philfort

I saw a guy with an ice axe through him in New Hampshire. It was down at the ranger station at the bottom of mt washington. There were a bunch of people standing around him, and I thought he looked a little out of it, and then someone told me he'd punctured himself with his axe. I saw the shaft going into his goretex jacket and disappearing! At some point, someone lifted his jacket, and you could see the shaft going in his left side, and out the right side. Really gruesome! But the guy was still walking around and stuff (in fact he had just walked down about 3000ft of Mt Washington in below zero temps). When the ambulance finally came, and they put him on a stretcher, they had trouble getting him out the door because of the axe sticking out of him! Apparently he turned out ok, it had just punctured muscle tissue, not his stomach. (I guess maybe he had a bit of a pot belly!)

Well, apparently the air in the Muir hut is piped right up to the caves, because this guy claims to have ventured down there an engaged in mental telepathy for a few hours with these beings - I guess like giant

quote: Originally posted by Goat Boy: Where can one find a map of the cave system? Does it change significantly from year to year? The book "Challenge of Rainier" has a very basic map of the caves (and a whole chapter devoted to them). There's a good story about the furry alien beings that live in them.

Ingalls? I might have got you beat for wussiest peak. Mine is Chair Pk, failed three times. 1) Went in fall, std route, with just rock shoes and rock gear, but the rock was coated with ice, plus 6 inches of snow. 2) Tried NE butt in fall with too big a group, ran out of time. 3) Tried NE butt in winter, but went up "wrong way", and got foiled by bad conditions.

I'll add to the crapload of beta here. We did 3 single rappels, traversed a bit, and did one more rappel, then it was straightforward traversing back to the notch. Finding the correct gully back up to the notch wasn't a problem... it looked like if you started traversing any further *past* it, the terrain would get much more difficult. So then you'll know you've gone too far. Like Lambone, we avoided the dirty gully, and scrambled up blocky rock to the climber's right.

I think there needs to be sufficient snow pack for the approach you describe - then it's an easy traverse straight across, between 3800 and 3400ft. The "bench" you follow is obvious on the topo map.

Skied up to Heliotrope ridge (7200ft) last saturday. Don't know what it's like higher up, but the snow where we were was great. It was about 1 hour hike to snow. Looked like some big crevasses opening up on the Coleman, but probably still skiable with some weaving around... Looked like the "bergscrhund" below the col went all the way across, but hard to tell for sure from far away.

If anyone is going climbing or hiking up near Whistler this weekend, please keep an eye out for this guy, missing since last Friday, possibly after setting out for Rainbow mtn: http://www.faughnan.com/brian.html Thanks.

quote: Originally posted by BillBurning: I'm psyched, still no one's recommended a route in better condition than Liberty Ridge that has ice climbing... maybe Nisqually(?) ice fall? Ptarmigan Ridge?

I think they actually do do trail maintenance there anyway (not necessarily saying it's a good thing). Trail crews did a bunch of work re-routing the trail between the upper talus field and the meadows. Both times I've been on it, the trail was in beautiful shape, with hardly any trees down (a really pleasant hike, until you reach the talus). Sounds like it just hasn't been "cleared up" since this past winter.

Taken on 7/5

Seen from quite far away (around Hidden Lake Pk) last wknd, it still looked like it had a lot of snow. Difference between the S face and the NW face was dramatic.

Nope, we were over on the ridge between the Triad and Sibley pass.

quote: Originally posted by MountainMan: Since the summit was clouded in, and we felt (and heard) static electricity, we stayed on the summit just long enough to sign the summit register. How dangerous is that? I don't think I would have stayed on the summit for a second if there was electricity around. We started hearing buzzing while hiking along a nearby ridge-top on Sunday when the weather moved in. That was a first for me - yikes! We got the hell off immediately! But of course no lightning hit nearby (we did hear some thunder off in the distance). Overly paranoid? Is a little buzzing ok Only start worrying if your ice axe begins to glow?

Road conditions: http://66.155.42.150/advscripts/mbs_rd2_rpt.asp

FWIW, I was up in Grand Park today (next ridge to the east), and there was suprisingly little snow. Grand Park (elev. 5600ft) was only 20% snow-covered. However it's probably more in Rainier's rain shadow than the area around mystic lake.

The detail is almost as good as the USGS maps, as long as you have as good printer. It's rare that you can't make out a terrain feature that you would be able to on the originals. Some benefits are: 1) the maps you print out are more compact than a full USGS quad (and you can make them double sided) 2) you can print them out on waterproof paper, and not worry about keeping them dry. 3) you can overlay UTM grids... not all the base USGS maps have UTM grids.

"Active iceworms have not been observed during the daylight hours." ??? During the daylight hours is the only time I've ever seen them. "If a human finger touches an iceworm, it will instantly die from the heat." hmm.... ice worm movie

Some photos of... Lady bugs on Oval Peak: north basin of Star mtn: [ 06-17-2002, 11:43 PM: Message edited by: philfort ]

From http://66.155.42.150/advscripts/mbs_rd2_rpt.asp Sibley CR/Hidden LK: 6/9/2002: Rough sections. Snowbound past 4+ miles ...implying the trees have been cleared...

It wouldn't be a homoscene if you went with some girls... ho's, I mean

quote: Originally posted by fleblebleb: They don't work on tele boots because the tele boot doesn't fit between the two metal thingies that the plastic toe strap is attached to... I have the aluminum stubai ones, and I'm pretty sure I've used them on my tele boots before. I just checked now, and the toe tab (T3's) does fit between the metal thingies on the front (just barely). Maybe the steel ones are of a different width. [ 06-04-2002, 10:41 PM: Message edited by: philfort ]

Hmm... I don't know what people are talking about when they say the flies here are nothing compared to the east coast! They *can* be unbearable. Once last summer, sometime in July I think, they were horrible at Cascade Pass.... as bad as I've ever experienced in the 23 years I lived on the East coast. The instant you stopped, you were covered in biting flies. Even running did not keep them off you. Also we once bailed on climbing Hozomeen (WA/BC border) because of totally intense mosquitoes (again July). And once on Mt Logan in September they were pretty nasty. Most of the time they're not too much of a problem though. There doesn't seem to be a particular "season" like there is out east, it's more random. And varies tremendously from spot to spot.

There wasn't anyone on Greybeard this weekend... at least, not on Saturday. I think the FL today was supposed to be ~10000ft, so you'd have be seriously nuts to try it today. The skiing was incredible though. Some spring "powder", and superb silky-smooth corn (even on south-facing slopes in the late afternoon).