19hrs and 8,447ft in gain, Mt Stuart - West Ridge C2C

Link to my video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1s8aeQspWw

Best part of climbing north of the polar circle is that you can climb basically whenever you want and don’t have to worry about darkness at all!

This is a summit close to Svolvaer photo taken at 03:00

Had dream weather up on Baker this weekend. Zero wind, zero clouds, zero people on the summit outside our group. 10/10.

Here are some of my favorites from over the years:

1) On Mt Shasta I passed a guy at 3 AM that was climbing in a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, flannel, jeans, and a tall wooden walking stick like out of Lord of the Rings. Never saw him again that day but saw his stick on my way down broken in half.
2) Found myself once climbing a rock face in the Sierra backcountry to come upon a woman wearing a giant banana costume yet fully geared up still. Needless to say, she crushed a 5.11a like it was a 5.5.
3) During a crevasse rescue class on Rainier, I happily volunteered to be dropped down 30 ft on a rope and painful Alpine harness not knowing that no one could hear me screaming about how much pain I was in around my nether regions. I initially thought it would be a 5 minute "rescue" but took like 20+ minutes as they were slow to go over everything. Luckily no permanent child bearing damage.
4) Approached a remote winter summit only to find a guy taking a birthday suit selfie as I crested. The best part is that he didn't flinch at all and asked if I could take a picture from the distance and then just moved on his merry way.
5) On a ski mountaineering adventure when I was younger I made my first turns at the top of a pseudo "no fall zone" and somehow hit a hidden rock below a few inches of snow and one of my skis popped off. It quickly turned in to two skis off as I tried to recover and me headed down the mountain like a waterslide feet first. After about 30 ft I reach a cliff and off I went. Learned a lot that day. Funny because:
a) I landed 30 ft down in soft snow with no injuries.
b) I was filming the entire thing with a helmet cam AND my buddy above me caught a 2nd perspective and saw me go off the cliff with some colorful commentary.

NOTE: I'm not trying to support risky/dumb behavior with this post but just a little fun.

Glacier Peak is Washington's most remote major volcano, standing at 10,544 ft, and requiring a 35 mile round trip and 11k ft of climbing to access its summit. The route starts in an old growth forest floor, and works its way across dramatic ridgelines, glacial basins, and high alpine glaciers.

Being so isolated and elusive, I was drawn to its mystical character, and spent the last 8 years and over four separate attempts to bag it (previous attempts thwarted by storms, avvy risk, and crevasses)

We two-day'd the classic route (~32 hours), staying at Glacier gap, getting a 4:15am start and reaching the summit at 7:30 am on 7/18. I believe mid-July is going to generally be the best conditions for a successful climb. Stunning conditions, with some high winds on the upper mountain. We did not rope up, and took the Cool/Gerdine glacier route after getting enough promising beta from climbers coming down that the glacier route was in stable conditions. We found the minimal risk worth it. I would expect the crevasses to begin opening up soon. Absolutely worth anyone's time if you're willing to put forth the massive effort to gain access to this precious heartland of the cascades.

Although I am still hobbling three days later, I am so grateful for the experience to be immersed in possibly the most beautiful part of the cascades, and am humbled by its ruggedness.

Last of the big 5 WA volcanos for me is Mt Baker, setting my sights on it soon!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for my first pair of mountaineering boots and I’m torn between the La Sportiva Trango Pro GTX and the La Sportiva Aequilibrium.

My goal over the next few years is to climb:
Toubkal
Kilimanjaro
Mont Blanc (via the Goûter route)

I also plan to do some winter hiking in the Tatras, but I don’t have any plans for technical ice climbing (at least not for now).

From what I’ve read, the Aequilibrium seems to be more comfortable for long approaches, while the Trango Pro is a bit stiffer and better in more technical terrain. The problem is that I can’t find the Aequilibrium in my size, but the Trango Pro is available.

Would the Trango Pro be overkill for my objectives, or would it still be a good choice? If you’ve used either of these boots on Toubkal, Kilimanjaro, or Mont Blanc, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience.
Thanks

Hi everyone, have been looking for recs based near the SF bay area (or greater northern CA, willing to drive if needed) for clubs or courses on introductory mountaineering skills.

I have a strong background in rock climbing, mostly boulder but am comfortable with single-pitch sport. Also a strong hiker and experienced in the Sierra. Would love to expand my skillset to more adventurous things, whether that be multipitch, trad, glacier or alpine climbing, or anything mountaineering.

Some examples I have found are Alpenglow Expeditions, Alpine Institute, or Saano Adventures. Any reviews for these or other recs would be super helpful!

I know a similar post was made a few years ago but the main rec, Mountaineering Connections, doesn't seem to be active.

Hello fellow mountaineers,

Wife and I are planning to climb to Capanna Margherita from Gniffeti hut on 19th of August this year.

If there is anyone who has the same plan but lacks a roped team for glacier traverse, please feel free to contact me for details in dm.

Since there is two of us, we would like one or two of you in order to have the safest possible experience for everyone. :)

Regarding the skills, we have finished winter mountaineering course and have glacier expirience from previous years of doing the sport. Of course, we are not mountain guide level of experts but we are also far from inexperienced.

Cheers! :)

A bummer that we missed out on the views but climbing up through the clouds has its own appeal

I scoured the internet for at least an hour beforehand for detailed reviews on these gloves, and it just appears non existent.

Use case: winter climbing in the white mountains, PNW volcanoes winter climbs, (not rainier) South American volcanoes. I will bring along Rab flux liner gloves, but likely will only use them on their own and not as actual liner gloves.

I climbed Unicorn Peak this past weekend and absolutely loved it; exactly what I am after in terms of difficulty, level of scrambling.

Has anyone climbed Unicorn and can give a good recommendation of something close to it? I have the Peggy Goldman Washington Scrambles book but have found direct beta to be better in the past.

I only have a Durston XMid2, I don't think it will be sufficient for my Rainier attempt in August.

What places rent mountaineering tents? Whittaker does not rent tents. Planning to fly into SEA so anywhere between there and Cougar Rock Campground.

Plan is to camp at Muir and Ingraham Flats.

Mitre Peak, Milford Sound 1692m. Couldn’t have picked a better window. Whiteout just cleared in time for summit 😮‍💨👌

The hike got very steep and had me on all fours, but it eventually got better towards the summit😂 10/10 hike for me, amazing views!

I’ve done all other 4 WA main volcanoes C2C this summer including rainier and we saved Gp for last. It’s gonna be nasty and brutal but any tips?

Amazing view hiking up to Refugio Vittorio Emanuele ll on our Gran pardiso summit. Enjoying the hike up and taking photos along the way.
Always appreciate any feedback
Insta: RockyG40 I will be posting more photos :D

Mid July Mt Shasta summit attempt. Had to turn back a mile from the summit due to altitude sickness and nausea. Biggest mistakes were no sleep and not acclimatizing at all. Will definitely try again with better prep.

I'm trying to bang out one of these two classics and I'd love to hear some stories and beta from people who have already done one of these routes.

I hear ice nine is rarely in these days but if it is that is the priority.

Hello,

I have some thoughts and uncertainties on the process of using rope on a ridge. I would appreciate if anyone more experienced could chime in and share his opinion on this. Sorry for terminology issues, I only know the german terms.

How it is commonly done (from my understanding)

When traversing a ridge, many teams decide to do this roped up. I have read people refer to this as simulclimbing and it looks similar to the short roping that guides do with their clients. From my understanding, the process works like this in theory:

After traversing the glacier leading to the ridge, the team shortens the rope distance between team members. The leader coils up the rope using something like a kiwi coil. While traversing the ridge, they switch between two modes:

1. On a moderate part of the route, the team simply scrambles while being connected to the rope that is dangling between them. The hope is that nobody falls, but that they can catch little slips.
2. When the section becomes difficult, a leader can climb up, create a belay (for example with a sling on a rock) and secure the rest of the party (for example with a HMS).

Why this might be dangerous

When I did my mountaineering course, my mentor told me that he is very skeptical of unguided, less experienced teams performing this technique. He sees many teams who just create a "Todesgemeinschaft" (one falls, everyone dies). The rope may create a false illusion of safety and dangling rope at your feet makes the scramble/climb more difficult.

Also, during my experience of the course, I really disliked scrambling while being roped up. I had to focus not jus ton my steps, but also on the person before and after me. To not accidentally pull on the rope or step on it. I would have much preferred to go unroped, except for the difficult sections where a real belay was used.

A possible solution?

I thought that maybe an alternative would be to bring a second rope that is just ~15m long. After the glacier, the 50m rope stay in the backpack. On the moderate section of the ridge, everyone scrambles unroped. Only in the difficult section, the leader quickly pulls out the 15m and uses it to belay. Due to its relatively short length, the time loss of pulling it out, coiling it up again is minimal compared to using the 50m rope.

What do you think of this strategy? Is there something about simulclimbing that I didn't catch in the course?

Edit:

Thank you to everyone sharing their insight. After some more research I found a video of the Austrian Alpine Club that explains really well how it is properly done, it also cleared up some misconceptions I had. Maybe it is useful for other inexperienced people like me.

https://youtu.be/U5H3S9bx5OI?si=BX4zSvH_PXGgC7iW