Alex

You shouldnt be so surprised. The Mountaineers Books *are* actually tied to a climbing organization, and as such are not quite so uptight as to worry about a foul word or two buried somewhere in 60,000+ words. The publishers were very agreeable about route names in general

I thought the ante was upped years ago when the complete enchainment was done N Sister->Middle Sister->S Sister->Broken Top->Bachelor in < 24 hours? Its a hella long haul to contemplate any time (I've done most of it in spurts) but I can't imagine not doing on skis in the Spring, its too long to do sub 24 hours any other way.

approach your target alpine lake on skis with a rod and MP3 player?

Assert((260/2) == 130)

Id agree with what alot of you have said. My list would be something like Banff New England Cody Maybe Hyalite depending on what time of year Maybe Colorado if I had alot of cash to rent a car or just wanted to hang at Ouray Lillooet, Washington, Lee Vining are all pretty much "locals" areas (IMO) and don't really register as "destination climbing areas" just .02

Robert, I will take care of your corrections for the next edtion. We published the name as "It Ain't Over Yet, Motherfuckers" I think...? We got it pretty close...? Michael, N F Ruch Cotter is not quite as steep as E Face. You can always submit corrections directly to me and Jason here: http://www.wastateice.net/default.htm

Good times! I would agree that this is one of the best ways to spend 4 summer days in the Pacific Northwest!

I feel a winter ascent brewing.

the hut sux. go with the bivy sac, wander a short way away from the crowds, have a nicer experience.

All I can say is wow! Things sure change. When I did this route only a few short years back, it wasnt a freakin' penitente field, just a smooth steep glacial ice tongue surrounded by house sized seracs. This looks a little less aesthetic

darin, in my experience a small spin-casting set up with some small spinners works fine! the rod is much more portable and durable than a typical fly rod. fly fishing is cool n all (its what I do), but certainly no guarantee of dinner there. its amazing how easily the fish land when there is no regular fishing pressure. PS: call me up if you want some company on your trip!

Sat: read a book on programming, wrote binary searches in C#, C. Posted stuff for sale on ebay. Saw Fahrenheit 9/11. Sun: looked at 8-year old code, refinished a door, tried to remember things about C better left forgotten.

second the California suggestion...

I agree, I've done the S Ridge of Torment with dps and my wife, and we found it heady, mediochre climbing on somewhat friable rock - not really worth the effort. If your target is Torment, it makes an OK route. If you are just trying to get on the traverse, might do SE Face Torment instead and just skip the S Ridge entirely.

In my experience, a single woman going climbing with a single man for the first time is always a "date" from the man's point of view. Subsequent climbing days may or may not be "dates" depending on the impression left by the first one....i.e. is she available? is she hot? is she intersted? did I look like a dork to her falling on that 5.6? And so on...

Yes. Not too terribly crevassed until maybe late in the season? I remember in June a few years ago it was just a jaunt, we unroped up after the chute all the way to Pt Success, I think.

The guidebooks treat this route extremely well, and pretty much the entire approach and route is above treeline, so you shouldn't need a whole lot more. I would recommend you don't approach Ingalls Lake over Long's Pass, though. Keep going over Ingalls Pass to Ingalls Lake, its much easier. Coming back, you'll go from Cascadian Couloir over Longs Pass.

Yeah, realize that if you run "p2" and "p3" together as seems most obvious to do in a single and quite moderate 60m lead, the next pitch from the many-slung rap station you end up at is p4, and is a short 12m to the "blind 5.8 step-around" left to the base of the headwall crack. When Tim and I tried this 2 weeks ago, we got very confused about this and ended up leading and re-leading this pitch 4 times (!!) trying to go up and right, looking for the "5.7 face climbing and thin cracks". Don't make the same mistake we did. If you've climbed 60m total from the base of the wide crack, you're at the base of p4.

As expensive as it might seem sitting in Mass, this is probably going to be your best option if you don't want a "Deliverence"-style introduction to backwoods Washington state.

If you dont go all the way to Yang Yang lakes the first day, you might climb Magic or Hurry Up, or might do the scramble route up the "backside" of Formidible. Sentinel is OK, but the rock sucks for the most part. Don't sweat it. The way down is pretty obvious. You'll be on good trail then suddenly it will end in blowdown. You'll be able to overlook the valley below. Traverse skiers left and head down through the tall timber. The trail is easy to pick up again once you are in the valley bottom. They are all nice! The established ones are great: Kool Aid Lake, Yang Yang Lakes, White Rock Lakes (fantastic!) and Itswoot Ridge.

Thanks, good effort! I've always been interested in Chimney Rock, maybe I'll find myself up there soon!

What an excellent, surreal photo!

werd

Thanks for the plug, but while I have a section called "where to climb" (http://www.mountainwerks.org/alexk/climb/placesto.htm), Jason Martin is the guy with the good compiled list of moderates (http://www.dramaticwriter.com/beginners.html). That said, BreezyD, I'll agree that a good step up from the Cleaver route is the Kautz. However, I would suggest Adams Glacier over the Kautz as a route and mountain tour you will get more out of than going up Rainier yet again. Alex

Not exactly. For those pitiful few who went to Washington Pass expecting good weather, it was a mediochre weather weekend. Sat started with rain at the Pass at around 9am. Then again at around 10:30, soaking the spires for 30 min and pretty much erasing any chance of getting up something difficult. We "tried" Serpentine Cracks and it was too damp. In the evening, a huge thunderhead developed directly over Silverstar, and must have scared the crap out of the large party camped on the plateau. We went into Winthrop for a bite, and it POURED and HAILED for a solid hour, complete with power outages, like it was the Day After Tomorrow. The Pass remained dry, but Sunday was cloudy again, only really clearing up in the late afternoon. Made for a more pleasant grind up to Burgundy Col, but a less pleasant climb wondering if we would get rubbed out by lightening later in the day.