genepires

I think the standard option for fisher chimneys is to camp at lake anne and do the entire climb from there. this has the first day being rather short and the second day very long and increases the need to camp at lake anne for another night. another option is for the first day to keep going past lake anne and climb up the chimneys with light bivy gear. climb up to just below the winnies slide where there are small sleeping bag bivy sites up against a cliff. this makes the second day shorter. The bigger benefit is that the views are stunning and you get to enjoy them for a long time, not just a glimpse as you hustle up and down. Sometimes BE-ing there is much better than scurrying through.

my old wildthings rock sack could be hauled a bit and be fine with it. it has some sewn loops for making a 4 point haul point like haul bags have. very durable material. not sure if they still mnake it that way. Dane had some posting on his blog about something you are asking about. I think it was something custom made from CCW? (cold cold world packs...possibly ozone?)

looks good!

to many people are dieing when I am starting to learn these lines from Ivan's posting. stay safe brothers.

damn that is a skinny scary looking pillar!

damn it. another great one lost. damn it.

I could speed solo the chief faster. but it would be via the trail up the backside.

Layton was talking about that thing way back when he lived in the 'ham. also just a passing comment in "rumors" section of the WA ice guidebook.

heard something in the grapevine about the ski patrollers no longer allowing the walk around to get to the top to set up a TR. Sack up for the lead! not that the walk around did not require some sacking up also.

yes, you are correct mark. I woke up in a cold sweat last night thinking that I mixed up the E and W. then I said "meh!" and went back to sleep. Eat or west, it is up that counts eh? real men descend the hard way. I have been known to climb the west butt and rappel the cassin.

what they said above I took nepal extremes one time and it had super gaiters on. was good for most of it but I wished I had some warmer plastics on a couple of days, one being on minimoonflower. You don't have to stay in the TIA if the zoo and noise bothers you. go uphill till you feel comfortable but be aware of the hanging terrain above that exists beyond the control tower. (that is the small rocky pk /knob with in the middle of the valley. bring floatation of some kind. honestly. Anything off the highway is deep and gets deeper as the season progresses. know your crevasse rescue. for reals. that is the one place that you will need it. the snow is weird. it is alaska. it keeps you on your toes. It wants to kill you. Beware of crevasses on ridges. I punched through into 4 in francis alone. it is alaska. it keeps you on your toes. It wants to kill you. avalanches. came close a couple times on those lower moderate routes. made the entire summit platform "settle" on the control tower. same thing happens on ridges too. it is alaska. it keeps you on your toes. it wants to kill you. take the time to plan your food and buy good food. It matters after a while. plan your ascent without regard to normal climbing times. By that I mean many things 1. if it is warm, climb it at night which is really twilight at worst 2. if it is chilly, climb it during the day 3. if it is really f'in cold, snowing hard or has recently snowed hard, stay in your tent or cook tent and get fat. 4. things take longer than you think so plan accordingly. if you want to climb the east ridge of francis, I suggest climbing the west ridge first so that you know the descent. call it acclimitizing if you need to. climb the control tower to get a feel for AK climbing before getting on bigger things. maybe even right after you get off the plane if the thought of wasting time bothers you. if the forecast is bad for your flight out day, consider getting out early. You may end up being stuck there for a long time as storms can linger longer than forecasts call for. Some flight services give priority to their cash cows, the guide services. You won't starve though. plenty of people will unload their food if you need. have a cheap cook tent. megamid is fine. good luck. share photos.

they say the most dangerous part is the descent. we all need reminders that it includes the part all the way to the parking lot. awesome job getting up that thing.

will draw it out on paper later for ya buddy.

a triangle is formed (by the poles for all angle of slopes) in which the bisector of the top angle forms and angle equal to the slope angle. Lets call that angle Z. using the sine rule, sin (Z) = (length of snow slope from two pole interactions with snow/2) / length of pole. to simplify, lets call it sin (z) = length between baskets / 2 ski pole lengths. to simplify it more, length between basket = sin(Z) * 2 ski pole lenghts This a labeled version of the sin Z = opposite / hypotenuse. from this you can put in the length of pole and then plug in z=30, z=33, z=35, ect. to find if that trend is there for your pole length and also if it follows for angles over 45 degrees. (I don't have a good calculator with me now) I suspect that it will not as the trig is not a linear function. Right around 45 degrees it is somewhat linear so the idea that it will change a fixed amount over a fixed degree change is expected. the short of the long is that if you are anal about numbers, the idea of a constant degree change over a fixed length change is false. but good enough for having "phun" work. also, it depends on the pole length too. also depends on ball sack size.

when the slope is 30 degrees, a equilateral triangle is made and the angles inside the equilateral triangle are 60 degrees. when compared to the horizon (angle of slope in question measured from the horizon) , the pole always creates a 90 degree angle with the 30 degree for slope and the 60 degree inside triangle.

not sure if you call it crags, but I am fond of the entire squire creek area. clear creek area as well. Once again with the "crag status", but Washington Pass always held a strong alpine cragging position for me. Not in WA, but real close and reasonable for washington climbers, Squamish is the best cragging area within access to people from washington. Especially for bellinghamites. Index would rule for me if I could climb 5.10's there.

many critters have built in crampons. maybe real critter style would have boots with retractable points.

speaking of "having a full rack" http://www.outdoorresearch.com/blog/stories/how-to-tell-if-your-girlfriend-is-a-climber?utm_medium=Social-post&utm_campaign=FB+How+to+tell+girlfriend+climber&utm_source=Facebook I bet Anastasia clocks in at 14 out of 14 points.

points pointing away from each other, straps wrapped around the bundle, then shove it between the pack and my back. thats how I roll, all hardcore n shite. pain is weakness leaving the body....and the metal jammin in my spine.

with the view from my sofa, given the lack of snow in the last week, I would not have thought we had much hazard. I would be very wrong. http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20140120/NEWS01/140129896/Mukilteo-climber-dies-on-Lewis-Peak don't make any mistakes out there.

conrad kain. old school badass. alpenstock and fancy hat

is this a eye 2 eye? or is it a aye to aye?

please explain how fall restraint is used with friction hitches. Are you talking about ascending fixed lines like above the 14K camp on denali west ridge route? the usual reasons for using friction hitches of any kind are for ascending ropes (crevasse rescue and in high angle rock climbing), rappel backups and to prevent slips on medium angle ground form becoming real falls (fixed lines in mountains). All of these are easily done with the standard old fashioned regular prussik hithces using small loops of cord. No need to make this more complicated than it needs to be.

sounds like you are asking about skinning more than downhill. more like XC skiing but with the BC ski gear on. Wouldn't any old logging road do?

gigi instructions are here http://www.kong.it/doc412.htm I tried the belay a leader technique once. once. it is basically setup for a rappel but was a real bear to pay out rope. maybe I did something wrong but I would rather use a munter hitch if I did not have another tubular belay device.