midwestern_alpine_hero

Hey quick question, I lent a guy a pair of koflach plastics from my clubs gear pile and he cracked one. How easy is it to damage these things, I have never heard of this before and am wondering how unusual it is. They pair are old but not used too often (soles are still good) and were a little scratched up, and now one is cracked all the way through to the liner. Any idea where to get them fixed if possible?

Also, can anyone clarify what the boundaries for the different "zones" are... ?

So I am getting shafted by the rangers at Rainier. It is written on their website that you have a limit of 4 nights in the Camp Muir or Shurman zones, or in any zone I believe, to kind of control how many people are on the mountain and allow everyone a fair chance to summit, which is fine... but there is no information that I can find on what the different zones are, someone said in recent post that there is a summit zone, someone else told me that the Muir Snowfields isn't the same zone as Camp Muir etc. Anyway going on all this vague information I came up with the following plan... 2 nights at Muir Snowfield to get the glacier travel, crevasse rescue down and get somewhat acclimated to the altitude, followed by a 4 night period at Muir hoping to have the opportunity to beat my way past the hords of souls paying RMI to be dragged to the top etc. BUT we just called Longmire Museum, cause the ranger station doesn't answer the phone, and they told us its 4 nights on the mountain total, some new rule, no indication was given on what zones constitute the mountain, when this rule came into effect, why the website gives somewhat contradictory information or anything else... SO does anyone out there know what the deal is, anyone have numbers for an actual ranger that we can talk to to straighten this out?

Okay the comments are helpful, Rainier fetish or penis envy, its a place that is easy organise a trip to as there are tonnes of books about it, its close to Seattle, forums like this provide great info etc. and in the end its a big one alright. Coming all the way from Chicago it would be hard to head to some little known climbing area without wasting valuable holiday time wandering around trying to find a place to park! So send out the suggestions for other places that would provide good fun for a beginner, some cascade climbs would be cool also, I get the impression that Rainier is a long slog up snow, in france they have long, easy (french 4 and 5) mountain rock routes, any suggestions (up to 5.6 trad or 5.7 bolted) in the region? Which guide books would be best for me?

Firstly, this is a class website, and the message below this one has helped me a lot already. Anyway I am heading to Rainier sometime over the summer, probably in June or July and midweek to avoid the crowds for sure. I have never done Alpine climbing over here in the states but did some in the Dauphine Alps last summer and was wondering about the grading systems. Over there I trained and was guided on routes rated peu difficile and climbed several facile routes with my buddies. How do the grades over here match up with european ones? One online reference indicates that the routes are classed in terms of how long it would take as opposed to how technically difficult they are, obviously length of time is extremely important also but I wish to get a better idea of what ability level is required for the grades. The thread below gives suggestions for people with good experience who have never climbed at Rainier. How about some suggestions for beginners who haven't been to Rainier but who have about 1.5 weeks to spare. For us the ideal would be to be based somewhere with a few different easier routes and one or two at the next level in case things go well and the weather stays good. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.