genepires

thousands of keyboards all typing in "ancient lakes washington"

that is one hell of a trip report. cute dog.

Technically Mt Si is north of I90 and fits your requirements but seriously, if you want long day hikes with being able to drive to trail head, you should be looking along the I90 corridor.

while on the topic of making this site more active, is there a way to make posting TR's as easy as entering someting on facebook? I have not explored the new TR system yet but it seems like a system that allows a couple quick photos with a couple paragraphs posted while in the action still or on the drive home would encourage more content. I do enjoy reading TR's of trips that have many previous reports already. Seeing smiles is always a good thing.

never done it but try asking about just one way air flight. fly in and hike out?

how old are the slings already? chances are that it is time to resling them already anyways.

coming spring tick list. Thanks Dave!

I used to use rock exotica ( now petzl) microsender as the main catch for self belay. it slide very well. I used the ropeman as the backup and it did ok but not as smooth as the microsender. if relying on one rope is a concern, rock exotica makes a DOUBLE rope clamp. they grab independantly on each rope so you could have a rope failure on one strand and still hang on the other. https://www.rockexotica.com/product/rope-grabs/double-microcender/

sad to say but I got this hideous thing in my head, theme song from a show my kid is watching.

sounds damn exciting. I would have ran away in fear. good job sir!

I pm'd you a question about the leashes.

Climbed through lady wilson cleavage on icefields parkway, AB. Lots of fresh snow fall the night before but we were stupid and young. Near the top of the gulley, a small slough came down but we managed to hug the side and avoid getting swept away. But being young and dumb, we decided to finish and just look at the upper walls in the belly of Wilson beast, which basically is a bowl ringed by ice that funnels down into the gulley. We found a nice little rest spot about 200 feet above the gulley finish. As we were taking photos and eating/drinking, I could see a snow filled wind blast go up and turn 180 degrees and smacked the snow slope above the ice. Immediately a 1 ft deep but very wide swath of snow broke free and fell over the cliff towards us. We were in the middle of the run out zone, behind a boulder, and too far for a run to avoid. We hunkered down behind boulder as the snow poured over us. Our stance filled in pretty quick but I could stay above the snow by pushing my head up above the boulder height and getting the full force of the slough but also get a breath. that went on a few times. Once the slough finally stopped, my partner was gone. He got swepted away and went down the 300' cleavage gulley. He was under the whole time but on once out of the gulley. the snow fanned out, got thin and spit him out. We were young and dumb but not that dumb. we hightailed it out of there and the sounds of spontaneous huge avalanches on all aspects of the valley told us what they thought of us. relatively cheap lesson. causalty = one lost pair of ski poles.

Is spring time optimal for chamonix alpine climbing? I would have guessed the optimal time there would be same as here.

The march to long rope continues. BD has a sale on 80 meter ropes. A sale! I can barely manage my 70m. http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/climbing-ropes/9.6-80m-BD323030DURO0801.html#cgid=Cyber-Monday&utm_campaign=bfcm&utm_content=deals&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=fastg8&utm_term=all-rt&start=7

or some routes in alaska range. may be a bit of a "smash and grab" for a week vacation but it would be more memorable than booting around the cascades. check out the super topo alaska range book. Mt Francis and mt crosson are near the denali hwy airport on the kahiltna. plus tons of other eye candy.

assume you want to stay in north america. You can find ice in banff in march but it means going more alpine and north facing. something like slipstream would be good plus the added day light would help with that route. murchison is higher elevation and may still be in also. we used to do college spring break up there which is mid march and plenty of fun most years. But prudence would be critical for ice climbing in late march. a couple of weeks could make a big difference. Joshua tree! so nice in march. glorious! maybe yosemite? late march is kinda of a hard time for mountain routes in most places. the objective hazards are in full swing between fickle weather, increased spring point avi slides, and just more difficult getting around. think ski mountaineering and craggin for march in good ole USA.

the ice season is in full swing by thanksgiving in banff. I have a friend who goes up there on thanksgiving often. Back when I was in college, I went up to banff every xmas break. plenty of day light to get stuff done. you may start hiking and hike out in the dark but there is still plenty of daylight for the goods. given you are from bend, bozeman is much closer though. I have not been there around new years but i suspect that it is also in game shape by then. if given the choice, I will always pick Banff over any other ice climbing venue. that place is super special and just plain awesome. Cody is a close, very close second, but is a lot harder to get to from western washington. I just really dig long moderate climbs.

I have never met Hayden Kennedy but a thought keeps running through my head. I would imagine that someone who excels at hard climbing, especially as such a young age, may be someone who is obsessive about the activity and maybe obsessive in general. Nothing shocking there of course but I could see how someone who is prone to being obsessive getting in a loving relationship that regular folk may never feel. Can't imagine the grief he went through searching for hours to no avail. let us all remember this when one of our friends goes through something tragic. hold them close. stay with them. be present even if it means staying with them instead of work. choose life and friendship. Their life and your emotional well being could hang in your choice. (from what I understand, friends could not have helped with Hayden's situation)

silly frenchman doing tests on snow with gotta prove common sense. interesting to see the knots in action and a better knot than the typical overhand on a bight or butterfly knot. Video: [video:youtube]

i wonder if anyone ever does the regular n face anymore?

Wayne posted this photo on facebook from a friend of his who was out there.

what about this grivel hammer. seems pricey http://www.grivel.com/products/rock/belay_rappel/86-thor_hammer

Maybe ask if the CCW people could add what you need to their pack. I heard that they were good with custom work. Or do you own custom mod. I got a hold of some thick plastic sheet. Been cutting it out and sliding it into the hydration sleeve for more support, like in my old MEC genie pack. I got a old wild thing guides pack that went through hell with a crazy rodent. Lots of little bite marks. Lots of hard miles by the previous owner, a local mtn guide, but still hanging in there. Too small for alpine overnight but good for a day trip. I end up using that pack for most things. Seems to have the right bells/whistles and nothing else. CCW and wild things seem to share similar clients.

Only been top that wall once. I think the confusing part is that as climbers, we hike in the trail a ways then cut off to go to the climb. We did that for this and then ended up too far upvalley from the wall. was a pleasant traverse back though. On the descent, we came back really close to the parking lot. From the parking area, look directly uphill to see the wall.

last thing i need is more gear but just out of curiosity, is that snaggletooth a steep snow crampon or is it good for vert ice? that front point seems wide for waterice penetration.