genepires

This is my first attempt to post a TR with pictures so in advance please excuse my ineptitude with this. Will send them soon. No TR function for posting? So two weeks ago, I took my two dogs for a walk up the Mt Dickerman trail on a rainy/snowy day. About two hours out at the 4500 foot level, there was a small creek which the dogs lapped up the cold water. Above was this patchy system of ice up the rambly cliffy section. The rest of the hike was pleasant in the snowy/rainy Washington kind of way. I knew though that the climb could form if it stayed cold and didn’t snow too much. This last week was good for creating ice. Fairly cold and clear. Alex was up for a good day and I was also able to convince a new buddy, Robert on a temporary assignment from LA, to come along. We got a good early start for the hike in, climb and follow up with a hike to the top. Two hours walking on solid boot pack (must be hundreds of switchbacks) got us to the ice, right above the trail. The ice is a cool little WI2 and about 75 meters, give or take a dozen meters. It can be split into 2 pitches at a convenient tree belay 30 meters up. The ice was thin with frequent hitting of rock but plenty of good medium and stubby screws were placed the whole way up. The angle of the ice compensates for the thin ice conditions. I hauled a bunch of standard rock gear and pins but was unable to find any cracks to place anything. Two raps off trees get back to the ground. Farther left, there is the possibility of some shorter ice climbs, some easier, some mixed. All involve wallowing through the deep stuff. After our climb, we got back on the bootpack trail and continued another hour to the top. We carried our ice gear with us to confuse and/or frighten the more sane hikers. No one seemed to notice. For those who haven’t been on top dickerman, there are good views of n and e face big 4, n face sperry, n face vesper, w face sloan, glacier, pugh, whitechuck, e face Whitehorse, e face 3 finger and baker. Many possible winter objectives can be checked out from this vantage point. Note for dog lovers, lots of people with dogs on this trail last week. I would not expect this climb to be exposed during a more normal season. It seems that it could easily be buried. But in early season, this could be a good climb to knock the rust off the swing and get a leg workout. It seems that this climb must have been done before due to the access. Whoever may have done it never bothered to mention it to Jason and Alex for the ice guide. Maybe it is too easy to bother reporting? But whatever, it is ice, it is in Washington, it has a nice trail, and it is fun for hacks like me. For those alpine suffering types, there is no visable ice on the west face of Sloan, east face of Whitehorse and Three fingers. BUT there is a very interesting ice formation on Big 4’s east face. Maybe three pitches of very steep terrain. It has a complicated approach but the reward is equally big for those willing to suffer. I will try to post some pictures later when I figure out how to zoom in on the photos I got. Gear: standard ice gear, medium and stubby screws, maybe some KB’s, snowshoes needed if there is recently snowfall. Skis not useful.

I have the 40 degree down and synthetic fill overbag combo and it works really good. For the summertime I only use the down part. The sleeping pad is so important with this system. I used a blue ensolite pad and was pretty cold. A descent thermarest is great but going too light on the pad will mean a cold night. Also the pad must be shaped to fit inside the bag. (no rectangular pads) Don't use the air core pad they offer. The one that you blow up with no foam inside is light but worthless for staying warm. Who would have thought a littel foam inside makes it work so well? Very roomy and good for stomach sleepers.

Trash compactor bags are cheap, available, and waterproof. Cut a couple into sheets and tape them together insuch a way to fit the floor of your tent. One bag can cover about 75% of a one person tent.

Was wondering if anybody made their own two person bivy sack. Was hoping to get some design ideas, places to buy the materials and thoughts about double sacks itself. visions of using this on alpine rock climbs for planned and unplanned bivies.

I own a set of old BD hexes and like them. I got a free met curved hex that seemed to be too much of a bitch to get out for someone to bother with. I had to hammer it with my little pika nuthammer to get it out. Now this hex was only 6 feet off the ground on R&D route so I doubt anyone fell on it. It was just a bitch to get out once "set" . Seems like due to the curved geometry it might be real easy to set this curved hex hard and not be able to get it out. I have never had this problem with the regular hexes. I guess they usually fall out instead of getting stuck.

Some ice axes are not designed to be used as deadman. I forget the rating used but if you don't notice the weight of the axe on your pack, then it is probably not a good snow anchor. The question is the strength of the shaft. (anyone reply with shaft jokes!) Also, there is a question about appropriate surface area for the type of snow you are trying to build a anchor in. Good luck trying to get a 50 cm tool to work in fluffy powder. (or anything except skiis for that matter) Most ice tools and some ice axes have less surface area than a picket, therefore less snow holds it in place, hence are weaker as a anchor. So like all things in climbing, there is no cut and dry answer to your question on wether a axe is a good anchor or not. You gotta evaluate the strength of the snow and axe and then decide if it is OK. Another note: I think that I would never use a vertically driven axe as part of my crevasse rescue system. (even driven back ones) This is because most rescues happen when the surface snow is soft and weak. In that condition vertically driven pickets and axes are very weak. But strength can still be found by deadmaning whatever you are using for a anchor. Saying that, I feel it totally OK to use two tools in the cascades in summer.

try feathered friends for a hood for your down jacket. I would add something like a precip full side zip pant. When the weather turns to shite (and it will), keeping dry will be very important. I would also take some kind of light nylon windbreaker which will be useful 80% of the time especially in nice yet blustery weather. Add a schoeller jacket and forget the windstopper jacket would be my choice as I am not fond of this material for jackets.

A little bit of motion in the belayer (getting pulled upwards) offers a form of a dynamic belay, which lessens the force on the top piece. (in a fall of the leader) Some sport climbers even jump a little right at the point when the rope goes taught to minimize forces on the leader and belayer for the same reason. So when would you not want this dynamic affect? Like Jason stated, you don't want to crash into a roof or if your anchor can not hold much of an upward pull. (slung horns are another case) But if there is a extreme difference in weight, you may want to hold that person down, even in simple top roping. Or you think your belayer might not have the skill to hold the brake while getting yarded upwards, then definately lock them down. Don't underestimate the forces involved as I have been pulled 6 feet up when catching a guy sport climbing before. The best way to answer your question is to imagine what would happen to your belayer if they got yarded upwards. Then decide if you need a piece to hold the belayer down. On a side note-If you are leading and your belayer chooses not to belay you at the base of the climb, then lock them down with anchors AND make that first piece of pro able to hold a outward force. This may involve a cam pointing outwards or two nuts in opposition. The horizontal vector for the force is very large and WILL slam them into the wall and they may realease the brake in a automatice self preservation move. I see this belay practice often and surprised more people don't bite it.

MEC has a couple packs that look good and are pretty inexpensive. Brio 40 and 50 liter for around $70 and $85 US. They have comparable weights to your packs mentioned. Stuff on sale usually means that either no one wants it for good reason or there is some major issue (like durablility) with it. You get what you pay for.

can't you run up to vancouver and get a much better pack at MEC for cheap? (serratus?)

terminator touching down?

Don't mean to dampen for upcoming trip but I was on muir thursday and there was very little new snow over hard ice on the upper half of the route. the lower half had lots of rocks poking through. Probably the worst ride down from muir ever for me. Was still a good day with great views and even pretty warm but I would have had as much fun simply walking up and down. If things don't change, you might want to forget the skiis and go for a nice walk.

Big 4 - nw ridge or other hardman descent routes. Lots of other peaks in the mtn loop highway as well. Delcampo, hall, ect. Prussik west ridge if we had a little warm spell to make it nice n toasty Sauk for an easy day climb pryamid, Bunyon stump, and pinnacle seem reasonable access tattosh range shuksan north face, white salmon glacier. there si big potential for mixed crazy lines between the hanging glacier and white salmon. Dallas Klokke had a winter alpne route guidebook out but may be out of print. These are small peaks that wouldn't see any action in the summer. But in the winter, they are very nice. If you can't find it, call dallas as he is very helpfull and may have a copy around.

I have one as well and have used it for planned light bivy and an unplanned bivy up high in the wind rivers. (COLD!) Really very nice piece. Just don't wear it thrashing up a chimney or it will get shredded as the mat'l is lightweight. Better yet, stay out of chimneys.

there was a pair of wings (one light one alp) at second ascent some 3 weeks ago. also, there was a pair on ebay but that is long gone. you might want to check that once a week.

DFA's post is kinda funny too. He seems to think that we are old school and anti-gri-gri. Who is "insisting on old school methods"? I never said that gri-gri's were a bad idea. I got one and use it all the time. I bought mine on a road trip because my belayer had a whopping 2 days experience. But dr crash, you brought up the fact that you were concerned about your KIDS dropping each other. If you want to see kids climbing, messing things up (with gri-gri also), and falling to the ground, go spend a day at merrymore park. Luckily they got rubber everywhere so only small bones break. You asked for opinions on the cinch which I don't have any. They look good. I assume you have taught your kids great belaying skills and determined focus. Relying completey on a gri-gri or cinch to keep them safe is as relyable as a CHAD ballot. If there is any question about their belay skills, then they need human backup. But they are your kids........and you gotta pay the hospital bills or worse.

nice teaser. Good music and shots. I like the guy falling, ripping gear out and falling onto the belayer on some indian creek looking area. Oh yeah, the hotty shakin her bootie is good too.

cascade crags ice fest this 6th. try out all kinds of tools for free! granted it is on foam ice but it is free. I bet they rent tools also. American alpine instit. rents them in bellingham.

????? Thanks for the heads up but we will see if anyone can remember this for next year.

best to stay with him and hold the brake line as a backup. Many people often use a prussik backup for their rappels. Maybe you should think about teaching your son to always put on a prussik to backup his brake hand and also anchor him down.

second ascent had a pair of alp wings for around $130 each. They also have other grivel straight shafted super couymeaur. (spelling way off) They also have tons of other tools pretty cheap there. You will find a good ice tool there. (I don't work there BTW)

Above is very good advice. As far as reliable, by nepal tops have withstood alot of abuse. Not so with rock shoes from them but thier boots seem very durable. Just a opinion,but I prefer leather over plastics for ice climbing. I can't keep my heel down in any plastic boot while ice climbing. Only leather boots have somekind of geometry that locks down my heels. I think that the laces don't wrap high enough on plastics. But my 2 cents.

So it looks like the cam has three stages and when the crack gets too small, then wider cam gets out of the way. There are three sections for different crack sizes. But it looks like the second "stage" is wider when folded out of the way than the narrowest section on the smallest range "stage". How could one use the smallest range if you can't jam it in very far due to larger second stage? Seems like a easy piece to get stuck due to that. At $90 a pop....ouch They are using the same arguement that BD uses for their camalots about needing to carry fewer pieces which has been debated alot. I wish them luck on their new cam and I hope that it fares better than the splitter cam which I though was a good idea too.

There is no one perfect way (or "system") to rack all the gear. Best to get used to many different ways, each appropriate for different situation. For multi-pitch were swapping leads, a gear sling is very handy to swapping gear and getting out of the belay quickly. Why waste time racking onto the harness at every belay? (and risk dropping gear) So I usually rack nuts to #2 camalot on gear sling and anything bigger on the back of the harness. Draws evenly distributed on both sides of harness. For craggin - all rock pro on front gear loop on both sides. small (front) to large (back). Passive and small cams on one side, large cams on the other. Draws on back on both sides. My own personal feeling is that I don't like that metolious multi-loop gear rack as I find it hard to see my feet. I have a hard time moving the whole mess to the side unlike the standard type gear sling. Maybe due to that I learned on the standard rack and therefore lack the skills. People who always had a multi loop type don't seem to have issues. enjoy the rock climbing were ever you can! seems wet everywhere. "I have the body of a god........buddha"

The grivel alp wings are fairly straight for alpine but a little curved for steep ice. Seems like a good compromise for alpine and moderate ice climbing. It has a little pinky rest that is removable for snow climbing too. With this pinky rest, it should be OK for drytooling, not that I know squat about drytooling. "if at first you don't succeed, blame someone else and seek counseling"