mattp

That anchor may not be quite as bad as you think. The 1/4" with the square nut on it will probably come out pretty easy but that buttonhead maybe not - I can't tell from the picture but it looks like one of those 5/16 buttonheads that are surprisingly good 25 years later and a real pain in the neck when it comes time to pull them for replacement or simple removal. Few would complain if you took a flintstone rig up there and replaced one or added a fattie, though.

Can't we talk both? Off White leading Ingenue

Sorry about the mess in this thread. The mods for this forum took a vacation. We can't watch every discussion, though, and this seems to be sorting itself out. Now that it is heading back on track, I have a couple of my own brilliant points to add: 1. A serious DISADVANTAGE of free standing tents is their proclivity to blow away, carrying their contents with them. On more than one occasion I've seen windstorms at high camps carry the free standing tents off the mountain or into a crevasse whereas those that were not freestanding were simply flattened or shredded so that the returning climbers at least had some of the gear left when they returned to camp. 2. I agree with JohnDavid's premise that just about anything will work for most of us most of the time. A piece of tyvek and eight pieces of cord is perfectly good for keeping the rain off when camping below timberline and a cheapo tent will keep the mosquitos out (for weekend trips, that is often the main reason I even bring a tent). I use a simple REI brand tarp when snow camping on ski trips and without fail those who have not been camping with me before balk at it but, by the end of the trip, everybody is hanging out in my tarp and envious of the fact that I can sit on snow benches and cook in my sleeping bag - and this is especially true if it gets really nasty outside. Generally, however, when a storm hits and you cannot simply bail out and go home, you are probably going to want a little more than that - and a real mountain tent is a good idea when camping above timberline unless maybe you have only one or two nights and a good forecast.

Damn nice rock.

Damn nice cragging over there! Thes shots were taken yesterday at Prospector Wall: 112 following Ingenue OffWhite leading PointMan 112 leading Borrowed Time

Interesting. I climbed the Bertulis/Davis route, and I thought the rock was good but there was an opportunity to kill your belayer on damn near every pitch. It wasn't Canadian Rockies or anything, but clearly not MOUNT STUART. And the descent? I don't remember having a lot of problem with bad rock on the standard route, but it was far from trivial and then mandatory downclimbing ice above the bergschrund in the dark was certainly interesting! Nooksak is full value, from start to finish. And fun.

Good one! The thing IS a piece of junk as far as rock climbing goes although in fact I thought there were quite a few very enjoyable pitches. Where Nooksack stomps, though, is in the location, the summit, and the whole package. Above, Girth Pillar is praised for the coolness of that awesome cirque and the fact that it involves a glacier and a variety of alpine skills. The Price Glacier cirque is at least as cool, the mix of alpine skills is at least as broad, and the top of the tower as compared to the top-out of the Girth Pillar route? A different league. You get to the top of the GP route and you can walk down. You get to the top of Nooksack Tower and you have a long way to go to get down. After this discussion, Girth Pillar got a few more points in the plus column on my checklist, though.

Probably even more critical (or at least equal) is the need for superlight gear when long-distance through-hiking.

Those Cilogear packs sound pretty good and maybe it is time for me to investigate but I wonder: does a pound or two of sack weight really make it or break it for anybody? When I carry a heavy load I use my heavier pack (a McHale) that has the most comfortable straps on it I have ever carried while still being a simple and tough pack (though I'm sure it is at least a pound more than the Cilogear pack). When I'm out with a light load I don't worry about the carry so much and I often use a lighter pack that is in fact too short for optimum weight distribution but which is more compatible with a harness and helmet.

Thanks all. Once again I got to meet a few folks I've previously only met on line and maybe some climbing plans will come of it. A tip of the hat to our slideshow presenters, the grillmaster, and those who helped clean up. I stopped by this morning and didn't find where anybody had left their wallet or a stray piece of clothing behind but there were a few homeless guys in there asking what the He## was I doing in THEIR shelter.

I'm on the fence about attending but if someone wants to drive over on Friday night and return Sunday, that'd help tip me toward going because I'd win extra points with my wife if I left the car home. I'm looking for cragging and last weekend bought Bryan's new guidebook which looks like it offers some good lowland ideas. Has anybody been up to Fire Wall?

Julie brought the carrot cake. She is the one who invented Climber's Picnic though I quizzed her about this and she said "well it wasn't really me. I mean, I just lived in this house and we were social..." Anyway, it was Julie's picnic when I first attended one - at this same picnic shelter, roughly 25 years ago.

Rockclimbergirl won't even take the stage until after 10:00, so come on down when you get back from climbing.

I'll be doing some shopping this afternoon and plan to show up at 5:00 or may be a little after. If somebody wants to help set up, that'd be great. I still have not located a laptop computer that the owners says is "qualified" - whatever that means. I can bring a desktop machine from my office but surely one of you folks has something better. I'll be looking for a grillmaster. I'll have the charcoal and tools. Bring gear to swap. I've got a bunch of old rock gear and some vintage ice screws and a super dooper sleeping bag. I'll toss my old slide projector in the car in case somebody wants to show hardman shots of yore.

Pete: No, I have not climbed Girth Pillar. That is why I ask. It has always been one of those routes I thought I might like to do but wasn't going to head up there just because it was in a select guidebook. Where somebody suggests it may be in the top 5 NW climbs, that piques my interest.

Idea guy is right: the turn off Aurora is poorly marked. If you miss it, just take every possible right turn and you will eventually end up where you should. I have an old school projector and am picking up a rental diggy projector tomorrow but could use a laptop computer that is better than the TWO that I have lined up but which the owners say are sub-standard. Doesn't anybody have a kick ass laptop? And who is bringing the avocado side dish?

I mean no disrespect here, Eric, and maybe I am missing something ... but have you climbed Girth Pillar? I can well believe it is a cool little feature in a neat place but it has a pitch and a half or two pitches of hard climbing on an otherwise moderate alpine ramble. And it is a big ramble.

I may also be interested in doing some climbing over there this weekend.

Monty: your simple bottom line is exactly right. What I was saying about the wire gates, really, was that many of them have an aggressive "nose" which can direct the rope into the gate. Eldienite, I think your 9 out of 10 times it will fail is a slight exaggeration, but I do try to clip the right way around. Dru, if we ever climb together, I'll prefer to use my rack.

The dogbone draws lie flat against the rock facing right or left when clipped to a bolt but not necessarily if you clip to a piece of gear and if you use the "trad" draws, with a shoulder length runner tripled over, they orient kind of right or left but not absolutely so. They do sometimes flip around so the rope is ready to unclip itself or at lest so there is an odd twist when you change directions. Does anybody but me think that many wire gates are just as prone to unclipping themselves as the bent gates - or perhaps more so?

Fox: Nice! I brought one home from our last adventure. Tick list indeed. Back to Shaoleung: I'm not sure there was any real reason why such a proposal never got incorporated, thought I don't know what an "8nu style tick list" really is. But we here at cc.com like to pooh pooh any new proposal or anything that sounds "commercial" so if it includes a reference to a commercial website it is likely to get panned. Yours might be a fun proposal. See the "5 top climbs" thread currently on the Climbers' Board.

I think there's a lot of truth to your complaint that "nothing substantive has changed." I don't think our propping up the banks or our plans in Iraq have changed. And he's only made marginal improvements in environmental regulation. But at least Obama says that we SHOULD be talking to the leaders of other nations when we formulate foreign policy, he's saying that we SHOULD have scientists in charge of matters requiring scientific knowledge, and that we SHOULD actually try to make any overall domestic economic and spending programs benefit normal Americans in addition to the mega-rich. For that matter, even though he is promoting stimulus spending, he has been talking a lot more about fiscal responsibility than his predecessor. I bet that, in hindsite, he will be seen to have delivered on at least some of this. I hope so.

Like Monty and Gene, I like having at least a couple draws set up with lockers on the active end of them. I think monty piton may be referring to "unclipping" when he writes about "back clipping" above. With both bent gate and wire gate carabiners I have seen the new "easy clip" carabiners unclip themselves and in fact I've seen it more with the wire gates than with bent gate spirits, at least. For racking wired stoppers, the aggressive hook on most wire gate carabiners is a bit of a nuisance. For a general purpose 'biner, I like Petzl sprits and have about equal numbers of those and Wild Country Heliums, with a few petzl attache binners on my rack.

I'm pleased to see Darrington show up in two posts so far. I have always thought it was one of the best local climbing areas! Dreamer and Roan Wall are fantastic, but there are a lot of other good climbs up there!