genepires

you could do snow routes. You could rock climb at yamnuska year round when the weather is cooperative. There is always something to do in that area.

banff is crowded but realize that the farther you hike in, the less people there. The town is a zoo. But hike in 2 hours and you will be alone. People are lazy. I don't have any experience with yoho, assiniboine, robson or the other place. Been a long time ago but I think the standard route up edith cavelle was 4th and very good. That is up by Jasper. Really, go into the bugaboos and go up something to get a great view of things. I have also gone up w ridge of pigeon spire many times. It is rated 5.4 but it feels much easier. (with rock shoes) There are optical illusions that make it look hard till you get to it. It is so Classic and a must do. Really, go do that. Stay in a hut. quite the experience. Again, do temple standard route. Beware of 4th class in non granite rockies can mean more than it rated. It can be very loose and seem hard. There is a bit of sandbagging going on if you use the "selected canadian rockies" guidebook but I think that is mostly technical stuff. To be on the safe side, I would choose routes that get done a lot to ensure that the loose-ness is minimized.

Nice writing Joe. the above could be used as a justification for hiring a guide to be ones "pilot" I really like the sign image too. Would be cool to have that on a sticker, or a t shirt or just posted at the TH to climbing areas.

WA mountaineering in the winter is a waiting game. waiting for the right conditions that may never even happen. If winter mountaineering is what you really want to do, then get some backcountry skiis and go to the sierras for better use of time. A better option though is to go to Banff and become a ice and mixed climbing master. This will make the technical parts of mountains seem so easy. You might even be able to get up some peaks if the weather and avi work out in your favor. I would prefer banff over CO and NH for total terrain. Exchange rate does not work in your favor though but that is a small price to pay. Take a avi course wherever you go.

can't pass through the rockies without a stop in the bugaboos. You can find something for your skill level there. If nothing else, go up and tromp around the glacier and see the stuff. The standard route is mt temple is a worthy day. Maybe not well known but I thought that the hike in around castle mtn (mt eisenhower) is very good. I bet you could summit it from the highest lake somehow too. This list could get very long very quick. you looking for just 4th class ground?

mt hood? heard there was something going on there lately. it all worked out well I hope.

Argue what you want about the real risk, compared risk and value of reward but the point is that everyone should not delude themselves as the risk that we take. I used to delude myself but a long time ago, my friend (thanks D) made some logical comments about the risk we take and it has stuck with me since. Just be honest with yourself and if you are strong enough, be honest with your loved ones. ANother note. It is interesting to note that there is common perception that the people who are doing the "extreme" stuff are at more risk. While I don't have hard numbers, my perception from being around the game, reading accident accounts and so forth is that the "hardcore" ones are actually safer and it is the "average" guy who bites it. (the extreme ones make the headlines and gossip but this is trivial in number to the total) I don't think this is just a larger sample size but actual chance of accident. FWIW. stay safe. think. come home. have fun.

Without the details in the stats, there might be a problem with your comparison. Given the amount of time spent driving and throwing the dice into the danger game with driving, 1 in 6500 is not much. (assumed this for a year) But 1 in 12000 for a one time pop up hood might actually work out to much more risk if that dice is thrown 365 times in the year. (means you climb hood as much as you drive) Statistics is funny that way. Just remember, how many sports publications have a regular obituary column? For a while I think it was climbing mag that a regualr obituary column, maybe not anymore. And how do ALL of those columns read? Never died in car accident except for Wolfgang.

when you are driving and eating the mcdonalds breakfast platter, trying to get the butter and syrup where it needs to be, the risk multiplies ten fold. Should really where a helmet when you are driving.

This is something that Will Gadd wrote for Explorer magazine a couple months back. Thought you all might find it helpful and informative. Can be found at his facebook page and at http://explore-mag.com/2831/adventure/the-grand-delusion We need to stop telling ourselves lies about the risks of mountain sports I recently attended a rare event: a memorial for someone who didn’t die in the mountains. This particular high-achieving friend died of alcoholism, but was his addiction really so different than my own devotion to mountain sports? He knew alcohol would kill him, but chose to drink. And I am increasingly certain that if anyone spends enough time in the mountains, he or she will die there. I often hear friends make statistically insane comments such as, “You can die on the way to the mountains just as easily as you can die in the mountains.” That statement, for the record, is a stinking pile of self-delusional excrement that does not smell any less foul with repeated exposure. The ignorance behind those words makes me seethe internally—because I once believed exactly the same thing. I do a lot of presentations about mountain sports, and sometimes share a list of dead friends to remind myself and the audience that the hidden price for the stunning photographs is all-too-regularly life itself. There are 27 names on my list. Not one of those friends died while driving to the mountains. Not one died on a commercial airline flight. To equate the risks of mountain sports to everyday activities like driving or even the chance of death from cancer is completely idiotic. Every friend on my list drove to the mountains a lot, and some even wrecked vehicles and spent time in the hospital from those crashes. But they died doing mountain sports. As the list grows longer, I have a harder and harder time understanding why I take the risks I do out there. Yes, I’m careful; yes, I use good gear; yes, I run away a lot in the face of peril—but there are always elevated dangers in sports such as climbing, whitewater kayaking and paragliding. Each friend’s death has been a crack in my mental foundation of “managed risk.” And then, two months ago, that foundation was shattered with the sound of someone’s spine breaking. I had launched my glider off Mount Lady MacDonald, north of Canmore, and was 500 feet above my friend Stewart when he plummeted into the rocks shortly after takeoff. I almost puked in the air as I watched and heard him hit. I didn’t think anyone could survive the impact he took, and the spinning fall down the scree that followed. Thanks to prompt first aid from some great people who happened to be hiking in the area, and to a helicopter rescue team from Canmore, Stewart was in a good hospital only two hours after his accident. He remains there, with hopefully temporary spinal damage. I was thrilled when I heard that he had survived—unlike the dead, he would have the opportunity to say what he needed to his friends and family. He might even recover fully. Just one week before Stewart crashed, I had the best flight of my life, straight over the iconic granite spires of the Bugaboos in southeastern B.C. Pure joy is how I’d describe that flight. But I haven’t flown since Stewart’s accident in August; the thought honestly makes me nauseous. Why? Strangely, Stewart’s survival has affected me far more than if he had died. The difference with Stewart is that I can look into his eyes and see the damage. I can talk with Stewart and see the pain he is fighting through. While I admire the hell out of his courage and commitment to fight for every millimetre of progress, I also imagine not being able to hold my own children. Stewart’s wounds don’t fade into memory the way a fatality does—it’s hard to “get over” something that’s still staring you in the face. Some of Stewart’s comments are beautiful even as they are heart-rending: “If I could just get one hand back it would make all the difference.” Some of my own anger probably comes from an ever-greater sense of mortality. I desperately love the fullness of life, and I desperately love mountain sports. I look at Stewart learning to eat again (he does have one arm back!) and feel true happiness that he is able to, but then I look at my glider in its bag and have to look away. I love sharing the mountains with people, but wonder how many of them will end up on my list. My world view is falling apart, and it’s about as comfortable as getting scalded in the shower: I want to jump away, but there’s nowhere to go. No single day in the mountains is worth dying for, so it must be the sum of the days that is worth that risk. I tell myself that, but these days I have more empathy for the religious who have lost their faith. They, too, are often angry. The psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross said there are five stages of grief. If so, I’m only on stage two, anger, and a hell of a long way from the final stage of acceptance. How will I ever “accept” this level of carnage, year after year? This article was originally published on December 5, 2011

I got a old wild things andinista that worked good for even 4 nights out with a shared light tent. After 1 night, the additional weight for more nights is not that great. I think I used it at the 4000 cubic inch volume. not much technical climbing gear though, just glacier travel crap. If you where going to add technical gear, I suspect you would need to forgo some comfort items like a normal tent and use sil tarps.

what about something in new england? or a college in calgary?

if it was the Mammut Mook boot, it would be a perfect fit for you.

Hey bonewarw, do what is called a PM and send me your phone #. Click on my name in thread (underlined) and it will get you to place to send Personal Messages. (PM's)

lets make it happen! 3 is fine.

looking for the usual 5.9 terrain at LTW to knock rust off. Can be convinced to other objectives as long as I am back in monroe by 5pm. gene

appears that Dane is feeling better? glad to hear if true.

obviously so and I don't know her personally, but it doesn't mean she would be unconcerned about her son placing cams and nuts for his life safety. Just saying. Maybe I am wrong. BTW, you sure put the bar pretty damn high for us fathers and our little kids.

If mom wasn't worried enough already, filming 10yo climbing cracks and placing trad gear at index would make mom pass out.

can we feed dog food to homeless people? I got some bags to hand out.

a hole dug in good soil is free. maybe the rest stop should come with a trail and lots of little shovels. Or a dispenser with blue bags.

sorry,not enough time to read the article. I got a crazy 4yo running around. Salewa must either sell non climbing gear or they are big in the rest of the world and not here in NA.

very nice. Can't even comprehend a 10yo doing that.

if anyone doesn't get it, if you tie knots in your rope, you had better have enough rope in the rescue coils to be able to setup the rescue. You need at a minimum, twice the amount of rope coiled over the shoulder as the length between the two climbers to build a standard 3:1 after dropping free in down. (for team of two which this is usually used for) More in rescue coils than twice between climbers is preferred though so you can build standard 6:1 or canadian drop c 6:1.

very strange as one would expect a larger company to gobble up a smaller company. Could salewa be bigger than WC? Could salewa borrow that much?