Alex

I have a Hilti TE-6A 36v rotohammer, and I like it. Parts and good bits are expensive, however.

I don't, unless Ah, sorry, good point - yes we climbed as a party of three and thus had double 8.5s.

When we did S Face Prussik last year, we rapp'ed the N face to the snow (steep) and post-hole traversed back the the lower W ridge in rock shoes, from which you can downclimb easy 2nd and 3rd class rock and goat trails to the base of the S Face. From the summit there is a very well-established station, and from there you can pick and choose from lots of stations (good and some not so good) on the way down the face, depending on whether you are on single or double ropes. Its blocky terrain, but steep enough to want to rap all of it. I recommend double ropes.

I've climbed at Tahquitz once. Idylwild is cool town. Even the 5.3s were eye-opening. Sandbag old school ratings for sure. I would suggest you be conservative in your choice for your first route there, but otherwise its a great place!!

I used to be a fan of pickets until I went out and tested that stuff in a controlled setting (a couple steep slopes at the side of the Ski Bowl ski area). I tried creating anchors using each that "I judged" would be a good anchor, and had some surprising results. These days, I do not carry pickets at all, I only carry flukes. Why? 1) Pickets in neve driven in vertically don't hold shit. Try it sometime. They arent even body-weight in many cases. 2) Pickets as a T-slot anchor seem to hold poorly, and ripped out a bunch when I tested (I ran downhill for 30 feet and "shock-loaded" my test anchors) despite my burying them really deep and being meticulous about their placement after the first few failures. 3) The flukes held much better. They didnt fail. They are easy to place with just a little practice, in all but hard snow. 4) T-slot's can be created in a pinch using skis, ski poles, ice axe. I thought that if I really wanted a T-slot anchor, I could use these too. In fact, the only time I lower into crevasses willingly now is off a T-slot made from skis. My conclusion was that the flukes were more reliable in soft-medium snow, more of the time. For me, placing a good picket in soft snow was so hard in practice (watching them fail time and time again) it didnt warrant carrying them anymore. Flukes are actually easier to carry on a harness than a picket, too. I think carrying them on a pack defeats the purpose: in a crevasse fall or steep terrain you want access to the anchor immediately, you certainly are not going to want to have to take off a pack to put in an anchor. Just .02

That was a great TR! Great pics too!

actually, its 15.15, you're a real badass!!1

With the news that there are already fires in BC, around Rainier and near Omak, and remembering the way the Cdn Rockies and even areas of the Cascades got shut down due to the large fires there last summer, I am starting to alter my "typical" planning for the tick list to get on the alpine projects perhaps a little earlier this year. Seems like with the dry and hot weather, and rapidly dwindling snowpack, conditions will be prime for fires this season in general. Good luck to the fire crews this season. Hope you let the ones burn that you can let burn, though (particulates counteract global warming) !

Re 3) If you are leaving Sat afternoon, there is still a really good probability you can reach your high camp Sat night, unless you are a slug. Consider it will be light until after 9pm. Its not THAT far from Paradise over the Nisqually and up the other side to approach the Kautz. Otherwise, I would just come up Sunday...less food and fuel to carry...you would be taking an entire day going from "somewhere on the Nisqually" to high camp on Sunday, which is really around a 3-4 hour endevour. Unless you really want to just hang around all day. My suggestion to you would be that you and your partner train and be as cardiovascularly fit as possible for your trip - it will make you much faster on Sat, which will enable you get to high camp Sat night, get up with 6 hours sleep at 3am, climb fast and more comfortably Sunday, come back down, recover, and head out without being exhausted. Just a thought..

Probably about 4 hours to do the shuttle, all told.

if you are not disuaded by the crowds on s side of hood on a nice weekend, you should have no problem with the crowds on the DC. the DC is a bump up in technical difficulty from the std routes on the mountains you mention, however. Alex

you could conceivably hike out Agnes Creek. From White Rock lakes it looks nasty in the initial valley bottom, but you could skirt alot of the initial part by staying in the scree and talus below the Dome and Chinkamin glaciers. I believe there is an unmaintained "trail" that comes part of the way up that valley, and is sometimes used to approach Blue Glacier and Gunsight. Consult Beckey's, but I would expect a fair amount of bushwacking down Agnes Creek in reality, since the area is so unfrequented from the East. To be honest, Bachelor Creek is an easy (though somewhat boring) way out from the area, going downhill. It doesnt take overly long, perhaps half a day from Itswoot Ridge camp. I think you could conceivably go from White Rock Lakes all the way out before dark. A week is a long time! We did it in 3.5 days, and it was fine.

doh! not fishing, finishing!

I remember that. I don't know who built it, but I remember it still being up in BB around 1998. 'twas probably wiped out by avalanches eventually, unless some intrepid climbers/rangers thought it was an eyesore (doubt it)

You can see most of the route in this photo, you hike down the CassPass trail below Sahale Arm until it starts curving left as to go towards Horseshoe Basin. 'Schwack (short) through the timber to nice alpine medows and creek bottom below Pelton. Here ford creek. Head up large talus blocks towards small circle of snow in this pic to a small col. Some goat paths throughout. The descent down to Trapper Lake from this point is down a very steep alpine grassy hillside. We did it with full packs, so its not too bad. But it would be very dangerous when wet! We camped at the head of the lake, where the S Glacier runoff feeds Trapper Lake. Awesome place to be. Awesome fishing. S Glacier is an awesome route. Everything about this area is superlative!

If that really is the bridge over Downey, then the parking lot for the trailhead isnt more than 100 yards further up the road. However, it means you won't be able to park there. Not sure where the next best parking spot is on the West side of the bridge. The area sees alot of use, I would expect to have to hoof it for a ways on the weekend.

these are the pieces I've taken the longest falls on "successfully" #2 Camalot blue alien green alien Smileys/Black Diamond screw these are the pieces that were not up to snuff (i.e. broke) Black Diamond #1 wired nut (ground fall) yellow alien (ground fall)

Yes, Lithium bats better for cold. Nice trip. I remember doing Daniel Memorial Day weekend in a day car-to-car some years back, and it being a slog because the trail was still buried then. Real pretty area and a great view of ths Stuart Range.

Because Cottonwood camp (the start of the brushbash/cimb to Trapper lake) is now a 13 mile hike from the end of the Stehekin Road. The trail to the Pelton Basin dropdown point to trapper lake is also a few more miles from the road due to washouts from Boston Creek. Trapper Lake is an easy 4 hours from Cascade Pass trailhead, though, with no real bushwacking and only a small river ford. Fine fishing in that lake. One of my first ever and still most memorable trips in NOCA was to Trapper Lake with Eric Bindseil, Geoff Radford, Toni et al. Good Times!!

wow, now i wish i didnt have a job

There are some common reference points. In the granitic North Cascades, the crest isnt too well defined as the hydrology is more complex. Rainy Pass in highway 20 is probably the best reference point. Along the border, I think it would be Hannegan Pass. That makes Baker and Shuksan both West of the crest. Moving S, Stevens Pass is the clear hydrological apex along route 2. Moving S, Snoqualmie Pass is the clear apex of the crest on I90. This makes the Stuart Range and all its satellite peaks East of the crest. (I've heard that Stampede Pass is also used?) Moving S, Chinook and White Passes represent the crest of the Cascades in the Mt Rainier area. Mt Rainier itself is well West of the crest. Moving S, around the Adams and St Helens area, there are a heckuva lot of foothills and no roads that traverse the range until you get to the Columbia, but I think Adams might be East of the crest, while St Helens is on or West. Its alot easier in Oregon, where the volcanoes more clearly demarcate the boundary.

I would wager no one has been up it in the last 3 weeks, if not this year. Gator/Mt Rainier Park could prob tell you diffinitively.

these are old shoes from the early 90s that I no longer use. They are ok, the resole is there, but delamming a bit. They don't stink, free if you want them Alex

Tips and quotes (from my wife!) <when asked why she didnt return my calls the first 6 months> "When I first met you, you were way too desperate, way too easy!" <when asked why she finally did return my calls> "I hadnt had any in a while, so I figured what the hell" <when asked what she liked about me to even consider returning my call> "Shoulders, body, strong chin" <when asked why she kept hanging out with me after the six month mark> "We had already moved in together by that point, and I needed the low rent" <when asked why she agreed to marry me> "We were still living together, and I still needed the low rent" Mike: In short, if you got something a woman wants/needs, and you keep perstering her, you too can have one!!! Alex