pete_a

Hi all, A group of my friends and I have all twenty spots reserved for the Fairy Meadows hut in the Adamant Range for the last week in March. As of last week we've had some folks bail out on the trip at the last minute leaving us with several open spots. As I am very cautious about inviting unknown skiers onto our trip, I ask that you are from the Pac. NW, that you have substantial backcountry experience, are an advanced-expert skier, and wouldn't mind meeting with, or better yet skiing with some of our trip organizers so you can see if we are all relatively compatible. The cost of the trip is approx $465, and it must be paid prior to the trip. It includes the heli flight to and from the cabin and the use of the cabin, but not food or transportation, we are not hiring a cook or guide. Most of us on the trip will be carpooling from the Puget Sound area up to Golden a day or two before we fly in on the 22nd. If you are interested or have any questions, please feel free to email me directly. Many thanks!

Getting ready to head to the west buttress in three months for the first time. Picked up lots of great info from friends,books, etc. but I'm always looking for more info. Just curious if there was any particular piece(s) of gear that you were really glad to have? anything you brought and never used? Favorite dinner that you made up there? least favorite? Thanks in advance!

I gotta put in my two cents on this issue...I agree with the concept of having a no returns policy on any and all climbing gear..if a shop has the funds to accept climbing gear and dispose of it rather than returning it to the shelves, thats fine, but most shops don't have that kind of cash. I worked at a climbing shop for four years in college and dealt with folks who wanted to return gear. I think that as long as there is a sign stating the return policy, or even better, the salesperson should remind the shopper of the policy, it is responsibility of the consumer to know exactly what gear they want before they buy it. There is no reason any consumer should have to buy gear that even has the slightest chance of damage from gear leaving the store with another customer and being returned. However impersonal it may be to refuse returns on even something like an axe, shops have to cover their asses from lawsuits and protect their other customers. I'm sorry you're stuck with an axe that FF won't accept...perhaps they would be willing to put up an 'axe for sale' sign in their shop, not just outside their door with the other signs, and maybe you can get most of your money back, or FF would be willing to sell you a second axe at a discount...just a thought, probably wishful thinking.

Iain, Thanks! Took another look at Patagucci's site and found the R.5 'superfly' tights, those will work just fine..

This has to be the silliest posting I've ever put up here.... Okay, so I bought an Outdoor Research Saturn suit, your standard run of the mill 100 weight fleece farmer john to use on Denali this coming summer. Most farmer johns either have a rainbow 'ass flap' or they have a neck-to-your-backside zipper for taking care of....bathroom issues. The OR suit has the neck to butt zipper design. Now, my question is, which if any companies make lightweight long underwear bottoms that can be worn under this suit and have a compatible 'bomb-bay door' fly...I heard patagonia used to, but can't find any such item on their website.

I've had an ice sack for three years, used it just about every weekend since I got it. Its made from the older beefier fabric. I've got several holes in the bottom of the pack and have torn off several compression straps, the top lid straps, and both ski slots (repeatedly)...always felt the pack was the best thing out there so I've either sent it to Wild Things or Rainy Pass to get fixed. Glad to hear that the newest model is returning to the better fabric...I figure I'm gonna have to retire mine after this ski season.

Yeah it was me. Still haven't placed the order yet. Probably try to collect orders by late Jan-early Feb. Drop me an email

About seven years ago I was on the southeast side of Mt.Jefferson ascending second/third class stacked refrigerator and car size boulders just below the traverse to the easier routes up the summit block on the north side. My partner put his hand on a block about the size of a VW bug and it started to slide on the scree it was resting on. Seconds later the block was cartwheeling end over end down the boulder field, hit the glacier, slide the full length of the glacier creating a massive trough in its wake, it hit the rocks of the terminal moraine and exploded into a massive cloud of dust. The rock covered over 2000vf in a matter of seconds...thank god no other parties were anywhere in the path. After that we rather quickly decided that we didn't need to summit Jefferson that weekend and we got the hell off that heap of choss. Have yet to go back.

[ 11-15-2002, 03:00 PM: Message edited by: pete a ]

I was up there last sunday...could skin up from the paradise parking lot, ski most of the way back down, although we had to ski on the trail the last 1000vf above the parking lot because lots of foliage was still sticking up at the time and none of us wanted to go meadow stomping. Got as high at 8200ft and skied a couple laps before heading down, viz was really bad at times and light was flat, lots of new snow though. Hoping conditions will be even better this weekend, probably not much new snow below 6000ft but a fair amount more above Panorama Point. I'd bring rock skis unless you want to ski very carefully on the terrain below the snowfield.

went to rainier on sunday...could skin up right from the parking lot at paradise (being careful of course not to stray from the asphalt trail and damage any foliage). Skinned up to about 8200ft yoyo'ed for a while then started down...flat light, visbility varied a lot, but enough snow (barely enough down low) to ski all the way back to the parking lot. It'll be even better next weekend! the flats below pan point: http://www.pottier.com/nic/down.jpg traversing onto the snout of the snowfield: http://www.pottier.com/nic/traverse_small.jpg [ 11-11-2002, 03:15 PM: Message edited by: pete a ]

I climbed Orizaba last winter with cc.com regular Ryland Moore and another buddy of ours. We didn't use a guide service and did the whole trip on our own, the scariest part of the trip was navigating the rental car out of Mexico City. Anyways, if you've got any questions, just let me know, I'd be happy to help out any way I can. I also have a scanned copy of the Orizaba topo map, which can be hard to come by, and I'll email it to ya if you want it. Definitely hit Veracruz afterwards, going from 18,000ft to sea level within 24 hours and ending the climb by drinking maragaritas on the beach was a kick!

Sorry to have pulled the thread off topic...hate it when that happens. I'm clueless when it comes to mounting, I just take my gear to Pro Ski and let them do whatever.

Rainey's Hammerhead bindings do not have pins...I think voile is the only company that still offers a tele binding with pins. If you already have a pair of chilis and don't wanna shell out the extra cash thats understandable, but there are newer bindings out there now, particularly the HH that offers a ton more control, but still has the heel bail cable system which is what you like about the chilis. Check out www.telemarktips.com for a bunch of info on new tele gear and reviews.

Check MEC's website www.mec.ca they have really inexpensive fleece, and schoeller stuff...and as long as you are buying mec brand clothing they can ship it across to the US...picked up a great windshirt for $25 and a 200 weight fleece jacket for about $50 this summer.

Anyone going to be at muir on saturday??? haha actually the muir snowfield could be in shape this weekend if enough snow falls at the end of the week. If anyone wants to meet up, let me know.

Thinking of hiking through the Enchantments this weekend, and I'm trying to decide whether I can knock off the scramble route on Dragontail (you know, up the backside of the peak accessed via Aasgard Pass). I know that the snow creek glacier is probably going to be rock hard ice right now...just wondering if its low-angle enough to just walk up with lightweight crampons on running shoes and a lightweight axe. If I need anything heavier-duty than that, I'll just do the traverse and skip bringing the gear for snow travel. Thanks!

I think the hagans at Second Bounce are more of a standard length ski 180cm-190cm at least thats what I recall when I was in the shop last week. You might have an easier time going with the shorty approach skis if you are driving them with your plastic mountaineering boots. Just my 2 cents. By the way, Climb High used to be the US distributor for Hagan boards but stopped having them in their catalog about four years ago...bummer. Hagan used to, might still, make a lot of skis for other companies including Atomic. Link to Hagan ski at MEC site http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=266293&bmUID=1035502399279 [ 10-24-2002, 04:34 PM: Message edited by: pete a ]

MEC is stocking one model of Hagan approach skis 130cm (I think). They are $150 CDN...not bad if you cannot find anything used out there. You gotsa drive to their Vancouver store to get them though cause MEC cannot ship ski equipment across the border.

...And don't forget the annual springtime ritual of the Mothers Day ski in a dress fest on Mt.St.Helens...always a big party, seems like there were more than 100 backcountry skiers drinking and camping in the Marble Mountain snopark the saturday night before the annual climb/ski on St.Helens sunday.

I vote for Smith Brook Rd. its a great spot, easy access to Jove, Union, Lichtenberg, etc, plus its not a wilderness area so you can have camping groups of more than 12 and no gov't folks will piss and moan about it. Just a thought. A kegger up in the Tatoosh would be pretty damn fun though. Just tell me when/where to show up and I'll have a sled full of beer in tow.

Its pretty easy to ski year round as one can still get good backcountry turns in August, a good spot to hit is the Flett glaciers on the north side of rainier, or up around Coleman Pinnacle near Baker, and typically by late October you can ski about 2500 v.f. continuously on the muir snowfield. And if ones backcountry options are really limited in September, or you're just feeling lazy, you can ski lift-served groomed slopes at Timberline at Hood all summer.

Yeah Mike, I saw that long range forecast and figured I better go get some turns while I could. Just have to settle for rock climbing in the sunshine for a couple more weekends I guess...

Despite the fact that the cascades didn't get a whole lot of snow late last week, I still had to go see if there was anything remotely skiable on the south side of rainier. Better terrain probably could've been found up around the north side of Baker, but for a lazy day in the sun, goofing off on the lower sections of the muir snowfield is just fine by me. Saturday morning there was still a couple inches of snow covering the rocks below Pan Point and higher up the trees were plastered with ice, but above 8000ft there was very little new snow. The portion of the muir snowfield just above Pebble Creek had between 3-6" of new snow, just enough to smooth over the suncups and cover the old neve. It only offered 500 vertical feet of skiing but after doing four laps on it I was pretty happy, I've definitely had better ski days in October, but I'm not going to complain. After months of skiing progressively dirtier and harder snow it was nice just to make a few turns on the fresh stuff. Doubt much of the snow is still around after the sun this weekend....by late saturday afternoon much of the new snow had melted off. Pray for snow!

I know I'd have a blast with heavy duty AT gear up there on denali...but I'm trying to find a compromise between survival skiin' and having gear thats too heavy for my liking...If weight wasn't an issue I'd be bringing my T1's and AK Launchers! I have no lofty goals to ski rescue gully this time around...just want to have a successful climb...who knows...maybe Ryland and I and our other partners in crime will come back another year and try the steeps.