Alex

Phil actually mentions perhaps the two most classic 'Daks alpine trips, but there are very few peaks in the 'Daks that are higher than treeline so "alpine" there is all relative to roadside cragging. There are two more very good trips that might give you a run for your alpine money, and that is a technical route on Big Slide in Keene Valley, or do the Great Range traverse in a day car-to-car (Lower & Upper Wolfjaw to Marcy, and out Johns Brook, or you can get crazy and go out to Adirondack Loj). By East Coast standards these are very hard days in the mountains. Alex

November. Your success will be completely weather dependent. If you get good weather for more than a day or two, chances are the steep slope before the summit plateau will be stable enough to climb. If you get bad weather, you won't be able to see farther than 10 feet.

nice shorts!

Climb: Ingalls-East Ridge Date of Climb: 8/8/2004 Trip Report: My wife and I climbed the E Ridge of Ingalls on Sunday, Aug 8th. (We had actually gotten up at 4am Aug 7th(!!) and driven well over Snoq Pass in the pissing rain before we decided to put off the attempt for a day.) Arose at 4am to drive to Teanaway River. Approach hike was nice in the cool early morning shade, and fast with tons of cars in the lot, but no one up and about. We were afraid of other parties on route as we have heard there is alot of potential for rock fall in the approach gully, so motored. 3 hours car to rope-up. The approach gully looks yucky from below, but is fine, and even well travelled. Snow no problem. The climb starts about 50 ft left of the deep chimney where the gully steepens. The first pitch is 60m to the notch, with much loose rock. If you plan to climb this route, make absolutely sure no one is in the approach gully or on the first pitch above you before you enter the gully! The tales of rockfall are true. My wife and I had thought to climb the E peak from the notch, but it looked unappealing, actually. Instead, we simulclimbed the E ridge (4th, sparse pro) of N Peak in around an hour to the crux move where I stopped to give a quick belay. The crux is steep on crappy rock, but 2 fixed nuts and a nice red alien placement make it fine. We rappelled the S Face with a party from Portland in about 30 minutes, and had an enjoyable (though hot) hike back out to the car. Its hard to recommend this route to others. Though it looks awesome from a distance, and has a few spots of fine position on the climb itself, up close and personal its just not that interesting really. Still, if you have only done/are bored with the S Ridge of Ingalls and are looking for something just a hair longer and a hair more challenging, this might be your ticket. Gear Notes: This route takes mostly small pro. You will want small sized cams (green, yellow, red aliens), one #1 camalot size, and perhaps half a set of nuts, on the small side. You can climb this route in approach shoes (the crux has positive holds), however rock shoes might be nice, especially if you are simulclimbing.

Welcome FineLine!

yeah but the New is a long ass drive from Toronto!

There was a party of 6(?) going up the West Ridge of Stuart when one of the party slipped and tweaked ankle(?). One of the party went out for a cell phone and called in the "rescue" early evening on Saturday. When the helo's arrived Sat night, they realized they could not haul people off the mountain that high. The remainder of the party had bivied at the 8000 ft level on Stuart for the night, awaiting "rescue". (This info is all second-hand, from a party camping in the area Sat night that talked to the rescue people). The helos where STILL hard at work all Sunday and well into Sunday afternoon. Eventually things worked out.

A. I think this took me and partner a good several hours, but the trail is easy to follow so you can easily hike it in the dark B. Maybe 4 hours?

scrambled_legs, the Mellor guide has a farily new edition which is up to date, actually. I have the first edition (from what? 1988) , however, and it still gets me around very well. The Adirondacks *are* old school you will find very little in the way of bolted 5.10s. There are plenty of trad 5.8s! It being the East coast the Adirondack crags are actually all very well established and are easy to find. For trad 5.8 where you can TR 10s I would suggest the Creature Wall near Chapel Pond, or Pok-O (Gamesmanship is the classic .8) I would second Pok-O as a great place to go, probably the premier crag in upstate NY, however it might be hot and humid in August and would prefer to go in Sept or October. I thought there was an "Ontario Limestone" guide at one time that had stuff that would have been closer to you...? Alex

People who equate the Phish crowd to the Dead crowd clearly just don't know.

not if he dies on the N Rib of Slesse first

When I look at these pics I can't help but think "what is she looking at in there?"

Thanks Brian, good info. The fixed rope is gone, by the way.

Yeah I can see that. Good advice. It sure seems like a great way to go, too, if you are doing the "Ptraverse in Reverse" and are coming down from Cache Col to Cascade Pass. I am pretty comfortable on steep snow, but my partners were not doing so well on Mixup Arm. In hind-sight I think its the steepest sidehilling of the entire route, in early season. Still, its a good taste of things to come.

I was on the Ptraverse twice last year: over July 4th and over Labor Day. I think the routes tough and dangerous spots change depending on when you go. I think the most difficult, cruxy, part of the Ptraverse (other than some of the climbing routes you might do) in earlier season are some of the steep snow slopes on Mixup Arm, while in late season I think it is getting past the LeConte Glacier hands down. A close runner up in late season might be the steep decent from Spider-Formidible col (steep snow, bad runout zone!) I think the Middle Cascade Gl in late season should be climbed roped, though we didnt rope up for it over July 4th last year. There were a surprising number of large hidden crevasses on that glacier near the col last Labor Day. While not dangerous really, I think perhaps one of the most arduous parts of the entire trip is the decent from South Cascade Gl to White Rock Lakes. Thats one steep hill! Compared to all that stuff, the Red Ledge is easy.

I dont remember an obvious route going lower than the Ledge. When you get closer to Red Ledge you kind of realize you dont want to loose any elevation, the terrain is steep scree no matter how low you go. The snow leading to Red Ledge is perhaps 100 ft long, and Red Ledge proper is alot less scary/difficult/badass up close than you might expect reading all the stories. I just rifled through my shots of the Ptraverse last year and didnt see any good "proof" shots to post for you, so I guess thats all I can offer. If you have crampons and an ice axe (as you should for this trip) you will have no problem whatsoever.

Added some pics...

Climb: Mt Baker-Boulder/Park Cleaver Date of Climb: 8/1/2004 Trip Report: I usually don't have much interest in volcano slogs, and when I do them I usually don't write about them, however this route was different enough to warrant a few words! The East side of Mt Baker in a word - solitude! This was a very different kind of trip to a side of the mountain that is not scarred by signs of human passage. There are no trampled climbers paths, no real obvious and well-used climbers camps, and no hordes of climbers. My partner and I hiked in on Saturday evening, taking 2.5 hours from car to camp. Although this trip can be easily done as a day trip by fit parties (estimate 14 hours car to car) , its such an infrequented and quiet side of the mountain you might as well stay a little while and enjoy it. The hike in is at first a flat path through a steamy forest, which ends in a "bog". It really is a bog! At the other side of the bog, make a sharp right and climb up through the trees. (There is a sucker trail that also leads down the steep hillside to the creek below-dont take this!) The steep up through the trees takes about 20 min to where you start breaking out onto more gentle rocky terrain, and then the long grind up the moiraine to camp begins. Beckey says "4 hours" and with really large packs you might take that long, but 2.5 or 3 seems more realistic. A short pitch of 3rd class basalitic rock (an unusual feature!) leads to the alpine meadows of the moraine, and in 20-30 more minutes running water and flat camping spots. Although my partner says this route is popular with the Mountaineers as a basic trip, we found the approach trail indistinct at times, no real obvious camps in the alpine meadows, and no one else around. The entire area seems really infrequented, and the reason is pretty obvious: the 3rd class scramble keeps most hikers at bay, and the routes on this side of Baker are not currently in any of the Select (Nelson/Potterfield, Kearney) guides. The Boulder/Park Cleaver itself is not very interesting for its first half (the Cleaver proper), mostly a hike. We elected not to rope up for this portion and found excellent cramponing conditions. We made fine time to the top of the cleaver, where the route starts veering left to join the summit ridge (and the Easton route) near Sherman peak. Here (currently, Aug 1) there is a section of hard ice that you must negotiate, and some very tricky crevasse navigation (ice screws handy, a "real" ice axe handy). Once past this section, the route steepens considerably. A leftward traverse with several end runs around large cracks leads through multiple large bergschrunds over the course of about 1000 vertical feet to the summit ridge. Only a few hundred feet shy of the summit did we see any other people. We spent a short time there (thanks to the woman from B'ham for feeding me!), and then headed down. Descending, we found a slightly different but no less "heads-up" way through the short section of crevasses that separate the upper mountain from the top of the cleaver. The descent back to camp took us around 2 hours - the first hour to the top of the cleaver is slow going, as it's traversing above large 'schrunds and then though the icy crevasse mess. The second hour (3500 vert) back to camp is primarily glissading. On the way out we saw more goats than people. This side of the mountain is REALLY nice if you want to get away from the crowds! Gear Notes: Ice axe with steel head, ice screws, 33m glacier rope, crampons Approach Notes: The trail to basecamp is sometimes indestinct and hard to follow for short sections.

N F Burgundy 5.8 cool but routefinding is a little harder so take a few topos. Burdo's topo is good. Cuthroat not worth your time Rebel Yell is mid 5.10, wide

I am earnest, actually. I have done alot of climbing and mountaineering with and without corrective lenses. In my initial post I tried to lay out some options for people who are unwilling to maybe spring for Rx sunglasses. I see now we are once again down to offering up credentials "I and my advice is trustworthy in this matter, that other fools is not!" I could appreciate and respect your opinion that one should NOT go out without corrective lenses. I could even appreciate and respect that you might not want to climb with me, since you seem to think my judgement is off. Its too bad you can't do the same, thanks for trivializing my opinion! Alex

I kind of left out Roger's Corner for one reason: one of the cruxes of the second pitch is right off the belay with no real pro. While alot of people do those moves as no big deal, it might be surprising and scary for someone who just doesnt know: the rock is crumply, the pro is sketch, and your belayer is looking at a F2 fall and you are looking at broken ankles if you Elvis-leg it. As such, I don't think its the best introduction (that and its SO steep!!) to Index. However, Rogers Corner p1 (5.7) is a GREAT way to get a short trad lead in AND THEN toprope the difficult Sugar Bear (10c) just to its right...one of the only routes at Index that remains completely dry in light rain.

terrible_ted, perhaps "blind as a bat" was a poor choice of words on my part. For those people who wear glasses, they will know what I mean. Ask yourself, ... do you need Rx glasses to hike up a trail like Granite Mountain? If you really do to see roots and rocks and to avoid stumbling on your face, then you will need them on Mt Rainier. If you don't need Rx glasses (because you can see 20-30 feet in front of you, but not read a sign at 200 ft), then you wont need them on Mt Rainer.

Inner Wall ------------------------ Toxic Shock (as one longer pitch) is a nice shady route with a crux 5 ft off the ground (lieback move, thin) that gets much easier once you do it a few times. Avoid when wet! Right around the corner are 2 parallel cracks that form the first half of "Even Steven" both at 5.8. Good routes. Lower Wall ------------------- Great Northern Slab is nice for starters. (.6 to .8 various lines, Lower Town Wall) Princely Ambitions p1 is probably the easiest of the steeper routes on Lower Town wall. Its .9 but has lots of good rests. The second pitch is "only 5.8" but I find it much more frightening than the first pitch. Godzilla is the Index classic .9. Many people say its 10a, but I think its not too tough if you are tall, and remember to rest. Its a long pitch though, bring 2 ropes. Japanese Gardens to the first anchor is a commonly done 9/10a. Its a bit thin and insecure for pro near the bottom, which makes it a bad choice on a greasy day. Country ------------- Ultrabrutal is nice but short (.6, Country) - With a stick clip you could yard up the short 10d above Ultrabrutal's chains and TR it. GM offers some great climbing, the standard classic is to climb the first p of GM (wandering a little, 5.8. Avoid when wet!) and then link the second pitch of GM (steep! #3 camalots) with the 3rd pitch of Heart of the Country. The last bit of HofC is 10a, but if you made it that far just work it out, its a great route! This stuff should give you a really good introduction to Index and an idea for what you are up against when you want to get on other routes.

Colchuck Gl already looking pretty lean in the background there, and its not even August

Couple of thoughts. I am bind as a bat without my Rx glasses, but on a route on Rainier I find it difficult to believe that you really really NEED Rx glasses for the few days you are on the mountain. There are no signs to read, no driving to do. Just wear normal sunglasses. Yes, stuff will be blurry, and for people who grow up wearing corrective lenses that might take a few hours to get used to again. Take the Rx glasses if you must, wear Croakies to prevent loss, or if you are really nervous about loosing or breaking them take them along in a hard case and wear them in emergencies. That said, in 1993 I sprung for a pair of prescription sunglasses because I like actually seeing stuff I look at in the mountains. (I've since lost that first pair and gotten a second pair.) This is a great way to go! Most health insurance plans will cover at least part of the cost. For people who are unsure, getting a pair of cheap glacier glasses that fit overtop your Rx pair might work if you have small wirerims, but I've found these tend to fog up when exercising. The other option is "clip ons" which work in a pinch and are definitly better than nothing.