marcus

...bivied at saddle directly above my right hand(appears left in photo)...

I've got a pair of Koflach Verticals, size 12, available on the cheap that might work(they're pretty snug)...pm me if interested.

Ah, emotions were high that day in the Brotherhood of the Bandana, clambering to the sky...

It specialises in blurry photos taken from miles away with few actual route names, topos or useful beta - including essential descent info - all done in the name of 'preserving the spirit of adventue'. Kesey's "Climbing and Hiking Wind River Mountains" gets a big

What's McKenzie doing climbing...and at the ripe old age of 30 no less?!

NWS 90-day climate prediction forecast is calling for above average temps and below normal precip...not a very good start! nws climatology

Climb: Nooksack Tower-North Face(Bertulis Route) Date of Climb: 8/28/2006 Trip Report: Darin(dberdinka)and myself hiked in to an awesome bivy with running water ca. 5800' on ridge. Recommend this over bivy sites at toe of route. Next morning 90 minutes across Price Glacier, contoured low to turn schrund on far right. Three belayed pitches off the deck to three simul-blocks and then three belayed pitches to finish. At P12 or P13 area we descended ledges west slightly in order to access "strenuous lieback crack" described in CAG - actually a loose corner(I think 'strenuous' refers to the mental aspect) that brought us to the upper ridge. Do not rap off slings on summit into wide couloir below! Instead downclimb ridge(150ft?) to first of many jinky rat's nest rap stations, trending first skier's left, then right. After about a dozen rope-eater raps, we came to the 'Beckey' couloir. To celebrate the ~1200ft of ice/neve we now had to descend, I launched one poon sailing into a bottomless moat and the other one bouncing down the couloir. It still seemed too easy, so with a couple hours of daylight still left we jammed one end of a rope into a moat so well we had to cut it. We rapped the rock band to the east, where a snow bridge across the schrund defied the laws of gravity long enough for us to scamper across. From there we did the One Poon Lindy Hop(Darin, thanks for the patient belay!) through slots back to our happy bivy. Gear Notes: Single set to 4", pins, stoppers and tri-cams.

Holy schmankies Wayne! Great go on that!! I think Mike might have to give the Freddy Award back to you now...

Awesome adventure fellas! And how industrious to haul up that antique camera to take those fantastic sepia-toned images...

Yeah, krazy lost in the supermarket! So hard to just pick and choose one route when you can climb three at once. But the climbing was kinda sexy out there on the right side...

Monday I climbed several pitches of some route off to the right of Dreamer, Safe Sex et. al. before traversing way left back into Dreamer. Old 1/4"ers on the slabs, otherwise some intermittent loose flakes and vertical schwacking. Does anyone know what line this is? Does it continue up onto the right side of GGB?? I lost sight of the line around P4...

If you wanted a leashless-specific alpine tool - that's what the BD Reactor is for. Nomics are just meant for play time peg-boarding at the Ice Park...

Right on my man! You're setting to be a regular out there...

Nice hikin' and clamberin' gents!! I think maybe the Baby Jesus put that icky rock so far from home in order to protect his little children from it...hmm? Good show...

How is the Emmons looking for a ski? Starting to open up a little bit - actually dropped a leg in a slot once - but looked much more appealing as a ski than a climb!!

Climb: Mount Rainier-Curtis Ridge Date of Climb: 6/19/2006 Trip Report: After viewing some pics of a big 'ol ice dagger hanging off Russel Cliffs last week and a relatively cool forecast in the works, we had reason to think things might still be good and locked up on Curtis Ridge...decided to head up and take a look. For a little cultural diversion on the drive up from PDX we stopped briefly in Woodland, WA for their "Planter Days" festival: muscle cars and farmer's daughters. Sweet inspiration! Sunday a.m. hiked from White River TH(Inter Glacier is still in great shape) passing Lib Ridge troopers en route until the broad slopes of lower Curtis opened up before us. Some cloud breaks and a little dead reckoning allowed us to gain the ridge proper through drifting cloud cover. We gained Pt. 10,284 and rapped west, hitting snow ramps and the occasional broken steps. Even found a trickle of water to re-up from and drink deep - a nice bonus to supplement our meager fuel. Continuing up towards the Gendarme we may have tried to regain the ridge crest a bit too early, as we ended up doing a funky downward-traversing 5th class ropelength to hit easier terrain and make the bivy site. Other options might have lain on the west side - grass is always greener... ...set up our happy little home on the bestest bivy ledge ever, brewed up and nestled down for a few... Monday a.m. was breezy, clouds were still in solid down below us. The chicken that lives inside my head also mentioned that an awful lot of rock(looking chossy...possibly zombie-filled?) was showing on that face up there that's already loosening up in the morning sun, mister. So I thought,"Yeah, I better go home...as soon as I climb this." Took the open book variation through the 1st rockband. An M5-ish kitty litter bulge at the start spit me off once, still clutching the 'good handhold' on the way down. The gulley above led to a short zigzag pitch: rightward up to a rock step, down a leftward snowramp and then back up a step onto the 1st snowfield. 2nd rockband routefinding was no problem. At the second snowfield we continued up toward the exit gulleys. Staying oriented on skyline features was helpful getting into the gulleys, as easier terrain appeared to draw us further right than necessary, back towards upper Willis Wall. Took a "GU-thirty" break one pitch below the exit, as we could see snow tailings whipping pretty good above. So much for alpine climbing...now its time for some good 'ol mountaineering! Shuffleshuffleshuffle...wheeze...shuffleshuffle...whippereffingwinds...shuffleshuffleshuffle...brilliantsun...shuffle...Imustbeonthemoon!! Anyways, after about 1700ft of that, we topped out the ridge and trucked down Emmons. Good times. Gear Notes: Light rack: 1 NOLSe 4 cams 4 stoppers 3 tri-cams 2 KBs 2 angles 3 shorty screws(2 woulda been fine) Approach Notes: no floatation necessary

Yeah, um...no need to actually fling yerself anywhere: with lighter loads(ca. 2-man kit with up to 2 days provisions) you can just tie in long(20' or so is fine) on the lead line and then jug in place on the haul line, thus raising the bags. With more substantial loads: you still tie in long and jug the haul line - but yer pardner also reefs on the line with you acting as a counterbalance. Always back up your wallhauler with a jumar regardless! They're awesome little gadgets, but they do fail on occasion. Flying piggies make for sad days...

Brand new, black...never worn! $100 firm (plus ~$5 S&H) PM me...

Goodness gracious! Look at all the 'techie-tech' talk clogging up this poor, defenseless TR... Um, the Grivel bungee works well for leashless climbing. Retracts to keep outta the way better than regular cord. Saw it in a photo of a gent who climbs harder than Jesus on a route that had repelled Titans...humbly asked him and he said "Thou shalt get the Bungee Thingee!" And I obeyed...leashless glee with no tool-droppy! For leashed climbing: I used cord from leash-to-pack for longtime too. A-Number One, Joe! Take your pick...Pepsi or Coke...Ashley or Mary-Kate!! They're both hot. Now be quiet. I'm sleeping...

Just rime - still to chilly up high for much melt/freeze.

Foretrex 101 is cheap(~$130), no bells and whistles to suck juice up, waterproof(ish) and just weighs a couple ounces. Haven't had any cold temp issues with it. Prefer simplicity of AAs(101) over rechargeable(201) for longer trips...

Aw, sandy-eyeballed goodtime fun - best thing about rime climbing: never have to sharpen your tools!

If you're rich: LaSportiva's Spantik is hella warm, and much lighter than their Nuptse. It climbs mixed terrain as well as any double boot can - better than the Koflach or Vasque boots. If you're on a budget: Intuition liners are the way to go, though you'll need a slightly smaller shell. What size are your feet? I have some ~12.5 US Koflach Verticals available...

Heading to Seattle Wed afternoon...anyone interested? http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/547809/an/0/page/0#547809 Post or PM me

If you wanna bring one screw...there's a place to put it. More of a Scottish affair(frozen turf, scrappy little corners) with some slab/snow climbing down low. Small gear mostly, with something up to 3".