JColinOlson

That will be a great ski for spring skiing with the speed turn. Good luck with the glue, I hate messing with glue, after 2 BD glue strips and transfer rolls - never again. Such a messy PITA. That is a good boot. It's hard to find ski touring gear in the US, though it is getting better. I am sure you can find it around though, I remember seeing that boot at a shop in B'ham and then again in Hood River this summer. Probably for cheaper too as the TLT 7 is out. I bet that set up seems pretty skinny to you right now, I remember changing over from 115 underfoot...jesus what was I thinking to 84 underfoot on a pure race binding. Game changer. Be prepared to wait for your friends.

Jumping in on this a bit late...but...IMHO, for your intended use don't go over a 95 waist. Don't go over 176 cm length. Also, good idea shying away from the Radical (I own a pair, great for their intended purpose), you don't need all of that. Something that has not been mentioned yet - boots. Probably the biggest factor. The weight/walk mode of your boot is going to have a massive impact. When it comes to boots, just don't buy anything that isn't Dynafit or La Sportiva, or some Scarpas, and you will be fine.

I am looking for a fit partner to climb the Disappointment Cleaver route in a day with me. I will be in Washington (basically peak bagging) for a couple weeks. I am not even bringing rock gear this season. I don't have a partner in the area that would be interested in this, I mean - it is basically a fitness and logistics thing. I find that fun though. I am shooting for July 26-29th(it), weather depending, of course. I think that it could be fun to move really efficient (usually means fast) and see what time we could do. This is not some FKT attempt... But I have been piecing together times while I hike in this spring season and it could be cool to shoot for around 10 hours. If this interests you at all - send me a message. Some points: -I will make a point to come down the DC around a week before to assess it's condition. -If you want to do something beforehand to gauge compatibility I will be doing other stuff in the area two weeks prior. -This can't be your first Rainier climb - whatever your fitness. -You have to be fit enough for this to be feasible. I am based in Utah. I have my summers off. I have climbed Rainier a couple times, DC, Emmons, Kautz, Liberty.

Strong work.

PM'd

Great read. I loved the perspective.

We did use it. I think that both of us got on that route before it really requires much thought up top. Which we were ok with!

Wonderful pictures - makes me consider bringing a camera. What time did you guys head off the crater? Just curious on snow conditions, I know it was HOT during that period.

Trip: Mt. Baker - North Ridge Car to Car - North Ridge Date: 7/8/2014 Trip Report: After climbing Liberty Ridge my partner Ken still had 3 days until he flew back to Yosemite Valley. We decided to rest for 1.5 - 2 days and see if we could get on one more thing before he left. I had been up in the Glacier, Washington region for a couple days before he flew in and had kept my eye on Baker while I was there, it looked good. Doing it car to car seemed like the best idea, neither of us wanted to carry much, and I have a friend that lives in Mt. Baker Rim, about 300 yards from the turn off to Glacier Creek Road. Thanks Joey! We hit the trailhead around 3:20 am. Two stream crossings were entertaining and the snow was thankfully quite firm in the forest. We used a mix of the winter and summer trail, eventually gaining the Heliotrope and making water and stashing gear at those high camps (don't know what they are called) before you get on the glacier. We slogged up the Coleman, navigating our way quite easily in the early morning light through the crevasses. I wish I remembered at what elevation we crossed the Coleman, but it was lower than I was expecting to. It was all strait forward and clear, we unroped as we reached the north ridge, which we gained in beautiful weather and very good visibility. We were gaining a party in front of us quite quickly so we strolled a bit and talked as we climbed up to the base of the ice section. We scouted options as we approached the base of the ice. As we reached the base, the party in front of us decided to bail on a more direct route they had chosen and traverse over and take the ridge proper, which we had been aiming at. It was a beautiful day, so we couldn't really complain about having to rest and take in the beautiful views all around us. We decided to rope up for this section and simul climb through it. It was fun climbing. Once on top of the upper North Ridge we put the rope away and simul soloed to Grant Peak. It was as calm a day as I have even seen on top of Baker. I believe we were on the summit around 10:30. We hung out for around 30 minutes, and then headed for the Roman wall and the descent of the Coleman-Deming. The Roman Wall was breakable crust over sugar snow as the sun was just reaching it, not my favorite, but it isn't that long. We slogged it out to the stashed gear and hiked out to the car. We were back to the car in a total time of 10 hours 31 minutes, which we were happy with given the breaks we took, and the hard climb only 40 hours previously. We drove down to Mt. Baker Rim and were enjoying the pool and beer! Gear Notes: 2 pickets, 6 screws (once again, too many), one tool/one axe, 40m 7.8 rope Approach Notes: Heliotrope

Trip: Mt. Rainier - Liberty Ridge Date: 7/3/2014 Trip Report: From July 3rd to July 5th my friend Ken and I completed Liberty Ridge, my first time on the route and his first time on the mountain. Ken and I had met over a year ago in JTree and had stayed in loose contact since then. I was going to be back home in the PNW for the summer (I'm a teacher), and he wanted to escape the heat of the Valley (He's YOSAR) and get some alpine climbing in. A flight was booked and several options depending on weather were tabulated. On the 2nd I drove out of Alpine Lakes and picked Ken up at SEATAC. We went to white river on the 3rd and started hiking in around noon. Conditions were good over St. Elmo's Pass, then late afternoon clouds rolled around the mountain from the south. We traversed the Winthrop in a cloud, for a second catching a glimpse of the Curtis Ridge and navigating mainly by altimeter - we knew not to get lured too high on the Curtis. We made camp on the Curtis around 7200 feet. The clouds then cleared and we were allowed stunning view of the liberty ridge and adjacent features. We were weary of the high freezing levels and curious to see just how broken up the carbon was. We decided to leave early the next morning, but still have light to navigate - we left camp at 5 am. We gained the carbon and traversed to the right (west) side and followed a fain boot pack which ended at a melted out snow bridge, we did some...creative navigating and eventually wound up on the west side of liberty ridge. We wanted to avoid the lower melted out sections at all costs, in doing so we did expose ourselves briefly to the liberty wall. If something massive had come down, it could have been serious, the risks were small the consequences - admittedly - large. We gained liberty ridge at around 8800 feet, put the rope away and simul-soloed to Thumb Rock getting there around 9am. We had a lot of time to kill, but an entertaining show on both sides. Rock fall was an issue coming up to thumb rock, it was head's up climbing and agility and speed were necessary. I actually did get hit by a baseball sized rock after I misjudged its bounce and took it at a medium pace in the balls, it was actually kind of funny. We were a little surprised at how quickly we got there, in the future with the right conditions and the right fitness a better option might be one big day to thumb rock. Also, the fireworks from Everett to Olympia on the 4th of July were pretty amazing. We only peaked out at them, but I wasn't really prepared for just how much there would be, it's hard to describe - probably 100 were going off per second, and that's conservative. What wasn't so amazing was the weather - clouds rose and what had been a beautiful day turned into a very windy night (30 mph, gusting to 60 at Thumb Rock) with some light precipitation. Quite unfortunate, as we had gone pretty light and were were not prepared to sit out another day at Thumb Rock, so if the weather held when the alarm went off we would be heading down, reversing some ground that would have not been fun. Doable, just not fun. Luckily we woke to stars above. We left early, around 1 am we started simul-soloing up and left. To my mind, there is no stopping between Thumb Rock and Liberty Cap, and any camp made in between should be seen as failing upward, this has unfortunately been confirmed with disastrous results lately. We had taken photos of the route from below and felt confident that the route would be strait forward, it was, and we were pleased to see it flow so smoothly. Ken and I took turns breaking trail, however, I do feel that over all he did more work at the front than me, he was definitely faster, which I tried to make up for on our next trip. We took our first break on the east corner of the black pyramid, right as the sun was rising, it was glorious, sublime, it was a work of art that nature was putting on - but, of course, life is not a work of art, and a moment cannot last. I'm not going to say what we saw there. I used to be good with my words, but I can't summarize that. After passing the black pyramid which had as much ice as you could want beneath, beside and above it, we lost our visibility, not that it have ever really been there that long, probably around 30 min. We traversed up and right in a cloud, slogging up to the bergschrund. I was pretty beat by this point, we had been moving fast and after talking it over we decided to break out the rope and belay the final pitch, we had carried it and six screws(too many) after all. Ken lead up and left and brought me up, we marched up to the liberty cap and kept on trucking for the Columbia crest without even stopping. It was very windy and the visibility was probably 40 meters. I hit the wall here, we were still moving fast, but Ken was hauling. I thought I was fast - but when your co-workers pull off the fricking triple in the Valley the week or so before you go alpine climbing you have a skewed (read F-ed up) sense of what fast means. I felt like I was Everest stepping like the hordes on the DC. We reached the Columbia crest, after some navigating with the GPS at 10:30. The plan was to descend the Emmons, however, since visibility was terrible, the winds at gale force, and I had never done that route before we were both less than inclined to traipse off into the abyss when we had the trench of the DC directly to our right. Upon reaching Muir we agreed that we made the right decision apparently there was something about a previous party getting lost, ditching a pair of skis, etc. Speaking of litter, some previous party, of which it could only be two, left a nice full blue bag at Thumb Rock for us. Poor form. My girl friend was kind enough to drive to Paradise and then shuttle us back to white river, but not until I had her buy us beer and burgers - what? we didn't have our wallets! Gear Notes: Six screws. Two pickets. One tool/One axe. 40 meter 7.8 rope. Approach Notes: White River is snow free until Glacier Basin. St. Elmo's pass was strait forward. Winthrop is getting broken up, or perhaps it felt that way in a cloud. Carbon is broken up, interesting route finding options will be the only way forward.

PM sent