HARDCORE OUTDOOR-GEAR REVIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HUNTING, HIKING, SEARCH AND RESCUE, MILITARY: Raw Notes From The Field - Mt Rainier
Raw Notes From The Field - Mt Rainier
one of my favorite places. mount rainier. i had to steel this picture from img because you couldn't see much of the mountain while i was there. in fact it had been covered in clouds for more than a week according to the climbing rangers i talked to at camp muir. it has been a few years since i have been there and when i pulled into the parking lot at paradise i didn't recognize the place. the beautiful rolling, green meadows that were an apron around this big mountain are now covered in ten feet of snow. in fact, they are at 130% of their annual snow fall and it is only june. so much for global warming al.
it is strange now. the mountain seems to come right down to the parking lot and it makes the old inn seem tiny. no leisurely warm up hike to the steep steps you have to climb to get to muir, it is post holing from the very first step and the clouds were threatening to dump more the whole time.
i took a hard right at the guide service building and circled back around to where they do their arrest training. i donned crampons, traversed a steep ridge and then shot straight up the first big step and hung out at the solar bathroom for a while to watch people and see what gear they were using. a few surprises but mostly scarpa, la sportiva, koflach and lowas. talked with a number of rangers about the avilanche death that had happened a couple days before. a roped party of ten and a solo climber were hit. the rope team pulled themselves out ok but the solo guy was toast. no beacon and no body, yet. by the way, the climbing rangers are issued la sportiva nepals and they seem to like them.
i hung out and talked shop until it started to get dark and the weather closed in. strapped on my snowshoes and crashed on down to the visitors center to impress the tourists with my authentic, manly man stink. i felt great. no headache. my wind was good. i didn't feel the altitude at all. it was just one of those rare days where the engine was running perfectly and all the horsepower was getting to the rear wheels. glorious.
my gear list included lowa siberhorn gtx boots, bridgedale summit knee socks, under armour boxer briefs, rei lightweight mts zip t-neck, rei powerstretch half zip, sitka gear ascent pants, yates intructor belt, tad gear raptor event jacket, western mountaineering down flight jacket, or balaclava, hanz gloves, black diamond sabretooth crampons, msr ascent snowshoes with tails, black diamond traverse trekking poles, mountain smith pack, camelbak 100 oz water beast bladder, bullfrog 36 spf gel, banana boat lip balm, thermarest prolite 3 pad, olympus stylus digital camera, zeiss miniquick monocular, swiss army soldier knife, ray ban polarized sunglasses, gen 2 spot satellite messenger, garmin fortrex 401 gps, petzl tikka xp2 and e+lite headlamps, storm whistle,
i had an idea awhile back where i would go to the airport, check my ready to go pack, pop on an airplane, take a car to a notable hiking/climbing area and knock out a quick but meaningful one or two day gig. i call it jetpacking and the trick is to use the same gear list on all the trips except for crampons and snowshoes. my goal is to determine the best all around kit. so far i have done mt charleston (vegas) and rainier (seattle) and it is working out well
lowa slberhorn gtx boots were awesome with crampons and snowshoes or just by themselves even if they don't have an inner booty like the plastics
oh, i heard the koflach plastic boots are coming back next year
msr ascent snowshoes made the trip down easy and safe
broke in my new or crocodile gaiters. still don't seem to be able to get them to sell the tan ones to anybody but the military. why would you ignore selling a product to an entire segment of the market and open the door for a competitor like say kenetrek to fill the void. especially when they are already making the product? makes no sense
spot satellite messenger proves itself again to be an essential tool. and it is a good way to you actually did what you said you were going to do, where and when you said you did it
black diamond traverse trekking poles from whitaker mountaineering in ashford worked beautifully
which reminds me, just outside of the nisqually entrance to the park is a pretty little wide spot in the road called ashford. ashford is home to the famous whitaker clan and it's collection of mountaineering businesses. whitaker mountaineering sells and rents all the top notch equipment that you would need for a trip up the mountain. the adjacent basecamp bar and grill will stuff you full of tasty burgers, beer and pizza. rainier mountaineering international or rmi is one of the licensed guide services for mount rainier national park and then there is whitaker's bunkhouse lodge and cafe if you want to stay awhile. so before your summit attempt or after or both, stop by whitaker's. it is a one stop shop for rainier mountaineers
zeiss miniquick monocular came in very handy and is super light, small and easy to carry
stopped by feathered friends again this trip and met a new friend, lisa. she showed me some new stuff and told me that feathered friends will build their bags to customer specs which is very cool
she also introduced me to a couple of new things like the mammut mamook boots (old raichle), terra nova tents and the cilo line of backpacks. interesting. i have said before and I don't mind saying it again, feathered friends has the best collection of high end gear i have seen in one store. if you are ever in seattle, you have to make time to get over there and look around
while i was swapping out my tired old crocodile gaiters at the outdoor research (or) and found a shell that i had not looked at before called the elixir. soft exterior fabric, waterproof/vapor permeable gore-tex paclite, pit zips and a stand up collar with a separate lay down hood like on the arteryx beta ar jacket. it comes in an ether like greyish green that seems like it would blend into just about any environment
good thing i still have my old ray ban ski glasses because the julbo rep flaked out on me. that ok, i keep mispronouncing it and getting myself in trouble anyway
Comments