Marcus_Engley

Guidebooks, route descriptions, those little spec sheets that come with the cams-- I read that stuff all the time. On the non-climbing side I tend toward good fiction, or some of the glut of non-fiction "extreme" stories, i.e. In Harm's Way, Heart of the Sea, etc. The former is about the U.S.S. Indianapolis' sinking in WWII, the latter is the story on which Moby Dick was based. Jblakely-- if you like Cryptonomicon, read Snow Crash next. Also by Stephenson, and a great story, especially in this, the computer-virus age...

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: Sometimes I dont even carry a pad. Or you can buy a pack that has a removable pad. Wild Things Ice sac...... Yeah, I've got the Nozone, and it trims down pretty nicely. I've fiddled a bit with taking out the framesheet too, and the doubled pad stiffens it up enough so that I don't feel like I'm carry a plastic bag full of mashed potatoes. The tikka sounds pretty good, and you don't even need to buy fresh batteries every time, unless you'll be climbing for 500 hours...

Replace your pack's pad (if it's got one) with a long strip of ensolite, doubled over, and sleep on that instead of a pad. Throw your feet on top of the pack/rope to get some extra insulation... Buy a fresh headlamp battery before the trip, and leave the spare at home, especially in the summer.

Anaya... My girlfriend uses the Metolius Contour harness (they make several, I think-- slim, normal, and wide, or something). She's used it on everything from short sport climbs to 15 pitch gear routes. She's had no complaints. It's very adjustable for all your layering needs, and it's got good size gear loops and a haul loop as well. Not too expensive either, if I remember right... Hope that helps! m

I can't give you names, but here's some general stuff... Royal Columns (across from the ranger station parking lot): lots of nice easier cracks, with several good 9s and 10s. One worth noting is right about where the main trail hits the wall. Good hands up through (or around) a little bush, then finish on overhanging fingers. 10ish, I think. The Bend: Once the trail gets to the wall, take a righthand trail that keeps going up the hill. At the top, there are some big belay ledges right beneath two really nice lines. The first, a 9ish, goes up and right through two roofs, and follows a hands to fists crack to the top. Just to the right of it is a beautiful 10a finger crack. There's also some good bolt-clipping at The Cave (a little farther up the road, on the right), and some very cool sounding routes at the Honeycomb, but I haven't been in there... Have fun! Watch for the nest of rattlers where the trail meets the wall, if you go to the cave.

Planned on checking out the stuff at New Halem, but instead spent both days putting up a wall in the garage... woohoo!

That seems like a lot for such an old tent-- has it been used a lot? They do last for quite a while, but if it's taken a beating I think you'd be better off saving a few extra pennies and buying a new one. If he's willing to part with it for less than $100 it might be worth it, but don't be too surprised if the rainfly comes apart in a windstorm... My 2 cents... Hope it helps. On second thought, I'd probably drop the value down towards Backcountry's estimate... As long as the Schmidt's was cold... [This message has been edited by Marcus (edited 08-27-2001).] [This message has been edited by Marcus (edited 08-27-2001).]

jblakely, I totally agree about walk-off v. rappelling. The only thing that I can think is that the descent is more obvious in the light (duh). The whole way down it seemed like the little section of gully within the cone of our headlamps was always the same, always steep, and always leading to another dead end. We rapped once (from a tree with a clump of slings on it, I'll note) and had to do a short bit of scrambling back up to the base of the climb. The whole time we were just trying to go down and to the left, especially closer to the bottom, but we kept getting turned back by dead ends. By the time we got to our packs it was 2 a.m. I expect dehydration and general tiredness played a *big* part in our slow descent... We ended up crawling into our packs and waiting for sunrise, then spent the following day lolling in hot tubs and eating everything we could find in Leavenworth. Der Waffle Haus has excellent breakfast, by the way... m

I haven't done Dreamer yet, but I have to toss in an uncompared strike against Outer Space for the descent. I see that many of you have given it points for being an easy walk off, but when I did it (and I'll admit up front that the whole day was a series of small mistakes) it took us something like 6 hours from the top back to the base. Of course, this was late season, and we topped out in pitch dark. I expect that skews my little data point a bit... If I top out in the dark again on that route, I'll be sleeping up there with the goats. I must go back and do it again, so I can enjoy the upper pitches instead of sprinting through them...

Is the turnoff up to Boulder Basin pretty obvious from the PCT? Thanks for the beta. I'll post a report when we get back... m

Howdy... Anyone been up to Glacier recently? Heading up this weekend to do the Sitkum, hopefully in two days (though why I hope to get back to work on time is beyond me). Any beta appreciated... the route looks straightforward, but lengthy for two days. Thanks!

Thanks Mike. I figured we'd be following the beaten path, but we contracted the Glacier bug a few weeks ago from the top of Vesper. Thanks for the info! Did you do it in two days or three?

Allthumbs... My girlfriend did the Coleman/Deming this weekend with a few friends-- according to her, the route's still in decent shape, but the cracks are definitely opening up fast. Some were noticeably wider on the descent... Good luck, if you go for it! m