genepires

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.

If you don't feel like buying another belay device, you could add friction by adding another biner to the device. Connect it just like the locking biner you already use, so you would have two biners rope to belay loop. I have done this many times to add friction for rappels and it would seem logical to work for adding friction for belaying also.

wait till august, everything is buried.

Damn, I got to haul around 40#s! What about all my light weight gear? I can't handle that kind of backpack anymore. Maybe I should lay low till he can walk 3 miles in a straight line. He can do 3 miles now but he won't leave a 10 yard radius from the starting point.

Hey John David, the reason you get flamed is not the content of your message, but the presentation. Just a little FYI.

the road to n side baker TH should be melted out by memorial day weekend. Same for baker south side. If it is not melted out, you will only need to walk for something like 100 yards to get to the TH.

unknown classics- while it has been mentioned in this thread, the NW face of forbidden is still a "unknown" classic. Unknown classic being a good route that is not in a select guidebook. what about the w ridge on stuart? Fisher chimney on shuksan gets local traffic and love from Alan Kearney, but I bet that not many other people know this route is so good.

the swedish tent maker I was referencing is hilleberg and they make their tents in Estonia, not china. (unless Estonia is a provence of china) I don't think it is a trait of consumerism to want to buy one good tent. A trait of consumerism is to have many tents like a NF tent, several tarp tents and a wallmart pup tent. Wallmart is the capital of excessive consumerism and definately the place that lacks "common sense". "I'd certainly accept many exceptions to this statement, based on common sense. If you doubt that common sense is common, maybe it's due to misunderstanding the definition." ????????? Are you saying that since the masses buy this pup tent that it is common sense that it is a good or adequate tent? I never thought that most people who frequent walmart knew anything about camping more than 30 yards from the road.

are you suggesting we should put poop in the ikea blue bag? How much poop could fit in that big bag? NO really, it all looks very good of Ikea to do what they are doing. In the future, not using plastic bags is something that we will be wondering why it took so long to do. It looks like Ikea has done lots of good stuff to clean up there business.

better yet, what is the route John?

I like the idea of getting rid of the teeth near the head of the tool. I can't imagine cutting out and moditfying my axes to the extent that Dane is doing. Not that it isn't a good idea, just hurts to think that I would probably f^*ck up a $300 tool.

so what is your point? You think that just because people bash you for something you wrote months ago, that you can be a dick? Why not just be mature and offer good advice to a new climber? Did Wesley Laws wrong you?

rock climb as much as you can. Get real comfortable on the rock and the alpine rock will seem reasonable. I have seen some people get so excited about the alpine but not built the skills needed to climb safely and confidently. Also, don't neglect the simple backpacking skills. I would suggest lugging around the overnight gear and travel in the areas that you will want to climb in eventually. Get to know the lay of the land (sawtooths?) before you add the extra burden of climbing and hauling the gear. Never disregard a bad weather forcast. Test all alpine rock handholds. enjoy!

too bad there has to be one particular jack ass (from NJ) that is making this thread into a joke. I prefer a free standing tent but that is because I haven't found a cheap good non free standing tent. I am sure that there is some good one from europe (I forget the name but it is really light and strong). If you return your tent to rei, look at the black diamond single wall tents like the first light. You probably shouldn't be going out onto volcanoes with a bad weather forcast so a light weight single wall will do fine. And if the forcast is bad, the tent is good enough to withstand most of what will be dealt out. Guying out the tent is the most important thing regardless of how many seasons the tent is. Your rei tent will probably do fine if guyed out properly. Don't let the yahoo comments give you a bad impression of this site. Get out, and let us know how things go. The tr's from people starting out are great.

I was thinking of getting a new baby carrier as my free one sucks ass. But my boy is 2 years old (about 30 lbs and likes to run around frantically) and I was wondering how long others have had success with carrying little ones in carriers. Would a new carrier be a waste of money? thanks gene

The real life test sounds good but only if I can find a 200 lb test dummy from the local monroe gene pool. Sounds like a ground fall potential.

scary.