mneagle

Screamers are sold. Other stuff still available.

I live in Fort Collins, CO but will accept Paypal and ship within the US. You pay shipping and I'll pay insurance. Reply by e-mail: neaglemark@gmail.com Black Diamond Cobra ice tools (pair): Carbon fiber. These are used with mild cosmetic wear. They are well cared for and never dropped. They have laser picks that are still in good condition. One has a BD lockdown leash and the other has an Android leash. $250 for pair. Black Diamond standard adze: I have one left. It is unused and fits either a Viper or Cobra. $15 Black Diamond Blizzard harness (size medium): One of the best ice climbing harnesses ever made. Integrated clip holders for BD ice clippers are a great feature. It fits me fine and I have a 34 inch waist. I bought this new and it was NEVER USED. $45 Yates Zippers: I have 4 of these. Kept clean and (obviously) never weighted/deployed. SOLD Charlet Moser M10 crampons (pair): These are moderately used but well cared for. They were used on ice and rarely touched rock. They are currently set up as dual points but can be changed to a mono-point in a few minutes. Still lots of life left in the front points. I have a set of anti-bot plates that are in very good condition without and holes/tears in the rubber. $100 (including anti-bots) Grivel Rambo crampons: These are some of the older style Rambo's with fixed dual point crampons. They are in good condition with only cosmetic wear. The points are still sharp and there is lots of life left in the front points. $70 OR Alibi gloves: These are size XL and were bought new and NEVER USED. $35 Scarpa Invernos (pair): Size 10/11 shell. Moderate wear but still solid. I can't tell the liner size but I'm 11.5 and they fit me snuggly. Replacement liners are available through Black Diamond. $40. Colorado Ice Climbers Guide by Cameron Burns, mild water damage but does not affect legibility or pictures. No pages stuck together, just a little crinkly. $5 contact: neaglemark@gmail.com [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/516/photo_12_2.JPG[/img] [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/516/photo_5_10.JPG[/img] [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/516/photo_9_3.JPG[/img] [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/516/photo_13_3.JPG[/img] [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/516/photo_4_7.JPG[/img] [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/516/photo_7_8.JPG[/img] [img:left]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/516/photo_14_3.JPG[/img]

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As of a few days ago, no mosquitos and no snow crossing at base of climb. To get to the 5.10 finish, climb up to just below the obvious wide crack in the center of the tower and set up a belay on a small ledge. Traverse around the corner to the right for ~10 feet to a digedral where you need to do this funky double hand jam mantle to get your feet up and then use small holds to stand up and reach better holds. There's another 10 feet of easy climbing to the summit. I've been up it twice now and I still think the crux is the thin corner above the 4" 5.9 crack. Seems harder than 10a and on thin gear. Between the first time I climbed it 12 years ago and now, I still consider this one of the best routes I've done anywhere.

The necessary follow-up video: [video:youtube]

I've used a Stephenson Warmlite throughout the Cascades. It's been to 18,000 foot high camps in Bolivia and survived 100mph+ wind in Patagonia. It weighs about 3 pounds and with the large door and side windows can be adequately ventilated in warm/humid weather. Only downsides are condensation (have to keep a camp towel to wipe down inside in the morning) and not freestanding (3 stakes, pickets, rocks, etc required). The Stephenson website is NSFW.

I once had an internet partner tell me on an approach to our first climb in Yosemite "There's a 45% chance I might be bipolar." By the end of the week I upped that estimate to 100%.

Check out the Arrowhead Spire and Arrowhead Arête. The spire goes at ~5.5 and the Arête goes at 5.8. It protects well and has very good rock. After climbing the spire, you rap into the notch and avoid the first dirty pitch of the Arête. From the top, it's an exciting walk over the backbone of the Arête to the back of the gulley, with some hiking and a few rapells back to your packs. It's a fantastic route that is surprisingly seldom done. For a more low key climb without an approach and with an easy downclimb, show up early and get in line for Nutcracker. Note: If you want to see if you can climb 5.8 in Yosemite, most believe the second pitch of Bishop's Terrace in the Church Bowl to be the standard. For 5.7, I'd recommend the first pitch of Jamcrack. For 5.9, get on The Central Pillar of Frenzy or Committment.

Fred better put down that wine glass. He's looking a little jaundiced.

It's been awhile since a thread on this site made me laugh out loud. Well done irreverent bastards of cc.com.

Could we order an autographed copy from you, as a cc.com perk? Full price, of course.

Where did you get that topo from? It is definitely not the route that I submitted as Midnight Couloir. Here's the photo I sent with my description to the Olypic Mountain Guide. It shows up in your picture as the shadowed couloir to the left of the standard route. When I hit the ridgeline, I bivied. The next morning I traversed forever along the ridgeline to the summit. It really looks like you did route #2 of the South Peak based on the old guidebook that I have. [img:left]http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/310mid_Couloir.JPG[/img]

The key to the approach is knowing where to get out of the 4 x 4 territory and start heading up hill. Once you are on the right trail, I don't remember a lot of hardship, except for the steepness. It reminded me alot of the approach into the Pickets. The first time you do it, there will be some bushwhacking and suffering but it gets easier the more you do it. For anyone contemplating the trip, bring up some camping gear and make it at least a weekend trip. There is lots of great stuff to climb. My favorite route is a link up of Triple Overhangs and Vertical Smile, AKA "Vertical Overhangs". It's longer and gets the best parts of both routes. There are also some great routes on the Question Mark wall, which is the big face to the right in your panoramic shot. The Golden Wall is between the 2 and also has a few good routes. Early season there is a lot of snow to melt. The pond/streams then form but by late season its pretty dry. We used to bring up buckets and store water for later in the year.

I would encourage you to find a rheumatologist or infectious disease doctor with experience treating patients with post-Lyme disease syndrome. Be wary of anyone who calls it "chronic Lyme disease" as this is a catch phrase used by usually well-meaning but ill-informed people. There is a large body of evidense to show that the chronic symptoms some patients have following primary infection are NOT due to a chronic infection. Long-term antibiotics have been shown to be unhelpful (except for placebo effect) and in fact caused many side effects including death. The current recommendations are to rule-out other causes and address/treat symptoms with conservative measures.

Just going on what friends have told me - I don't actually have any first hand experience. My main reason for grouping was a combination of weight and durability. I'm pretty careless when it comes to caring for gear so it gets trashed pretty fast. Thus I lean towards heavier stuff so it lasts a little longer. PS - if you want more info on Stephenson google "Stephenson site:backpackinglight.com" I have used a Stephenson Warmlite tent for some time now. I bought it back in 2002 and I have put it through its paces since then. It's been used heavily in diverse environments including Bolivia, Patagonia, Washington, Utah, Colorado and Canada. It's stood up to gale force winds, snowstorms and downpours. I have the 2 walled version with side windows. This allows it to truely be a 4 season tent. It gets a lot of condensation on the ends (single wall) and I bring a camp towel to wipe it down with. From the desert to the cascades to high altitude mountaineering, it has performed flawlessly. The only down-sides are the lack of a vestibule and that it is not freestanding. However, as a tube tent it is very easy to set up in the wind. I stake the back from a single point, insert the poles, orient the front end according to the wind and place 2 stakes in the front. Using this method it stood up to 100+ MPH winds in Patagonia without a problem. It's lighter than 2 bivy sacks and a whole lot more comfortable and safer. Wy wife just used it for a 7 day solo backpacking trip along the Colorado Trail that featured nightly thunderstorms without a problem even though it's 9 years old and I only sealed the seams once when I first got it. If it ever wears out (no signs of that yet) I would replace it with another. Anyways, that's my $0.02.

We wore synthetic polypro underware, fleeces, puffball jackets, gore Tex parkas, good hats/gloves (my hands froze trying to melt snow) and plastic boots. Our sleeping bags were zero degree down bags and the bivy sacks were gore Tex. Had we had any less I think we could have died or at least lost some body parts. It's a good thing I learned to climb before the whole "fast and light" thing became popular. The most difficult thing I had to do was melt snow in the howling wind, as the water in our water bottles froze solid while we searched for a ledge to bivy on. I wrapped my sleeping pad around my pocket rocket and hugged it against my body for shelter. It went out about 100 times and I lost a lot of body heat but once we has something warm to drink out survival seemed more likely.

No gear needed up to 12,500 feet. I don't recall even using crampons. We didn't get to the steep spot where some people apparently rope up and place some now or ice pro. From what I recall, we had a few pickets intending on lpacing a deadmanfor that section based on what I had heard from other people.

My wife and I made a winter attempt several years ago in January. It was a heavy snow year, so there was more post-holing and less rock scrambling. There were a few interesting traverses but it was mostly straight forward to ~12,500 feet without any need for a rope. At that point, a mildly windy day quickly turned into a wind tunnel. We put on all the clothes we had and got into our zero degree bags and bivy sacks on a small ledge, just barely wide enough to fit us. The winds apparently reached 100mph gusts and the temperature dropped to -80 with wind chill. My wife's toes froze and blistered and I lost the skin off the tip of my nose and could barely feel my fingers for a few days. We managed to melt some snow and get something warm into our stomachs which was critical. The next morning things cleared up and we staggered down. Conclsuion: good route but don't underestimate the mountain in winter. I doubt I would ever do a winter climb without a tent in the future.

I lived there for 3 years(Utah)...great access, but not worth it in my opinion. You will be happy with the climbing in any of these places. It's really the job satisfaction which will make or break the deal.

As a doctor and a climber I was choosing between Fort Collins, CO and Bellingham, WA 6 years ago when looking for a destination after finishing my fellowship in pulmonary medicine. I chose Colorado and have no regrets. As you may or may not know, medicine in WA is pretty messed up. Seattle isn't so bad, if you can get a job at Harborview or the U but the rest of the state is pretty bad. Reimbursement is low, insurance is high and the scene is dominated by onerous multi-specialty groups and managed care. As a result, both pay and autonomy are low. I don't want to work in a place where some guy in a blazer won't let me take care of someone just because they are poor. I trained and worked at Harborview too long to be that unethical. Ironically, here in Colorado I take care of lots of underserved people and yet get paid more. Nurse anesthetists are totally accepted here. The ones I know seem to be happy. As for climbing, the rock climbing is top notch. We basically have every kind of rock to train on. Plenty of cragging all over and some pretty big stuff up in RMNP and the like. The ice cilmbing is good but involves a little more effort, unless you end up in the southwestern part of the state. One thing we don't have is glaciers, which I sorely miss. Three hundred plus days of sunshine has made up for it though. The skiing kicks ass both in and out of bounds.

When I saw this post, the first route I thought of was Shot in the Dark. The 30 foot groundfall runout over that ancient bolt only to be rewarded by an even sketchier bolt was perhaps my boldest lead. I recall climbing up another 10 feet before getting in a decent TCU. The rap off was nauseating and involved 3 of us tied into that POS anchor. If it had pulled, it would have left a mighty stain at the base. Thanks for re-bolting.

I'm not sure what you referring to when you say not true though my explanation of DLCO was admittedly short. DLCO is the rate (in ml*min*mmHg) at which CO can diffuse into the blood. Work by Ogilvie and Roughton (and others) determined that DLCO consists of two components, the capillary blood volume and the membrane diffusion. The test we use allows us to partition these components and determine if a change in DLCO was caused by the membrane or the volume component. Many factors affect DLCO by changing the blood volume component including exercise and even body position (like you said, a change in perfusion) however interstitial or alveolar edema would effectively increase the membrane thickness and decrease permeability. In the case of my study, I hypothesize a small amount of sub-clinical edema will occur in susceptible subjects. This would be confirmed by a change in DLCO and its membrane component and no corresponding change in the blood volume component. Hopefully will have some data to share on this soon. I was simply pointing out that your statement that DLCO is a good estimate of oxygen's ability to move from the airspace into the blood is not correct. Oxygen and carbon monoxide uptake are very different in the lung. Because of the enormous "sink" for CO in the blood, it is mostly diffusion limited while oxygen is perfusion limited except at very high altitude where diffusion can become a factor. DLCO measures CO uptake and estimates alveolar:capillary surface area but not oxygen uptake. Keep in mind, if you have a pneumonectomy your DLCO will more or less be cut in half but the remaining lung's ability to transport oxygen into the blood stream is relatively unchanged from baseline. This is fun stuff to think about. Not being in academics, I don't get to spend much time thinking about the difference between diffusion and perfusion limited gases anymore.

Found a reference: Physiology experiment at Capanna Regina Margherita Check out Google images of Capanna Regina Margherita. That's my idea of a proper high altitude lab.

A few comments: “Right now, the best way we have of predicting if you will get HAPE is if you had it on a previous occasion. Beyond this, we don't really know a whole lot for sure.” Semi-true. We know for a fact that healthy young men who ignore advice about acclimatization are at much higher risk of getting HAPE. As this characterizes the majority of people on this site, you’ve come to the right place for high risk subjects. “Above is a test measuring the Diffusion Capacity of Carbon Monoxide (DLCO). This is a good estimate of how well oxygen is able to go from the airspace of the lung, into the bloodstream.” Mostly not true. Under normal physiologic conditions (except at extremely high altitudes), oxygen uptake is mostly perfusion limited, as opposed to diffusion limited. “Again, in the case of HAPE, we would expect more fluid and therefore, increased tissue density.” True, but heavy exertion has been shown to increase lung tissue density all by itself due to increased lung blood volume. This is at least one reason why DLCO also increases (transiently) due to exercise. It seems what you are really doing is establishing baseline stats at low altitude for your subjects. To make any predictions about susceptibility to HAPE, the logical next step is to repeat your protocol at high altitude or in a hypobaric chamber. I’m pretty sure that a lot of this stuff has already been studied at that mountaintop lab in Europe (the name of which I can’t recall but I’ll bet Andy knows it). I would also be very cautious about potential selection bias and applying your findings too broadly. The risk factors for average people vs. those for established high altitude climbers may be very different. Welcome to the fold.

Trip: Yosemite - Toulumne - High Sierras - Various Date: 10/18/2010 Trip Report: I escaped my parental/spouse/career responsibilities to join my buddy Cha on his 3 month celebratory tour after quitting his job. We had brilliant and unseasably warm temps for the whole week and managed to get up 6 reasonably big objectives in 9 days. We started off big on Serenity Crack/Sons of Yesterday. Awesome crack climbing with only 1 party ahead and 1 party behind. Cha running it out on the pin scarred 1st pitch. Me preparing to levitate to the right crack on pitch 2. Cha enjoying perfect hands near the top of pitch 2. Me working the flaring jams on pitch 1 of Sons of Yesterday. Cha working his way across the 10a hand traverse on the last pitch of Sons of Yesterday. Moving on, we headed up to cilmb the Incredible Hulk in the Sierras. It was perfect granite in a pristine alpine setting. A little windy and cold to start with, but worth the minor suffering. We did the Red Dihedral, which went at around 10b. It follows the obvious diheral towards the right side of the face. If you go there, be sure to search the rocks for the "perfect cave bivy." Me suffering up the classic diheral pitch with frozen hands. Cha finishing the 10a finger crack after finally finding the Sun. Cha on the ridge before traversing to the exit pitches. To get through the infamous keyhole exit on the last pitch, I had to remove all gear from my harness as well as my helmet and still barely made it through. Next, we headed back to the Meadows and did Lucky Streaks on Fariview Dome. In our enthusiasm and lateness, we both managed to leave our cameras at the base. This is the only picture we have. It was an incredible route. The next day, we went back and did the regualr route on Fairview Dome. The first 2 pitches are great and the rest are so so. At 5.9, it was the only "easy" route we did all week though and it was nice to relax for a change. The route from the base. Cha finishing pitch 1. Cha about 2/3 of the way up the route. View from summit across to Daff Dome. Can you see the lizard's head? Next we headed back to the Valley and decided to challenge ourselves again. We ended up 2nd in the que to get up Free Blast on El Cap. Wow, wuite a route indeed! Cha heading across the 5.11 traverse on pitch 3. Me following pitch 3 (forgive the slight camera tilt.) Me heading up the 10c 4th pitch. Cha on the 10d 5th pitch before some mixed 5.11 and A0 slab. Me on more hard slab. Me negotiating the man-eating chimney/corner...10b, yeah right. Finally some cruiser 5.7 to the top. Rapping down some really crappy fixed lines from Heart Ledge. Note core shots in the rope from jugging abrasion and rock fall that were "fixed" by knotting the rope. Passing the knots was a rich experience. The crown jewel of the trip was a journey up the Third pillar of Dana. This is one of the cleanest and most aesthetically pleasing lines I have ever seen or climbed. Totally amazing. Me on the optional but recommended first pitch. Cha using some "a cheval" technique on pitch 2. Cha poised above a scary looking flake at the top of pitch 4. Me commiting to the psychological crux of the climb, making some dicey 10b moves above old pins and tiny gear on the only face section of the climb. Cha finishing the route in fine form on the 6th pitch, AKA the best pitch in the Sierras. We concur. Amazing trip with an amazing partner. Gear Notes: standard Yosemite rack Approach Notes: straight forward trails pick the right gulley to descend on the 3rd pillar of dana or you will be sorry