15 Days....

Ok, I am down to 15 days. I think I have just about all my gear ready. I am still lacking a few things that I will pick up in portland. Things have heated up in the PNW, but there is still alot of snow. We still have a 3 mile hike to the trailhead, but who knows what can happen in 2 weeks. We also got thrown another curve ball, that are cornices forming on the east side of the crescent ridge, which can lead to avalances conditions, so we might have to find a different route. I am still a bit nervous about glacier travel, even more so after the air rescue on Rainer this last tuesday. Apparently a climber fell 25 foot and got pretty banged up. I am still very excited though. Here is a pic of the my gear so far minus sleeping pad, bag, tent, & clothes. I am hoping to be able to get it all up there on the airlines.... Wish me luck! I was looking at the almanac and noticed that we will be climbing during a almost full moon. This will be awesome because due to the warm weather we will be leaving extremly early in the morning. It will be nice climbing in some moonlight. Hopefully the weather cooperates and we have clear skys! I have been using my SPOT messenger lately, and I am really impressed with it. I think I have the hang of getting messages off, and tracking with it. So I am really excited to see how it does on the climb. Well Happy 4th to everyone!