genepires

north to south some ideas baker hwy - go to ski area upper lot on snowshoe up to herman saddle, maybe summit mazama dome. (sounds big but it is a easy snowshoe day) hwy 20 - sauk mtn. will need to hike some loggin road then hike up R side of face, where summer trail is. mtn loop hwy - mt dickerman trail. A summer trail that gets to an actual summit. really nice views is the weather is good. Quite often a trail is beat in if the weather has been good for a couple days. hwy 2 - from stevens pass hwy, head up opposite ridge from ski area, very often a boot pack exists. hwy 90 - tromp around snoq pass either into source lake or commonwealth basin. Pick what looks good when you get there. Also usually a boot pack exists. Rainier area - not sure of status of road but around unicorn peak is sweet. With that, all these places could be considered safe and/or dangerous. Too many factors but if the weather is good and the avi hazard is low, then the above would be good options for a fit hiker with good common sense.

going up to banff area pretty soon and I was wodering if anyone has ever found a bed n reakfast or other lodging in the town of field? If so, could I please have their info and prices if you know? I have slept in my vehicle in field too many times to do that again. thanks in advance gene

duty dome area scw pearly gates east faces of liberty bell/winter spire area west faces of liberty bell/winter spire area three oclock rock exfoliation dome giant green buttress smoke bluffs (yeah in canada but within reasonable drive distance) apron, papoose, squaw, sheriff badge area, grand wall, lower coleman ice craggin amazonia my 10 is in base 16.

hydrophobia any of those big steep routes that hang underneath bigger seracs like the one on mt. quadra

seems like eave dearborn route would be the stumbling block for doing all of the 1st edition selected climbs. And didn't one of the dome peak area climbs get wiped out with rock fall?

grivel made a helmet with a full on face grill. no fog issues. full face protection from ice and tools. and as an added plus, you look like you belong on an "american gladiator". looks geeky but it will work.

old footfangs and new quarks! a marriage of ancient and youth.

dream climb - west face of mount huntington favorite climb? too many seperate types of climbing to come up with one that rules over all. Probably the climb that is having the most fun. Here is a feeble attempt. Ice - Polar circus is way up on the list. alpine ice - north face mt fay or north ridge of bakerhorn alpine rock - Slesse. galcier travel - Easton or the coleman/deming glacier on the mighty bakerhorn. cragging - any day spent in the city of rocks aid - spaceshot bouldering - too old for bouldering. v-0 in the gym.

hubbu whatever is in. two groups on today. fat for usual hubba conditions. I got a few pics but give me a day to get it downloaded. Seemed like everything else is trying to by in but not there yet for mortal types. I suppose things are "in" if you are a really really good ice climber.

summer between here and texas can be scorching hot. that limits lots of areas in a straight line but if you don't mind a little longer drive then how about city of rocks (could be hot could be perfect) then off to the sierras area (including lovers leap, toulumne and the valley, alpine rock routes, as well as tons of smaller crags that litter the state) then settle down for the hot drive to texas. can't say I woudl reccomend any gyms on your course cause it seems like there is so much better to do. think about idaho alpine rock, winds and tetons too, not so much crags as alpine goodness. City of rocks has got to be one of my favorite "cragging areas" going.

OK rbw, don't get your panties in a wad, these screamers are not on my rack anymore. Was just getting the winter rack ready and saw these two old screamers. Wasn't planning on using them but was seeing what others thought of older screamers. Maybe discussion on this would make others retire screamers. Good idea with asking yates. Anyone around here got a good testing machine and interested in a free sample?

So I got some old yates screamers that are maybe 8 years old that haven't been fallen on. They get about 2 weeks of use per year that consists of hanging on the harness or ice screws. Yeah I know that nylon degrades with time and so forth. Common sense says dump them. Someone will claim I should give it to them to "dump it for me". But I was just wondering if these screamers are as bad as I suspect they are. Seems like the 1" nylon would make them safe for much longer. Any opinions? Any actual experience on older screamers? Any intersting tests on older screamers? thanks, gene

lots of good advice here but i cringe at the idea that "And assuming you are doing the West Butt, it is nexto to impossible to get caught out in a serious storm without some warning,". Seems like one who is a newbie could walk away with a sense of casualness with denali. People die on the west buttress. Lots of people get frostbite. People get caught out in storms, usually trying to get back to camp or back down to less stormy campsites. Professionals get in trouble too. Denali doesn't care who you are. There are lots of people who climb denali with the expensive high altitude boots like millet. A common saying goes, they are expensive but they only cost $80/toe. Is one of your toes worth $80? With all the costs of getting up there, another $400 spent that will increase the chance of you getting up, is trivial. With that, I can good luck with the arctis expe with good supergators. But I don't wear them anywhere else also so I might as well have bought the overkill ones. Who wears arctis expe in the cascades?

just a little advice. highs are 70 degress this weekend. (in vegas!) But it could get cold real quick. Have a south facing rock list backup if this happens. Most of the canyons are shady for most of the day. Here is a little list of possible cold day climbs: most of the pullout areas olive oil if you start between 9am and 11am. shade follows up solar slab climbs cat n hat brass wall is a great cold weather area. dark rock absorbs light! and there are others that others will suggest. (Jason speak up!) but it seems like most people's tick list all contain shady climbs. just something to think about.

It is good that we make you laugh cause you sure make hundreds, if not thousands, laugh at you.

was on again this friday night at 8pm on discovery channel as well for you that don't feel like staying up that late. Not a big fan of the everest books but i thought that this was a good show. So far not a lot of attitude and "radness" drama that one would expect after "into thin air". They had a rescue filmed of some guy with pulm edema which was informative to see how messed up one can get.

lucky dog, you got to see the sheep. I lived there for 9 months and also made 5 trips to the area before and after, and I only saw the sheep one time. was that deep in oak canyon?

given that you are going though hard times, solo or not, your determination to do that route regardless of whatever conditions are, sounds like a suicide mission. I hope you are kidding about this and if not, then don't drag clueless people to their death also.

knots are good. very very good.

sounds cold, very very cold. dark too.

there are some pitches on polar circus that 70 m would be nice. seems like alpine ice with lots of belayed pitches is the place where 70 m shine. North face of robson, n face athabasca, ect, but they will be gone in a decade so why bother?

No expert on rapid rappeling (unless falling is a criteria) but it would seem to depend upon how many raps you had to do. The more raps to do, the less advantagous pairing up would be. It would seem the advantage is having multiple people rapping and not standing around at the same time. Here is one scenerio three rope lengths up with no simu-rapping. (I come in a t 195 lbs so simu rap is scary to me) first rap is set up with two ropes normally. first rapper takes both ropes with and sets the remaining two rope lengths as single line rappels. second and third rappel normally and quickly as soon as the rope is free. last guy does first rappel normally and uses that two ropes for the rest of the raps and throws down the other two ropes. folks on bottom coil and get everythign ready while the lone guy makes his way down which shouldn't be too bad as long as the ropes don't get stuck, which they will. better yet, just take your time and keep out of trouble.

How about throwing out some ideas that are OK to take dogs while BC skiing? I'll throw out a couple that I have taken hounds on. Sauk mtn. table mtn near baker ski area. right across from stevens pass ski area, forget the name. any other good places for hounds?

Doubt that many will ever hike in that far so the need for secrecy is not that important. If it was, then Darin would never have sent in these photos. I can't speak for him, but I would imagine that he is trying to keep the route one for someone to "explorer-ating". He is down on super topos so why should he create one for this area? It is obvious that there is a climb out there. I'll admit that it is really good. Go find it. go do it. have fun exploring. be ready to shwack. If you really need beta, (I usually do as I am super taco addicted) PM me and I may give it to you.

mabe the 8 pitches circumnavigate the mountain. Maybe a real "corkscrew" route?