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Guided Mt. Olympus.


eternalX

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Ya the guys there are cool. we took a private 4 hour lesson two winters ago, just because we were new to winter climibnig and wanted to know how to best rope up and set anchors, etc. the guy was really cool.

 

since then we've done two trips. one up on hurricane ridge and one to try and summit whitney in december. On the winter trip we didn't get nearly as close to the summit as we had hoped. So we thought we'd do a guided trip to see what it is we are doing wrong. when we should switch to stnowshoes and crampons...if we're bringing too much crap. unfortunately we don't have people with more experience to go with, so were just going to buy some experience.

 

--tim

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I'm curious, how much do they wanna charge ya fer a trip up the Blue Glacier?

 

It might be a bit involved for a first unguided mountaineering objective due to the combination of LONG approach, potentially hidden crevasses above snow dome (early to mid season), weather of course, potentially steepish ice in late season (between blue glacier and snow dome), and steep rock finish. So if you really don't have much mountaineering experience, you might wanna go with a guide.

 

However, why not get some experience on routes like Hood (south side), Baker (Coleman/Deming or Easton) and Adams (South spur) and then try Olympus on your own? Part of the beauty of climbing is the independence and the freedom. Just start on easy stuff, do some reading and practicing and do it yourself! !

Just my approach to things...

Cheers in any case.

 

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between 3 and 6, right now. i'd guess 5. for that it costs 225 a person.

 

Like i was saying earlier, we have done a few by ourselves, but we've never done glacier travel and thought we'd rather be safe then sorry. Plus, we'd like to get some instruction on when to use certain things. we've brought crampons on two winter climbs and never used them, but probably should've put them on at some point (especially near crescent? lake at whitney...can't remember the name, but the one above upper boy scout). would just like to have somebody who knows their stuff so we're not always looking at each other going "uhh what do you think?" afterwards, yea, we'd feel more comfortable going alone.

 

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I went with them to Olympus in 2000 and Deception in 2001. My friend hired them for short winter trip -- probably near Hurricane Ridge-- a year or two ago. Have seen three individuals actually guiding, & spoke to Jack, who may be "brains" of operation. Olympics are unlike other mountains so maybe it stands to reason they're different from other guide services. On Olympus, they run you up the glacier, & otherwise your pretty much on your own for 40-mile round-trip hike. This is swell, & rates, at least a few years ago, were very reasonable They were definitely not gung-ho about leading the summit block on Olympus & given size of group, I wasn't too hot to follow. Deception, with guide #3 was okay. ... Elsewhere on this site is discussed the correct route. The guide service is laid back. AAI in Bellingham, is more professional, without a doubt up to date, but marketing people & pricing is on a major "attitude" about their McKinley service. All things equal, however, I'd have slight preference that my travel agent &/or belayer was a little more on the ball --may be a small price to pay.

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dont forget to get your appropiated user days in the park and dont forget now that you have publicly annouced your attempt at ganing some monetary support for your efforts that you are purly repsonsible for their and your actions!!

 

have fun!

 

 

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Did I like them or not?

For me, personally, I'm not crazy about ANY guide service - probably because I've hired way too many guides (Lemme count'em uh....25 guides , though a few of those I just observed in huts in Canada& Mexico.) Of the three I met wOlympic Mteering, included part-timer and two regulars, who I gather may have had some sort of ownership stake, were okay & my friend likes them fine. They seemed really focused on climbing in Oly NP; the one guy almost exclusively on Mt. Olympus ...... I had a little communications problem with them prior to departure, & there were hurt feelings on both sides. But they were advertising Mt. Anderson for many months or possibly a year++ after key bridge wash out + nobody at OlyMtrning was aware of this until I arrived packed & ready to go. In my initial shock and disappointment, I became quite angry, & they seemed a bit grudging because of my initial outburst. I guess people out in Port Angeles don't get mad 'cause they're so laid back...... But the grudge thing seemed at least as stupid & unpleasant. Same thing happened once at AAI when I thought I made a deal to climb Dome Peak & they told me at 7 a.m. day of departure that they didn't actually have a Natl Forest permit to guide there. That was really even worse situation because AAI at the time charged quite a premium for its office workers (I suppose). What would really be dumb is if OLYmteering started charging that much (they probably will, if they haven't already.) However, AAI is big enough that the grudge thing would never really be a factor.

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  • 3 weeks later...

EternalX--if you think you need a guide, you need a guide. All of us had a mentor, whether an experienced partner or a paid guide. I've always opted to for the former, but I'm cheap and stubborn. $225 seems kind of high though, unless they're cooking your meals and washing your socks. Olympus is spectacular and remote and can be dangerous, but it's not Rainier.

 

If I were you, I'd hook up with someone from this forum whose open to planning a trip. Norman Cyde, Pencil Pusher and others did this round trip, non-stop last summer. HCL.gif

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  • 3 weeks later...

two things, you can't get pissed at someone and expect them to give you what you want the next time you try to deal with them. 2nd as far as all the guys at OlyMt. i'd let them hold the end of my rope any time and not think twice about it, and if fact have takin many a whippers with one of them on belay down at the local crag. there good climbers and most of em can climb 10s off the frickin couch. and have been doing the

Olypic's for quite some time.

 

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I'm not referring to any guide service in particular, but I did hear a story not too long ago from people who had hired a guide however many years ago to go up Olympus. There was something like five clients and the guide and guess who fell in the crevasse? I mean, it sucks for the guide because he hurt himself and had to be flown out of there (while the clients humped his gear out, in addition to their own! Two of the clients had gone down and out for help, if my memory is correct) but it is kinda funny in that the one guy that knew what he was doing was the one in the hole.

Nothing against guides either. If I had more disposable income, I'd be a client too. I can see why folks would want guides, skip the learning curve and gruntwork and do lots of cool routes where routefinding and leading aren't issues. I mean, hell if I had the moola, why not just hire Fred (chick magnet) so I wouldn't have to guess at which "obvious" notch he wrote about? Maybe it's spoon fed, but I sure wouldn't mind! You know, hire a chopper to ferry us to/from the Pickets... green eggs and ham for breakfast... maybe hire a female guide for hahaha.gif

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a little generalizing eh? Take all the cracks you want. Despite all the reading you might do (and we've done a lot of it. we're all programmers for chrissake, reading is one of our fav things to do), I think it still makes sense to go with somebody experienced on your first glacier trip. Wwe aren't hiring a guide to cook us dinner or haul our pack up to the mountain, just to learn from.

 

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eternalX, hey, it's all cool. i think you just caught a different tune than the one i was singing. i wasn't making any cracks and agree with what you just said. still though, it would've been kinda nice if i could've been a client of, say, Marty Hoey. nevermind she could've probably squeezed the life out of me with those powerful legs of hers but damn if it wouldn't of been awesome to have said, "Gimme some sugar, baby," while way up high on some remote peak. There's just something about a woman in damned good shape... and then if she'll do some leading too :Homer-Simpson-drool: cantfocus.gif

 

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erik said:

dont forget to get your appropiated user days in the park and dont forget now that you have publicly annouced your attempt at ganing some monetary support for your efforts that you are purly repsonsible for their and your actions!!

 

have fun!

 

 

Is this comment for real. smirk.gifyellowsleep.gif

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