I climbed the Black Peak (WA) NE Ridge
Very fun route, but there is a lot of loose rock. I climbed solo, and there were two sections where the route wasn’t immediately clear to me, so I dropped below the ridg. Overall, there’s as much climbing and exposure as you could want on this route.
Link to my video:
I have 3-4 weeks vacation time this coming December
I’m a beginner climber have been training for fitness and altitude but haven’t done anything technical and I don’t want it skiing based
Looking for recommendations on a trip that is guided, maybe some crevasse rescue / glacier skill class and a budget of around $5k max for the guided part (not including flights)
Where should I look for that time of year/ budget / beginner skill?
Located in the Chugach range and standing at 7287 feet. Spirit mountain is a rarely summited peak steeped in oral indigenous history and 19th century military exploration.
After alot of research i struggled to find any publications from alpine clubs about any first ascents or route information let alone any photos (The photo above is the only one i found pertaining to spirit). However it has an interesting history with the indigenous, when the first explorers came to map the interior alaskan ranges, Lieutenant Henry T. Allen of the US army spoke to a local chief who described the mountain as billowing plumes of smoke and fire, suggesting that the mountain may have been volcanic at one point.
Given that there is little information it cannot be assumed that the mountain was not summited, as its very likely these early explorers or the local indigenous found a way to the summit far before any modern mountaineering teams decided to attempt it.
Pretty cool!
Posting this because it's been flying quite under the radar, but guy's got 30 years of the sort of experience not many people have (first ascents in Antarctica etc). and is now writing a stuff-i-learned book. I've found his previous "Down" an invaluable how-to in how to safely descend stuff so I have high hopes for this one too, and I'm putting it here in case anyone else missed it
First, RIP to Nims and everyone affected by the Broad Peak avalanche. Thinking of his legacy, I watched the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks for the first time. For those who don’t know, His team climbed all 14 eight-thousanders in six months and six days. The previous record was seven years. That’s not a story that needs punching up. It’s already insane.
So why does this documentary over dramatize the achievement of Nims and his crew, along with the entire sport of high- altitude mountaineering?
On Nanga Parbat, mid summit push, Nims delivers a line about the mountain not caring if you’re black or white, weak or strong, closing with “if you give up, you die.” … or you just turn around and walk down the mountain lol.
Great soundbite. Terrible mountaineering advice. You don’t give up and die on the spot, you turn around, you descend, you come back another season. I mean, knowing when to bail is one of the most important skills in this sport, arguably more important than the summit push itself.
I just think framing it as binary, do-or-die stakes is exactly the kind of movietrailer language that leaves casual viewers thinking mountaineering is a coin flip with your life every time you rope up, instead of a discipline built on weather windows, risk management, and turnaround times.
Then there’s his mom. Genuinely sick, genuinely emotional, and somehow the film needs her arc to land exactly on beat: worried he’d even start this sport, then telling him to go finish it for her? Idk seems like an extremely egotistical and not realistic thing for a mother, who is worried about her son climbing up dangerous mountains in the first place, to actually say.
None of this is on Nims or the team. What they did stands on its own. It’s a directing and editing choice, and it does a disservice to a story that never needed the varnish.
Anyone else feel like this doc didn’t trust its own footage?
After climbing in the Rwenzori mountains of Uganda, I learned of Arlene Blum, a renowned mountaineer who had her own expedition to the range, an incredible story in its own right. She wrote a book about her first all-women ascent of Annapurna, titled Annapurna : A Womans Place. Some of the accounts in the book I found quite shocking. Considering the sexual assault allegations of Nims Dai, and now Edmund Hillarys shameless sexism, I'm curious about other peoples thoughts or if things are getting better/more inclusive/safer, or what can be done to bring more equality/safety for people of all sexes that want to adventure outdoors. Even Reinhold Messners book I found his treatnent of the women on his Everest solo expedition to be very abusive. What is it with the leading paragons of the face of Mountaineering being all so flawed and unsafe for women?
"In just the first few sentences, Arlene described three examples of toe-curling sexism that she encountered as she established herself as a mountaineer: refusal to join an expedition because her presence would jeopardise the ‘easy masculine companionship which is so vital a part of the joy of an expedition’, a guide who believed that there were ‘no good women climbers’, and an expedition to Denali where women could join to help with the cooking chores, but were not permitted to climb.
Upon turning the page we learn that the great Sir Edmund Hillary believed that the problems with multi-national teams ‘pale into insignificance compared with those that can be brought about by a single woman in a party’. Irene Miller, who was also a member of Sir Edmund’s Makalu expedition team, was told that ‘if you want to climb with the expedition, you ought to be willing to sleep with all the men on the team’. She stayed at base camp."
-excerpts from Arlene Blums book on Mark Horrells webpage
Edit- dropping this link from someones comment, it seems to be a good resource and starting point. If you see something, say something. https://americanalpineclub.org/safeoutside
Mount hess is an extremely remote alaska peak that is rarely summited, standing at 11940ft at the crest of the hayes range, about 90 miles south of fairbank.
Its mountaineering history is one that is unique with a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Its first major attempts were in 1949 and 1950 where the the east face and the northwest faces were attempted but both stopped due to rock.
The peak was finally conquered in the spring of 1951 by Alston Paige, Dick Holdren, Ed Huizer, Howard Bowman, and Elton Thayer. However after this ascent the peak remained virtually entirely untouched until may 1976 when Steven Hackett, Thomas Hillis, and Daniel L. Osborne established a base camp at the base of the north east ridge.
However a mystery that remains on the mountain from the AAC describes that during that 1976 expedition Hacket Hills and Osbourne discovered an old weathered ice ace and a rope trailing down towards the abyss. As no recorded former teams used that ridge, the orgin of the rope and axe are unknown.
Pretty cool!
CORRECTION: 2026 not 2025
assuming the sources are accurate with the dates, these aren’t my pictures :)
I'm looking for a shoe model ID on these if possible. I've tried searching on google but I've come up empty handed, and don't know where else to ask. I've hit a dead end with my search, so any help will be appreciated
I know I’m not the first person to post about this on Reddit, but this trek is so unbelievably beautiful and criminally underrated so I thought I’d provide a trip report.
I just finished an 8 day trek in the Rwenzori mountains in western Uganda along the Kilembe trail. I have been trekking all over the world and have been lucky enough to see some of the most incredible mountains on earth, but this is the first time I’ve ever been blown away by how “undiscovered” a place is. 50,000 people attempt Kilimanjaro every year. The second tallest peak in Africa (mt Kenya) gets over 10k hikers annually. The entire rwenzori mountains get fewer than 1000 international visitors per year. During peak season in August I saw a total of 4 other foreign hikers in 8 days.
The tallest mountain in the Rwenzoris, Margherita Peak (part of Mt Stanley massif) is 5100 meters - the third tallest in Africa. Despite being only 40km from the equator it has (rapidly disappearing) glaciers.
Everywhere in the rwenzoris there are massive walls and spires of beautiful granite. Many of the mountains have never been climbed. There are countless vertical walls of granite that rival Yosemite or Patagonia that have never been climbed. And the nature is otherworldly - plant species that only exist in this mountain range. If you are into birds it’s a birding paradise, again with several beautiful endemic species (look up pictures of the Rwenzori Turaco, for example). We saw monkeys and duikers (small antelope) and rock hyraxes (an animal that looks like a large rabbit / hamster but is actually the closest living relative of the elephant).
Since there isn’t a ton of information online, I thought I’d share a bit of what I’ve learned.
There are two rainy seasons in this area. The “big rains” in October/november, and the “little rains” in April/May. I’d avoid coming during either of those seasons as the trails can be muddy even with relatively little rain. July and August is generally pleasant weather. It could rain occasionally but it isn’t constant rain. I think I got lucky with the weather - in 8 days there was only 1 storm that blew through. It lasted about 2 hours but luckily was at night while I was in shelter. My guide told me that January / February are the driest months and his personal favorite for trekking. Temperatures vary by altitude, but are generally pleasant during the day (15-20 degrees). Above 3000m it seems to drop below freezing most nights. It was often foggy - the warm air from lower elevations blows up and turns to fog as it cools. Often the fog comes up in waves and then dissipates, so it could be completely white out foggy one minute and clear and sunny the next.
There are two main trails in the Rwenzoris. The Kilembe trail, which I did, is the private commission of a company called Rwenzori Trekking Services (more on this company later). The only way to hike the Kilembe trail is with a tour booked with Rwenzori Trekking Services. The second main route is called the central circuit, and is open to any local tour guide / operator. Traditionally the main tour company operating on this route was Rwenzori Mountaineering Services (again, more on the various entities later). The guides told me there is a third trail that has recently opened, but I don’t know much about it. Apparently the third trail requires tent camping only.
Both the central circuit and Kilembe trail have permanent camps with basic shelters. The shelters have basic cots with foam mattresses and small kitchen huts. They aren’t kept up too well, but are comfortable enough. Many of the kitchen huts have wood stoves and solar electricity. At Margherita Camp (the final camp before summitting Margherita Peak), the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA - more on entities later) has just built a beautiful new camp with several structures that look very modern and comfortable. I didn’t get a chance to look inside but the UWA are investing in making the experience more comfortable.
If your goal is climbing Margherita peak, most itineraries are 8 days. You could do it in less (especially on the central circuit, which is a bit shorter than the Kilembe trail). But I didn’t shorten it because I wanted the extra nights to acclimatize. And I enjoy more time in the mountains. There are several options for shorter hikes, including 4-5 days to climb Weismann peak. You could also do up to 10 days and climb a few of the other peaks (Speke, Becker, etc).
In the other posts about the Rwenzoris people talk / complain about the muddy bogs. To be honest I didn’t find it that bad. The UWA has invested considerable money into building out boardwalks over the worst of the bogs, and it seems like they are still building. Even in places where there are no boardwalks, you can often walk on the grass/plants and avoid the mud if you step carefully. In the 8 day trek I wore the rubber boots for a total of 1 hour. Although I think if it had rained more I might have worn them a bit more.
Where it isn’t boggy, the trail is fairly steep. I am an experienced hiker / mountaineer and generally trek pretty well. I didn’t have issues with how steep it was, but I will say I was glad to have a porter carry my main backpack (I normally never hire a porter unless it’s required). If you aren’t in good trekking shape I would imagine it would be quite strenuous. You are sleeping at 4000 meters several nights, and less experienced hikers often have trouble with the altitude as well.
Note that other than the summit of rwenzori, which involves a bit of fixed ropes and crampons on a rapidly disappearing glacier, the rest of the trek is just trekking (with some light scrambling if you do one of the other summits).
I did not receive good information from Rwenzori Trekking Services on what I should bring. Their admin staff is mediocre to say the least. You will need a sleeping bag. They have sleeping bags to rent, but they are way overpriced and in poor condition. I’d recommend bringing your own. I’ve heard some people also recommend bringing a sleeping pad as well as the foam mattresses can be damp. I didn’t have an issue with damp mattresses, but again I was lucky with the weather and got very little rain. I can imagine if it’s pouring rain the mattresses could get damp.
If you are summitting Margherita Peak, you will need crampons, an ice axe, helmet, harness, etc. Technically they have all this gear, but it is very old and poorly maintained. The admin staff actually told me to bring my own crampons as they don’t have well maintained ones. But I used their helmet and ice axe. The helmet was extremely old and so dented I doubt it would’ve helped much. And the ice axe was so dull it was almost useless. Since you aren’t on the glacier very long, and only a few sections are steep, it was fine. But if you have your own gear I’d recommend bringing your own. Although note that if you go with a different company they might have better quality gear.
Other than that just bring whatever you’d normally bring for a trek. Warm clothes for the evenings/mornings. Waterproof gear (including pants) are a good idea.
It is fairly remote. You’ll have to fly into Entebbe (or I suppose you could fly into Kigali Rwanda - probably about the same distance but then you’d have to deal with the border crossing). From Entebbe (or Kigali) you will have to get to Kasese, Uganda. This is the town at the base of the mountains. There is a small domestic airport in Kasese, with daily flights from Entebbe. Unfortunately Air Uganda has a monopoly and charges a ridiculous amount for this flight (more than $350 each way for a flight that is less than an hour). If you value comfort and time, though, this is a good option. You could also take a private taxi from the airport in Entebbe directly to Kasese. This would cost you $200-$250 for the entire vehicle (a good option if you have a group - the taxi is usually a minivan so could fit 4-5 people comfortably). The drive is 7ish hours. Roads are sometimes tarmac, sometimes a bit rough. The cheapest option is taking a bus from Kampala. Link Bus company has departures almost hourly from downtown Kampala to Kasese. The ride should take about 10 hours (although yesterday the bus broke down twice and the ride was nearly 12 hours total). This is the least comfortable but only costs 50k ugx (about $14).
The various companies have almost identical costs for the treks. The standard 8 day trek climbing Margherita peak is $1450. This includes a guide and porters and all food. On the Kilembe Trail you also have to pay the UWA fees of $35 per night ($245 total for 7 nights). I saw on a different website that the nightly UWA costs for the central trail are $45, although perhaps that company was just pocketing the extra $10. I also recommend generously tipping your guide and porters as they are criminally underpaid (if they are paid at all).
On the central trail, you might be able to contact a trekking guide directly and work out a deal for a better price (cutting out the companies that serve as middle men). I don’t know what the logistics of this would be but there are certainly plenty of qualified guides who would be happy to help you figure this out. Although you might have to handle those logistics after arriving in Kasese.
The reality is Uganda is a corrupt country and life is fairly difficult for the average person. I learned quite a bit about the various entities and companies involved that I wanted to share here. To be honest I am a bit reticent to be completely candid as I don’t want my (amazing) guides to get in trouble. The truth is the guides are too scared of retaliation to speak their minds. Most of this information I learned from a friend I made who is a travel agent in Kampala.
Rwenzori Trekking Services (RTS) - This is a private company owned by John Hunwick. He is a 78 year old Australian man who has lived in Uganda for 35 years. Him and his team built the Kilembe trail and camps along the trail 16 years ago (although the boardwalks are all built and paid for by the UWA still). His guides are extremely well-trained and professional. The porters work hard too. The food was all very good as well (given the location). He’s set up a good company, although with his age he is less and less involved and not as motivated to keep things maintained. His staff are underpaid and not always treated very well. To be honest most of them seemed too terrified of John to say anything bad about him. And like I’ve mentioned above, he could invest more in upgrading the gear and camps (for example, the foam mattresses haven’t been replaced in 16 years - they just change the covers every few years when they get too dirty).
Apparently, RTS’s commission (ie legal right to operate on the Kilembe trail) expires in 2 years. It is unclear if John will renew the commission or if someone else will take over.
Finally, while RTS charges the same amount as other companies for the trek, the prices I was quoted for related services were shockingly high. Originally I asked for a quote that included a private taxi from Entebbe airport and a visit to the chimpanzees at Kibale national park prior to the trek. The prices he quoted me were more than twice was other companies charged (which, to be honest, are already higher than they should be). I was quoted $75 for a night in a basic hotel in Kasese when the booking.com price was less than $30. I was quoted 100,000 ugx ($28) for the 25 minute taxi ride from Kasese to the trail head. In Kasese I found a taxi for 40,000 ugx, and to be honest I could have negotiated it down. The driver acted like he got away with scamming me even at that price. For comparison, his guides are paid 35,000 ugx (less than $10) per day. The porters are paid 15,000ugx per day.
Rwenzori Mountaineering Services - This is the oldest company operating in the mountains. As I understand it, this is a local cooperative of guides that work on the central circuit. I think they have been around for over 50 years. I didn’t do a trek with them so I can’t speak personally about what the experience would be as a client, but based on what I heard from other locals, this company is incredibly corrupt and terrible to work for. Sometimes they don’t even pay the guides and porters at all.
Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA) - the UWA is the govt agency that manages the national park. They charge an additional nightly fee. But it seems like they have been using these fees to invest in infrastructure. They have been expanding the boardwalks throughout the park, and have built beautiful new huts at Margherita camp. They are also building an impressive network of stairs leading up the steepest part from Margherita camp towards the peak.
Rwenzori Environmental Guides Association (REGA) - this is a new company offering treks on the central circuit. This company seems to be operated by guides that used to work for RTS (so I’m sure the quality of guides is high. For all his faults, John did invest in training his guides well). I was told that a (white owned) travel agency based in Kampala called Uganda Trekking used to send clients on treks with RTS. A few years ago, the owner of Uganda Trekking had a falling out with John, so he poached some of John’s guides and helped them set up REGA. Apparently REGA pays their guides and porters slightly better than the other companies. And ostensibly REGA is locally owned (although I don’t know how they share profits with Uganda Trekking, which is apparently owned by a foreigner).
I heard rumors of another community owned company that does trekking with tents on a third trail. Unfortunately I don’t have more information about that, but if you’re interested it’s something to look into.
I know that was a lot, but if anyone has any additional questions I’m happy to share. While so many places in this world are suffering from over tourism, the Rwenzoris are suffering from under tourism. The local communities could greatly benefit from even a modest increase in the number of foreign visitors. And the mountains are unbelievably beautiful.
Came across this peak as the subject of the ACCs general mountaineering camp in the trident group in the selkirk mountains
at 3201 meters neptune peak is the tallest peak in the windy range and was first climbed by a harvard mountaineering club (HMC) in the summer of 1951.
Due to its highly remote nature most expeditions are either a multiday wilderness bushwacking trek or a helicopter flight, its route is characterized by glacier travel, rock scrambling and an exposed summit ridge. Its is commonly tackled via the south/southeast ridge.
Pretty cool!
So i will be doing kedarnath,vasuki tal and chandrashilla trek in oct and i have my bmc in march 2027. So are these options good for me?
Also i will be doing amc after completing my bmc.
I will be trekking twice or maybe thrice in a year. So pls help me.
Are there any good alternatives?
I am a US citizen looking into Mount Custer in GNP starting from Akamina Ridge on the Waterton side. The only information I got from the visitor center in Canada was to download the CBP ROAM app, but he was not sure how set up the trip.
Curious if anyone has any personal experience on how to navigate this. Thanks!
In July I spent two weeks in the Mont Blanc massif and on the Italian/Swiss border. It was my first proper mountaineering trip without a guide, and I learned more in those two weeks than in the year of reading, planning and practising that came before it. Writing it up mostly for the beginners who are where I was before the trip: fit, competent on rock, and quietly overestimating how much of that transfers.
I'm Dutch, so "training in the mountains" is not a thing that exists for me. My background:
We were a team of three. One of us had more mountaineering experience than the rest, which is very different from having a guide. More on that below.
Warm-up: Traversée des Perrons. A long ridge day above the Emosson dam. Hiking turned into scrambling turned into roped climbing, up to 4a. Exactly the right first day out: ridge terrain, moving together, simulclimbing, abseils and transitions, all at a grade where nothing was near my limit. Everyone was cooked by the last pitches, which was a useful reminder that a full day in the mountains is a different animal to a full day spent at the crag.
Albert Premier hut, three nights. First glacier day we went for the Tête Blanche. Based on our recon the day before, we planned to scramble up over the rocks instead of taking the normal approach over the exposed glacier. It cost us over an hour of route finding and a lot of debate. Once we reached the snow we practised crevasse rescue and ice screws first thing. We turned around just below the summit because one of us was done and we had another day coming. On the way up, one of the team went half into a crevasse. That moment told me everything about how little we actually knew.
Next day we went up the Col Supérieur du Tour (steep, but fine at a steady pace), crossed onto a different glacier on the other side, worked around a big bergschrund and topped out on the Aiguille du Tour. Clear sky, no wind, a good day. We practised ice axe self-arrest on the descent, which in hindsight we should have done before the steep col.
Valley reset. Two quiet days low down, including one easy multipitch. Mont Blanc came off the table: conditions were bad, and this was a week after the incident with the Czech team. Plan B via the Cosmiques hut was already gone, because Mont Blanc du Tacul wasn't passable with how much the glacier had melted in the heat, and the route has become far more serious in recent years anyway. So we decided to chase good conditions instead and put the Breithorn in as the trip finisher. But first, Rifugio Torino.
Rifugio Torino, three nights. Woke up to 25cm of fresh snow and a hut sitting inside a cloud. Conditions seemed stable, so we went anyway and climbed the Aiguilles Marbrées ridge to the north summit in a whiteout, crampons on from the door and never off again. Two English climbers near the top told us the south summit was tricky and that they were taking the abseil before it. We took the hint.
The next day was the Dent du Géant. The other two weren't feeling great and decided after the first pitch that they didn't want to lead. I said I was happy to turn around, but also happy to lead everything, so I led everything. Cold wind, good conditions, and the discovery that at that altitude you are out of breath two steps into a move. Climbing at 4000m in mountain boots is a completely different beast to multipitching in the valley. The middle slab pitches are seriously exposed and I handled it better than I expected, partly because feeling responsible for the other two gave me something to hold on to. When I reached the Madonna statue I put my head down and cried a bit. Six abseils and the scramble back, on the last lift down.
Finish: Breithorn half traverse. One of us called it after two steps on the glacier, and after two weeks the other two of us were comfortable continuing without him. Getting onto the traverse meant a section of steep ice, 40 degrees or so, which was the single sketchiest thing I did all trip. I was genuinely worried about breaking loose and sliding into a bergschrund. We should have used screws there. No excuse, we had them. Once on the rock it turned into pure joy: lots of simulclimbing, a few steeper pitches pitched out, and a final snow cornice to the summit with the Matterhorn in front of us.
1. Fitness and rock skill get you to the base, not through the day. My climbing background made every technical section a non-issue. The grades were never the limiting factor. What limited us was glacier judgement, route finding, transitions and stacking days. Those are separate skills and they don't come along for free.
2. Practise the skill before you need it, not after. We drilled self-arrest after the steep col. We carried ice screws past the one place we should have used them. Do the drills on the boring flat bit at the start, and then remember to actually apply them when the terrain calls for it.
3. Plans made on paper die on the terrain. Our "scramble up the rocks instead" idea looked great on the map and turned into an hour of standing around disagreeing about where to go. When the terrain doesn't match the plan, the default should be the normal route, not a committee.
4. Preparation works. Route books, videos, photos, conditions reports, and asking anyone who has been there recently. You are looking for certainty in terrain that doesn't offer any, and you won't get it, but every piece of information you gather at home is one less decision you have to make while tired and cold.
5. Turning around is always the right decision. Getting back down safely is the most important thing. We agreed on that going in and we put it into practice during the trip. After our first day out there was still real tension in the group. What made the next day work was saying out loud, beforehand, that ego wasn't part of the decision and that we'd turn if anyone found it too much.
6. Success dissolves tension but doesn't fix the cause. After we summited the Aiguille du Tour, all the friction from the previous day evaporated. Nice feeling, but every single thing we'd identified about working together was still true. Don't let a good day make you forget your action points.
7. Talk about it afterwards, every day, even with friends. We did a reflection session after every day out. Not always comfortable, and worth it every single time. Saying out loud what went badly while it's still fresh, instead of letting it quietly turn into a mood, sped up our learning enormously. It's also the only reason the point above didn't sink us.
8. Someone with more experience than you is not a guide. This was the big one. We knew it going in and talked about responsibility a lot. If you go without a guide, there is no outsourcing the decision making.
9. Sleep in the valley is a training tool. Three nights at the hut wrecked us. One night down in the valley and I felt like a different person. If your plan has no rest days at low altitude, your plan is optimistic.
10. Conditions decide, you don't. We lost Mont Blanc, and then plan B, to heat and melt-out. Having to come up with a plan C is what got us onto the Breithorn instead of sitting in Chamonix being disappointed. Ask around, check online, and build the alternatives as you go. Then only run them if you actually feel comfortable.
11. Volume, not difficulty, is the beginner's real ceiling. Every hard move on this trip went fine. What hurt was four days in a row of long approaches, bad sleep and heavy packs. Plan the week around recovery, not around the crux.
12. The walk down is the point. My clearest memory isn't a summit. It's the 600m descent from the Albert Premier hut with a full pack, when the planning stress fell off me and I felt calm, happy and small. People you can rely on, nature above ego, and the hurry of normal life interrupted for a while. That's what I came for.
TL;DR: fit and strong on rock does not equal competent in the alpine. Two weeks, five summits, one crevasse scare, one bail, one steep ice section we should have protected, and a lot of respect gained. The technical grade was never the problem. Judgement, preparation and honest group communication were.
Happy to answer questions if anyone's planning their first independent trip.
Hello! I hiked Pikes Peak through Barr Trail a year ago and took the train down. I absolutely loved the experience and was hoping to get a little more into mountaineering.
I am 30 years old and a complete beginner. I have been training for a few months now, running, stairmaster with weighted vest, rucking, etc… and feel like I might be at a good spot to try something more challenging. I obviously have no winter mountain experience, and I live in the Southern US, so not a lot of altitude experience either.
I was hoping someone could recommend some good places I could start off at to slowly build up my experience to try a winter mountain in a couple years?
Hey all, first time posting in this sub, eager to see if anyone can help. Headed to Foraker in AK (behind me in this shot from Denali a couple years ago) next year and was curious if anyone on here had been on Foraker before. It’s definitely a bit off the beaten path, but putting out some feelers to see if anyone has been on the Sultana Ridge, either on a descent from another route, or just on it for a summit attempt. Info is scarce, and my team had some stuff come up/ had to back out, so I’m trying to do a little extra legwork on the logistics for a couple other people interested. Any write ups (aside from the NPS Rangers write up and the Sending the Gnar solo write up) would be awesome. Photos help a lot but definitely don’t expect to see too many of those aside from what I’ve got.
Anyone who’s interested could also definitely send a message over. Thanks in advance
More photos and a more detailed description of the letters and other ephemeral material in this lot can be found at the auction house site https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/hansons/catalogue-id-hanson11004/lot-62a1f5bd-ff6b-438c-99d9-b48900c53a15
I'm reading Into Thin Air right now (I'm only about 100 pages in) and in the intro Krakauer mentions talking to his teammate at the top while wearing an oxygen mask. I always assumed it would be similar to wearing like a chemical respirator, which muffles speech quite a bit. Is it difficult for climbers to speak to each other through the oxygen masks? Do they end up yelling and enunciating extra clearly in order to understand each other? Or is there some other way of communicating? (I don't know anything about mountaineering, and maybe Krakauer answers this question later on in the book, but I've just been thinking about it since reading that intro and I'm curious.)
This was a pretty challenging hike due to the summer heat. But the final scramble was super fun. We went through the via normale which is esentialy a 10km out and back with the final part being a light scramble to the summit. Overall 10/10 on experience. Next summer I might try gran paradiso or the Vincent pyramid as my first peak on snow and ice.
(The little seal is a thing I take to all the exotic or cool places I visit)
Any other big headed fellas struggle with M/L helmets? I got the biggest petzl meteor I could and it still is small. Any recommendations while staying light!