philfort

Might be up in that area tomorrow, we could look for it. How much fresh snow was there?

Ooops... I downloaded one of your videos and now you've exceeded your bandwidth again - sorry!

Works for me now.... It's an excellent site for exercising your computer's CPU

To me, your point read "the climate has been around for a billion years, so how could we know anything about it by studying it for 40 years". I'm not sure I see the logic in that. What does the length of time climatic fluctuations have been going on have to do with trying to understand what causes them? And also, 40 years is misleading, because there are data from thousands of years available to compare to recent history. Even if there isn't substantive proof that human activities are causing global warming, if the majority of scientists who study this believe it is very likely, shouldn't that be enough to start worrying about it, and start making changes?

Ski lifts to 11000 feet!? (How many days a winter would they even be able to open lifts that high anyway...) luckily the plan is so ridiculous, it doesn't really seem realistic. (NFNWR would just be a short hike from the top of the lifts though... )

In all its winter glory...

Death of the Whitechuck Glacier (or one of its two lobes): http://www.nichols.edu/departments/glacier/deathglacier.htm

Sounds snowy: TODAY...RAIN EARLY THEN SHOWERS... SNOW LEVEL 6500 FEET... AFTERNOON PASS TEMPERATURES 45 TO 50. SOUTHEAST WIND IN THE PASSES AROUND 10 MPH SHIFTING TO THE SOUTHWEST 10 TO 15 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON. TONIGHT...NUMEROUS SHOWERS... SNOW LEVEL 6000 FEET... WEST WIND IN THE PASSES 10 TO 15 MPH. TUESDAY...CLOUDY... CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE MORNING...THEN RAIN SNOW LEVEL 5500 FEET. AFTERNOON PASS TEMPERATURES 45 TO 55. WEST WIND IN THE PASSES 10 TO 15 MPH. TUESDAY NIGHT...RAIN LIKELY... SNOW LEVEL 6500 FEET... SOUTHWEST WIND IN THE PASSES AROUND 10 MPH. WEDNESDAY...SHOWERS LIKELY THEN CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON SNOW LEVEL 7000 FEET. AFTERNOON PASS TEMPERATURES IN THE LOWER 50S. WEST WIND IN THE PASSES 10 TO 15 MPH. WEDNESDAY NIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY... CHANCE OF SHOWERS THEN CHANCE OF SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT. SNOW LEVEL 6000 FEET. THURSDAY...MORNING CLOUDS...BECOMING PARTLY SUNNY... FREEZING LEVEL 7000 FEET. THURSDAY NIGHT...RAIN LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT... SNOW LEVEL 6500 FEET FRIDAY...RAIN LIKELY... SNOW LEVEL 6500 FEET FRIDAY NIGHT...RAIN LIKELY... SNOW LEVEL 5500 FEET SATURDAY...RAIN LIKELY... SNOW LEVEL 5500 FEET SATURDAY NIGHT...SHOWERS LIKELY... SNOW LEVEL 5500 FEET

Oh, c'mon... October isn't always lean: 10/26/2001

Hmm... suspiciously impressive... Can you upload the GPS tracks please? Where's Hans_Blix to comment on this!?

I'm not denying a changing climate here, but... After seeing the apparently pitiful condition the glacier on Johanesburg in August (I think there was a thread on cc.com about it too), I compared our pictures to the photo in the green Beckey guide. The Beckey photo has lots more snow on it, but it seemed like the actual ice coverage on the Sill glacier was pretty much the same. Appearances can be deceiving. (Other glaciers on J'berg looked 'less connected' though) The grey ice everywhere just means it was a warm dry year - this year.

Crampons (aluminum was fine) were pretty helpful in the gully back in July when we did it. The snow was hard in spots. It may be melted out enough now that you can go in the moat, like Sergio impled. 50m is fine. There's a rap station part way down the top pitch (so two short raps). Actually, this excellent shot is all the beta (butta?) you need:

The upper pitch is about 5.4. The "ledge" approach pitch is low 5th, then 3rd class. There is still a ledge (as of last month anyway)... there is a "missing chunk", but it's probably been missing since well before people ever climbed the Spire. You climb up and around the "missing chunk". Good luck with the approach gully! btw, I recommend doing what Jim Nelson says, and downclimbing the approach pitch instead of rapping off loose stuff - it's very easy going backwards, you'll see. Oh, more beta: on the talus field below the approach gully, stay to the right on the bigger blocks - they are nice and stable and almost slabby, compared to the dirt/scree on the left.

Kyes? Keys? Kize? Fernow? No? Now?

Oh, well there go my chances of finding anyone else Planning to approach from the south, to avoid bushwhacking and Holden logistics. The ice would probably be ok, but I dunno about 1960's "4th class"

Looking to go check out the north face of Fernow (45 degree ice, class 4 rock ... is this climb a little-known gem!?). Plannig to approach from Phelps creek. Got a tentative partner who said he might be interested Sat/Sun, but haven't heard back from him yet... Anyone?

Anyone been on the north face of Fernow in the past few years? (the 1000ft ice apron mentioned in Beckey). I'm thinking of heading in there this weekend - figure it will be nice and icy, if it hasn't melted away completely.

Yeah but on the other hand, you can show people that pic and say "I skied that!"

Once of AlpineDave's photos from 3 weeks ago:

Some webcam pics of new freshiez on Rainier: http://www.mtnphil.com/RainierCam2.html

Wow, hauling skis up Ruby in August really is stupid (in a good way - don't mean to offend). It's so stupid it's almost smart. I know someone who hauled skis up Ruth in spring when there was snow on it, and I think it is namelessly mentioned in his turns-all-year profile as one of "two or three truly awful ski outings". Looks like it was worth it for the pictures though.

Yes. Still a pleasant doable trip though.

Inspirational... How'd they do that!?

I assume the reason they don't come with thermoflex liners, is because the laces on the stock liners are pretty essential in "firming up" the boot. The MLT4 wouldn't work very well with laceless liners.