JasonG

If anyone is curious there is indeed an old snow patch just below the true summit on Stuart that lasted into late season this year (maybe a little heavier snow year than most though). As Jared said though it isn't that bad to carry water from the lake (we did). Beautiful area to bivy, even if a bit stormy!!

Thinking of heading up this weekend for an early fall bivy on the summit. Any easy-access snow near the summit?? Thanks.

You talking about this Heinrich? I don't think I've excluded anyone from from PMing me . . . drop me a line if you are trying to get ahold of me.

bringing this to the top. Anybody been on the NF recently? Moat or 'schrund problems?? Thanks for any info . . .

It was a heinous brush bash going DOWN into horseshoe basin from Buckner, I can't imagine coming up. Lots of cliffs and slide alder so big it'd qualify as old growth. As far as the east ridge goes, I second Dale's opinion. I climbed it in '99 and it is a long and chossy adventure. Not steep enough to rap easily, but too loose to downclimb safely solo. Good luck, you're in for one hell of a weekend. . . The plus side is the Fremont route on Logan is really nice-great views and pretty easy.

We had grand plans to do the enchainment, but got as far as Tszil, Rex's Pillar and the normal route on Matier (the shrunds looked bad from below on the north face route, turns out they would have been fine when looking down from above) before bailing partway up the south buttress on Joffre. Some T-storms were drifting our way and we thought it better to bail (probably if we were honest the real reason is we were tired and not feeling spunky enought to lead the 5.8 step in boots). Still, it was a great intro to the area and I would like to return for some of the other routes detailed in "Alpine Select". Spectacular country with miles and miles of mountains all around!

From Friday-Sunday the Joffre group was nice up in the great white north. T-storms all around but sunny overhead. We had the whole place to ourselves, just a few backpackers down at the lakes. Sounds like things were a bit wetter down here.

Rainy Pass repair in the U-District is good.

Although I can't speak about conditions in the last week or two, a month ago the ridge was getting pretty bare. Even though it was a bigger than normal snow year overall, the winds on the upper mountain last year must have been pretty crazy. When we climbed it (June 1-3), it was almost all old ice and neve with very little of this last year's snow on it. I've since read climbing reports from Gauthier that say most parties are experiencing significant amounts of rockfall at all times of the day and night, mainly due to the low snowcover on the ridge. There was a resuce a few weeks back after a guy was smacked on his way to thumb rock. It sounds to me like the route might be a little sketchy right now, but give Gator a ring and he could fill you in with the latest info.

I have to put a plug in for the south ridge of Victoria. Great ridge route with some exposed snow/ice and scrambling. Possibly the best part is staying at the Abbott pass hut and watching all of the flash bulbs going off down at the Chateau Lake Louise. In September the Larch will be golden making the hike in from Lake O'Hara quite scenic (that is when I did it a few years ago). Reservations on the shuttle bus into O'Hara are a MAJOR pain unless you have a hut reservation through the ACC (they have some spots reserved every day for people staying in their huts). Have a great trip, I'm envious . . . .

I got this back on sale (I think it is a 1-2 year old model) recently and it doesn't fit me right (I should have taken a little more time trying it on). I've used it only about 4 times and it is in perfect shape. It will fit people in the 6' tall range and is 4400 cu in (72L?) with a daisy chain on the back along with two tool holsters, ski slots, gear loops, etc., etc. A great pack for those 4-7 day alpine trips or wintertime ski touring. It's a climbing specific pack made with spectra so it's pretty light for its size and features (~ 4lbs). Anyways, I paid way too much for it but will sell it for $200 OBO. Send me a PM if you are interested.

Just a heads up to whomever may be heading in there in the next few weeks. The headwall is already pretty broken up (more so that it looks from below) and will be quite a bit more challenging once a few of the key bridges melt out more. Even in current conditions we had a couple of spicy 'schrund crossings that got our attention. Of course it didn't help that we were getting pounded by the weather yesterday either . . . we could have been off the best line by a little bit due to the bad visibility.

We did it as a three day trip a few weeks ago and it was very enjoyable and laid back. The first two days you are into camp by noon or 1pm giving you plenty of time to rest, hydrate, acclimate, throw rocks at each other, etc. Summit day is a bit longer, but you are still back to the cars in the afternoon with enough time to go out and have a big dinner in town. You guys certainly get the suffer points however . . .

Fred is not dead yet, although he might smell like it.

All my sponser requires is 40 hours of work a week-It's even indoors so I don't have to worry about the weather. I'll bet those Black Diamond guys are jealous . . .

Talking with some friends that climbed Sahale last weekend the road is open to the Eldorado trailhead (I think, but ask Geordie). Forbidden looked mighty alpine last weenkend with plenty of rime ice, but I assume that all the warm temps have melted most of that off. Have fun!

It was bad shape a few weeks ago. I doubt if the heat wave is helping any . . .

"cunt as a fatality" Now that sounds really gross . . . .

Oh, and I don't think those that died did most of the step kicking. Most of the new snow fell in the storm that killed them. We saw that there were about 25 climbers ahead of us climbing the route on Friday and Saturday. That was who I intended to thank and was not trying to make some underhanded jab at those who perished.

Idiot?? Are YOU guys serious?? People died, true. That does not change the fact the route is in great shape to climb right now. The weather was nice and we had a fun climb. I am sorry about what happened in the few days before our climb, however I am not sorry that we climbed it. What's up with the name calling????????? Calm down and go climb something while the weather is still good.

The route is in prime condition right now. A party of four of us climbed it the last few days and had about as perfect of a trip as could be imagined. Mostly steep snow with bucket steps (thanks, whomever is responsible!), but with enough neve and ice to make things interesting. A nice trail is worked in all the way to Thumb rock, so route finding on the glaciers is pretty darn easy. I'd never been on that side of Rainier before and I was pretty blown away by the position of the route. Completely classic in every respect!! We had perfect weather and almost no wind, all in all making the trip one of my very best. On another note, It looks like the snow pack on the route (above Thumb Rock) is very thin and will melt away mostly to ice in the next few weeks if we have some warm weather. This will make things probably quite a bit tougher that what we experienced.

Came down it this weekend after Liberty Ridge. The Emmons is in great climbing shape with only one sketchy crevasse crossing (there is probably a good way around it-we were tired). Skiing would be quite icy unless it was a really hot day. We talked to some skiers that said it wasn't very good and really icy. We wore crampons down to about 9500' even though we didn't come down till the afternoon.

Dan-it looks like from drawing on the link that you didn't go all the way to the very top of the main couloir on your first try (left a bit below the summit). Or am I looking at the drawing wrong?? Last year I was on the summit and looked down on the rock step immediately below the summit (I didn't think it looked too bad at the time). But, it sounds like you guys had a hell of a time trying to get past it. I guess I'm wondering if I was looking at the same rock step that thwarted you guys. My only reason for being so particular (other than I'm a dork) is that I'm thinking of heading up there this weekend to give it a go if things get cold and freeze. Thanks.

when did the ledge fall off?? I climbed it two years ago and everything was pretty cruisey. A little bit of loose rock but not too bad. I agree with everyvbody- brimg bikes and do it as a day trip.

All right . . . . sounds like a good ol' fashioned showdown. I got my money on Colin. Go get em' kid!!!!!!!!!!!