jayhawk

I have texted my wife with the InReach from the bottom of the Narrows in Zion, so they work in slot canyons.

Looks way less anemic than when I looked at it in November and bailed. But there you go. Everyone has been running up TC, but it has looked pretty thin to me too.

I didn't know him well, but did spend a little time in the mountains with him. What a passion he had for the hills! There's a bunch more info/discussion on NWHikers: http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8009143&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I have not gone left. It looked easier than right earlier this month, but pro looked dubious.

Sounds like you went right on the first pitch (unconsolidated snow on traverse)? Fun times.

I use the ice floss 60's in the Winter. I find that while occasionally a 70 would be nice in terms of lead length, I have enough trouble getting the two ropes unclustered while setting up rappels. Those skinny ropes sure seem to love to get knotted up, and you have to be a real flake-nazi. It would be that much worse with 70's, and you certainly don't need any extra rappel length.

Nice work in the aluminum strap-ons and classical piolets!

Eric - I did have to funk those pins out, so while they looked bad, they weren't that bad. Alex - we were pretty sure that the white stuff in the corner on the dihedral pitch was just snow. But it was still a good day out - first day of the year for me skiing, placing a screw, placing pins. Josh

KK, we actually took the far right (S-shaped) gully on pitch one. Those tracks you see are from a party on a different day. We found the right variation very protectable, containing styrofoam snow and some ice. It didn't really require any pure mixed moves. The left variation looked easier (less steep), but was questionable in terms of protectability. -Josh

Agreed. I think Alpental Valley is where it's at right now. We climbed Chair's NE Butt today, but it was a tough decision to walk past all that good-looking ice right out of the parking lot! Chair is great now too, btw.

Trip: Chair Peak - Northeast Buttress Date: 12/7/2013 Trip Report: It was a struggle to walk past the awesome-looking Alpental Falls climbs, which look killer right now, but we did. We found Chair's NE Butt in nearly perfect conditions. We took the right variation on P1. It was cruiser, with good pro. The left variation would go right now with easier climbing, but tougher to protect. Snow was perfect styrofoam for Ueli-stylin'. The short ice step was short, steepish, and fun. Good quality ice. Conditions are awesome right now. Go get some. Gear Notes: We only brought one picket. Two would have been nice. Pins, short screws, rock gear to 1" - we used it all. We used double 60's, and made it down in 2 raps, barely on each. Approach Notes: Skis would have sucked. No flotation necessary. A nice trail is beat in, and the walking's good.

Fun day out Dave! For those wondering, here's what Hubba Hubba looked like... Pitch 1: Left of Hubba Hubba P1: Left of Hubba Hubba P2:

pm sent

SEWS for sure. Your pitches 5-6: you were on route. I did the route recently and also stopped at the 2-bolt anchor on pitch 5 and belayed there. From there it was two bolts traversing right, then the right-trending hand-ish crack to the big ledge. It is suggested that these two pitches can be linked, but I think the rope drag would be heinous, and why not stop at the great new bolted anchor? Awesome route!

Trip: NEWS and SEWS in a day - NW Corner and SW Rib Date: 9/9/2012 Trip Report: This combo has definitely been done before. But, man! It's fun to nail to summits for one approach! Our original goal was to do the East Face of Lexington and then the NW Corner of NEWS. But we wussed out in the face of that much off-width climbing and opted for this combo. Plus, I'd already done the SW Rib before, so that would help us get through both routes more easily in a day. I wish we would have started off on the SW Rib as we'd have been more likely to see some morning sun - we were both underdressed for the Fall-like weather in the shade on NEWS in the morning. But we wanted to do the harder route first, and the one that was new for both of us. Matt heads for the big flake on pitch 3: Top of the flake: The corner: Getting to the easier part: Bear hug cracks on SW Rib: Alpine heel hook! Gear Notes: Green alien to #4, doubles 0.75-2. Doubles were really nice on NEWS, and doubles of #3 would have been nice on corner pitch. #5 not necessary on SW Rib imo. Approach Notes: Two-for-one

No axes or pons necessary, there is no snow in the CC right now. But plenty of sand and loose rubble!

Trip: Mt. Stuart - Complete North Ridge Date: 8/19/2012 Trip Report: Matt, Steve, Seby, and I all climbed the amazing complete North Ridge on Saturday and Sunday, including the Great Gendarme. What a stellar route! I would definitely echo those who've gone before me by saying that Stuey is just a big friggin' mountain! There is plenty of good beta out there, but I just wanted to add my $0.02 on tactics. We approached via the Ingalls side, Goat Pass, and skirted along the edge of the Stuart Glacier. It would have been possible to keep entirely to the lateral moraine with barely any unneccesary distance to reach the toe of the ridge. But the snow was fairly soft so crossing the glacier was not too bad for us in approach shoes only. I think that the lower North Ridge (East Side variation in Beckey guide) is totally worth the extra work. The rock is super clean and the 5.9 dihedral is rad! We used a half rope doubled over for the technical pitches. We had to climb the 5.7 crack, the 5.8 squeeze chimney, and the 5.9 dihedral on the lower ridge separately, but both of the gendrame pitches were doable with 30m. The rest of the climb we simuled with approach shoes. The fixed #4 still exists on pitch 2 of the Great Gendarme. As stated earlier, the second one has been bootied, but is not necessary anyway. We were able to find running water on the Stuart Glacier, a small snowpatch at the notch, and a good-sized snowpatch at the summit. The snowpatch at the notch probably has two weeks of life left. It is down a gulley toward the Ice Cliff Glacier, and we set up a hand line for climbing back up as it was quite chossy. Now for some pics: First 5.7 pitch on the lower ridge: Steve on the 5.9 dihedral: Commonly photographed slab below the gendarme: Josh on Great Gendarme P1: Matt on Great Gendarme P2: Summit smoke! Seby and Steve on the final summit ridge: Gear Notes: Green thru red Alien, 0.5 to #3 Camalot, with doubles from 0.75 to 2, single set of nuts 7.7mm 60m rope Approach shoes, no crampons or ice axe Approach Notes: Ingalls Lake

price drop, again. Please buy this thing!

bump for price drop

Sometime since last summer, I seem to have lost my #5 cam. My rad friends intended to replace it for me as a gift, but couldn't remember which size, so they opted for the #4. At this point in my career, I don't need 2 #4's, so I'm selling this one so I can re-buy the #5. Prefer local sale in Seattle.

Echo Ptown Climber. We were attempting the Sandy Headwall on Sunday, and turned around on Yocum Ridge around 5:30am after encountering some high winds and getting pelted with baseball-sized rime chunks. But the nap on the Palmer in the sun prior to our ski out treated us right!

I have a Sum'Tec adze paired with an Aztarex hammer (acquired the pairing just before the Sum'Tec hammer came out) for climbs like you describe. I find that the Sum'Tec actually plunges great. I now use that as my go-to piolet on all but the most tame snow walks. If you try to swing a Raven pick into some hard glacial ice, you'll find that it'll ping off not infrequently...

PM sent on Valdez

PM sent on the DAS

Skied and climbed the standard route on Monday evening/Tuesday morning. Wasn't worth taking skis at all, but the conditions were good for climbing with well-consolidated snow for easy step-kicking. Left the skis at the Lunch ledge, where I camped for the night, as the snow to that point sucked for skiing with lots of old crusty avy debris and deep runnels. Weather was great on top with undercast conditions. Got about 10 nice turns on the lower snowfield before battling it out down to climbers camp.