genepires

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

hey Ryan, I got a photocopy of some select teton guidebook I'll give ya. I also have a ice guidebook to montana if you need.

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

a guide says 1.) "Tourons" are still people and who for the most part are really good people. 2.) A group of 4 is safer and smarter for people who are new to all of this climbing stuff. Catching a falling climber alone is a hard thing when not prepared or expecting . 3.) A few feet difference between people doesn't matter much, but a fast method of splitting up the rope for 4 is a good thing. 4.) Have fun and be safe.

thanks a ton! I will drop them a note soon.

Some nice new toyo forerunner with colorado plates was victim of a smash n grab in the smokebluff parking area yesterday. Lots of broken glass to greet them climbers when they return. There was lots of gear in the car that the thieves didn't want but it looked like there was a purse on the floor of the car. This is really lame to let happen to some visiting climbers. Too bad there isn't a sign for new visitors to warn them of the hazard. Could some squamish local on this site suggest this to the squamish township? Anybody have a suggestion for who I should contact to ask for this to happen? thanks gene

Can't tell how flexible your boots are or will become with lots of use. I the boot is very flexible, there is only one kind of crampon to use and that is a hinged crampon held on with straps that wrap around your foot. (a strap on crampon- enter joke here) I've been using a simond alligator crampon for many years on any kind of boot imaginable. It has a double hinge and made of steel for durablility. The only drawback is that it has only 8 points going downward (with standard 2 front points) so the middle portion of the boot lacks points. Walking with them is still secure but takes getting used to them if you have been using 12 point crampons for a while. I've used them for climbing ice in crevasses and they work just like any other crampon. They sell them at MEC for cheap.

hmmm pizza. boboli personal sized pizza with sauce, shroom, pepperoni n cheese. Simmer on the stove to melt the cheese and heat the goods. When the bread starts to burn, turn off the stove and let it sit for about ten minutes to melt the cheese even more.

I heard from a reliable source that the road is washed out way way way back from the trailhead a month ago. Sitkum glacier and frostbite ridge side. I would call the ranger station to get current details before driving up there.

Hey D, I got a pair of kayland tractions. Kicked up n face maude in them and they are pretty good for hiking. Semi waterproof. pretty light. If you got a size 10ish foot I'll let you try them out. Rumor had it that they discontinued them but I still see them in stores.

tent: If you have a good vestibule, leave the door open or maybe just the netting shut. If you have 2 doors, then leave both of them a little open on top for cross flow. If you have a small awning over your door and no vestibule, then open the door just enough to air flow with out letting in any rain if it is coming down. bivy: don't zip it up if it is not raining. If it is raining then you gotta suck it up and deal with the condesation. either that or stop breathing. You could try to breath out the side and keep rain from coming in but that would mean you are not sleeping.

While on the topic of twin ropes, I got a few thoughts and questions. The impact forces are higher for using two strands than using one strand. So, for the first couple of pieces of iffy pro with high fall factors, would anyone out there clip one strand into each piece. Obviously this would be bad right off the ground were rope stretch might create a ground fall, but how about way off the deck? I got a old copy of Long's "How to" book. He instructs to use two biners to connect twins to pro. Anybody carry enough biners to be able to do this? Ever heard of a rope failure from a fall onto twins and having the rope burn each other?

If you absolutely must carry the axe in the "self arrest" grip then get the raven. It is made to be comfortable in that grip which most others aren't. If you want to do more technical mountains in the future, get the air tech. The heavier head will make better sticks. What is the "short head" you speak of? As far as using the axe for boot-axe belays, the teeth can be of a concern but most people I know, including lots of mountian guides, never use the boot axe. In fact, I can't name a single person who has used it recently. I am sure there are some out there who are believers in the boot axe, but a simple seated hip belay is much stronger and quicker to create. adding the axe as a backup to the seated stance improves it significantly and the teeth don't matter then. Failure in the boot axe belay leaves you in a very desperate position with lots of slack in the rope. (watching people belay others across sketchy snow bridges with boot-axes makes me cringe and in my opinion is a good way to kill your partner) You shouldn't be expected to hold large weights with the boot axe, so I doubt that the teeth should be a big concern for cutting the ropes. But if you expect to do boot-axe belays, get a longer shaft for strength. Boot axes were common when everyone carried 70cm or bigger monster axes. With all that said, I am a big fan of grivel, so they get my vote if that matters. Which it doesn't. have fun! gene

Not sure if it is in kearny's, but I think Fisher chimneys is a great route on shuksan. Long days and variety. anybody ever do annie greenspring route on burgundy spire? topo looks good but......

Hey Matt, the raps down the west slabs are off of bushes and similar stuff till the bolt stations on westward ho right?

tried to take pictures but the camera didn't work. Dead battery. From what I understand, there is no correlation between time of day and serac fall. Just bad luck and serac fall. But yeah, I need to reevaluate my alpine starts.

Climb: mt Stuart-ice cliff glacier Date of Climb: 5/6/2004 Trip Report: My first TR! So Stuart (aka Minus) and I hiked in this wednesday on a late start (1:30 pm). We had very little snow till the colchuck/ stuart lake intersection. Then mostly snow covered trail after. There is a fairly descent bootpack off the main trail going toward mtneer creek. The creek crossing is on a old flexing log which we shimmied over. There are lots of little crampon nicks in it which is probably the better idea. The boot pack winds around a lot but will get you the camping area below sherpa peak. Time = 4 hours which is pretty good for me. There was this other team of two from ouray who did the ice cliff that day and was enjoying the afternoon sun by napping and drying out their boots. They left later to go to colchuck to climb more routes there. They seemed not too interested in doing stuart glacier couliour. Their loss. The alarms were set and went off promptly at 4:30 AM. Some things never change though and we crawled out of the sacks by 5:30 and off to the route by 6. So much for the alpine start. But the night was clear and the snow was rock solid and would be for a while. We made it to the base of the north ridge and talked about how to get around the serac band. Earlier we discussed the idea of passing it on the right. After looking up close at the seracs, we choose the left option. I remember thinking that seracs probably come down once a month or so. The danger of such crossing has been dulled by previous similar crossings with no ill effects. So we get on the other side of the ice cliff and up a couple hundred feet, when I hear this noise in the cliff area. A HUGE serac calves off. Must have been the size of a double wide trailer home. It falls and breaks into thousands of chunks, some the size of a VW bug, sweeping right across were we had walked only 5 minutes ealier. A big wet avalanche-like river of ice chunks flowed soon after. The right side option to bypass the cliff would have been certain death to us. Note to self: stay away from under seracs! The next bit of glacier walking is very mellow but the 'schrund to the upper gulley is very interesting. Growing wider with every day, we were able to pass it on a bridge on the left side. The bridge is a 45 degree slope and only 5 feet thick. Might be there this weekend, but probably not the weekend after. The right side schrund crossing should be there for a while if the left won't go. The upper gulley is longer than appears but offers no real difficulty other than endurance. The upper cornice is passable on the right side in a bucket step ladder. I distinctly remember wishing I had pulled out the rock gear from the bottom of the pack and gotten a proper belay as a fall would have killed both of us. Topping out over the cornice is kinda steep and involved a little akward leg hook over the top with no good step for the left foot. Good axe placements though. Descent is easy but tedious down a boot pack to the sherpa gulley/glacier descent. Sherpa glacier schrund is covered. From camp to the car = 3.5 hours. If it took us 4 to get up there, why did it take us so long to get back? Alien abduction? The route should be good for the next month. Usefull beta: Don't go underneath the seracs get a good rock anchor for the cornice area have two straight shafted tools for self belays Would like to say thanks to the ouray guys for kicking in some good steps the day previous. enjoy! Gear Notes: 1 screw, 2 tools, crampons, Could of used rock gear and pickets. Approach Notes: trail till colchuck/stuart lake intersection. snow the rest of the way.

Hey Toast, cat bird seat or anyone who knows, is this rap route you mentioned the dark rythm route or a different line? I remember seeing a rap line off of blueberry terrace, first off a tree, then some bolt anchors with slings. I thought this might be a climbing route (palsm 29?) but maybe it is a fast & clean rap route. (dark rythm has one rope eater section) thanks

could have peeled off a year ago since I haven't been there for a couple of years. But there is lots of fresh scars from smaller rocks around as well as lots of little pebbles hanging out mid pitch. I don't think the 3rd pitch of w ridge is altered as was just like as I remember. The rap station right above the scar is just left of the 3rd pitch (midway up) of the west ridge. It is the one that draws you off route on that pitch that leads no where. We went there mistakenly a couple of years ago and I seem to remember a ledge there. Matt Perkin's topo shows this station pretty well. It is not the rap station on dark rhythm.

Was up on the west ridge of exfoliation dome last week and noticed a BIG scar between the west ridge and dark rhythm. The scar must be 20 feet by 10 feet big and is just below the "off route" bolt anchor when climbing the west ridge climb. (only 5.8 pitch, the 3rd pitch?) The flake must have ripped off and fell down onto dark rhytm. Lots of torn out trees at the base. We rapped down dark rhythm, to check out any possible damage to bolts and anchors and found one slightly flattened bolt on either the first or second 10a pitch. (can't remember ) If you go up there, give those bolts a good look to see if they are any good. Little bit of descent beta. There is a good bolt rap anchor off of Blueberry Terrace. It is between two big trees which I know it doesn't help much, but keep looking till you find it. (rappin off those trees seems sketch) Keep following the bolts to the next anchors and bear climbers right as you go. There is one rope eater on top of the pitch that got nailed by rock fall. But it goes all the way to the base. Sorry no pictures

I usually board in my leather mtneering boots but you may get some pain in your calf. For my board and boots, the highback is a little shorter than the leather boot. On heal side turns, the top of the high back bites into the calf. I had to shove foam into the back of the boot (while riding) to pad the highback. Koflach used to make a very cool leather mtn/snowboard boot. was basically a very tall leather mtneering boot. Sadly they haven't made them in 10 years.