genepires

oh those early years are the best! good to hear your story.

It is extremely likely that another rope would be needed in any crevasse rescue. (for prussiking or hauling) When would people fall in a crevasse? In the morning when the snow is frozen hard or in the afternoon when it is not? Of course it is when the snow is soft which would assume a fair bit of rope cutting through the lip. Can't climb through the lip and can't haul through it either. Clearing the lip from below could be impossible and clearing it from above runs the risk of cutting the loaded strand. Prepare a sweet lip to the side to either throw down a line to climb up or haul through that if needed. Which is were the canadian system comes in. If you got a good lip, send down the loop and haul away. two strands on the padded lip are going to apply less stress to the lip than one loaded strand. to bad this isn't KISS but the reality of the situation is not simple. best to learn all the tools to deal with a very complex situation.

weather changes quick there. Could very well be good by the time you get there. It also could be bad in the canyons but sunny and good in the pullout areas. Most climbs in the canyons will be cold this time of year. (as you may already know) have fun!

wastral is pulling a johndavidjr. wastral must be hoot on the glacier. Screaming and foaming at the mouth about trivial stuff. teams of two on glaciers should always have enough rope in rescue coils to be able to rappel down to his partner in a hole. period. Are you suggesting that a normal 3:1 or 6:1 be used over this canadian version of the 6:1? (for an injured climber)

chill out. it is only a pulley question. There are situations where the victim may be injured, unable to prussik out and still be able to help set up the system. How about a broken foot/ankle or one broken arm/hand? These people may find it difficult to prussik but sure can clip a biner to their harness. The system is not BS. It is just a tool to use in certain situations. The use of wrong tools for a certain situation is BS. As far as the victim being in a adrelaline high when it comes to clipping in a biner, by the time the biner actually makes it down to him or her (creating a anchor, getting safely to the hole, determine status, decide plan, excavate safe rescue hole / prepare lip) I would think the high has worn off enough to be able to clip in a biner to the harness. I would bet every climber is capable of clipping a biner. Even a newbie mountaineer.

put the pulley on #2. What matters is most is the amount of rope running through the pulley, not the weight held by the pulley. Especially with a 6 to 1, the point 3 will have very little rope motion per "cycle", therefore little friction even with the higher forces. WHile I haven't used the revolver biner in a crevasse rescue, they have a rating where the pulley locks. It is not meant to rotate while catching a leader fall. Not sure what the force is, but the biner may not be a pulley in the #3 position. I suppose the lock off rating would have to be above a 1kn to not lock off holding a man.

hard to stay warm in anything worth ice climbing in at -35F. Better yet, why climb when it is that cold? The ice is all brittle and suffering is high. Maybe I just suck. Seems like there are some good double leather boot with insulation but I never really thought about ice climbing in those conditions for reasons above. But if you must........

ooooooooh. we gotta watch any reference to world trade center or the department of homeland security will be all over us.

nice of them. we need more good "word of mouth" things like this. they should be rewarded with more business.

please do fall off the horizon. The one time in my life I had a GI infection happened to coincide with the one time I drank unpurified water on the north side of baker. Hmmm. Must have been from someone else's filthy hands and not the water. NO! It was the water!

One thing to think about. The guide service has been getting people up rainier and has a better understanding of what is needed. If leathers were better than plastics, they would recommend them. There is no secret arrangement between guide services and plastic boot manufacturers. If you show up with plastics and they pressure you into plastic, rent the plastics. Many of the opinions above from people not on a guided team, which means they probably traveled faster than you will. So leathers work well if you keep moving. Plus they probably went in optimal weather since they are locals. You don't have that option. Instead of relying on this website opinions (which probably you are not), call they guide service and ask them about the boot in question. Also, if you go with leathers, make sure it has several miles of use to break in well. Woudl really suck to have to bail due to foot blisters after spending tons of cash to get there. Also, (again) I use a small stretchy gaiter underneath the normal gaiters to keep snow out of the boot. When it gets real sloppy, snow will get inside the outer gaiter.

isn't it called bryant butt Right? Rated wi 4 but it looks much easier than that right now. No mention of a route going past the two pitches in the guidebook. Sounds fun!

Be ready to rent the plastics if need be. June can be sloppy snow conditions, especially in the afternoon on the descent. Plastics would be much better than any plastic in wet conditions. I am not a big fan of plastics too but in these kinds of conditions, leathers are a poor choice. Plus if the weather is less than perfect, you WILL want the protection of a plastic boot. Hiking in the rain in leathers? there will be more snow and very little if any ice in late june. weather is very often marginal in june as the good weather typically comes in around early july. enjoy rainier!

can we ban all of new jersey?

no wonder you got banned from other sites.

If the sled is wide enough, you could just bungie it to the sled. I have a wimpy little dog who might need a ride home on a snow walk so I was looking at bungie cord strap of a dog kennel on a sled. Looks pretty good and I bet a chariot would work also for a groomed road or something flat. Would tip over in any kind of powder.

If it is oversees or in a really bad area,(swampy area or a desert slot canyon) then filters are the way to go. If a GI problem is a big issue (like on the way up aconcagua) then you need the real deal filter. If you are poking around the states, chemical treatment is fine. I have used the aquamira for many years now. No issues. Where are thinking of heading for your week?

I think the mechanical ones are more accurate. (as of 8 years ago when I last looked at that) Maybe that has changed. But I think the weight and bulk of the mechanical ones don't make the difference in accuracy worth it. I have a suunto one from a long time ago and it has performed well. The newer ones are undoubtably better. I think there was a thread about this previously that would be good to search for. lots of opinions on it. Just a thought for others who may be looking at this thread. Maps and compass/altimeter get you up a route and a gps will get you down the route. Unless you have a waypoint list to follow,(from someone previously going up the same route) I don't think it is easy to make them up from a map, hence the need for a more primitive method for direction.

I have never use a gps but I remember seeing one that had a built in barometer with the GPS so that you could do weather predictions as far as seeing the pressure change even if you are ascending/descending. If you can figure out the gps, I would bet that it is a superior device to compass and altimeter in a white out. I usually try to avoid that condition though so I have never needed a gps. Using all of the tools (map/compass, altimeter and a gps)and knowing how to use it (really use it not just book know how) would be the best option as it is all options.

Trip: das mighty tooth - south fun face Date: 1/17/2009 Trip Report: Not enough time for any photos. Just wanted to give out a conditions report. The tooth is in good shape. Hardly any snow on route and it is in the sun all day. (the normal route) No floatation needed for approach or getting back to car. The basin below the tooth which I thought would have melted into slop never got much sun so it stayed hard into the afternoon. Getting through pineapple pass is easy as the cornice has not really formed. Getting from the pass to the base of the rock has a short steep snow bit but a large tree is there to grab onto. Like said above, the rock was sunny and relatively warm. Kinda breazy. We left a couple of slings as some of the anchors must be under snow. (Like the top) It is in sweet shape now. There was no one else out there and obviously no one else has been there in a while. No obvious tracks. Why? I hope more people get on it as it is a super fun and mellow winter time route. Gear Notes: normal rack: nuts, cams, single rope, sunscreen and glasses. Approach Notes: nothing but boots needed.

maybe you were banned because you go on and on about this. You made your point. Now let it just be, please.

deleted do to getting a regular job again. weekend available.

SO I just got a job starting tuesday and now I would like to get up the tooth or something else on the weekend, preferably saturday. Anyone interested? thanks gene OLD: Would like to make a run up the tooth in the later half of this week. The weather looks nice and the snow pack should be easy and solid melt/freeze. wed or friday is best but could do thursday also. gene

sounds like it is alpine climbing season up there. (when it freezes up at night)

Hawaii to denali? warm beaches to frigid ice slopes? talk about thermal shock. I used a arcteryx pack on denali, some big bora one and it was good. I have a big and lightish MEC pack that has worked very good at big loads, if the MR packs are crap (which is unlikely) and the arcteryx pack are too expensive (likely).