for the brush. Rain pants would be a good idea of you want any hope of staying dry. Every time I have been through the brush is soaking wet...

Trip: Mt Adams - South Side Date: 6/17/2012 Trip Report: Throwing my hat in for the June TR drawing with a quick report on Adams. This is from a few weekends ago so the beta is a little aged. The road was open to Morrison Creek campground. We parked early Saturday morning and and skinned from there, with a couple short breaks where the road was melted out. The forecast was for winds light and increasing late in the day and through Sunday, with showers moving in. Plan A was to push from the car to the summit after dropping bivy gear at lunch counter. The sun was out down low and temps were warm. Early on the summit was clouded in but clearing as we climbed. We made average time to lunch counter and dropped the bivy gear. With the sun and warm temps we went through a lot of water and had to melt some more before pushing on. Lightened by the gear drop and resupplied with water we set out up Piker's in increasing winds and gathering clouds up high. At this point most of the days climbers were descending and it looked as if we were the last heading up. After 2 hours, 2/3 from LC to Pikers clouds we closing in heavy around us and the wind was up. Based on the low visibility and late hour we bailed off and set camp at LC in a fast-blowing fog. With wet-out conditions full on we turned in early but slept fitfully in strong winds. Morning broke to crystal clear skies but unrelenting wind. Things had crusted up pretty good overnight so we decided to boot the summit early, before the forecasted clouds and showers could move in. Setting out by 6 we were the first to the summit to enjoy views of Rainier, Hood and Jefferson. St Helens was hidden beneath the cloud ceiling west of the crest. We saw several groups of climbers making their way way up from below. We didn't sit long (couldn't stand on the summit, the winds were that strong coming up and over) before heading down and greeting many on their way up from LC. We broke camp in time for the sun to have warmed the crust enough to ski and rode back out to Morrison Creek by early afternoon. Ski conditions were decent, night time crust made for tough conditions early. We were able to skin most of the road, but bare patches will multiply fast, while some fairly large drifts were still across the road. The approach will be interesting for the next few weeks. Camp at Lunch Counter Heading up to Piker's Kelly on top Skiing off A last look Gear Notes: Skis, crampons, axe. Approach Notes: Parked at Morrison Creek. Roud was mostly snow from there but bare spots with be rapidly multiplying. Some good-sized drifts will likely keep cars from reaching cold springs for a few weeks yet.

Here's a pic from 3/24, right after we had a bunch of low level snow. The hike was very doable in hiking boots. I haven't paid a lot of attention to the snow/freezing level but I would guess conditions would be similar right now.

Thanks a lot guys. Now I just need to get busy and make something happen!

Can't weigh in on the stainless issue since I am not familiar with it and it would depend a lot on the type of stainless used (ferritic, martensitic, or austenitic) however welding aluminum has a huge impact on the strength. It varies by alloy and weld procedure, but the strength reduction can be as high as 50%. Aluminum also does not have a fatigue limit like steel does. Fatigue limit is the stress which you can subject the material to an unlimited number of times without it fracturing. In the case of the aluminum connector bar and a flexible boot, you are stressing this piece with each step, and depending on the stress level there is a limited number of times this can be endured without breaking. Hence the steel connector recommendation. The stress induced is likely below the fatigue limit of steel and should last forever, or at least only slightly above requiring 10^reallybignumer cycles to failure. At which point you've worn the points off and recycled the pons anyway.

Hey Jordan or Brennan, Do you mind a quick question about logistics to Holden - how is the ferry and Holden shuttle on having lots of gear? I have been toying with the idea of a base-camp style backcountry ski trip in there for the last couple years. To ease the pain I was considering ski pulks to help sled the gear in. Basically the each on the team would have a large backpack, pair of skis, pulk and pulk poles. This sounds somewhat over the ferry luggage limits and stuffing it all into a school bus seems daunting as well. It could essentially all be strapped into the pulk, but then it is a large single, heavy piece. Do you guys have any thoughts? If it isn't really workable it will focus my thought more on a traverse style trip like what you did. Either way a sweet place to get back in to. Again, nice trip and much thanks for any time spent reading and/or responding. Jeff

Thanks for the TR and pics, looks like pretty nice weather and great snow, except for that whole instability part. Strong work! I'm jealous that you got out there, I'd love to attempt something similar. Cheers!

I found the cross post on TAY which has some pics. http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=24128.0 Nice work out there dirt nerd!

Does anybody know if the basin in in place yet this year? Seems like there hasn't been enough snow to set it up until quite recently...