Dru

Get a pair of Pulsars. They kick ass for everything from low angle snow climbing (with the multishaft long shaft) to ice up to WI 4-5 and you can beat them to death on just about any type of ground without them breaking. The only disadvantage is they're a bit heavy for using as a primary non-technical mountaineering tool and a bit old school for hard ice given the new shaft designs out on the market. For hard ice, to hell with Tops, get Quarks. Quarks rule!

If you want a book designed for the professional, as opposed to the recreational skiier or climber, I would check out the <b>Avalanche Handbook</u> by Dave McClung and Peter Schearer. They know their stuff. McClung in particular was head of avalanche control in Rogers Pass for 10 years, additionally has climbed 8000m peaks and put up the "Peruvian Headwall" finish to the Price Glacier roue on Shuksan.

The first ascent reported it as "5.6, WI5+, A-tree". I t had more ice than there is now though. Anybody have any idea who the Washington climbers on the "Kanaka Kolumn" on saturday afternoon were?

You will not get much respect if you ask for the "washroom" in Canmore - practice saying "Where's the fu<kin' john eh?" And remember to say "serviette" and not "napkin"

On the other hand, considering Joe's point about the waterfall, you could get a nice FA in if it was frozen! How many 500 foot grade 2's are left unclimbed around here?

What about racking all your screws in one of those old style, dip-to-your-elbow chalk bags, maybe update the design a bit by making it out of kevlar and giving it a mag bag type closure so it didn't drop all your screws if you whipped?

Dude, watch out for those Banff women, Banff is right up there with Whistler and only marginally behind the Downtown Eastside in the race for STD capital of Canada (it's those fu<k!ng Australians' fault). And give up the Molsons, Big Rock Trad is the climbers' beer in Alberta.

The important thing is to remember that ice doesn't always form up the same length or thickness. What is one year (maybe when bolted) a blank section with no ice and no gear placement potential, might have ice several feet thick and solidly attached another, fatter year. But I must say that placing bolts in places where the ice is usually solid and protectable (like where you could presumably get a screw in while drilling that bolt) sounds kind of dumb, not to mention expensive for the first ascentionist.

Dude that twight report is like 5 years old! How about finding the web address for the new one where he soaks himself in gasoline and sets himself on fire while hanging off the 4th bolt of "Caveman" at Haffner Creek in a protest against the media bias toward "crag" mixed climbing?

Oh my, the fun I missed by going to the Thompson last Saturday. Wanted to do Crucible but it was still spewing (like you boys the morning after) so we did some stuff above Goldpan instead (including one obscure climb Don S. said maybe hadn't been done before ) and didn't see a soul all day just the tracks of some bighorns. And we got back home in time to spend 6 hours in the bar getting drunk and watching the Canucks lose. Oh well there is always this weekend, it's supposed to get colder for the next 5 days.

Some friends of mine from Sechelt are making a documentary about Fred Beckey and according to them Helmy is still alive & well. But for whatever reason him & Fred don't get along to well nowadays. There is going to be some footage in the film of the brothers trash-talkin' each other (or so they say)

Hey -it's not just Americans pilfering routes in the Rockies he's got Canadians like Hugh Burton and Peter Croft pilfering routes in Yosemite as well (although he missed out Croft's pilfering in Washington I guess because he doesn't think climbing in Wash. is pushing any limits...