max_leitner

Yes, rap skiers right off the first rap station. Last Fall I rapped off leftwards and dropped down to a block full of tat and soon realized my error. Fortunately, this was before my partner began his rappel and I was able to climb back to the rap station without losing much time. We descended the West Ridge smoothly after that. I recall it was with 2 raps down to a pretty fun ridge scramble, then 3 more raps, followed by some scree surfing to the basin.

Trip: Clark Mountain attempt - Walrus Glacier Date: 7/17/2016 Trip Report: NF6400 is washed-out past Grasshopper Meadows. There were some minor washouts past Tall Timber Ranch but they are manageable, a low clearance vehicle could probably make it. The White River Trail is pretty bushy in parts but we made good time running from the mosquitos. We were pleased to have Boulder Pass all to ourselves Saturday night. The views of Chiwawa Ridge and the Napeequa River are worth the hike alone. We never had full visibility of the Walrus Glacier or saw Clark's summit block. The route up climber's left near Point 8373 (described in Bongiovanni and Stephenson's guidebook) looked like it was out, perhaps a narrow snow bridge could go but it looked more like slide debris had recently created it so we opted to try a series of bridges on the climber's right. The glacier seemed slightly steeper out that way but the bridges were in good shape and the climbing was fun. We placed one picket on the way up and two on the way down to protect crevasse fall lines. As we reached the upper section of the Walrus low, darker clouds rolled in. We decided to turn around before all visibility was lost on the more broken up section of the glacier. Disappointing, but a pretty good thunderstorm arrived within an hour of our return to Boulder Pass. Gear Notes: We found pickets and wands useful Needed more Deet Approach Notes: Washouts after the Grasshopper Meadows TH

Thanks for the beta. Did you encounter any ice on the Sherpa glacier?

I own a pair of petzl sarken spirlocks would like to get my hands on the leverlock rear setup to be able to swap out bails. Would buy the entire leverlock system for the right price.

Trip: Lane Peak - Fly Couloir Date: 12/19/2015 Trip Report: Since taking a beginning alpine and glacier course last Spring I've been itching to get out an experience some steep snow in the Cascades. In spite of getting out as often as possible in the Cascades over the last 9 months only a couple outings offered (what I consider)steady, moderate, steep snow. My buddy Tim, who possesses some ice/mixed experience, was game to check out Lane Peak and see if we felt it could go. We left Seattle around 7am arrived at the entrance shortly before 9am only the learn that the gate at Longmire would not open until after 10am. Around 10:30am we arrived at Narada Falls parking and were soon on our way. The approach was smooth but we were unable to find any sort of snow bridge to cross the tatoosh creek. After a little more searching we found a couple fallen logs to scoot across. At the base Lane we transitioned from snowshoes to crampons and I quickly learned the joys of climbing in winter conditions. Graciously, Tim let me break the route and earn the alpine experience I was looking for. We wallowed through belly deep snow for most of the climb. Occasionally, the snow would firm up and for 10 yards or so I could kick some solid steeps, look back at Tim, smile, and let him know the climbing was getting easier. Then I would promptly sink back down and resume the upward swim. Eventually, we reached a fork in the couloir and erred to the right since the left lead to what appeared to be mixed step that Tim felt was above his grade. It didn't take long before the our decision led us to a cliff. We downclimbed to the fork, checked our beta, and checked the clock. By then it was 2:45 so we decided against taking a closer look at the mixed step and began descending the way we came up. The quality of the snow made downclimbing the route pretty simple. We returned to the Narada Falls at 4:50. A ranger was waiting nearby Tim's car to lightly chastise and let us know they'd wait a few minutes for us at the gate. (my camera was getting foggy but this is the best photo of the 'fork' where we turned right, and found ourselves cliffed out near the tree in the center. Off-camera to the left the couloir continued but time and a possible mixed step turned us around) Gear Notes: We brought and never used 60m rope, ice screws, 3 pickets, and a few cams. I found my crampons were nice but I'm not sure whether or not they were 100% necessary.