genepires

Hey all, just got back from the cody ice festival. Rumor had it that there was a couple of other washingtonians there but where elusive. Anyhow, conditions there where not as good as usual but still much better than anything near here. Any washington ice climber, with our desperate scratching skills on meager ice, will find even bad conditions plenty fat. (fat is relative term) There are lots of 6 pitch lines on both sides of the valley. Pick your pleasure, sunny plastic stuff or cold solid reliable stuff. Never a avi hazard as low snowfall is a standard thing there. Be ready to rap off single bolts though. We climbed every day there with reasonable approaches across classic cowboy terrain. Found a old horse skull and some body parts from a grizzly feast. The fellow who puts the event on (don foote) is a great resource for routes, especially since the locals are a bit tight lipped about their routes. Making your first trip to cody during the festival is a pretty good thing. When I go back, it might not be during the festival though. Any other weekend and the whole valley will probably be all yours. During the festival, there was only about 30 people there. Only one day did we share our route with someone else and they were very cool people. Anyway, if you get the chance to go to cody, I highly recomend it. (next year though, I think the season will be over soon unless it gets cold)

About 5 years ago I was doing the rmi try-out up at paradise. Did the drive up there in tevas. Went out to get all dressed up and found that I had everything needed except for socks, gaiters, axe and poles. Since the try out is an elimination process, guess who was the first knuckle head to be dropped. Looking at in hindsight, it was a very good thing.Last year at red rocks, three of us showed up to dark shadows with only one 8mm static rap line. Ooops.Looking at these posts, it seems we should all keep spare boots and harness in the first aid kit. [ 02-21-2002: Message edited by: genepires ]

Check out ruth mountain for march. It might involve a bit of skiing to get to the trailhead but it is very flat. Ruth definately has good views of shuksan.

Dude that is so painfull. Giving us that photo and not giving a clue were it is. Is this some kind of test to see how smart us yanks are? My guess is it on Nesakwatch spire. The rock face is textured like that stuff near rexford. Please send me PM if I am right. I promise not to "scoop" your ascent. (not like I could climb that hard) Bravo and cheers

Beta? Prepare to suffer. You probably got 3 hours of daylight. If you do it, you will be the MAN!

Pan dome is very close to chair #1 just past the mid station and to the right. It is a long climb, about 50 meters. One can walk around to the climbers right and traverse the cliff to get to the top. A short rappel is needed to get to the tree anchors. (tons of various slings) Obviously two ropes are needed to TR this one unless you want to keep the belayer at the top. (an uncomfortable duty) Beware of the snow conditions on this traverse as it is a classic avalanche ready to happen. The ski area does NOT control this area even though it is in the ski area. There was someone leading it this weekend so maybe the crap snow/ice is hacked off. It is a serious affair due to the unusual nature of the ice on pandome. Go have fun - gene

There is also another problem with the question. Even though the winds have come from the sw/w that doesn't imply that all slopes with that aspect are wind scoured. It might apply to big mountains like the volcanoes but the wind gets all twisted around in the lower peaks. There very well could be loaded slopes with a sw/w aspect. It is something that you will have to determine at the scene. But hedge your bets and stay on ridges with south and west exposures and you MIGHT be ok. Go have fun.

Thanks for the opinion on conditions there but the tickets are bought and reservations made so we will have to see what we can do there. In the over used wording of our day "god bless cody and let us pray for cold" At least I'll be with good friends and lots of free beer at the festival. yum-yum.

I haven't had the oppertunity to use them ice climbing yet but they hike well. The arches are a bit higher than others maybe for rock/ice climbing? I put in an insert to remove some of the arch.

quote: Originally posted by Richard Pumpington: Um, gaitors. Maybe you haven't used a pair of inverno but the problem goes below the area covered by gaitors. Water seeps in and under entire length of the tongue, well past the gaiter region, unless it is a super gaiter.

dave! is that you?

Depends on what month you are going. With the ruth being at 5000 ft one can get away with less than other areas in that range. No need for a serious feathered friends coat especially in late may and june. April of course will be colder and may need a down jacket. Late may/june a synthetic jacket would make more sense as it may rain more than snow cause of the low elevation. what time are you going cause I might be there with ya. drop me a line.genepires@hotmail.com

To figure out if the icicle is ok, unless someone has been there, is go find soome telemetry weather history for leavenworth and see if it has been cold for long enough. 9 days ago it was raining in leavenworth so the question is has it been cold enough to reform everything. I can help you with snoq. though. I made a report earlier about ice there in this site. Many of the ice there is short and tr-able.

Went up to snoqualmie pass a couple of days ago. -Kidd falls was in but mostly snow covered. Only about 20 feet of bubbly ice exposed.-name unknown but the creek that drains off source lake and down the valley. Heard it was good but it is now very wet and mostly covered in snow too. Anyone know the name?-Source Lake Line looks to be in very good shape if you are willing to make the hard slog up the hill to get there. Solid looking and blue, maybe 2 pitches. There looks to be a more moderate line to it's left. More steps and snow covered ledges.-bryant buttress has two short climbs in descent shape. There are two bad ass ice spears coming off a big overhang. Looks like they never touch the ground, falling off before it can touch down. If a rope was anchored from the top and the icicle could "grow" down the rope, we would have a little vail of our own here. Having said all this, especially with the snow falling, it is bit of a grunt to get to some of these places as the snow was fluffy and deep. I was sinking up to the knees even with descent size snowshoes. Also of course, watch avi cond. if you go to the climbs above sourse lake. [ 01-31-2002: Message edited by: genepires ]

I've heard somewhere (probably a gear manufacturer) that nylon degrades with time a given percent of it's strength. (something like 10%, even when in the perfect storage like you mentioned) Given that, after 3 years it would lose about 27% of its strength. (The math is too complicated to describe why it is not 30%)I've got webbing sitting in the closet too and I have no worries about it. But I would guess that 5 years is too long as some doubt begins to surface which is to much doubt. For protection, inspection is needed periodically. Taking a big whipper is not grounds for retiring pro. If so we would have to replace bolts often. One time at band camp, someone else found a large crack in one of my camalots. Luckily, I only got a dose of embarrasment instead of hitting the deck with pro failure. I usually check the gear once a season for obvious cracks.

wild things ice sack. It is a super versatile pack with only the important stuff and no b.s. gadgets. Bit more expensive (maybe $180) than others mentioned but will last a long time and get you through almost any kind of climbing trip. But serrarus makes great stuff too.

try doing some slot canyon descents in zion or other areas. I don't want to give one area in mind away as it is still pristine. But zion has lots of good slots to go down for a different kind of experience that is kind of like climbing. Sorry, very little free climbing to be had there unless you are 5.11 ready. Heck, red rocks is close though. Endless fuun routes there. Let me know if you want beta for red rocks.

It is raining at 8 miles east of the pass and very little ice in sight. None worth climbing only putting into drinks. If you think I am full of shite and "hoggin" the ice go look for yourself.

Oh Matt the pessimist, The reports of there being no ice might in fact be good people just trying to save you the drive. You give climbers too much credit with trying to mislead fellow citizens. (save that for politicians) The reason why we have time to write here is because of being shut down from ice climbing. The time to look for ice is when there is lack of people reporting bad conditions, cause we are out hacking it up for ourselves. (like have you heard any bad reports except from rat lately?) I am heading out tomorrow and will report if it bad. If not, then get out.

Off the main thread but along the new trend for good authors. Geoff Childs has a great book called Stone Palaces. Funny and introspective. It is the library system. I am sure to get slammed for liking this guy's book. Go ahead and slam me.

There must be favorable wind patterns up north because I have found many balloons on the north side of mt baker, especially late in the year when the snow is gone. One summer I found about 15 over a 2 month period. With the prevailing winds, the balloons would blow from mt vernon and everett up the side of the mtn and pop the balloons due to increased relative pressure. This leaves them on the south side. How do they get on the north side then?

Myrazime can be found in dive shops as people use it to clean wetsuits that have the nasty funk. Kills all bacteria that live deep inside neoprene and stuff like it. Works on funky tevas too. Should do wonders for your tent.

I've been using metolious small cams for 10 years and they take a beating. I've seen a alien cam unit's sleeve blow apart while aiding which makes the whole unit inoperable. The sleeve doesn't seem very durable. It depends on what type of rock you climb whether the head width makes any difference. In squamish granite, I have never needed a small width cam. For larger cams I've been using bd cams but in retrospect I would probably get metol. cams through all the sizes. (or some other durable lightweight cam like tech friends) For the same weight, you could get a couple of extra pieces by buying lighter cams.

I agree with the prior fellow, ushba ascender is the best because there is no teeth biting into the rope but rather a pinching of the rope. Flows really nice and bites down great. The problem with regular ascenders is that the teeth bite into the sheath which hold you. (not the core of the rope) If you take even a small fall (say 2 feet which could happen if the setup is sloppy) the teeth bite into the rope and tear the sheath. Then the teeth bite into the core which doesn't handle sharp things well. Stay away from devices that have teeth and use a device that pinches the rope like a belay device does.

Cool topic dude, About using a plate system with plastic boots. The boots used for plate bindings have very little flex when leaning backwards. This translates power on a heal turn. Most plastic boots allow some back leaning which will give you less power on a heal turn. Hard boots are more like ski boots. I have been doing backcountry for many years now, mainly near baker but now around snoqualmie. I've been using the regular snowshoe setup nut got a split board a couple of years ago and really enjoy it. If you got the cash, go that way. Otherwise, a regular board will work. Irregardless of the board you get, get a good board carrying pack. I've carried the split board when the snow is hard. Avi gear of course too.One thing to think about, When using my leather mountaineering boots, I have found that the highbacks are higher than the boots. (unlike regular board boots) That gap between the low boot and the higher highback causes some pain in those long runs. Koflach used to make a backcountry boot that was very high with a rigid full shank sole. Check them out if they still make it. Would be great for mountainerring too.Drop me a line if you are looking for backcountry partners. genepires@hotmail.com