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genepires

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Everything posted by genepires

  1. A orthopedic doctor once told me that most knee problems come about from a muscle imbalance. So your balanced excercise program is a good base. He recommended that to balance the muscles, do leg extensions but only the last 45 degrees till full extension. He said not to do the extension from a 90 to 45 degree bend, only the last 45 degrees. From my experience, superfeet help with the knees as well. Something about the way the arch is suported. Mixed reviews about those supplements like glucosamine and the like. But common sense says keep the knees lubricated by staying very hydrated during all parts of your climbing trips. Americans tend to be dehydrated during the week as well which can't help, so try to stay hydrated during the week too. Lastly, four words. ski poles & light packs.
  2. Have you ever published a book before lambone? Give them a break if it takes this long. Why don't you try to gather all of the info and put a book together. It is way too much work for sloths like me to do. [ 10-14-2002, 05:26 PM: Message edited by: genepires ]
  3. Alex has got it, later half of february and early march. Watch out for spring break tiem as it turns into a zoo up there. If I remember right, mid to late march is spring break all across the northern US. You can still go in any other month in the winter and get the same amount of climbing in though, just use your headlamp a little bit more. Jo-Jo's (joe josesphon sp??) book is the only good ice climbing book available, with a new update a couple of years ago. Enjoy the best ice climbing in NA. Hopefully we will meet up there.
  4. Got some misc. gear for sale. Leave me a PM if you are interested and we can meet sometime. I live near monroe. (bunch of ice gear sold already) three section BD expedition pole (about 3 years old) $25 zoom headlamp with three square batteries and a AA battery converter $22 lost arrow pitons (various sizes) $6 each whisperlight stove with fuel bottle, pump, old cook pot $50 aider pair $19 adjustable daisy by pika $9 marmot parbot down parka, size medium but fits large $190 marmot spring glove $30 rock wren sleeping bag $190 alpha plastic boot size 10.5 $200 thunderlight goretex jacket large $190 MEC fleece jacket XL $40 PM me if you are interested for prices. Please be in the seattle area (within 100 miles is fine)as I don't want to sell these things by mail. [ 10-16-2002, 09:06 AM: Message edited by: genepires ]
  5. Black Diamond make a even smaller headlamp now called the Ion. Saw a guy on rainier with it on. One ounce. With two LED bulbs, kinda looks like a little demon on your forehead. Bad thing (maybe not) is that it runs on a 6 volt small round battery. How easy is it to find these? Supposed to run for 14 hours on this battery.
  6. anybody know what the three other routes are like around the west buttress? There is one to the left of dark rythm and at least two to the right of the buttress. Matt Perkins? Is it time to release the good news of these routes? Thanks to you and your good friends for all the hard work up there.
  7. oh yeah, There wasn't any food available on the vacas side. That was in '97 so things may have changed.
  8. Which route are you doing? There are big differences between the standard route and the vacas side. Less of a zoo scene on vacas side. It is longer though but more scenic. You really have to try to stay hydrated there. Water is not as available there. The air is drier and it is easy to unknowingly dehydrate yourself. Commit yourself to 3 to 4 liters a day. We used Fernando Grajales for getting us from the airport, through the borders (with bribes), to the trail and then up with the mules. He has been doing it for a long time and treated us well. tip for the mule teams. On the Vacas side, there are about three river crossings to do. They don't have to give you rides across the rivers on the mules. You can try to wade them but they are deep. For a couple cartons of smokes and about $10, they will let you ride the mules across. Worth it. They will wait at the crossings for you, especially if they think you will pay them, so let them know early. You might want to check up with some local to find out what they want for the ride. There is a guide book for aconcogua that has names and phone numbers for mule services. Read it and beleive it. When I was there, three people died, four other people got edema, and after we left, a team of 6 got crushed. The making of a krakuer (sp?) novel. It looks like a choss pile (cause it is) but it kills every year. It is easy to go to fast. Altitude illness is very common there.
  9. I was there about 4 weeks ago and I was glad to have a axe. We used running shoes though. The glacier was icy and I can't imagine it would be any better now. A slip on that stuff would slide you into oblivion. Plus there are areas broken up so that you must climb up and over ice blocks. The snow patch at the bivy site was small an very likely to be gone by now. Don't try the crossover peak descent. Maybe in a couple of years when there is a small trail started. Easier to park a car in slesse creak Enjoy.
  10. FYI for anybody heading out that way. It rained hard on sunday and monday. We did it 2 days after the rain and there is still run off on the first 2 and the fourth pitches. Those pitches are natural water courses. Probably wouldn't be such a good route right after a rain storm as there are forests that will drain water for quite a while. (Unless you enjoy wet 5.6 moves, you alpine hardmen)
  11. The weather should be fine in early sept so don't let that hold you back. Some of my faves have already been noted but I will cast my vote for them again cause they're good and you and your gal should like it. edith cavel e ridge athabasca silverhorn (stay off of a skyladder due to rockfall on route and a canadian complex descent) sw ridge of pinnacle peak (tough up the scree field but fun to ski down) grand sentinel (this year there was a resident griz up in the valley so you have to go up in groups so may be hard to get a early start. But you can it rocks) mt fay north face ice (is she into it? good time with a hut) yamnuska - south facing good warm climbing. Nice approach too. Leave plenty of time for descent. Be wary of routes in selected alpine guide. (sandbags) Bow valley rock is accurate but still canadian so expect long days for all trips. Take rest days. Have fun. gene p
  12. go smaller. wild things rock sack. (add homemade axe holders)
  13. Just did the route a couple of days ago and could add a few bits to help anyone going out that way. If you do the pocket glacier to get to the bypass of the lowest pitches, either cross to the right side either mid way up the glacier (that is what we did and involves touchy scrambling up debris on the right side) or stay on the left side and go to the top of the glacier then cross to the right in a big crevase (collapsed bridge with the possibility of falling in deeper?). Either way there was some fixed lines that you can batman up to get to the ramp. It is helpfull because the glacier doesn't make it easy to get to the 4th class ramp. Once on the route, follow your nose and do what seems right. As long as you are on route, there are some good pitches and some rock that doesn't look solid but stays put. Some pitches are short so we linked much together by accident. There was still a couple of snow patches in the bivy area which looks like a killer place to crash. Didn't get to witness the granly little rodents though. Snow patch on the summit too, but you don't have to climb through it. Water is not much of a problem for the next week or so. Descent: We tried the crossover peak descent but it is pretty confusing. The guide says you need time and energy. 3 hours of daylight is not enough time. It is a big confusing summit and it takes a while to get off of it. (sorta like stuart) IMHO, take two vehicles and go down to slesse creek trailhead. Be ready for a trail that goes straight down the hill. Steep, never a switchback and very dry. Amazing that anyone goes up the trail. It is built by climbers dreaming of beer in town and want it a soon as possible. Classic canadian adventure.
  14. There is a register on top of whistler peak in the washington pass area. (next to cuthroat peak) There were entries from the 80's in it. With about 4 entries per year. Not bad for being so close to a well tromped alpine playground. Oh that's right, the rock sucks.
  15. Four aider system? I think the idea is to use only two aiders and a adj. daisy. According to their instructions, you keep your feet in the aiders all the time. Sequence as follows: clip 2 biners into new piece, clip daisy into biner, clip one aider into other biner then clip other aider as well. This system was meant for wankers like me who only climb A1.
  16. How could the rock NOT be better. Done both and like them both contrary to others opinions. I think the rock is pretty good on backbone. The crux pitch needs large cams and can be slid as you go up. Cheating? Probably. Started out sliding a #4 camalot up, then some kind of nut half way up, then slidding up the big daddy #5 camalot to the top of the pitch. Expect a long day as when you think you are near the top, there is another 3-4 pitches left. Enjoy. BTW - the route finding on the fin is hard. I climbed some crack with periodic grass clumps to stand on. Send mike layton a message as he has done it a couple of weeks ago.
  17. Oh the dogs who shit everywere, pee everywere, roll rocks, are loud, step on my rope, distract belayers and are a plain pain in the ass. Sounds like alot of the climbers out there. For all the "problems" dogs may have caused me over the years, climbers have been twice so. Don't even ask me how many times I have found a turd and tp underneath a rock. Just last week I saw some dumbass shit on the glacier in the bugaboos and then cover it with a rock. People shit everywhere. People drop rocks on other people. Some people are loud, rude and annoying. (of course none are cc.comers) All of the characteristics of dogs that this thread has been busting on exists in the general climbing population and we all just suck up and accept bad people behavior. There are "bad dogs" and there are "bad climbers". I wish I could scold the bad climbers like I can my dog. Maybe if all you people critical of bad dogs would be critical of "bad climbers", vantage would be a place worth going to. Might even bring my dog since there wouldn't be any bad habits to pick up. [ 08-03-2002, 07:45 AM: Message edited by: genepires ]
  18. If the lower climber keeps slack from forming (like glacier travel) then there shouldn't be much of a shock at all on the tibloc and the rope should not be damaged. Think about the people going up the fixed lines on denali. If they trip and fall then the ascender gripping the rope catches them. Is the rope damaged? Yeah a 4 foot fall on a ascender may cause rope damage but what fool would simu with that much rope at their feet. Better yet, who cares about rope damage when looking at the consequences of the lower climber pulling the upper climber off and then careening into the last peice of pro, possibly creating a static shock onto it which would surely rip it out.
  19. Don't you guys (and gals) see sarcasm when presented. Of course you are not going to buy a dozen tiblocs for a route. But if you have a few, they can be used.
  20. You can use tiblocs to mitigate the hazard of having the second climber fall and pull off the leader. Put the rope in the tibloc and then clip both into the protection biner. This is shown in the peztl catalog in the crevasse rescue section. If the second falls then the weight goes on the tibloc and the pro instead of the leader. If the leader falls, the weight is held by the piece as if the tibloc is not there, so there is no worry about the tibloc cutting the rope. Of course you will need lots of tiblocs but you could use them at strategic areas where a fall is more likely for the second. Or if you didn't need to buy the newest ice tool this winter you could afford to get 30 of them and be able to go 15 rope lengths before needing to reload the leader. What else are you going to do with your paycheck, buy lattes and fancy work shoes?
  21. There is a forest service camping area called early winters campground. Right by the river that chills beers nicely. $6/night for a bargain. There is lots of private land along the road to goat's wall so camping on the side of the road might be trespassing.
  22. All this talk of the ropes folding over and from my experience, only once did I have one EDK that looked even partially inverted. (and I have had plenty of rappels with my 200 lb ass) Has any else ever had a euro death knot invert on rappel? (not some lab test)
  23. why do you think a figure 8 knot is more dangerous than a overhand knot? I assume that figure 8 knot discussed is like a euro death knot but made with a fig. 8 instead of a overhand.
  24. Just use them again. The first time you screw them in ice, you will get a brown ice core. (shit ice??) No big deal.
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