genepires

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.

most popular trails are not crowded at 5am. you may see some people on the way down but that is fun.

Maybe Dave Page could answer that question. So the uppers are still waterproof? Seems like that is the first to go. I think my boots just let too much water in with age.

if the uppers are in good shape and fit your foot well, that would make it worth getting a resole instead of buying a new boot. that boot is fully formed to your feet. now wether it is worth resoling because you don't use it much any more, that is a personal question.

maybe the "dropping of the axe" was on purpose? whatever it takes, short of a hand grenade, to make a quiet day in the mountains?

nice TR. thanks for doing that. too bad about the crowds. sometime in the 90's, seems like the weather was usually worse. we sat out a 3 day storm in the hut and watched everyone leave. when the storm left, we had the park to ourselves for 3 days till the climbers eventually came back. that was a golden trip. we had the NE buttress to ourselves but did have to manage with some ice/snow in cracks. I could be wrong but it seems like the weather is pretty good all july and august. climate change.

I can't remember which route but I remember a trip report years ago of a couple of guys trail running some long traverse, maybe the ptarmigan? they did not have a rope. hopefully someone can remember that trip. looked stunning.

There some traverse that goes by colonial and over somewhere.

Never did it or even been to the range, but I heard that the bailey traverse in the Olympics is great. I doubt that it would be glaciated at all.

Go in an give it a go. if the weather if foul, then you will have built up 10 character points. pin point forecast for shuksan http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-121.59799955127426&lat=48.83368332443618#.WXJDRXo1Z0c hourly forecast for same http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=48.8337&lon=-121.598&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical looks like the worst of it is fri night, with rain accumulation of .02" in sat afternoon. with 70% cloud cover. betting it will be OK but you could always make the call after winnie's slide where navigating in cloudy conditions may be an issue.

I love the fisher chimneys and suprised it did not make the nelson select guides. maybe better that way. so cool though with the variety of terrain and skills needed. Just when one skill set used for a while, it turn to another before getting anoying. 4th class rock to steep snow to glacier travel to interesting glacier travel back to mellow glacier and then to more 4th class rock. the only thing lacking is sport climbing and aiding.

my thought was that if they allow unroped teams and skiers going down, they should allow soloists without the special permit. I imagine it would be become a total shit show up there though with every denim pants wearing, coloradan 14-er, trying to run up the mountain solo.

the usual spot for a clog is at the small jet orifice, that Dru was mentioning clearing with a small wire tool. I thought that all the new MSR stoves came with a shaker needle built in. shake the stove up and down to clear out any crap. try the operators manual. sometimes the metal wire in the hose between bottle and stove get a bunch of gunk on it. you can take that out and scrape it clean. for the life of me, I can't remember how to take it out. it was easy last time i did it though. never heard of a pump getting clogged. the clog will not disappear on its own. will only get worse. seems like everyone is going with canisters nowadays.

I knew about fact that if you were with another but not roped, you were ok in NPS eyes. My question is why is OK to be unroped in a team but not unroped solo? I suspect that they left this unroped teams as an option for their climbing rangers operations.

thanks for the TR. that uphill section on way out builds character. I could use less character though. The chimneys are a complex area. I have been in it a couple times and I don't remember that wall area or anything over 4th class. def never needed a rap to get down. not saying that I am a hard ass climber who solos recklessly in the mtns. just that there is or was a easier way up/down. Your way builds character though.

I mean this is in a honest non judgemental way. It is illegal to climb rainier solo without a permit. How is it OK to ski down unroped? why is that not considered solo climbing? Yeah I know he had partners somewhat nearby and skiers are less likely to punch through due to spreading the weight out over more snow. But with skiis getting shorter, it seems like that advantage is becoming less. I am not being critical of anyone's choices. We all do activities that have the possibility of injury or death. Sometimes blind luck saves us. sometimes luck is not good enough. Just curious how this fits in with MRNP rules. Maybe just a loop hole.

different situation but another skier crevasse fall over the 4th july weekend http://unofficialnetworks.com/2017/07/18/heavenly-ski-patroller-dies-on-mt-rainier/