The higher you fly...

How do you take out old fence posts? With a shop crane, of course! There's a fine line between using a wrong tool for the task, and using a tool creatively/unconventionally. I think I was pushing it pretty close to that line.

Just came back from Mt Baker. This time it was a team of three - Rusty Slaney, Eric Baisch, and myself climbing the Coleman/Deming route in 2 days with the camp by the Black Buttes. The route is in good condition with barely a crevasse in sight. The pumice ridge is still completely covered with snow, as is the summit. The snow was quite solid on the way up, but softened up to post-holing consistency on the way down. In the end, it took us about 6 hours from camp to summit and 4 hours back. Nothing to brag about, but we can consider this a good learning experience. [Album]

I just got a new toy in the mail -- a package of brand new cute colorful DMM Torque nuts. Yes, they do sound like cow bells. Cuteness aside, they do work as fairly effective camming devices. Compared to cams, they do take more thought to place. And they are definitely harder to keep in place when they are in camming mode (and won't hold as a passive wedge). In fact, placements looked more secure when I put a nut in opposition just to keep the sling tight and the nut engaged in camming mode at all times. So, yes, those springs in cams... they are worth their weight in gold That said, these torque nuts do have their place, and I'm looking forward to using them some more in the near future.

Yesterday I had a chance to take those nuts out to play. Pictures below. Yes, the anchor is set in low-quality rock. Good cracks that would accept the nuts were scarce, and the whole point of the exercise was to play with the camming action of the nuts, so I settled for what I could find. After all my life did not depend on the anchor. FWIW, all placements held body weight with some bouncing.

Sherri, Toby & I went to Lake 22. We had very little free time, so had to pick a short hike. It turned out great. The autumn colors are breathtaking. Warm dinner by the lake tasted great, and Toby behaved himself really well. That's probably the last hike for the season. The snowshoes are coming out next.

Here's what happens when a toaster malfunctions and does not turn off as it should. Yes, that white residue is what's inside a small BC fire extinguisher. Yes, it's a royal pain to clean.Yes, it works very well (as did the fire alarm). And no, I am not going to use it again unless absolutely necessary.

For the first test of my new pack, I decided to load it up close to the maximum I ever intend to carry -- an overnight winter trip worth of gear, plus rope and climbing essentials. Everything fit inside, and the pack weighed in at 32 lbs, including fuel and water. In fact, I can shave off about 2 lbs more if I try hard enough. Mt Si was the testing destination. The first impression is that the pack was surprisingly comfortable, though the hip belt is definitely a lot longer than I would've wanted. I've cinched it as tight as it gets, and it's just barely good enough. It sits fairly well on the hips (though does tend to travel down a bit), feels very good (albeit probably with a bit too much pressure) on the shoulders, hugs my back, does not sway, and just overall is enjoyable to wear. I did sweat quite a bit, but this has little to do with presence or absence of aircore/airscape, etc. technologies. I generally sweat a fair bit, and I was doing about 90% exertion on the way up. Here's what ended up in my winter pack(rounded to nearest 10g):

It's hard to come up with an excuse to get a new backpack. And once you get the excuse, however slim it may be, you really want to pick the "perfect one". I am pretty sure there's a dozen of backpacks that would do the job just fine. But I just could not resist the temptation to spend hours doing research, first online, then in person. Every backpack from a handful of manufacturers was considered. In the end, Osprey Talon 44 was purchased. This is an overview of the search process. The first impressions will come in the next post.

Finally got to summit Mt Daniel. The previous attempt last year had to be cut short for a number of reasons, so I only got to the East Summit. According to the map, the East Summit is the true summit, but in reality the West Summit appears to be the one. So, this time we got to the West Summit, and since we were at it, the North and the Middle as well. I did not bother bringing my camera though -- I though the weather would be so bad it would be pointless to bring one, and I do not have a good weatherproof case for it. So, if I can get a picture off of Matt's iPhone or Tim's camera, I'll post it here. [Update] Matt has shared his photos. Thanks Matt! Your iPhone rules!

A tie rod on my Honda Accord went out. Again. The usual problem -- the rubber boot cracked, water and dirt got in, the joint got damaged. Knowing that my local dealership is going to attempt highway robbery if I were to show up there, I bought a replacement online. So far, so good. Since I was at it, I figured I may as well replace all the cracked rubber bushings on the ends of the stabilizer bar -- they were in a pretty sorry shape for quite a long time, so may as well replace them, right? So, I ordered all of the rubber bushings as well. Total -- about $80.

Just came back from Ingalls Peak. I was third on the wait list on Wednesday, and by Friday enough people canceled for me to make it on the climb! Never give up hope We had a fairly strong team, so the whole climb - car to summit took just a bit over 5 hours for the last rope team.

The forecast was for 0% chance of rain, but the previous night was drizzly/rainy with high winds. In the morning when I crawled out of the bivy sack I found stars in the sky... and still a steady drizzle. How's that possible?  Higher up it wasn't raining; instead a bit of snow got deposited overnight. I suppose the summer season is just about over.

All in all, nice beautiful comfortable route with breathtaking views and nice rock. And, as the icing on the cake, the climb leader finally allowed basic students to wear rock shoes! Yay! Not that you need them on this climb, but it's just a good feeling to put your foot in the crack and have the confidence that it'll stick

[Album]

- Wow, that was a nice hike

- Yeah, quite steep and strenuous too.

- I know, but what a view from the summit! I wonder what's that towering hunk of rock 1/2 mile in a distance?..

- (some other, more knowledgeable hiker) That's Mt Forgotten.

- Mt. Forgotten? And what are we standing on then?

- (that same knowledgeable hiker) Dunno -- just some bump on a ridge.

That's roughly the dialog we had on what we thought was the summit of Mt Forgotten. The real summit was perhaps another mile and a scramble (S4/T4, but definitely overrated -- my timid dog made it to the summit) away.[Album]

Three years after the last Mt Maker trip I have finally managed to come back. This time around I was climbing with some of my acquaintances from the Mountaineers club -- Matt, Beth and Colleen. I suppose joining the Mountaineers is starting to pay dividents. I joined not so much to go on trips organized by the Mountaineers, as to find people to climb with. And this summer I have managed to do just that, on several occasions.[Album]

Yesterday I climbed Kangaroo Temple. Great rock, easy approach, excellent weather, breathtaking views more than made it up for the painfully long drive there & back. As an added bonus, a family of about 6-8 mountain goats followed us for a long time. We ran into them at a pass that happens to be the furthest point in the direction of Kangaroo Temple that can be seen from the highway. They followed us from there all the way to the base of the actual climb. When we went up they hung out by our backpacks for a couple of hours, constantly raining down piles of loose rubble onto the trail below. I presume they
were expecting hand-outs. [Album]

After a long wait, and 2 failed attempts I have finally summited Mt Rainier. It was a pleasant, though anticlimactic climb. Much more pleasant than my guided summit attempt (note to self: avoid guided trips in the future). Much simpler than just about any of my previous climbs. The weather was excellent, the route was in great condition, the team was friendly. [Album]

Yesterday Matt Simerson & I went up to Sahale Peak. I've been wanting to go there for a little while now. Originally there was a Mountaineers climb scheduled for the same peak on the same day, but the waiting list was too long, long enough to be just about hopeless. So I sent the word out, got a few replies, the list of interested parties eventually whitted down to just Matt&I. Not joining an "official" Mountaineers climb turned out to be a good plan -- the "official" climb got canceled, but we made it up just fine and with the most excellent weather to boot. Being a 2-man team we decided on a small adjustement to the route -- instead of the Quien Sabe Glacier route we switched to the Sahale Arm route to minimize glacier travel.

The weather was absolutely perfect. The trail all the way to Cascade Pass is a graded, low-angle comfortable super-highway padded with a healthy dose of ground-up needles and other forest vegetation. Walking on that stuff is pure pleasure. The route to the base of the summit pyramid took 5 hours, despite the leasurely pace, chattering the entire way, stopping for a theological discussion, to admire the scenery, and to take a gazillion pictures every few minutes.

There isn't much of a Sahale Glacier. You cross it before you notice it. The summit pyramid is fairly small, but is exposed. We placed a few nuts for the peace of mind. We did not exactly follow any of the described scramble routes which might have been a contributing factor to feeling the need for protection. The scramble itself is simple. Screwing up bad enough to fall off probably takes talent, but if you were to fall, it could be rather unfortunate news. Matt seems to mind exposure less than I do, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Even though we left the trailhead at 5 am, we weren't the first on the summit, as this picture illustrates (Yes, this is the very same summit block, and what you see is the rappel sling ) [Album]