Advice for visiting Kiwi climber/hiker
Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 2:05 pm
Hi all,
I'm from New Zealand and will be in Oregon and/or Washington for 3-4 weeks from Mid August to Mid September. I'd love to do some hiking and mountaineering in the beautiful looking Cascades but would like some advice...
Trips that I've been looking into include Rainer (of course!), Eldorado Peak, Shuksan, Mt. St. Helens, the Ptarmigan Traverse and maybe a section of the PCT or Copper Ridge trail. I obviously won't be able to fit all those in! So I've got a few questions:
Which would you guys recommend? To give me a flavour of the area... Will Rainier be just a crazy busy mess or is it still well worth it? I'm not used to climbing crowded mountains back here in NZ so it could be a fun cultural experience or maybe I'd just hate it... The Ptarmigan Traverse looks really fun, would you guys rate that over doing something like Shuksan?
How stable is the weather generally at that time of year? I gather it's similar to NZ, wet with a lot of storms even in summer, or am I likely to get long stretches of good weather? Just wondering how ambitious I can be...
For trips like the ones mentioned above would 3/4 shank boots (I have La Sportiva Trangos) be ok or would I be crazy to not take my full shanks? It'd be nice to just take 3/4 shanks so I can use them for hiking. Back home for similar elevations and steepness I'd probably take 3/4 shanks (except maybe Rainier's a bit cold) but I don't really have a feel for how cold it'll be in the PNW comparatively.
Finally a bit about me so you can gauge things better. I've been mountaineering for a couple of years and have done a lot of moderate routes here in NZ but none overseas. I'm not completely sure how the alpine grades compare but I've done a lot of routes up to NZ 2+ but not really higher, so I'm thinking about PD to AD level. I've done a lot of rugged off-trail hiking in NZ and in Colorado. I will possibly have a friend with me who's a better rock climber but not done as much mountaineering, otherwise I'll be looking for partners or soloing.
Any thoughts are much appreciated.
Cheers!
Tom
I'm from New Zealand and will be in Oregon and/or Washington for 3-4 weeks from Mid August to Mid September. I'd love to do some hiking and mountaineering in the beautiful looking Cascades but would like some advice...
Trips that I've been looking into include Rainer (of course!), Eldorado Peak, Shuksan, Mt. St. Helens, the Ptarmigan Traverse and maybe a section of the PCT or Copper Ridge trail. I obviously won't be able to fit all those in! So I've got a few questions:
Which would you guys recommend? To give me a flavour of the area... Will Rainier be just a crazy busy mess or is it still well worth it? I'm not used to climbing crowded mountains back here in NZ so it could be a fun cultural experience or maybe I'd just hate it... The Ptarmigan Traverse looks really fun, would you guys rate that over doing something like Shuksan?
How stable is the weather generally at that time of year? I gather it's similar to NZ, wet with a lot of storms even in summer, or am I likely to get long stretches of good weather? Just wondering how ambitious I can be...
For trips like the ones mentioned above would 3/4 shank boots (I have La Sportiva Trangos) be ok or would I be crazy to not take my full shanks? It'd be nice to just take 3/4 shanks so I can use them for hiking. Back home for similar elevations and steepness I'd probably take 3/4 shanks (except maybe Rainier's a bit cold) but I don't really have a feel for how cold it'll be in the PNW comparatively.
Finally a bit about me so you can gauge things better. I've been mountaineering for a couple of years and have done a lot of moderate routes here in NZ but none overseas. I'm not completely sure how the alpine grades compare but I've done a lot of routes up to NZ 2+ but not really higher, so I'm thinking about PD to AD level. I've done a lot of rugged off-trail hiking in NZ and in Colorado. I will possibly have a friend with me who's a better rock climber but not done as much mountaineering, otherwise I'll be looking for partners or soloing.
Any thoughts are much appreciated.
Cheers!
Tom