Almost Ready!

Anyone remember that flood that happened way back in 2006? There was a little damage to some areas of the park, with roads, trails and even whole campgrounds being damaged or disappearing entirely. The lower part of the Glacier Basin trail was one area that was heavily affected by the flooding, and for the last few years NPS trail crews along with hundreds of volunteers have been working almost nonstop on the new re-route of the trail.
Now to the fun part...
The first mile of the new trail is almost ready to be opened! Trail crews are working on the finishing touches like some beautiful bridges to keep your feet dry crossing creeks, and rock walls that not only look cool but actually add to the stability of the trail. They should have the trail open soon, although the actual opening date has not been set, so until they actually open it please respect the closed area so crews can work uninterrupted to get projects finished. For now enjoy some of these photos that rangers were able to take during our sneak preview the other day. Stop by the White River ranger station for the all the latest information on the Glacier Basin trail, or any other trail for that matter.
If you happen to come across a trail crew out working be sure to thank them for all the hard work they do on our many miles of trails here at Mount Rainier.
As for conditions on the upper mountain these days everything is in spectacular condition. Many groups have been out climbing and skiing all over the mountain from Ptarmigan and Liberty Ridges to the standards such as the DC and Emmons. All reports have been of excellent conditions. The sun has been out, winds have been mild, and fun is being had all over, so check out some of the new route updates get your gear together and come climb with us!

Unique visitor at Grand Portage State Park

We had a unique visitor today at the state park where I work. It was a rather chilly and blustery day, but that did not seem to deter this intrepid little woodpecker. He spent most of the afternoon pecking at the trunk of a fallen Spruce tree. He also apparently was not bothered by my presence, as I was only about 10 feet away from him when I made this picture. My first thought was that it was a Black-backed Woodpecker, but I have since been corrected and am told that it is an American Three-toed Woodpecker. Whatever he is, he sure was a pretty little bird and was a lot of fun to watch!

The Outdoor Retailer Show SLC

I'm back in SLC. Hopefully for a few days of climbing and to see the newest toys. I'll update this blog post as often as possible over the next few days as I explore the show. Check back when you have time to see what I think are going to be the cool new toys for next fall.





If there is anything specific you want to see, let me know and I'll try to track it down.





The new Batura! New zipper, should be a big improvement, which is not the TZip I first saw. Most importantly to mean totally new lace system. Thatshould add some stiffness to the cuff and again be a big improvment on the new boot. I'll know more soon on this one. But it looks very good. I've had a love-hate relationship with this boot. But the basic design is literally time proven so I know it can be done very well.



Previous comments on the 1st gen. Batura;



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//04/la-sportivas-batura.html



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//04/scarpa-phantom-guide-vs-la-sportiva.html





















The new BD mono...lwt 900g and very cool. Still in prototype form and not being shown at this OR. But very close to productionand should be available early next winter. Buuuutt! I' ll be climbing on these while I am here in SLCand in Chamonix next month. Very exciting.





First crampon I have actually seen that does fits the Scarpa Ultra. Obviously some serious thought went into these guys.







Just a couple of the new things I saw today. I'll get much more content up in the morning.

Grivel, La Sportiva, Wild Things, Brooks Range, Westcomb, Arcyeryx, Boreal, Black Diamond, OutDry, Kuhl, Petzl were the players today.

I'm really excited to see Wild Things back and into hard core alpine climbing again, clothing and packs!

The clothings lines for us as climbers are going to be a signifigantchange.

I was one of the first into Gortex back in '76/'77. If it does really work as well as they say, POLARTEC Neoshell, is going to make an even bigger impression than Goretex did originally.I have a buddies that have been climbingfor a full year in Neoshell nowand they are impressed."The answer."

Neoshell is a super lwt, 4 x stretchy softshell that is water proof and more breathable than any thing pevious by a good amount.

Wild Things Guide pack



New Camp tools...can you say Ergo?



Super lwt touring crampon from Camp...very cool.



Boreal Fruit boot with Black Diamond Raptor....which willnow a stainless version BTW.

Carbon fiber mid sole....more to come on these as well.





Brooks Range which has a ton of neat things I'll be writing about and using...two man bivy sack here.



New tools by Grivel :) $700 retail for the all carbon version $500 for these. Nice tool but a little pricey!



The Ueli Steck Wagner knife is pretty slick as expected...more coming.





Official word from Petzl this morning......new Quarks are shipping. Extra picks aren't going to be available until March. New Nomic and Ergo won't be available again until fall of for a new release of "improved" version.



Brooks Range's new clothings line

Petzl's new helmet colors

Trango's new ice tool.....which I seriously think will be pretty good in comparison to the "big boys"!





Zamberlan Mtn Boots....again another one I really think could do well in any comparisonAlways nice to see someone building stiff boots again.



More to come when I get home!

New Black Diamond Half Dome helmets and a bunch of new glove designs I really liked.

More Toddler Camping ..

Another last minute decision to make the most of time off and go camping. Packing for camping with Mirabelle always seems not worth it as we struggle to wrangle her and gear to pack in the morning of a trip. This usually has Jennifer second guessing our decision to go, and also has us leaving later than I'd prefer. Not to mention forgetting some things. (more on that later)



The idea was to drive up and secure a site at Tinkham campground off I90, then take a hike up to Denny Slide while Mirabelle takes her nap. Securing a site was not a problem and we soon took the short drive over to Denny Creek Trail Head for out hike.



Mirabelle is at an age where she does not want to be cooped up in the pack for a trip and enjoys doing some of the hiking on her own. (Although she is not at an age where she can keep from getting tuckered out pretty quickly.) She wanted out of the pack early and proceeded to inspect every rock leave and hole near the trail. She didn't want to sleep in the pack or the Ergo that we brought along as well. So we all soldiered on to the slide.







It was surprising to see so many people there early on a Friday afternoon. She got good and tuckered out there, and we continued up to Keekwulee Falls while she napped in the Ergo until we got back down to the slide. She did a fair amount of the hiking back to the car and then we headed back to camp where we needed to borrow a lighter to start our stove to make dinner.



After dinner we headed to the river where Mirabelle just had to get in and wade in the South Fork.






As you can tell from the jackets, the air was not warm.




After a breakfast of fresh picked red huckleberry oatmeal, we headed to Twin Falls State Park to get in another hike. Unfortunately, all the hiking Mirabelle did the previous day left her a little too tired to accomplish that hike and we cut the hike short just after the switchbacks leading closer to the falls.






Speedy little hiker

Tahoma Ski

During our recent spell of high pressure a group of local climbers made a rare winter ascent of the Tahoma Glacier and ski descent from the summit. Thanks to Doug Daniell for the report and photos.



I climbed and skied the Tahoma Glacier with a group of four from Seattle
on January 19-21. I wanted to share some conditions information and
beta for a winter approach from the west side of the mountain. We began
our ascent on the 19th from the Westside Road closure near the park
entrance. We were able to skin from the car (~2150') although coverage
was a few inches at best. We eventually joined Tahoma Creek and except
for a few creek crossings found easy travel. Camped to the west of
Glacier Island on a calm, mild night. On the 20th we skinned up on firm
snow to the glacier, passed a few icefalls on the right, and then
traversed left at 9K to a smooth ramp that led to camp at 10K. Enjoyed a
beautiful sunset and alpenglow on the slopes above.





Sometime before 5am on the 21st we roped up, dropped down to the
north to avoid some looming seracs, and then navigated crevasses and ice
debris to the base of Sickle. We decided on this variation to avoid
what looked like large swaths of glare ice on the main Tahoma. In the
Sickle we found good travel on shallow wind-packed powder and firmer
styrofoam, with patches of ice globs especially higher on the route.
Beautiful Rainier shadow at sunrise though we remained in the cold
ourselves. Brought pickets/screws but none were used. Definitely not a
route to tackle with much avy danger - saw lots of evidence of sluffs
and maybe a well-weathered crown or two. The rest of the way to the
summit was a slog as usual. Great views from Jefferson to Baker, though
the Puget Sound was covered in fog and clouds.



The ski down was a hodgepodge of snow conditions - terrible off the
summit, some nice smooth patches below Liberty saddle, fun steep skiing
through the Sickle, thousands of feet of wind-effect down the glacier,
and then occasionally breakable crust down to the creek. Three of us
completed the full descent and one had a major binding failure high on
the route that entailed lots of walking and some improvised ski-strap
solutions to get out by 10pm.





FYI,
snowmobiles are allowed from the road closure on 410 to White River
Campground, Remember to self-register before your climb or overnight
stay whatever your route may be.

Bad Hair Pony

Stormy was having a bad hair day. I hadn't groomed him for a few days and he had been rolling in the dirt.

Cape Blanco

Monday, September 27, .. - - Cape Blanco State Park, eight miles northwest of Port Orford, Oregon.

Looking South from the top of the bluff.
This is why it is called Cape Blanco. As I drove up to the park, the sky changed from a beautiful blue to white and the temperature dropped eight degrees.

Within two hours the fog completely blanketed the area...