genepires

I think they have a large in stock. The best idea though is to go to their down town store and see what they got. at least try them on and talk to the employees there. Every time I have been in there, the employees are very knowledgeable and will direct you to the jacket you need. Maybe the icefall is not the best jacket for you and your needs. Also, not sure what you need a big ass jacket for, but maybe you only need to rent such a jacket? FF rents big expedition jackets, I think. worth asking if that is a good option for you.\

and this one is warm and smells good too

maybe you need puffy pants and not a warmer jacket? no idea what a cg snow mantra jacket is though. But if you really need a warmer puffy, look at either Feathered freinds jackets or just keep moving. Best to always keep moving.

can never hurt to ask, but i would suspect that a commercial business would not want their old gear possibly misused and result in an accident exposing them to liability. Not saying that Chris would misuse anything related to climbing but just as a general rule for businesses.

who would have thought that canadians can be rude? I would have thought a typical confrontation be as such patrol "hey eh, skiboarding is not allowed on our property, eh" boarder "fuck off man, eh!" patroler "well I see you are really passionate about this skiboarding thing so lets just go ahead and let you do it, EH. here have some fries and poutine, eh"

given that the sierras are relatively snow free, i would think some traverse over there would be good. especially if you are looking for low 5th routes.

I suppose there are a few old school grumpy outliers still but who really cares what they think?

with the exception of alta and some place in new england, that skier vs snowboarder crap is non existent thank god. Plenty of mixed crews ripping the terrain and the terrain park is definately being done well by skiers now. it is all fun.

but then the signage may keep the wet folk away. seems like this place is kinda close to vantage. how come there are no scorpions in vantage? maybe the lakes provide food for scorpions and vantage (the rock climbing) doesn't have the water? doesn't seem right though.

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.