Dustin_B

Thanks for the TR.

Cool, magic!!

Have you found any that don't? Its seems like all the ones I've tried (or that my friends have tried) all make you register.

I use www.snapfish.com. It works really well for me. Its free with one catch, you have to buy at least one picture/print a year from them or they'll delete your albums. Not a big deal though as the pics are $.20 or $.25 a piece and are good quality (assuming your digi pictures are....).

No need for axe or crampons whatsoever.

Also available at your local Best Buy for $20 where I picked it up a month ago....

Why all this talk of 6:1 system needed? If you have a 200 lbs climber you are trying to pull up, a regular z-pulley makes that 66 lbs. Plus some friction, say you are hualing 80 or 90 lbs out of a crevasse. I'd say an average climber working on adrenelene could haul that person out, no? Yeah, I know that is pretty damn heavy but it seems possible.

Climb: Sherpa Peak-West Ridge Date of Climb: 7/24/2004 Trip Report: This past Saturday, Tony, Ken and I climbed the West Ridge of Sherpa Peak. We left the Esmeralda trailhead at 7:30 AM and rolled into the 7,400-foot camp below Sherpa's south face at 1:15 PM. Not knowing what else to do, we decided to tag the summit that afternoon. Left camp at 2 PM, at the notch/base at 2:30 PM, on the summit by 6:30 PM, and back at camp by 8:30 PM to enjoy the sunset. The West Ridge is unremarkable and it’s definitely not a ‘classic line’ but it was still lots of fun. There are actually only two full pitches of climbing. The first needs to be split into two though because the rope drag is heinous (rap stations make good belays). The third and fourth “pitches” are actually just exposed scrambling. Although we pitched them out on the way up, we down climbed them unroped on the way down. The fifth and final pitch is the fun “crux” pitch (5.4). Final pitch; I'm sitting at the belay at the bottom of the pitch. Me leading the final pitch Balancing rocks on summit, way cool. Another cool shot of the balancing rocks from the descent Sherpa only sees about 5-6 ascents per year according to the summit log and we certainly didn’t see anyone around, which was sweet. I can see why, the approach is a little bit of work but not too bad, and there is not that much climbing. It is also a little loose. Awesome views of Stuart and the Stuart range plus a very cool balancing rock formation on the summit. There is a bit of looseness but pretty good pro. More experienced climbers can definitely solo this route. I did the West Ridge of Stuart last year and that is a better line but much longer. This had the best camp site of the year so far though!! Mod - can some one fix these pictures, I suck. Gear Notes: Medium rack; nuts, tricams, cams to #3. Water at 7400 foot level for probably another 2-3 weeks. Water at 6,200-foot level probably year round??? Had two ropes but did single rope rappels (x4) because of rope drag. Got poison ivy on approach somewhere Approach Notes: Follow trail for Cascadian Couloir on Stuart then traverse right and up a ridge at about 5000 feet (climbers path at times). At 5800 feet on the ridge contour around into the basin. Head for the Stuart-Sherpa col.

Ha, ha. W’s really going get under your skin during the next 4 years. Gonna be rough for ya!! loosen up dude and try not to take politics so seriously, you might be happier that way. Oh, right be a big man and throw my skis into a moat when I’m climbing instead of confronting me man to man. Sounds about right. Pussy.

How do you know I'm not writing this from my cushy office at the Republican Convention? Or on my laptop during a meeting with my Young Republican's Group? We have this durn internet thang all over the place... I think everyone here could see your response coming. Its very boring by now and not at all original Stop being so close-minded and open your eyes to the possibility that people with different opinions than yours exist.

Sawyer makes some stuff that keeps away flies too. They sell it at REI. see here sawyer products page also contains some other (probably biased) info on various insect repellants.

Okay so no more leaving rap slings in the alpine just because you aren’t a capable enough climber to down climb the route you came up right? And obviously no more bolts for rap anchors either. Oh yeah, not more clipping fixed gear for you either. This is ridiculous. Where does it end? All those trails are a damn eye sore too, as are the roads I can see from the top of the WA Pass peaks. If you don’t like the fixed lines don’t use them, or better yet, go climb some where else. Yeah, they are more of an eye sore than slings, no doubt about that, but I really doubt fixed lines are going to draw more people to do the route than without. If there was a handline up the gully to the Beckey route do you honestly think it would be more crowded? I really doubt it. The possibility of slipping in the gully doesn’t discourage people from going up there (although the possibility of rockfall might). I’m not saying we should have fixed lines strewn out across the entire north cascades but a thoughtfully placed fixed line here and there (especially at “alpine cragging” areas) is fine by me. PS – Scott et al: thanks for the beta on the new line, keep ‘em coming.

Lance's coach (name slips my mind right now) had some funny stuff to say about the Atkins diet when the TDF announers were talking to him. Guess he has a new book out about dieting or something. They asked if a TDF rider could be on the atkins diet and he kind of laughed and said that diet is for people who don't exercise. But we all know this already.

I was up on the south side off Adams that Sunday (11th) and saw nothing!? We left the trailhead at 5 AM and returned around 4 PM. How could we not have passed this rescue at some point? Very confused. We even skied down the south side. We did see the Tacoma Mountain Rescue trucks at the trailhead the night before though.

I did the WR last august and descended the CC. There was no snow except a small patch near the top of the CC. Any snow left then will be easily avoidable I would think. We didn't take either crampons or axes. You may very well wish there was snow there though for melting. We had to carry 4+ liters a piece from Lake Ingalls.

Sounds sweet! Thanks for sharing the beta.

Apparently Bush and Lance are good buddies. Bush thinks Lance will pull off win number 6. And W has even taken up mountain biking. What a damn cool president!! Yeehaw… Maybe next year he'll take up climbing! http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=1841042 President rooting for fellow Texan Associated Press ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE -- President Bush predicted Friday that Lance Armstrong will win the Tour de France -- and added with a smile that he will triumph in his own race for re-election. Bush fed his new passion for bicycling by watching the Tour on Air Force One's TV screens, rooting for fellow Texan Armstrong during a punishing stage through the Pyrenees mountains. Asked by The Associated Press whether he thought Armstrong would pull off a record-breaking sixth straight tour win, Bush flashed two thumbs-up. "He's going to win and I'm going to win," Bush said en route to Florida and West Virginia -- two critical states in re-election campaign. "There's no need to worry about either race any more," Bush said with a wave of his hands and a grin. Armstrong finished second in Friday's stage, leaving main rival Jan Ullrich struggling behind. He advanced the from sixth to second in the overall standings. Bush has been following the July 3-25 race since it started, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. The president gave Armstrong a ride aboard Air Force One in August 2001, after the cyclist won his third tour. Armstrong presented Bush with a bicycle he had used competitively during a visit to the White House. The day Armstrong hitched a ride on the plane, Bush had had his annual physical, which showed he had a resting heart rate of 43 beats per minute. Armstrong marveled at the statistics, putting his own pulse at 35. That was before Bush started bicycling himself. With his knees causing him increasing pain, Bush switched to mountain biking earlier this year. It's a different genre of cycling. Whereas Tour de France racers ride light, fast bikes, mountain bikers ride heavier, knobby-tired bicycles over dirt and obstacles.

Did any lurker guys show up and try to act macho in front of the ladies?

I wore my rando boots from car to car. I packed an ice axe but never used it. I had a whippet too though which I liked having. I talked to a guy about 50 feet below the summit on Sunday afternoon who had climbed up to the summit in sneakers, I wonder if it was ski photomatt as the guy I talked to had a whippet too. Was that you? You and another guy, the other guy on tele? I was stopped just at the top of the last steep portion below the summit waiting for my friends. I had skis on my pack.

Nice! I skied the standard route on Sunday and I have to agree that the snow right off the summit down to the false summit was the worst. It was just complete crap. Huge freaking sun cups! The glissaders were getting down at least twice as fast as me!! Fine snow was skied from about 10,500 feet down though. Snow line was at 6700 feet on the south side for those interested. I scoped a path on the way up that allowed us to ski an additional ~500 feet with a short 20 foot carry over a rock band. Stay far left after dropping into steep bowl (cresent glacier?) near the bottom.

Except you have no idea which area of exit 38 they'll be at. Most likely won't be at the trestle area since that is the first place all the guys will look for them ....

I'm afraid not unfortunately. At least it wasn't in the sub menus. Maybe there is a special trick to get to it though.

A true cc.com fanatic!! Posting a TR at 2 AM in the morning after getting back from a trip. Nice work Tony and Chris!

Touching the Void is out on DVD, picked it up on Friday at Best Buy for $20!!! It has 3 awesome 25-min featurettes included that are really freaking good. One is "the making of", one is "a return to Siula Grande...", and one is "what happened afterwards..." Go get it!!!

How low did the snow take you? How far did you have to boot it on dry trail on the way down?