JasonG

Jay- What did you find was the best option? Josh's accident has got me thinking....

If you have five days I think I would head to the N. Cascades and ski the Boulder on Baker and the Sulphide on Shuksan. Two classic summits and one decent (sulphide) and one terrific (Boulder) ski descent. Of course if you are dialed in and the weather is perfect you would still have time to ski the SW chutes (lots of driving though). The Ptarmigan will involve a lot of grunt work and not much in the way of ski descents. Scenery is hard to beat, however. I agree that the Magic S and Forbidden tours are iffy unless the winter magically turns around. It is quite grim at the lower elevations of both of those tours right now.

FYI, the fat cable is no more than 25mm. I clipped a large belay biner over it that wouldn't clip onto something more than 1". I'm pretty sure it is 7/8th cable, which is ~23mm. Walking the fat cable is the way to go for sure (drag your pack on the fat cable behind), though it still gets your attention and clipping around the balls/cones on the small cable isn't totally trivial when you are bouncing around. Marc- As we can see from your season down there (TR?), you aren't quite like the rest of us!

I think Fred may be including many of the long D-town routes in the new edition. MattP is coordinating the beta for him, I think. Good points on clarifications on existing routes. Fred knows there are errors throughout the edition and wants corrections. I will tell him to get in touch with Pete. Keep the suggestions coming!

Why is Sunset ridge on Rainier in condition less often than most other routes on the mountain? That surprises me.

Ain't that the truth!!

Great effort, and good work surviving! Thanks for the mere-mortal write up about the climbing in Patagonia. Pretty pictures leave a lot of that out.

Wait, you descended from the snow arete in the winter? Yikes. You should write that TR up!

Yep, Lowell has that down and we can use your NWMJ article for details. Perhaps the Klenke photo if Fred needs it? Thanks Wayne.

Long-term emergency lane closure on SR 542 east of Maple Falls Beginning at 8 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 8, Washington State Department of Transportation maintenance crews will reduce State Route 542/Mt. Baker Highway to one lane approaching Glacier Springs, which is located four miles east of Maple Falls. The Nooksack River is eroding land near the eastbound lane of the highway. To keep drivers safe, WSDOT is preemptively closing the eastbound lane to traffic. Traffic will be alternated through the closure area in the westbound lane. Flaggers will keep traffic moving through the closure area until temporary signals are can be activated on Sunday evening. Drivers should expect delays in the area and give themselves extra time to reach their destinations. WSDOT will begin work on a $3 million emergency project to realign this stretch of SR 542 later this month. Learn more about this project by visiting the SR 542 Glacier Springs Realignment project webpage

Lowell has been doing an excellent job of tracking new routes: http://www.alpenglow.org/nwmj/index_shorts.html http://www.alpenglow.org/nwmj/inbox.html

Fred is looking to update the Green guide and would appreciate corrections and new route info. Here is what I've already sent him: Whitehorse- Larson/partner-NE face "Bacon Buddy": http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=545608 Three Fingers- Thibault/Berdinka- East Face Couloir: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=545446 Frieh/Burdick- East side of North Peak (FWA): http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=644072 Sloan Peak- A bit of activity in recent years. Here are some new routes from Rad, Wayne, etc.: FA of SE ridge: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=834240 Fire on the Mountain: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=905897 Diamond in the Rough: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1041144 Buck- sounds like a correction needs to be made to the Cal Folsom entry (they climbed NR instead of NF, TR is from Wayne Wallace): http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/899441/1 Chiwawa- Haley/Burdick- NW face: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=442340 Goode- Herrington/Wertkin- Megalodon Ridge: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=721583 Dome- Wallace/Layton - "Gran Torino": http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=895089 Schilling/Farr- "Indian Summer": http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1033817'>http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1033817 South Peak of Gunsight- Schilling/Farr- "Lily of the West": http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1033817 Traverse of Gunsight Peaks- Herrington/Hilden- "Gunrunner": http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=702676 Formidable- Hick/ McBrian- Direct NE buttress: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=896257 Mixup Peak- Hicks/McBrian/Jodan. "The Misunderstanding"- http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1039670 Sahale- Hicks/McBrian- East Face Couloir: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1038727 West Peak of Black- Larson/Wehrly- NW ridge of West peak: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1076759 Vesper- Berdinka/Pires- "The Ragged Edge": http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1112076

There will be a lot less snow after this weekend! I don't think we saw any snow below 3.5K, and on south aspects it was pretty bare all the way up to 5k.

I should add that the position of Hall is quite scenic, no matter the season. And you are guaranteed to have the mountain to yourself!

Trip: Hall Peak- scramble - NE side from Ice Caves trail Date: 1/29/2015 Trip Report: This is what it has come to. With no snow in sight (almost literally), I found myself tagging along with Scott and Steve on a grudge match with Hall Peak (third time's a charm?). Normally, this route wouldn't be the safest option in winter, but this is no ordinary winter, and it is probably much easier now than in the summer when the brush has leafed out and the flies are looking for an easy meal. Armed with beta from a TR on NWHikers, we got an early start from the Ice Caves trail last week. Unfortunately, you leave the trail rather quickly and begin the battle upwards. This trip would be not that fun in the summer, but it wasn't bad for us. It took us about 8 hours round trip, including over an hour on the summit, and we never encountered truly horrible brush. Basically the perfect length of trip for the short winter days. You can see from the photos that even hardmen like Dan (where is this guy anyway?) and Eric won't be skiing the NF of Big Four anytime soon. While it can't really compare to skiing powder, choss dawging up an obscure peak is a good way to forget that it is actually mid winter. It looks like October! Gear Notes: eye protection, gloves, helmet, crampons, ice axe. Approach Notes: Ice caves trail to the large avi swath. Hang a right off the trail and 'schwack your way up for 4K'

Agreed, that looks crazy hard. Is the Dawn Wall next?

Yikes. I was wondering if the thin snowpack was making for dangerous travel conditions on the big glaciers. Thanks for the report, and I'm glad you made it off safely. You probably already know this, but you can order a new section for the whippet from BD. They're quite reasonable.

Mr. Shizzle- You may need to get farther from the road. I find that most climbers I meet on multi-day trips are pretty nice folks. Those that aren't, are least plenty entertaining. You may fall in the latter category.

Thanks Dave for the more detailed explanation.

You don't need to mod your whippet to deadman it. I was trying to figure out what Dave was talking about when he mentioned drilling the head and threading it with cord. Sounds like a Spectre without a way to hammer it in, and not something I'd trust it in a crevasse rescue or belay scenario.

Huh? You would use a whippet for belaying off of, or for crevasse rescue? And Water, the photo of Hood is freaky. Good reason to stay far away in summer!

Just to keep the debate going, why start at Stehekin? Your neighborhood was built on the site of an old growth forest, as were the roads that take you to the mountains. Start local.

Lots of area to park near the gate, you don't need to walk from town!

Sounds like you need to pick up a copy of "Extreme Alpinism". Twight has your answers.

Yes, and it is fairly steep. If it is icy, crampons and an ice axe may be warranted. Since it sounds like this isn't something you guys have experience with, you will want to be careful when assessing conditions. Colchuck Lake is a worthy winter backpacking objective by itself, so it isn't a a wasted trip if you don't get up Asgaard. FYI, you will likely walking from Icicle Creek, as they gate the Eightmile road in the winter.