Bronco

have a good weekend except trask and necro, you guys are weird, get a room already

Or - the torrential rainstorms that probably had a huge waterfall coming down the entire Upper Town wall a week ago created enough water rushing out of every crack and crevice that the immense force knocked the previoulsy loose blocks down - and created even more DEATH COOKIES in the process! I ain't scared

http://www.montanaice.com/icecond.php

gol-durn double post...

I spent several winters in one Columbia heavy duty urethane rain coat working on rooftops every day. Worked pretty good for mainly stationary work. Combined with a wool shirt you'd stay pretty comfy in an all day 35 degree rain. I prefer imitation Goretex stuff for climbing though, more flexible for making the occasional akward manuver, lighter weight usually and the designs fit a little better than the big old rain coat which would bunch up under a waist belt pretty good. Oh yeah, it seems I heard from some Alaska guys that the rubber coated stuff tends to become brittle in cold weather, like sub zero, but, probably not going to be wearing it in those temps anyway.

Friday night stayed out way too late with an old HS buddy and had way too many brews. Saturday AM got up way too early to help another buddy (and like ten other dudes) pour a big slab inside his new pole building. The pumper truck was there at 6:00am! I had forewarned him to make dang sure his form boards were braced really good because that wet concrete is heavier than you think, but noooo, we still have a big "F@CK!NG BLOWOUT!!!" so no less than 6 hungover guys, (ok so maybe some still a little tipsy ) go screaming through the half poured slab outside and start shoveling, pounding, prying, cursing and shoving the 8'x2' form back into place, kneeling in the spilt concrete, (while the guys left inside keep right on pouring ) and had'er braced back up properly and pouring mud again in no time. Got done with the finishing by 1:00, had some pizza and watched the Huskies get their asses kicked. And mowed the lawn. My lawn. Not my buddy's. Sunday started to drive over the pass to go TRing with the family in the Icicle, but, stopped and hiked on this side instead since it was so nice over here.

I stand corrected on my correction, thanks.

Actually a single hex has three different options for sizes. Dryad, an "alpine rack" is considered the lightest, smallest most minimalistic rack you and your pard are willing to lead a particular alpine route on. It varies quite a bit depending on the climber and route.

I have the guide glove and it's pretty bulky, but, no worse than any other ski glove I've ever had. It is a lot warmer than any other glove I've had and seems to be pretty well made.

I just noticed here http://www.nps.gov/mora/climb/climb_cd.htm that the Gib Ledges was back "in" prior to all that rain earlier this week. Looks like it might be a good weekend for a summit bid.

I thought we needed a thread for listing information on road closures, so here it is. Link to Everett Herald article listing several closures in the Granite Falls/Darrington area: http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/03/10/24/17662345.cfm I also read Hwy 410 to Cayuse Pass is closed indefinetly at the park boundry becasue of storm damage. As we all heard, HWY 20 is closed for the season. Mattp mentioned the FS road to the Darrington Rock climbing area is closed 5 miles from the normal trailhead.

I'd definetly call before heading anywhere in the N. Cascades this weekend. I hear the Mtn. Loop is closed indefinetly at Robe or maybe Verlot and rumors of closures on Hwy 20 at Concrete and Hamilton as well as the Darrington/Arlington Hwy. HWY 2 is open now.

Obviously forecasting is no guarantee that it's going to be safe but, the guy said he wanted to climb Rainier in the winter so to suggest he avoid avalanche chutes and terrain altogether is not very realistic.

In the "bagain barn" at www.sierratradingpost.com incase my link doesen't work. http://www.sierratradingpost.com/xq/asp/base_no.42716/str_base_no.11012,13284,13313,13725,13747,14138,14237,14639,42697,42710,42716,42801,42802,42806,42809,46357,46358,46396,55719,55720,/header_title./page_name.prod_list_display_special.asp/search_type.L1%7E4275/size1./size2./gender.0/ShowImages.yes/sq.0/cont.1/sqlSearchStr./intPgNo.1/special_type.bargain_barn/qx/product.asp

damn! he sucks ass! Bah! at least they're out there having fun. How long have you been AT skiing Cracked? The first time I tried to ski with a pack it was down a icy road in my leather climbing boots on some little 160's that I had to move the rear binding back to accomidate my boot. I must have looked like a complete goof ball who had never been on skis prior. The 50 lb pack kept pulling me over backwards. No semalance of control with the leather boots either. I think the very first time I skied, it went bettter than that trip. Ugh. I had been a pretty avid downhill skiier (and jibber) for about 10 years prior to that too.

Will: I've been pretty happy with my BD Gemini's single LED and use it 90% of the time and the Halogen only when routefinding in the dark, which is not very often, thank God. No problems.

I'd strongly recomend you make a concerted effort to learn avalanche forecasting and not rely on an "expert" you met on the internet. I found myself in some akward situations with some "experts" I found on this very website. I'm sure I'm not alone in that regard It's really not rocket science and there are a few basic avalanche courses you could complete prior to Feb/March which is the most common time to do a winter climb of Rainier. It is possible to perform a pretty accurate analysis of the snowpack without getting into the facceting or metamorphism of the snow particles, just the basics. I talked with one guy who met some (experienced) internet buddies to do Rainier in the winter and had to show them how to self arrest and tie in at the middle of the rope at Camp Muir. or just hire a certified guide.

Sounds pretty good coming from a guy who asked for advice on how to re-lace his climbing shoes last week, thanks! I've mounted (and re-mounted ) several pairs of bindings on downhill skis, usually with no problems but, was a little wary of these goll-dang-fangled bindings. Looks like a 2-3 beer job to me, possiby 4 if I'm trying to keep an ear on the game.

look here: http://www.wildsnow.com/articles/dynafit_mount_2001/dynafit_mount_2001_1.html What do you guys who've mounted the dynafit bindings think?

I recieved a strange e-mail from this website. Pretty funny. http://www.art888.com/index.html

Came across this while gaping at ski's online: http://www.evogear.com/tent_sale.htm some good deals to be had on the website too.

I have seen this too. I think that differential cooling on the exterior creates internal pressure that forces the liquid H20 out through small fissures in the surface, at which point it freezes. I think that this dynamic probably occurs anywhere ice envelops liquid water... No, no, no. That's all wrong. See, I was there and we get to the top of this huge serac and Mark says, "hey, how about we get outa here, this climb is way too easy". So, I'm like, "yeah, its pretty lame let's just rap our way down" so we turn around and there's like, no rap anchors anywhere. We were so scared. One minute we're having a great time, the next, here's Dr. Doom rearing it's ugly head. So with a surge of adrenaline, I totally flip out and chop the shit out of the big serac and carve it into the form of a big icicle and stab it into the snow over where it would be useful. Mark was like totally pissed and was like "hey man, that's not cool, you just wasted that whole serac and now it's gone for future generations to climb" . He was so pissed that he even decided to spite me and leave me outa his book despite putting a picture of the icicle I carved in there. I guess I'm too extreme.

badgerbadgerbadgerbadger....

I did a cycle (5 day's loading, 3 weeks of maintenance) in August and put on 8 lbs in the first 5 days from 176 to 184. Strength gain was noticable, I could pound out a couple more reps on most lifts right away and it gives you a nice happy buzz durring the loading phase. I don't think I'll use any more, I don't want to put on any more weight right now, and I really was just curious about it's effect. I used Creadrive from GNC for the loading and plain old creatine for maintenance. From what I've heard, you can't go wrong with different brands, creatine is creatine, but I prefer the fruity flavored stuff to the plain creatine you put in your tea or coffee (hot drinks dissolve it best). Oh yeah, creatine supposedly will start to go through some chemical reaction once it's in liquid form and turn into some useless compound (within hours) that has no effect on your body so avoid the creatine sold as "syrum" and consume your beverage shortly after putting it in your drink. I also learned that some people don't react at all to creatine as they already have enough in their body and the muscle tissue won't absorb any more. Hope that helps. Most of this info I learned from research on the internet so it may be totally wrong, but, probably not. edit* just read your post about rock/boulder climbers and must say that in my opinion, the strength you gain might be defeated by the weight you will probably gain. More of a useful tool for Alpine climbers.

ooh, like 11 minutes, back to start, do not pass go, do not collect $200.00.