genepires

or use a bowline on a bight, but use one locker as a place to clip the end of the bowline into. (for the non end rope person) Make sure that the middle rope person ties into the exact middle or else one rope will be longer. The longer rope will hang up on stuff as well as get stepped on.

the real thing to think about is what will happen to you if you slip at the belay. Your buddy may or may not be clipped into an anchor. So if you fall before you get the "on belay" call and without an anchor to be clipped to, you will either fall a distance equal to the slack of rope that you have (actually more but lets keep it simple) or you may pull your buddy off and both of you will go to the ground. Either way, it is not a good thing. Given that you are asking this question, can I assume that you are new to this? Taking yourself off the belay (by dismantling any part of the belay anchor) before getting on a belay from above, is a very bad idea. Best to wait till you are belayed from above before taking your belay apart.

only two on colchuck n buttress coulior. did you guys get the west ridge in too?

sorry to hear about the bad marriage. Good to hear you are getting out of it and on to what makes you happy. for denali my faves: tent- classic NF ve 25 with a megamid cook tent sleeping bag and parka- I would say go to the feathered friends store and talk to the people there. (since price is not on option, go big) boots- I had good results with koflach arctis with overboots. But boot fit is most important so unfortunately you gotta spend some time trying boots and then probably buying a couple pairs till you get it right. Koflach fit wide feet fairly well. I used a sierra design nylon anorak more than a goretex jacket out there. Seemed like we needed a windshell and light flurry protection more than miserable condition wear.

BD picks are fine. My only thing with their picks (and I am probably wrong) is I think they get stuck easier in cold waterice and they break easier than charlet moser and grivel picks. But these are cold winter things and shouldn't be a concern for summer activities. There a tons of BD fans out there so their picks must be good. I would probably pick a BD over a simond tool. (I used to have the old prophet and old cobra tools which were heavy unlike the modern stuff)

Hey Mister negativity, while a bunch of positives proves nothing, a bunch of negatives from this test will prove a lot. If this shop owner does have some sway with CCH, maybe the manufacture protocols will be changed. He is volunteering to do this so don't rain on his parade.

There is a mountain madness group going up the south side this weekend but they are bringing snowshoes so don't expect a boot pack trail. good luck!

When you say cragging I assume that you are not talking about any multi pitch stuff. how about a multi pitch that is fairly alpine as a stepping stone? There is snow creek wall, darrington area (3 oclock rock, exfoliation and dreamer in "alpine' order), and sharkfin tower. Washington pass is an excellant intro to alpine rock, as mentioned earlier. Get on the tooth midweek. Maybe even the lower down pitches of infinte bliss for a closer choice, road permitting.

I admit that I bought several aliens after the debacle and rei put them on a heavily discounted sale. So I carry some on the back of the harness for those "oh shit" placements. It seems when I can't get a tcu in, the aliens usually make it happen. Granted I have never fallen on one, but disregarding the strength issue, the design is very nice for hard to get placements. I hope I got a good one.

I got this wed and thursday free for day trips. anyone interested heading to exit 38 or erie or anything else as long as I am back in woodinville by 5pm. gene

in case anyone is interested, the mtn loop hwy (silverton side) should be ungated later this week. I talked to a worker out there and he thought that it should be open by thursday. they were plowing up around monte cristo area. he didn't say if the road would be open to the other side and I didn't ask. So that means there is no snow on the road the big 4 BTW.

Would really help if you defined "serious mountaineering" or give some goals you want to take the tools to. You mentioned ski touring and mountaineering, which would lend me to think you what you mentioned would be adequate (mtneering) or overkill (touring). If you had alpine ice as a dream or goal, I would say a pair of alpinish ice tools (aztars and other straight bottom, bent top tools) would be good. But people have gotten up alpine ice with 7 foot alpine stocks so I would bet that your mentioned tool setup would be adequate also, especially if your tick list wasn't very big.

answer my own question if anyone else is curious. from turns all year website: "We took a lazy start and parked at Deer Creek, where the road is gated. There is "almost" continuous snow on the road from the gate, perhaps a few 100 foot long bare patches and then continuous snow. Average 4 feet deep snow at the Big Four picnic area (most of the picnic tables are invisible or barely visible). We tramped out to the washed out bridge; I forget if they have put in a new bridge there somewhere. We had significant mount/dismount action on snow fingers on the boardwalks. Lots of skunk cabbage everywhere. Mega wet slide evidence all over the place but we only heard, and did not see, fresh avalanches. High clouds moved in and cooled things off, with the car thermometer only at 55 at 4 PM. It looked like there would be continuous snow up the Kalcema lake road still...incredible. A pleasant non-motorized day if nothing fancy"

The usual searches on web gave me no good idea if there is snow on the road from the gate at deer creek or if the road is melted out. All I could find is that it is still closed (gate open at deer creek maybe?). Ranger stations are closed for the weekend. The only one open is at the rei mothership and I doubt they know the answer. Anyone been out that way? thanks gene

sharkfin tower has a good moderate rock climb on it. something like 5.4 or thereabouts. It is in a different basin than eldo though. Same approach as forbidden which would also be in good shape that time of year. Actually out of boston basin you got forbiddens W ridge, sharkfin's route and a glacier route up sahale. That basin could keep you busy for a good 3 or 4 days. Or it could keep you tent bound if the weather was bad.

One disadvantage to the LW heads is strength in the odd case of having to do a little ice climbing while glacier climbing due to crevasses. I saw a guy break his pick off (ultra LW axe)while trying to surmount a small little ice wall on the south side of baker. I know ounces add to pounds and pounds add to misery but does a couple ounces on the axe really matter? Instead of shaving ounces off the gear that should be strong, we could be shaving ounces off of our asses.

good to hear you made it ok. Don't beat yourself up too much, cause it could easily have been worse.

someday all of our biners will be like paperclips.

while that technique looks good, just remember that now there are three things (two knots and a biner) to get hung up on when you pull the rope. And if it does get stuck, you have the skinny static line to lead on the fix the problem. Ultimately, the lack of a lead line to correct a stuck rope is what drove me to double lines. The skinny-ness of twins never made me feel "safe". Just an opinion. I think the AMGA once mentioned from testing that it was not a good idea to join ropes of dissimilar size (by more than a couple mm's) with a euro death knot, or whatever it really is called. (overhand knot?) I know I did 11mm and 8mm bunches of times before I read that though. I don't do that anymore though.

Funny how you got the whole tooth to yourself in january and february but the hordes in may. Sounds like a good time though. Good to hear that you made it down before the rain but the large groups got the alpine feel of weather.

good question. I can't remember which way it creeps right now (too early and I haven't rapped on dissimilar ropes for a while) but the trick is to position the knot so that when it creeps, it jams into the rappel ring (or sling or biner) and not go any farther. I think more of the little diameter rope slips through the belay device than the thick diameter rope. so if the knot was positioned with the thin rope through the ring (or sling which could burn he sling) then the knot will creep down away from the ring. This would cause uneven rope ends also. (knots in end of rope are very important!) I am not sure how you could put knots in the rope near the anchor to prevent from creeping and still be able to get it down. Maybe what you heard was them doing what I was talking about above. I seem to remember being able to minimize it also by keeping one hand tightly on the two ropes above the belay device so they didn't slip. We used to climb on singles and bring a rap line when doubles were 9mm and we were broke. When I got some money and equipment deals and doubles went to 8mm, it seemed like a good idea to just get doubles. But when you are strapped for cash, you gotta go what you can the get down.

I went with tvash who usually kicks in the walking speed into high gear. I don't think he runs, but he definately doesn't walk either. A hour ten is probably a better estimate of road time. the sloppy snow on the road sucks.

one advantage of using doubles over a single with a extra rap line is that somone has to carry that rap line while climbing. Plus there is a rope creep tendancy when you rappel with ropes of different diameters (10mm and a 7mm rap line) You don't get that with doubles. I don't think the weight difference justifies carrying a single/rap line vs. a set of doubles due to the convience of using doubles. The rope management thing is remedied with experience and using ropes of same length and manufacturer. You got it in the hauling though. Would hate to jumar or haul with a double rope. just a personal choice. really both are fine with their own pro and con.

went up to 3 oclock rock today. It was a solid 45 minute walk to the 3 oclock rock TH from the avi across the road. lots of snow on the road still but should be gone in a couple weeks. the avi across the road will take much longer as well as cutting a tree up that came down with the debris. the trail to 3 oclock was snow free but the bottom pitch of both silent running and total soul is buried under snow. enjoy the solitude while you can.

the aliens were watching from other spires, waiting and planning their next abduction. nice job D! damn cool. stellar pictures as usual.