Bug

Climbed Si on Saturday. OK stop clapping. I had my teenage stepson along. He plays golf at the Mt Si golf course and just had to climb it. At least I carried four gallons of water. Some friends and I went up McClellan Butte Sunday. Four more gallons. I leave for the West Rib Thursday night. Will be on the Kahiltna Sat. Cheers dudes!

Check out the direct ascent onto Liberty Cap instead of traversing right. There is usually a way onto it early in the year. That last slope to the summit above the serac is a rush.

Placements Mike. Placements. Anywhere along the bottom of Index lower wall. Don't get high. Er, don't get higher than you want to fall. Place, clip in a long runner, stand in it while you are watching your piece. Does it move? Does it smack you in the face? Does it do you the way you like it? Then top rope an aid climb. This will force you to twist and curse and finally get that hard to place piece. When this seems easy, Lead something you can free solo to get the rythm man. Then start pushing the grades up a little bit at a time. I have fewer climbing friends than I used to. Be careful.

Pink action suits and red-eyed white boys? I think I see a theme developing here. No beer. Just gu. This isn't Montana. They won't even let me bring my sheep.

We'll see you on our way down. We are three doing the Full Rib alpine style starting May 18. "Alpine style" is a relative term in Alaska. No double carries and no sled. Can you say hemeroid?

Look out the window as you drive through the Yukon.

After scrounging for money in a depressed economy for years I finally found the solution to putting together a rack cheaply. I used to cruise the Glacier Point Apron in free solo mode every evening snagging gear. The easier the climbing, the more gear I found. Am I a sleaze because I took booty from the Apron? I think not. I earned those credentials elsewhere. If I should leave a piece that you find retreivable, I wish you as much fun as I had with it.

Purchased the corporate kind. Proven effective. The vitamin supplement idea is great. Got it covered. More beer.

quote: Originally posted by projecthex: We all think you should get your fat ass up and drive over there to check conditions yourself! What's with all this "is there snow there?" bullshit? If you want to know fucking check it yourself!! I'll give you one hint though: your mom's patch is still pouring all down her legs. Out of line asshole. He does not speak for me or anyone I know.

I need 75 or 80 packets of GU. Anyone know a cheap source?

I am looking for about 75 packets of gu. Anyone know where the cheapest place to get it is?

Oh boy! !Religion!. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get on the band wagon. "JAKE, the problem you state is called christianity or probably orgainized religion for that matter.....it tells us that there is always something wrong and that we need to tell others what we see wrong with them too.....it is a brilliant way to control billions of people...even make them kill each other, over principals that if were looked at with any type of skepticism would be so laughable, that you would wonder how people could even get so deep into the bullshit.... but i really dunno" You used the same attack that you condemned religion for. "what's wrong with XXX is .............." Look inside yourself for the real problem. Anger doesn't need religion. I feel your pain.

Thanks Dru. Got it covered. I've been eating Glycosamine and MSM. That shit gives me gas in monumental proportions. rbw1966, We are doing the whole rib from the NE Fork. Then returning via the WB. Since we are leaving May 17, I am a little concerned about scavanging. How many people are going to be coming down by June 1? If we have good weather we might beat the crowds going down. Nelly, Good tip. I once spent three days eating glacier lilies and ptarmigan for just that reason. Since there are none of the above on Denali, I would have to eat climbers. Now there is cause for monumental gas.

quote: Originally posted by Dru: you wanna melt spectra after you cut it? HOTKNIFE!! get the blowtorch out, get the knives redhot apply and SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. you dont wanna sniff that smoke though. UH HUH. You have been sniffin smoke haven't you? Are you one of those hippie-ass guys like SpecialEd?

The water knot is fine. Tape the tails if you want. I've used mostly tied slings and draws for a bug's life. Cheap, effective, and versitile for those vertical bushwhacks in the PacNW. I carry a few sewn supertape runners but I am not as rich as SpecialEd. That guy is rollin in the dough! If he wants it he just goes out and buys it.

I've never boarded but that is probably YOUR best bet with the split decision setup. Otherwise, AT is the way to go for the cross over to climbing. My favorite way to ski is tele but I ski AT for transportation to and from the climb. Definately start with very short wide skiis. 140 sounds right. You can pick up a pair for $10 or less. The spring rummage sales have just begun. I have skied for 35 years. Everything from wilderness touring to extreme skiing on cliffs. Re-read everything on these posts. It is all really good information. It just depends on your budget and your preference. Then get out there and crank.

What I'm sweating about is how much shit I'm gonna have on my feeble back. We are going straight up the Rib with no double carries. We are thinking about dragging a sled to the base of the couliour but that only eats up two or three days of food and gas depending on how much we want to acclimatize. We are chopping everything that isn't needed to sustain life at subzero, arctic, atlitudes. Thanks for the info guys! I'll let you know how it turns out.

The lemon doesn't fit.

I didn't like the cups thing either but I borrowed it from a Denali site. I've heard that most groups bring gas down with them even when they stay as long as they can. The Geyser thing sounds fun. When I was on a fire crew we used to set a molotav coctail at the base of a medium size dried out tree and shoot it. WHOOOOF! Up like a match.

Cool! Wear two avalungs and a lemon up my ass. Got it. Thanks Timmy and savaiusini for the advice!

For summer climbing I use a 4500 sack for 2. It is tight packing and sacrifices must be made but the nice light weight makes a big difference all around - approach, hauling, yes, sometimes jumaring, decending. It translates to speed vs comfort. I find enough comfort with a light bag, a coat and some food & water. I also have 1/8" insulite pads that I can fold to cover sharp objects. The bigger the bag, the more you can take.

Too technical Ray. How about "Math for the Clinically Insane"? Nice pic. I missed one.

Do you think if I wore two avalungs I would be OK?

Just so we can keep it straight out there, how many different ways can you do the west face of DragonTail by mixing routes? No fair counting unidentified pitches. My guess is there are about 100 separate pitches on the face. Maybe 1/8 of them actually cross another route which makes it 12.5 potential crossovers or 156 different routes. Now let's name them correctly...........................

3 of us are going up the West Rib May 17. We are planning on taking .9 cups of gas per person per day. We will use MSR XGK stoves. We plan to summit in 13 days if we are lucky with the weather. We will take 3 gallons up with us which gives us 1 extra gallon for storm support. We will be up there in late may to early June so we probably can't count on getting left over gas from people coming down. Any comments? Any flaws in our reasoning? Thanks for any input. Bug