chris

In Asgard and out Snow Creek. The car shuttle shuffle isn't too hard.

Can people remind me what was shotcreted along the railroad tracks in the Whistler-Squamish corridor?

For climbing, supertopo's forum seems to be the most inclusive, though it still focuses most on the Valley

Here's another hypothetical. Say a multipitch route was bolted and graded "X" by the FA team. When the FA team is interviewed, it turns out that they bolted it so sparingly because that was the total number of bolts that they had at the time. When someone comes along and asks for permission to retro-bolt it, giving the route an "R" rating, one member of the FA team says "Sure!" but his partner in history says "HELL NO!" Do you need both member's permission to add bolts?

Are there any other ways to access the bluffs?

I plan on keeping them.

I have large to Xlarge hands .. love it .. I will agree that with a heavily insulated glove on, the clearance between the Horn and grip is a bit tight but not a real problem I agree too. I did some window shopping this past winter, and even with my big hands this is the pair I'm buying in the fall to replace my cobra's.

rant: to harangue; a loud bombastic declamation expressed with strong emotion ahhh, I feel better now. thanks for listening

My rant: One of the most beautiful things about climbing, in all its disciplines, is the lack of official judges. OK, professional climbing competitions have judges. But in our sport we are judged by our peers. Or are we? It appears that our ranks are filled with armchair wannabe’s, who are allowed – hell, even encouraged – to voice their opinion on forums like CascadeClimbers.com. “Soloing is an unacceptable risk.” “I would never do that to someone else.” “That’s a death route, only done to chest-beat.” “The objective hazard is unacceptable.” “You didn’t take enough gear.” “That practice is unsafe.” Well, fuck you. I didn’t start climbing to win the acceptance and friendship of wankers like you. I started climbing to challenge myself, to my fucking standards, and not the standards of some fucking committee and certainly not to the standards of some bloody assholes that wouldn’t stop for a moment, take a deep breath, and consider the possibility that someone may do differently. You don’t like what someone else is doing? Than go out and do it different. You don’t like that route? Then go climb something else. You think that a discipline, a route, a face, or a mountain is unsafe? Than don’t go there. You think the risk is unacceptable? This sport, in all of its manifestations, is defined, driven, and progressed by the acceptance of risk, and by those who are willing to accept more. If that level of risk is beyond your envelope, than accept that fact, be happy with your own accomplishments, and move fucking on. But the last thing you should be doing is criticizing the decisions of other who accept more risk than you. Who should qualify as my peer? Who gets to pass judgment on my actions, whose opinions actually matter to me? Feel free to speak up if you think you’ve done something similar or something bigger. I’m willing to answer questions, clarify statements, and accept judgment from my betters. The rest do not qualify, and you do not get to pass judgment on me. You opinion is neither asked for, cared about, nor does it contribute to the conversation. If you haven’t climbed in the discipline, made similar decisions, accepted similar consequences, or have all the facts, and still insist on throwing in, you are a fucking bloody stupid fucking wanker. OK, rants over. Piss off.

Yeah, even with your icefall. What's acceptable or not is decided by my climbing partner and I. Phil, you're not invited.

Loren and Jens, Congratulations on a great adventure! Since your route is a Grade V, I believe it qualifies for an entry in the AAJ. Please consider it.

How's that Chirp? Feel better?

Petzl ProTraxion 's!!!

Thanks,Marcus but I'm really looking for clarification of this space hauling concept, not standard wall hauling.

Yo moderators - can we break this into a new thread from post #577823 (Mike's first post about the new article).

exciting How would you set up a mechanical advantage system that would let you do this? I can picture a simple 1:1 system, but I'm having problems moving past that.

In the latest copy of Gripped, Tommy Caldwell recommends "space hauling" using a 20-30' line and the wall hauler backed up. Can anyone clarify what he's doing for me?

Why's PNW climbing so great? I count my blessings every time I think of Iowa. Or Missouri, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Wow, thanks for the information, Joseph. Mine are 3 years old. I did take some full fledged 15+ foot falls this winter on a few of them without notice, but I was starting to consider replacing them anyways. I'll be happy to mail you a stack of dyneema slings next time your doing a test set.

OK, some I'm trying to get thumbnail images of my photos in the Gallery onto my trip report. I can ling the location, but it doesn't show the actual picture on the post. If you've read my posts you know that I am seriously challenged by modern technology, polysyllabic words, multi-tasking, and basically any writing that doesn't include spell-check. Let's assume I have difficulty following lego instructions. Please give me clear, simple, step-by-step instructions on how I can make this happen.

Wow, can't believe I read through all of that. Can't believe even more that I'm posting too. Sick fuck that I am. Just as its unsafe to run-out a pitch just because its easy for the leader-instructor, it is also unsafe for a leader-instructor to inappropriately sew-up a moderate or easy crack. Both instances set a poor example to participants-students. Speed is safety, and a proper balance of risk with movement needs to be discussed, shown, and experienced. I have personally witnessed several instances where the Mounties overly conservative approach to a practice increased the level of risk instead of mitigating it. I think that the Mounties are great at teaching technical skills, but are weak in teaching judgement. Judgement is gained by experience - the more experience you obtain, and evaluate afterwards, the better your judgement becomes. That's why a NOLS or OB course mountaineering or rock climbing course is four weeks long - to give the participants time to learn the techniques, build some experience with a bank of climbs, develope some judgement by evaluating the experiences, and then repeat the cycle two or three more times. As a non-member (and not likely to become one), I have no idea what the Mounties instructional processes are like. But they seem to need to either a) introduce the idea of evaluating experience to develop proper judgement or b) require their beginning and intermediate members to gain more experiences before instructing.

I own the Grivel Evolution - equivalent to the Venom, and paired it with a Grivel AlpLight hammer. I was able to climb with North Couloir on North Peak in the Sierras (solid AI3) with no problem. Its a great pairing if you know you have to do some glacier travel and some low technical ice. Other routes I'd tackle with these tools: the North Ridge and Coleman Headwalls on Mt. Baker in late conditions, Liberty Ridge on Rainier.

Blake I'd argue that Washington as a state isn't a sport-climbing destination. Sure, there are several crags, but none of them are worth writing home about. If Eliza is actually on a climbing road trip and has some destination flexibility, I'd recommend heading south to Smith or north to Skaha instead. But if she's here for short visit, is a competent and experienced multi-pitch climber, and wants to check out what all the fuss is about for herself, than IB is perfect. An hour from downtown Seattle, 20+ pitches, looooonnnnggggg. Let's not hijack this post.

The climb is great for the length and exposure. Unless you stay right behind them, I would never climb this route with another party. Though a two-team ascent could be ideal - with two teams and 60-70m ropes you'd have the two ropes you need for the rappels. Since the climb goes right up the center of a large bowl, and crosses a large and loose 4th class zone, every rock crying "freedom!" gets funneled right at climbers on pitch 14 or lower. Two 60 meter ropes are mandatory for this climb - 70meters would be even better, as some of the rappels are rope-stretchers, and the fourth class route-finding crux of the route requires a little mandatory downclimbing on big bivy-type ledges above a big drop. Eliza, please excuse the initial response. IB has gathered some conflict, if you couldn't tell by some of the crotchety replies. Some local climbers are upset that the climb breaks with tradition in the Northwest, and other user groups were upset initially with the work the FA team took to establish an approach trail. We've had this conversation before. IB is worth climbing, even if some of you are too slow and cranky to check it out. You should be ashamed of recommending EXIT 32 or 38 instead!