genepires

and I really did mean at least a couple hundred times. If and when you fall on snow, there is no trying remember what it was you were supposed to do. If you have to think, it is to late.

all self arrest really comes down to footwork. The picks purpose is really to get the feet downhill and add a little more purchase towards stopping. Slight changes in pick design within the classic mountaineering curve style will not affect the self arrest. Since you have asked this question, it is obvious that you really need to head up to the ski area, find a same place to slide down and practice that till you are really proficient, very wet and tired of hiking up the hill for the hundreth time. Learn all 4 of the standard downhill position and try a few non standard ones. Reading in a book means nothing. Doing is the only way to learn. Not learning this and being on snow means that eventually you will be a victim.

we need nomex long johns, tuk and socks.

worse yet is synthetic underwear. In the navy, we were required to wear cotton only undies. Not that they checked. But imagine the synthetic goop on the junk! That photo of the hand is sick. what is the story?

sounds like the plastics are a better option mainly because there is not too much difference in weight and walking as you say. (especially if you are going to pack the boots to snowline)

as well as every Gadd, Raphael, Haley and Sol has a blog these days. oh yeah, these are examples of good blogs. my bad.

what are your plans? where are you going? please do tell

50 lb 138,000 calorie superbowl burger. Quit the hatin cause it is real dawg!

before alpine ascents got to be a major player on rainier, their trips would sell out within an hour of them allowing signups. It is not hard to believe that they are sold out by february. I thought that the AMGA certified guides had a few slots for rainier. Might want to give them a call to see what the deal is. Call the rainier ranger station to see what other guide services have permits. Call alpine ascents and american alpine institute. Guiding without a permit is illegal and can (and has) get the guide in serious trouble. A certified guide is not going to risk guiding it illegally. If the guide does it for free, it is fine. Work something out. Maybe have a "story" of why the guide is doing it for free in case he/she gets busted. I did a trip up rainier as a wedding gift to some friends. (the truth, honestly!) I was up front with the rangers about it and they were fine with it. Here is a radical idea. How about you guys just hire a guide to teach you how to climb safely? Maybe on baker. Then come back next year and do it yourselves without a guide. Or hire a guide this year for a 3 day skills and do rainier right after? break the cycle of needing a guide.

I usually try to be positive on things but really, you picked "Zion" as the name for the shoe? That has got to be the most lamest choice. Maybe if your shoe was orange. Of the awesome names given on this thread, you picked that dumb ass name. That is a bigger travesty than the product copying of the shoes.

cool video and cool looking climb. some guy was swinging straight shaft prophets? (3 min mark)

if they only knew what every old dufus was thinking. Fred beckey is the king of old dufus and we all know what he is thinking about. I want to hang with you guys and score a sloppy seconds hug or two.

If I am understanding it right, when you have a pull cord, the function of the cord is to pull the rappel rope down and one does not place both the thick rope and the pull cord in the rappel device. So why is there such concern over strength of the pull cord? (other than the obvious strength needs for pulling but that would be like 200-400 pounds) Why wouldn't a cord rated to 600 pounds work? maybe you guys are talking about a actual thin rap rope?

nice. would snowshoes be useful or not worth the weight for amount of postholing done? your first photo is very good. Looks like you got a little troll on your shoulder.

hater! if there is no helmet cam video on facebook, it did not happen. nice job going into the unknown and that smile is priceless. how did a old fart like you get to hook up with a sweet chicka?

dane had some photos where he filed picks quite far down and still looks usable. Search here or on his site for the photos. I think 45 degrees is the standard with a give or take of 10 degrees. Maybe you need to try to keep the hips in close to the ice. Hard to say anything without seeing what you are doing when the tool pops out. Make a video? hard ice requires sharpness of pick and precision of swing. and maybe repeated swinging. burying the pick is not needed or even desired. Burying usually makes it too hard to get out.

soloing a route but want to do 50m rappels?

i would like to see how you can get any normal situation to reach 24kn on a biner. I forget the actual numbers, but I thought a fall factor 2 was the most force achieved while climbing and that resulted around a 16kn force.

The crowd you are talking about is the spray crowd. Not everyone talks shit but some do like to help people. It doesn't sound like a sharpening pick problem but a body position problem. Maybe you are too high on your tools? What do you mean your tools are popping? Coming out of the ice or causing dinner plates or what?

FU. I was trying to help with your question.

I am free and the weather looks good. Looking to get out on some moderate climbing. Goals are flexible. Exit 38, tooth, erie, index, something alpine around stevens, ect

depends on what you want to do with the picks. bullet hard ice, soft mellow, mixed, pure rock, alpine ice, techie mountaineering?

banananator green river thriller

less than $400 and it fits in the trunk of a honda!

bashing is just an expression of an opinion. the original post was an opinion and a bashing. turn around is fair play.