fern

this is St Vitus Dance Direct and it is a nice alternative to the 2nd wet bushy approach pitch on the N. Buttress of the Apron, but it is often wet. thx Ken

I think BP has the right advice ... get creative. There is no replacement for the river site. Any public suggestion of "yeah go to this place..." will probably end up with that place getting overcrowded and shut down too, like the Smoke Bluff parking lot last summer. If there is a "No Overnight Parking" sign then don't be surprised if you get booted out in the middle of the night.

why don't you just weigh it yourself? you could take it to a salad bar and put it on the scale. you'd even get an official barcoded sticker telling you how much it would be worth if it was made of jello and juliened carrots!

I don't think the Chief campground is officially open yet so you can stay there for free - walk in only. you can drive up the Stawamus road and camp wherever's convenient. if you sleep in your vehicle you can stay pretty much anywhere you want. keep your eye on your car from where? the climbs?

maybe I should add for those unfamiliar with this tour that it is 40km, w/ cumulative elevation gain/loss of about 5000' . It is suitable for not-so-experienced-but-reasonably-fit types, very fit types could do the whole thing in about 12-15hrs. There are no necessary steep slopes though you could find some if you wanted. Avalanche exposure is minimal except in a couple of discrete spots, and the main concern is sun-affected slopes and wet afternoon slides. Crevasses are well filled still but will start to gape soon, and the lake will probably start to melt within a few weeks. Navigation in a whiteout if there was no previous skin track to follow would be quite challenging - but then it always is.

Climb: Garibaldi Neve-Garibaldi Neve Date of Climb: 4/2/2004 Trip Report: Fern, Dru, and Billygoat skied across the Garibaldi Neve. Friday evening we shuttled one car to the Rubble Ck parking lot and skied up to the Elfin Lakes Shelter. With a near-full moon and clear skies the night skiing was scenic and we noted several planets visible. Saturday we left not early and skied over the Neve. Snow conditions were good with nice crusty snow and a well laid skin track. The descent to Sentinel Bay was not too bad, turns were linked. The Sentinel huts are unlocked and in OK shape. We did not attempt Mt. Garibaldi, but it looked good - bergschrund is not open yet. Sunday we skied out across Garibaldi Lake which was icy enough to skate across most of the way - skins not necessary. The Rubble Ck trail was in fairly gross icy condition and heavily postholed by hikers, but was skiable to 3km (just above the steep short switchbacks). It was fun. Maybe some pictures will be posted but not by me. Thanks Dru and Billygoat. Gear Notes: huts open = no tent needed Approach Notes: Pay for parking and shelter at Diamondhead parking lot. Rubble Ck. parking is free until June 15.

if you leave the gear in as you downclimb to the ground so that you have a TR to the highpoint when you get back on it's kinda whack to still call that an onsight even if you don't ever weight the rope or fall. And the more times you up and downclimb that bit of rock the less a vue your effort becomes. I've always used the def.n. that you can downclimb and preserve the onsight, but I recognize there is a whiff off dishonesty in that usage. I think there's a gap in terminology between redpoint and onsight - since to me redpoint implies that you've worked the route and got to know it very well before you finally lead it no falls. I've heard the tongue-in-cheek deja vue applied to those routes where you've been on the rock before, but never intensively worked the route ... for example if you TRed it once 5 years ago and now you lead it and only remember it a little. If I was looking for a partner though I wouldn't ever say "I onsight X, redpoint Y etc." though - for one 'cause it sounds lame, and for two because as this thread illustrates people interpret those statements very differently.

May 1st is Ron gonna be there?

Article is called 'Air Drop' , by Roland Burton. It is in the Canadian Mountaineering Anthology edited by Bruce Fairley. But it is mainly a humour piece, and very old school (1970 or so). Still a good read. They had instances of the bottoms of their whitegas jugs blasting right out on impact etc. I think the main lesson was to drop twice as much supplies as you need.

hee ... you are so

excellent!!

resize your pictures!!!

you can get these big blue tarp-like shopping bags at IKEA for like $2 or something. They make a pretty good budget rope bag, big enough to carry 3 ropes, easy to flake into. They lack the gimmick straps of one of those metolious jobbies, but you can probably rig your own with some cleverness.

the best place for you to store your rope is at my house. I *promise* I will not use it. However you should know that even properly stored ropes get fuzzy and dirty spontaneously over time, that won't be MY fault 'cause honest I won't use it. My house is also the best place for you to store your cams, skis, cd collection and big screen teevee.

I can't stop looking myself! ... I don't have any issue with Lambone but speaking generally that whole aid forum is morbidly compelling.

is there a $ reward for this 764 HERO thing? hey Ken what is your license # and what time are you driving each day of the week? .... I don't even need to live in the same city as you to cash in on this scheme - one little phone call every morning before I go to work, chaCHING!!

I had elbow pains this winter while ice climbing and Bob poked them and told me some stretching and strengthening exercises to do, which I have done and had no elbow troubles since. That $5 clinic at Vertical World (Monday March 29th 7:30pm) sounds like a pretty good deal

did you try on the next smallest size and they did crush your toes though? Was it just the liner that crushed the toes or the shell was truly too short. Try the shell on without the liner to get an idea of how much room the liner needs to occupy. Idiosyncracies of shell volumes can sometimes be offset by custom-fit liners but I think in those cases the wisdom is to choose the smaller shell option.

they sound too big too me. but I am no expert. Liner always pack out so if they aren't tight with the buckles cranked you've got no way of cranking them further when the liners get sloppy. I don't think fitting them for walking comfort is necessarily the best approach either. I usually walk or tour with my buckles completely undone. They are SKI boots, walking comfort should be the compromise. I bet you could get some better beta with a lil search on telemarktips.com

I posted scans of Lillooet News article about this shindig. Look in the gallery.

why don't you list some more of the routes in Alpine Select that appeal to you. sounds like maybe the full N Ridge on Wedge might fit your criteria.

how do you know nobody does it?

if you get a haul line longer than your lead line then maybe sometimes you won't need a separate lower-out line ... or there are other hypothetical reasons too. But whatever, as with all gear there are pros and cons that you have to measure against your own objectives. You should be able to buy static line off a spool in any length you want though. MEC sells it ... probably some online dealers too ...