genepires

if we get more stuck cams in that pitch, it won't a gatekeeper anymore!

thanks for the TR. that looks wonderful!

R U calling me old? I thought it was really good over ten years ago. Now the anchors throw down your rope too?

sounds like a offwidth bypass variation is desired! that would be a good project.

though it feels like "crag" sometimes, it is still alpine. I would not go up there with a single rope, only doubles. Mostly based with the situation of a stuck rope on rappel, which has happened to me there. If one get stuck, I want that other line to deal with the situation, either climb up or abandon and go down. and my perfect rope choice would be 50m doubles, but those are hard to find without cutting.

willing to bet that our country had plenty of problems back then that they might not have called themselves "great". If anything, we are prolly as great now as we were back then, if not more great, depending on the metric. How do we define "great"? Judging by the photo, I would say the ability to work together towards a common goal but if that means having tens of thousands of soldiers dieing, I am ok with not being great.

which road are you taking to get to banff? depending on your way to banff, you may be able to get in a route on Mt Gimli. awesome and prolly one of my favorite alpine rock climbs ever. but that would require coming up through idaho. theoretically, one could do a day trip in buagboos if the objective was right above applebee dome area. when climbing rock in banff, stay on quartzite (sentinel and castle mtn) and granite if possible. but you prolly know that already.

is it a tent or a beach ball? maybe a human hamster globe

looking back at my own personal "Accidents in Gene's north america Mountaineering", over half of times when someone in my group has been injured, it has been coming down talus slopes. Two of them was the descent down from the rambles. Luckily none of them involved a head injury but that was due to dumb luck. wearing a helmet on descents would be a pretty good idea. But then I would be confused with the Mountaineers groups, right? Maybe they are on to something or maybe I am just getting old.

+1 to what DPS says one way to think about is that there is no rescue if both climbers are in the hole. Done a lot of practice with self rescue and I can tell you that even when people know it is coming, many people fail at the self arrest when significant forces are pulling. Especially when people are tieing in close together (like 25 ft) there is very little room for getting into a good stance on the ground and hold the weight. now bring in reality which is that the bridges will most likely fail in the afternoon and therefore the climbers are prolly tired and not very well focused. then your chances of getting it right are even less. For a team of two, you really need all the tricks (like the butterfly knots) to keep you both above grade level.

Is this from a patagonia catalog? new line of expensive leather smocks?

even if you could rent a harness (guide services do but usually for their guests), a alpine bod harness from black diamond is pretty cheap. $35. you would probably spend more on rental fees for a 3 days trip than buying one new. If you ask around enough, someone could probably give you their old retired half rope and then cut it down (getting rid of any bad spots)to the size you want. Now the size of your glacier rope is another discussion altogether.

same thing happened to a woman on aasgard pass. maybe 10 years ago? I think I know the exact spot where both would have died. right in the fall line (of course) and could happen to most people if unlucky enough to be out of control. or in control for that matter.

I used to have a flash pack but am not fond of the mesh shoulder straps. maybe they are different now.

Fred B documentary teaser http://unofficialnetworks.com/2016/05/new-documentary-teaser-about-the-original-dirtbag-climber-dirtbag-the-legend-of-fred-beckey

sounds like it was either on the last pitch of R&D or on Bob wall.

thanks! that is good to know. We were not contacted by anyone while in the area. that place deserves the traffic it once had.

I used to go out to this rock often in the 90's and easrly 2000's. I remember someone starting to build but I thought it was back a little ways. went out there for the first time in a long long time and now there is a house built directly behind the boulder. the access trail is all grown over and the base vegetation is reclaiming. Obviously the traffic to this rock has been cut way down. I was told when I first went out there that a doctor had bought the land which the boulder sits on and allowed climbers access to it. That was the reason why we could walk past the no trespass signs. or so I thought. or at least the story I would tell a angry land owner. Does anyone know the access status of this rock? We climbed there (kinda gritty now) but kept it low key. I suspect that I know the answer but don't want to admit it cause I love that rock.

saw the sheriff's tape across snow creek parking lot this sunday. looks like someone fell on orbit 2nd pitch and broke something. http://www.co.chelan.wa.us/sheriff/news/16c04672-injured-climber-snow-creek-wall

or colchuck glacier route. gotta real purdy right now. bit farther drive and hike in, but make your time worth it.

I know you don't want to drive far but I think the best and most accessible day trip snow climbing may be washington pass. You could hike up from the hairpin and go up to south early winter spire. and if things are goin well, do that coulour route up s early. get practice and a summit to boot. or just pick a snow line from the parking lot and head up. or go to the base of n face of burgundy. so much to do out there right now, on either side of the road. for all snow climbs right now, get a early start and stay off south facing routes late in the day. think point release slow yet big and sloppy slides.

Plenty of ways to skin the perviable cat. Plenty of pluses and minuses of using both webbing or rope for anchors. No reason to get all hot and mighty with your opinion.

If I even manage to rock climb again, I want Wayne to belay me. That is some great belay technique and analysis. I don't think most belayers would have the wherewithal to know to jump down to remove enough slack. Old school knowledge.

sounds like you need to add a few things which is pretty easy to find cheap except for the boots. -good boots with small gaiters. not the large Outdoor research kind. -knit hat -thin glove liners and maybe add a mitten shell over that -thin schoeller pants. think used at second hand sports or on the used gear forum here -nylon windpants. the real expense will come when you need to acquire the climbing gear like crampons, axe, harness and so forth.

Seems like a good home would be some college climbing club or their recreation center. WWU had one such thing. UW must have one. RAd works at the UW. Why not just leave it with the vertical world or other such gym? Brandon workman is opening up a new gym in skagit county and could maybe use some lounge reading material. He has some weird login name that I forget but rad knows him.