genepires

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)

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.

Just use them again. The first time you screw them in ice, you will get a brown ice core. (shit ice??) No big deal.

A question I have is how you would be using a 30m rope? Glacier travel? The rope setup should allow for the ability to throw down a line to the victim for various reasons. If it is for either a team of four or two, then the people will have to be a little less than 40 feet apart. The team of four is fine but for the team of two is to close together. Try holding a fall alone and then imagine it being unexpected and you might slide 25 feet or more before able to hold the fall. Fact is, it is very easy for the sole surface climber to fall in the crevasse as well, when only 40 feet separate the two. The teams of three will have 60 feet apart and this is pretty good. Use it for alpine scrambling? probably fine use it for alpine rock? Probably too short for the pitches and rappels.

If you want to make your own draws but are concerned about the water knot coming untied, try using a double fishermans knot instead. After a good pull, that knot will never come undone. This is not a good knot if you think you will have to untie the knot to leave at rappels though so I don't bother with this knot on shoulder slings. But for short draws, this is the best knot to use.

Agreed. If you want to use the ascender for fixed line self belay, the ushba has no teeth damage the sheath. It uses a pinching affect or something to lock down. It rides up very smooth. But if you want to use it for aid climbing, I would suggest against having two of these. It is too hard to remove off the rope when you need to skip a piece, like on diagonal pitches. Maybe one petzl ascender and a handles ushba would be nice.

dUDE ?!

I agree with mattp on this but I would like to add that in august, the slopes get very icy. I've done it every month between may and august and they are all doable. The later in the season you wait, the more technical the climb. And by that I mean the slopes below the ice seracs get scarier a far as cruising up without a proper belay. I would expect there to be more belaying on the slopes directly below the ice cliffs as well as the slopes right above the bergshrund. Also, just a little comment. In the last two summers, baker has had two incidences where roped teams plummeted down the mountain. One on north ridge and the other on colemen/deming. If you are tied to someone and you can't self arrest if you or your bud falls, then put in a running belay or untie if the crevasse situation allows. I had a buddy die from being pulled down rainier in icy un-self arrestable conditions.

You could spend good money and get a swanky room in a hotel but think before deciding to get a hotel room. Where will you be climbing? Find the place that is nearest to your climbing. I know people who swore they would stay in a particular place and then ended up driving 3-4 hours a day to get to and from the ice. Fuck that. The best bet is to move between hostels and hotels depending on what you want to climb. Keep flexible. If you want to climb anywhere north of banff, stay in any one of 5 hostels that are all along the road. If you want to climb near canmore or banff, hotels or the club house. Golden? Then stay in the hotels in golden. Don't stay in golden then drive to banff everyday. Minimize the driving and save money on gas. [ 03-29-2002: Message edited by: genepires ]

for rainier, Just thought of what you said about adding friction to the system. I haven't tried it yet or read about it in a publication so everyone don't bust my chops too much if it doesn't work. I know you can add friction to a rappel situation by adding extra biners to the rappel device. (on the bight of the rope) It works by making the bends in the rope more exagerated and therefore more friction. Could you add more friction to the auto lock by adding more biners to the rope too? The reverso and gi-gi lock off by the the load strand pinching off the brake strand, therefore being a "brake hand". That is how you can let go of the device. By the way, both of these are hands free device, which means the manufacturer says that you don't need to hold onto the brake line. Anyway, by adding biners to the rope, it looks like the rope has a larger bend and therefore more friction without affecting it's ability to pinch and brake. If any of you are in a technical situation which have access to pull testing machines, I would like to see if there is a increase in holding power.

I had lots of crap stolen at index too. Man it sucks. It's not like most climbers have cash to spare. These guys are definately not robin hood types. The fact that those bags of yours are so blatently labeled it the "north face" logo didn't help much. Most gangsta punks types know about TNF. I advice that the replacement bags be something else cheap and unknown.

There is a certain value of the package that duties become applicable. I ordered some stuff worth about $230 and paid no duty. I suspect that value that they charge duty on is about $400 but not certain. It also depends on what you are ordering. Certain things don't get duty at all, like search and rescue gear. Anyway, if you are not one of these gear freaks who get entire new outfits every year, you should be fine.

Steve's canyon is a good place to get away from the wind. It is near the hidden valley.

The goats have only been good to me. We were wandering around in the canadian rockies, trying to get up perrin ridge on mt whyte, near lake louise. Yeah it is a ridge and how hard could route finding be? Yeah we were lost and confused about it. Then some goats came by and up the ridge, showing the clever path around a big gendarme. Those bro's must have done the route dozens of times even though it is rated 5.6 (canadian rockies). This one goat was standing on a small ledge looking at the main ledge 8 feet above him. Downclimbing was not an option. Hooves was quaking a little. Then he lept up, did a bad ass mantle move, which was pretty cool cause he didn't/couldn't grab a hand hold above, pushed through, finished, then rejoined the herd snickering at our alpine lameness. I guess we were guided by goats as we followed their scat to the summit. Kill the goats? No way, follow their tracks to greatness.

I'll give a second vote for the s-12 with the toe strap. Great general mountaineering crampoon that works for almost all boots. They have an extension bar for boots that are size 12 or larger.

Same thing happened to me last year. Seems like you have to descend all the way to the valley floor. Amazing how morning sun that face gets for being a "north face". Must me more east than north.

Hmmmm Pizza, Get bobilli pizza in the small personal size (to fit inside your pot) and the small sauce packets. A little oil in your pot, bobilli, sauce, then whatever you want to add for toppings such as cheese, pesto, onions, shroooms, chicken from a can, or whatever else looks good in the store. Then get you stove to simmer (crux of the whole thing but not bad if your fuel bottle is not pressurized to high) and then cook the pizza to melt the cheese and get it warm. I always get my partners hanging around begging like a hungry black lab, saliva dripping on thier foam pads. Pad thai is pretty fast and not very messy either. Get it from the grocery store in those meal boxes with sauce. Just follow the instructions. Easy.

Hey Mikey, you camping slut! The urban sprawl is crawly so fast towards the redrocks that the city limits will be fighting for parking space at the entry gates. Look for a spot in the land cleared for some new building. (on charleston blvd) It is all of 2 miles from the entry gate by now. Also, the construction fellows can be your alarm clock to get your ass out of the fart sack and go climb some big rock. Rumor has it the snow is all melted now. Good times!

Is that the one on the pioneer route? If so, it is big enough for a bunch of people to sleep in. Maybe a dozen could fit in there. Would be a good time. Is there a problem with leaving your car in the parking lot overnight? If you are staying in the state park campground, then you have no problem. Enjoy!

The reason to get the air tech and cut off the rubber is that the air tech has a spike unlike the racing version.

Hey JoeTool, where did I say "style" for holding the axe? And rodchester, where did I say air tech racing?How come people are adding words to my post when reading? Maybe I lack writing skills. Thought you all might find this interesting. In the new petzl catalog, they suggest self arresting with the adze in soft snow instead of the pick. Imagine trying to figure out the consistency of the snow as you flail downhill to determine which part of the axe to shove in. [ 03-19-2002: Message edited by: genepires ]

hey Zenith, another flash owner! I've used that axe for 7 years now and still going strong. J-man, the head is ergonomic if you hold the axe like euros with the pick forward. We could start a whole new thread with which is better, pick forward or pick back? Anyway, the day my flash dies I will replace it with a grivel air tech and cut off the rubber grip. The design hasn't changed for over 10 years so they must have made something right. (except for the lame rubber grip) When was the last time a BD axe lasted production for more than 3 years? The thin spot in the pick and the hollow part in the head should be a concern.

While up on denali last year I ran across a fellow in another group who was having problems with his eyes at 14K camp. He had the eye surgery and the altitiude or stress or whatever was messing with his vision. He was one small step from walking around totally blind. Luckily he was on one of the most crowded places in alaska so he had lots of help. If he would have been in a more remote route, they whole group would have been screwed. There are altitude concerns with laser surgery, irregardless of what some doctor say. Some people have gone blind from the operation as well. The inconvience of glasses is nothing compared to even the remote chance of blindness or requiring a rescue from the mountains.

there is a wfr course in bellingham this month. check out the wmi web site http://wmi.nols.edu/ for exact dates and contacts. Also courses in portland, bend (oh yeah warm rock climbing too) and idaho.

Mikey, weren't you a robot working in a gear shop? Oh yeah, you did talk a whole lot.