Seraphim

Sorry to hear about her death. So sad.

Those are pretty nice. Is this what you were talking about: http://www.amazon.com/Garmont-Mens-Dragontail-Lite-Approach/product-reviews/B0046HA1EI They look super comfortable and light weight. Might be perfect for easy alpine objectives. They look like a perfect compromise. Honestly sounds like the best shoe I have seen that is not a full on mountaineering boot. Probably work best with aluminum crampons?

Sorry to hear he got hurt so bad. Always enjoyed reading his trip reports. Praying for the best.

I currently use La Sportiva Glaciers, and have used the Trango S for general mountaineering for a long time. I currently use these on a lot of day trips, but I am looking for something even lighter that I can use some aluminum crampons with. For easy 1 day trips (Sahale, Olympus in a long day, scrambles, small Glaciers, etc....), what is a good light weight shoe/boot you guys would recommend? Any recommendations are welcome. Thanks!

Trip: North Cascades - Mt Ruth Standard route Date: 9/6/2014 Trip Report: Mt. Ruth 7115 feet 12 miles round trip Standard Glacier Gear With summer coming to a close, me and a good friend wanted to get out and do something relatively easy with a great reward for our eyes. Mt. Ruth fit the bill! Left Seattle area around 12:40am and made it to the Hannegan Pass trailhead around 3:45am. My buddy was feeling quite tired, and somewhat ill so he decided that he wanted to take a nap in the back of the truck. After 20 minutes of resting he decided to let me go ahead solo on the climb without him. I ditched the climbing rope, and brought minimal gear so that I could move as fast as possible. Left the car around 4:10am, and hit Hannegan Pass 2 hours later. After Hannegan Pass their a brief but brutal climbers trail that must be followed. I was by myself and negotiated a few easy creavasses on the glacier. Hit the summit around 8:50am. Only one other party (of two people) were at the top. Nooksack Cirque Traverse towards Icy Peak. Would love to try this someday. Pickett Range in the distance. Relaxing my legs. Gear Notes: Ice Axe, Helmet, and Ice Axe. Ditched the 8mm 30 meter rope and standard glacier gear since I went solo. Approach Notes: First four miles is easy. Briefly gets steep after Hannegan Pass.

Just picked up Alpinist last night. Inspiring & Awesome piece!

Why not post a picture?

Did you find Bigfoot?

We climbed the gully/couloir on the far right. There was quite a bit of water coming down the middle, and some loose rocks. The snow in the lower gully was melting fast. I would imagine that it would kind of suck trying to get up there in late August.

Trip: Boston Basin - Sharkfin Tower SE Ridge Date: 7/11/2014 Trip Report: Location: North Cascades (Boston Basin) Objective: Sharkfin Tower (8,120 feet) My friends Steve, Jeff, Matt and I left the Seattle area around 4:30am Friday morning with hopes of climbing Sharkfin Tower via the south east ridge in one looong day. This is a really fun climb with a little bit of everything (including a steep brutal hike), crossing a glacier, and some pretty solid rock climbing, and a summit with amazing views of Boston Basin and bigger peaks of the North Cascades. We arrived at the trailhead around 9am, and began the long brutal hike up to Boston Basin. Once we reached Boston Basin we were greeted with beautiful views. We ran into a group of Veteran's doing multiple climbs over the course of the week for some film festival on July 16th. If I am not mistaken, there should be a forthcoming article in Outside Magazine regarding their journey. After a brief conversations we made our way up the left side of the Quien Sabe Glacier. Greeted with wonderful views of J-Burg and the North Cascades. Once we reached the base of Sharkfin Tower we were faced with a nasty gully leading up to the base of the climb. At this point one of our team members decided to bail and wait for us because he was not feeling comfortable with climbing through the first gully. There was a very large rock teetering on the right side of the gully. Once we made it up through the first gully we ascended a small notch too the base of sharkfin tower. The second (and best pitch of the climb) After the second pitch we decided to simul climb the rest of the route. Summit of Sharkfin tower. Boston Glacier looking gnarly. We completed 5 rappels total combined with a little bit of downclimbing. \ Back at Boston Basin. We got back to the car just around 9:40pm! Just in time to avoid having to walk down in the dark. Conclusion: This is a pretty fun climb. The quality of the rock on the second pitch is pretty nice. The biggest objective hazard in my opinion is the first gully you have to climb in order to reach the base of Sharkfin Tower. There is quite a bit of loose rock, and large boulders. The hike up to Boston Basin was worth the views! Gear used: 60 and 50 meter rope, small set of nuts and cams (placed two pieces), standard glacier gear.

Go PRO makes it look steep. Why did they leave his pack behind? Hope his car keys were not in there!

Nice job. When I read the first two paragraphs I for sure thought you were going to bail. Way to hang in there and salvage this trip. I think I will wait till the road melts out to do this one!

I was wondering the same thing. Would love to hit Adams glacier mid July.

I agree with much of what the previous posters have already shared.I didn't use the mountaineers, but I went for Boealps instead (nearly 10 years ago). I was the youngest person in my class. My father was an engineer at Boeing so I got a good discount. Boealps is very similar to the mountaineers (on a smaller scale). I think both orginizations are similar, so I think I can offer some perspective on this. I think the mountaineers (and orginizations like it), are a great place to start climbing safely. I remmeber the Boealps basic mountaineering class taking up quite a bit of my free time. We had class every week. I learned quite a bit about knots, anchors, glacier rescue; and I gained much needed confidence on how to climb safely. Once you reach a certain level though, you start to outgrow the orginization, and you will probably want to move on. My biggest gripe with the mounties/boealps is that they are very rigid. Whenever we would go on group climbs, they would insist that you carry a bunch of cr#p you don't need. Some of the instructors are so serious that they take the fun out of climbing. In conclusion I think you get a good value out of doing a basic/intermediate class with the mountaineers. Much better than just a 2 or 3 day class with a guide service. Mainly because you have months (weeks) to refine your skills. Once you feel confident in the basics, you will probably outgrow the whole thing. That is my two cents.

Awesome post ! Gives us normal guys some confidence.

Frank sorry I missed your message. Yes the south arete is snow free. I imagine it is in great shape right now.

Great pics OP. You are right, it looks downright scary with so many people up there.

I would never tell a new person that the South Side of Hood is not technical. Yes it may be easy for cascade hardmen, but for people who are mostly used to climbing rock, or nothing at all (especially those from a different region), it can be scary when icy. I'd recommend climbing midweek to avoid the crowds on that route. Just saying

Were you able to drive all the way up Cascade River Road?

It's melting out earlier down low- the Carbon and the part of the ridge below Thumb Rock. I was surprised to see so much alpine ice so early in the season on the TR from early May. That is also unusual. Regardless of your belief about the cause, the glaciers are rapidly disappearing and our winter precipitation pattern has changed substantially in the last 25 years. Getting 50% of our winter snowpack in a couple weeks, like we did this year, results in an uncharacteristically unstable snowpack that melts out faster. Sorry to hear about the loss of these climbers. So sad to hear. I am not sure the winter precipitation has changed substantially in the last 25 years (in terms of snowfall). I think Cliff Mass from the UW has pretty much debunked this idea. In fact it just came out today that the the snowpack at Mt. Rainier just had its 6th highest June 1st total in the past 31 years. I wonder how much the PDO brings about large storms later in the winter though. Recently there has been some pretty wet late winters/early springs.

Figured that. Sounds like a big pain in the A$$ right now

Anyone have any idea what conditions are like on Whitehorse mtn. this time of year? I know that hwy 930 is supposed to open this weekend, and I would love to get on this climb. Some people say that it is generally to late to access the summit by now, because of moats. Any info appreciated. Thanks!

Nice job Jesse. Already hitting the mtns after being out of the country. Making me jelly!

Nice work gents!

This coming weekend might be the best time to just stay home!