Alex

a blue bag

There are good route descriptions in CAG for these routes ... just look it up!

You could take a couple days and hike into Kool Aid Lake, near Cascade Pass, and do Hurry Up and Magic via their fairly mellow southern sides. Sahale via Sahale Arm on the same trip would be fine too. Maude via its 'decent route' from Leroy Basin might be a nice high summit, but I suspect it will be pretty dry and not that great if you miss the wildflowers, for which Leroy Basin is really awesome. I was there in June one year and it was the perfect time. Maude and 7-fingered Jack are kind of grinds in the heat. One thing you have not mentioned which I would consider is a really cool rambling traverse of the entire Stuart Range. You could start from Ingalls Lake, take a day hike to top of Stuart and down, continue over Goat Pass down to Colchuck, tag Colchuck and continue over Aasgard Pass, and spend a few really nice days in the Enchantments doing Dragontail, Little Annapurna, and just rambling up there at those lakes.

call me weak

That 20 feet is @ss kicker though. tape up.

I would suggest that the Sultana is more committing than the Butt because there are far fewer people around, and there is no easy bail off anywhere. Its friggin miles and miles and miles from summit of Crosson to the base of that final ridge proper!

there is very little traffic along this route in general, so the wildlife concerns (bears, goats, and snaffles oh my!) are really minor compared to other areas that you might be used to, incl Boston Basin, Wa Pass, and Enchantments.

Homesite was a good option a few years ago, dont know about today, though. Regardless of how much you will try to get away with it, Steve, in the end knowing something about HTML will be required and it won't kill you either.

no real aggressive snaffles at the established camps that I remember

pickets suck. if anyone wants to buy some, I have 3 MSR pickets I'll sell cheap.

Lets try to give shanna some courtesy before pouncing on her like the rabid pack of wolves that you all are.

Bouldering is practice for those who want to try to onsight the first move of Bale-Kramar at Careno.

Thanks, that might be worth a try.

hiking blows

Bullshit. Since becoming a homeowner several years ago, I came to the realization that major appliances like refrigerators and washers and dryers are much cheaper than buying Gore-Tex jackets and tents. So I'd rather do the "cheap" option when possible and save all that money from guidebook sales for the real important stuff. Any other ideas?

I don't know about the firefighters correlation, but... As a former right coaster, Mt Rainier is pretty much at the top of alot of people's "must do" lists, along with The Grand Teton. Its at the top because it represents a classic objective that *can* be done in a long weekend from the East (as opposed to say, a Yos roadtrip) - with not a huge amount of time committment, a notorious reputation (people DO die on it!), a certified stepping stone to the greater ranges (Alaska), recognizable name/achievment, and completely foreign hazards (Glaciers!). So people tend to really want to come out and try it/bag it, regardless of the realities. Most serious East Coast climbers also recognize that perhaps doing the Dog Route doesnt hold as many brownie points as doing something like Liberty Ridge (no one has heard of Ptarmigan back East), so many try Liberty Ridge - one of the 50 classics!!- with a fixed weather window dictated by plane tickets and vacation time. Its really not much different than what the rest of us do with our own climbing objectives, it just happens that Rainier in general and Lib Ridge in particular are much more committing than anything one can prepare for on the East coast, so people get caught out quite a bit...they just are not used to the size of the stuff out here, or that fact that wheather is the prime factor in a successful ascent.

I would contend that there is no boot that meets all these criteria. The "warm enough for extreme altitudes" criteria especially negates almost all the common production double boots on the market. But you should probably define what is extreme altitude for you, as most of the boots you are looking at are not things you would take to 8000m. I had the production Koflach Arctis Exped in Alaska and it performed fine the first year I owned them, then went in the shitter when the liner "wore out" after the second season. If you leave that out of the equation then any double boot that fits well will be your best option (Asolo's suck for walking, however).

My I-tent is now 12 years old, and while the ToddTex body is holding up fine and still is waterproof, the coated nylon bottom is a seive. So bad that with just an hour or two of rain the floor becomes completely soaked. How to make this thing waterproof once again? Is there a way to get "re-coat" the nylon, or get BD to put in a new floor? Any ideas?

looks very new. looks cool. rating?

its raining pretty hard in Redmond right now.

Pretty much. This is an early season climb, and is quite steep in spots.

Lowell Skoog knows everything? Damn!

I've found the approach from Stehekin to be an acute pain in the ass, actually, I'd much rather go in on the PCT.

no, and axe is not needed either. just trekking poles fer your knees.