DPS

Airplanes are aid. F'ing spectacular nonetheless.

Hmmm. Discussion on SuperTopo.com agrees with this: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=999032

Much has been made about the susceptibility of stainless steel crampons to develop cracks or fail in one way or another yet I have not heard the same claims made against aluminum crampons. Is this because folks who use aluminum crampons realize the limitations of aluminum crampons and use them for mostly approaches to alpine rock climbs and ski mountaineering and such or is the ductility of aluminum inherently less like to form cracks or fail catastrophically?

Even experts have divergent opinons. On this thread I have read opinions from climbers whom I respect very much yet don't completely agree with. I'll bet someone is reading this right now thinking I'm nuts for suggesting a shovel is not always necessary on Rainier.

Useful? Perhaps, but certainly not necessary. I never bring one in July.

Really? I only bring goggles in the winter. While one can bring gear for every possible situation, you will be so heavy it will be a miserable experience. 10,000 vertical feet is a long way to carry extra shit. Mid July has the best weather and is the hottest time of the entire year, I'd gamble and leave the goggles at home, as well as the extra gloves, and the hoodless puffy. I do agree with the steel crampons. A lot of extra security for only 16oz more. In my experience one can 'outrun' altitude sickness if one is fast enough. You will not be able to fully acclimatize to 14k by spending an extra day at high camp, but it will help some and will give you time to rest and re-hydrate which prolly does as much for you as the physiological changes.

May some years.

I rack my Stoppers, hexes, and pitons on found 'leaver' biners. These often get left on anchors when a biner is called for.

I would personally drop the Nano pullover and the MH epic shells and would opt for the 32 degree bag. But I run pathologically hot. I would also consider a light pair of polypro liner gloves and drop one of the warmer pairs of gloves. Overall, some really good choices for a kit.

Jeebus Sobo, keep your head down and don't try to be a hero or anything.

Descending rings are good for popular rap stations as each time someone raps and pulls the ropes the webbing/cord is weakened. If you use rap rings, use two if you are using the cheap rolled aluminum. Hardware store quick links are handier as you can just add an addtional one to existing webbing without retying. In the Tetons on frequently guided routes they used 1/2" static caving rope with two beafy 1/2" steel quick links. I typically carry a rap ring or quick link or two to improve rap stations on popular routes, otherwise I just rap off of webbing or cord that I have placed.

Looking at the specs I'm guessing Uli and his partners are not big guys.

What might be interesting is a route by route comparison e.g. Chere Couloir == Triple Couloir Arete De Cosmic == North Ridge of Forbidden (or whatever)

Hard to go wrong with DPS.

I personally dislike the really small ones and have fumbled BD Nutrinos out of my hands. A balance of function and light weight is key for me. I'm very happy with some Mammut carabiners I picked up for pretty inexpensively at Pro Mountain Sports http://promountainsports.com/index.php/climbing/carabiners/non-locking/mammut-element-w-g.html

Wow that is nice. Seems a bit expensive, though, but it does come with a snowskirt and tent poles.

I was actually thinking of the Nelson and Potterfield or Kearney guide books.

I recall effecting a rescue of two hikers on Mt Baker who had glissaded into a deep moat. A runner had been sent out to alert the Ranger station (this was before cell phones, and I doubt we would have had reception on the North side anyway). We began setting up tents to spend the night with the patients, but just before dusk a Naval helo dropped two parajumpers with litters who pulled both patients out in like 20 minutes.

I would say exposure in one select or classics guidebook or another have a lot of influence in this.

I never had a problem with camping in the winter with the Betamid. Some partners complained it was drafty, I thought of it as well ventilated. I have a WM with a Dryloft shell which keeps the bag pretty dry and I use a full length, thin Evazotte pad that keeps the bag off the ground. If you are worried about wet ground you could get a piece of 4' x 6' Tyvek or Silnylon as a ground cloth. Not all my partners were as thrilled with the floorless desin. During one really hard rain storm camped at the Stuart-Sherpa saddle (we stayed completely dry) my partner mentioned he felt like he had gotten away with something.

How is the East ridge? I'm looking for a little less spiciness than the N sounds. Dunno. I recall looking at the east face from Castle Peak one winter, and it looked kind of steep and hard. Don't remember taking a look at the east ridge.

Could they have been left on a project? Kind of a common thing to do at Smith.

The Ultras are lite weight boots for technical routes on cold mountains. They will work for Shasta, Rainier, ice climbing and many colder mountains. The Mont Blanc is an all around leather insulated boot perfect for Shasta, Rainier, ice climbing, but not for much colder mountains. It will be more comfortable in warmer temperatures than the Ultras. Does that help?

Gene is right about group gear, in addition to all your personal kit you have to carry shared gear. My favorite trick is to offer to carry the rope, arguing it is the heavist item so I can tuck it under the pack lid rather than needing to carry a larger pack to accomodate a bulky tent or stove kit.

Generally agree with the advice, although I personally would go for a lighter Primaloft hooded belay jacket like the Patagonia Micropuff or similar 100 gram jackets.