genepires

I did not have to or suggest that I "help" him rewarm his hands. I can't even imagine what "help" could mean. Maybe I don't want to know.

He had wooden stubs for both hands and feet for half of the trip. But he paid it little attention and beat some nice steps to get to the sunshine. Had to drag him off the summit cause it was the warmest place around.

Thanks Jopa for showing me how to post photos! I may be a clueless goober, but I follow directions well. gene

north buttress colchuck with smattering of snow another view of colchuck triple couliour area. missing ice pitch but maybe a portland drytool crowd can have a party there.

how the heck does one post pictures? I got photos in the gallery. I am a computer newb and/or idiot.

John- of course I got photo of stuart, just for you. I also got someof that couliour on colchuck I was telling you about. When I figure out how to shrink photo down and post I will do it. Hopefully tonight. The snow is shallow at the lake. And maybe a foot above the ice up higher. Lots of rocks sticking out on the moraine. summit is mostly snow free. Saddle area is mostly snow. gotta run to work. ug gene

Climb: Colchuck peak-colchuck glacier route Date of Climb: 11/20/2005 Trip Report: Our first great weather weekend in seemingly months and the temp inversion is extreme. 12K freezing levels? Can't let this weather window slip away so we plan a nontechnical summit in the cascades. The enchantments have always provided good winter endevours. In contrast to the usual "car to car" trips that usually get reported in tis area, we drag along overnight gear so that we can enjoy the scenery. Craig, Bill and I spent saturday driving in and above the fog. (which strangely enough was much thicker on the east side) We were able to drive all the way to the trailhead. (barely in Bill's little ford) Excellant bootpacks all the way to the far side of the lake. We set up our camp on the frozen shore. The lake is not thickly frozen yet, only a little glazing over. Ate lots of food and went to bed at a ridiculous hour of 7PM. After a hard to start morning, we started up the snow slopes to the "glacier" Started out with snowshoes but found that the going was easy without. The glacier was in the shade and therefore quite cold but made for good snow conditions. At the saddle, the sun was a very welcome sight. We kept wondering what happened to this inversion. At the summit, it was apparent that the inversion was in full affect as it was toasty. I bet the west ridge of prussik would be real fun right now. The descent was nice (but bumpy ride) and quick. Was a very nice day in the mountians and there was no one else out there. Was rather surprised by the solitude. The north facing sides are staying cold even with this crazy inversion. Minimal avi hazard. Get after it before the next snow comes in. I got pictures but will try downloading it tommorow. Gear Notes: cold weather gear. maybe snowshoes but could do without. Approach Notes: great bootpack to lake firm snow to summit

.....oh yeah!

He's russian? I would like to adjust my opinion. Wool pants, sweater and a blankey are fine. No worse than a typical russian winter.

what routes are you talking about? When you mention technical, I hear bibler single wall. There is a big difference in gear between w buttress and something more techie. The mountain can crush people with good gear. If the crap hits the fan, the extra money you spent on SURVIVAL gear will seem trivial. Denali (especially a technical route) is no place for inappropriate gear. Be wary of people saying that they didn't need this or that. They may have had excellant weather. What you need is to be prepared for the worst possible weather or else you may end up in next years accident in NA. Yeah, others have climbed it with wool and blankets and whatever but no one I know is as tough as they were. Plus lots of them die early.

f$^&ing nightmare! That guy is lucky.

alpine solo techniques in newbie forum? newbie should steer clear of soloing. If one were to self belay in the alpine, I would expect that to take forever and make bigwalls out of small climbs. I find it hard to reccomend free solo but it is quicker way to get up and to die also.

What MIke is trying to say is that routes like this are next to impossible to plan ahead (buy tickets) and then actually do it. Weather, avi, route conditions are so fickle that to actually do this route you must either hike up there multiple times till you get the right conditions, get lucky with an unusual winter like last, or wait till someone else does it and then talks about it. Either way, only locals have a decent chance at getting any of these situations. Just being honest. I get a chuckle when I hear about people flying in january to get a winter ascent of rainier. They must have lots of extra money. But try and go for it. The stars may align in your favor and if you have a huge positive karma balance, hopefully it will work out for you. My money is that you will be in the rei cafe talking to mike and me.

Petzl feels that if the pick has seen enough abuse to warrant a new pick, then the connection to the axe (bolt) must have also seen abuse and should therefore be changed. Is the old bolt really trashed? probably not. Maybe someone has heard of a case were a old bolt failed and they started this new policy, but I doubt it. It is probably a result from a question arising at a meeting in petzl headquarters or something. Since you are given a new bolt, seems like a good idea to change it out.

for defense of the 6mm cord According ot the pezl website, the most force that could be put on the anchor is 9KN which is fall factor 2 right on the anchor. A KN is roughly 225 lbs so we are looking at needing to hold 2025 lbs. If you have two legs in the anchor equally loaded then each leg needs to hold 1013 lbs. Each leg is made of a loop of cord so each piece of cord needs to hold half of that again, 506 lbs. 6mm cord is rated to around 1700 lbs, well above the force needed above. It is rated to three times that force. This does not take into account the weakness of the knot and less than perfect equalization. I am sure there will be other factors not realized yet too. With that thought, I still use sewn runners on harder climbs but feel fine with 6mm in the mountains were fall factor 2 are next to impossible.

was a good year. guided a bunch of good people. got married. went on a trip with new wife to mexico and belize. (snorkeling in warm oceans) climbed a big goal for me for many years in the bugs. did a great climb with Darin on Castle peak. tons of craggin in leavenworth this fall. can't get much better I suppose.

Maybe the ice is too thin to build a v thread so you could equalize two tied off screws and rap off that. Jeff Lowe had some kind of crazy scheme for dealing with two tied off screws that seemed like a good but complicated idea. That would be one hell of a scary rap. In this case pins would be a better idea.

Famous? Only to my two dogs.

There is probably just enough snow up there to make the rock climbing miserable, unless you like it that way. Go for it. If it is too snowy then the hike is good anyway.

It is only a matter of time till one of them does.

The topo has a pretty good approach info. The old dirt road is about 50 meters upstream from the parking area. Follow old road to a old bridge thingy. Find small trail around right side and follow it to the talus field. Grunt up that pig to the base of the rock and follow small climber trail to the base, which on the right side of a large gulley. Find the bolt to start. Fun route. Bring lots of draws. Having two ropes doesn't help that much when going down. I would bring just one single rope.

While is possible to generate as much force on 4th class as 5.10, it is highly improbable. Falls on fourth class would be more of a bouncing down ledges which absorb alot of force. The rope would most likely keep you form rolling off a ledge after you crash into it. 5.10 falls would be steeper with the rope taking a higher fraction of the force. So a half rope could be "acceptable" for fourth class terrain. Personal call.

hi there. I am planning on going to cascade crags fairly regularly on mon and wednesdays. around 5 to 7pm roughly. Anybody interested in some gym time? gene

hybrid aliens too?

agree with alex. If the nepal or nepal extremes were acceptable up there, you would see more people wearing them. But I have seen lots of frostbite toes from people wearing GOOD plastic with overboots. You think any leather boot can compare to a good plastic? I think not. Even the scarpa alpha boot is a bit lacking in insulation Get a pair of plastic that fit your foot and has a good liner. A good plastic boot will cost something around $300. That is only $30 per toe. Cheap. Don't skimp money on important things, like anything imperitive to your existence. Hillary may have gotten up everest with shitty boots but he might have had excellant weather. You probably will not on Denali. (locals call McKinley by its indian name, Denali) Many Everest summiters were shocked by how much more brutal Denali is than Everest. Please, do not underestimate Denali. People of all expereince die every year up there. Plus, from someone who spends weeks in the hills, leathers have a hard time drying out when compared to plastic liners which are pulled out of the shells. Weeks of sweat will drentch the leathers and make you more suseptible to frostbite and trench foot. Don't get me wrong about leathers. I wear them a lot but they have their place and don't belong in some places. gene