CascadeClimber

Finally got enough breathing room to put together the prose and pics for our November Rainier climb. Unreal weather, good conditions, great partner, most excellent fun. http://www.cascadeclimber.com/blog/?p=433

Victor and I summited November 24, going up and down the ledges. The upper mountain was in fine, direct shape even then. we simul-soloed from Muir to the summit and easily skied from the Columbia Crest to the top of Gib Rock, then downclimbed the ledges, skied from the top of the Cowlitz to Muir, and from Muir to the parking lot.

I think seasonal staff lives there.

It was fine, but I've done it many times.

I climbed Gib Ledges November 24 and found route conditions better than I expected. We simul-soloed to the top, skied from the top to Gib Rock, downclimbed the ledges, skied the Cowlitz back to Muir, and from Muir to the lot. The icefall of the ID did not look passable at that time, but we didn't go take a close look either. It was problematic to get through last January.

Put me on that list, too.

30 summits on 12 or so routes in 11 of 12 months spanning 18 years and I've never personally seen penitentes on Rainier like that. Not even close. If camping on the summit is your dream go make it happen. Just don't underestimate Rainier- it does not climb or behave like 14,000' peaks in California or Colorado. In particular, the weather can go from pleasant to shitstorm any month of the year, as in shitstorm where you can't see as far as your feet or stand up. But yes, the last half of July and first half of August does seem to be the consistently best stretch.

Last time I climbed Drury we had to stop on a gravel bar halfway across because "the Good Ship Klubberud" had lost half her air since we'd left the bank. Perhaps the eleventh essential for Drury is a hand pump...

As it turns out, if they put a camera in the garage and don't monitor the camera and something happens, they are liable. Thank some jerk-wad attorney and their unaccountable client for this. Thanks to this judgment, no company would put up a camera in a situation like this.

I sure don't really any 70 degree slopes on that traverse, except maybe at the very top of the Bowling Alley, and the rime would certainly be melted off by now. This is the steepest part of the traverse when it has snow:

It's easier to approach by staying on the main trail until it starts to descend on the traverse under Cathedral Rock, to Peggy's Pond. From there you can follow a faint trail up the rib with minimal schwacking. Is there still a stuck rope hanging on the west face?

The more I've dug into what's going on at MORA, the more disgusted I get and the less surprised I am by things like this. My understanding is that they had another helo incident on a rescue recently that was kept quiet. Remember when the fee was jacked up a few years ago and justified on 'ranger safety', including staffing both Muir and Schurman with two rangers all summer? They've failed on both counts. Which leaves me wondering what's going on with the money. Training failures, staffing failures, incidents on rescues, rangers shooting fireworks from the summit, corrupt real estate deals, etc. The beat goes on...

Bravo!

Bravo! On the send and the eye-candy imagery.

Been done. And not by superhumans. Will be done again. Hopefully by me.

And don't carry a big rack; there isn't much gear on that route.

I came down it in January. It was only passable on the far southern edge, directly under Gib Rock. I also spoke to a guide who tried to take a group up the middle of it in March and was unable to find a route. His assessment was that it probably would not be a viable route this year. Of course all it takes is some shifting in the icefall and everything changes.

Movement Logic X. Yes, two technical tools and a pair of Whippets. I climbed the route to 13,100' last April and the icefall is (or was) in tougher shape this year. I could have managed with one walking axe, but I was faster and had more fun with two tools. I have a pair of Venoms for routes like this; they don't weigh much more than walking axes, so it's an easy call for me.

Blue Water used to make a 37 meter 7.8mm. I have two: One that is still 37 that I use for three people, and one that got nicked and I cut 10 meters off- I use it (now 27 meters) for two-person trips. Edit: They still make it: http://www.backcountry.com/blue-water-ice-floss-7.7mm-double-dry-twin-rope

I climbed the Nisqually Icefall Fri-Sat, March 29-30, and skied from the summit to the Nisqually Bridge. Glad to have gone back and finished this one up. http://www.cascadeclimber.com/blog/?p=236

Left there Saturday 2/9. No one claimed Sunday, so I brought down. You'll know what it is if you left it there

Excellent! Very glad to hear you made it down safely and it was a pleasure to meet you and follow your tracks this morning!

I thought I was going to have the hut to myself for a while yesterday. I was joined by 5 or 6 Russians and a Spaniard, and until four others showed up at dusk, I was the only person in the hut for whom English was a first language. Ripping winds calmed overnight and I walked out of the hut at 5:00 AM very optimistic. The Spaniard left at 2:00 AM and two others maybe thirty minutes behind me. Peak winds for the previous 24 hour period at Muir were, invconveniently, between 5 and 6 AM this morning: 57 MPH. With skis on my pack I was repeatedly stopped in my tracks climbing up along Cowlitz Cleaver, where it is usually fairly calm. More than once I was knocked off my feet entirely. The wind settled as I neared the shelter of Gib Rock. I sat at the notch where the Ledges start for as long as I could take the cold, watching plumes of snow blow over Gib Rock and down Gib Chute. This visual was punctuated by the constant jet-engine sound it was making. Long streamers of moisture condensed out of the air tailed across the Cowlitz, blowing through Cadavar Gap. With numb fingers and toes, I gave up after about a half hour of waiting for it to break. The Spaniard's tracks continued across the Ledges, but I never saw him on the upper mountain. I was back in the parking lot at 9:20 smirking at the rapidly improving weather. It still wasn't calm, but it was a whole lot better than it had been at 6:00 AM. Alas.

See above. I found a copy I made. Such a good read, both funny and educational. Would love to see John post it on the web again (I searched and it's gone per Google).

It seems that I absconded with a text version of John Sharp's TR, which has since disappeared from the Interwebs (so sayeth The Google). Let me know if you cannot find a copy and I will send what I have over to you. It is, as always, entertaining and enlightening. - Loren (who has survived two full shit-dippings and one serious ass-whooping from which we beat and early retreat)