Pencil_Pusher

Save your pennies for your next trip to Squamish/Whistler?

No great tales to tell, just reporting there's abput eight plus inches of relatively new snow up there. Just enough to butt slide down some slopes. The rocky/scree slopes needed a few more inches to slide down. It was snowing up there pretty much all Saturday. Didn't see any ice either.

Everybody and their mother was there at Smith last weekend. I was pretty content just hiking around looking for my friends Saturday. Lots of sunshine and tons of climbers. Did that hiking loop and got to see the monkey face, cool. Met up with them at the Dihedrals.And that's where I saw the two pint-sized fidos humping each other on a tight leash. I didn't have a problem with any of the fidos there. I was super-impressed with those two guys heading up that 5.12 wall right next to Karate Krack. It was insane watching these guys go all the way up that without hanging, several times a piece. If anyone saw some momo going up Cinammon Slab in the dark, that was me. I went back during the day and it was much easier. Friends took me up Cry Baby, Pack Animal, and a few others in that area. I did like seeing those two guys heading up that 5.12 wall. One of them went on litter patrol and I thought that was pretty cool. So I picked up all the trash and cigarette butts I saw on my way out Sunday. Smith Rocks is awesome, too bad it's such a long drive.

I don't swing that way, sorry to disappoint you. You're still my hero, though.

What kind of solution can I give, Jon? Computers and that tech language ain't my gig.It's just PM stuff, I don't really care. I told you I appreciate your efforts.

Retro, you're my hero.

I found some of my PM's accessible, others were inaccessible. Very funny. I think these graemlins are a pain in the ass. The rating thing is bogus too. I admire your efforts into this website, but my opinion is I prefer the old.

Jon/Tim, I miss my old PM's too. Any way we can recapture them?

Do the manufacturer's have a money-back guarantee? I mean, you know... just in case something breaks on that really long rappel? That would really suck if a biner or harness failed. Caveat emptor.

They've got some errors in their catalog for tech descriptions of climbing gear. While their catalog rocks for providing way more than others, the data is not entirely accurate. Take a look at the KN ratings for their perlon. Even the KN rating for the Titan cord (1700+KN) seems a bit high. The #7 tri-cam I bought is rated to 16kn (as shown on it's label), not 20 as shown in the catalog. The Wild Country hexcentrics are way off in both their range and weight specs in the catalog. Go out and grab a #9 and tell me that puppy can cover up to 149mm and only weighs 61 grams. WC sent me a reply saying they caught those errors, yet they still appear on their website. Mtn Gear was notified as well and nothing's been done in their catalog as well. Yeah, I guess I was bored. Window shopping 'cause I can't afford all that stuff.

How much does it cost nowadays to climb at VW or Stone Gardens? Day Month Year Student And, any such places down by Tacoma?

Holly, check out Herbert Kornfeld's column in The Onion. A little bean-counter humor. In the Shadow of Denali was pretty good. Eiger Dreams (with Twight taking a friggin cassette player and headphones over a sleeping bag)was good as well. I found out through my Alpine Climbs in the Canadian Rockies just how Tobin Sorrenson (the hilarious dude from John Long's Climbing Anchors)died. I find some of my instructors' names in Beckey's books. Of Beckey, yeah, I dream at night of finding that "obvious" bench/tree/rock/big-shiny-spot-that-says-THE-ROUTE-IS-HERE. Still, those books are THE bibles, they allow for so much dreaming and possibilities. And, it's fun to come here and read somebody's trip report. Like that guy recently, the 50's has-been/never-was... HILARIOUS!

I'm on the ice bandwagon too. It's scary shit, but fun (so far). I don't even want to think about setting pre-tensioned screws and all that expert shit, but I would like to get out there and do more of it. My dream is the North Face of Robson. Why? Because it looks harder than shit with all the exertion to get there, plus that mountain looks pretty awesome. Will it ever happen? I think I'd have to get in better shape, but I could pull it off with what I know now. Of course, this is all dependent upon the route actually coming in to shape. I'd also like to check out that Skyladder, or Skywalker...something like that.

robertm, that's some good info folks can use for the descent. of the accident, it sucks the dude died. such is the life of this sport. i don't keep up with the news, but isn't this the second climbing guy to die up there over the past few months (the other guy on Chair)?

I'd have to agree with Wotan's quote.

Hey, Fun Rocks is fun! It's bolted and the routes look harder than they are (or not, if you're doing the really hard stuff). There's quite a few routes up there, Burdo has a pamphlet/book on them, and they're in Smoot's Washington book as well. You can set up a top rope on a few of them and I think I recall a couple of the routes being two pitches(?). Our top roping routes were between 60 and 80 feet long each, maybe the book says different, I'm just going by how much rope was left on the ground... it was around the Boterg/heist. Have fun.

A friend and I heard about the fires on the south side, thankfully, before heading over there. We opted, me reluctantly (recalling the crappy descent after wasting myself on Givlers route), for the North Ridge. We left Seattle at 5pm Sat and entered in by headlamp. Crashed out at the 6900 camp and left in the morning at 6:30. It sucks that it takes so long for the light to come out now. We met three others who had the same idea to go up the N ridge. They had the unfortunate experience of driving to the south side to find this out. There's plenty of running water up there, bring a coffee filter if you're planning on drinking from the lake. Past the glacier over the lake, it's pretty dry. We did encounter some running water up high, but I remember the silt-strewn water from our Givler adventure and man, you really don't want to drink that water, even with a parched throat. Route finding can be a real bitch. I brought some wands which helped out a bit for the descent. Basically, if you get into hard crap, turn around and find another way around. We got up there in five and a half hours. Not fast by any means, a typical party could expect the same time, I suppose. Didn't see anyone else up there. We brought enough wands to wand the snow field. With no rope, I personally wouldn't care to get off course up there, on the big open snowfield. Brought instep (four-point) crampons and ice axe. Really didn't need either although neither the route nor the weight difference would make me suggest not carrying either. Bring 'em. You'll twist your ankles plenty so wear light hikers or equivalent. Have fun!

Headed up the north ridge on the 23rd. Good conditions all the way up to the top, "good" relative to the north ridge. Heard the south was closed due to fires. Someone left a big 40 of Bud up on top, nice style... leaving trash. Be careful, bring wands for the upper cap if conditions go bad. There are crevasses on either side of this big field as you ascend. Obvious in good visibility. Wanding on the route of the ridge, if you find it, makes for an easier descent as well.

With an Occupation listing of "Undecided", keep working hard, bro.

Anyone been up there recently? How's the Emmons or Ingraham Direct looking? Any others looking okay?

The North ridge could be fun, I guess. I shouldn't say the glass is half empty, I know, I know. But that descent sucked!! Aye carumba, I fell twice on that crap and banged myself up more there than Mr Givler's treat! Okay, enough with the negative vibes.

Yeah, I guess I pulled that idea right out of my ass. I'd still like to hear anything about those BASE jumpers, if anyone saw them on Saturday. As for this Gi-gi, anyone have any info on it? I've seen it (or similar) vaguely in different books. How do you like it, are the ropes easier managed with it than with the ATC or Reverso?

That totally sucks. My sympathies to the family and uncle.

Headed up there this past weekend, great day for climbing. Went up the Beckey Route and got passed by two guys in jeans, soloing the route, with PARACHUTES on their backs!!! HOLY SHIT!! Man, there's friggin EXTREME!! They must've gone too, because they weren't anywhere to be found once we got to the top. On a sidenote, I tried to have someone belay me and another leader with an ATC on the third pitch. HUGE mistake on my part, insane rope drag with the belayer having a hellacious time trying to manage ropes. Anyone know what that plate/device is that those Europeans have for belaying two climbers at once?

I guess I have enough friends already. Maybe that's my problem, I'm not kissing your ass. I think the real deal is what I saw here a while ago. Someone pointed out that we perceive what someone types as having a way-more asshole attitude than the way they typed it and meant to communicate it. Perception problems abound. That and some people's self-identity is lived through this website and their screen names. Jon and Tim providing, I'm not going to quit posting here, "Retro".