philfort

Man, you sound like one bitter person. I'm sorry. Where did you hear that Andrew McLean used belays on the Mowich Face? The article in Couloir magazine certainly didn't mention anything about that. quote: I respect all the people out riding big faces on whatever gear they choose. quote: If you plan on skiing out on tele skiis think again or you might die. hmm. Hope you succeed in riding the NF safely. I'm sure you'll tell us about it.

Check out dbb's fall force calculator: http://students.washington.edu/dbb/index.html

If you donate to the Sierra Club, you will be inundated with "environmental" junk mail. They sell your name to everyone.

For getting across the Coleman... You might want to tromp a route over to the base of the ridge from your camp the afternoon you get there, so you've got footsteps to follow the next morning in the dark.

This past Saturday, my friend Matt and I skied up to Snowy Lakes below Tower Mountain, in the Washington Pass area. In the late afternoon, we left in search of some north-facing powder slopes - the only viable option was the northwest face of a 7100ft ridge about 1/2 mile south of Snow Lakes. As we approached the highest point on the ridge, the sun was low, and providing really nice light on the bowl we wanted to ski. I told Matt I'd stay where I was to get a picture of him descending the powder. He continued skiing to the top, on the "windward" side, just below the corniced ridge. I saw that there were a few cornices along a far rib parallel to the fall line, and thought there might be some cross-loading of the slopes. Matt indicated he would definitely evaluate the snow pack before heading down. He didn't end up having to. I was fiddling with my camera, when I heard him yell something. I looked up, and the saw the entire slope below us was disintegrating. Matt was standing 30 or 40 feet above the fracture line. The slab broke into chunks and sped down the hillside, over cliffs, through trees, in a cloud of snow. I've never seen a "real" slab avalanche before - it moved with horrific speed! A person would have no chance in that. It was all over within seconds. We saw the debris flow a good distance across the flats at the base of the 700ft slope. After recovering from the shock, Matt very carefully made his way back to me, and we tried to get a better look at the slide. We headed back along the ridge towards camp, and were suprised when we saw the fracture had propagated over an ajoining ridge, and taken out a significant portion of the next slope over. The crown looked about 18 inches deep, and probably 3 feet deep in places. Using the terrain features, and the topo map, we calculated the size of the slide. The fracture line was 300 yards wide, and the slide travelled for about 1/3 of a mile. The aspect of the bowl was mostly NW, some N. The cornice overhung the opposite side of the ridge, which was interesting. It seems there was some cross-loading going on. When we got back to camp, we moved our tent, which was at the bottom of a treeless south-facing gully :-) The next day, we also noticed some instability on the relatively flat, suncrusted slopes around Snowy Lake. Twice we heard big whoomping noises. Needless to say, we stayed off any steeper slopes, and didn't get much skiing in. Be careful out there...

Conditions are still pretty winterlike up there now. We were a few miles west of the past and the snow conditions were a foot of dry powder on top of a foot of slushy snow, on top of a firm crust. I think they got a bunch more snow last night (avie report said 4-8 inches on the east slope), and it looks snow showers and cool temps from tomorrow through the weekend.

Dru, the problem with your classification of the ratings, in my opinion, is that it is subjective, based upon the skills of the party that climbed it. Knowing that a first ascent party "4th classed" something that would seem like low 5th to me, isn't very helpful. The whole point of a rating should be to attempt to classify how difficult something is, regardless of who rated it. I would hope the people who "4th classed" a route, know that they are comfortable climbing 5.3 (or whatever) without pro, and rate it accordingly.

Out of curiousity why are the following bad: -triple aaa batteries -you can't replace the bulbs (they won't burn out in the lifetime of the headlamp - they're led's) I admit the tikka does feel "cheap".

for what it's worth, in one of the articles I read on the king5 website, has one of the guys' moms (Nancy Hess) saying "He does not have a lot of food, he did not take his big pack, they're both not experienced... A year and a half is just not much experience for mountain climbing" So maybe the reporters just reported it wrong.

for what it's worth, in one of the articles I read on the king5 website, has one of the guys' moms (Nancy Hess) saying "He does not have a lot of food, he did not take his big pack, they're both not experienced... A year and a half is just not much experience for mountain climbing" So maybe the reporters just reported it wrong.

Is the Leuthold couloir commonly skied? Is it really "just" 40-45 degrees? The picture of it on the cascadeclimbers front page makes it look like a good ski descent.

I was "in the area" yesterday afternoon, but just skied up to the Cutthroat Pass area. The snow was very slushy (reached 5600ft). Didn't get a clear view of any climbing routes west of the pass, because it was cloudy, very warm, and sometimes raining hard. It turned to snow in the afternoon, as the temperature dropped sharply. There didn't seem to be too many cars parked at the trailheads. It was only partly cloudy east of the pass. I did see some fat blue ice right above Cutthoat Lake. Has anyone here climbed that? It's in a horrible position avalanche-wise, and it's a little far to go for what looks like a half to full pitch of not-very-difficult-looking ice, but it sure looked in good shape.

What the hell is wrong with someone wanting help carrying their gear up to Camp Muir? You don't know what they're going to be doing up there - you don't know how old they are - you don't know their situation at all, so don't judge! Besides, climbers use porters in the Himalaya, and climbers get planes to haul their gear in Alaska. Is that also "pathetic"? What's pathetic is climbers with elitist attitudes like this. Phil

We tried to climb it via the std route 2 years ago, but turned around due to avalanche danger. I'd expect you'd find similarly nasty conditions if you're planning on doing it tomorrow (Freezing level is supposed to be 9000ft I think) The pictures from our trip report should help you identify the right place to head up to highpass (Even though we never got there): http://praxis.etla.net/~philfort/whitehorse/whitehorse.html Basically, from LT pass, you travel along the ridge until it steepens considerably, then you descend several hundred feet to near a lake (to get around a rock buttress), then do a gradual ascending traverse. You might head up to High Pass too early, but you won't head up too late - so keep going until it's really obvious where High Pass is.

Wow, sounds great! Wish I wasn't working today....

It's just a recap of who won some ski mountaineering, snowshoeing, and ice climbing competitions.

just to add a note: I think the butane stoves will work better at high altitudes, because of the greater pressure differential between the cannister and the air (I think?). However, that's probably more than offset by the colder temperatues typical at high altitudes.

I have a primus alpine micro - it's great, but I wouldn't rely on it if you're expecting cold weather, or need to boil lots of water. They are hard to start, and don't put out much power when it gets cold. And the longer you have it on, the weaker the output is, because the cannister keeps getting colder and colder. We were able to start one on top of Rainier last summer (temp was probably 20-25F), but it took some coaxing. I guess you could sleep with the cannister. When it's not cold though, they are great! I use it mainly for 'going light', when I know the weather won't be too much below freezing. If I go somewhere alone for a day trip, I usually take it with me - with a small titanium kettle, and one of those snowpeak half cannisters, you have a cooking setup that weighs almost nothing, and takes almost no space. The piezo starter is a nice touch - don't need to fumble for matches or a lighter. [This message has been edited by philfort (edited 03-19-2001).]

You can drive well past that on highway 20 in the winter. However, I'm sure the dirt road to the Thorton Lakes trailhead isn't plowed - although this year it's probably driveable quite aways by now. It's sort of south-facing too I think. Never been there in the winter, but it would seem reasonable - you could avoid the very indirect trail, and just head straight to the Thornton Lakes basin (that's what Beckey suggests for early season attempts) That picture of the NE ridge in winter conditions, in Selected Climbs II, looks terrifying! Having done the approach in summer, it seems like it would be pretty straightforward in winter too. Does anyone know if the NE ridge has seen a winter ascent?

By the way Dennis, The North Ridge (of Baker, I assume you meant) was skied last summer (as documented in the lastest issue of Backcountry magazine, with many pictures), so "all" you'll get is a first snowboard descent :-) Unless of course you actually snowboard down the ice cliff, in which case then you can claim a "first complete descent", as the "first descentionists" rappeled the ice cliff. Also, you said: "According to the tacoma news tribune no one has even set foot on rainiers north face in ten years". What about the well-publicized incident of the guy who died skiing Liberty Ridge 2 years ago? Since when is the Tacome News Tribune the authority on first descents? As for Shuksan's North Face, I would be very suprised if it hadn't seen a snowboard descent, as I get the feeling it is skied quite regularly (when we were there, there was a solo skier attempting it - I think he also mentioned he had skied Liberty Ridge). I do however, disagree with Mike's statement "I would say getting any first, second or even third descent or ascent in the Cascades is a pipe dream boyz". Phil

The easiest-to-access serious glaciers are probably the Coleman on Mt Baker, and the Nisqually on Rainier. It's about a 2.5 hour drive to the Heliotrope Ridge trailhead at Baker(currently snowed in, but it should melt out early this year - trailhead elevation is 3600ft). Then it's about an hour hike to the glacier. The Nisqually can be reached hiking up the paved trail out of Paradise (also ~2.5hr drive), and hiking down from Alta Vista (or glacier vista?) - maybe - 45 minutes from paradise? Phil Did you find this response helpful? (yes) (no)

There was a post about "Snoqualime mtn/ NW face" on here 2 weeks ago, on the Message Board. It contained some current-at-the-time information on NY gully.

Looking at some slides of the NW side of Rainier recently, I discovered a rock ridge with a large hole in it, halfway up Mowich Face. Has anyone seen this curious formation (an arch, I suppose) up close? Is it really as it appears? (the hole is just barely visible on page 108 of the Beckey guide, under the 'a' in Mowich Face)

They're supposed to start clearing it next Monday, then it will probably take a few weeks from then.

Um, I drove by it last weekend. The standard route looked snowcovered, and so did adjacent gullies more on the north face. I think I took a picture... I try to remember to scan it today.