Dane

Saw the credit. Nice work! I thought it rockkkkkedd!

Sounds so simple that it is often over looked. But finding a place on the ground where you can set up multiple anchor systems, place a lot of different types of pro and in different ways is very useful. Not very exciting but no worries about falling off and no ropes of aiders to fuss with that way. The better you can eye ball what is a good placement and the size of the gear needed to plug in the faster the real thing will be. Make the gear placements mindless by this kind of exercise and trad free climbing. Then you'll have more time and brain power to work on the "mess". The "mess" is the system you'll have to deal with. The easier that is to sort out for you the better. Placing good gear will be easy by comparison.

Both. Thicker (BD is trimming some of them down in new production) and different shape. Advantages to both styles depending on the boots you use. Good to have options.

great video, thanks. POJ here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nb-YMwqwW8 Retro Power Runout is worth a look as well. http://www.patagonia.com/us/tinshed/index.jsp?src=avl&avad=3057_af41509&netid=1&src=avl&avad=3057_c10046fd&netid=1

Since no one seems awake at the wheel how about we do it ourselves? Mark (rocketparrotlet) is serious and looking for good info on how to better his aid climbing. The posts below is a good start. There are others. But lots of guys here with tons of experience on walls that are willing to help out. Here is your chance to make cc.com a better place instead of the typical slit trench it can become. My suggestion is ignore the douche bag and add something useful.

None. The straps are intentionally added by BD because in Europe the biggest market share is Grivel. Grivel's need the loop to keep their bails on because of their unique bail design. BD doesn't but they sell a lot more crampons in Europe and Japan by mimicing Grivel on the bindings. Most of us just cut them off including the guy you asked about earlier Zach. The toe straps aren't aluminum but stainless steel. Which is why some folks are best added to your ignore list.

I gotta say by the looks of it on this thread (over the last few days) and its duplicate in spray, the forum owners and moderators seem to know and placate their real audience. Too bad as I think it just brings down the level of good info shared here.

I called our local store today..coupon number is good..seems to have been an emailed coupon. Good in store only and only on one full priced item. If you don't have the coupon, someone who does you can pass it around. Then take a printed version in with you for the 50% off. If not, I was told, just ask. If any women are looking for decent gear my wife says what she has tried on is really cut very well for a woman. With the hard core female climbers they have on board with the First Ascent gear I am not surprised.

"Any hints about how much and how consolidated the snow is up high" Lots and none...not a great week for anything alpine in a day trip from Seattle. Try Vantage and play it safe. I heard it was a new record for over all precip. Felt like it on Tiger Mtn today. I was looking to start my Arc in the morning.

much new snow on the approach in the last 3 or 4 days

No question a boot/axe has limitations. I would never use one to belay a leader. But it works great as a top rope belay on moderate ground. Like anything in the climbing world you need to know when the tool or technique is appropriate for your skill level and in what specific conditions. Great technique, easy to use and teach. Much harder to get the experience that tells you when to use a boot axe belay over other techniques. Two guys, CF and GS posting on the boot/axe giving seeemingly distinctly different opinions. If I was a beginner reading the comments I would think both opinions were pretty fringe and ignore the boot axe belay all together. Better I think for the beginning alpine climbers to learn the boot axe belay. Then practice it in a safe environment to learn the limitations of the technique and your own skill level. Boot/axe bealy aint much but some times you don't need much to make a big difference in the mtns.

thanks

Agree. 60cm straight shafted tool was my guiding axe everywhere except water falls. And I climbed a lot of water fall and steep alpine ice with that axe or a 50 cm model of the same. The boot axe belay is a lost art and shouldn't be.

Bill rocks!

I didn't know Joe past a few email exchanges. But he was always willing to answer any stupid question I had on some obsure route no mater where he was in the world or what he was doing when I asked. If you look through his Supertopo Alaska guide it quickly becomes obvious that Joe had one of the best Alaska climbing resume's ever put together. I really admired that...but even more I admired that he was always willing to share what he had experienced with anyone that asked.

Got this in an email a few minutes ago...hated to open it. "Joe Puryear died while ascending Labuche Kang (7,367 meters, 24,170 feet) in a remote region of Tibet." Joe will be missed. My thoughts to his friends and family.

Damit Frieh...don't be telling One of the more condition specific local climbs. Red line in full is typically not done. All the pictures are from that climb. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/854656/1 http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/872396/Re_Need_Dragontail_N_E_Coulior#Post872396 "John Frieh mentioned to me from his climb, "The M5 is easy too... more like M4." On our ascent I found two places got my attention while following, the beginning and the end of the upper headwall gully because of the lack of ice. In between those two points something more like WI 2+ or 3 and M3. Mixed grades are suppose to relate to rock. M3 being 5.7, M4 being 5.8 and M5 being 5.9. Obviously top roped, parts of it felt like 5.9 or M5 to me." Too bad no one else bothered with the intitial gully pitch or pictures. "Pro wasn't that easy to attain on our ascent and most that lead at a 5.7 level would have had their hands full in the upper gully." Our pictures of the full red line are from a couple of days after the video. That first money pitch is steep and looks like this from the belay....with no extra camera tilt. The photos here show the obvious place where the gully splits mid face..right hand snow is the green line in Ade's picture below and it continues around the corner to connect again mid head wall, 60m from the top of the gully. Left hand snow ends at the head wall and a hidden gully entrance where Craig is heading in this picture to complete the entire red line. The hidden entrance is the vertical step in the first picture of the thread with the nice pink granite block on the left. Above the initial "hidden" gully entrance on the red line you get a tight gully that breaks out on to a little arete and changes over to the right hand gully and a small snow field. The YouTube video shows this section clearly. The gully above again tightens down and gets more difficult as you progress. It finally opening a bit at the end becoming almost a face while still following a vertical crack and flake system. The ending is a distinct horizontal flat. I hooked both tools there, standing on rock with monopoints and peeked over, onto a easy angled snow slope with Craig comfortably sitting in belay. Daniel and Dave's pictures. N side traverse and up to the rap boulder and decent gully Daniel's video form the same climb as most of the pictures 11/24/08 [video:youtube] [video:youtube]

I have a pair of Primes that I just had fit. I suspect they will rock! Feels like a real ski boot. Great fit, nice flex, stiffer than I thought it would be but the number is 110. Buckle system is efficient and it walks. Well, they walk good for a ski boot. Everyone that has had them in hand has commented on how light they are.

Zach you are looking to cover a lot of teritory there. I use a liner, BD's heavy weight most every where till I have to use a warmer or more durable glove. Then I will use a lwt techncial glove of some sort. MTN Hardware currently, the Torsion..works, is very durable, easy to dry while you climb in them and they are cheap in the grand scale of things. Lots of options here from $6. on up to the $100 Mtn Hardware Pistolero. Then the Hydra weight with a long cuff for something warmer that I can still climb well in. Past that mittens or a REI lined Switch Back for more warmth. Climbing leashless you can generally go much colder with less glove. You'll be surprised. Thin gloves also allow you to hold on to your tools using less effort. I like gloves that will dry next to your body with body heat while you climb, that are breathable and if possible water resistant or beter yet water proof if they breath well. I also want real leather palms. Hard to place screws with a rubber palm as they are too sticky. I seldom change gloves these days during a full day of climbing. My gloves are more expensive now but they work better as well for the additional price. Beats going through 3 or 4 pair of gloves on one climb and still having cold. wet hands at the end of the day. But I will generally carry a spare pair of what ever I am climbing in and something warmer. So two spares. One spare (the warmer ones) if I am watching the weight. Four gloves weights . Easy to find something that will work in each catagory and in a price range that is comfortable for you. liner tech glove moderate warmth...mtn glove belay gloves

Good info Daniel, thanks. I am a big fan of matching hands on the same tool. I find it can be much more effecient for me on some terrain. I also use the high dagger position a lot on easier alpine terrain as a very secure position with little effort involved. I wouldn't be in any big hurry to get rid of your old Quarks if you can fit the new Petzl upper grip and use it to your advantage. As Jens mentioned the "trigger" has some issues and can result in torn finger tendons in cold weather. I'd be careful of using one. Very easy to over load your index finger and blow it out. I found the new Petzl piece to be easy to position and install. Once it is bolted tight it seems solid and fits a gloved hand very well.

Daniel I'll take the Reversos if they are the thin rope version. Send me your Pay Pal info.

Pick a line..any line.

You need this tool

Ice on Asgard...this can't be far behind.

No question on the YOU part. Just don't miss the obvious. The feet pictured above belong to a super fit, late 20s monster that does 5.12 trad on a sickly regular basis. He never seems to get cold, tired or even complain! Young and tough doesn't make you any less prone and more likely just the opposite from what I have seen. Most seem to pay better attention to the details and take fewer chances with their feet after the first experience 7000 feet elev. in the Cascades doesn't get that cold in comparison to some other places. I can think of several recent cases of minor frostbite to locals, Frieh, Haley, Cole. All were proceeded by and in part caused by dehydration. Dehydration causes the blood to become thicker and you simply have less circulation where you need it most. You want warm feet and hands??..drink more and drink often is my point. Wet boots? Obvious end result. Technical climbing in dbls? The vast majority of cold weather climbing will be in crampons...besides the extra weight there is nothing you can't do in a decent dbl that you can in a single. I am a big fan of modern lwt single boots. Guys like Rolando Garibotti (speed ascent of the Infinite Spur)and Raphael Slawinski (GCC in winter) have used them to good effect there and in some other really cold places. But the price for a "stumble" might be costly even with their level of experience. 3hrs on the Ferreri route no problem in Trango Extremes. 12hrs stuck behind a slow bunch of climbers and I'd be an unhappy camper in those same boots.