genepires

My 50 lb black lab has done very well in snow and red rock canyons. very versatile. My golden retriever doesn't do well in snow (balling under belly in inside toes) My boston terrier has a limited range of temperature tolerance. The latter two would not be good dogs for you. I have too many dogs.

Like mentioned above, all belay devices offer some kind of dynamic element at a certain force. In those cases where there is enough force to make a device slip, you had better be rock climbing with solid gear. Your request about a dynamic belay sounds more like a belay while on snow, where forces like 1 KN will rip out pro. In cases like that only a hip belay will give you any chance for a dynamic belay worthy of crappy snow pro. The classic seated hip belay is a wonderful thing. While your request asked for actual experience, I have only practiced it under fairly hard conditions. We sat on glacier ice with whatever we could get with our heals in. (nothing) Then a victim would jump in a crevasse and we had to hold the fall with a dynamic belay. (there was a very very loose backup) Turned out that letting 20 feet of rope slide through on the brake hand, as we tightened down, held the fall without any anchor. Very dynamic! Definately would work for sketchy snow pro.

I think it depends on the circumstance to use a biner or girth hitch. If the biner will be loaded improperly (like joining slings around a tree) then a girth hitch is better. Using the slings as part of your leading a pitch protection (which can result in high forces) needs the full strength of your webbing and girth hitching may weaken it too much. So then a biner would be needed.

you must be asking about the north slesse glacier as the slesse glacier is farther to the left. When Darin dragged my ass up n rib a couple years back we approached from the valley directly below the n rib. At the memorial we descended down brush hell into the basin and travelled across the basin to a wooded hillside to get above the cliffs and brush. above it opens out to easy going to the n rib. I don't remember any snow but it was august. I would think that this was the best approach to the rib any time of year, short of a helicopter.

um. that is why you have one of each? a hammer and a adze?

think twice about discounting adzes. try digging a t slot with a hammer or pick only. grivel alp wing is a good all purpose tool. I got these and really like them for alpine ice as they are a little longer than the other 50 cm ice tools. And they are good for steep water ice too.

There are several culverts on the side of the trail till you get to the real ones. The fake ones are off the trail a little bit. Ignore those and small trails that seem to break off. these belong to lost spirits bent on dragin you to same demise as the spirit previously. If you trip over a big culvert on the trail, then you are one the right one. It seems farther on the trail than you would think. Look for a nice "climbers trail". Follow steeply to the crags. I think the guidebook has a good description.

I would bet the route dryes out within a day of a rain storm. a little wetness may exist but only add to the required alpine feel. make sure it didn't snow up high which persist longer. Feel good at simu climbing or else be ready to pitch out some 13 odd pitches.

icicle canyon - icicle buttress - r&d? 5.6 multi pitch might be good and near the road.

that action is complete bullshit and should never happen. simple. I have guided for 8 years and never even considered leaving anyone behind like that in good or bad conditions. the prime job of a guide is to minimize client risk. how can one do that when they are miles away? you should think twice about leaving the guide unnamed. let everyone know who he is. Plus, I have reservations about your story/claim without a name of the guide. How do we know you are not just making this up? I doubt that a "well-known NW area pro" would do such a thing.

Nice job D! that is a good LONG day!

a hip belay is not an anchor. a stance for the hip belay is an anchor. are you suggesting that simply having the rope in a hip belay is acceptable for a trad route? why not for a sport route?

oh if the connection is in the back, then in the fall the body compresses as if doing a situp. back OK!

falls in a construction site tend to be more "static". There is a shock absorbing lanyard but I would bet that this is alot more static like than a long stretch of climbing rope with the 8% stretch. A fall for a construction person is technically, most always, going to be a high fall factor. Usually between a 1 and 2 fall factor. With a standard harness and a rather static belay, there would be a sudden stop and therfore a hyper extension of the spine. Example-your waist stops but the back continues downward while facing upwards. So the this rational leads one to think about climbers falling near the belay? OSHA and LNI regulate the requirements. They try to reduce risk, even improbable ones, to create a injury free workplace. Also since it is a government department, they tend to make new regualtions regardless of need. Also, have you seen some of the workers? they are BIG and woudl prbably get hurt. Climbes tend to be fitter and probably less injury prone. Construction guys can use a yo-yo "belay" device which should be like a constant top rope. A normal harness would work for these but then they would need two types at the site and then people would not use the proper one. There is the potential for swinging falls though. I have used both types of harness at the same time on a site because I couldn't handle the full body types. Oh no, here comes LNI!

"like to keep things simple"? What could be more simple than a 15 to 20 feet of 7mm? Oh yeah, spending time trying to get wads of slings to work out. Or trying to tie a wierd knot in the rope to clip into the pieces of pro which never seems to work out first time so you gotta tie it again and again. Or maybe just getting behind a big rock for the hip belay? My question is, if the cordellete is not simple enough, then what do you guys use to make an anchor? and is it really easier and faster than a cordellete?

we went up maybe halfway and bailed due to uncertainty of the route and quality of the stuff we were on. Almost sent down a huge rock on my belayer when up 1/3 of the way. maybe we were off route. maybe it sucks. we concluded it sucked especially when compared to other news goodness. please go and lete us know if you find a good way.

I have found that if you sleep on your side or stomach, then most sacks don't work well. You end up breathing right into the material. The OR sacks have a zipper that runs around the side allowing you to breathe out the side, hopefully keeping the condensation down inside the sack. Not made of good event though. Prolly some kind of goretex stuff. If you had the bigwall sack then you must be a back sleeper. can't wait to hear all the people defend there gear.

probably easier to walk the rough parts than mess with clearing hte road. unless you are boosting your karma bank. The overgrown road is all part of the wilderness expereince. tvash. shouldn't you be out climbing instead of looking at this site like the rest of us wankers?

I had a MEC tarn that was a 3 season tent that went through many hard times in the mtns. Did 4 seasons guiding in it and it went through all manner of conditions from may to september. I had many guye lines which helped. the only reason I could see why it was a 3 season tent was due to the mesh on inner body. It weighted around 5 pounds and fit 2 snugly. cheap too. though not target cheap.

are you climbing the volcanoes in winter? why a 4 season instead of a 3 season tent used on good weather forcast trips? (why go on a bad forcast?)

thanks for the well thought advise guys. Sounds like there might not be much left by august. Was hoping for a ice route to be included with my plethora of alpine rock lines to do. Maybe I will just save the space and weight of the ice gear. If anyone remembers this post in july and finds some good ice conditions, maybe you will let us washingtonians in on it? thanks again gene pires

sweet! classic looking area.

Hey y'all sierra experts. I remember a TR last year of a ice gulley that had mostly dissappeared. Mendel? I am hoping to make a august trip to the sierras and was wondering if there are any good ice gulleys to be found then. How about split mtn east gulley? N pal? Any others that have survived the hot summers? (wi3, 40 to 60 degree stuff) thanks in advance, gene pires

if you have flexible plans and a large enough time table, you can fly in rather inexpensively. You wait till another pair of guys come in and share the ride. I think they charge by flight, not by person. We met some guys who had done this after we hiked in all the way. Flying in is the way to go and go well stocked and heavy! no beta for all along the tower but why not do the becky/chiounard?

the area with "groping for oprahs navel" has a couple sport 5.10's and a 9. I think clems hollar has more bolted lines than most areas in l'worth. fish wall below duty dome has 3 or 4 8's and 9's bolted.