DanO

http://www.backpacker.com/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?act=Print;f=832107219;t=9991120946 Here is a link with a discussion about the Scarp tents if any is interested.

http://www.backpacker.com/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?act=Print;f=832107219;t=9991120946 Here is a link with a discussion about the Scarp tents if any is interested.

Hilleberg Akto, and big agnes seedhouse SL2, Even though the Akto is a one person tent, I cut pads to fit the whole bottom of the tent and the wife and I can fit in for a night or two. Can't beat it for us, but not roomy enough unless your a couple, maybe two small guys? I have not used any of the henry shire tents, there is a price to pay for being really lightweight,, at a good size. Maybe it would have done better with the lining? Realistically, when going out on purpose in really bad weather a more heavy, maybe less roomy tent would be the better choice? So on second thought, this could work for some mountaineering, but not when expecting the worst weather. I have found Sil nylon to be really strong, any tears? Scarp2 tent is big, I think the guys over 6 feet could use it and have a light tent. Thanks for the real life report. By the way I was out in the seedhouse 2 for a heavy overnight rain and slowly we got soaked the next day. The tent is small and the sleeping bags were against the sides and slowly the water seeped in and got in when we moved in and out of the tent. Also our clothes brought in the water and so on. I have found in general that the larger the tent the dryer, as you can keep clothing and gear and sleeping bags from the walls. I don't fault the tent, it is what it is , a light weight tent , small with the thin strong material. I would not want to be in any kind of light tent like this for long time in bad weather. The Akto would be a better choice, but even smaller. I would trust the Seedhouse in a pretty good storm, but not full on winter storm. It is what it is.

http://www.tarptent.com/productsheets/SCARP2.pdf http://www.tarptent.com/scarp2.html MADE IN THE USA! I would have gotten this tent rather than my last two tents if I had known about it or it existed.

http://www.epicski.com/forum/thread/57090/how-to-self-arrest-head-first A link showing how to self arrest with ski poles, basically you put the pole inside of your armpit and put all your weight into it. Will not work on ice, actually works pretty well on somewhat steep snow, be sure to practice. You may be able to dig in one boot toe with the snow pole self arrest method. You can self arrest with your body alone if you use cupped hands at your face, dig in cupped hands and elbows and dig in toes hard, works on soft snow pretty well. I thought I would throw this in the thread for those who would like to use ski poles and don't know how to self arrest with them. Practice!, I try to do so once a year. By the way you do not have to put your left hand all the way at the top of the pole, if the pole is too long it works well by grabbing the pole down lower around the shaft.

Go to all the climbing stores and try on all the boots, buy what fits the best, REI has great return policy if your a member, you can bring them in a month later if they are trashing your feet for a exchange. Dan

I will send a prayer for him. And I don't pray that much. Dan

Went to Bellingham YMCA climbing gym this sat, day pass is 7 bucks a day, a option for bad weather days. Dan

I have just recently started taking oil supplements for my knee and having positive results. So just a reminder or a heads up check out oil supplements for injury recovery. Borage, Flax, Primrose, these are the big three to try out. There are some mixtures of the three that said to be better. Check out at the heath stores and good luck. Can make a real difference in all kinds of joint injuries. Dan

I think I would be interested as well, maybe my wife also. We climb a lot year around. I find the best training for climbing, is climbing, even rock climbing with hiking etc translates well. Shoot for some day trips or weekend trips. I also want to do Whitehorse this spring and a lot of other climbs. Dan

Any recent news on the recovery? Dan

Because of the knee, hard fast training is out, I can only do moderately paced peddling at steady pressure. I find I can get some sweat going and get a good leg work out, but it does not hit the lungs much, the best I can do. But after a 45 minute workout my legs can be surprisingly sore for at least two days. After a few months of this my legs may adapt, I suppose with hiking with a pack that this will make great cross over training. For anyone interested, what I do is put on a moderate pressure setting on the bike then I do half the time down lower where my knees raise up to around horizontal. I am careful during this period as it puts more strain on the knees, Then I do half the time setting with the seat two notches higher. I find this hits a broader range of muscle groups. I find that if I lubricate the knee by a caster oil wrap this also helps the knee and healing. This is a treatment that works on knees and other parts of the body. Go to the health store and ask about a wool wrap and castor oil. You wrap the body part, knee, ankle, whatever with the wool wrap with castor oil on the body part, use kitchen clear plastic wrap over the wool wrap-saturated with castor oil. The procedure I am using currently. Wrap the knee for about 15min(Castor oil Wrap), then do the stationary bike, then after that ice the knee. Works pretty well. The knee is a long time injury, I think it is slowly getting better and as long as I don't overdo it the bike workouts actually seem to help it. I posted this to give someone else a idea if they wanted to try it out. As for translating to mountaineering, I am wondering about that, shall see, has to help I think. Dan

We got a stationary bike a few months ago, I have been hitting it about thirty to forty five minutes several times a week. Would do it every day but I find I need the extra recovery time. I am surprised on how a good workout it gives me. Pretty convenient as I do it watching TV in the spare bedroom in the evenings. I feel my legs getting bigger and stronger. But I don't feel like it translates totally to the hiking motion with a pack. I wonder if any here has done the stationary bike workout and how well it translates to mountaineering? Any suggestions on the best length of time for the workout? I can't hit it too hard as to baby my bum knee along. Dan

I am not new to climbing, but new to spring and winter accents in the cascades as a leader. I have looked at whitehorse to climb sometime in the future, maybe this end of winter and spring. I looked at the standard route and the glacier route. I checked the general avalanche forecast for the region and it looks pretty good as far as I know, a 1 for less than 5000 feet and a 2 for above 5000 feet. I not planning to do the climb this weekend as I am tied up Sunday, but would you consider it a green light as far as general avalanche danger and weather conditions? What else should I consider? I know about snow loading in general but not sure how to apply this exactly on this climb. Is there a check list procedure? Thanks Dan

To solo down a 70 degree slope with only a mountaineering ice axe, if you had one, would be very difficult and very risky at the least. I am sure his partner and other climbers did all they could. Condolences to family and friends.

Never been to that mountain or spot, I imagine to solo down it would have to be suicidal before I would not do it, to get to a partner. Goes to show that self rescue is the best option or at least set up camp around a injured party, if at all possible. I have been thinking to bring bivy gear, even on day trips just for such a accidental, for in case. Belay coat and half sleeping bag, light stove and pot for water. Helo rescue is great, but depends on good weather. Dan

I have a Walrus 4 man tent in very good condition, it is a three to four season convertible tent, to buy a tent like this one new would be around $400, Sell you this one for $200. Good for group climbs or tent camping or base camp, a true four season tent, weight is around 10 pounds. Have a 2 man Coleman peak 1 tent in like new condition $75, it's a three season tent. Weight around 5 pounds. I have an older two man walrus four season tent, good condition except the poles have some cracks in them, I used it like this with no problems myself, the weight is around 6 pounds. $125 I have a well used walrus one man micro tent, used a lot in tent camping, will sell for $50, weight around 3 pounds, much better than a bivy sack, but more weight. I have a Kelty Noah tarp, used maybe once, don't know the price new, sell for half of new price. I live in Mount Vernon about 1.5 drive north of Seattle, phone number is 360 333 3709 Email, wretyduf@rocketmail.com Dan

Good clean fish, a few bites a day including the bones will help the healing process. I myself eat a little salmon often out of the can. I get salmon canned in BC, as the wild salmon from Alaska is often canned spoiled it seems to me and often the other is fish farm. I am getting lately the wild catch canned Salmon from BC. I find it in the Mount Vernon Co op. I am at age 41 and one hard climbing trip to the gym a week is all I can handle and heal back up from. When your younger it is hard to believe that a injury can stay injured for forever and ever. As the above says, it is best to make a full recovery. You can push it and really be screwed up for a life time. So heal up totally, and then start to train carefully. Dan

The City of Anacortes will no longer require instructional climbing groups on Mt. Erie to provide the City with a hold harmless agreement, proof of insurance, or participant waivers. Thanks from me at least, this seems like a great positive step for the climbing community. I climb and hike often on Mount Erie and want to contribute to taking care of the mountain while allowing access. I will tread lightly and pick up any trash that I may see, but to date I have seen none that I remember of. Good show. For the next generation of climbers let us enjoy the outdoors and be good citizens. Dan

The City of Anacortes will no longer require instructional climbing groups on Mt. Erie to provide the City with a hold harmless agreement, proof of insurance, or participant waivers. Thanks from me at least, this seems like a great positive step for the climbing community. I climb and hike often on Mount Erie and want to contribute to taking care of the mountain while allowing access. I will tread lightly and pick up any trash that I may see, but to date I have seen none that I remember of. Good show. For the next generation of climbers let us enjoy the outdoors and be good citizens. Dan

On the back side of the face your looking at last post there is a road to a trail. The trail leads to the top and there is a register. I walked along part of the face, I wish I had a gas powered hammer drill and bolts. I would like to put up a few routes. Of course it is covered in algae and junk. There is a way to drive in, but I have not found out how yet. I have been biking in. There is a creek at the bottom at the face for water for camping. You can actually drive up and then could have a fairly short hike to the face at a couple three places. There is no trail that I can see of to the bottom of the face. No signs of it being developed. I am sure it can be trad climbed as is with long run outs, but I would rather have a bolt gun of some sort, sort of chicken of massive fall potential. Maybe a good route or two of safer trad routes?, have to look harder. A lot of potential. Dan

In walker valley there is a thousand foot cliff face on bald mountain totally ripe for development. The area is a logging area so I doubt anyone would care about climbers, climber trails and bolts and so on. Would be sort of silly considering the vast tracks of logging clear cuts and bulldozer created logging roads etc. But who knows for sure in today's world? Anyway As things are going climbers will have to expand into other areas. The cliff face looks like prime climbing real estate. As far I as I know virgin, a once in a lifetime opportunity. Dan

It seems the war against drugs was a flop so they are going with a war against climbers. No doubt that will be more successful.

I suggest you try both methods, my method of using two balaclavas or a ski mask and a balaclava is not that common. What you do is carefully put the two on so you have just a small eye slit to see through with your eyes. In use you can adjust for wind if you like, if one side of the face is getting all the wind you can make that slit small on that eye and larger on the other eye out of the wind. I personally find that I sweat so much that I am effectively blind because of all of the frost on the inside of the goggles when I use goggles. If nothing else you will have a backup method if you or a party member loses their goggles. Dan

Think serious, two layers of anything should work fine if you have a hood on a belay jacket that works well(or also good hood on gortex jacket). If no good hood on belay/shell jacket think really good balaclava and another layer like a thick ski mask. Remember the wind can gust over a hundred up there. Dan