genepires

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"

that is not in mt charleston but behind the ikea in renton. (hi Jason! you must be shy or out sending hard sandstone.) "constipated people don't give a crap"

Jason don't know anything about ice climbing! (hi Jason!)

It isn't always cold on thanksgiving in RR. So the north facing climbs can be pleasant. But if it is cold here is a list of some warmer stuff. group therapy- sun leaves the rock mid morning so get up early to stay in the light. hopefully it will be warmer by the time the sun goes away olive oil - ditto on the morning sun. If you get started by 10am, you will be in shade with the sun always a rope length away anything on solar slab area birdland - sun all day. Don't think it is in any guidebook yet but give Jason Martin a request for exact details. It is to the far left of the brass wall and is about 6 pitches high. 5.8 Black orpheus and eagles wall (with rainbow buttress) is in the sun but could be windy as they are up high in the canyons. All the pullouts for sporto stuff. climbing there all winter long. The places that dberdinka commented on are all very good. If it is warm - hit the black velvet for 4 days and don't leave till they drag you to the airport. Lotta balls area too. oh to be there now...drool...drool..........

I don't own a 4wd. Is it standard to put the chains on the front tires and not on all 4?

adams glacier anything on dragontail (backbone) anything on stuart (ice cliff and n ridge) something in darrington (dreamer or x dome) any route on shuksan (fischer is my fav) there is really too many great climb to list just 5.

Yeah D! monkey likes gloves....... Cloudviel ice floe glove (correct me if the name is wrong) BD drytool (yeah they wear through but it is good while they last)

On sunday, got some craggin in at leavenworth after a very cold start to a kinda cold finish. There is snow half way up the valley. no sun to warm the rocks.

above advice is great but her is a few more ideas: crampons rarely get sharpened by guide services so I doubt that short frontpoints will be an issue. Check anyway. local guide services rarely have waterfall ice crampons so getting replacements for frontpoints are unlikely. Some guide services wash there bag after every rental. Some don't. Either the bag is beaten down in machines or smells bad. Either way....uck! You will probably have to replace the down or give it a GOOD washing depending on what they do with the bag. Some guide services rent only synthetic bags cause they wash them so much. Ask them about that. Boots should be fine. Good washing again. Like Dan said, might get a custon liner anyway. If you do that, get the most beat up liner and haggle down even father. American Alpine Institute sold off a bunch of their stuff recently but give them a call anyway. Alpine Ascents sold a bunch of old plastic boots too but I think they still have some around. Could try them (ask for Brent) for a deal on a boot.

secret renton granite? pooty tang tower? so are you saying Mikey that it is not in the wash pass area at all? Not in kangaroo / wallaby area? Not north of the hwy 2 east of the pass?

The earlier reference was for the north face route. The sulphide route should be pretty good. If ever I had to solo a glacier (gun held to my head) it would be that one. For a day trip, get a very early start as there are lots of terrain to cover. It seems most day trips are done on skiis in the spring. Advise your friends to have some rock gear for the summit pryamid which may (or may not) have some snow smattered around. have a good time geno

Can the moderators ban people for bad spelling? Too much makes my brain hurt. Maybe someone could edit Shawn's posts? Is there an english teacher out there to help out?

for my old drytool gloves, I smeared the entire palm with seam grip. Not sure if it is waterproof but it did make the leather last longer. But the seam grip does peal off with use. Thanks for the interesting question that we all can learn a good trick from. (not being sarcastic.) gene

Try this address. It is for the whole western side but you can find the location on the map. It is definately new with pinpoint forcast. http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sew/

OK simple map work shows that the peak Darin was wondering about it peak 5144 and has one route on it in the beckey guide.

The spire that Darin is asking about is not frostbite weber but across the valley from frostbite weber. Maybe two valleys across even as I can't remember exactly were FW was when Darin pointed it out to me. I think FW was due east of us. That peak looks cool too and the photo makes it look even better than our vantage point. The peak that Darin is asking about is at the end of the valley that static point slabs lay in. thanks

If you rely on getting free food on the way, remember that you are getting the stuff they didn't want to eat to that point. Bring good strong spices to make whatever you get palatable or at least edible. Bring big piles of cous cous in case you can't score free food. Would suck to fail cause you didn't feed yourself well enough.

damn...did it like it was a weekend warrior climb...great job!

Sounds like I am going to die by either drowning crossing the creek or riding the big rocks as the moutnain dissloves in the rain.......Good times!

Was thinking of going in (beckey/schmidke) there next week and hoping to get any beta on snow (moat/schrund) conditions and beta for the rock part too. And yeah, I did a search on this site already. thanks gene

who's got the protractor? Let's measure the beyotch!

Yup, get a early start and you should be fine. Stay on the railroad grade and just left of the actual ridge for as long as you can. Pop on the glacier and start out trending left till around the big icefall. After that, just follow your nose which should be pointed to the crater, bypassing nasties of course. There should be a nice little trail the whole way. There is a very nice coverage on the glacier but soloing it is dumb as nasties (crevases) are starting to show. I'll be back up there (with wands) this weekend too. Rangers in the office don't know too much about the conditions. (except what gets written by climbers checking out, which is usually nothing) They don't even know where the toilets are up there. see ya up there