Dustin_B

yes, I regret asking now but I wanted to see the discussion on the stress on pro while lowering vs. rappelling

just found it, never mind: here

Last fall after rope-up, there was a thread about an inexperienced female climber (forgot her name) falling (and nearly decking) while leading Sabre at Castle Rock. The thread had many people critizing her. It also had a good disscussion of the force on a piece of protection while lowering vs. rappelling off of it. I'm trying to find that thread but my search is turning up empty. Anyone know the name of the thread I'm referring too? Thanks.

Unfortunately he's not, I already asked him the same quesiton at one point. This may come as a shock to some of you in the PNW but W's approval ratings are pretty high right now (when you look at the country as a whole). Regardless of whether he wins WA and OR matters little. Am I joking? sort of, but all you anti-war protesting hippies make me sick. I'm not talking about anyone specifically (and not the poster of the question) but just the group as a whole. Now, if I thread drift anymore on my own thread, we're going to have to put this in spray.

Actually after looking at that thread I remember I have read it (and posted in it too). I was hoping for some more recent route conditions, that thread is 6 weeks old (I mentioned "couple weeks" in my original post!). Like with that warm spell we had last week, did the ledges get melted out much? Anyway, I talked to a friend who did it last year and got the technical info I was looking for. Thanks.

That would be a perfect avatar for me but I don't have a personal webpage to link it too.

My friends said I could post their TR so here it is.

Dammit, I did a search and didn't find anything. Thank you for pointing this out.

A couple friends of mine summited ~Dec 26. I'll ask them if I can post the email TR they sent. Basically they had an awesome time with good weather.

Anyone been up there recently (i.e. last couple weeks)? If the weather turns out nice this weekend we were thinking of giving it a go. IYHO, how much more technically difficult is this route over Ingraham Direct or DC? I've read/heard that it is steep(er) and (more) exposed; how long are these steep, exposed sections. I'm still a 'newbie' so I'm not looking to scare the shit out of myself, but I know people who have done this route with very little experience. What time of year do (most) people stop doing this route? Mike G: comments? Thanks for any beta. --Dustin

Then what do you use a cordelette for???

Thanks for the info. Sounds like just an ice axe (for the approach) would suffice if we run into any short stretch of ice on route. It doesn't sound like there is any need to bring a second tool, or is there? How steep does the "firm snow" get?

Has anyone done this route this time of year (i.e. just after Hwy 20 opens; I'm optimistic it will open soon)? How much snow/ice is typically on this route? Guesses for this year? What kind of pro; just rock pro or screws too? I know this is an easy rock climb in the summer; do you think there would be much mixed climbing this time of year? I haven't done much mixed climbing (well, none actually); is this a good first climb? Thanks for the help. --Dustin

I want a pole to keep the bivy off my face. I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of weight for this feature. The deluxe is the lightest single pole bivy I've seen.

An email a friend sent me:

Thanks. Sorry, I should have checked for a recent thread about this.

Do you have them; do you like them? (for general glacier travel). Any possibility of front pointing on firm snow with them? Thanks.

I think I'm going to buy one of these. Does anyone have any complaints or comments about this bivy sack? Thanks.

I got one from here for ~$50 US, but haven't yet tried it out.

I'm not familiar with the route but would you necessarily want to decend that route if you dropped a tool? Seems like under certain conditions/locations it would be easier to finish the climb with one tool then to downclimb with one tool? Also, Mattp, what gear did you take with you when you soloed liberty ridge?

Wait, what are you talking about? Oh, yeah, that sounds kind of bad eh? Just for the record I was referring to the regular raven

I also have the regular raven. I love it. As Trask says it feels nice in the hand. It is still relatively light too. I probably have a size to long though.

Just use the sling recovery method. Don't leave anything. Thats assuming you are not more than 1/3 the rope length up the pitch and that you are on a sport route. Otherwise you half to leave something...

A friend of mine has one and this one time she needed to get some purchase on a icy section but there wasn't enough head weight for the pick bite into the ice when she swung even when she swung very hard. I tired it out and had to swing really hard to make it stick. I imagine that chopping steps would be equally difficult. It is very light weight and feels nice in the hands, but realize it's limitations.