genepires

Don't feed the JH with the negative energy. It makes his head bigger. I am curious about your opinion though. Is it that it has 4 cams instead of 3 that makes it harder to place? head width? Or is there some other aspect?

ditto what rocky joe says. My comments were based on the highly probable fact that you will eventually start cragging more than mountaineering. for easy technical alpine routes, the really small cams might be excess. granted they are very light excess weight. I usually bring along a set of #1 to #6 tcu/fcu and a #2 camalot. maybe a #3 camalot if needed. The core of my alpine rack is the nuts, tricams and hexes though. There has been quite a few used cams available on the yard sale lately.

stuff can be made in china and be of quality if the company requires it and pays for it. But most of the companies don't want to pay, hence the crappiness of many things from china. I believe that BD is requiring and paying for quality. I would choose a set of cams that is very common around where you climb. Chances are you will be combining your rack with your partners so for the sake of familiarity with cams, choose whatever your partner has. Unless it is some strange chek brand. BD and metolious are common.

sounds good. I assume there is a board along the floor that the feet step on? or is the feet on the floor up against the wall?

In addition to the above, have your wife check out your posture. Are your shoulders slumped forward? Modern day life has us reaching forward (computer use, driving ) too much and that can pull the shoulder out of neutral alignment. If you go see a physical therapist, they will usually suggest things that stretch the pec muscles and tighten the upper back muscles like rear delt flyes, band pull aparts, rowes, ect.

nice job Rad and Brandon.

isn't that the kind of tent you wold find in some basecamp in the himalaya or at some well funded expedition?

good job Pat. will listen to the podcast.

If you want a LW jacket with a long cut, try calling them. They seem to be very willing to do custom jobs. They might not even sure if they charge much more.

dean makes it look like a 5.9 route. except for that last part when he cut his feet loose, I almost shat myself.

can you move the binding towards healside and not have the heal hang over the edge? Maybe move is that way till you get a equal hangover of toe and heal. The bigger issue (as far as I see it) is the height of the boots. Are the boots higher than the highback? For my bindings, all mountaineering boots are too low to fully cover the highback. This causes some pinching on the calf during heal turns. Hopefully those boots work out for you. Would be interested in hearing how it works out for you.

mid december. but if it is stinking cold in town for a while, it may be worth going up there for a look.

better not find it in your pack! this would make a really funny xmas present though.

.....then I gotta get worried. from mountain gear, now you can pay $15 for 3 condoms and some wet wipes. the Backcountry Intimacy Kit from Adventure Medical Kits http://www.mountaingear.com/pages/product/product.asp/imanf/Adventure+Medical+Kits/idesc/Backcountry+Intimacy+Kit/Store/MG/item/115371/N/0

Hey Kurt, in your photo above, what is the unlabeled lime green line? Long time ago, I heard of a good summer line on mixup pk and I was wondering if that was your lime green route? maybe I should do some research in the beckey guide.

good question. That is why it is vital to have enough rescue coils to be able to reach the person in the hole. With another rope that is thrown down a prepared lip (no overhanging lip of snow to cut through) the person can have an easier time prussiking out this extra line without the knots. or being pulled out. This extra rope is also the only way to be able to go to the victim if they are in need of medical help. People who go out with 25m ropes simply do not have enough rope to be able to do this. 50m ropes is a minimum.

Hope you win this battle Dane! Good luck.

looks like that guy died base jumping this last weekend.

f'in beautiful country.

great job gentlemen! Local boys doing good.

I thought feathered friends made a 2 man sleeping bag or bivy sack for a while. May have been a limited production for colin and his kind. I had a friend in bellingham who made his own 2 man bivy with goretex.

darin not dan

solid info on that link I have also heard of drawing the alphabet with the foot. (keeping the legs still, trace out the letters of the alphabet with toes)

Hey Alex, I bought some used ski boots for my boy at sports replay. They had plenty of boots that size and I was told that the real growth in that kind of inventory happens in mid november when parents start getting the kids gear in order. Should be plenty of boots available now.

If money is not an issue, you will get a lot from a hired guide or maybe a 6 day mountaineering course which is a good value for the money. I can only speak from my experience in that both AAI's do a good job of this. I would bet money that mountain madness and IMG do a good job too. Been a while but I "think" it costs around a $1000 for a 6 day trip. Would be real easy to find out via their websites. I think a guided ascent of a mountain is not going to fulfill your needs as much as a instruction trip. It has been a LONG time since my mountaineers BCS but I seem to remember it has a good value for the money. I mean it is cheap and if you put work into it, you will get plenty out of it. Either guided or club based instruction is OK as long as you follow the 4th option and keep getting out. Keep using the skills learned in the "class room" and learn stuff that can not be verbalized like intuition. Keep reading various how to books and learn to rock climb.