mattp

If you have enough, take an extra wrap around your ankle. I have seen lots of people lose the heel cup when the laces loosened or they lost a set screw or something. A complete loop around the ankle will prevent loss and, I'd say, if you cannot make that extra loop your crampon straps are in fact too short, not too long. On the first pass around the front of your ankle, can you take an extra loop all the way around your ankle and then to the inside attachment point? And, by the way, I usually loop the front first and then go back and do the loop-loop around the ankle. I'm not sure it matters either way, but maybe somebody here has a theory on this.

$2.28. Even though I go to REI quite a bit, and I don't have any big "I hate REI" agenda, I seem to spend more $ in small local shops because they more often seem to have what I'm looking for.

That's the "liberal media" for you. Doing its job.

I believe all "free climbs" have utilized the famous (chipped) Jardine traverse. I read this in several sources last year. I believe it takes off just before the Boot Flake, and traverses left to gain the crack system shown at left in the photo above. phoito here

That's not a bad selection, Knotzen. For weather and etc., I often use Lowell Skoog's site as a gateway: links, though, as often as not, I use the zone forecast upon which I believe most of the other forecasts are based: western WA zone forecast. For "news" (sometimes just plain slander) that is slanted leftward, I look at truthout.org: we hate George Bush. When looking for a quick check on somebody's "facts," or seeking an explanation of something I know nothing about, I use wikipedia pretty damn good encyclopedia. When looking for a phone number or address I use Yahoo people search: does anybody have a better FREE site for this? Do you really look at movie reviews that much?

And, let me add, that I had a very good chiropractor who could cure me with a single crack for many years, but he retired and I've never found another one who could replicate whatever it was that he was doing. Either that or my problem changed.

Interesting that you would say that your "duckfeet" require five-ten shoes, Will (I realize that is not quite what you said). I have wide feet (I wear double e's), with a relatively narrow heal, and recently I've found some La Sportiva's that fit me better than any 5.10 shoes. I think the key lies in going to a shop where they have lots to try on and a salesperson who is willing to be patient enough to bring you ten pairs even if they may not make the sale.

The cut in budgets is at most only indirectly related to the timber harvest. Their budgets for roadway maintenance here on the West side in Washington are being cut something like 75% over a roughly two year period that comes fifteen or twenty years after the big cuts in timber harvest. It is politics. I am not sure I am quite that cynical, but some argue that Bush Administration appointees are forcing budget cuts that will put the squeeze on recreational maintenance so we'll be more likely to support user-fees and privatization as a cure to an artificial crisis. Who knows, but in any event we are going to see a lot more of this unless somebody can bring about a serious change in priorities. Meanwhile, many of the decisions are made on an ad hoc basis without any comprehensive planning or clear structure for public participation, and special interest groups like motorized recreational users or horsepackers or whatever are generally winning out over unorganized individuals like us.

Have you seen the other thread, Mr. Tuff? He's getting some advice there. He could be a troll, but I doubt it. Either way, I think it would be good for this board if people could ask questions - even dumb ones - without getting dogged on every time.

I'm not convinced that Mr. Up is either a troll or that he is asking stupid questions.

For me, stretching has often helped. I've also used ice and, when it really got bad, teh doctors have prescribed muscle relaxers. Good luck!

As to the N. Fork, perhaps the washout is beyond the Falls. I heard about it from a friend who is fairly reliable. However, it is possible that they fixed it. That is a fairly major road in the DTown district.

The road up the N. Fork Sauk (isn't that what it is?) toward the N. side of Sloan had a serious washout on it a few weeks ago, before the falls viewpoint trail. The Bedal Creek access road is gated for "wildlife closure."

Dalius, the climb actually went well and we made reasonable time, but had anything gone wrong we would have been in a world of hurt!!! (A pick fell out of my Hummingbird on the summit so we had only three tools between the two of us, but he couldn't have downclimbed anyway so I simply lowered him to the end of the rope, had him hammer in a picket, and then I downclimed six or eight times.) Anyway, somebody ought to contact the guy and maybe make some $ or an interesting contact in exchange for making a training hike.

Do not trim it down. Another pair of boots may require the longer strap. I don't know how your lacing system works, but do you have an "extra" wrap around the ankle - that is, does the lace go completely around your ankle in an unbroken loop somewhere in the system? This helps assure against loss if the crampon comes off your heel or something. Take any extra strap and tie it through your bootlaces or whatever you have to do to keep it out of the way.

The standard route on Mt. Cook involves a climb of about 5,000 vertical feet from the Plateau Hut, up a moderate angle'd glacier for 3,500 feet until you get some steeper snow slopes up to a couple ice or mixed pitches, and then perhaps 1,000 feet of moderately steep and very exposed snow/ice to the summit. The climb is comparable, perhaps, to Ptarmigan Ridge or something. The range is known for quick changes in the weather and, yes, they'll have to carry summit packs for sure. To get to the hut involves waking perhaps a mile or two on a huge and hugely broken valley glacier, climbing a steep and scary moraine wall, some rock scrambling, and a bit of glacier climbing -- this approach itself is WAY more of climb then, say, Mt. Shuksan or Eldorado Peak. Carrying packs will be the least of their worries, but these guys will want their clients to be in good shape and they are going to want to teach them a little about climbing before they make the trip. I guided a complete novice up that route (a "climbing partner" I recruited at the youth hostel) and determined, in hindsite, that I had no business doing so.

Dalius, most climbers on Mount Cook fly to the Plateau hut, and I can see why they do. The climb to that hut is pretty gnarly. These climber will NOT have to "carry their own weight" if they are doing the standard route.

The Edelweiss Stratos 9mm, which I believe the Sharp 8.5mm replaces, was a durable rope. I have a pair of Sharps, and one has gone flat after I used a reverso for rapelling and I have climbed on it for about six days or so. I'm not sure if this is a cause for worry or not, but the "weave" may have been loose or something, and it has a definite flat profile. These ropes have a slightly stiffer "hand" than do other ropes of similar dimension. I think this is an advantage as they are less prone to whipping around things when you toss them down the hill for a rappel or something.

Seneca Rock.

It wasn't quite that simple, Wazzu. There were certainly some in the Forest Service who DID have a problem with the bolts but the trail was at least as significant a concern and in a real way more so. Management plans do not allow for trailbuilding, but the rangers noted that trails are proliferating all over the place so that, for example, there is barely a lake anywhere that doesn't have a trail to it. The user built trail on nearby Mailbox Peak, too, was a big issue for them. In addition to the trail and the power tool issue, there was also the concern for the prospect that the climb might draw concentrated use by a new user group in a new area. Previously, that face had seen a handful of ascents in twenty years.

For those contemplating putting up new routes or crags, an equally important consideration, often overlooked, is trail building. Land mangers or property owners are often upset by the development of user-built trails.

Non-responsive!

Please lay the foundation.