Alex

cue rainfall......now..

nice marc!

You could also send the Ptarmigan Traverse easily in 4 days. Its mostly an on-trail/off-trail backpacking trip above treeline, with some snow and some extremely basic glacier travel. This time of year the glaciers you cross are all extremely navigable and fast travel (we never roped up for any of it).

Post posts like this in "Climbing Partners" forum in future http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/12/1/Climbing_Partners

Olympus, with aluminum crampons

What I do on lightweight overnight trips where you are carrying on the approach, and then trying to minimalize on the climb, is one partner takes a "normal" 45L pack, and one partner takes a completely lightweight collapsible ultralight pack (like the Lowe summit series, or the one made by Serratus). While approaching, the rack goes in the normal pack, and the other guy carries the rope and the ultralight pack. At the base of the route the ultra light pack is emptied and put inside the normal pack. The leader now climbs sans pack (maybe with shoes on harness) and the second is now the only one encumbered with a pack, the "normal" pack. When you lead in blocks, it minimizes the number of pack transfers too. This is a good system for something like Backbone, Serpentine, or the like when you might actually want a dececnt rack and water, but not want the leader to climb with pack while leading 5.9 or ++ pitches. This is how I climbed Slesse NE Buttress with Jens, some years back. It worked well, even carrying 6 L of water up the route. While climbing, the only thing in the pack is bivy gear and water and maybe some eats. If you are really fast, you can generally get away with smaller day packs, but same strategy

Nice. I and Gene tried that trip back in 2006 and it was a very intimidating place, in the end we did the SE Route, still a great time and definitely "different" up there on that vast summit plateau

We started our kids at 2. Get a Big S pass for kids to Snoqualmie, just for the kid. The Magic Carpet at Summit West is perfect for 2 year olds. You will spend a lot of time there hiking up and down as your trooper gets the hang of it. Once they graduate from the Magic Carpet, you can ride Little Thunder, at Summit West, which works out really well. Buying boots that were small enough and fit was the crux. If you go to Stutevants they have used equipment on consign every fall.

sent email

That is very fast. Good job! Great TR. This one is still on my list.

Nice effort. It's still best as a day trip. Going down Aasgard, the key is to pick up the first set of cairns at the top, which is further over towards CBR than you might think, and that after that you need to trend all the way over to the CBR side, the switchbacks go to the cliff itself, from the summit of the pass to at least half way down. Once you're on the path, doing it with a headlamp is very doable.

Ah I see, he is dealing with Canadians. But if you have a US passport, you do not require proof of residency, since you are already a US citizen and there are no grounds to deny you entry into Canada. Or, is this not a US Passport?

So does the route go past the prominent buttress in your pic, and then up the snow couloir/gully to it's right? Or where? Or is the prominent buttress the left skyline in that pic?

very cool, way to send!

cougar dyno'ed for a climber rappelling past the mouth, no doubt

So you looked like a couple of complete dirtbags, and didn't have passports. Canada doesn't want you (though you'd fit right in in Nelson, B.C.). Go get that passport, you'll not have any hassle in the future.

PM sent

I am surprised your name can even fit in a summit register, I propose that from now on you just sign your name "Anastasia Bla" !

The following circuit has worked for me Icicle and Tumwater -------------------- Mountaineers dome, lower and upper R&D route on Icicle Buttress, the BOB Wall above Roto Wall XY Cracks Barneys Rubble Castle Rock stuff as mentioned Index ------ Great Northern Slab Inner Wall routes if he knows anything about jamming

Barneys Rubble and especially the tooth-y boulder over to the right which you can rig a toprope on and TR 2-3 different sides with the same rig. We like Mountaineers Dome if there is no one there (eg midweek). The lower crag has a very blocky 4th class thing you can simulclimb with a small kid, and the upper part has the right crack at 5.2 which is doable for the 4-year old. To the left of the "Left Crack", just left of the deproach gully, is a short face at about 5.0 that you can set up with a little trad gear. X Y cracks right off the road by 8-mile campground is a nice spot if no one is there. There is a single slabby thing with a short 10a bolted arête on the right side, right at the start of a trail on right side of road going up canyon, but I don't know what it's called. The beginner route is 5.0 and easily top-roped (but rated harder in the guidebook) is good practice for small kids, and right next to the road. But its the only thing right there so doesn't last all that long. Roto Wall can be ok if you are climbing with/right behind your tots and showing them where to step. We've found Playground Point to be easily climbable by little kids despite the ratings, because the slabs are really easy... if they can survive the hike. The 4 year old should make it, you might have to pack the 2 year old.

super cool

this personal smack talking is a joke, take it to PMs, email, or go duke it out in the Feathers parking lot. when you meet in person you might find some common ground and actually do something positive that benefits climbers, rather than this continuing spew on the internet. thx

good job to all the teams running up it, it's a great route and looks in decent shape for May, but I think it will very quickly go out now next couple weeks, if we get any more rain up high.

re: avy, glad the climber made it re: snowmobile, Ive done it that way too and honestly all the futzing with the sled doesnt buy you much in the end over skis n skins re: ski out, yeah hi value

The Ptarmigan Traverse that time of year can be done in 3-4 days pretty easy pace, I've done almost half of the total distance in 1 day over July 4th weekend in 2001, I think the biggest prob you will have is the car shuttle/logistics. But if you can get someone to drop you off at the Cascade Pass PL, while your car waits for you at Downey Creek, you'll be fine. IMO its honestly a much better venture than anything else you mentioned except Goode. If you take an extra day you'll get some extra summits. The Bailey Range Traverse is more time commit, best to take more time, eg 5 days + but I've heard from multiple peeps that it was one of the best outings, ever. It's been on my list forever, but I never get the chunk of time you are talking about, so ... it stays on the list... And June is ideal for Bailey because snow still covers much of the what-turns-into-scree-later making travel above treeline much more efficient. From Bend, I feel for you ... except no, not really, you have amazing outdoor recreation opps so no sympathy