Lambone

werd

quote: Originally posted by chucK: Right you are Captain!!!! and ALWAYS bring... a compass flashlight/headlamp, extra food, extra clothes, sunglasses, first-aid kit, pocket knife, waterproof matches, and firestarter. You know, for years I have carried this little black bag with the 10 essntials around on just about every climb (other than cragging) i have done. I think it comes from boy scout training..."Be prepared" and all that...It allways seems like a good idea to bring it, just in case, yet over the years I have hardly ever usd any of it. Lately I've been considering that it's just dead weight... Then the unthinkable happened, Chrysten and I head up to the Canadian Rockies, and somewhere up on the Trans-Canada highway I realized that I forgot my precious little bag of "essentials" on the floor. Oh shit! What could I do? How could I climb a peak without it...? Well, we bought a BD Ion lamp so we wouldn't have to fight over who gets to use the light, and I never even thought about all the rest of the "junk." Now I am caught in a deliema, is that stuff really essential, or is it just a false sequrity blanket that helps slow you down and make your shoulders sore???? What do yall think. [ 10-02-2002, 11:55 AM: Message edited by: Lambone ]

Yes chuck, there is. It is after the no fires/horses sign. I specifically remember seeing it two weeks ago. I took note of it because I didn't remember it from last time. It's right at the fork in the trail.

quote: Originally posted by Retrosaurus: quote:Originally posted by Tyrone Shoes: I'm from Italy, and the people appretiate when a citizen puts the time and money into the local mountains... You already wasted your money on a plane ticket. Don't waste it on bolts on alpine granite (on this continent). You need another plane ticket. The sooner the better. Take The Bone with you. Seems like maybe you should go with him, considering that you were hooked by his troll. I call BS on this Tyrone fella

I would guess that the biner had broken somewhere along the aluminum stem or near the nose. Typicaly the wires are made of steel and are the strongest part of the biner. I may be wrong...erden? [ 10-11-2002, 01:05 AM: Message edited by: Lambone ]

No worries alien...we ended up in the wrong "cascadian couloir" on our first time. 'twas a long wet rainy night, and got really interesting when we had to self arrest on the steep pine needles while trying to avoid the dark ominoius death cliffs bellow. Ended up sleeping under a log in my pack that night. No fun. At least we didn't have to "ford" any talus!

quote: Originally posted by snoboy: quote:Originally posted by Dru: Then the Mog ran out of gas near Squamish and it was discovered the tire was flat too. Probably from sharp things in the alder thicket and wailing over the bumps. Anyways we had to walk back to his house and get my Ru and a gas can and go get the Mog so he could drive it home. So what yer saying is that you needed a Ru to rescue a Mog? I'd always heard they were good cars. And how do some pricker bushes pop those tires?

quote: Originally posted by ILuvAliens: Longs pass trail(primitive) leaves the trail farther west towards Ingalls Lake(no more than a mile from cascadian conjunction) You stay left, cross an obvious log bridge over Ingalls Creek. There are no Signs. First time on Stuart, we hiked in at night. We didn't see the trail so we had to ford the talus slopes. Looking back we couldn't have been more then 30 ft from the trail. On the way out we were sucked into the beverly creek trail thinking it was our quickest/easiest way out(thinking there was no real trail to longs pass). Sadly mistaken. Longs pass is an OBVIOUS trail that zigzags down from just west of the pass. Just because I can't stand bad beta: First, how can the trail be primitive and obvoius? There are signs at either end of the Longs Pass trail. One at the fork on the Teanaway side, and one at the fork at the ingalls creek side. The fork in the ingalls creek trail, where there is a big sign nailed to a tree that says "Longs Pass -->," is barley a 1/4 of a mile upstream from the exit trail out of the Cascadian Couloiur. Take a left and walk through the campsite area, go over the big tree, walk thirty feet back down stream through another poorley placed campsite, and take a right on the path that is a bit better than a climbers trail. Follow it up. Don't be missled by sucker trails up in the flats below the pass. It's not that difficult folks. Brains must be fried after the routefinding on the west ridge... [ 10-02-2002, 12:59 AM: Message edited by: Lambone ]

quote: Originally posted by dbconlin: Does anyone have firsthand experience with the BD lamp that has a LED bulb and a halogen. I think it won the Backpacker magazine editors choice award. My friend owns it and hates it. Any opinions? I also lost my Tika, kind of a funny thing...it droped down into a deep crack in a boulder while I was pulling out a cliff bar. Anyway, I got one of the new BD ones(gemini). I forget the name, but it is the cheaper one with two bulbs. So far I like it. It's just a bit smaller and lighter than a Zoom, but way lighter than the Petzl Duo. We also got one of those tiny BD two led bulb deals (Ion) up in Canada. Works good for on the trail, just as good as a Tikka and about half the weight and size. The only thing I don't like about my BD Gemeni lamp is that you have to push the button twice to get to the halogen bulb. No big deal really... [ 10-01-2002, 09:41 PM: Message edited by: Lambone ]

I'd havta disagree with Mr. Rogers, tcu's suck...the new BD small cams rule, but aliens are better. I like the big metolious because they are way lighter to carry to anything but a roadside crag. Pick em up together and you'll see. In the end any cam is a good one when your gripped!

wow...I'm sorry erden. just horrible, every climbers nightmare. i offer my sincere condolences to all. I meen no disrespect, and I do not doubt or question the accuracy of any of the information you have graciously offered here. But I ask myself, how does one zipper those peices you have mentioned? I guess it doesn't matter much, I am just stuned in disbelief. Take care brother.

bolt the hell out of it dude...

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...