DPS

I personally would not want to see any rocks, just snow and ice. If there are rocks peeking through, in my mind there is not enough snow. You don't want to climb on frozen rocks. Better than unfrozen rocks, but still not ideal. Be patient and wait for more snow so then you will only have to worry about avalanches.

I think rock fall would be a serious issue. I personally would wait until the mountain gets a lot more snow and it has time to consolidate.

I really wanted the older version of the Thor, the red one, but I could not find one anywhere. I ended up buying a Salewa, which was the lightest of the bunch, as well as the least expensive.

Thanks for your feedback. I have my eye on a Petzl Bongo, I think that would be a good balance between driving ability and carrying too much weight.

So, after a few attempts I've finally accepted leash less ice climbing as more than a passing fad. I bought a pair of Nomic copies (Grivel somethings). They don't have hammers or adzes, and even if they did the radical curve would make it very difficult to pound in pitons. Has anybody carried a light piton hammer with them along with their leash less tools? I likes my pitons, and I can't see a down side other than carrying a bit more weight. Thoughts?

Good luck. I purchased and returned quite a few belay parkas to replace my Micropuff. The nicest of the bunch was the RAB Alpine Generator parka, which did not fit me well at all. NW Alpine has a great looking parka, but they seem to be out of stock. I ended up with a Mountain Hardware Supercompressor, but I have yet to use it.

Moderating sucks, but at least the pay is terrible.

The Pickets - so hot right now.

The Tooth The Tooth The Tooth is on fire Burn MFer, burn

Yes, I pull the core out of 6mm and use the sheath for flat boot laces when the stock ones break.

You may be correct. If I was civically minded like Chris or Kurt, I would use static caving rope inside 1" tubular webbing. A lot of the anchors I leave are not meant to last that long, for example V-threads, or are on obscure descent routes. For some reason I have had the notion that cord is better than webbing. Maybe I read that some where. At any rate, I feel good and wholesome using 6mm for tat, it is a good balance of compactness in the pack, lightweight, and strong enough for the application. Andy Kirkpatrick weighs in, and he mentions cord is better than webbing: https://andy-kirkpatrick.com/blog/view/life-at-retail?utm_content=buffer93c8e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Edelrid, here is what I bought: https://www.backcountry.com/edelrid-powerloc-expert-sp-accessory-cord-100m?CMP_SKU=ELR001K&MER=0406&skid=ELR001K-FIR-S6MM&mr:trackingCode=4530F522-2651-E711-8100-005056944E17&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=plaonline&CMP_ID=PLA_GOc001&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PLA&k_clickid=fe0ca984-ea2a-4883-9043-51b100033e50&gclid=Cj0KCQjw557NBRC9ARIsAHJvVVPvkYXTJzcBLNcBLN2w79vwPOR8NGWL5Ye6YIdEeEoYv-uns5Yh3FEaAvdeEALw_wcB

I recently bought a 100 meter spool of 6mm cord because it was on sale and I leave so much of it as rappel anchors. I have always considered 6mm to be too weak for quad anchor/cord-a-lette material, however, this manufacturer rates it at 9kn. For comparison, PMI 7mm is rated at 10.7 kn. What is the cc.com's brain trust consensus on this, is 9kn strong enough for use as anchor material? Also, 100 meters is more cord than I can use in the foreseeable future, so I am selling lengths of it at 0.34 cents a foot, what I paid. Great for rappel tat, prusik slings, tag lines (if you are into that kind of S&M) and perhaps even anchor material. If you want to buy some 6mm cord, still in plastic on the spool, email me at Daniel-p-smith@hotmail.com

I think the crux for you will be finding good winter conditions while the highway is still open. Not sure when it typically closes. You could ski or snowmobile the closed road though, if you really want it. FWIW, I have found very good conditions in the Cascade Pass region in very late fall and early winter while the Cascade River Road is still open to mile 20/Eldorado Creek TH, which typically becomes impassible by January. Very short days that time of year.

Were the roads washed out or something? That is kind of a bummer.

Agreed, good suggestion. When I got bored of running repeats on Mt Si I would park at the Mt. Si parking lot, run the road to Teneriffe, run up Teneriffe then traverse to Mt. Si and then down Si to my car.

Three Fingers is pretty stout for a training hike. Mt. Pilchuck is very popular with the Everett crowd. Mt. Persis (next to Mt. Index) and Mt. Baring come to mind as well.

I heard Outer Space fell off.

I agree with Jason, hitching a ride from Hannegan TH to HWY 20 at either Burlington on I-5 or Sedro Wolley on HWY 9 would be pretty easy. Lots of Seattle based climbers heading back that way from climbing Mt. Ruth or something. I've picked up folks at that TH before, and had no problems hitching rides out of the mountains. The crux will be heading down HWY 20. Not sure if public transportation would get you there. Maybe stake out the Haggen grocery store in Burlington looking for climbers/hikers stocking up on rations and get a ride that way?

Summit of Monkey Face at Smith Rocks? I don't think it is technically legal, but if you make sure you don't start a campfire and pack out your waste I don't see the harm.

I was behind a team of six Boy Scouts on the Beckey Route on Liberty Bell. They were split into three rope teams of two. The problem was, they owned only a single rack. So, the first leader would climb and set pro, the follower would unclip but leave the pro in. The leader of the second rope would clip the pro, the follower would leave it. The leader of the third rope would clip the pro and the follower would finally remove it and hand the rack back over to the first leader who would then start the next pitch. The surprising part was that they were actually faster than many parties of two I've seen. Negative style points for their choice of approach shoes: sandals. They ended up descending that awful couloir by sliding on their rear ends.

Could have been pay back for leaving a poorly buried 'cache' that melted out at camp 1 on Hunter.

There is a fellow who runs a web site with beta on the 50 Classic Climbs of N.A. He had attempted, and turned back on a route on Mt. Hunter (sorry Colin, Begguya), that had not seen many ascents. I pumped him for beta for months and he was really great and helpful. After climbing and descending the route in a storm back to camp 2, we met the gentleman and his wife and friends. They were a day behind us. They had taken up the only flat real estate, but they were nice enough to help us dig a platform into the corniced ridge during the storm. Cut to August the following year, TimL and I are at the end of a long queue for the NE Ridge of Bugaboo Spire. The party several ahead of us drops an ice axe on the first pitch, everyone scatters. We climb the route, rap off and go back to the hut to discover it was the fellow from Hunter and his wife who dropped the axe. We had a nice chat, but man, what a small world to run into the same people in two very different locations. I guess 50 Crowded Climbs is apropos.

What about the snow lakes loop in the Enchantments? You could climb Colchuck, Dragontail, and Little Annapurna for added kicks. Certainly not as long, but the scenery is hard to beat.

The late, great Joe Puryear was from the Yakima region, as was Paul Soboleski. Good luck finding partners. As you mentioned you are not far from Tieton and Mt. Rainier. Best of luck in grad school and finding partners.