Mt. Rainier Kautz Glacier Climb

I am way behind on posting photos from the trips I have done lately, so hopefully I will have a bunch of posts in the next week or so. I will start with my latest trip since it has the fewest photos to sort through.

A Mt. Rainier greeting agent. Much more friendly than the Rangers. Actually the rangers were great! Not like North Cascades National Park.

Here is a panorama from our camp. Mt. St. Helens in the distance.
Crossing the Nisqualy Glacier.

Justin, Kate, and Liz.

Another guide services camp below us.

Scott near the summit.

Scott at the summit.

Liz with about ten steps to go.

Fist Bump!

The rappel down the Kautz Ice Chute.

Kate back at camp.

Heading out in less than perfect weather.

A panorama of the entire Muir Snowfield.

American Alpine Institute Bolivia Trip: Part 3 Illimani

I am back in the not so sunny Pacific Northwest. While on many hours of flights yesterday I sorted through hundreds of photos from the Bolivia trip. Not only did I sort the ones from the part 3 but I went back and added photos from part 1 and 2 so be sure to go back through the previous 2 blog posts to see some new photos.

The last few days of Part 2 consist of a summit of Huayna Potosi. I got a nice photo of it, but unfortunately did not climb it due to the flu.

Kids when we got off the bus at the base of Illimani.

One of our porters and a horse.

AAI guide Juan with north summit of Illimani in background.

Some porters coming down from high camp.

This lady kind of makes me ashamed to not be carrying my own stuff up to high camp.

Diccon making the last few steps to the summit.

On the summit. Diccon giving the universal "I feel great" sign.

Summit shot.

Heading down with the summit in the background.

The north peak in black and white.
This guy greeted us back to camp. This photo does no justice to how big these birds are.

Leaving La Paz. The houses of the Altiplano catching early morning light.
El Alto and La Paz from the air with Huayna Potosi in the background.
See you next year Bolivia.

Mt. Baker climb. AAI Alpinism 1 Course

Just got back from teaching a 6 day course on Mt. Baker. Usually this time of year these trips are a bit harsh due to the typical Cascades spring weather. No rain the whole time we were on the mountain. Perfect.

Usually on these courses we find a nice open crevasse to practice crevasse rescue in. There is no alternative to dropping everyone in a real crevasse and having them practice with real weight. Unfortunately the glaciers were a bit buried. I found this crevasse by falling in it. Here is one of the students falling in.

On the way across the glacier to find a crevasse.

A closer shot of the fall.

Cary
Stephan

Chris

Brigitte

Andy heading to high camp.
Brigitte and Shivesh on their way to high camp.

Tents at high camp.

AAI guide Erin Smart just after sunrise with the shadow of Mt. Baker in the background.

The first rope team on the summit.

Summit shot.

The whole group on top.
Tristan.

Heading back down.

As we were heading down a group of climbers were heading up Colfax Peak.

This was my first Mt. Baker trip of the summer and it might be hard to top. Perfect weather, a great group and an overall fun time. I have a ton more photos from this trip and will post others as I go through them. It might be after I get back from Bolivia.

My First Cascades Work Trip of the Year: Washington Pass Climbing.

I just got back from a trip to Washington Pass for the last two days of and AAI ice course. This was a back up plan due to terrible weather on Mt. Baker. These photos are from a climb of the the west gully on South Early Winters Spire.

Weather was great in the morning, however the snow conditions made for some difficult trail breaking.

Larches

The view of the peak from the approach. The route goes up a snow gully on the left side of the peak.

One of the rope teams at an anchor.

AAI's newest guide, Erin.

Snow seat belay.

Looking down the gully.

Blue Lake Peak as the weather worsened.

Charlie leading up the gully.

High in the gully.

Near the top.

Ski track between the larches below.

AAI guide Kurt Hicks.

Charlie


Summit joy.

Erin at the summit.


Summit shot.

Group shot on the summit.

Mt. Baker Skills Weekend.

Here are some photos from a three day Mt. Baker skills weekend from a month ago. It was a late season trip to Mt. Baker and turned out to have some amazing weather.

A fattened Marmot ready for winter.
White Tailed Ptarmigan starting to change color for the coming snows.
Kate and her cup of coffee.
Setting up the rope for glacier travel.
Kate and the blue sky. It is not this blue very often in Washington.
Smiles all around.
A desperate skier makes for a good photo, but what must have been some pretty crappy turns.
The clearest day I have ever seen on Mt. Baker.
Using our new skills to negotiate the glacier.
More crevasses.

Liz
Kate
Sunset on Mt. Baker.
Ice climbing.
Ice Climbing