dbb

Women of basecamp beware! I bet placebo was easy to figure out.

do a search on this site, as this was discussed before. I think there was a list of sub 8 hour car to car trips. I think mr. smart was in there too. Those times are pretty wild just given the milage and elevation gain!

yep, it's really for all those $600 dollar tents! Seriously though, ever since they stopped making boots out of one piece of leather they've been compromising the longevity of the boot. 10 minutes with a $5 tube of seam grip will keep those seems tight and unfrayed for much longer. I did this to one of my aid boots, got bored with it and didn't do the other. About 30 pitches later that boot was shot, while the other looked pristine. Live by the seamgrip, die by the seamgrip is what I always say.

sounds like a fun time

Nice! Did you guys stay on the crest before the gendarmes (and after the scrambling of the lower ridge)? How far down did you climb 'right of the crest'?

oh dear god no. Goto the rockies!

The footware will depend on how late you stay. Tennies with crampons should do fine for most everything, though later in the season the bugaboo-snopatch col starts to melt out to ice (35 degrees at the most?). I haven't descended to the base of B-C, but from looking at the steep snow on the descent off the tower it looks pretty steep. I would say bring the 60s. It's only like 1.5-2.5 hours into the hut (2.5-3 to applebee) and you'll be able to climb a LOT faster with the longer lines. That's just preference though, I'm sure you would be just fine with 50s as it is the alpine afterall. For many of the standard descent routes (bugaboo, snopatch) I heard that they were bolted for one rope descents last year. We needed two 50s though to get off snowpatch when I was there.

Witch Dr. Wall gets shade around 1-2pm FWIW...

Very nice. Good job you guys!

Got 53 mosquito bites on my back (looks like I have a disease) while scrambling Sperry's South ridge. Left my wallet behind for the first time, got both my credit cards stolen for the first time. Didn't loose a cent then got a flat tire . Swam farther than I ever have in lake washington and was able to stand on top of the bouey. Sweet!

I bet driving there on a motorcycle would be a sweet outing, esp by going up through darrington and rockport. Nice solo, That's a beautiful and fun climb!

Hope y'all like smoke inhalation! Great route though, and I second doing the gendarme... we ran out of time, so now I have to go back and do it again. (oh the horror!)

Wow, I didn't think that they'd ruin the Tacoma like the ruined the new 4skinrunners: "be longer, wider and taller than its predecessor, with more passenger space and greater cargo and towing capacity." with a 4L V6 double cab it should get about 3 miles to the gallon!! Thanks for all the advice guys! ('cept you loren )

Thanks for all the input so far! How can you tell where the truck was assembled/made? Is there some way to tell from the VIN? Also, this truck originated in Hawaii. I know that's a rather salty climate, but should this be a cause for concern? Are the toyotas known to rust much?

yeah, the right person if you're the incredable hulk. I always love going climbing with low-strech ropes and big steal carabiners with 20ft runners... really cuts down the ropedrag on those 600ft pitches. Seriously though, that totally looks like it's stolen.

Heh, reminds me of the time mtnphil and I tried to climb whitecap from near setton portage. $200 in gas, 16 hours of driving, bushwacked for two days, stung by hornets, never even saw the mountain. Ahhh canada

I'm looking at a 1995 Tacoma 2.7L 4cyl LX that has 76K for $9800 (asking). Single owner, well maint with records. Does that sound like too much for that old of a year? The miles are pretty low the age at least. I've heard that the 95's have one less leaf spring in the rear suspension, and that they can crack. Aparently toyota added an extra one in the 96 on up. Anyone know of any other issues surrounding this age of truck (head gaskets, etc) ?

Darin- If the debris is on the "east" side of the tower, (in the early morning couloir area) then I think it would be feasable for it to slide down to the hairpin. The crash would have occured to the right from you blue circle... I don't think that it's the 1983 crash as there would probably be more plane left in the wreckage and I believe DavidW said that he saw this plane laying there in 1980.

According to one, the wreckage (by the hairpin) has been there since at LEAST the very early 80s. I was contacted this past fall about a picture I had of the wreckage by someone who knew that the wrecked plane by the hairpin was not in the state's database of known crashes. An intruiging mystery that was covered up by the winter snow and fall rains too quick last fall. I'd imagine that with the fall line from the N. Spire, the debris I saw just off the hairpin could be from the same crash. Was any of the debris from a red and white paint job? Here's a picture of what we (and countless others) found:

I've been using a rock wren for the past couple years and I like it a lot. It's not the lightest of summer bags because of all the zippers, but the extra functionality is great imho. Most of the summer I won't need much of any insulative layer because I can put on my 'full length down vest' as it was. you can tie the draw string around your waist for vest or leave it long for more warmth. I've used this bag spring-fall, and only get cold on really cold fall nights in a tent, or sometimes in the bivi sack. Had two open bivis in it this past weekend and was plenty warm too. I'm 6' and I bought a Regular (thanks again Mike!) which is a little bit too $hort. The armholes are plenty big not to bind up, and the hood is your typical mummy style hood (great for sleeping, a little floppy to have on in camp). I also like the center zipper because you can easily sleep on your side w/o having a zipper there. If I were to buy a new bag I might go with a hummingbird (lighter weight), but may get the wren again. Note: You will look like a big fat dork walking around camp with this on, and your partners will laugh at you. Make sure you can handle it.

Nice job putting that egomaniac in his place Matt!

I don't find class 0.75 climbing that hard... I mean, come on!

The NW Face on the North ridge looked to be in great condition (snowy) with the upper North ridge looking snow free on Saturday.