DPS

Good points.

I did Kautz Memorial Day WE 1999, as well as FF and Fuhrer Thumb over different years. If fact, that is the first time I met Sobo - he was doing a recon for Pete Rikke. Pete's wife mildly chided me for wearing shorts and gaitors with no sun block behind my knees and called me 'Dear'. But I digress. I used a single axe and walked straight down when descending Kautz and FF. Having read trip reports and seen photos of late season conditions on the Kautz, I can easily see using two tools, ice screws, and belayed climbing.

Here is a possible itinerary Days 1-2: Climb Adams spending a night at the Lunch Counter Day 3: Chill in Hood River, rehydrate, eat, relax. Day 4: Hike to Camp Muir Day 5: Chill, rehydrate, eat, relax at Paradise.

That is actually quite brilliant. Carry a big mylar balloon, a length of wire, and a small helium cannister. Loft the balloon, connect the wire to the antenna of your cell phone and make the call. Other climbers are likely to see the balloon and will prolly check the crack. That is if you survive the fall.

If a soloist falls in a crevasse and he can't update his Facebook page, will anyone care?

Do radio waves penetrate glacial ice?

Welcome, The Muir option is a good one. The Adams/Hood option lets you see more of the Cascades, more 'ticks' if that is your thing. For optimal acclimatization, you need to have enough time to ascend to altitude 2 -3 times, allowing plenty of rest before attempting Rainier. Dan

I'm sure calling her 'lady' to her face will help your cause. I have to say, I loved the voice over - cut to to her in the living room - back to the action style editing. Very engaging little film. I think I starting breathing again when she placed the gold camn.

Thanks Sobo.

What is the old saying? 'God loves fools' or something like that?

Agree with yo-yoing to Muir, however, I would peronally do it with a light pack. A heavy pack is only going to wear you out, it does nothing to change your physiology of adapting to altitude. If you aren't strong enough by the time you get here, its too late to train, but certainly not to acclimate. Other thoughts: Drink lots of water. Before, during, and after. More than you think you need. If you do SS Adams or Hood, the town of Hood River, Oregon is a great place to spend a rest day. World famous for its sail/kite boarding on the Columbia River, this town has great brew pubs, restaurants, art galleries, and shops.

I have a Petzl Adjama. I guess what I like best about it is that I don't think about it. It just works well and seems to stay out of the way. It has slots into wich I slipped BD Fin carabiners to rack ice screws. It is also pretty adjustable so I can wear it rock climbing in a t shirt and shorts or over layers for winter alpine and ice climbing.

Good points regarding pack weight. You will have a better understanding of what clothes and gear you can leave behind and what you wished you had brought. I personally think that spending several days yo-yoing, if done right (enough days spent climbing high and resting low) can significantly improve acclimatization. Five to seven days would be optimal.

July may be too late for Hood due to rock fall concerns, and this is shaping up to a low snow year. Mt Adams is a good choice. The South Spur is little more than a walk up (take crampons and axe, though) and you will get up high without having to do glacier travel since it sounds like you will be solo. I would give myself adequate rest days between finishing Adams and starting Rainier, at least two days with the first one being very relaxed. I'm a big believer in active rest, so short, easy day hikes in the Tattoosh or Goat Rocks will help you recover (nothing strenous!) as well as getting more exposure to altitude, not to mention getting to see more of the sights.

I've believed this for a long time based on personal experience. One can, if they are fit enough, 'outrun' altitude problems on Rainier, to a certain extent.

You can ask the rangers. They keep track of how many climbers are registered and probably have a rough idea of the percentage of of climbers who tent it vs camp in the Muir shelter.

I suppose in late season the route melts out to scree, but in early season I would take an axe. It can get pretty icy in spots. As for routes, I found Casaval Ridge to be a hoot, as did my partner on his second ever mountain.

I've done Casaval Ridge and found it fun and relatively avalanche safe. Probably the highest avy danger is gaining the toe of the ridge ~ 30 degree snow slopes, but somewhat well anchored with rocks and trees. We lucked out with only a small wind and graupel storm, in March conditions can be very windy and cold. Starts from the same trailhaead as Avalanche gulch so you can carry over and descend via Avalanche Gulch, downclimb the route, or camp at the second window, descend via the west face and traverse back to camp and drop down to Helen lake and out Avy Gulch. If you have skiis, you could ski the West Face. Rock fall should not be a problem if you climb while it is cold.

I knew a guy who joined the Peace Corps and built outhouses on the Makulu circuit or some such thing.

Late June should be fine for Adam's Glacier, both for accessibility and route condition. It may be late for Hood. I've only ever approached via Killen Creek, which is a pretty easy approach anyway.

I wasn't offering any kind of excuse, but the fact remains when Johnny come marching home after several tours with a scorching case of PTSD, this kind of thing will happen more often. Funny. I thought the problem with America was its poor educational system, clearly I was wrong.

It needed to be said Gene. I look at this as two more casualites of the Iraq/Afghan wars.

HACE is absolutely possible. I have gone from sea level - 14 k in less than 24 hrs many times with no problem, but when I camped at 14k I felt like shit: Chaines-Stokes breathing, lasitude, headache, lethargy. All the classic AMS symptoms. And that was after 5 days of prior acclimitaztion. I don't presume to know what you do know, and what you don't know, so I'll just say this; Mt Rainier is unique in the lower 48. Nothing comes close. It is more of an Alaskan scale. I have seen crevasses every bit as big and bowel emptying on Rainier as in Alaska. I personally would never not rope up on most of the glaiciers. But that's just me.

You'd be surprised. A)Better to start in the dark than finish in the dark B)6 hours is for a very strong team who doesn't get lost, doesn't get stuck behind anyone else, and has very good conditions. C)Snow conditions become worse as the sun comes up. Soloing Rainier is not like soloing 5.12 or something badaass like that. Slogging up a glacier by your lonesome doesn't feel a whole lot different than being roped up to someone, just a lot safer. Perhaps you should hook up with another climber for your first run up the big R.

http://www.summitpost.org/reflections-and-lessons-from-mt-shasta/624046 I fully believe that you mostly outrun the worse symptoms of AMS when you do Rainier in a day or two. I felt really pretty crappy for a day after moving into camp 14k on Denali after spending 5 days of yo-yoing camps to get there, even though I had been from sea level to 14k < 24 hrs many times before. Of the few HACE/HAPE deaths on Rainier that I recall, it was a situation where someone (A scientist recently I think) camped on the summit, even after spending a fair amount of time at altititude.