Gib Ledges from a distance. TR

[Bug]

Greg_W and Tentless (more on that later) showed up at my house about 1 on Friday. We threw our stuff in my truck and headed for Rainier to do Gib Ledges. Our plan was to get to Paradise in time to hike up to Pan point and spend the night. We made it in time but Billygoat didn't bring his tent. I refer to him as Billygoat this one time only because he was reading road signs from the back seat to keep himself ammused and noticed one that said "Chinook Pass closed". That saved us considerable time which we later wasted on beer, lies and sneaking into the girl's bathroom. Since we were at Paradise already when we realized our tentlessness, we quickly calculated the time it would take to drive back to Ashford to get more beer. We had just enough time and so we raced down, just missing scores of deer and one east indian family on the Nisqually bridge. Bob the ranger was very helpful and gave us all the information we needed to pull it off. I had the good graces to sleep in the back of my truck but Tentless and Greg_W decided to try the warmth and other amenities of the girl's bathroom. What cads. We were up at 6 and moving having carbo-loaded the night before. There was a boot-pack for a ways that petered out at Pan point but picked up again behind two guys going up for the day. The pace was too much for old Bug and I lagged behind but pulled into Muir about 30 minutes after the younguns. It was sunny and warm but with occaisional clouds blowing by. After awhile Snickers and his brother and another guy showed up. He talked about the CC.COM site and proceeded to badmouth us all. He particularly singaled out me because I had been posting during the day when most people are working. I would have hit him but his big brother was there. Anyway, we were up at the crack of midnight to try to beat the storm that was due in Sunday afternoon. We stayed on the rocky ridges for a ways then went out into the wallows and moats as we cut up and right. We were moving pretty slow which ended up being a good thing. When we were at the entrance to the ledges, Greg_W said he had a bad feeling. I don't know if it was hold-over from the missing tent, Snicker's rude remarks, or his rhumetism acting up but we decided to hold off. We dug a little flat spot in the snow that was a little sheltered from the wind and hunkered down for the dawn. It was a beautiful star filled night with lots of shooting stars and a little shivering. We could see Snickers and his group heading up from Muir about 2 or 3 and tried to figure out what all the cities around us were. At first light, the wind was picking up and by the time we were moving, the clouds had hit and the snow was beginning to fly. It was an easy trudge down. We met the other group just below our ledge and they were looking a little unsure of the weather as well. By the time we were about down to Muir, the summit was fully engulfed in a lenticular and the spindthrift was flying all over muir. We had some coffee and tea and headed down. The Muir snowfield was hard breakable crust and almost impossible to turn in. As Greg trudged down ahead, we zig-zagged back and forth trying to figure out how to ski this shit. It was hopeless. But at the bottom of the snowfield it was 1 inch of powder on a harder crust that we weren't breaking through. From there down we had a spectacular line to the parking lot.

No summit but a great weekend with cc.comers. Even Snickers was fun to meet and his comments about cc.com were clearly indicative of a future addiction. Good luck with that buddy.

There are a couple pics in the gallery.

[JayB]

Sweet.

 

Sounds like the right call.

[catbirdseat]

It would be cool if you could elaborate on what factors made it not "feel" right. Was it pretty much the snow conditions or was it really one of those intuitive things were the voice says, "something's not right here"?

[Greg_W]

It would be cool if you could elaborate on what factors made it not "feel" right. Was it pretty much the snow conditions or was it really one of those intuitive things were the voice says, "something's not right here"?

 

I'll answer that one, since I brought it up initially. We wallowed through some healthy windblown/wind-packed powder on the approach slopes to the Ledges. This concerned me, since this type of snow (crusted-over sugar snow) would make traversing the ledges a rather unnerving affair unroped (we had decided to go unroped as there probably would be no pro to speak of). Further, odds were that the upper portion of Gib Chute was fairly loaded with snow. Those were the concrete factors. The not-so-concrete factor was a feeling that I had. Call it what you will, I just had a weird feeling.

 

Greg_W

[Bug]

I rated the avalanche danger at upper end of moderate. All of Greg's comments were accurate. We all agreed on the spot that conditions were a little sketchy. I learned a long time ago to trust intuition on climbs. Greg's call was good. When he made it, we were looking at clear skies with a star density I have rarely seen. When the lenticular started forming about 3:30AM, we would have been starting up the chute or there abouts. By the time we were back at Muir (7:15), the entire route was in cloud and the wind chill at Muir was -9.

Thanks Greg! It was a hell of a lot of fun.

Billygoat too!

You guys can kick steps for me anytime.

[Greg_W]

Billygoat = Tentless.

[mr.radon]

I've had the same problems skiing that crust. The more side cut the skis the more problems you have in that crap. Don't feel bad, even really good skiers look like total tools on that crap.

I think snow boards might have the advantage in that stuff. Good call on the retreat, trust those little voices....

I once called off a summit on a blue bird day in late November. Didn't think the crevasses had enough cover. Well heading back to Muir I fell into a huge gaper crossing back to Muir.

[Greg_W]

An additional note: Does anyone know what Sagittarius looks like and would it be in the Southern sky right now? As we were waiting for dawn, I was looking directly at a constellation/collection of stars that looked just like a horse. Low in the sky. Anyone? Muffy?

[mr.radon]

Go to:

http://skyandtelescope.com/

I'm also sorta into the stuff.

[Greg_W]

Thanks, Radon. That's a cool site. Definitely, it was Sagittarius smack dab in front of us.

[mr.radon]

I hauled my big ass Meade 140 up to Sunrise (my car did most of the hauling) the week after I did the Wonderland Trail in 2.2 days. I wanted a clear view of Mars durring its close approach. However, I found anything on the horizon above Rainier, was affected by the huge thermal sink that mountain causes. Everything over the mountain is wavy, it really disturbes the atmosphere by it's cooling effect.

I had a cool time watching people on Inghram flats take off for the summit. Good view of people on the summit.

I wish there was no light polution in the cities. People just don't realize what they are missing every clear night. Sad.

[Billygoat]

Billygoat = Tentless.

 

 

GregW = Buttflute

 

 

Bug = "The guy who must not have a job because he posts so much" Snickers

[seatosky]

Don't take Snickers comments poorly, Bug! He really means well. We had a great time with you guys up at the hut. The three of us are newbies to CC.com, and just wanted to find out what all the hype was about. From girlclimber aka pandora, to alpine_tom the CC'ers keep Muir hopping! This site is addictive-Now we just have to make sure we stay employed, keep our girlfriends and don't piss bug off again!

 

The upper part of the mountain has accumulated several inches of new snow in the last week. The lenticular cloud bug mentioned formed very quickly around 5 am. We were debating continuing when we met Bugs group downclimbing the route. A summit bid in deteriorating conditions with accumulated spindrift over consolidated snow on the exit chute was not in the cards. Too bad we couldn't have made it further, back at the hut at 6:30am!!!

 

I could have smashed that radio the Reno boys were playing. I had a bad tune in my head all the way down to Paradise.

 

Greg_W, Tentless and Bug -Thanks for kicking all those steps for us below the beehive. That spindrift was 2-3 ft of mashed potatoes/sugary powder combo in places!

[Billygoat]

So, now that I gave you the clue, can you figure out which of us was GregW....

[seatosky]

GregW, aka rheumatism K, was the unfortunate soul that had the boot trudge back down to Paradise. We share your pains, bud, a pair of skis, even in those conditions beat that march any day! It was you, billygoat that had us all confused.

[Bug]

You haven't seen me pissed off.

You guys were great. I am just not used to being taken seriously (I'm married).

Besides, I like being 14. It's way better than 45.

[Bug]

even really good skiers look like total tools on that crap.

I was skiing "really good" when you were in a scrotum.

[Billygoat]

even really good skiers look like total tools on that crap.

I was skiing "really good" when you were in a scrotum.

 

 

 

Hey, from the bottom of the Muir snowfield on down to Paradise we were skiing like champs!

 

True, we skied like tools up to that point. The fifty pound packs didn't help...

[Billygoat]

 

I had to post Bug's photo here because it is so good

 

I had a great time on this trip and I am glad I did not bring the tent. That gave us the chance to meet Ranger Bob and admire his AR15, race down to Ashford to buy beer and improve our acclimatization (drive high, recover low) get drunk and bivy in the girlsroom

 

Hope Bob doesn't frequent this site...

 

I also enjoyed bivyin' with Snickers and crew at Muir. They were good about letting us have first shot at boot packing from Paradise to Muir and again from Muir up to the Ledges

 

Overall, great weather below 11k and a wonderful night out beneath the stars. Bug and Greg are really solid partners and I appreciated Greg speaking up when he had a bad feeling (which was more than borne out) and how we acted as a team.

 

Cheers Mates!

 

[fenderfour]

That is one bitchin photo.

[sk]

 

sorry greg I would not have been able to help find sag in the sky. I can tell you it is your rising sign though

 

(hmm I think any way )

Edited April 20, 2004 by Muffy_The_Wanker_Sprayer

[Greg_W]

 

sorry greg I would not have been able to help find sag in the sky. I can tell you it is your rising sign though

 

(hmm I think any way )

 

Thanks, Muffy. (Someone actually asked me that the other day.)

[Bug]

 

sorry greg I would not have been able to help find sag in the sky. I can tell you it is your rising sign though

 

(hmm I think any way )

 

Thanks, Muffy. (Someone actually asked me that the other day.)

What are you doing posting at that time of the morning? Don't you have a job you're supposed to get to?

[Greg_W]

 

sorry greg I would not have been able to help find sag in the sky. I can tell you it is your rising sign though

 

(hmm I think any way )

 

Thanks, Muffy. (Someone actually asked me that the other day.)

What are you doing posting at that time of the morning? Don't you have a job you're supposed to get to?

 

Me? No, I'm unemployed, 14, and irresponsible. How do you think I got so many posts?

[Billygoat]

 

Snickers must be worried about getting hooked...