christophbenells

Thanks Mark. How about ascents? The book says one ascent of mt. providence by its south face, there's surely more by now right?

Saw this ridge while flying into the Kahiltna base camp last year. I was under the impression it is the southeast spur on Mt. Hunter. Can anyone confirm or deny?

its a rutted out dirt road with big water barrier bumps. would be fun on a mountain bike!

Just a heads up, it's Sierra. Good to know before you unnecessarily pluralize it and betray the fact that you're not a "local" from the bay area. hey buddy, I actually grew up in the sierras in a small town called shaver lake, lived in mammoth lakes for many years, and i'm currently living in tahoma on lake tahoe's west shore. everyone calls it the sierras. nobody says "im going to the sierra" that would sound dumb.

a couple weeks in the bugaboo's would be sweet. or some hard granite routes in the sierras. I seen you been down thare. maybe the incredible hulk, or mithral dihedral etc.

how about an expedition?

I don't think your gonna find any new routes up rainier. Unless you do something very dangerous... its all been climbed, except directly under big ice cliffs, sure that would be a new route but a stupid route. Those things break off and would smash you to oblivion.

just have to grab the ropes and pull up a bit and jimmy the slack through your rappel device, if that's too hard I guess you could do a leg prussic too.

I carry a prussic in my pocket, tie the prussic on top to take weight off of your preferred device (don't take the device off yet) and put your rappel device on the bottom of everything. Take off solo device and rap.

It's a case by case basis. If i'm on a glacier that is sketchy and a fall is more likely, I will wear a webbing harness on my chest. I will leave it unclipped until I come to a nasty snow bridge and then clip it. If you cant tell where the snow bridges are and chances of a fall are great, then keep it clipped in. Mostly in the cascades all that is overkill, but hey, you never know until you go.

anybody out there using the petzl shunt?

The dogs are all eating eachother's poop. Awesome TR. so many cool things out there in this world.

did you meet mcalpine?

People have climbed much harder than the cassin in touring boots. I believe that stephen koch did the ffa of the north buttress on hunter in scarpa ski boots...the picture in the supertopo AK book shows him rappelling with what look to me like ski boots...also saw a blog of an englishman climbing deprivation on hunter NB in scarpa maestrale.... http://willharrisclimbing.blogspot.com/2013/06/www.talkeetnaair.com.html#!/2013/06/www.talkeetnaair.com.html however for cassin you would need some overboots, but only after the technical portions. I think you could climb cassin in tlt 5/6 boots no problem. Fit em with warmer intuition liners and badda bing badda boom.

there will be snow, you may consider mt. shasta also. the recent storm deposited lots of heavy wet snow on the mountain that is going to push the season well into the spring (hopefully). last year was similar to this, maybe not quite as bad, and i was skiing great snow on the n side of adams on july 4th.

they tend to do that...the combo of a tight fitting heel cup on aggressive ice boots and the pivot point in front of your toe create lots of leverage right there where you blistered. i think they were designed more to work with higher volume boots like a plastic koflach or an inverno. I use these splitboard bindings, they move the pivot point right under your toes and i think they tour a bit better. No release, but they're cheap! You can create a cheap diy heel lockdown by drilling a hole in the plate and using a door latch. http://www.voile.com/voile-splitboard-bindings/voile-mtn-plate-kit.html

1) Have climbed. Mt. Frances sw ridge Bacon and Eggs, mini mini moonflower Mt. Hood north face right gully Blownout beacon rock and other 5.10 trad 2) Capable of but have not climbed. Denali Mt. Huntington Mooses Tooth Yosemite big walls 3) Admire but will never climb Hunter's North buttress Himalayas Patagonia Antartica 5.12

i've seen a 18 year old or so kid in yukon charlie snowshoes and ll bean boots (no trekking poles) fall a few hundred feet from the hogsback, almost went into the fumarole. The only thing that saved him from broked legs/anles was that he had no crampons...ironic huh? when i showed him my ice ax, dynafit boots and automatic crampons he was unimpressed.

just like the old scout troop leader saying "dress for the weather you want, not the weather you got"

yeah, pretty normal to hack though it. just do it gingerly...maybe theres some rock or ice near by you can anchor to?

the aai blog says the polish route was repeated a few weeks ago.

Thanks for all the replies folks. so here's the deal, the girlfriend loves sailing and the ocean. i have so far chosen the places we live and she has followed me along. I've left her alone for several months while i go on expeditions. Its her turn to be close to what she loves, the ocean and sailing adventures. Where can we go that will still have relatively close access to the mountains for me? Her #1 choice would be port townsend. We should probably just do bellingham or seattle.

How is living in Anacortes for rock climbers, mountaineers and skiers? How is the rock on Mt. Eerie? Enough to keep one busy? How about the drive to Baker, Squamish and such? (yes i've looked at google maps) What is life like there in Anacortes? Lots of stuff to do? Good music? Freindly people? Fun bars? Is there any work for someone who works in the ski industry?

He was a great guy. Here is a TR from him a couple years ago. March Madness, Crown Jewel, Black Spider I climbed March Madness and Crown Jewel this January, both for the first time and had great experiences. I climbed March Madness, and some other ice runnels, solo and found it rewarding climbing, spending time being extra attentive and purposeful about pick placements due to its interact nature on March Madness, sometimes having to dig beneath a layer of sun effected ice and insubstantial drips. As for Crown Jewel, not that its there anymore, was probably the most fun I have ever had climbing in Oregon and got to share it with good company. I found myself laughing joyfully the whole way up, mostly moving over 4"-8" plastic ice, thinner in spots and opportunities to sink a couple 16cm and a nice apron to cling at the top of out second pitch. Once we toped out, we climbed steep moss and mud to a ridge to the east and walk it to the road. Lastly, We, myself and two friends, went up the Center Drip on the Black Spider on February 2nd. Which, like Wayne said, is a very do-able route. No harder then say WI3 with some foot placements on rock here and there, with perfect sticks, seriously, the ice was fucking amazing. We soloed everything but the last pitch, which was the crux and was a very fun, airy lead. We started at timberline, up the palmer, and round under steal cliffs, around Wy'est. Eleven and a half hours round trip. Found a picket, a sling and a locker in the chute we down climbed after summiting, think it might have been the Mazama's Chute. Happy Climbing. Here are some pics. Gear Notes: Full rubber raincoat for Crown Jewel in the conditions we climbed it in. Approach Notes: For Crown Jewel there is a rail road pull out between Exit 22 and Exit 23 on 84 just before Mirror Lake that is the best access. Park and walk down the tracks to the base of the climb.

yes, Dasan Marshall. Very sad to hear about it this morning.