pete_a

did rainier in a day a couple years ago, roughly the same timeline as you describe...though we were a couple hours slower left paradise at 8pm, muir at 11:30 and brewed up water, 1am started the climb, topped out at 8am, back at muir by 11:30, back at the cars early afternoon. we left the stove, some extra food, and trekking poles behind in the muir shelter rather than taking it all the way up. the toughest thing was the sleep deprivation (harder than dealing with the altitude)...get a nap in before you start the climb from paradise and bring lots of caffinated gu. We brough rather large poofy jackets (baffled construction with hood) and that was warm enough that we could nap on the gravel at muir while waiting for the snow to melt in the stove. have fun!

If you're looking for a scenic slog to do, the south side of Adams would be a far safer place to go and only an hour or so more driving to get to. just a suggestion. I'd think most would consider August (especially this year with the low snowpack) to be too late...if you go, start very early-around midnight- and definitely wear a helmet.

when I was up there with Ryland, I read The Rum Diaries by Hunter S Thompson...reading a book about being constantly drunk in warm, sunny Puerto Rico was particurly entertaining while freezing ones arse off.

glad thats a hoax...i was surfing just south of ocean shores this weekend.

last June I skied the Park glacier as part of a baker traverse (up the coleman-deming, down the park and traversed out to the baker ski area) anyways...we skied it a week after there had been significant snowfall and the east facing aspects of the park had turned to complete schmoo by early afternoon (we shoulda known better). We still skied it, but ski cutting the glacier was causing all the recent snowfall to release and slide...which was particularly alarming cause the slope couldn't have been more than about 20-25 degrees steep. ...so long story short, be careful around south and southeast facing aspects cause they're gonna heat up fast and by mid-morning could be pretty hazardous for solo travel. have fun! Also, I think the mowich lake road is open on Rainier...easy access up to the Flett glaciers and Spray Park area of Rainier...lots of cool cruiser terrain and long runs on the Russell glacier...nice place for a solo trip.

NOLSe managed to accidentally dislodge a car size boulder that was being used as a hand hold just below red saddle when we were up there many many years ago. The damn rock cartwheeled down the whole mountain. the south side of Jeffy is the nastiest pile of stacked boulders I've ever seen...makes North Sister look relatively decent. As long as its covered in snow, I bet it would actually be fun though.

some folks climbed it yesterday...road access sounds decent if you got a truck that has get through a couple snowbanks... TR here: http://www.turns-all-year.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=tr0505;action=display;num=1116178115

Leaving for Wadd ski trip next friday...just going through the gear pile trying to decide if theres a need to throw in extra screws or picket for a rap anchor. The last little steep pitch up to the NW summit doesn't look too long, but I'm curious what others have done in the past to get back down...rap? downclimb? will two 30m glacier ropes be frustratingly short to get up and down that last bit to the top? thanks.

Had a blown out leg zipper on a pair of goretex bibs, the zipper teeth had pulled off the zipper backing material...wasn't sure if it could get fixed or not. Took them first to a well-known repair shop north of the U District...they told me the zipper was toast and it would be $100 to have the entire zipper replaced. I wasn't willing to spend that much on a pair of Moonstone bibs I'd originally bought for $100, so on the recommendation of some friends I went to NW Gear Repair, the seamstress said she thought she could fix the zipper and that replacement wouldn't be necessary. Picked them up yesterday, cost was $10 and they are as good as new...anyways, thought I'd pass along a recommendation.

i brought a gps...saved waypoint markers at all the caches in case the wand markers were broken or lost...also saved waypoints along the five miles on the kahiltna glacier, although that path gets travelled so much you can actually see a raised path above the surrounding surface it made me feel better on the return trip to basecamp that we'd have no navigation issues even if the weather crapped out...and as luck would have it the weather did crap out while we were in the middle of the kahiltna.

It might be worth the trouble to track down a copy of the NOLS cookery book- it has excellent weight and calorie breakdowns in it so you know exactly what to bring to get a certain number of calories each day. Thats what I've used in the past on longer trips and it has worked out very well.

This winter Mike King replaced his heli with a larger one that now seats four passengers with all their gear. He got rid of his heli that used to seat 3 passengers, otherwise we'd do two flights and not have a problem. The price has gone up because of the larger bird, so if my group of five was to go we'd basically be chartering a heli for one passenger...which is too expensive for us. I have talked with a vancouver group from the alpine club of canada that is flying in on the 23rd, but they won't know how many passengers they have for another week, so I figured I'd see if anyone else out there wants to 'heli-pool'. clarification- just so i'm not accidentally spreading mis-information, Whitesaddle's new chopper can carry 1150lbs...has enough room for six passengers, but the overall weight limit is obviously the factor in determining how many people with backpacks and skis can fit.

my feet aren't THAT big...US 12... FYI, Figger Eight did some checking (thanks Eddie), and just let me know that the standard extender bars will work and that Grivel will have the extender bars made out of the lightweight spring steel probably by mid-May.

Looking at picking up a pair of Grivel Air Tech Light crampons, but on the largest adjustment size, they don't fit my AT boots. Grivel makes an extra long bar that will make their crampons work for larger feet. Question is, I'm fairly certain that Grivel doesn't make a extra long bar out of the lightweight spring steel that the original bar is made from, but I've heard differing opinions on if the Air Tech Light is compatible with Grivel's longer bar that is just made from their usual steel stock. any advice? thanks.

If anyone has plans to fly in to the Waddington Range with Whitesaddle Air on or around April 23rd and does not have a full helicopter (4 passengers), please send me a PM. My ski group has changed from eight folks down to five and that makes flying in too expensive, so we're hoping to find another party that might be interested in working out a mutually beneficial arrangement to share a heli flight in to the range. Thanks, Pete

thanks Don, from looking at the maps and your book, I was kinda figuring that there wasn't an easy way over there. I imagine we'll be happy skiing what we can over on the south side. Thanks for letting me know about Bravo glacier error on the topo. ...and i knew i'd have a typo somewhere, i always manage to put in a couple gems (like 'Plumber Hut')...

gonna be skiing in the waddington range in about a month. If my group ends up with some extra time towards the end of our trip due to good weather, I was thinking about spending a few days checking out the northern half of the range. We'll be primarily on the Dais, Franklin, Ice Valley, and Waddington glaciers. Is there a relatively straightforward way to get from that side of the range over to the Rainy Knob, Plummer Hut, and Tellot glacier area? Was thinking that its probably to descend the Bravo glacier route on Munday, but if anyone knows of a particularly good way to get across the divide between the two halves of the range, I'd apprecite hearing about it.

yes, you can cook liners in an oven, easy to do if you follow all the steps...and if you screw up, you can always re-cook the liners and try again. a link from T-P site with instructions: http://www.telemark-pyrenees.com/shop/article_info.php?articles_id=3 a video showing the whole process: http://www.telemarktips.com/video/thermofit.mpg

probably already saw these recommendations in other threads, but if you're in a group of 4 or more, a megamid can be a great addition to your regular tent to use as a cook tent...we had lots of new friends dropping by our megamid to hang out and cook their dinners out of the wind and snow. skip bringing any more than one change of your base layer..its too damn cold to change that layer so don't bother with bringing more than one extra lightweight polypro shirt or bottoms. if you want to get creative with your dinners and cut down on cook time and fuel consumption, try monkeying around with a pressure cooker before you go. A small 3 or 4 quart pressure cooker isn't all that heavy and lets you boil up pasta in only about five to ten minutes even at 14,000ft. We didn't use this above 14k camp, but it was great to have at the lower camps. If you're going to switch to a freeze dried meal diet at 17k, make sure to try eating those dinners at home weeks in advance to see how your body may react to it...one of my partners missed out on summit day because his freeze dried dinner at 17k severely disagreed with his stomach.

I used a pair of Dynafit TLT4 boots two years ago up there...I bought them a full size larger than my other ski boots and took out the insoles from 14k on up to have a little more wiggle room, used overboots from 17k on up. Thermofit liners in an AT boot shell are plenty warm for Denali, just make sure you have lots of room for your toes. You're probably already aware of the limitations of wearning an AT boot while climbing (lack of ankle flex makes french technique tough with crampons), but it never bugged me, except for the hill at squirrel point and the fixed-line headwall, I was flat footing it just fine..the TLT4 boots are lower and softer than the Denali TT though.

bentage.com has some T-1's available on sale ...don't know what size you need though. i think it would be a tough call to decide what to do without actually demoing the t1 and t2. If you're still on 2 buckle t2's and driving something as wide as a bandit XXX then you probably don't need the additional support a t1 provides, but the question is, would you enjoy the additional support of the t1? and do you mind the extra weight of the t1's when ski mountaineering? I've been on t1's for the past six years and have borrowed t2's just to try them out a few times...in good snow I didn't notice much of a difference, but but in bad snow (ice, mashed potatoes, crust) i was wishing i had my t1's.

might not be what you're looking for, but the Feb '05 issue of Powder had a article on a Tahoe ski traverse that linked together a lot of the ski areas and the wilderness between them. I think the traverse route in the article took about a week to complete.

Ortovox recommends that owners of older beacons (like F1's)mail their transceivers back to Ortovox periodically to be tested for signal accuracy and to be recalibrated. some info on that is here, follow the link to their 'service' page: http://www.ortovox.com/ortovox_en.php

Dru, thanks for the link to the snow pillow data...thats exactly the kind of info I was hoping was out there. You're right, Upper Mosely, and Burnt Bridge Creek make me a little more optimistic about snow conditions up there.

yeah, but we're been getting torrential rains up to 10,000ft lately around here.... i'm just asking, gimme a break. just wondering how things are fairing up there