DPS

These are not climbing boots and I would never wear them climbing. One of the things I noticed is no mention of any kind of a shank. That said, I once saw a half dozen Russian kids climb the DC route in late season, all wearing leather tennis shoes with newmatic crampons jury rigged on. The moral of my story is, they may work, but are for sure not optimal. One solution is to wear running/hiking shoes for the approach/deproach to/from high camp, carrying the plastics on your back and only wear the plastics on summit day. Another solution is to duct tape the hot spots on your feet and wear the plastics car to car and deal with the discomfort. One more solution is to spend a bit more (ok, a lot more) and get a good quality leather mountaineering boot that fits your foot well and will serve your various climbing needs for years to come. A couple of models that come to mind are the La Sportiva Nepal EVO and the Scarpa Summit GTX. Both are modern versions of the classic full grain leather mountaineering boot but break in much quicker. They are also lightly insulated. You can wear them ice climbing, mixed alpine climbing, volcano slogging, etc.

Thanks for the feed back Crackers, having an actual pack builder's opinion is very valuable.

Perhaps try Dave Page Cobbler in Fremont.

So my much beloved Serratus Genie is beginning to show extensive signs of wear throughout the fabric. I have already had it repaired once which cost me nearly as much as the original pack. I have looked around and not found anything as simple, light, and functional as the Genie so I thought of having someone use the pack as a template to make a new one, using the existing shoulder straps and hip belt. A number of years ago I took a couple of friends up Rainier who were competetive sailors and they both had stuff sacks made from left over scraps of sail cloth. They gave me one as a thank you and I have since used it to carry ice screws, pitons, v-thread hooker, extra picks, and other sharp objects. The durability and weight of the fabric is impressive. Can anybody comment on the viability and cost of having the pack rebuilt using scraps of sail cloth? Does any body know of a person local to the Seattle area who could do this kind of sewing for a reasonable price? TIA, Dan

I took a stroll up the Coleman-Demming last Sunday and was surprised at the amount of ice still left on the NF of Colfax. The top ice step on Cosely-Houstan looked a bit sporty, but doable.

Sounds like a fun trip. I would join you but my recent poor showing on Baker and subsequent three day lay up has convinced me I am not up to mountaineering yet. Good luck with the weather.

The OP mentioned food so here is what I have been grooving on lately. Trader Joes cooked brown rice Trader Joes Indian Fare (various flavors) Trader Joes ethnic flatbread (chapati, tortilla, etc) The rice comes in a vacuum sealed plastic bag, the Indian Fare in a foil 'retort' type package. You can put the Indian Fare package in a pot of boiling water for a few mintues and combine with the rice and spoon on the flatbread. This is plenty of food for two hungry people for dinner. Cheers, Dan Since both the Indian Fare and rice are NOT dehydrated they are not particularly light, but for only a night or two the weight is hardly noticeable, plus that is just that much less water you have to melt for the meal.

Strong day's work my man!

Sweet!

I believe there may be shuttles that will get you to Bellingham, but then you are only half way there. You could rent a car in Bellingham for the rest of the ride. I think the best option is to rent a car at SeaTac airport and drive to Mt Baker.

Summitpost.org has a forum for the Pacific Northwest. Best of luck on Baker. Out of all the mountains I have climbed Mt Baker remains my absolute favorite.

Sounds good, but this time you bring the intestinal parasite.

Thanks everyone! I feel I am about %75 better and am still experiencing some nasty symptoms but my enegy is coming back and day trips are looking like a posibility very soon.

Nice report and photos. The views from the summit into the Nooksack Cirque and Price Glacier are almost to good to be believed.

I don't know the mileage, but the Ptarmigan Traverse has many of those attributes.

Nice job! Out of the half dozen or so routes I have done on Stuart, SGC feels the most alpine, what with the snowed/iced up rock climbing on the West Ridge portion.

Very nice photos. The strategic placement of the climbing honey no doubt helped.

We did not find the cam.

I found out the hard way that it doesn't have to be super hot to delaminate the soles. I stuck a pair of wet boots on the floor of my truck with the heater blowing on them. The next time I wore them the soles just peeled right off.

Not on the poll, but a really beautiful head of think, shiny, dark hair usually turns my head regardless of the body it is attached to.

Did you do this with Mark Bunker? If so, I think my partner and I were right behind you guys on the route. We watched you do the variation and it looked good, but harder than I wanted to lead so we didn't follow you.

You could be right, I saw it 15 years ago.

Chad, are you in B'ham now? How are you liking it?

I work with a woman who was one of Carlos' professors at Huxley College. She was a climber herself and remembers Carlos as being very interested in climbing at the time and said he was a nice young man. There is a photo of Carlos on the summit of Mt Everest with a 'Huxley' flag hanging in the Huxley College main office.

Thanks for the heads up.