genepires

I always thought that snoq pass is a great place to go for day trip winter climbing. You got the tooth, chair peak, guye and snoq mtn, all with different ways up to suite your skill level. Get a map and some guide books (beckey and select cascade) and find what works for you there. for up your way on hwy 20, squak mtn is a nice day trip. pick a line of your skill set and choosing. Dallas Kloke wrote a winter climbing guide to cascades of the real obscure things. It was based on the idea that small peaks that are ignored in the summer are rad in the winter. He had all kinds of decent climbs to do. Sadly, it is out of print a long time ago and he is no longer with us. Maybe kindly ask his family if they have any more copies or someone can make a photo copy for you. good luck and watch the avi conditions. It feels like a winter for NOT doing alpine climbing.

I made an imprint of elcap and working on freeing the nose. Also made a imprint of justin bieber and using it as a punching bag.

the best crampon is the one having the most fun? can't let it slide without the classic response

How are things going?

There hasn't been one "name dropping" on this thread. Not sure where all this hate is coming from. Looks like everything here is just personal opinions. Take a chill pill brother.

There is also the point that the pseudoscientific premise that it is based on (that evolution happens slowly enough that humans have not adapted to a modern diet and so should readopt and consume a diet similar to pre-agrarian hunter-gatherers) is completely wrong and has been invalidated by the last 10-15 years of genetic research. Tomato, tahmato. fleece hat, tuk aluminum, alumeenium

If those boys where in town, I would buy them some warm beer. That is some stunning looking climbing.

If you think xfit as GPP (general physical preparation) that goes along with SPP (sport specific physical preparation) then you have a good recipe for getting ready for the alpine. So a couple days a week of xfit with a couple days a week of hiking and rock climbing would be a good training program. I am too cheap and po to pay for xfit, but it seems like xfit would fit your needs of "lose weight, build strength, and build endurance".

and favorable exchange rate

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.