Freedom, Peace, Liberty. . .

Wishing everyone a safe and enjoyable Independence Day... (wish I could take credit for the graphic or even give credit, but I don't remember where it came from)

Annette Lake & Silver Peak

It was a warm 4th of July at Annette Lake. We could see trout swimming near the shore.

Tania, Michael, Michelle, Danielle, Becky, Bethany, Tina and Doug.





A gang of bloodthirsty mosquitos chased us up the mountain.





Traversing around the summit block.



Michael, Tania, Danielle, Bethany (and Doug) on top of Silver Peak.

Boot-ski race on the way down.

Mt. Rainier, Kautz Glacier

After climbing the easiest routes on Rainier, we wanted to climb something a little more challenging. So we decided to try the Kautz Glacier.

We crossed the Nisqually Glacier, then we went up a gully called "The Fan." It is full of rocks that break loose each day as it warms up.




We headed up the Wilson Glacier and found a great camp site just below the Turtle Snowfield. The rock wall would serve as a windbreak and there was running water close at hand. Unlike Camp Muir, we did not have 99 people camping right beside us. Mt. Adams in the background.





Jonathan in the kitchen area.





The main challenge of the Kautz Glacier route is a short section of 45 degree ice.










The shadow of Rainier just after sunrise. If you want to get the most out a sunrise, you need to be above 11,000' in elevation!





Jonathan finishing the fun part of the route.





Dave just above the icy section.







One of several large crevasses on the upper mountain.








Dave and Jonathan on the summit. The upper mountain was really windy and covered by a cloud cap.










Doug (holding onto his hood) and Jonathan. We took pictures and headed right back down.










Jonathan found a hidden crevasse on the way down!









Here are 3 tired and hungry climbers just a couple of hours from the car and some real food. Jonathan was able to summit an intermediate route for his first attempt on Rainier! It was fun to climb something new and challenging in this awesome part of creation.

More on Shells....

I am likely the last person to test shell garments. I admittedly don't use shell garmentsin my own climbing very often. More likely something I would use skiing on the lifts or in the back country or for intentionally stripped down quick ascents in winter.



The biggest reason I don't use shells climbing generally is I intentionally try to climb in good weather. If that isn't possible I prefer cold weather where the moisture that I do see is snow and not rain.

If nothing else this mostly miserabletrip reminded me of the importance,"stay dry to stay warm".



Doug climbing in the Mountain Hardware DRYSTEIN and a NWAlpine hoody





So as I sat on a picnic table on day one of the "shell shoot out" and the rainconstant and seemingly never endingyou can imagine my excitement to get this demo over with. If it weren't for the amount of planning by all involved andtwo of my climbing partners willing totake the time to help me out it wouldn't have gotten done. A hearty thanks to all!



To do this test and get as much feed back as possible we sorted out base layers and pants so that all of use were using a similar set up.



Top and bottom base Layers were Cabela's E.C.W.C.SThermal Zone Polartec Power Dry built of three different Polartec fabrics.



Next up were the excellent soft shell climbing pants and lwt pile Hoodies from NWAlpine.



We had60g Primaloft andCorelofthoodies along one each fromArcteryx, the Atom Lt,from RAB, the Xenon and from Brooks Range CirroHoody.



Expecting to eventually be high on Rainier we also brought RAB Infinitydown jackets. They were intentionally part of Doug's and my sleeping system as were using the Feathered Friends Vireo. I got a chuckle when we all climbed into the tent the second night. Weand all the gear were wetand the temps were dropping. Lee pulled on his Infinityand snuggled up in a F.F's Swallow.



I'll be doing follow up blogs on all the gear I mentioned above.



For the shells? It became obviouson day one that some of the newestsoft shell technologyI hadwanted to testfor breathability againstthe neweststretch water proofgear wasn't going to happen.



It was simply too wet. Too much rain, with a measured 2" on day one and we had yet to leave the parking lot. Other hard shells I wanted to take didn't show up in time. So we'll have to do the shell test again I suspect. And a serious look at soft shells isobvious one as well.



The soft shell topsstayed in the truck on this one and rightfully so to be fair.







Here are the jackets we did take in:



Outdoor Reasearch's Axiom jacket cut from a stretch water proof breathable version of *Gore-Tex’s Active Shell* 13.7oz Large



Westcomb's APOC jacket cut from Polartec's stretch waterproof breathable *NeoShell* 17.4oz XL



Marmot's HYPER jacket cut from stretch waterproof breathable technology, *MemBrain® Strata 100% Nylon Stretch* 13.4oz XL



Mountain Hardware's DRYSTEIN jacket cut from their stretch, water proof, breathable *Dry Q Elite* 18.7 oz XL



RAB's Neo Stretch Jacket cut from Polartec's stretch waterproof breathable *NeoShell* and 18.6oz XL



Day one. Short day just getting organized and trying to figure out the weather window on Rainier. We finally gave up on that and just decided to test gear and if possible get a little climbing in on a tiny bit of snow and ice on Observation Rock if we could stay dry and motivated through the weekend. All of us just picked out what ever garments we thought appropriate that day for setting up the big "base camp" style tent, and dinner.



Doug and Igravitated to the RAB Infinitydown jackets. Lee had brought his own Goretex down jacket. Even in the rain all three were cozy setting up our "base camp", sorting gear and getting organized. The RAB InfinityisPertex® Quantum 10D ultra lightand was never intended to be a rain jacket.



But in this case it worked much better than expected. From this experience the RAB Infinity Endurance is the next down jacket I'll own.



More here on Pertex:



http://www.pertex.com/



I had thought we all would have jumped on the 60g synthetics right away. I knew better and still went for the down. More on that later.



Doug grabbed the Mountain Hardware DRYSTEIN. Lee theOutdoor Reasearch AXIOM. And me, having first dibs out of the bunch had already grabbed the Marmot HYPER.



As much as I like the Hyper after the first 4 hours in the rain on day two I have to confess it is not in the same league as the other three fabrics we used. With ice water running down my shoulder blades I reluctantly acknowledged my mistake and gave up on the Hyper and switched to mystand, Westcomb's APOC in Neoshell.



The point was clearly made. In these conditions you needed serious rain gear. If you were hunkered down and not having to move, commercial fishing rain gear would have beenmore appropriate



Now it was time to see if I could dry out wearing a garment made of Neoshell. Just how breathable is Neoshell?Remember we were all in soft shell pants.Somy lower body was damp and my upper layer of Cabella's E.C.W.C.S now wet before I changed jackets. By the time I turned in that evening everything was still damp but I was warm and drying out on top. Only my socks and boots were still truly wet...from the water running down my legs.



My soft shell pants had seen a lot of use comparedto the shiny new NWAlpine pants Lee and Doug were using. Because of the new DWR coatings on their pants they stayed drier and it showed.No water in their boots! Water still beaded up on their pants andclearly it did not on mine. Pays to remember you need to re-treat soft shells on a regular basis if you want to maintain the water resistance.

I guess it should be no surprise, but it wasfor me...again.



These are the real players from what I have seen to date.

Reliable shell gear that is stretchy, breathable and truly water proof came down to this:





*Gore-Tex’s Active Shell*





*Polartec's NeoShell*





*Mountain Hardware'sDry Q Elite*







More to come on the subtle differences we could perceive using them.

What happened to all of the winter climbers?

This winter has delivered some rather amazing weather and snow conditions. As we've noted, Mount Rainier has seen its fair share of extended snowstorms and extreme avalanche conditions. But lately, that trend hasn’t been the case. Over the past few weeks, the mountain has largely been blessed with beautiful days and clear nights. Swarms of visitors have been making the most of these sunny skies, warmer temps and rather calm weather. Ski and snowshoe trails lace the Paradise area and virtually every prominent vista has a few down-hill tracks below them.

Even the boot and ski track up to Camp Muir has been pretty deep on recent weekends. But what’s noticeable is the lack of boot and ski tracks venturing beyond Camp Muir. With only a few weeks left in March and the remaining days of winter rapidly slipping away, we’re wondering "What happened to all of winter climbers?"

During the last "normal" winter '05-'06 (loosely defined as Dec 1 March 31) 185 climbers attempted the summit on Mount Rainier. This winter ('07-'08) our climbing attendance has precipitously dropped to a lowly 42 attempts! One wonders, is this a trend? After reviewing the past six years (with the exception of last winter when the primary road was entirely closed), the next lowest attendance was '03-'04 when only 104 climbers attempted to summit. That number is more than double what we're seeing this year. So what gives?

Of the 42 climbers this winter, only 6 have been successful (a 14.3% success rate). That success rate falls within the historic average during the same time range (Dec 1 – March 30). The winter high on Mount Rainier was 23.3% during the '06-'07 season (oddly enough when the road was closed) and the low was 1.6% in '05-'06.

The big story, however, is the notable drop in the number of climbers attempting the summit. This data backs up the anecdotal observations of those who frequent the Park. They say that people are just not coming in as large numbers as they used to. With the exception of a few busy weekends this winter, the park has not seen the overall visitation that is normally expected.

Taking into account this season’s well publicized avalanche concerns, this is somewhat understandable. Let’s face it, December 2007 and most of have been a tough year for positive Rainier press… The winter started with one avalanche fatality and was promptly followed by numerous road closures and other warnings about how high and extreme avalanche conditions were. Certainly, the media picked up the tempo. There was plenty of coverage in every major newspaper including even the New York Times.

At the main visitor centers, the most common questions received relate to the weather and avalanche conditions. Many people are calling to check if "the Mountain" is even ‘OPEN’. YES, "the Mountain" is "OPEN" and by all accounts "the Mountain" is looking pretty darn good on these recent clear days.

So, here are those climbers stats for the past few winters. These cover December 1 - March 31. By the way, we normally consider winter attempts from Dec 21 to March 20 (or whatever the exact "winter" season is).

2007- - 42 climbers - 6 summited
2006-2007 - 17 climbers - 4 summited
2005-2006 - 185 climbers - 3 summited
2004-2005 - 208 climbers - 32 summited
2003-2004 - 104 climbers - 4 summited
2002-2003 - 230 climbers - 36 summited
2001-2002 - 137 climbers - 14 summited

As a reminder, the uphill gate at Longmire closes nightly at 5:30 pm. The downhill gate closes the road at 7:00 pm. Generally, the Longmire gate re-opens every morning after the road has been cleared of snow. Sometimes that's as early as 8 am, but during storms, it can be as late as noon! Call the NPS general information line at (360) 569-2211 and select #1 for road and weather conditions. If you’re coming up to climb, check out the registration page too. Keep in mind that there is NO self registration this winter.

Thanks to Monica Magari for her help with crafting much of this post! Photo of Eben Reckord heading towards the upper Nisqually Icefall by Ben Kurdt.

Cactus Flower

I have these cactus in a large clay pot. Each year they beautiful blossoms. Sometimes in the morning when the sun is on them just right they get a yellow cast to them that even comes out in the photos. Not sure why.

Just When I Thought I Was Out...

I had come to terms with my road cycling days being over for the season. The Northeast Bicycle Club women's rides ended with the summer. I no longer had afast roadbike in my possession. The days grew short, reducing precious daylight hours. And it snowed in October. I was content fitting in a quick fixed gear ride here and there. Soon winter would start in earnest and take that away from me as well. And I was okay with that, I thought; I was ready.





But boy, was I lying to myself. Putting together the Moser this late in the Fall, I planned to take it on a couple of test rides, then put it on the trainer. But the bike's dynamite handling snapped me out of my "waiting for winter" stupor and made me want to ride, ride, ride. Somehow I found the time despite the limited daylight, and still I wanted more.






I knew that the Ride Studio Cafe had recently started offering a weekly Women's Ride, which they planned to continue for as long as the weather permitted. Their mixed gender rides have a reputation for being tougher than described, so I never worked up the courage to join those over the summer. Would the women's rides be more accessible? I was nervous, but ultimately felt that I had no choice: my bike was demanding to go. Can't argue with a bike.





I arrived early to have some coffee and take a break from riding to the ride itself. A few minutes later another woman walked in. Gosh, she looked familiar. We said hello and she introduced herself as Pamela. I realised that she was Pamela Blalock - a rather famous New England cyclist, who has done Paris-Brest-Paris and cycled up Mt. Washington multiple times. Suddenly I had doubts that I belonged on this ride. But I tried to keep calm, curiosity overcoming my fear of riding with serious cyclists.





It helped that I already knew the ride leader, Patria (shown here as Wonderwoman on Halloween). A strong cyclist with a road racing background, she also has a talent for putting people at ease - handy when dealing with neurotics like me. Two other women arrived, making it five of us in total. Shrugging off the morning chill, we set off on a very similar route to the one I had gotten accustomed to on the NEBC paceline rides.The ride itself however, was entirely different.




For one thing, it was not a paceline ride but more of a social ride. We rode in pairs or clusters and talked the entire time, as opposed to cycling in a tight single-file procession while listening to the leader's instructions. I am unaccustomed to (and fearful of!) this more social kind of group ride, but got used to it fairly quickly. I noticed that I am a lot more comfortable riding side by side with another cyclist in close proximity than I used to be. Our abilities were all over the spectrum, which kept the pace of the ride manageable. Each of our bikes was different as well: steel, titanium, aluminum and carbon fiber were all represented, as were different type of shifter setups.






The funny thing is that I don't have much of a memory of the ride itself, since all of it was spent in conversation. The miles rolled by quickly and the weather was ridiculously gorgeous for the first day of December. In the end I wanted more, which is always a good note on which to end an activity. I am now debating whether to attempt the RSC mixed gender ride, or to leave well enough alone and stick to the women's rides.



I have an annoying tendency to get overexcited about things that I enjoy doing, and I know I am setting myself up for a terrific let-down if I get all roadcycling-crazy again and then bang, it starts snowing. But gosh, I can't help it - I want to ride!

Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center II

On Friday, October 10th, the second reincarnation of the Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center was opened to the public and dedicated to the highly regarded and revered Washington State Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson. Funding for the original saucer-shaped visitor center (check out the image to the right - a distinct likeness of the old JVC and a flying saucer taking off into space) was guaranteed much to his hard-work and dedication, so it was only fitting that the new visitor center also carry his name. Peter Jackson (the son of Henry Jackson, not the director) spoke at the ceremony, highlighting his father's love of wilderness, his desire to protect our country's most precious spaces, and to create enjoyable ways for people to learn from and enjoy these amazing places throughout our country and this state. The ceremony drew big-wigs from Washington (D.C. that is), including the Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne, Representative Norm Dicks of Washington's Sixth Congressional District, and the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Parks. Other distinguished guests included local Nisqually tribal elder Zelma McCloud, National Park Service Pacific West Regional Director Jon Jarvis, the aforementioned Peter Jackson of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Mount Rainier National Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga, an elder representative from the Consolidated tribes and bands of the Yakama Nation; yours truly of course and another famed NPS persona, Mike (Gator) Gauthier, dressed to the nine's in his class "A" uniform, and several hundred other attendees at the ceremony.

The new 'green', energy efficient JVC II is architecturally designed to match its surroundings and the historical park style, referred to as 'Park Service Rustic'. The feeling of the building when you first enter is dictated mostly by the space, due to the height of the ceiling and massive windows that line the entirety of the wall, naturally lighting the surroundings. However, it could also have something to do with the weird climber want-to-be mannequin placed high atop the climbing display. A feeling of comfort is there too. Above you are post and beam rafters, held together with cast iron fixtures and signs made from a menagerie of dark metal and wood. Overall, I was impressed and I think the sentiment was shared by most.
If you missed the grand opening, fret not, as you will have ample opportunity to view the building on weekends and most holidays, including the winter/holiday break from December 20th through January 4th. And as has been the tradition up at Paradise for many years, Ranger-led snowshoe walks will begin at the new JVC (snow permitting) on December 20th. The two public walks (12:30, 2:30) are approximately 1.5 miles in duration and last less than two hours and are moderate to strenuous. The walks are an amazing opportunity to experience the Park and Mountain in the wintertime. The adjacent photo was taken this past winter as I was returning from one of my group snowshoe walks - a beautiful view of the old JVC at sunset.
The opening of the JVC II means one more VERY important thing....re-opening our beloved Climbing Information Center (CIC) up at Paradise next summer. The CIC will function as it did before; climbing rangers staffing the desk will issue climbing permits and sell climbing passes, provide up-to-date route and snow conditions, weather forecasts, advice and as can only be expected from climbers (and NO ONE else) when they are awake and moving at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday - perhaps some witty banter as well. See you all on the Mountain!

Local crag feature "Irishtown" past and present

Well the start of the winter season /11 is underway and slowly I'm getting back into the groove of using tools and crampons on rock and ice again. Like with most previous local seasons, our first few days are spent scratching around on dismal ice, but mostly rock. Yes the cold has hit the Laurel Highlands and the ice is building fast, but the mixed climbing is our best option right now and getting even better. We really haven't seen many climbers out yet, but I'm sure this weekend will have ice climbers out at the easy access crags. With the early season mixed climbing in such good shape, I've decided to try to increase the amount of opportunity for ice climbers to try their hand at the abundance of mixed options we have in the area. I decided to revisit a climb that I top roped last season at a local crag named Irishtown. I've dubbed the route Dynamite.It's located on the lower wall at Irishtown.

equipping the route "Dynamite" at Irishtown

You can see footage of the climb at the end of this short Irishtown video by Ray Burnsworth of Wildfilm productions. Its the last climb of the clip. Now all you young whippersnappers don't be laughing too hard at the vintage '90s climbing attire. This clip shows some of the ice at Irishtown and theaboveroute is located on the lower cliff (the first of the two walls.)

This crag is an old abandoned Limestone mine that seeps water out over the front forming several nice lines. There is a lower and upper wall. The lower wall is obvious, but the upper wall is reached by going right of the lower wall andfollowing the trail to the upper wall. Its about a 5min. walk. The center of the Lower Wall is highlighted by an old mine opening, withmanymean lookingdaggers hanging off the lip. Use Caution - The warm air seeping out of the mine prevents thesolid attachment of the sickles hanging over the mouth. THEY FORM AND FALL CONTINUALLY all season long, so be careful!Since it's an old quarry/mine and some of the rock isn't the best quality, it makes for a fun mixed and drytooling crag whenother ice isn't fully formed. There are several pure ice lines which have been the main attraction of this crag in past years. Just to the right of the quarry opening is the ice route Mouth of Madness WI4-5.One of the earlier climbs of the cliff which was first climbed via top rope in the mid '80's. Not until recent years have the mixed options become so apparent. This season I hope to establish some new bolted mixed climbs to expand the options at this fun roadside crag. Another quality line at the main cliff is called The ProwWI3+,M4. Its located to the right of Mouth Of Madness. It ascends several shorter vertical sections before pulling through the rock. Finishes at the trees. You can also traverse left and finish that way if the overhanging rock intimidates you. I highly recommend this line.

Laura Hahn seconding The Prow WI4- M4 Feb

The Prow's conditions today

Myself on the Prow '09-'10 season

One of the most common email questions I receive is: I'm a newer ice climber, where do you recommend I go? Irishtown is a great choice. The Upper tier is home to several nice, (but short 15'-30') WI 3 to 3+ routes that areusually easy to top rope or great for a newer leader to get their feet wet. Here's a few photos of their condition as of today.

The main central flow of the upper Irishtown wall

Some short mixed options exist on the upper wall as well

The rightmost flow of the upper Irishtown wall

There you have it a brief introduction to Irishtown. By this weekend most lines should be in reasonable shape for this time of year. So come out to Southwestern PA and enjoy cragging at Irishtown.

Good-Bye to Dining "Au Velo"

I am not a summer person and will take the cooler temperatures of autumn and spring any time. But one thing I will miss about the warm days, is being able to eat outdoors with our bicycles. Remarkably, this has been possible to orchestrate at most of our favourite restaurants and cafes. But considering how quickly the temperatures are dropping, the days of dining "au velo" are numbered.

Here Marianne and Miles stand in the alleyway of a Harvard Square cafe, right behind our table. No doubt this is one of their last outdoor dining experiences of .