Ben Beckerich

Just getting to the first step can be the crux of the whole route... I've never encountered such deep, steep, loose powder anywhere else on the mountain Nice work!

woah.. what the hell?

Also, Mercy Corps is a great organization that responds quickly to these crises and is a reputable organization with a low overhead: http://www.mercycorps.org/ And based in Portland, I hear

Well, it would be a challenge, if nothing else. Vittoria Paves come in a 27mm variety, but I just don't know if the bike would take 'em... the 25s already rub a little in hard turns

Prayers for all...

But as climbers, it's not unreasonable that we might be interested in the impact to climbers specifically.

that was me sry guys

Shot placement is king.

There's very little a 5.56mm/9mm primary/secondary loadout can't handle. Very mid-range for powerpower, but very high ammunition capacity and light weight. One can pack a slung Mk-18/CQBR (10.5" barreled/compact AR15 variation) at around 6lbs loaded with a Glock 17 secondary on a drop holster or high-mounted thigh-rig and have 47 rounds of accurate, high-velocity, combat-caliber ammo available for continuous firing before reload. Obviously additional ammunition adds up in weight (loaded magazines will be considerably denser than the loaded weapons themselves - but ammo pays for itself, when hot brass is melting into the glacier), but I think most will be surprised at the amount of alpine enemies one can perforate for less than 10lbs of firepower.

De Ronde and La Doyenne that weekend !

This is genius

The best part of the whole route is climbing the schrund(s)!

Since we're on the topic of Jeffery ... what's access look like right now? With the absolutely horrible snowfall we've had this year, I'm gonna guess you could take your Civic all the way to the trailhead?

There is a large Boulder ringed with tat on the north end of the summit, and I left a cordelette and biner around another boulder just above the busted up north shoulder of the summit pinnacle. Buried under rime and snow, I doubt you're going to easily find these. But if the ridge is pretty scoured, just look for the prominent bulges and dig. I would think these same features could be fairly easily slung and rapped off even covered in frozen water. I haven't been up there in spring conditions though.

Why'd Milk Creek suck? I thought that was pretty straightforward, for descent.. especially if you're carrying over and descending all the way from the summit. I think Whitewater is kind of the traditional descent, but man.. what a long ass walk.

I'm a little late to the party on this one... but cemented posts is generally a GOOD thing.. your fence probably would have fallen over 10 years ago, if it'd just been bare post stuck into the ground. Having dug many o footings out, there's two ways to go about it... 1, just dig it out. It's probably 1.5' deep max, and while it's a PITA, at least you'll get strong. Or 2, rent an electric jackhammer. They exist, and they work GREAT for projects just like this. You'll be done in about 20 minutes, including running your powercord. They won't chop up boulders in your cornfield, but they'll make short work of cement footings. I've hacked up pretty large pads, in fact - we did a 24"x36" reinforced footing under a apartment building catwalk in probably 45 minutes once. POWERTOOLS!

Word. Just to reiterate, my desire is actually increase in strength for weight, not a decrease in weight. I was going through my row of tools hanging in the closet last night, hefting each and looking at how they're made, how they've held up to what they've been through, remembering the trips they've been on and experiences I've had. I remembered a situation from just last spring where I was very glad for a nice heavy axe - I'd gone up for a quick run up Hood south side, took my 55cm Raven. I ended up having to chop steps for a guy who'd lost a crampon coming down icy slick snow from the Old Chute, and the Raven wasn't cutting it. I traded rescuee for his ancient 3lb 70cm ice axe, and was able to chop each icy step in two or three swings instead of the probably 7-10 swings each step took with the Raven. I think one could take something from that.

I haven't been able to locate one yet, in any condition or price... might not be a reality anymore. The Ushba site, which was operational as of at least a couple years ago, is now just a page indicating the company was bought out by Liberty Mountain, and there are no Ti climbing products for sale on the Lib Mountain site.

I visualize the balance being really weird. With no real head weight, seems like the swing would need to be more of a whip crack than an axe swing, to get the pick into anything harder than neve BUT.. this would just be my general purpose steep snow cane - not a technical tool. Tool it'd be replacing still has a factory sharp pick, if that tells you anything. If the pick ever gets used, it's in the form of high-dagger in firm snow, not swings.

All things equal, or at least within tolerance, why not? My interest in this axe is actually more for strength than weight. My beat up aluminum-shafted Raven is light weight and flimsy... if I'm going to pack something lightweight, why not packing something lightweight and STRONG instead?

Howdy Anybody used the Ushba titanium ice axe? Kinda thinking about grabbing one, but for some reason it seems like titanium climbing products usually suck... so I figured I'd ask around first. -B

You can rent my splitboard... rate is $600/forever. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1136777/Jones_158_Solution_splitboard_#Post1136777

sum 42s http://mountainproject.com/v/tc-pro-42--ski-trab--ropes--mammut-gore-tex--climbing--approach-shoes-/110270452

Rutted out is fine, if it's dry hard packed dirt. This sounds doable. Any chance anyone happens to have a representative picture or two of the road? I've been goggling, but it appears people don't generally stop to take pictures of the road when they go up to Cloud Cap.

Looking at doing a or some road bike rides up the mountain this summer. I'm assuming Cloud Cap is at least partially, if not wholly, gravel? Anybody have any opinions on HOW gravelly? Would 25mm Pave tires at low PSI handle it....? Is it generally hard-pack, or freshly/loosely gravelled gravel suitable only for car and maybe fatbike knobby tires? Etc.. Thanks