Buckaroo

good TR, can feel the wetness, have experienced the crotch douche first hand spraying off a rap device and the special effects in the vids are kewel, makes it look like it was taken with a camera phone. I say it's always better to get out no matter the conditions, but sometimes it's sort of like fun... but not.

yeah, your going to have to take fri and mon off too, so you can drive there and as soon as you get there turn around and drive back so you can go to work. Plus I don't think the Titons are in condition this time of year. but it doesn't matter cuz if you only have 2 days you're not even going to get all the way there before you have to turn around and come back.

Sweet TR! Man you guys were on some steep smooth slab there at the end. but I think you had the camera tilted wrong so I fixed it for you

I've actually found this is pretty good training for ice climbing, you're not swinging for sticks but you are working some of the same muscle groups and the foot work is similar also.

I'm not sure if it's an old quarry, it seems like just a crag about 30m high. Right by the Squak Mtn connector trailhead across from a gravel yard, about 1 mile north of the Wilderness Creek Trailhead. It's bolted but usually just top rope, there's about 4 lines side by side. It's climbed more often as a dry tool than a rock climb.

It was nice climbing with you guys!

Anybody wanna go? It's close by on hwy 900 between Issaquah and Renton you need regular waterfall ice gear that you don't mind getting a little dull, but it's not that bad, softer than granite. you should probably be able to climb WI4, it's got a steep step at the top. rain or shine but the forecast looks okay, probably get there 8 or 9ish.

spot on, LOLZ!!!! This you knows. The years travel fast. And time after time I've done the Tell. But this ain 't one body's Tell. It's the Tell of us all. And you got to listen it and 'member. 'Cause what you hears today, you got to tell the newborn tomorrow. I's looking behind us now, into history back. I sees those of us that got the luck and started the haul for home. It lead us here and we was heartful 'cause we seen what there once was. One look, and we knewed we'd got it straight. Those what had gone before had knowing of things beyond our reckoning. . . . . .even beyond our dreaming. Time counts and keeps counting. And we knows now. . . . . .finding the trick of what's been and lost ain't no easy ride. But that's our track. We got to travel it. And there ain't nobody knows where it's gonna lead. Still and all, every night we does the Tell. . . . . .so that we 'member who we was and where we came from. But most of all we 'members the man who finded us... ...him that came the salvage. And we lights the city. Not just for him... ...but for all of them that are still out there. 'Cause we knows there'll come a night... ... when they sees the distant light... ...and they'll be coming home.

Make sure to take a snow shovel and plenty of fuel in case you get stuck in a snow cave for a week.

interesting thread on rockclimbing apparently Seneca has sharp edges it was the 3rd pitch on a brand new rope. new ropes don't just snap, people are guessing it was cut. The belayer said he never felt the fall come on the rope. However a guide went up the next day and didn't think there was any sharp edges that could have cut the rope in the immediate vicinity of the fall. that said no-one has mentioned edge ropes. I got my first Stratos (Edelweiss) for the Salathe in '99. Just bought another one last month, it's called the "Sharp" now. Only available in a 10.5 single or 9 double. It's got a monofilament middle layer that slips over sharp edges. It's no guarantee but better protection than a non-edge rope. Apparently though UIAA is not conducting edge tests anymore, some problem with repeatability. then someone comes on the thread and says Bluewater ropes cut easier.

trundling is hella bad mountain karma

Well it does have the dual carcinogen plastic water bottles and it does have the zippers that last almost a week. But I don't know if I'd like the camo, I mean isn't it bow hunting season? You could get shot or something. and it's not properly named either, to pump up sales it should be the Remington Big Dong Backpack. Those people in marketing are too timid.

Read "The Endless Knot" by Kurt Diemberger, makes The Savage Mountain pale to insignificance. Curran was at the base, Diemberger was in the high camp when everything went down. Fifty Favorite Climbs Himalayan Climber, Doug Scott Heroic Climbs, Chris Bonnington Eiger Dreams, Krakauer The White Spider Kiss or Kill, Twight The Endless Knot, Diemberger Mixed Emotions, Child My Vertical World, Kukuczka All 14 Eight-Thousanders, Messner

according to 50 Classic Climbs summit day was really cold and windy and Canali's feet (or toes?) got bad frostbite, but he got lucky at the hospital and didn't need any amputation. They were really sketch getting him down, it happened near the summit. His feet were swollen and Alippi gave him his bigger boots. Alippi then put extra socks in his bootcovers but couldn't wear crampons. Canali fell at some point and Cassin held him by self arrest. In the final Japanese couloir they were hit by a powder snow avalanche but it didn't take them down. The weather cleared and a plane was able to fly him out.

Cassin thanked Washburn for his photos and help on the Cassin Ridge on Denali by giving him these photos of the climb. Washburn recently donated them to the AAC and they've put them on flickr. before LED headlamps before curved ice axe picks before gore-tex before plastic boots and before helmets Cassin on the Cassin ENJOY

You need to climb a big wall, something like this wouldn't even cross your mind. If it was a first ascent or if it was a 5.13 and you were one of the few to do it maybe it would be an issue. But if you could have climbed it with or without the "aid" then why worry about it.

""how is he attached so that he doesn't have to go back and undo himself. He can just pull the rope, pop, the bag comes off and he's off the anchor."" Just guessing but it looks like the rope is tripled. IOW he's got it set up like a rap for the belay, with 2 lengths of the rope. So he does the lead then pulls it like a rap. Then another length of the rope, presumably the end is going to the pack and it's on a fifi hook. After reading his blog TR. He's tied into the middle of a 7.5. That's a twin. So he leads with it doubled in a self belay. Tied into the middle, then the rope going through a ring at the fixed belay and back to a belay device at his harness, (gri-gri?). he also mentions solo aiding with 2 pieces in at all times, so climbing with 3 pieces. But that's aiding, where you are essentially top-roping on each piece, no slack like free climbing. If Colin does it, it's probably because it's the fastest way. Climbing mostly easy ground with short harder sections that need a belay but not the time consuming full rope solo belay.

""Help me out re: a lead fall on this one. Do you die instantly or you suffer first?"" Actually it would be a clean fall cuz it's dead vertical but I don't ever climb to fall on ice so I wouldn't know what happens. I think in this pic it was in gift conditions, while still grade 5 it was continuous, it's usually got a thinner section where it thins to the right.

the one on the right

""Is it worth the "RISK"? I now it is worth it for speed."" depends on the climb. Sometimes it's safer to be faster, like when climbing under an ice cliff. If you pitch it out maybe that slows you down to where you need bivy gear. So the extra weight slows you down even more. There's also a little piece called a Wild Country Ropeman. A mini ascender placed on key pieces that keeps the follower from pulling off the leader, Colin uses these.

I like Tvash's list but would substitute the down parka for synth Mammut with puffy hood and the pants and rain pants for Marmot bibs.

It might be poor team management to allow someone to take off on the first rap not sure they knew where they were going. (dehydration could have contributed to this error in judgement) And going in the wrong direction on rap is a mistake but forgivable. Climbing without working prusiks is not. Furthermore not having a pursik on the brake side of your rap setup is just about as bad. What if she had been knocked unconscious when she pendulumed into the open book? Brake hand lets go and she slides off the end of the rope. Just the other day at the base of Godzilla met a couple of climbers that barely even knew what a prusick was, much less had them on their harness or knew how to tie them. I used to be nonchalant about a prusik backup until I slid part way down an icy rope on a free hanging rap. Never again, that's your life sliding through your brake hand, how about some backup. Part of the problem is as mentioned, a sling prusik that doesn't work in optimal fashion. Well it will if you experiment with the number of raps and such beforehand. This all needs to be done on the ground, finding the correct diameters and number of raps and such, before you get in a situation like this.

Have seen the old style TCU's bend over backwards from poor placement. Have seen a Camalot axle bend when dropped off the Nose. Don't think modern cams are going to micro-fracture from being dropped unless they get bent. But if they bend any at all they should be retired. (not counting cable stems) The broken cams in the pics are Omega Pacific, they already have a history of breaking but shouldn't be compared to the other major manufactures as they are an inherently weak design.

They've invaded our back yard, the Via Ferrata gang ohhhhh noooooooss!!!!! [video:youtube]

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