Paco

In general I prefer to use a 30M half rope. I think mine is around 8.5mm or so. Half ropes are plenty strong enough for glacial travel. I like using a 30M rope for glaciers in the Cascades as most of the crevasses are not very wide. I think that for Rainier a 30M rope would be a bit short, but I suppose it depends on what route you are doing, etc. Short and skinny ropes can save a lot of weight, but they definitely provide less flexibility when spacing people or when setting up pully systems. Also, if a pitch needs to be belayed or rappeled, you are pretty limited as well.

This winter when ice climbing in the Canandian Rockies I simul-rappelled many times when climbing as a threesome. The first two would rap with a backed up anchor, then the third person would rappel taking the back-up out. It worked out really well in this situation. If there were two climbers, it is probably better to rap individually. Needless to say extra care must be taken when simul-rappelling. If one person raps off the end, then both people are screwed. Also, care must be given when weighting and unweighting the rap lines so the lines don't slip, or so the other rappeler doesn't fall when the other end is unweighted. Climb, and rappel, safe!

Just bringing this one back to the top. Billygoat, did you head up there yesterday?

So where are we boozing, Wedgewood or downtown? My vote goes Wedgewood.

I passed on tagging the summit. After climbing up and over the ridge I just decended down the other side. Come to think of it after all of that I didn't even think about going for the summit from the south side.

This weekend was the weekend. I wanted to end a six-week period of profound inactivity and I wanted to do it properly. I was super-motivated, something which had not occurred over the last six weeks. I wanted to do something long and moderately difficult. I wanted to do it solo. Triple Couloirs on Dragontail fit the bill. The climb was in good shape, and the weather for the weekend as forecasted was good enough. The plan was simple: climb triple couloirs solo in a single car-to-car push. I would leave work at 5:00 on Friday, head home, pack, eat, and get jazzed up on caffeine so I could make it through the night. I was planning to forgo sleep Friday night so I could climb through the night. So Friday rolls around, I leave work, and the plan is set in motion. Shortly thereafter I’m packed, fed, one cup of Joe down, and a liter of English Breakfast Tea is ready for the ride. I’m off. The skies are clear and there’s a half moon at 10:30 when I leave the car. I don’t have to use my headlamp until I enter the woods at the Colchuck/Stuart Lake trailhead. When I reach Colchuck Lake I notice that the skies are now cloudy. It’s still dark and will be for a while when I get to the base of the hidden couloir. About 100 ft. into the couloir my hands are cold. I’m still wearing my fleece approach gloves. It’s time to switch to the warmer pair. I take my pack off, pull out the warmer gloves, and, “Fuck!,” there goes one glove sliding off into the darkness. “Fuck. How far did that slide? I can’t tell. Fuck. Hopefully I’ll find that one on my way out. I’ll just have to use the thin fleece glove for my left hand.” After climbing maybe 1500 ft. or so I see what I think is the entrance to the second couloir. I head up this onto ice and neve. “Damn, some of this is pretty thin and not well bonded. Where did all this spindrift come from? Fuck, now I know why jackets come with hoods. Too bad mine didn’t.” Above this section I climb up a 200 ft. snow couloir. It ends in a rock band. “Fuck, this ain’t right. Let’s continue up anyway and see what we see. I don’t want to have to reverse some of those last moves if I can avoid it.” Up I go. “Damn, this is dicey.” I climb through, getting hammered by spindrift, and realize that there is no way I could downclimb what I just came up. “You’re committed now fucker.” Time to fail upwards as Mark Twight might say. There’s more spindrift. I continue up through a few more rock bands and snow patches until reaching the East ridge. From here I climb over the ridge through a small notch, and downclimb the south side for 200ft. of moderate snow, ice, and rock to lower angled snow slopes below. The climbing through the rock bands involved dicey mixed climbing. The rock bands were moderately steep and covered in any combination of ice, neve, or powder. All of it was thin, a lot of it was not well bonded, some of it was hollow, and none of it was good. Thankfully it turned out to be good enough. After heading down from Asgard Pass I traverse over to the base of the hidden couloir and found my glove. Sorry, no booty for you! Needless to say, Paco got a little more adventure than he had bargained for. I’m glad that I can tell you about it instead of the AAC in Accidents of North America. Have Fun and Climb Safe. In an attempt to figure out just where on the Northeast Face I climbed, I have put together my best recollection of what occurred. I climbed up the hidden couloir about 1500 ft. or so, and then followed a short couloir for about 100 ft. that angled off the hidden couloir at about 30 degrees. I passed a pink, weathered rap sling abandoned in the rock to my right near the top of this. Exiting this couloir involved climbing neve and ice for about another 100 ft. to a second couloir. This couloir headed straight up for about 200 ft. and ended in a rock band. I climbed the rocks to a snow patch that angled slightly up and to the left with another rock band above. I opted to climb the rocks directly ahead. I first tried climbing near the right hand corner, but this looked too difficult so I traversed left approximately 50 ft. to lower angled rock. I climbed this to second, smaller snow patch. Above this was another rock band that I climbed to reach a narrow snow patch that stretched horizontally across the face below the ridge crest. I traversed right about 30 ft. to the top of a steep narrow couloir and a notch in the East ridge. I climbed through the notch and then down climbed moderately difficult snow, ice and rock for approx 200 ft. to the lower angled snow slopes below. From here it was an easy downward traverse to Asgard Pass. The best that I can figure is that I climbed a line on the Northeast face above the hidden couloir that pretty much followed a direct plumb line from the prominent notch in the East ridge to the hidden couloir below approximately 100 to 200 ft. left of the second couloir of the Triple Couloirs route.

Just to set the record straight...I registered before you, made my first post before you, and have always used this avitar. I just haven't posted as many times as you. What's it matter anyway? Find me an avitar with a sketchy looking mexican in a sombrero smoking something and I'll start a new gang.

Yeah, I read the TR. Nice job guys. That info is four weeks old now and the weather has definitly changed the conditions since then. The weather reports and avy reports seem to indicate that the route would not be in good condition this weekend. I was looking to see if anyone had been in the area within the last week.

I'm back, not only back in Seattle as I have been for a month now, but I'm back and ready to climb again. I needed a month off to rest physically and allow the mind to wander. I want to send out a special thanks for all those who helped me out this winter making my winter adventures possible and also incredibly fun! In particular, thank you DPS for letting me store my stuff at your house for a little while. Thank you ehmmic for taking me to and picking me up from the airport, and letting me crash at your place a few nights. And thank you to all the people I climbed with, keeping things fun and safe....Mike, Steve, Todd, Linda, Phil, Eric, Michael, Thalia, Sara, Geoff, Brian, Mike, Paul, Jon, Michelle, and any others that I might have missed. Let the adventures continue, the mountains are calling again!

Anybody have any recent beta for this route?

And if you don't fear enough you die early. Edited to add snaffle.

Burn it!!!

Awesome! Hope to see you at a few more Pub Clubs, although I won't be able to make it to the next couple. Enjoy a few with the rest of the crew.

Not exactly what the mounties would tell you, but have fun with this one. The Ten Essentials Hey DFA, are you suitably equipped with the ten essentials? Wouldn't want you be unsafe.

I think the red tape route is "in" at the gym, although the route might not stay "in" for too much longer. Shouldn't be too much avy danger given the low elevation and overhanging nature of the wall. There might also be a yellow tape route in primo conditions right now, but you'll have to scope that one out yourself. The red tape route might get crowded now since everyone now knows that this route is "in" so you might want to get a alpine start.

Pretty much, but with Thermogenesis you also have the super high objective danger of the massive ice clifs that loom overhead. So even if you are skiing just fine there's the chance that part of the ice cliff would calve off.

INTJ - The Portrait of a Mastermind ...and I was waiting for the test to tell me I was a porn star

I was up there around a week and a half ago. At that time there was about 4-6 inches of snow on the ground and only a light dusting on the rock peaks. There was minimimal snow in the east face couloir of Cutthroat and no ice higher up. There were some frozed road cut drips along the north facing road cuts near the pass.

Highlights 1) Eldorado via Northwest Couloir (This was by far the highlight for me this year ) 2) Rainier via Emmons Glacier in 24 hours 3) Outerspace 4) Shuksan, ascent via Fisher Chimneys, descent via Sulphide Glacier 5) Lane Peak, all three couloirs last April/May, solo Failures - not making it to the fall rope up - a few failed attempts on Rainier - and a few others that I can't (or choose not to) remember right now Other highlights include meeting a lot of great people with whom I have been able to share the mountains with, and meeting some great people with whom I hope to climb with in the future. For this winter and next season....anything and everything! Have fun and climb safe. -Paco

Dan, It was great to share the climb with you. Glad we could have some fun in the mountains. Thanks. -Paco

The one line route description in the Beckey guide describes the route more closely to what we encountered than the Nelson guide indicated. Beckey says, "There are 6 to 8 pitches with snow and ice climbing ranging from 50 degrees to vertical." I have not seen the report from the 1987 AAJ of the first ascent, but would be interested in reading it. If it is short enough for someone to type up and post here that would be great. Or, if someone was willing to photocopy and either mail or fax me a copy that would be appreciated. Thanks. [ 11-05-2002, 08:53 AM: Message edited by: Paco ]

quote: Originally posted by Lambone: No offense guys, but I have allways been bewildered when experienced climbers lose a crampon on a climb. you hear the stories all the time, but i just don't get it. No offense taken. In fact thanks for posing the question. It made me think about it more last night. If I had lost my crampon lower on the route or while leading one of the steep ice steps I would have been up shits creek. My previous pair of crampons were Grivel 2F's with the toe bail step in bindings. These lock on to my scarpa invernos rock solid, and the strap stays tight. The problem with these crampons is that they ball up ridiculously well. So this season I decided I had enough of that and bought a pair of Charlet Moser super 12's with step in bindings and toe strap (not the steel toe bail). This was actually the second time these crampons came off a boot, but the first time it was while flat footing on low angle styrofoam snow with a soft leather boot. I passed it off thinking that it happened because the boot was pretty flexible. This time it came off my inverno, and I also noticed the other one was loose when I got to the belay! I've noticed that the strap on the Charlet Mosers doesn't stay tight well. I've had to keep tightening it on previous trips. Also, I don't think that my heels were locked in tight enough, although I did a little testing last night and it really doesn't take that much downward pressure on the front points to knock the crampon loose even with the heal locked in super tight. Some sloppy footwork can easily knock the crampon loose. The only thing that keeps these crampons on the toe is the friction between the boot and two front posts (generated by locking the heel part), and the toe strap. I think what happened is that during the climb the strap worked loose and then I knocked the crampon loose while kicking around on the route. I think from here on out I will be using only crampons with the spring steel toe bail with my invernos. I think this style locks onto the boot better and the strap is just there as a back-up as apposed to the toe strap variety where the strap is an integral part of holding the crampon on.

On Sunday Nov. 3, danielpatricksmith and I climbed the Northwest Couloir of Eldorado under beautiful skys. 7 1/2 pitches of snow and ice, with 3 or 4 short (12-15ft) steps of steep ice to keep you honest. The route was longer and more difficult than we had expected given the one line desciption in Nelson's guidebook of a staightforward couloir that steepens to 55-60 degrees at mid-height. Gear: -60m rope: we really stretched some of the pitches to get to good belay stances. I think we would have been SOL with a 50m. Retreat via rappelling would also be difficult with one rope. -4 screws (2 short, 2 medium): not too many screw placements, but did have one solid screw belay -cams: gold, red, green camolots, red alien (very useful) -full set of nuts -set of pitons w/ small angles, knifeblades, and bugaboos -lots of double length runners (we ended up girth hitching a few standard length runners) Notes: - We saw bear tracks on the snow - There were old footprints following the approach route to the couloir, but they faded out in the snow 3/4 the way there. Wondering if others have done this route this season. - The route is a lot more invigorating (and a lot more mixed) when one looses their crampon while following pitch 6. If anyone heads that way and finds a Charlet Moser super 12 crampon along the route or at the base it would be cool if you would retrieve it for me. PM me if you want additional beta, or have found my crampon . Otherwise, go out and have fun, climb safe, and take advantage of this weather. -Paco

Mr. Chips, you are an asshole.