Bronco

Bandit is sold, everything else still available.

From the GNACF website: "AVALANCHE FATALITY Yesterday in Hyalite Canyon a world renowned Canadian ice climber, Guy Lacelle, was killed in an avalanche. He and his partner had finished the climb Silken Falls and were hiking up a narrow drainage to a higher climb when two other climbers above them triggered a pocket of wind drifted snow that ran down the gully. His partner was off to the side, but Guy was hit and carried off the climb to his death. Our sympathies and condolences go out to his family and friends, many of whom are in town for the Bozeman Ice Festival this weekend." A little more info here: http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2009/12/11/news/000avy.txt Sad.

I have a MH Phantom 40 and pretty happy with it in temps down into the 20's so far. I'm a pretty warm (fat) sleeper. I think I paid about a hundred bucks for it on sale. Glad not to have to lug my 20 degree bag around anymore.

Rubber rand straight shaft hammer Black Diamond Black Prophet ice tool. $45 obo Stubai steel crampons and anti bots, good all around pons $75 obo Grivel Rambo Monopoint crampons - $45 obo Golite Powder 8 ski pack, good day [ack , some rips in shovel pocket - $35 obo Black Diamond Bandit, no avalung, good shape $45 obo This stuff is surplus gear and I'd like to get rid of it. Please make an offer if you're interested. Please email me at : ryan at rpmcousa dot com

Sadly, yes... http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2009/11/24/news/400crash.txt

Great Norther Slab at Index is south facing and now that the trees are losing their leaves, a little sun dries out the rock pretty quick. Good newbie climbing there.

Favorite winter gear: http://reviews.patagonia.com/9248/40071/reviews.htm

I recall a time when I could do 23 pullups without resting and couldn't get up Libra Crack at Index (a short .10a finger/hand crack)on top rope.

Hyalite Road to be open for winter again published on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 10:14 PM MDT By BIG SKY NEWS SERVICE Gallatin County road crews will plow Hyalite Road again this winter, opening the popular recreation area south of Bozeman for a host of cold-weather uses, U.S. Forest Service and county officials said Monday. The agreement hatched last year will continue this year, with costs evenly split between Gallatin County and the Forest Service, Gallatin National Forest ranger Jose Castro said. Under the terms, the county's costs will not exceed $12,000. Plowing the road up Hyalite Canyon proved to be wildly successful last year, Castro said, with 3,000 vehicles traveling up the road in February alone. “Working this out for the public has been great,” he said. County crews will head up the steep road only after all other road plowing has been taken care of, making the recreational area the county's last priority, said Lee Provance, county road superintendent. Last year’s efforts to keep the road clear went smoothly, but Provance said he is concerned about the integrity of new guardrails in the winding canyon. “I'm worried that we'll plow up the against them, then the snow freezes into an ice chunk and when we push more snow against it those things could start buckling,” he said. “They're only half the size of a normal post.” The guardrails were installed to keep vehicles from slipping into Hyalite Creek, Castro said. Hyalite Reservoir provides about 40 percent of Bozeman's drinking water and the guardrails were built to protect the watershed from potential contamination. In the county’s five-year agreement with the Forest Service to plow the road it has minimal liability for damage to the guardrails, deputy county attorney James Greenbaum said. “It's too speculative to consider what might happen as far as damages and who might be responsible,” he said. “Obviously, the Gallatin County Road Department employs qualified persons skilled in snow removal. If it turns out the guardrails are damaged through no fault of the county, then we would not accept responsibility.” Legal considerations aside, the partnership is beneficial to anyone interested in using the vast recreational area, from ice fishers to skiers and snowmobilers to ice climbers, County Commissioner Bill Murdock said. “I think this great news for Gallatin County residents because they use the heck out of Hyalite Canyon in the winter,” he said. “It's a good partnership.” For detailed winter use maps, visit the Gallatin National Forest Web site at fs.fed.us and click the 'Hyalite Canyon Winter Recreation 2009' link or call 587-6701.

I believe that!! My brother gets it with certain foods. So there's foods I have to be careful with. Last attempt on Rainier I was very careful of that which is why I never had to go. Diarrhea seems to run in peoples genes (runs in thier jeans, get it?!) Just a little joke. You and your brother are not the only people altitude effects that way. Seriously, good job, glad to hear you made it up and down Baker despite the intestinal issues.

Josh: Did you know there is scientific evidence that diarrhea is hereditary?

How about getting run over by a power boat in a sail boat: http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/justice.asp

AWESOME!

Nice job! What do you think total mileage and elevation gain was?

I visited FS #41 last night,(Green Mountain Road), there is a big washout approximatly 10 miles from Three Fingers trailhead. The FS has a contractor working on the road up to that point but not sure if they intend to continue this summer.

Wet footwear and feet are probably one of the most inevitable parts of a Cascade Mountaineering trip no mater what time of year. Considering your aggressive agenda (that is a lot of mileage and peaks to squeeze into such a tight timeframe), I understand your concern about having a good enough footwear system to avoid debilitating blisters etc from wet feet. On several occasions, I've worn my running/approach shoes on the trail unitl I encounter snow and then change into my boots to keep my shoes (and feet) dry for climbing in and wearing around camp. If it's in your budget, there are many really great summer weight Goretex boots out there that would be perfect for your trip. I have had a pair of Garmont Towers for six or seven years and I do everything from hiking and archery hunting to snow climbs and alpine rock climbing in them. They are not particularly great at any one thing but work well enough for everything. One trick I learned is to bring a pair of shake and heat packets to put in my shoes at night to speed up the drying process if I only have one pair of shoes with me on the climb. I think there are probably some climbers around here who have put more thought and science into this issue than me. I tend to just suffer with what shoes/boots I have and keep it simple. My boot quiver is just whatever running shoes I am wearing at the time, the Garmont Towers and a pair of Scarpa Matterhorns that I haven't worn in years. And a bunch of rock shoes and ski boots. 90% of my summer backcountry time is either in the running shoes or Towers.

You should be fine. I prefer something with some ankle suppport for most of those chossy approaches and in the event you need to don crampons but you should be fine. I'm curious about the booties though, what's the strategy there? Seems like you could get by without them for stream crossings.

I wonder if the DOD was able to keep any statistics from Gitmo detainee waterboarding sessions?

Regarding Avalanche Lake/Huckleberry Creek approach: This route is VERY RUGGED. We approached this route in the hopes of being sheltered from the thunderstorms predicted last friday night. In hindsite, we should have taken the heavier 4 season tent and gone up Froze to Death or not gone at all. After hiking the Mystic lake trail for 6 miles, we encountered approximatly 6 miles of heavy bushwacking and boulder hopping. There could be a sparse trail that we may have lost while crossing snow patches but the cairns don't seem to lead in any consistant direction or route. In the morning of our summitt attempt, the first task was to traverse a large boulderfield with rocks the size of train cars and sherman tanks to get around Avalanche lake. On one occasion a boulder the size of a VW my partner had just hopped accross gave away under my weight and crashed 100' down into the lake taking a lot of other rocks with it leaving me dangling from another precariously perched boulder. After spending a day and a half just to reach the Tempest/Granite Col, our motivation was crushed and we wussed out of what might have been a great snow climb blaming it on the gusting winds which were strong enough to knock you off of a stance and I could just imagine the rope flying all over the place and my partner was pretty anxious to get down to the Mystic Lake trail before dark. Oh, and the bugs at the lakes were incredibly horrible as well. The Granite Peak map we used appeared to indicate a trail but upon closer inspection it is just a dotted line of "recomended travel" not a dashed line of an actual trail like heading up Phantom Creek to gain the Froze to Death Plateau. Conclusion: Huckleberry Creek approach is NOT recomended unless you have a particularly strong appetite for unecesary suffering which I realize is most of us here but a REALLY REALLY strong appetite is what I mean. Probably a Grade IV approach on the Nelson/Potterfield scale. Sitting out a T-Storm on the approach under a boulder.

They are all long and steep, most pick East vs West Rosebud according to if they are driving from Billings or Bozeman. I understand Huckleberry Creek is preffered if you are planing to fish, otherwise it is low enough to make for a long summit day.

I agree with Bug's schedule. I am a climber that typically compressed two or three day climbs into one long day and decided to take it somewhat "easy" on Liberty Ridge over a three day climb in mid June 2003. Day one included an early morning drive from the Seattle area and found us camped near the Carbon by late afternoon. This put us in a position to cross the Carbon in the early morning and be at Thumb rock well before the biggest avalanche I ever hope to see scoured the gully to the west of Lib Ridge and ran well out onto the Carbon from a serac that calved off of the top of the route in the warm afternoon. We had a long afternoon roasting in the sun at Thumb Rock hydrating and resting for a 2 am start on the summit day. Summit day was long with the hike out and drive home. It is still probably my most satisfying climb and I'd do it the same way. You could do it in two days (push to Thumb Rock on day one) but it wouldn't be as fun or safe in my opinion.

MY GOD MAN! WHERE IS YOUR PRE-HEATED THERMOS!!!?

Looks like the FS will be installing and closing a gate at the dam each winter. This adds about 3 miles of hiking/skiing or SNOWMOBILING to get to the ice. A local climbing organization appealed but was recently denied. Stupid enviros.

Sounds good trog. Have you been burninating the peasants lately or just keyboard ninja curap around this place?