genepires

actually, it is possible to have a fall factor greater than 2. We have our not-so-smart leader way out there (30 feet) with no gear in. He/she falls and the eager belayer starts realing in the slack. Lets say the belayer bring in 9 feet of slack. Yeah it is alot but for this example lets just beleive this is true, OK? Now look at the equation for fall factor. length fallen = 30+(30-9)=51 feet. length of rope out = 21 feet FF=51/21=2.43 There is your FF>2

N face of maude should be fairly mellow for a winter ascent.

canada has always been very friendly to me. Witness the niceness in the bluffs in squamish on a weekend. Lots of cool people in skaha as well. Same goes for the bugs. In fact the only ass I have ever dealt with in canada was a yank. City of Rocks. Tons of cool people. Is it the mormon influence? Is it the fact there are no real "locals"? Maybe just mellow magic eminating from the weird blobs of granite. Whatever the case, bunch of cool people there.

I have been using one for the last 4 years and have been very happy with it. They are a bit heavy but that may just be because I have a different binding than what you are thinking of. (mine has a large metal plate that the regular binding fits on top of) Some things that suck: -following a ski track is not easy as your track is way larger than the skiers. Like breaking trail all the time, unless there is a fellow splitter in your group. -traversing tracks is hard -time it takes to convert between uphill and downhill modes. Makes rolling ridges and the like very annoying. Flats between steeps too. things that rock: -going downhill!!!!!!!!!!(makes it all worhtwhile) All in all, times are very fun. But you have to think a little more about where you can go, topography-wise. Need to avoid rolling terrain, avoid traverses and find consistent slopes to ride down. As far as comparing it to burtons board, I would rather use the voile as I think it is more field repairable. Lots of small parts for the burton. Send me a message if you are interested in doing some back country this season. [ 11-19-2002, 08:23 AM: Message edited by: genepires ]

I thought it was always a good idea to back clean fixed body weight only gear. They won't hold your fall and then once they rip out, you have to replace them on way back up again. (which you may not have any of those if you planned on using fixed gear) Just take the fall on the last peice of good gear.

I used a NF ve-25 last year and it was pretty good. I am not a big fan of anything north face but this is a good tent. I am a big fan of single wall tents but there are advantages of two walled tents over single wall tents. My favorite double wall tent ever though is the wild country / terra nova tents. These are made in britian and have no b.s. in the design. Lots of guy lines in all the right places. Simple vestiblue design. If you can find one, I highly suggest their expedition model. I had one on acconcagua and it withstood many hard windstorms.

You could try to use smaller bottle and keep it in your jacket. Many jackets have a inside mesh pocket for bottles. I have used small plastic whiskey bottles for storing bottles in the jacket and not feel so bulky. I have met some people who made a camelback system work well inside of their jacket. He made straps to hold the bag on the chest and cut the hose so that it he could drink from it but still be able to store it inside his jacket. If the weight is not so much of an issue, then thermos are great. What could be better than cocoa? (hear comes the HC comments) Also, most camelback packs (as well as other companies products) have insulated carriers that might work for you.

A orthopedic doctor once told me that most knee problems come about from a muscle imbalance. So your balanced excercise program is a good base. He recommended that to balance the muscles, do leg extensions but only the last 45 degrees till full extension. He said not to do the extension from a 90 to 45 degree bend, only the last 45 degrees. From my experience, superfeet help with the knees as well. Something about the way the arch is suported. Mixed reviews about those supplements like glucosamine and the like. But common sense says keep the knees lubricated by staying very hydrated during all parts of your climbing trips. Americans tend to be dehydrated during the week as well which can't help, so try to stay hydrated during the week too. Lastly, four words. ski poles & light packs.

Have you ever published a book before lambone? Give them a break if it takes this long. Why don't you try to gather all of the info and put a book together. It is way too much work for sloths like me to do. [ 10-14-2002, 05:26 PM: Message edited by: genepires ]

Alex has got it, later half of february and early march. Watch out for spring break tiem as it turns into a zoo up there. If I remember right, mid to late march is spring break all across the northern US. You can still go in any other month in the winter and get the same amount of climbing in though, just use your headlamp a little bit more. Jo-Jo's (joe josesphon sp??) book is the only good ice climbing book available, with a new update a couple of years ago. Enjoy the best ice climbing in NA. Hopefully we will meet up there.

Got some misc. gear for sale. Leave me a PM if you are interested and we can meet sometime. I live near monroe. (bunch of ice gear sold already) three section BD expedition pole (about 3 years old) $25 zoom headlamp with three square batteries and a AA battery converter $22 lost arrow pitons (various sizes) $6 each whisperlight stove with fuel bottle, pump, old cook pot $50 aider pair $19 adjustable daisy by pika $9 marmot parbot down parka, size medium but fits large $190 marmot spring glove $30 rock wren sleeping bag $190 alpha plastic boot size 10.5 $200 thunderlight goretex jacket large $190 MEC fleece jacket XL $40 PM me if you are interested for prices. Please be in the seattle area (within 100 miles is fine)as I don't want to sell these things by mail. [ 10-16-2002, 09:06 AM: Message edited by: genepires ]

Black Diamond make a even smaller headlamp now called the Ion. Saw a guy on rainier with it on. One ounce. With two LED bulbs, kinda looks like a little demon on your forehead. Bad thing (maybe not) is that it runs on a 6 volt small round battery. How easy is it to find these? Supposed to run for 14 hours on this battery.

nice one alex!

anybody know what the three other routes are like around the west buttress? There is one to the left of dark rythm and at least two to the right of the buttress. Matt Perkins? Is it time to release the good news of these routes? Thanks to you and your good friends for all the hard work up there.

oh yeah, There wasn't any food available on the vacas side. That was in '97 so things may have changed.

Which route are you doing? There are big differences between the standard route and the vacas side. Less of a zoo scene on vacas side. It is longer though but more scenic. You really have to try to stay hydrated there. Water is not as available there. The air is drier and it is easy to unknowingly dehydrate yourself. Commit yourself to 3 to 4 liters a day. We used Fernando Grajales for getting us from the airport, through the borders (with bribes), to the trail and then up with the mules. He has been doing it for a long time and treated us well. tip for the mule teams. On the Vacas side, there are about three river crossings to do. They don't have to give you rides across the rivers on the mules. You can try to wade them but they are deep. For a couple cartons of smokes and about $10, they will let you ride the mules across. Worth it. They will wait at the crossings for you, especially if they think you will pay them, so let them know early. You might want to check up with some local to find out what they want for the ride. There is a guide book for aconcogua that has names and phone numbers for mule services. Read it and beleive it. When I was there, three people died, four other people got edema, and after we left, a team of 6 got crushed. The making of a krakuer (sp?) novel. It looks like a choss pile (cause it is) but it kills every year. It is easy to go to fast. Altitude illness is very common there.

I was there about 4 weeks ago and I was glad to have a axe. We used running shoes though. The glacier was icy and I can't imagine it would be any better now. A slip on that stuff would slide you into oblivion. Plus there are areas broken up so that you must climb up and over ice blocks. The snow patch at the bivy site was small an very likely to be gone by now. Don't try the crossover peak descent. Maybe in a couple of years when there is a small trail started. Easier to park a car in slesse creak Enjoy.

FYI for anybody heading out that way. It rained hard on sunday and monday. We did it 2 days after the rain and there is still run off on the first 2 and the fourth pitches. Those pitches are natural water courses. Probably wouldn't be such a good route right after a rain storm as there are forests that will drain water for quite a while. (Unless you enjoy wet 5.6 moves, you alpine hardmen)

The weather should be fine in early sept so don't let that hold you back. Some of my faves have already been noted but I will cast my vote for them again cause they're good and you and your gal should like it. edith cavel e ridge athabasca silverhorn (stay off of a skyladder due to rockfall on route and a canadian complex descent) sw ridge of pinnacle peak (tough up the scree field but fun to ski down) grand sentinel (this year there was a resident griz up in the valley so you have to go up in groups so may be hard to get a early start. But you can it rocks) mt fay north face ice (is she into it? good time with a hut) yamnuska - south facing good warm climbing. Nice approach too. Leave plenty of time for descent. Be wary of routes in selected alpine guide. (sandbags) Bow valley rock is accurate but still canadian so expect long days for all trips. Take rest days. Have fun. gene p

go smaller. wild things rock sack. (add homemade axe holders)

Just did the route a couple of days ago and could add a few bits to help anyone going out that way. If you do the pocket glacier to get to the bypass of the lowest pitches, either cross to the right side either mid way up the glacier (that is what we did and involves touchy scrambling up debris on the right side) or stay on the left side and go to the top of the glacier then cross to the right in a big crevase (collapsed bridge with the possibility of falling in deeper?). Either way there was some fixed lines that you can batman up to get to the ramp. It is helpfull because the glacier doesn't make it easy to get to the 4th class ramp. Once on the route, follow your nose and do what seems right. As long as you are on route, there are some good pitches and some rock that doesn't look solid but stays put. Some pitches are short so we linked much together by accident. There was still a couple of snow patches in the bivy area which looks like a killer place to crash. Didn't get to witness the granly little rodents though. Snow patch on the summit too, but you don't have to climb through it. Water is not much of a problem for the next week or so. Descent: We tried the crossover peak descent but it is pretty confusing. The guide says you need time and energy. 3 hours of daylight is not enough time. It is a big confusing summit and it takes a while to get off of it. (sorta like stuart) IMHO, take two vehicles and go down to slesse creek trailhead. Be ready for a trail that goes straight down the hill. Steep, never a switchback and very dry. Amazing that anyone goes up the trail. It is built by climbers dreaming of beer in town and want it a soon as possible. Classic canadian adventure.

There is a register on top of whistler peak in the washington pass area. (next to cuthroat peak) There were entries from the 80's in it. With about 4 entries per year. Not bad for being so close to a well tromped alpine playground. Oh that's right, the rock sucks.

Four aider system? I think the idea is to use only two aiders and a adj. daisy. According to their instructions, you keep your feet in the aiders all the time. Sequence as follows: clip 2 biners into new piece, clip daisy into biner, clip one aider into other biner then clip other aider as well. This system was meant for wankers like me who only climb A1.

How could the rock NOT be better. Done both and like them both contrary to others opinions. I think the rock is pretty good on backbone. The crux pitch needs large cams and can be slid as you go up. Cheating? Probably. Started out sliding a #4 camalot up, then some kind of nut half way up, then slidding up the big daddy #5 camalot to the top of the pitch. Expect a long day as when you think you are near the top, there is another 3-4 pitches left. Enjoy. BTW - the route finding on the fin is hard. I climbed some crack with periodic grass clumps to stand on. Send mike layton a message as he has done it a couple of weeks ago.

Oh the dogs who shit everywere, pee everywere, roll rocks, are loud, step on my rope, distract belayers and are a plain pain in the ass. Sounds like alot of the climbers out there. For all the "problems" dogs may have caused me over the years, climbers have been twice so. Don't even ask me how many times I have found a turd and tp underneath a rock. Just last week I saw some dumbass shit on the glacier in the bugaboos and then cover it with a rock. People shit everywhere. People drop rocks on other people. Some people are loud, rude and annoying. (of course none are cc.comers) All of the characteristics of dogs that this thread has been busting on exists in the general climbing population and we all just suck up and accept bad people behavior. There are "bad dogs" and there are "bad climbers". I wish I could scold the bad climbers like I can my dog. Maybe if all you people critical of bad dogs would be critical of "bad climbers", vantage would be a place worth going to. Might even bring my dog since there wouldn't be any bad habits to pick up. [ 08-03-2002, 07:45 AM: Message edited by: genepires ]