fredrogers

Lucky number 13??? Off to Smith. Wahooooooooooooooo!

Probably not a huge suprise to anyone who's ever climbed there, given the nature of the rock, but I mean the actual hardware itself. I spent Saturday at the Feathers climbing some nice moderate stuff with my girlfriend and noticed that a bunch of the anchors are getting pretty bad. More specifically the quick links were halfway rubbed through on the Beckey Route/Easy Reader, super rusty bolts on Feather in My Cap, etc. I'm not sure how to replace these, but would be willing to help the restoration effort (time or $).

just getting this back to the top.

Just got an email from one of the kind folks who are "Friends of the NW Avalanche Center". The new Teton Gravity Research movie "Mind the Addiction" is playing at REI this Thursday night at 7PM and again on the 30th. Both shows are $7 for REI members ($8 for non-members) and it's benefit for the NW Avalanche Center. Great film, great cause.

I've had 2 Dana packs- The Big Horn for 3 years as a overnight/crag pack and a Hyalite for 10 years or so. I've beat the shit out of both of them and the packs have held up well- just had to replace small things like buckles etc. They tend to be a little on the heavy side, but rugged as hell. Don't knowif that has changed since K2 bought them.

I thought it was a device that cams in cracks? How's that for innuendo, Dru?

I like this page. Every ski resoort web cam is one click away: http://www.skiwashington.com/livewebcam.htm or the wsdot mountain pass site: http://traffic.wsdot.wa.gov/sno-info/

Crack of the Bat (5.8)and Drive by Nose (5.7) job are great moderates there. Crack climbing is surprisingly good and seems to protect well with nuts... Definitely a great way to while away the time if you've been rained out of the Pass.

The West Ridge of Prussik is amazing- not hard, but in great position and on great rock.

Were you guys getting nailed bu the Good Ranger about 7:30 or so on Sunday night? And the 2 guys in a van with what looked like the Treehouse logo on it? If so, shit, we just missed getting nailed for not having a permit. We were obviously not carrying daypacks and hauled our sorry, dragging asses right by you guys.

We came in via Tokitie, damn it all. I know that a grade IV approach can be a bitch, but that was particularily ugly. Kyle- we did find a little water (stagnant or close to it) on the plateau, but camped at Mesa at your recommendation. Had the place to ourselves. Glad I didn't pack the six pack , but I was happy to have left one in the car in a cooler... glug glug.

Spray: engaged.

Good old ranger Larry. He cited me and 2 friends for sleeping inbetween the road and the Icicle creek years ago. And, insisted that we clean up after my friend who'd had a bad case of the barley flu the night before. I don't recall him being abrasive, just an officious prick and a little insensistive to the fact that he had rousted us at 6 AM. But, after all, I was breakin' the law and in the wrong.

Kyle and Viktor- Thanks for the beta. After some route finding problems on the way in via Snow Creek we made it up to Mesa Lake (when Nelson says "at the first switch back where the trail leaves Snow Creek" I'd have to add- "At the first switchback where the trail leaves the Creek for good, after a short steep hill". And stay WAY left of the talus field.). Absolutely beautiful area, but the approach is a bitch. One of the worst I've ever done (including the Pickets)... if you go, go for at least 3-4 days and spend some time up there. I wouldn't recommend it for a weekend trip unless you need to punish yourself for some reason. The S. Face of the Mole was straightforward and a nice airy summit, but the hike to climb ratio was way fricken off.

Quick. Get me a beer. I'm already alco-glycemic...

quote: Originally posted by TimL: Does anyone know if a 50 meter rope will be OK for getting off the the above mentioned climbs? Why pack the weight of a 60 meter rope if you don't have to? Yeah- if we don't have to take the 60 meter we can bring a six pack.

Headed up to do the Mole this weekend and am looking to even out the climb to hike ratio a little. Can anyone offer any beta to help Beckey's descriptions for routes on the Duolith? Much appreciated.

Well, some how I guess vomiting is appropriate to a thread for PiL. "This is what you want, this is what you get" is from a song called Bad Life, on the album titled "This is what you want, this is what you get" released in 1984. Thanks for taking me back, guys,

I've had a Sweetwater from Cascade Designs, but just replaced it with a Mini-works from MSR (now, of course, owned by Casacde Designs). Big thumbs down on the Sweetwater. Fragile, slow to pump and needs a lot of maintainence. Plus, I just found out that the iodine system was recalled because it wasn't safe. I guess now you use chlorine drops, another thing to lose or forget. I looked at the PUR hiker too, since it was much lighter, faster and less bulky than the Mini-works, but wasn't convinced that it would purify as reliable over the life of the filter. My only bitch about the Mini-works is that it's designed to screw onto the top of a wide-mouthed Nalgene, which makes it a little awkward to pump.

Aidan- Check the Becky book for the area. I know he has routes for all three Ingalls peaks in it. If I recall correctly, there is a class 4 gulley up the east peak from the lake, as well as a harder route, but my memory has faded prematurely.

I was just over there on Sunday. It's anything on the East (right) side of the road from 8-mile campground up. This woud include 8 Mile Buttress, 4th of July Rock, the crag right across from Bridge Creek (forgot its name). No word on the Wenatchee FS site as to when these closures might be lifted. Needless to say, this equals a much higher user density of the rest of the crags.

Well, Dru, I guess I qualify as one of those "sock" types since I'm sitting here ignoring the copywriting for a sock catalog at the moment. That's why I said "shameless plug." The theory, and in application I have found it to be true, is that wool (particularily the blend of merino wool that SmartWool uses) is better at moisture management than synthetics or 'ordinary' wool. It is so because it not only wicks moisture away from your feet while it's still in a vapor state (as opposed to synthetics which can only begin to move moisture once it's liquid), it uses body heat as a catalyst and actually evaporates some of the moisture while it's in the wool fibers. Less mositure in sock means less moisture in shoe which prevents the foot from sliding around. That's the theory. It works for me. With broken in boots. Not new ones. There's no way around that that I've found.

I've had orthotics for 12 years, mainly to combat knee problems, but they sure as hell have made a difference. Shameless plug: I also recommend trying a pair of SmartWool Expedition Trekking or Mountaineering socks. They work much better than synthetics (keep feet dryer and definitely less smelly) and I've done away with a liner sock altogether. Plenty of cusion where you need it. They aren't cheap, but worth every penny.

oh no, not the bolting thing again. run for cover.