genepires

did you try the test while loaded? Loaded would make more twists. The munter should be attached to an anchor usually above you. Otherwise it is too hard to pull rope through. (try belaying a munter from the belay loop) Usually belaying on snow is done from a seated snow anchor position in which a munter would suck ass. Belaying off a device on the belay loop or better yet a hip belay is normal for belaying on snow. (unless you are talking about crevasse rescue) glad to hear that it is a dynamic line.

yeah, 70 m of rope between glacier climbers is too long. Can you imagine the rope stretch if someone fell in?

stay off the circus route on hood. (the hogsback whatever) I don't have any experience with oregon peaks but I think that the cascade peaks are better enough to warrant the one day drive from Lovers leap to the north cascades. I would bet that the snow would be mostly gone on the oregon peaks and shasta but you could get a good climb out of baker. You could bounce around from peak to peak and have mediocre conditions or just drive to the good stuff and not waste time. Up north you would also have access to the washgington pass area for the alpine rock. Some sport climbing at the exit 38 area. Darrington is good. The alpine in the enchantments. So much more. I am sorry if I have offended any oregonians by dismissing your climbing potential. Maybe there is more to offer than I realize. Maybe smith rocks won't be scorching hot in august. Maybe the volcanoes are rad.

the prussiks should be put on the rope when you tie into the rope. That way you don't have to try and tie it on after falling in. Tiblocs work on 8mm ropes but the thought of teeth on a thin line is a little too uncomfortable for me. Why do glacier travel people need to belay with ATC's? Especially with a 30m rope, you are not going to be going to alpine rock climbs. The ATC is most useful as the blocking for the prussik in a 3:1 pulley system in which case holding power is irrelevant. If you need holding power, use a munter. (as mentioned above) As Bug says, it is a good idea to have rescue coils. A 50m rope is a minimum for teams of two. 30m works for teams of 3 as there is the rope between the two surface climbers to be able to get to the victim. where did you read that 30m is good for 2 climbers but not more? That source needs to get purged or burned.

prussik friction is a function on difference in diameter and the physical characteristics of the two sheaths. Your cords and rope maybe too new and "slippery" to work with 3 wraps but will when it gets fuzzier. Until then, you could either add more wraps (try 4 or 5 or go crazy) or use a 5mm cord. Kliemhist hitches are easy to add crazy amounts of wraps.

The rope you are using is not a static line right? In the photo, it looks alot like a static perlon from the spool.

the basis for belaying force is the number of bends in the rope. A normal ATC setup has about 2 full 180 degree bends. (180 at the biner and two 90 degrees roughly at the entry and exit points of device) Your setup has three full 180 bends and the two 90 degree bends for a total of 720 degrees. This is twice as much as a normal setup so it would have roughly twice the friction power. But the way it corkscrews around the device is going to create one mother of a twisting cluster f^&k. (I think as I haven't tried your system) That monster munter has something like 1330 degrees of bend (maybe more) plus rope rubbing on rope four times for added friction. I think a regular munter has 720 degrees roughly plus rope rubbing on rope one time. I think the rope will break before the MM slips.

According to the video, there should be less twists with the monster munter vs a regular munter. Something about the second wrap undoing the munter twists. If you use a perlon prussik backup, use something smaller than a 7mm or it will not grab. You need at least a couple mm difference for the prussik to work. Use a 6mm or 5mm cord for a prussik.

every early morning breakfast sucks. I used to do buttered fried bagels with ton of cheese. But I still got real hungry afterwards so the pocket full of cheap granola bars seemed more important than a good breakfast. I wish I could eat that choke-meal stuff. Too much too often.

If I understand it right, it seems like it would put alot of twists in the rope. While not a safety issue, it is a convience and time issue. Maybe you could post of photo of it in action. There is a video post somewhere on this site of a monster munter which should work for you on the 8mm rope. (if you end up rapping on vertical terrain on a single strand)

why sell it? You may regret it years from now.

good job! I would not want to be on that slab if it was all wet. I remember thinking that the slabs were runout but that the slab climbing (while dry) was easy enough.

uhhhh, it also is the funniest damn thing I saw on the web in years. I liked it when he gets to the top and talks about belaying his partner up but realizes he doesn't have a rope on.

a while back Dylan Taylor posted about using weedwack wire as a replacement for triggers. I did one of my cams like that and it has worked out well now for some 3 or 4 years. No special tools other than a knife and a lighter. It won't work for all cams but it will work for camalots, u stem cams and maybe more. It all depends on how the wire is attached to the trigger. It should work with rigid stem friends. here are my photos that are in the gallery of my cam. Sorry about the focus and the lack of posting skills to get it on this post. (I couldn't find the sticky to help with posting photos??) http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=46845 http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=46846

no wonder the world hates us. We are spending good money blowing oxygen at our face. Wouldn't a $3 walmart fan do the same thing? on a positive note, the construction photos is a wonderful thing. I have never seen such a clean construction site. Not a piece of crap anywhere. Good looking framing too.

Given that you are going in september, give my 2 day plan with a bivy on the ridge some thought. You would be able to do the glacier in the day and have an easier time with it.

If you need to bring heavy boots for the gulley, consider descending the w ridge which will allow you to stash the boots at the ridge. The one time I was there, it seemed reasonable to descend the ridge and gulley. We rapped off moat bollards for the gulley. Just a thought. I have never gone down the e ledges descent.

it is a "great climb" because it is highly visual to every snoq pass visitor so after a while, the thought of going up it just nags on the mind. Yeah, it is not a great rock climb but a good "alpine"-ish climb. Which means it must have a little of everything; looseness, some solidness, some scrambling, and topping out. Been on it once and I thought is was pretty good. Not one to go back to every year though, unlike the tooth in winter.

?????? You climb in a down vest? You must have no metabolism as any living human would sweat to death in anything down in the summer. Or winter or anything less than 20,000 ft for that matter.

Man that sucks two ways! Sorry to hear about the man and I hope the dog gets back soon.

I have never done the approach from the ski area and south but I have done the source lake approach quite a few times. From the vantage point of the tooth, the ski area approach looks like it would require more up and down to get to while the source lake approach is simple. Maybe I am wrong about the ski area approach?

Pack light and bivy on the ridge itself. A little bit below the serac band is a flat place to bivy on. In august, there are rock walls around a nice dirt patch with room for a 3 person tent if you wanted to haul that up there. Bivy sacks are fine or just sleeping bags. One day in and up to the bivy so you can negotiate the heavily crevassed glacier in the daylight. Then a early start on the technical parts the next day and out. A really good 2 day schedule if the packs are relatively light. And yeah, the single half rope is good and if the thickness bothers you for the steep parts. Tie in the middle and use both strands for 30 meters pitches. enjoy! I really like that route.

you asked if anyone ever knew of someone who cut a rope while falling. Man was rope soloing prodigal son in zion. Fell and his lead line was in behind a flake and cut when he fell. He was up something like 5 pitches. Of course he didn't make it. I don't know what kind of rope he had.

Mike Silich who used to work at american alpine institute in bellingham. He got full amga certified so he is able to guide in europe so he moved to cham and married some french hottie woman. That is quite the organized gear area, unlike my piles in action packers. Maybe it is a full time guide, AMGA thing.

just a thought but why limit yourself to just stairs? While stairs would be a good training for following a great bootpack trail, it is not very representative of real alpine. How about hauling ass up some of those steep sidewalks in downtown seattle or elsewhere? You could simulate cramponing up moderate angles slopes and get a good calf burn. The sidewalk bums could simulate objective hazards.