PaulB

Save yourself the effort, if not some $, and check out Fugawi. C$100 gets you every topo map in the province, and their software (C$150) lets you stitch them together seamlessly. Good for hours of trip plannning fun!

Detailed mountain weather forecasts are not generally available from Environment Canada through their public website. Commercial operations like ski resorts can pay for a localized forecast, which they may publish on their own website. Rescue Dynamics in Edmonton maintains an excellent summary of BC and AB weather resources here.

Use this instead: http://members.shaw.ca/eseedhouse/wapiti/index.html

It's actually jealousy due to the fact that male Mountaineers are so good with the ladies. This sordid tale gives a rare look into their methods of seduction. Sorry, but I couldn't resist digging up this gem. Perhaps one of the funniest things I've ever read online.

Lots of relatively local options to choose from: - Head down the 401 to Kingston and check out Kingston Mills. You might run into the famous Rob Chisnall... one time holder of the world record for one finger pull ups. - The Gatineau Cliffs in Luskville (in Quebec, not far from Ottawa). Some details here. - Mazinaw Rock in Bon Echo Provinicial Park. Directions, access and other info here. - Val David in Quebec if you want to experience "la belle provence". As others have said, for major road trips, check out the Gunks in NY or Cathedral Ledge, Whitehorse Slabs and Cannon Mountain in NH. All are worthy destinations. If you're going to be there during the winter, the ice climbing options are just as good.

There's always the MEC.

Our group concluded the same thing after thrashing our way down to Lambda Lake. It probably would have been faster to just head over to the basin and pick up the trail from there.

Climb: Tantalus Range-Niobe, Pelops, Iota, Alpha Date of Climb: 7/25-28/2004 Trip Report: Spent three fantastic days at Lake Lovely Water with three of my buddies. For two of us, it was out first time in the area, and we had been looking forward to the trip for awhile. After flying in on Sunday, we climbed the NE Ridge of Niobe (a nice route with great exposure ) and scrambled up Pelops and Iota. Monday was a big day on the E Ridge of Alpha, which was fantastic !. Tuesday was spent relaxing on and around the lake, taking in the views and enjoying the sunshine, before hiking out on Wednesday. All in all, it was a great trip with great weather. As it turned out, the climbing was the easiest part of the trip, while logistics proved to be a learning experience. To get up to the lake, we took advantage of the fact that a large ACC group was flying out on Sunday. This seemed like a chance to get a cheap flight by sharing costs with the ACC group. However, the heli company had different ideas... since they had given the group a flat rate for getting everyone (about 15 people) in and out, they felt that they had already discounted the flights, and wanted $300 to take us into the lake. Not that $300 wasn't a good deal compared to the regular cost (about $400), but it was more than we expected to pay for what would otherwise be an empty flight that had already been paid for by the ACC group. On top of that, when we got to the airport on Sunday morning, there were two other people waiting to fly in, who were being charged $100/person. In the end, we figured that for about 25 minutes of flight time (two round trips to get six of us in), they got about $1400 from all the parties involved. As one person observed, "Really, what can you say? It's their machine, they can charge whatever they want." The most frustrating part of the trip revolved around our accomodations. We had tried to get reservations for the ACC hut, but had been told that it was fully booked for the whole week, and the next two as well. As it turned out, there was absolutley no one in it the entire time we were up there . This weighed heavy on our minds and bodies as we hiked down the trail on Wednesday, with packs full of tents, stoves and other camping equipment. Our exit strategy was to hike down to the river and get picked up by Jay Bicknell who can be hired to ferry people across the river. Now, for this to work, the boat actually has to show up at the agreed upon rendezvous time, which in our case, did not happen. We had called and left a message before leaving the lake to say we were on our way down and that we would call again when we got to the river. We arrived an hour ahead of schedule, left another message and settled in to wait. When the agreed upon meeting time came and went, we made another call and left another message, fully expecting that he would soon show up. However, after an hour, and a couple more unanswered calls, we got the distinct feeling that we had been stood up. We called Murray at Valhalla Pure to see if he knew anyone else who might be able to pick us up, but he couldn't think of anyone right away. This left us with the options of using the cable to tyrolean (although we didn't really have suitable gear) or someone could suck it up and swim/float across and go in search of someone with a boat. Just as we were about to make a decision, we heard a small boat that had earlier gone upriver, coming back down. We waved him over, and soon made the aquaintance of Patrick Lewis, a member of the Squamish Nation. A quick bargain was struck, and for the sum of $10/person he took us two at a time down to his fishing camp on the east bank of the river, complete with cold beer! One of his friends then gave us a lift to the airport to pick up our vehicle, which in our absence had had the rear window smashed in. This was somewhat ironic, since we had figured it would be safer to leave a vehicle at the airport, rather than parked near the cable crossing at the river. Despite all of this, my first trip to the Tantalus Range was great , and I'll definitely be back. Gear Notes: NE Ridge of Niobe - some folks might want a rope E Ridge of Alpha - Standard rack for the crux pitch, double ropes useful for a group of four Approach Notes: Can't say that I'd recommed Mr. Bicknell and his ferry "service" . Give Patrick Lewis a call at 604-898-9107, he'll be happy to give you a ride across the river.

Fugawi maps can only be uploaded to the Garmin iQue 3600, which is a combined PDA/GPS gizmo. As far as I know, there are no GPS units that allow you to upload Canadian topo maps. A few have street databases, but thats about it.

Actually the Fugawi maps are on DVD , and for the price of about 10 paper maps, you get the entire province. Just print out the bits you need. Don't get me wrong, I love looking at paper maps, but for investigating out of the way places that you might not want to actually buy a map for, digital is the way to go. Even more useful if you combine it with GPS info, especially now that Fugawi has the "seamless" feature.

Get them in digital format from Etopo or Fugawi. I bought the Etopo maps a couple of years ago, but if I was buying right now I'd go with the Fugawi. Fugawi's dealer in Seattle is: CycoActive Products 701 34th Avenue Seattle, WA 98122 206-323-2349

With the heat we've been having lately, the transition from snow to ice in the alpine is probably well underway. Wedge, Fissile, Castle Towers, the NE face of Joffre or the NW face of Matier would be good choices. The 'schrund on Garibaldi is likely gargantuan by now. Some other possibilities here and here.

After spending four days at Lake Lovelywater, we arrived at the Squamish airport this afternoon to find the back window of my buddie's CRV smashed in. Nothing was stolen, but it was a crappy end to a great trip.

No bolts that I noticed. If you wanted, you could build an anchor just about anywhere on the route.

Discontinued, but still available. Coast Mountain is clearing out Khamisn and Bora 30's for $99 right now.

While not a climber/belayer dialogue, Dru's story reminded me of something I witnessed in the Gunks many years ago. We were hanging out near "Camp Slime", which is beside the road that divides the Trapps and the Near Trapps crags. We'd had a good day of climbing, and were enjoying some brews when we see a cadillac pull up across the road. Two big guys in suits get out and survey the surroundings. One exclaims, in a full Brooklyn accent, "This is fukin' beaudaful! Ain't this fukin' beaudaful? We godda get out of the city more." His friend looks around and nods in agreement. The first guy then says, "OK, let's talk about what happened this morning. Don't ever show people what's in da trunk! You got me? Never open da trunk! I don't care what they say....the trunk stays closed." The second guys looks a bit admonished/relieved and mumbles something apologetic. "Good. Now ain't this fuckin' beaudaful? We should come up here more often" By this point we're pretty sure we're looking at two full fledged memebrs of the mob, so we just keep drinking our beers and not drawing attention to ourselves. After a few minutes they get in the caddy and drive away, and we can't help but wonder... what's in the trunk? For the rest of the trip, everytime we got to a belay with a nice view we'd say "Ain't this fukin' beaudaful?".

The rap stations that descend from the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col are set up for single ropes, but having double 60's will let you do the whole thing in two raps using the stations on the Snowpatch side. The Kain Route on Bugaboo is fully equipped for descent with a single rope. Due to the nature of the route, I don't think having doubles would make much difference.

Don's Waddington Guide has a great section with tips & tricks for air drops.

Yes, you can ride up the 7th Heaven lift and make an easy traverse across the slopes above Lakeside Bowl to reach the base of the Blackcomb Buttress and DOA. Check the Whistler web cam for snow conditions. The Blackcomb Buttress is mostly 3rd class, maybe some 4th. Depending on your comfort level, you could do it without a rope. DOA is supposed to have a more technical pitch, so a small rack might be appropriate. After summitting, a fun option is to traverse all the way along the ridge that heads back towards the top of the 7th Heaven lift. Good exposure on a couple of towers, and "fine situations throughout". Keep an eye on the time, as its a long walk to the village if you miss the last chair down.

Is there actually an REI Outlet Store, or is it just a website? I'll be driving through Seattle this week, and thought I might stop to check it out. If there is a store, where is it located?

Here's what it looks like a month later (attached photo taken July 18).

Just to provide some background, the crags in question are primarily Rattlesnake Point, Kelso, Mt. Nemo and probably Lion's Head. The first two are mostly top-roping/trad areas, the third is almost exclusively trad with a few bolted lines (unless the top roping & bolting ban has been lifted), and the last is almost entirely sport climbing (in a spectacular setting above Georgian Bay). The reason for studies like this over the years is that the first three crags are about a 40 minute drive from downtown Toronto (Canada's largest city), and during the 80's and 90's saw a huge increase in climber traffic. The cliffs are also home to old growth cedar trees (they look like shrubs, but some are over 500 years old!), which were felt to be in danger from the uncaring climbers and their disruptive ways. Much hullabaloo and gnashing of teeth between climbers and environmentalists has occured over the years, with climber's access being seriously threatened. A ban on top roping and bolting at Mt. Nemo was self imposed in an effort to keep the peace. It's good to see a report that seems to agree with what many climbers have said all along, but I'm sure that there is another report out there that claims the opposite.

Drive: Hurley & Lillooet River Roads Date of Drive: 7/10-11/2004 Trip Report: Gary Shorthouse and I headed out the Hurley River Road on Saturday with the intention of climbing Mt. Sloan on Sunday. To get full value out of the drive, we checked out the approaches to a few other climbs. Here's what we found: Mt. Samson -------------- The bridge over Donelly Creek has been removed, so you'll have to walk (or ride a bike) from the Hurley to the end of the 4wd-hc section described in Alpine Select. There was a truck parked at the blockade, so someone has made the effort. Mt. Thiassi (East Side) ------------------------- The bridge over the Hurley River has been removed, so you can add a lot more walking to the already lengthy east side approach. Note that the river is quite wide here, and fording it may be tough. Mt. Thiassi (West Side) ------------------------- From the Bridge River FSR, the McParlon Creek road was driveable to about 7km, where it was blocked by large boulders from a rock slide. Other reports indicate that a bridge at 10km has also been removed. Still, this is probably the fastest way to get to Thiassi. Mt. Sloan ----------- There is a new spur from the bridge over Ault Creek which winds up and over the broad toe of the NE Ridge. From the end of the spur, it should be possible to thrash through the forest to get on the crest of the ridge and above treeline. This would avoid the steep climb up from Ault Creek which is the traditional approach for the NE Ridge. From the look of things, they're getting ready to cut down a whole lotta trees. Since it rained most of the night, we bailed on the climb and headed back to Pemberton. We refueled, had breakfast and headed out the Lillooet River Road for more exploring. Overseer Mtn. --------------- The Meager Creek Branch road is gated and locked at the Lillooet River bridge. Again, a long walk (or bike ride) can be added to the normal approach. Mt. Athelstan --------------- As Don reported in his TR for Lillarete & the Randy Stoltman Tower, the access to Athelstan is pretty good. I interpreted the correct path through the confusing array of spur roads as right/left/left/right, but the process of elimination will eventually get you to the end of the correct spur, which now has a small cairn at the end. A short distance into the forest you will see flagging for an extension of the road, and be able to pick up the Salal Creek trail, which also appears to be flagged. Note that this trail does not take you up to the climbs on the Salal Creek wall. Gear Notes: - Chevy 4x4 - $130 worth of gas - Alpine Select Guide Book - NTS Maps - GPS - Backroads mapbook - Assorted CD's Approach Notes: It was all approach!

Gender? - Male What system do you use now? Moon, through the crotch, drop seat, nothing (system must be dropped). - Through the crotch for all layers (otherwise it just doesn't work!). How long have you used that system? - 8 years Why do you use that system? - It is warm, versatile and convenient. In a perfect world what system would you use? What I'm using now.

Me too, except mine doesn't have the fancy "teeth" on the cams. I've found that a #2 Metolius and a 0.5 tricam are interchangeable most of the time. I use the tricam in low stress situations, and save the Metolius for when I don't want to futz with the tricam.