Stephen_Ramsey

(1) Maude via Entiat Icefall (labor day weekend) (2) Colchuck via Northeast Couloir (in April) (3) Buckner via North Face (in July) all three with my wife.

Both have been sold.

Wife and I climbed the Entiat Icefall route over Labor Day weekend. Good times. Hiked in (and out) using the Entiat River Trail. Summit register canister is still damaged, and has no pencil.

JB, Thanks. Cheers, Steve

Bringing this up to the top once before I head off to the hills, risking spray and heckling in the hopes of a bit of recent beta.... Has anyone seen the NW face of the Forbidden N ridge recently? If so, is the snow bridge across the bergschrund still intact?

Nice trip report and climb!

I'm wondering about conditions on the northwest face of the north ridge of Forbidden Peak. From a photo, it looked like the snow bridge over the bergschrund was looking pretty thin three weeks ago. Anyone been on the Forbidden Glacier or North Ridge lately and can comment on whether the snow bridge is still there? [Yeah yeah, I know I can just go up there and see for myself. But before carrying ice gear and rock gear and bivy gear over Sharkfin Col and rapping down to the Boston Glacier, I figured it only made sense to fish for a little bit of beta.]

Huh? From the MSR web page... the minimum weight of the Simmerlite is 8.5 oz. The minimum weight of the Whisperlite Shaker is 11 oz. So the difference in weight between the two stoves is 2.5 oz. The difference in "packaged weight" (less relevant) between the stoves is even smaller, 2.3 oz. Even the fatty XGK is not 5-6 oz heaver than the Simmerlite. It is only 3.5 oz heavier (and for those extra ounces you get another 2000 BTU of heating over the simmerlite, at max efficiency). http://www.msrcorp.com

Rodchester, Thanks. I've got the XGK and the Pocket Rocket, and agree with your appraisal. Perhaps the Simmerlite is a good lightweight compromise between the two. Cheers, Steve

Rodchester, Did you end up getting a Simmerlite? I'm curious to know what people think of this stove, especially in comparison to the heavier XGK.

My wife and I were on Eldorado Peak yesterday, also. We wondered about all the helicopter activity and the smoke. We could smell smoke from our campsite at 6600', and we saw smoke in the vally to the east of Eldorado. Cheers, Steve

I lost 2 Black Diamond 22-cm Express ice screws (ooh the pain) on Eldorado Peak. Somewhere near the base of the northeast face on Eldorado Peak on August 17, two ice screws levered off my ice clipper and were lost. I finally noticed they were missing while at the base of the first pitch. They are marked with blue-and-white electrical tape. In the unlikely event someone finds them, I am offering a large quantity of good beer for their safe return. Please contact me via PM if you find them. Thanks, Steve

ctuller, Thanks. -Steve

TG, You mean, sort of like a "rewoven figure 8", only with the two strands going in opposing directions ? Just wanting to make sure I understand this. I'm clear on the point that you don't want to use a figure-8 on a bight to connect two ropes for a rappel. Just wondering how to tie the two ropes together correctly using a figure-8. (For now, I'll just use the EDK until I can get a clue on this figure-8 technique). Cheers, Steve

Ok, thanks for explaining. Makes sense. So, what if the knot gets jammed real good inside the rap ring, and you can't pull it out with the zip cord? Is that a concern at all? Thanks again for your time. Cheers, Steve

RBW, Can you clarify this for me? I'm a newbie and am struggling to understand this. Even googled on "zip cord" to try and figure this out, but couldn't find anything useful. OK, so I see how one could tie together a single rope and a thin cord (of the same length), to do a "double rope" rappel. Have done this before on several occasions. But I'm confused about how the 5mm "zip cord" can be used to retrieve your rope after a "single rope" rappel. Can you explain? Thanks. -Steve

www.usmga.net

Iain, Thanks!

Iain, OK, I'm a dummy. I haven't been able to figure it out. What's the scoop on how to do this? I even (uncharacteristically) read the instructions, but they are written in some insane cartoon language rather than plain English. Thanks, Steve

Thumbs up on the Reverso. It is great for alpine stuff with double/twin ropes, thin rope rappels, autolocking belay, etc. One point about the reverso: if you are frequently rapping on it in "high friction" mode (basically using the device backwards), there is a concern about wear on the metal eventually causing a sharp edge to form, that can cut the rope. This particular issue is only with repeated use in the high-friction mode. I imagine this takes a while, but it is something to be aware of, if you choose to use the device in this fashion. The "high friction" mode is great if you choose to rap on thin cord (6 or 7 mm). The BD ATC XP is also great for thin ropes, but a bit heavy. Our system for alpine climbs (works for us, not saying it would make sense for anyone else) is the leader carries a Reverso, and the second carries a ATC XP. Leader then has the choice of belaying the second in "autolocking" fashion, or not, depending on the situation. The extra weight of the Reverso/XP devices is worth it for us, because we are usually climbing with thin ropes (e.g., 8.5 mm double rope system). For the case of climbing on fat ropes exclusively, probably a normal ATC would be better, since it is lighter than the ATC XP. Just my $0.02.

For Sale: Feathered Friends "Widgeon" down sleeping bag The sleeping bag is size "regular" (fits a person up to 6 feet tall). 750 down fill. Couple seasons of light use. This bag is rated to 0F. It is a great sleeping bag for Rainier in early season. $175/OBO. Seattle area. Also selling a used SMC/REI ice axe, 70 cm. $30/OBO. PM me if you are interested.

Whatever leash you select, I'd recommend making sure you can easily get in and out of it, even when the leash is iced over. I bought a pair of BD leashes (I think it was the Lockdown model) that were useless when iced over, because it was too much of a struggle to get in/out of them. Made it hard to place or clean screws, when climbing here in the Cascades. Bought a pair of Slider leashes instead, and they are much better. Just my $0.02 about leashes.

Take the angle of the slope, and convert it to radians (which means take the slope angle in degrees, divide it by 180.0, and multiply it by pi=3.14159...). Next, compute the tangent of the slope angle (where the angle is in radians). Use the "tan" button on your scientific calculator for this. Next, multiply the result by 5280.0. The result is the number of feet by which the slope will rise, over the course of a mile of flat distance (i.e., as might be measured by a GPS). For small slope angles, you can probably just approximate calculating the tangent tan(x) with x - (x^3 / 3), where again, x is the slope angle in radians.

Wazzumountaineer, I have a pair of straight-shaft BD Shrikes, and a pair of bent-shaft BD Shrikes. Both are great. It is nice to have the tools all using the same type of pick. I'm not into mixed or really steep stuff like WI5, so I can't say how these tools would perform on such routes. But they are great for Cascades mountaineering and moderate water ice routes in Colorado and Washington. I use the bent-shaft tools for waterfall ice, and the straight-shaft tools for mountaineering. Only down-side to the Shrikes is the somewhat lame "tongue-and-groove" system through which the pick is attached to the tool. Requires seriously torquing the bolt in order to get enough clamping action on the pick to hold it steady. The two-bolt systems used by other manufacturers (e.g., Grivel) are better, in my opinion. Still, the Shrikes are relatively cheap and are reasonably lightweight.

Thanks for the info! :-)