Gerg

Ran up to SW Ridge of Red Mountain on Friday 4/20. Weather: Clear. Sunny. Low temps in low 30's High temps in low to mid 40's Avy Conditions: Moderate. Observed one small slide on East facing slope. Lots of old debris on route. Suspect that conditions have gotten worse with snow/rain over the weekend. Approach: Snow shoes or skis adviseable. No ski tracks. Good snow coverage all the way from parking lot/highway to route. Route: One previous set of boot tracks up route, making for easy path finding. Conditions were nice and firm early morning, but anything in sun was soft and no fun by 10am. Suspect that rain/snow over weekend have made things worse. Great views from top. Car to car time: 5:10, including broken snow shoe. The cleat snapped in half at start of decent, and I literally walked out of the shoe with my foot still attatched to the binding. on a good note, MSR will replace the pair of shoes for free .

I've found that having a twist tie on my pack(like the one used to attatch volcano passes) or some elastic off of an old climbing permit works. Just tell them it must have torn off sometime earlier and you didn't realize it. This seems to work pretty well most, but not all, of the time. gev

Weather: Morning clouds. Flurries most of the day. Afternoon sun. Temps in the mid to upper 30s Approach: Snow shoes. Trail to 500' below climb was mostly compacted. Upper climb/traverse to base of climb was on moderately firm 2" crust over 8-12" of soft snow over hard crust. S Arete Route Report: Fun mixed snow and rock route. Still lots of firm snow on route. Sheet of 1" ice on left side of chimney at top of 2nd pitch. Best protected with #2 camalot in flare at top-right of chimney with backup nut protection at base of chimney. Otherwise, no notable difficulties. Most belay stations were melted out and accessible. Rack of nuts and 0.5, 0.75, 1, and 2 camalots was more than sufficient. No need for snow anchors. Descent: Simul-downclimbed the SW Couloir. Snow was fairly soft, making for easy plunge stepping (would not be fun had we being going up). Running belay was easily protected with rock protection. Two or three sections of rock that were beginning to melt out in middle of couloir, but still mostly covered with snow. Chockstone is visible, but still mostly covered with snow. Car to Car--12hrs, including requisite break at 4:20 [This message has been edited by Gerg (edited 04-16-2001).]

With most organizations, including the Sierra Club, you can request that they do NOT give out (or more likely sell) your name to other organizations. Thus, no junk mail. I've done this and its worked wonderfully. Greg

Unfortunately, I don't know if comments submitted via email will be acceptable, but here is Representative Skeen's web page. It will allow you to write him an email if you are unable to send snail mail to him today. http://hillsource.house.gov/skeen/Contact.asp -gerg

I've got some old Trojans. Ribbed and regular. A few Lifestyles if memory serves me right. Most of them are expired by a year or two...

Since my wife's on the pill, I don't have a need for protection. You can have all my unused pro if you want it. Sorry to here that you are nuts. I've heard Prozac does good things. -greg [This message has been edited by Gerg (edited 04-11-2001).]

Here's the official word from Mammut on their Twilight ropes and the use of ascenders. -Greg ------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: "Bob Kennedy" <METOLIUS2/USER7> To: METOLIUS2/USER3, METOLIUS2/USER4, METOLIUS2/USER5, METOLIUS2/USER12 Date sent: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 09:24:17 -0700 Subject: Re: some answers Send reply to: bkennedy@metoliusclimbing.com Information from Rene at Mammut: 2. Jumar on Twilight > > From what I know, there is no Jumar on the market which has the approval to > be used on 7.5mm ropes. > Also we wont advise to use a Jumar to often on a Twilight, since due to the > lower amount of material in the sheeth the rope will tend to wear out much > faster than other diammeter ropes.....just remember that the sheet on the > twilight > is made on 32 bobbins, compared to the previous line of twins (Genesis) which > was made on 40 bobbins. So if you jumar on a twilight.....it simply wont > last long, it's not recommended (at least run a seperate belay line to the > person who climbs on the jumar) and it's also just not made for this. > > Take care and have a great day > > M A M M U T > Alpine & Outdoor Sports > Mr. Rene Meuli / Export Sales Manager > > ------- End of forwarded message ------- Chris Kratsch Customer Service Metolius Mountain Products V: (541)382-7585 F: (541)382-8531

I've begun actively looking at twin ropes. The lightest I found was the 7.5mm Twighlight by Mammut. But, this is below the recommended limit of my ascenders (8mm minimum). When I posed the question to Petzl, this is what they said: Hello Greg, There is no question that the handled ascenders will grab a Twilight rope. However, Petzl has not done any testing on a 7.5mm rope. As a company line we can only recommend a rope down to 8mm. If you use the rope grab on rope thinner than 8mm you are doing so at your own risk and without Petzl's recommendation. I would suggest that you take your rope to a good specialty shop with the capability to allow testing of your setup before purchase. I hope this helps Greg. And as always stay safe and know your system. Crandall Caughman Petzl America 800.686.6206 ccaughman@petzl.com Going to my local shop, I used a 7mm Beal rope to witness that a Petzl ascender would grab a rope that small (unweighted), but could not test a weighted rope. Even with an 8.1mm twin rope, this seems pretty sketchy with all the rope stretch and the probable amount of quickly induced ascender related wear on the rope. So, is there a good way (prussiks) to ascend twin ropes in the event that the pitch is too difficult for the second to free climb? If in doubt about the second being able to free climb the pitch, would half ropes (juggable) be recommended? Greg

Take a look at the latest Rock and Ice for a scary whipper.

Looking for a climbing partner for this Friday and/or Sunday (3/23 and 3/25). Rock and/or glacier routes. Rock--trad to 5.8, lead sport to 5.9, follow sport to 10b. Have gear and rope. Prefer longer trad routes, though will settle for a day of sport climbs. Glacier--interested in any day or long-day trip. Have gear (except pickets) and rope. Areas willing to travel to--as far south as Smith, as far east as Vantage, as far north as Stevens pass. [This message has been edited by Gerg (edited 03-21-2001).]

Anyone know what condition Sandy Headwall is in?

Alex I thought the same thing from looking at the web page, but the people at WDOT said the first week of April. The person who answered the phone may be full of it too, who knows for sure. Was hoping for a trip to S Early Winters, but I can wait another week or two. Hopefully conditions can hold out too. gev

I just called WDOT. They estimate that Highway 20 will be open the first week of April.

I was at Red Rocks a couple of weeks ago. Tunnel Vision goes at 5.7 trad and is about 7 pitchs. Makes a nice easy afternoon outing. There are a couple of chimneys with little/no protection, but fun nevertheless. Bring a headlamp for the 5th pitch as you tunnel behind a detatched pillar (5.3X). Figure 45 minutes on the approach from White Springs(?) and about 30 minutes for the walk off. Have done Crimson Crysalis in the past and I highly recommend that climb too (would do it over Tunnel Vision). It goes at 5.8+, and is solid throughout. Mostly trad, although someone bolted the last one or two pitches unnecessarily. Climb tops out at about 800ft, on top of a pillar where you can unrope and walk around and rest before rapping off. You'll need 2 ropes for the rappel and be careful not to get your ropes stuck on the huecos. Count on an hour for the approach. It is a full day so get started early. There are lots of other mulit-pitch climbs that go easier or harder. Take a look at Todd Swains book. His approach times tend to be sandbagged by about a third, i.e he says 30 minutes, most people take 40. Oh yeah, you probably want to look for South facing climbs that are in the sun as the shade gets pretty cold this time of year, especially if the wind kicks up. Have a great trip.