al

I scoped out the NY Gully with binocs back in January so the info is dated, but it didn't look "in" if your looking for a fair degree of ice. Another problem with lack of TRs is that most folks are powder and ski oriented in winter rather than climb oriented. When the snowpack stabilizes I'm sure there'll be more TRs. In the mean time, I feel your pain.

Tried to PM you but there's something wrong with your address.

Anybody been in the Tatoosh Sunday with anything to report? Snowpack conditions?

Last weekend the hut filled and several people suffered bad headaches, presumably from all the stoves going. And you won't get much sleep. Midweek you'll probably be alright in the hut but if its a weekend, forget it.

We got to Muir hut Saturday and eventually it filled to capacity. We were to do the Gib route and others, the Ingraham direct. There was even a party camping up at the beehive. But 3am Sunday was howling whiteout and we all crawled back in the sack. Everyone returned to Paradise later that day. Only one strong climber on Friday did a solo summit up the Gib route, enjoying perfect route and weather conditions.

web page

I'd call her by her first name.

James, Your e-mail isn't current. Care to send me a private address. Al

That's right Mattp! An avalanche probe's head is bigger than its shaft allowing easy pull out. A lifelink's shaft, when joined, is fattest in the middle, often resulting in separation at that point. That's why I went to carrying a probe some years ago. I was told that the Mountaineers Backcountry Ski group requires dedicated avy probes for that reason.

Check out the primaloft belay jackets (with hood) at Pro Mountain : Pro Mountain Sports

the thing i wonder is what if my buddy has a talkabout around his neck and he's buried? even if all the searchers turn off our electronic devices will it effect my ability to find him? No, because you'll be zeroing in at the lowest sensitivity level before you probe/dig. My experience has been this is most apparent at the highest sensitivity levels, as in when you begin the search, and your receiver won't be close to his talkabout then.

Fishstick, that's true of any electro-magnetic source. We discovered this with a pair of old style Pieps when my partner complained about not hearing a beep but a constant whine instead. We eventually discovered the source of interference being the GPS she was wearing around her neck. It took about 10 minutes to discovery this! Further experiments revealed that TalkAbouts do the same thing. Try walking around your house. The wireing in the walls and around plug outlets, computers, etc.. will be picked up by your beacon receiver. I then tried it with my newer Ortovox and the same thing happend. I was wondering about the digital kind and you brought that to light. In an actual search everyone with some other electrical device has got to turn them off. I haven't seen any discussion about it so I'm glad you brought it up. I'm sure many people carrying these things don't know this.

Check out this link for more sobering opinions. It should keep this thread going a while longer. Risk and reward are concept not taught in our educational system : http://www.conted.bcc.ctc.edu/9e_ava.htm

A couple of years ago I took a "deeply buried victim" class.. ie: two meters or more We went up to Snoqual pass for the field trip at night. While signal footprint changed dramatically (the zone of probability expanded to around 3+ meters)making probing all that more important, the group dynamics that this article speaks of made clear the odds against a successful recovery when deep. We were like the keystone cops, banging and digging furiously in stuff that was not even real avy deposition. We tended to dig a hole that was cone shaped rather than cylindrical, only to be a foot or two off. I see why the survival charts drop exponentially after 15 minutes.

Dwayner : Thanks for information. I've been on the mountain one time last winter via west side due to avy conditions. It whetted my appetite for sure. Loren : Nice web site.

I can't seem to get through my head which couloir is which, Me too. Anyone care to clarify based on photo. What's the name of couloir an far right?

I just use ovals, gate down and out on my rack, each size screw on a different oval. When an oval's empty at least I've got something I can still use.

You should have come up with us to Bryant Buttress and helped break trail through the powda. I tried to get your attention when I got down but you scooted fast and couldn't hear me. I was wanting someone (I didn't have my gear) to check out the ice coming off the second cliff band, in the center.

I was also up at Alpental Valley on Tuesday to check out the ice. Where you with the party of three that came to the falls? I was the guy on top when you arrived. The falls (I don't know the name either) looked pretty thin, what was exposed - the rest buried by snow. There is another ice line that comes off the second cliff band as one travels the trail. Right in the middle of that band is a cleft(again, I don't know the names)with a reasonable looking line. I first saw this on the 18th, before the big dump. Never having climbed ice in Alpental, I was sure this was an established route, being so obvious. It starts with about 30' of 50 deg. smear, then goes vertical or near to trees above, about a rope length. The upper half was snow covered so couldn't tell about ice, but lower vetical section clean. I have picture taken Tuesday. I then went to Commonwealth to check out two places. The triple waterfall above PCT was not "in". The lower falls not set up enough as usual, middle not at all, but upper frozen solid. The other place is a smear about .1 mile south of this. I climbed the lower half two years ago with John Brace, but at about half rope length when my left crampon came off I baled to left and set up rap. We top roped that lower section. I have pictures of this too. It shows the lower section bulging with ice, the middle to upper completely covered, and the final top section a solid pillar about 15' high to the top of the bluff line. Talking to different people, no one seems to have heard of this line. Like all ice around here its very ilusive.

I never thought of basalt as having a parallel nature to their crack systems. The outside edge may look parallel, but a quick feel with fingers betrays a grossly flairing or irregular inside making it impossible to get a hex placed on it's side in the way you see diagrams in books. Perhaps the smallest hexes do better since not as much side area. Since I've forsaken sunny sierra granite for the glooms of cascade rock I've rarely placed a hex on it's side, but rather, on it's ends. In any event, hexes be damned. This morning I'm getting out and looking for ice at the pass!

Hexes were designed for the cracks of Sierra granite (Yosemite)and thus, sometimes seem tougher to place in the irregular cracks of basalt and other forms of local rock except when placed on end. The smaller holes drilled in the newer hexes must be for the newer tech cords. I've got 6mm perlon on my old hexes, but I had to use an awl to shove them through.

The remedy for all the myriad man-induced evils will be a ban on fixed anchors.

If your using Kevlar be sure to tie a triple fishermans knot 'cause the stuff is slippery. I tryed Kevlar once and didn't like it. The older hexes (Chounard) had bigger holes so I went back to perlon. Hexes are great for an alpine rack. I've rapped off them and didn't rue the loss.

I've seen people bivy on the little rise just south of the lake. I don't know exactly where these guys were. The other winter a slide off Bryant came down right to the lake. It's track was about 5' deep and 40' wide. Like a freight train. That place is got to be the worst bowl in the Snoqual. area.