DPS

Nice! Fast boy too (and Dad)! I took my daughter up the Haystack when she was 8. A dude on his way down wearing knee high, fringed buckskin boots said it was no place for kids. I told him she climbs Index 5.10d, she should be able to handle the Haystack. Dude just looked at me blankly, had no idea WTF I was talking about.

I saw this as well. It was eye opening as to the work and preparation that goes into making a new speed record. I had assumed that climbers just walked up to the base and fired the Nose. Serious preparation, committment, and risk, goes into making a new speed record.

We stayed at the Boulder Camp, below the hut. Probably the most mosquito infested camp site I've ever camped at. Appleby; Pros: Closer to climbs Cheap - $5 a day when I was there Cons: Have to shlep gear a bit further and carry a tent Exposed, harder to stake tent out on granite slabs Boulder Camp Pros: Cheap, $5 a day when I was there Don't have to shelp gear as far as Appleby Sheltered and easy to pitch a tent Con's Lots of mosquitos A little bit farther from climbs Have to shelp a tent Kain Hut Pros: Don't have to shelp a tent Dry and sheltered in a storm Lots of interesting international folks to chat with Nice to hang in bad weather Cons: More expensive - $18 a day when I was there A little bit farther from climbs than Appleby Sleeping arrangement is communal - if you don't like sleeping in the Muir hut, you won't much like sleeping at the Kain hut either. If I were to go again I would stay in the Kain Hut. Back when I went I was broke, so the extra $13 a day was a big deal. The extra distance in my opinion is not a big deal. You are a fast guy, you will cover the distance quickly. Just get up 30 minutes earlier. However, you will be sleeping on the floor with 40 of other climbers. If you are a light sleeper bring ear plugs and maybe a sleep mask. If sleeping with strangers is an issue, you may be more comfortable in a tent. In that case I would opt for Appleby over the Boulder camp as it has fewer bugs and is also closer to the climbs. The approach was not long anyway. I think it took me 90 minutes with a full, 5,500 cu inch pack to Kain Hut. By Cascades standards it was very, very reasonable. The bolted ladders were neat and added a European flair to the whole affair.

+1 on 5mm prussiks and more wraps. When I am buying prussik cord I buy the most supple cord I can find, I think it makes a difference.

I've climbed OS half a dozen times. The second time I remember needing # 1 and # 2 cams on the 5.7 hand crack leading to Library Ledge, so I conserved them, using nuts, hexes, and pieces in horizontal cracks. When I got to Libraray Ledge I realized I had not placed either my # 1 or #2 Camalots. But I would put myself in the camp of being less tolerant of runouts now that I am older. Routes that I would solo I now happily rope up for and place gear.

A half rope is perfect for these purposes. My preferred length is 50 meters.

I've been climbing this route for 20 years. Used to be February was prime season. Last time I climbed it April was fat. Now it seems late May is the time to do it. Is global climate change 'pushing' the season forward or just shortening the season?

What are these people climbing that they need 60 pound packs for? On Denali I never carried much more than 50.

I'm sure there is a video on Youtube explaining how to wrap or tape your knees to help avoid hyperextending them. I found one on how to tape my ankle to keep it from rolling and it works really well.

As a 43 YO who has been running (up to ultramarathon distance), backpacking and climbing since I was 15 I think there are aa few things to consider. 1) Some people have bad knees. Period. These people should not run to stay in shape, they should probably bike. Knee braces for these people is a probably not a bad idea. An ounce of prevention... 2) The best stategry to maintain climbing and fitness injury prevention is a holistic approach to fitness. a)Get your three major cardio workouts in (LSD, intervals, and tempo). My gig is trail running which is insanely good for alpine climbing. If running is not your thing (see above) biking is the next best thing, stair masters, rowing machines can also be useful. b)Resistance workouts with a lot of stability and core work and don't neglect the antagonistic muscles. Focus on bodyweight exercises: pullups, push ups (hand elevated for full range of motion, feet elevated for increased difficulty), dips, hanging leg/knee lifts, planks, ball crunches. Add a few dumbell exercises to round out the program. The Crossfit folks will have a lot to say about this. c)Flexibility. Yoga, dedicated stretching routines, whatever. Specifically for stengthing knees biking is great. I raced bikes as a youth as well as ran (and swam) competitively. All the biking I did stengthened the muscles and connective tissues supporting the knees. I have trail ran up to 1 million feet of elevation gain and loss per year on some pretty gnarly trails with NO knee injuries in 27 years of running. I'm sure there are going to be a lot of dissenting opinions on this. I think a lot of it comes down to experimenting with different programs and finding what works for you.

That is shitty. Probably some meth head or heroin addict. Did you file a police report? Maybe call all the pawn shops with a description of your gear. I had a plain, white workman's pickup truck with a strong diamond plate aluminum tool box bolted to the bed. The locks were good, strong steel ones. I could fit my approach skis and my and my parnter's gear in it. No stickers of any kind to indicate what might be inside. Never had an incident.

If you want to get fancy they sell special ice axe protectors. I have found a couple out on the trail. Cardboard and duct tape will do the job just as well though.

I'm pretty sure there is some rule that can be used to keep you from carrying your ice axe on the plane. TSA is inconsistent in applying rules, I wouldn't chance it. Make carboard and duct tape pick, adze and spike protectors to keep it from poking anything on your checked bag.

Just to pile on, there are only 2 or 3 spots where a belay would be needed, and these are short. Certainly a single 60 could get the job done as most of the route is pretty mellow. For the 'cruxes' the leader can tie into the middle and belay both followers using an autoblock. The very first pitch, the chimney pitch (climbing out right on exposed cracks is harder, but much more asthetic than the chimney) and possibly the fin with the bolt in the middle are the only spots I can think of where a belay is needed. This route would be a great test of often forgotten rope management techniques like the Kiwi coil, short ropeing, on the fly quicky belays, and simu climbing. Wear a helmet, party inflicted rockfall shold be anticipated. If you leave a pack behind, hang it in a tree so a goat won't eat it.

There are a number of 'non sactioned' bivi areas. There is a large pullout half way up the road to Mountianeer's Creek TH that can acommodate a number of tents. Way down the Icicle is a 'camp site' that is simply a large parking lot dedicated to RVs. If you can sleep in your vehicle (station wagon, truck with a canopy) you can use it but there are no bathrooms or ammenities. I hate to spill the secret, but I'm sure most people know you can camp under the big bridge that spans the Icicle Creek.

One more vote for hexes. Instead of doubling up on hand sized cams, I will bring a set of the four largest hexes. Great for belay and rappel anchors. Not all climbers like them. I did the Tooth with a friend with a few stoppers and hexes. Following his lead he slung a chocktone and clipped the whole rack of hexes to it rather than carry them the rest of the pitch.

No, not really. I was making a funny, but I suppose if you have to explain it, its not funny.

There is a really dry spot at exit 32, you just have to drive a bit further to Cle Eleum, catch HWY 97, then HWY 2 to a crag called Leavenworth. Driest spot at exit 32.

I suppose I can't call my self an art enthuiast on my Facebook profile anymore.

I've always thought the Squamish guidebook was good, at least compared to the other ones out at that time. Nelson and Potterfields guide was a bigger improvement to climbing that sticky rubber or Friends for me. The Beckey guides, while full of natural and human history, were hard to discern what would make a good winter climb, what season to climb in, good approach info etc. The Nelson guides changed all that and made climbing much easier.

I use about 40 m of 6mm a season for prusiks and rappel anchors. I typically carry 20 meters or cord for anchors in addition to my prusiks on alpine climb for this purpose. Just a thought.

I'm so lazy I've never even written a guidebook.

That is some good looking chicken fried rice! Are those red onions I see?

I camped on the Wilson with BD a Betamid to climb Wilson Glacier Headwall, ended up climbing Fuhrer Thumb. Only complaint is we left the shovel at home and slept on a poorly constructed platform built with our ice axes. Bring a shovel to level a proper platform and to build snow walls in case of high winds to help protect the shelter. You can take down the center pole when you leave for the day and pile snow blocks on top to keep high winds from blowing anything down or away. Descending the Kautz makes little sense. Why not descend the Fuhurer Finger? The Kautz can actully be more difficult to descend than the Finger, particualarly as the season progresses. I've climbed and descended both routes, the Finger is more direct and less steep. I was on the mountain once when a party ascended the Kautz and decided it was too difficult to descend so they went down the DC and tried to PAY the climbing rangers to retrieve their camp.

In the Tetons, the Exum guides were outfitted by Nike at the time. Many of the the clients ran out and bought the same clothes and gear as the guides. The trend seems to be the same on Rainier. A lot of the RMI clients wear whatever the guides are wearing. My understanding is that some of the guide services not only received free clothes/gear for the guides, the companies paid the guide services for the priviledge of outfitting their guides as it was such strong advertising. The clients saw their guides wearing such and such so obviously it was the best choice and they had to have it.