genepires

If you want to make your own draws but are concerned about the water knot coming untied, try using a double fishermans knot instead. After a good pull, that knot will never come undone. This is not a good knot if you think you will have to untie the knot to leave at rappels though so I don't bother with this knot on shoulder slings. But for short draws, this is the best knot to use.

Agreed. If you want to use the ascender for fixed line self belay, the ushba has no teeth damage the sheath. It uses a pinching affect or something to lock down. It rides up very smooth. But if you want to use it for aid climbing, I would suggest against having two of these. It is too hard to remove off the rope when you need to skip a piece, like on diagonal pitches. Maybe one petzl ascender and a handles ushba would be nice.

dUDE ?!

I agree with mattp on this but I would like to add that in august, the slopes get very icy. I've done it every month between may and august and they are all doable. The later in the season you wait, the more technical the climb. And by that I mean the slopes below the ice seracs get scarier a far as cruising up without a proper belay. I would expect there to be more belaying on the slopes directly below the ice cliffs as well as the slopes right above the bergshrund. Also, just a little comment. In the last two summers, baker has had two incidences where roped teams plummeted down the mountain. One on north ridge and the other on colemen/deming. If you are tied to someone and you can't self arrest if you or your bud falls, then put in a running belay or untie if the crevasse situation allows. I had a buddy die from being pulled down rainier in icy un-self arrestable conditions.

You could spend good money and get a swanky room in a hotel but think before deciding to get a hotel room. Where will you be climbing? Find the place that is nearest to your climbing. I know people who swore they would stay in a particular place and then ended up driving 3-4 hours a day to get to and from the ice. Fuck that. The best bet is to move between hostels and hotels depending on what you want to climb. Keep flexible. If you want to climb anywhere north of banff, stay in any one of 5 hostels that are all along the road. If you want to climb near canmore or banff, hotels or the club house. Golden? Then stay in the hotels in golden. Don't stay in golden then drive to banff everyday. Minimize the driving and save money on gas. [ 03-29-2002: Message edited by: genepires ]

for rainier, Just thought of what you said about adding friction to the system. I haven't tried it yet or read about it in a publication so everyone don't bust my chops too much if it doesn't work. I know you can add friction to a rappel situation by adding extra biners to the rappel device. (on the bight of the rope) It works by making the bends in the rope more exagerated and therefore more friction. Could you add more friction to the auto lock by adding more biners to the rope too? The reverso and gi-gi lock off by the the load strand pinching off the brake strand, therefore being a "brake hand". That is how you can let go of the device. By the way, both of these are hands free device, which means the manufacturer says that you don't need to hold onto the brake line. Anyway, by adding biners to the rope, it looks like the rope has a larger bend and therefore more friction without affecting it's ability to pinch and brake. If any of you are in a technical situation which have access to pull testing machines, I would like to see if there is a increase in holding power.

I had lots of crap stolen at index too. Man it sucks. It's not like most climbers have cash to spare. These guys are definately not robin hood types. The fact that those bags of yours are so blatently labeled it the "north face" logo didn't help much. Most gangsta punks types know about TNF. I advice that the replacement bags be something else cheap and unknown.

There is a certain value of the package that duties become applicable. I ordered some stuff worth about $230 and paid no duty. I suspect that value that they charge duty on is about $400 but not certain. It also depends on what you are ordering. Certain things don't get duty at all, like search and rescue gear. Anyway, if you are not one of these gear freaks who get entire new outfits every year, you should be fine.

Steve's canyon is a good place to get away from the wind. It is near the hidden valley.

The goats have only been good to me. We were wandering around in the canadian rockies, trying to get up perrin ridge on mt whyte, near lake louise. Yeah it is a ridge and how hard could route finding be? Yeah we were lost and confused about it. Then some goats came by and up the ridge, showing the clever path around a big gendarme. Those bro's must have done the route dozens of times even though it is rated 5.6 (canadian rockies). This one goat was standing on a small ledge looking at the main ledge 8 feet above him. Downclimbing was not an option. Hooves was quaking a little. Then he lept up, did a bad ass mantle move, which was pretty cool cause he didn't/couldn't grab a hand hold above, pushed through, finished, then rejoined the herd snickering at our alpine lameness. I guess we were guided by goats as we followed their scat to the summit. Kill the goats? No way, follow their tracks to greatness.

I'll give a second vote for the s-12 with the toe strap. Great general mountaineering crampoon that works for almost all boots. They have an extension bar for boots that are size 12 or larger.

Same thing happened to me last year. Seems like you have to descend all the way to the valley floor. Amazing how morning sun that face gets for being a "north face". Must me more east than north.

Hmmmm Pizza, Get bobilli pizza in the small personal size (to fit inside your pot) and the small sauce packets. A little oil in your pot, bobilli, sauce, then whatever you want to add for toppings such as cheese, pesto, onions, shroooms, chicken from a can, or whatever else looks good in the store. Then get you stove to simmer (crux of the whole thing but not bad if your fuel bottle is not pressurized to high) and then cook the pizza to melt the cheese and get it warm. I always get my partners hanging around begging like a hungry black lab, saliva dripping on thier foam pads. Pad thai is pretty fast and not very messy either. Get it from the grocery store in those meal boxes with sauce. Just follow the instructions. Easy.

Hey Mikey, you camping slut! The urban sprawl is crawly so fast towards the redrocks that the city limits will be fighting for parking space at the entry gates. Look for a spot in the land cleared for some new building. (on charleston blvd) It is all of 2 miles from the entry gate by now. Also, the construction fellows can be your alarm clock to get your ass out of the fart sack and go climb some big rock. Rumor has it the snow is all melted now. Good times!

Is that the one on the pioneer route? If so, it is big enough for a bunch of people to sleep in. Maybe a dozen could fit in there. Would be a good time. Is there a problem with leaving your car in the parking lot overnight? If you are staying in the state park campground, then you have no problem. Enjoy!

The reason to get the air tech and cut off the rubber is that the air tech has a spike unlike the racing version.

Hey JoeTool, where did I say "style" for holding the axe? And rodchester, where did I say air tech racing?How come people are adding words to my post when reading? Maybe I lack writing skills. Thought you all might find this interesting. In the new petzl catalog, they suggest self arresting with the adze in soft snow instead of the pick. Imagine trying to figure out the consistency of the snow as you flail downhill to determine which part of the axe to shove in. [ 03-19-2002: Message edited by: genepires ]

hey Zenith, another flash owner! I've used that axe for 7 years now and still going strong. J-man, the head is ergonomic if you hold the axe like euros with the pick forward. We could start a whole new thread with which is better, pick forward or pick back? Anyway, the day my flash dies I will replace it with a grivel air tech and cut off the rubber grip. The design hasn't changed for over 10 years so they must have made something right. (except for the lame rubber grip) When was the last time a BD axe lasted production for more than 3 years? The thin spot in the pick and the hollow part in the head should be a concern.

While up on denali last year I ran across a fellow in another group who was having problems with his eyes at 14K camp. He had the eye surgery and the altitiude or stress or whatever was messing with his vision. He was one small step from walking around totally blind. Luckily he was on one of the most crowded places in alaska so he had lots of help. If he would have been in a more remote route, they whole group would have been screwed. There are altitude concerns with laser surgery, irregardless of what some doctor say. Some people have gone blind from the operation as well. The inconvience of glasses is nothing compared to even the remote chance of blindness or requiring a rescue from the mountains.

there is a wfr course in bellingham this month. check out the wmi web site http://wmi.nols.edu/ for exact dates and contacts. Also courses in portland, bend (oh yeah warm rock climbing too) and idaho.

Mikey, weren't you a robot working in a gear shop? Oh yeah, you did talk a whole lot.

Damn, it sounds like the classic rockies ice trip. The approaches are as dangerous as the climb and if you get three pitches a day, you rock! Too bad about the crowds. If you want some advice, go in december/january. There is less light and usually a little colder (sounds like it was even colder on your trip than ours in december) but the crowds are still in colorado. Also, all the people there are really cool in the early season, unlike the "spring break" crowds now. Thanks for the trip report and keep the tools swingin.

Traveling on a glacier with a short rope is fine as long as no one falls in. But if no one falls in, then why have the rope? You have the rope to protect a climber fallen into a hole. Chances are if you have only a 30m section of rope, then you have either one of three problems:1: like matt p said, you will have only 10m of rope between you climbers if a team of two. Same amount if a team of three. If your bud falls in and is a real fall, you have 30 feet (only 5 body legths) to get in the self arrest position AND stop. The ability to self arrest is not always guaranteed like those poor folks on baker last summer. (I think all three folks went in the crevasse) Even whickwire (I think) wrote about a crevasse fall like this in AK, where they both fell in because they were unable to self arrest. Teams of 2 on a glacier should really evaluate their self arrest and crevasse rescue skills before setting foot on a glacier. 2: Even if you do stop, you also have to be a reasonable distance away from the lip to perform a rescue. So say your bud falls in, you arrest within 3 body legths and that leaves you within 10 feet of the hole and maybe over the crevasse as well. I know a fellow who fell in and his partner was on the bridge too. When the rescuer was digging in a snow anchor, he punched through as well, but luckilly did not fall in. Anyhow, 10 feet of room between anchor and the hole will leave about 6 feet between anchor and actual crevasse wall, where it is safe for the rescuer to walk too. This is not enough room to pull someone out in a timely manner.3: Ok, we'll remedy the problem by putting more room between the climbers. Victim falls in, there is plenty of room to self arrest, anchor is built and you are ready to haul the poor sap. But the rope is far cut into the snow that the rope doesn't budge. Do you drop another line down a cleared lip to haul out? You don't have enough rope now. What if the victim is unconscious? It is a bad idea to haul a unconscious victim (possible broken neck) but you don't have enough rope to check them out, perform cpr or make them right side up. The guy is screwed. Those short ropes are pretty cool when it comes to the hike in and the climb up when things are going good. But when the sh-t hits the fan, that rope will leave you wanting and worse yet, possibly dead. Whoever considers buying these ropes should give a little more thought as to the possible consequences and the reason for carrying a rope. There are plenty of places to shave weight. For me, I'll bring the whole 50m and leave the lap top with the 24 hour cc.com display behind. be safe, be well, go big.

never tried it but here's an idea. Set up a top rope where you can walk around. Get a heavy bag (150 lbs) and attach it to the "climber" end of the top rope with the bag at the top of the climb. Go back down and teach her how to lower the bag slowly. Be positive and don't criticize at all. If the problem is she doesn't know how to lower, then she can learn with good teaching.I heard stories of the old school mountaineers learning how to hold leader fall with hip belays in a similiar manner. Should work for ya but of course skip the hip belay.

Cloudviel is jeff lowe's products and when was the last time he came out our way? I am sure that his jacket rocks in the low humidity areas like colorado. I used the MEC Pamir bib (another powershield product) and I was never wet in either the rockies or cody. But then it didn't rain and the snow usually falls of the clothing instead of sticking to everything like out here. If there is a lesson to be learned, use those schoeler stuff for good days and gore for our typical days. Isn't ice climbing all about suffering?