hollyclimber

Steve Swensen lives in my neighborhood. I give drive by tours of his house to my climbing friends.

specialed-thanks for the info on your experiences... but Dagen takes offense to be called a fancy pants And, if he did have fancy pants, they would last about 2 seconds, and then they would be ripped to shreds and covered with slobber. Oh, I mean he is really well behaved, so don't worry if I want to bring him on a climb with one of you. usually he just climbs naked. [This message has been edited by hollyclimber (edited 06-29-2001).]

We should start a thread on climbs to do with dogs. My pooch is a greater swiss mountain dog, so he is destined to climb. I am pretty sure that dogs are allowed on St. Helens, so we were planning that for his first big summit. I haven't tried to look into this too much yet, because he is still growing (87 lbs now) and I can't put a pack on him yet, but by next season he should be ready for the pack. Also, has anyone had problems with dogs on the glacier like sunburn or eye problems? Dagen got a little pink near his mouth at Smith last time I took him there, so I started to wonder if he needs sunscreen! But that is because he is white there where he got burned and the fur is thin. That got me thinking about if my dog was going to go snowblind on the glacier... Here is one of Dagen's Greater Swiss buddys, climbing high... http://www.greaterswiss.com/images/cloe_pikespeak2.jpg [This message has been edited by hollyclimber (edited 06-29-2001).]

Since when is Snake Dike in Tuolomne Meadows? Well, at least that is more on topic then the last few posts.......

I agree with SW Buttress of Cathedral...this is really cool sticky rock and a nice summit. I thought Matthis Crest was kind of boring, and way to much hiking for the amount of climbing you get to do. The West Ridge of Conness is supposed to be absolutely awesome.

BD Hexes without wires: FYI BD isn't making those anymore. They are still available at some places with the stock they had on hand before BD stopped making them. Last time I checked (about 2 weeks ago) they were on sale at REI outlet.com (getting rid of all the ones that REI had left). Then, to fill in some sizes they are missing at REI you will have to look around. I know that HyperSpud in Moscow Id has some, so I had them send me a couple. Smaller mountaineering shops are the best bet for finding these leftover gems.

Does anyone have anything to add on the conditions on the Emmons/Winthrop to what the rangers have to say here? http://www.nps.gov/mora/climb/climb_cd.htm I am planning to go up this route this weekend. We are going to have to camp low (Camp Curtis) so I won't get a good preview of the route myself like I would if I was going up to Sherman.

As of Sat there were basically no (visable) crevasses to avoid above the DC. The route is actually pretty direct and in much better shape then I thought it would be given all the talk about snow conditions this year. Even the cleaver is pretty good--spending a lot more time on snow this year then I have the last 3 years, although those climbs were in July. The Ingraham Direct also looks very good. I saw two parties of two going up the route on Sat morning. I looked the route over on Friday and thought it looked decent, but then there is of course some serious negotiation around crevasses there, and some risk of icefall.

Well...I didn't read the other posts, but I thought I would share what works for me... I got a Eurovan GL (1993) last summer. This is the version without any special features-no pop top or fridge etc. That means that it is a lot cheaper than the fancy ones. And, it has more room in a way because the vans with the cupboards and sink take up at least 12" of the driver side of the van. I just cook with a two burner coleman when I am car-camping and that works out fine for me and takes less space in the van. I built a bed for the back that is raised above the wheel wells. Under the bed I have tons of storage for gear, and it keeps it out of sight. The sleeping surface of the bed is made of 3 panels, which makes it easy to load and unload from the top from either side of the bed, or it can load through the rear hatch. The bed is light enough that I can take it out of the van myself pretty easily. That is nice for having quick flexibility for different trips. It comes with passenger bench seats-the rear one is for 3 people and the middle one is for 2. I leave the middle one in to work with the bed, but I have used lots of different combos for different trips. The van does not have 4 wheel drive, but it has decent clearance, front wheel drive and I have a manual transmission (which is hard to find). Actually, I wrecked my original van in May and had to get a replacement outside of the state to get the exact same thing. It gets 20 mpg, which I think is pretty good for a vehicle that you can sleep in. Compared to other vans, it is probably pretty similar to the Toyota van. Its really roomy on the inside, unlike most "mini-vans" and I am pretty sure it has a higher head clearance (I can almost stand in there, but I am only 5'4"). Anyway, I really like this vehicle, and when I wrecked mine I spent about 3 days thinking about looking at Aerostars and Toyota vans, and then I got serious and just went and got the same thing. Have fun figuring out what to do. Its hard to make a choice, but once you do I am sure you will have a great rig. [This message has been edited by hollyclimber (edited 06-27-2001).]

Its true that Dan didn't slam the mountaineers as much in this post as he did in one of his previous posts that said the same thing(that he wanted a partner for the tooth or guye peak). I don't think we want to discuss the pros and cons of the mountaineers in this thread...we could talk about it for a long time. My point is really that if Dan hadn't said those negative things about the mountaineers, which came across to me as a little extra rude considering that he was recently a part of their program, I might have been interested in climbing with him. I think that the attitude in the climbing community towards the mountaineers is unjustly negative and that some climbers think they have to say bad things about them to be accepted. I take a lot of crap from some of my non-mountaineers friends about my involvement in that organization. I also think that the comments on this forum on my potential climbing ability from people who don't know me, which isn't even relevant to the topic, sort of illustrates that. I defend the mountaineers, I get slammed. I wasn't trying to attack Dan. Maybe I should have emailed him personally, instead of posting my opinion on the board. Basically, I was just trying to say that a good attitude helps get climbing partners and that you never know when the person you might want to climb with actually helps out in the mountaineers. Dan-I apologize if I offended you. I truly did not intend any kind of personal attack.

Dan: a lot of people who climb aren't willing to climb with beginners, because they are busy working on their own routes...I have definitely felt that way at times. But some people are willing to climb at any level, and those are the people that we all learned from at some point, right? The percent of Mountaineer members that ARE willing to help bring a newer climber along is probably higher then the average group of climbers...Why else would some of the cooler and very skilled climbers I know give up some perfectly good climbing weekends each year to teach people the basics through the Mountaineers? What I am trying to say is...while you risk not sounding cool, it might not be a good idea to slam the mountaineers too hard when you are looking for partners. You don't have to say that you love them, just don't mention it if you are so down on them. There are certain long rock routes that I would never climb with the Mountaineers group, because I think they can be too large and potentially slow, but I would certainly climb with people that I met there who are very involved in the organization. I am personally always looking for more partners, the more the merrier, to climb easy stuff like the tooth, or hard stuff like 5.11 rock routes. When I look for partners I definitely look for someone that is fun and has a good attitude. In my opinion, acting like you are down on the group that just trained you isn't that appealing. And, since I taught at basic climbing several times this year and gave up perfectly good climbing days to do so, I don't appreciate it personally either. So, good luck in finding partners and enjoy the mountains this year. [This message has been edited by hollyclimber (edited 06-14-2001).]

I vote for John Ramuta. I have had friends whose shoes were ruined (shrunk even smaller then the original too-small) at Dave Page's. I heard that he has apprentice's do the work and that is why it is inconsistent, but that is just hearsay. John Ramuta does a great job, and he is consciencious. When he did a pair of mirages for the first time (for me) he didn't charge me because they are different to resole. Instead he had me climb in them to give him feedback on how it went. I think John has pick ups at both gyms in Seattle, or you can take shoes straight to his family's shop downtown. hollyclimber

Yeah, I know its chossy, but I thought once wouldn't hurt...then I can really be a choss expert. After all, the mountaineers recently had a choss seminar...well actually I guess it was called "Climbing on Loose Rock". Unfortunately I couldn't make it... Have you been up there Cpt? Seriously, I know a lot of people are going to say how crappy it is, and if there is anyone who knows that it is in worse condition then usual, that would be good info. With the lighter snow year, I am not sure if this is the best year to climb it. But, sooner or later I want to climb the thing, so I have been thinking I should maybe take my chances with the choss and get it done before it falls down! Holly

We are thinking about climbing up Little Tahoma this weekend... Any routes suggestions? There are only 2 routes in the Beckey guide, and it looks shorter to go up from Paradise, so all things being equal, shorter gets my vote.