Colin

As mentioned by Wayne, Bart and I climbed Goode in a day. Approached from Stehekin, it is actually not very long (7.5 miles from shuttle to creek crossing). Also, by not taking bivy gear we were able to climb with very lightweight packs. We took a single 7.5 mm twin rope, planning to double it over on the climb, but make 30 m rappels possible on the descent. Also, by carrying over the route, one can descend to Park Creek and hike out that way (5 miles from hitting the trail to the shuttle), rather than go back over the Goode-Stormking col.

Just to avoid confusion, krazy 1: It sounds like you are talking about free-soloing, and not merely free climbing. Probably all of the climbing that you do is free climbing (without the use of aid).

Klenke, Were those boat fares and shuttle bus fares that you gave for one person or two people? -Colin

Went up and retrieved my two tri-cams from the North ridge of Stuart yesterday. I was surprised at how little melting had taken place, given the recent high temperatures. Most astonishing of all was that the huge cornice still looms over the NW face. If you want to do the route soon, then definitely do the gendarme rather than the bypass. If you want to do the bypass, I would wait atleast two weeks. The Stuart Glacier Couloir and Ice Cliff Glacier still look to be "in," but are melting fast. If you do either, I would not reccomend trying them in a day, as you should get a ridiculously early start on the climb itself (camp on the moraine below the Ice Cliff Glacier).

I was on Stuart today, and saw the exact same thing. I didn't see them anywhere else, but the summit was covered in thousands of ladybugs, in big, red clumps. Weird.

Anyone know if iodine tablets can go bad? I wouldn't think so, but the very visible difference that has taken place on them made me think that I might as well ask. I have three partially-used "jars." In one newish-looking jar, the tablets are a uniform gray (which is what I remember them looking like new). However, in the second jar the tablets have turned orange and brown speckled, and they have turned red and brown speckled in the third jar. Perhaps this is caused from accidently getting water in the jars at some point. My guess is that they are fine, but maybe someone knows for sure.

Any of you have a bunch of supertape that you want to sell, or know of some place that sells it for less than the normal price of about 35 cents/foot? It's not worth a trip to MEC, in case you were going to suggest it!

Any of you guys done this route? Is there any useful beta I should know other than what the Beckey guide tells?

Crevasse risk is an issue on the North face, but I think that it is fairly minimal. Certainly much less significant than soloing any route on Rainier. There are two main crevassed sections on the North face: one at the bottom, and one right below the final "headwall." Skirt the lower section on the left, and the upper section on the right. Be aware that after you skirt the lower section on the left, you must traverse back right (below a small serac - hurry) to the "hidden couloir." It is really easy to go way right of the upper crevasses - You'll feel a bit more exposed, but it isn't any steeper and is totally devoid of crevasses. From the top of the face, you will certainly expose yourself to less crevasse danger if you descend immediately to Winnie's Slide (But remember to first traverse to descender's left across the Hanging Glacier - don't confuse it with the Upper Curtis Glacier that you want to descend!), rather than traverse around the Crystal Glacier to the easy side of the summit pyramid. In any event, a big factor in minimizing crevasse danger while soloing is to get a really early start on a clear night.

My plans to try the Price Glacier were changed this morning when I slept through my alarm an hour and a half. I settled to try a speed-ascent of the North Face instead. This early in the season, one definitely doesn't need to drop down to the creek on the approach, like later in the summer. Instead, hike along the road (ski area catrack) that leads East from the White Salmon Lodge, and where it ends begin a long, slightly descending, traverse to the base of the White Salmon Glacier. The rest is obvious, but run where appropriate (below the hanging glacier). There were tracks on the face that looked like they had been left on Saturday, and conditions were generally good and firm. The final "headwall," in particular, was absolutely fabulous neve. As long as the nights stay clear, the face should stay in particularly enjoyable condition (assuming you get an early start). Like the tracks before me, I opted out of the summit pyramid, and descended from the top of the face (However, the summit pyramid looked really cool in its still-winter conditions, and had some steep ice on it). I descended the White Salmon Glacier, which had an awkward crust in places, and then ran back to the car. No need to bring skis or snowshoes as long as you start early.

Has anyone ever had much luck traversing straight to the base of the White Salmon Glacier (the one on Shuksan, that is) from the base of the ski area? I know that one can drop down in the valley somewhat, and then climb back up, but perhaps this early in the season it wouldn't be too bad to traverse straight over. Anyone done it this way?

It's getting down to the wire, and I still haven't found anyone who can climb all three days this weekend. I'm looking for someone who is experienced, has climbing (randonee) approach skis of their own, and has done a lot of alpine and ice climbing. I was thinking of doing a 3-day trip to the North side of Mount Goode (accessed via Highway 20, rather than Lake Chelan), given it's Eastern location and high elevation. E-mail or call me ASAP: colinhaley@attbi.com, 206-232-1798

Cavey, I don't think so, I'm a weenie sketched-out rock climber. Lowell, I was wondering that myself. Nelson writes, "The record snow year of 1998-99 created perfect conditions: sufficient snow cover, but with most of the loose stuff sluffed off." I'm not sure if this means that someone climbed it and reported good conditions, or if it was merely speculation.

"I think what fell last year was the huge chunk of ice/snow that filled the gully approaching the notch." I don't know about a rock ledge on the route - that probably happened as well, but I witnessed the collapse of the approach gully ice. I have several slides of bus-sized chunks ripping down the gully. That was one of the closest calls I've ever had, but we luckily had a safe ledge on the side of the gully.

Unfortunately, it was quite warm for ice climbing. I climbed as fast as I could and was fine, but by the time I had descended and hiked around to below the face, lots of stuff was falling down. While I was climbing, I think that the temperature was around 33 degrees. On a side note: I've been using my Cobra's all winter, but yesterday used my straight-shafted Shrikes. Both of my wrists are quite sore today, and I am wondering if it is because of the lack of the lower bend in the shaft. Has this happened to any of you?

Oh yeah, I also think that the Skoog's gave it a very modest rating. You will be very unpleasantly suprised if you only expect ice up to 65 degrees. There were a couple bulges to 80/85 degrees, and several at 70 degrees. The mixed step was quite hard, and the face has a good deal of vertical elevation gain. If Triple Couloirs is given a seriousness rating of III/IV, then I think Graybeard is definitely IV.

There was a good deal of ice, it just wasn't all very good. The ice was rotten in places, but atleast it seemed to get better whenever you really needed it to. Like the Skoogs, I didn't take the directissima finish, but still had to deal with cornices a little bit. Hehe, I sure hope not, Pope.

Soloed the North Face of Graybeard today. The log crossing is easy, and obvious to find. There is a bootpack to the base of the face. I descended to the NE, and hiked around the E side of the peak, rather than descend via Easy Pass, which Nelson reccomends. I'm not certain, but I think that my descent route was significantly faster, and I would reccomend it (if you need more details, e-mail me). I had to leave some pins and 60m of 6mm rope! I self-belayed at one point, but the rope snagged when I tried to retrieve it Overall, a fun route and a good snag by the Skoog brothers. However, unless we get quite a cold snap I think that this was the last weekend to do it.

More specifically, anyone know how far one can drive up Cascade River Road? I just talked to a ranger who said that it was open to within two miles of the Cascade Pass trailhead (which she said was the park boundary). Can anyone confirm this? -- I'm usually not very trusting of ranger info.

Anyone know what it is?

Thanks to those who have complimented the ascent. They should really be directed at Mark, though - he's the super badass, and kept us from driving off the road when I fell asleep at the wheel trying to make it from the trailhead to the Leavenworth Safeway! Robert, since I haven't heard from you in a while perhaps you're finally convinced? That was a big assumption you made, but it's no big deal and we can all forget. If you'd still like to see the slides, I'd be psyched to show you them.

Agent Orange! You just said that you were at the base at 5 am! If you are talking about Saturday, then everything makes sense. We were at the base at 7 am! About to go post my pictures that I just scanned...

RURP, If he is such an extreme climber, why didn't he make it up Stuart Glacier Couloir? He said that he got there too late on Saturday, so he camped and then hiked out on Sunday. Why didn't he climb it Sunday morning, if he's so extreme? In any event, I'll try to post my pictures soon. Otherwise, I'll have a little 'public slide show,' and if you want to doubt my ascent, you'd better show up.

I don't have a scanner at home, but there's one at school that I might be able to use. If I were to scan my slides onto the hard-disk at the school computer, how would I go about putting them onto the site -- do they need to be on a webpage?

Here's the e-mail I got late last night, to keep everything on the table: "hey, this is just plain stupid. i don't know what you guys did, but i call it bullshit. NOT A SINGLE TRACK!!!!!!!!! in the gully or on the glacier. we were at the toe of the N. ridge and within 50 yard of the aproach slope.no wind, no spindrift, post holing on the glacier. if you were there there would be tracks. I did make a phone call to a friend of my who knows the area very well and works as a guide. yes, there is a gully on the other side of the notch, but it has a pretty steep drop-off, about pitch and a half of actual, steep climbing. to quote him on that "fucking desperate, when snowed up". my attempt on the glacier couloir is not a topic. we walked in in the afternoon, saw that the conditions sucked and walked out in the morning. the point is that 22 years of climbing in different mountain ranges gave me enough experience to see what's going on in the mountains. maybe you did west ridge- hey great ascent in conditions like that. maybe something else, i don't know. BUT NOT the n. ridge. the conditions did not change in such a short period of time. the snow mobile tracks were clearly visible, our tracks were clearly visible, WERE WERE YOURS???????????? I am sure i could see something from less then 50 yards away, don't you think???" Robert, I'm beggining to wonder if you are one of those people who find it impossible to admit they are wrong. It is often difficult to see tracks in the snow from below, perhaps this is why you didn't see ours. You, on the other hand, said you could see your approach tracks from far away -- perhaps this is because you were looking down upon them. Also, we were walking up the Stuart Glacier at about 7:00 am, while you were in the afternoon. That section of the approach was soft nonetheless, but perhaps softer when you got there. Your point about "22 years of climbing in different ranges" is irrelevant -- How do you know I haven't done more climbing in the last 2 years than you did in that whole time? In any event, we did not climb the West Ridge, we climbed the North Ridge. '8 years of climbing in different ranges' gives me enough insight to know what I climbed. Yes, it was not in typical condition -- we had crampons on for the entire ascent. In terms of proof, I would really like to meet you at a local shop, and show you my slides. Otherwise, if you think that you can get up the N Ridge in spring conditions - GO DO IT. Our tracks should still be there, as I don't think it has been snowing that far east. Also, at the base of the gendarme there is a new anchor waiting for the next party -- 2 tricams (one large, one small) and a large, red cordellette connecting them. So, Robert, when and where should we meet?