genepires

I have done lots of placing and pulling on pickets in the cascades summer snow. Pulled many a man and woman out of slots here. IMO, the 18" picket is very adequate for crevase rescue. You will have two of these 18" pickets equalized for the anchor I assume. 2 of these 18" pickets equalized is stronger than one 3' picket alone, as there is more snow holding the picket in place. (buried deadman style) The snow that holds the deadman is not only the snow directly in front but a bit to the sides as well. For fun (???) we bury various crazy things and see if we can yank it out. Even with three big guys and a static cord we couldn't get Nalgenes and softball sized rocks out of GOOD HARD snow. So if these things will work, why not a short picket? For summer use, cut one 3' picket up and save the other 3' for crazy winter use.

Last time I was in there, Second Bounce didn't sell all kinds of used climbing gear. They are selective about the used climbing gear they will sell. They won't sell used rock pro, harnesses or even aiders & daisies. Second bounce is subject to the same litigation that other retail stores are. Retailers would get hit if a law suit was to happen. Look at previous cases, such as the big Chouinard lawsuit. Accident happens (lets assume gear failure) and the estate forms a suit. The lawyers go against everyone they can find with any possible connection. If a store has a policy that they accept used gear, then they are automatically forced to prove that the gear that failed wasn't tampered with by a previous owner. That is the damn society we live in, which works for the most part. I used to work in a small climbing retail store part time. We took back things like axes and crampons and such. But we didn't know what we were doing anyway.

at first thought, I was thinking that a fixed line above to back up your newbee friend might be a good idea. The thought of having a less experienced person catch a fall sends shivers. But we all started out not knowing crap right? Plus, I assume there is a message you want to give to your friend that you trust their abilities. If I was in your rock shoes, I would have another person backup your bud by holding the brake line incase your new belayer botches it up. That way you can go higher for a less stressful and jarring fall. Anyway: classic crack in l-worth. clean fall but hard for your friend clamshell cave. one of the 5.7's octupus's garden in squish. not as steep but ok fall I believe all of the smoke bluffs. sure you will find whatever there indoor rock gym. steep and clean and easy and dry to boot good luck.

I got a pair a couple of years ago. Pretty nice pair of pants at a good price. Wore them everyday in AK. Some people won't like to side zipper cause it is not easy to take the pants off without taking the boots off but venting is much easier without the zipper going all the way up. I haven't used AT boots with them but I think they will fit over. Taking a crap wearing it is not as easy as other pants (no rainbow or butt crack zipper) but how often do we need to crap with the pants on anyway? Definately get the suspenders with them.

A lot of comments to the affect that few people have experienced rope burn, except for the previous post. People have held 60 footers. How many people have held a fall factor 1 or more? Not me. Pluggin in the numbers in the petzl fall simulator shows that there are lots of slippage in fall factor 1 or more when held with a slot device. Catching a BIG fall (fall factor 1) with all this slippage would be very difficult. If the slippage burns the hand, who can say they would not let go? Gloves sure would mitigate this hazard. If you are looking at climbs with big fall poteintail, using gloves while belaying would be a good idea. For this situation, you might want to anchor the belayer down as well. That said, I have never used belay gloves while craggin (except for red rocks with all the prickly desert shwacking) but might consider getting a cheap pair.

Be extremely aware of the avi hazard at the ice caves. Avi's are the reason there is ice there at all. With all the recent snow and fluctuating freezing levels, there is a good chance a big fatty will crush you and your partner. With that said, have fun!

Lots of good friends came by for a birthday party for the little woman. Then some stayed the night and hung out today while the rain dumped outside. Then had the pleasure to deal with offers to buy a house.

Wondering if anyone ever had a wierd chemical reaction with cytomax like I did this summer. I was loading up my dromedary bag with glacier water and regular amounts of cytomax. The grains of cytomax didn't dissolve but absorbed water and became little mushy balls about the size of a grain of rice. The entire dromedary was full of these granules and tasted real bland. (had to try of course which probably wasn't a smart thing to do) I have used aquamira in this bladder many times before but the bladder was rinsed out before. Could chlorine dioxide (or the phosphoric acid) be leaching out of the dromedary? Could residual chlorine dioxide (or the phosphoric acid) be reacting with cytomax to prevent it from dissolving? Maybe the water was too cold for dissolving?

Real ironic that you, cavey, call berdinka a "pussy". Both Leahy and Berdinka both use their real names in the posts yet you HIDE behind your "Cpt Caveman" shield of anonymity. IMO, you are the "pussy". Now go ahead and threaten me too. I wonder how long it will take for you to reply.

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.