Lambone

Pete and allison, ...no offense, but why don't you just get it on and send us all a trip report when its over...

It's kinda funny how the Dru of Bivuoac does not seem like the same Dru of CC.com... That is one hell of a tick list you've got on there man! cheers

Right on K, you ticked some of the best ones. I could see you kicken back warm beers up on el cap!

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: I dont think the axe is necessary. Yeah, one probably couldn't self arrest on the blue glacier ice now anyway... It might almost be worth skirting under the first half of the glacier, and scrambling up that rock rib to gain the second half...

Well, The veiw is the same from fifty feet down from the summit...and I'm not much into signing summit registers. The first two times we just wanted to get down as far as we could before dark. The crampons and axe are both Camp. I forget the exact model names. The axe was 80$ Canadian and the Crampons were 100$ Canadian. Not pro-deal, but cheaper than you can get em here in the states. MEC is the place to buy techy clothes though, all their MEC brand outerwear is way cheap and looks bomber.

"excluding yosemite...maybe anywhere." You know what I mean dorks. I think we spelled gendarme wrong in the register also! Traversing steep glaciers in tennis shoes just sucks. I alternated walking sideways facing uphill and downhill, I have bunk ankles and the pain was excrushiating...your regular French step/poilet-whatever was hell on 'em. My boots would have helped us break that 40hr time barier

6800'??? Isn't that just about treeline?

I think Chris MacNamara is really setting the standard for the "super" beta on classic climbs these days. Maybe someday he'll get sick of Cali and move up here.

You been in the Cascadian Coulior lately?

Craig, Here is the scoop, I've had some of both on my rack for a while now: Metolious- Are lighter (and less expensive) than Camolots, but have less range. I have noticed they tend to "walk" easyier than BD's, they can be sketchy in flaring cracks or pods because the cam lobes don't realy work independently to "fill out" the crack. But, placed right they are great cams, lighter and cheaper then camolots. BD- Bomber. Heavier, but one cam almost fits the size range of two metoloius cams. They are heavier mostly because of the double axle, which makes them able to catch a fall in a passive placement (all lobes are fully open). Will you ever place one pasively? Probably not, but it's good to know it would work if it walked out of place, or something weird. The cam lobes move pretty independently (good for flares), and the single stem allows for better placement in pods or pockets. More expensive and heavier, but you will love every one like a best friend, try not to favor red over green, or pink over blue...because they tend to get jealous if not placed as often as the rest. Stoppers and Hexs- Buy these before you buy cams, ad get out and use them...otherwise you'll mostly place cams because they are quick and easy. It's crucial to get good at using stoppers and hexes up in the mountains, as Robins would put it.."The art of chockcraft." Anyway, that goes without saying. I like the bigger size hexes, specialy for alpine stuff cause they are lighter than cams. It will depend on the route whether you bring both hexs and cams, but hexs are allways good, for belays if nothing else. As far as which brand is best...well thats just splitten hairs, they all seem about the same to me. I like BD and Wild Country Rocks the best. Unless your going to Yosemite...then HB offsets all the way. Good luck have fun. Hope all that lingo made sense.

about 40 hrs car to car...5 hrs on the route... woohoo!!

...either way, there might be something interesting here for someone. I've decided that this is my favorite climb in Washington, excluding Yosemite...maybe anywhere. It is never too difficult, yet once you head out on the ridge, you're just pulling fun easy moves forever. The variety of movement is just awsome, and the positions the ridge puts you in are sooo exhilerating! One of the things I love about this climb is how it could be done a hundered different ways, and almost seem like a new route each time. Some are bold enough to solo it, some fast enough to do it in an afternoon, or both... We on the other hand decided to take our time, save the knees, and enjoy the scenery for a couple of days (plus we're out of shape ). Matt has been living, climbing and guiding in washington his whole life, yet he'd never seen the north side of Stuart (crazy huh?). So we decided it was time, and I didn't hesitate chosing to getting on the route for the third time in a year. The weather looked good, and I was cleared through the higher authorities (new wife)!!! We spent about an hour on the phone planning different ways of tackeling the adventure. "In a day was out," not worth the suffering this time. So, carry over??? I was reluctant, but after grabbing my light bag, bivi sac and pad, tossing them around for a minute, I decided...eh what the hell, they arn't too much to carry on the climb. After a 10pm start from the car would bivi at Ingals lake, then on the summit. If we made it... Hardware was the next big thing to ponder. I was mostly exited about this route cause Chysten and I had just gotten some high tech ultralite aluminum crampons and axes up at MEC on our honeymoon, woohoo! The alumi-strap-ons just barely fit on my sticky tennies. Next, gear... like both times before, I decided to suck it up and carry a full rack. A full set of stoppers and cams, and a few hexs, plus more slings than we ccould count. I snuck in my big Metolius cam, hoping that I'd be able to convince Matt to head up the Gendarm once we were up there (he usually prefers the path of least resistance). Rope Beta: Maybe the most helpful info in this TR 37m by 7.8mm I wanted to carry a light rope, cause I hate heavy ones, especialy on a route where you cant fall anyway. I have this ultralight blue water ice floss rope that all the hardcore glacier climbers disaprove of so much. We decided to double it in half to have two strands, which put us about 70ft apart, perfect for simo climbing with a few short belays here and there. Also, the rope worked on the Gendarm (yes I convinced him). I led up on two strands, just before the last steep part on the first pitch we realized it was too short. I pluged in a cam and went off belay, I was determined to make it. We untied our fat knots and milked every inch we could get out of it. I headed into the pumpy lieback not nowing if I'd get stopped before the ledge, it made it, whew! With barley enough slack to clove to the anchor, I pulled one strand up out of the pieces to haul the packs with. Matt had to untie from the rope to retrieve the packs that we had put a few feet back, but overall the whole system worked and we got away with using the skimpy rope. The next pitch went smoothly as well, I was nervous about leading it, but it wasn't as tough as I had remembered, it was warmer than our trip last August! I should have left the #10 Metolius at home, the #9 worked fine with the fixed camolot. Within an hour we were on top with plenty of daylight to burn. Since we wern't going down right away, we hung out at the summit, and matt signed the register (I had never made the 2 minute hike up there before, going straight down instead). A wonderfull alpine bivy just before the false summit, although a bit chilly in my piece of shit 40 degree down bag. Then a stiff walk out in the morning. A great climb! With only two things that kinda sucked...running out of water (shoulda brought 3 liters) and crossing the Stuart Glacier in my approach shoes, oooowch! My ankles are still recovering, I have never felt like more of a gimp! The La Sportiva Boulders (on the tight side) worked awsome on the route, no need for rock shoes, even for the Gendarm pitches. Now I am just left with this warm fuzzy satisfied feeling, after several succesful failiures this summer, it was nice to finaly get up something without that defeated feeling. I'll probably spend most of the winter pondering how to go about doing The North Ridge next season... Enjoy

quote: Originally posted by Tod: To each their own. I just travel as part of the ecosystem, not a visitor. uh huh, yeah sure...whatever...humansare a critical part of the ecosystem...

hmmmm.... "My point is that I took diving farther than almost every other diver out there." Thats a pretty bold statement, welcome to cheatbeaters.com [ 09-27-2002, 01:53 AM: Message edited by: Lambone ]

Good luck reaching the top 2%tile, 98% of 'em die trying...

close enough

If it's your first time, i don't see how you could pas up Forbidden??? Go for it!

The Viper does feel sweet...I think its geared more for steep ice and mixed climbing, I like the android leash hook up on the shaft...but I mustn't start dreaming of new ice tools, my cobras are hardly even broken in yet!

Just got back! Congrats Mattp! You were close, our date was August 31st -Labor Day weekend. Hope you had as much fun as we did!

canada rules! The suggestions were great, thanks. unfortunately it turned out that we only had 7 days up there, but it was awsome anyway. The first day we cragged at Lake Louise...pretty nice. Then we attempted Athabaska and the President. We turned back on both climbs due to harsh conditions on the summit ridges, cold and windy enough to take the fun out of it. All the fun of those climbs was had down on the Glaciers, pretty cool. Oh and the Stanley-Mitchell hut was plush! The CR's are awsome, we can't wait to go back, I'm die'in for a winter trip. We stopped through Glacier NP on the way home, kind of a let down after Alberta, but still got in some cool day hikes. I wanted to see a Griz, but we had to settle for some friendly/curious/hungry goats. All in all, a great trip...no epics or rescues! Worth the drive just to see the Icefields Pkwy and make future climbing plans. The tick list grows...

Feathered Friends has them also... One thing Pro-Mountain has that no one else does are the WC-Zeros...and Stormy-Markil hanging stoves, and lots of other cool stuff..

oh, and whats the deal with the chicken wire? can you get it up there, or should we stop at home depot??? do you allways need chicken wire at every trailhead???

Thanks for all the good tips folks. We are packing upthe rig (with just about everything) to leave tommorow or the next day. i'm printing up these pages to take with! Very cool info! Can anybody recomend a good map for the BC/Alberta Rockies area?

just got back from hawaii...waves are scarey, I'm sticking to climbing!

Bringing this back up... Any special tips/advice/beta for newbie Can. Rockies travelers, regarding "must see" spots, good places to stay, good bars, hot springs(?), or anything else you'd do again if you went back???? Thanks, Matt