Farrgo

Wasn't the first free ascent done as a free solo? If I recall, the first ascent was with pieces of sawed-off pipe as protection, hence the name?

I would love to make it and see some AK crushers but the trip from LV is a tad long... NW climbers have no excuse... it should be a packed house!

Just hire a guide. You can shave years off of the learning curve by paying for some high quality instruction. Check out Timberline Mountain Guides.

I never had any wood break on my wall. I did however break a lot of purchased "drytooling" holds.

x2. I got the most used out of pieces of 4x4s that I drilled in with a 3/8 bit to make hooks into. You can easily drill hooks on every side of a piece of 4x4 to tackle different movements. I drilled some inverted (to make stein-pulls) and put a piece of carpet down against the base of the hold to protect the wall. I hear door hinges work very well too. Cheap, durable, and they train accuracy in placement.

I've got a pair of Baturas like new for sale: La Sportiva Baturas Size 44

I've been wanting to see those pictures for a while... do you think Strobach is still in that condition!? Can you clarify if Adrenalepherine tackles the hanger on the left or the right? Am I correct in thinking Hate Pony climbs ice not visible to the left of the left hanger and rejoins the main flow above the hanger?

From what I'm told it sounds like the new ice pick might even the playing field between the nomic and the fusion. It seems funny that neither company has actually been able to come up with a tool that has everything you'd want (decent ice and mixed performance, dedicated attachment point, hammer). I don't think I would trade my nomics for a fusion and new ice pick, but then again I probably wouldn't sell fusions to get nomics given the new ice pick.

Apparently BD came out with a new version of the Fusion pick? Supposedly they have dropped the pick angle to increase performance on ice. Anyone have experience with these? Is there a noticeable improvement on ice? Does that change how they drytool? New BD Fusion Ice Pick

I use some thin bungee material (black ~3mm from REI). I get tons of use out of it and replace it maybe once a year.

I have the GoPro 2.0 as well. It is definitely a niche item, albeit a rad one. You can buy an LCD screen that allows you to see what you are filming (comes with additional waterproof casing). I haven't used this camera other than just holding it in my hand, but I would imagine getting interesting footage would involve a bit of trial and error before figuring out what the proper the mounting position/placement would be.

As a newer climber you should just go and buy the cheapest rope you can find that is 60m long and 10mm or greater. Unless you plan to use it in the mountains as well don't worry, or pay for dry-treatment. Check out justropes.com I always seem to find great deals on ropes through them.

One pair of waders makes for a cruxy South Fork approach.

Marcus on the Colton-Leech, Mt. Huntington, AK.

Rick and Jake up high in the Cordillera Blanca.

Marcus on Cryophobia.

Marcus up high on the Colton-Leech, Mt. Huntington, AK.

Grim conditions in Leavenworth this morning. We only drove up to Dog Dome but everything looked out. Two days ago Dog Dome was in pretty good shape so the deterioration has been rapid. There was a lot of ice at Banks Lake yesterday and a thick fog bank prevented any sun from hitting the routes. It wasn't particularly cold and I bet most of the routes wouldn't last long if the fog lifted and they saw any direct sunlight.

I'll go out on a limb and say there is no way the trail is clear by June... as it usually takes all summer for it to clear of snow. Either go early and make a ski circumnavigation (more fun mind you) or go in early fall and walk...

We followed someone's established threads about half the time but were able to do two raps off a bolted route on climber's left (one off a single half-inch bolt, the second off a station with chains). Additionally, unless we're completely mistaken, this route is a lot closer to 330m than 420m. Here's how we broke down the pitches: P1 70m to a belay cave on left of crux pillar. P2 50m to a rock belay on large snowfield to right of climb. P3 70m to snowfield and belay in alcove on the right. P4 70m to a cave belay to the left. P5 70m to the trees. The 70m pitches were long and the follower usually needed to move beneath the pitch but there was no simul-ing per.

I experienced somewhat similar objective hazards a last week and noted that the climb was very sun affected and incredibly wet even in the early to mid-morning and quite degraded at about the level you mention but there was no fog bank that day. We saw one note-worthy ice fall in the afternoon after we finished and also rapped the rock route and avoided hangers where we could. The prior ascensionists I talked to didn't note this problem so i assumed i experienced a somewhap abberrant event, perhaps they had safer conditions by exploiting a wisp of cloud or slightly cooler temps (we climbed Tuesday following Vern and Craig's ascent). Regardless I was not willing to head back later that week for a repeat climb as planned with direct sunlight and similar weather forecasted. Sorry about losing that fancy new cord but it obviously could have been worse.

Doesn't look very fangish!

Some might argue being a long way from Seattle is a great asset!

My buddy has been doing canyoneering/rock climbing guiding from Zion the past two-years and will do it this year also. PM me if interested...

Anyone happen to make a trip into Strobach this weekend or know how it fared in the inversion?