Dane

Paul do you have time to come over? I know the drive is really shitty.....

I agree Ivan. I'd wondered about his motives when he bailed. Cricky though, I have to call my wife everyday when i am out now. If i don't make the evening call home she's not happy. It gets stressful for everyone. Me trying to make phone service and her wondering why the hell i haven't bothered to call yet. We are still trying to work that out after years of marriage and mutiple trips. So getting emails from your kids every night on a multiday climb that is beating you up physically would totally drain me mentally. With much more to come I understand it totally. Good on him for putting it all in print.

Although frowned upon there is pleanty (if you are careful) of room to walk down inside the tunnel.

I really like the Sportivas and had/have several but LWT is generally going to translate into not all that durable long term. From the Euro catalog, a little heavier but pretty much bomb proof. http://lasportiva.com/catalogue/catalogo.php?cat=1&cod3=338&Language=EN

Perfect PM sent.

Depends on what you want, "trigger" or second grip. A couple of other threads here showing both options people have added. Here is what I use, a Grivel slider cut down for a second grip much like my Nomic. Super solid fit and didn't have to cut anything on the tool. FYI, using a single trigger is a good way to tear a finger tendon if it isn't set up correctly, as is too using too wide of a "trigger" separating the fingers too much in the hand. More here: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/850660/Searchpage/1/Main/39259/Words/trigger/Search/true/Re_Viper_Strike_on_Quarks#Post850660

Skookum Falls...has to one of the best moderate climbs in the state. And less than an hr drive from my door step. Gotta love it Last year at the end of the cold snap. Ramp on top of the first pitch of the climb above (there are three Skookums) in typical snowed up condition. Starting the second.. Kevin?

Looks awesome! EWR has a nice wool one out now as well. http://www.earthwindandrider.com/home.php?cat=210

After seeing John Frieh's great TR and reading Becky's route description I figured "just how hard could it be @ 40 degrees and 5.7?" Like most of us here I would suspect. Ross sez of his ski decent in May.... Expect some 55+ degree snow climbing early in the season, short bits of WI2+/3 and finaly 2 pitches, with not a lot of pro, of solid 5.7 rock at the top of the route, in the best conditions, and you'll be better prepared for what you actually find.

Climbing conditions late Nov Skiing conditions late May A lot of rock on the entrance in Nov. I'm with Craig, it is pretty narrow. Ross still skied the entire gully. Places I couldn't get two feet side by side on ice while climbing it. Be more interetsing to hear Craig's and Daniel's take on the lead.

Climbing conditions late Nov Sskiing conditions late May I'm with Craig, it is pretty narrow. Ross still skied the entire gully. Places I couldn't get two feet side by side on ice while climbing it. Be more interetsing to hear Craig's and Daniel's take on the lead.

Nice solo and taking nothing away from Coldirons climb I'll answer for the the M5 comment. Top pic is one taken two days before our climb. The second from Coldirons's, 7 days later after a warm wet week and then a hard freeze. 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. 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. Note the pic of the the Patagonia DAS parka being climbed in? I also climbed the last bit in by Puff belay parka. Not something I generally do even in Canada. Alpine is all about getting the "right" conditions. In the right conditions this thing was skied on tele boards. These are from the upper gully two days apart. starting.. Middle.. From the previous post.. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/853017/1 "If you read Becky's guide this climb is rated a II 5.7 and 40 degrees. A 5.7 leader would be well out of his element on this one in similar late fall conditions. M4 or M5? The climbing was pretty sustained and poorly protected in the last, long, two pitches and harder than any M5 I have done at Hafner. Not all that much for pro, which most will want. Bring some thin pins. And a good bit steeper over all than the 40 degrees Becky has listed. It is a great climb however and more like something from Chamonix than what you'd expect to find in the NW. To be fair any mixed alpine route will change almost daily depending on conditions."

The basic design has been around for over 20 years now. Long before BD up dated it. I doubt it will be going away soon.

Ya it shows...the Direttissima under discussion is a 52.5 liter bag. Which, when full, is about as much as anyone ever wants to carry.

And Suck wins the $64K! Prime doesn't have the dbl rocker sole or sticky rubber of the Ice Evo....which is too bad. But the Prime (at least some of them) has a Goretex liner, better/more insulation and more tongue padding and a more user friendly lacing system. The Prime really is an updated Trango Ice Evo with simpler lacing system, a little more warmth and a little less weight . Great kicks for most everything but really cold weather.

Just glad BD doesn't design by the majority @ CC. Hard to screw up a rappel with this rig but if anyone could, it would have to be someone posting on an Internet forum. Since it isn't made to rap on. Limitations? It is after all a belay device not a rappel device. If you want to rappel, buy something else. From BD web site... "ATC-Sport A single-rope, sport-cragging belay device, the ATC-Sport is built using the rest of the ATC family’s time-tested design. This simple, lightweight, hot-forged device can handle a rope from 7.7-11 mm, and is designed with regular and high-friction modes for excellent versatility and holding/stopping power." Also works fine on thin, single ropes in the alpine when used as intended.

Guess I don't see your stress. The thing is for belaying on a single rope. Works well for that with no extra baggage. Cleaning anchors....doesn't your second do that with little or no fanfare? Decents can generally be rapped with biners or maybe even a walk off. Nope, you can't rap off it on a dbl rope and no you can't easily hang it off the anchor for a self lock. But then it is only a simple BELAY device not a 007 super ninja piece I've used an assortment of do-dads for that over the years. This one doesn't seem any better or worse than anything else out there. Guide ATC works well in some instances, as do others. But then I've been known to leave the ground with nothing but a rack and biners too. It is the walk offs that are giving me trouble these days

$200 for 4 hrs? Or $500 for two days?

I have one. I've used it. And it works fine for the intended purpose.....belaying on a single rope. Something a lot of folks do besides just the sport climbers at the local crag. Gazillion ways to rig a rap but this obviously isn't the piece of gear for most of them.

Nicely done!

Soft shells really aren't much different than a hard shell when it comes to layering. Out side temps and your work load dictate what is required to stay comfortable. Biggest advantage I have seen in soft shells isn't warmth, but breathability (easier to stay warm and dry while working hard) and more flexability from the clothing while moving.

Dorks Looks like winter out there to me...even though it is a low snow year with above average temps so far. The kind of year most of us dream about to get a lot of "winter" climbing in. Short approaches and no avi danger is a good thing. Nice climb, great pictures, good for you! Winter for me typically runs Thanksgiving through till Washington's birthday. Not like I am going to write Dec 20 to March 20 in stone.

More likely just freezing rain...

Cool, hu?! More here.... and a good video http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/canadas_wild_thing_gets_free_ascent/

Craig said: You won't need much if anything in the gully. We climbed a good bit of the headwall together with little pro looking for a decent belay. A 70 meter rope would help that. There was at least one fixed blade, a bug, high on the route.