Lambone

My wife and I are in the middle of a move, but I need to stick around until June 15th to finish school. I need a place to crash for about four weeks. Just me and my climbing gear. Close to UW campus would be ideal. Lemme know if you have a room to rent, thanks! Matt

ok, but how long would it take?

I'm not trying to pick on ehmmic...just thinking out loud about conditions and clean climbing ethics... But, how much difference does the rain really make? Does water make a crack more difficult or dangerous to climb with "clean" gear? I don't think so. The holding power of a good cam, nut or cam hook, is much greater than the friction you lose due to wetness. Besides, that part of Green Drag-on is soaking wet all year long! So if wetness is an excuse to nail, then those pin scars are going to grow bigger and bigger each season.

Catbirdseat, So, the oject isn't really self rescue then...this is a big distinction. I agree that the first order of buisness if the Second is injured is to get down too them and asses their injuries. But inorder to do this you first need to escape the belay. Did they cover this at all? It just seems like this would be more lojical to teach before the 9:1 pully system. It is the fundemental self-rescue technique, and the pre-curser to anything else you would do next. And it only takes about 30 minutes to teach (I've done it). I still disagre with the argument about the Munter. I had no trouble lowing haulbags which equaled at least 300lbs (too heavy I know) using a Munter, easy to control with one hand, easy to stop with a mule knot, and easy to pass the knot. The oval brake is more gear intensive, more dificult to set up when passing knots etc., and I think it has less friction than a Munter-hitch....but maybe I'm wrong. I just never use ovals, so I wouldn't even consider it... Still good that you are taking classes and gaining awareness, any exposure to this kind of stuff is a good thing. Cheers Just curious, did you actually raise two people by yourself? If so how far and under what circumstances? Eric, I don't have much of an opionon about your question. I am more interested in Self-Rescue than how big SAR teams operate. And if you make one comment about Glacier Peak I will punch you through this computer screen.

hmmm...well, it might not have been a complete watse of time, but I can think of about ten other skills that would be better learned before that technique. Carrying pulleys on every climb is getting a bit over-board and unrealistic, as well as raising the climber or two climbers to a belay ledge. This would be the last resort at best, and the slowest way to get them to the ground. Are you going to allways climb in teams of two as well? I completely disagree with using a carabiner brake for lowering injured climbers (for several reasons), and that a mariner knot with pussiks is better than a munter-mule combo.

Peter, Thats freakin hilarious! ehmmic...bad girl "In one section I was already in my second steps and the next possible piece in the crack was at least 6 feet above me." Not to be picky, but this is absolutely not true. Your fixed Blade is 2 inches below a perfect standard cam hook placement. Cam hooks are as cheap as Knifeblades, buy one and learn to use it.

I knew you were going to chime in here... Yeah I finished it solo last year. Yesterday I wen't back with my partner who has been wanting to get back on it and finish it for a while. And his newbie bro who had never jugged a rope...he did wasome...it was fun. We skipped the last pitch cause it was wet/grungy and slimmy lookin... Also met dbrinka who almost lapped us climbing TC and GD...solo. Super nice guy.

No Rain, or Rainier...too much tequila in my system. It was sunny/cloudy and hot all day. We did get covered in Green Slime of course, and I got dripped on for two hours while Sean led pitch 4. BTW- Drinking a whole gallon of V8 and a beer is not recomended. Sean puked twice on the drive home... We also met the Upper Town Wall BASEjump squadren. Cool Guys! They had some awsome footage of jumping Mt. Baring....crazy shit!

I agree, somebody either just doesn't give a shit about clean climbing, or just ignorant to the area and route their on. Either way, there are some nice new pins up there for anyone who wants them.

There are three or four NEW fixed pins on the second pitch of Green Drag-on as of yesterday . Kinda lame, if I had brought my hammer they would have been mine....

I've jugged a fair number of lines and not once have I ever desired a chest harness...even on free-hanging jugs. All I have ever wanted then was another rope, and a parachute

A7U...you have an attitude problem. If you think self-rescue info is not important.....well, good luck too you. Ok Toast, I been busy...graduation is in two months! So anyway...yours is a very good question. I particularly liked the self-rescue course I took because the instructors took a realistic, bare-bones approach to the systems they taught us. In otherwords, how would you do it if you only had a few slings and biners... If your instructor whips out all kinds of extra gear and do-hickies that you usually don't carry on a climb, ask him/her to simplify the system. Try to set things up with the least amount of gear possible. As far as ascending a rope goes, there are many ways to do it. I carry one prussik chord, mostly to use as an auto-block when rappeling. So lets say you have a sling, a few biners, and one prussik. Try a few different set ups and see what works best for you, you'll find some more effecient and faster then others. From memory, I think that I usually would put a bachman knot through an oval biner onto the rope and attatch it directly to the belay loop on my harness. Then I'd take the prussik, slap it on the rope and girth two slings to it for foot loops. This lower prusik foot loop set up would not be attached to you at all, it floats on the rope and you slide it up for each move. Thats it, takes 30 seconds to set up. It may not be the best way, but it is one simple and quick one... There are others of course...I like the bachman on the upper sling because it gives you something to grab onto and slide up. BUT, spectra slings tend to slip when in a Bachman knot...so ALLWAYS tie back up knots below you if you can...or if it is slipping, use the prussik as the knot that is fixed to your harness. Ti-blocks are nice small ascenders that work awsome in many self-rescue applications, but I don't allways carry them, it depends on the route. My method that I just described may have flaws...I'm just going off memory and I haven't practiced in a while. I don't think the technical details of how one specific method works is what's important. The key is to keep it simple, and starightforward. In self-rescue, the more complicated the system, the longer it will take and the more likely you are to forget a key step. You need to be able to adapt to working with the gear you have. Genearaly you wan't enough gear to make things easier, but not so much that you can't climb fast. Since taking that course, on more serious climbs I will bring this stuff self-rescue: 1 chordellete (not to be used for belays) At least 2-3 big pear shaped lockers 1 prussik Some slings that arn't spectra Maybe a ti-block or two. That is really about all the key stuff you'd need to do most simple self-rescue senerios (along with your typical rack). Anyway...hope this stuff makes sense, let me know if you want me to be more specific.

I like to use chains and whips while climbing...the more pain the better

Actuly Jens and Loren got beat to the route by another party and bailed due to climber induced icefall. Its all in Lorens trip report. Looks fun, get an early start!

Well, I use the term "Sherpa" in a generic sense. He was actualy a Nepalese man from Kathmandu. It was weird though.... One morning he poped his head into our tent and said "I go down now, ok?" His face was completely swollen and puffy, so that you could barely see his eyes. We said yeah, lets go down. Less than a minute later he was allready 100yrds. below runnin through the huge talus feild for basecamp. He was either really worried, or really hard up for a big cup 'o Chang!

Or how about when that first time climber hears the velcro coming undone on their harness!

One benefit of having several ropes for different types of climbing is that you don't have to replace your one "all-around" rope as often. It still probably doesn't even out in the end, but it sure is nice having the right rope for the occasion. I consider ropes well worth the extra expense.

Good point. One Tip Ian: Wear Goggles! My friend was learning to Tele wearing sunglasses, he faceplanted and split his eye lid in half with the tip of his ski. Somehow it didn't damage his eyeball, but there was a ton of blood and it was pretty grusome. He had to wear an eye patch for a while, but is fine now.

hmmm...you could be right, I'm not acctualy sure about what the company says. People with narrow feet can get there feet in any boot, while wide foot people need to be more selective. I remember the Cumbre tightened up and wrapped around my foot very well, it may have been the soft upper and the lacing system. If they fit ya, and you need a burly boot, go for it!

Ian, I think it's better to learn on Leathers. Yeah, you will fall on your face...but don't be suprised or get bummed about it, the more you do it the less you will face plant. With leathers you will really learn how to do a tele turn. You won't be able to fake it like you can with plastics, but that is why they are good. Get a soft ski that has a traditional sidecut. That will be best for leathers, big fat turny skiis will be too much. I use old Elan MBX's for those leather days, or when the rocks are out. I didn't have a hard time converting from alpine, other than a few rough days and one broken thumb. Once I got use to the light set up of leathers and pins, I could never go back...it was like skiing in comfy hiking boots rather than foot torture devices. Plus, the groomers take on a whole new light! Spring snow is great to learn on, good luck!

http://195.92.224.73/j20/content/host.asp

eeehhh...no. I mean our Sherpa friend who was part of our team, but by no means our guide. Acctually he started showing signs of HACE at 18,000ft and had to go back down. Strong dude though and super fun, all he would do all day was listen to my walkman and look at himself in the mirror all day, but a great guy non-the-less!

Our teamate on Ama Dablam blew up his tent while he and his parner were boiling water in the vestibule. They had two stoves going at once and one ran out of gas, so the guy tried to change the canister right next to the other one. He didn't get the canister sealed right and gas was spraying out, and before he could do anything the whole tent ignited. It melted in abouy 20 seconds, covering all their stuff in melted nylon. They lost some hair, but otherwise were ok. I was outside taking a piss, enjoying the moon when this happened...it was the funniest damn thing I have ever seen...ever. Our sherpa friend started crying when he found out how much the tent was worth

Lots of people don't like ropes with a stiff hand, but I'm not sure why....just 'cause they don't feel as nice A stiff rope has lots of benefits, not getting tangled as easily or caught up when pulling a rap for one.

I tried them on at MEC, I thought the fit was amazing (I have a low volume, medium-narrow foot with a tiny heel.) They seemed kinda heavy, but similar to the Nepal tops or a similar boot. i belive feathered Friends carries them. Scarpa makes great boots for people with narrower feet, go for it!