kurthicks

I have heard something about a new book as well. IIRC, it was going to be put out by the Mounties (or maybe Falcon Press) covering the Chimney Rock area and Eastern WA. No word on the date or author though.

ah, nothing too exciting thus far...plus the other TRs pretty much sum up how awesome the area is. In my last 2 trips up there, we did: Cascade, Grotto (both trips), Hers, Cobra Verde (disappointing), Finishing Hammer Gully (fun rambling solo), Louise Falls (fun pillar, but easy for the grade), Haffner, Guiness Gully, and some other easy stuff. I'll post some pics or something when I get my homework done. I need a partner who leads WI5 to help me break into that grade. Anyone want to ropegun me up Nemesis, Sea of Vapors, or the Upper Weeping Wall?

North Cascades Mountain Guides is doing a Level 1 in Feb and one in March. Good course and good people. http://www.ncmountainguides.com/avalanche.html

we ran into some climbers from western WA on Denali who all took Dex 'preventatively' once they got to 17k. All were hellbent on summitting.

Jens, I've done like 20 days this season and it's just getting rolling with longer days and more friendly temperatures. Sure, a full half of those were in the Rockies...but who's counting? Ah the joys of being a student and only living 7.5 hours from Banff My may give up before the season ends though.

I'll be there. It's my first trip and I will have to see what we (my group) are doing when. I'll PM you later.

yes. do some searching on this board. odds are that there is very little at the moment though.

We stayed at the Bear Country Inn in Canmore this weekend; it's just east of the Rocky Mtn Ski Lodge on the opposite side of the road. $49 CAD/night for 2 people with free continental style breakfast (cereal, waffles, oj, coffee, toast, etc). nicer than the Akai. kind of close to the railroad tracks, but bearable...

Nice work guys. I just got back last night from Banff. We did Louise Falls & Finishing Hammer on Saturday. I fractured a slope while walking off Louise I was roped to Sam fortunately, but wallowing through chest deep powder as it fractures is scary stuff... Then on sunday we did Hers (which is detached and kind of scary) and grotto (easy) a few times along with some mixed stuff. Yesterday we hit Haffner on the way home. too bad about the avy hazard, but there's so much to do there that even in 'bad' conditions things are pretty sweet. It's also too bad we didn't catch up since we had red jackets and black pants too. too funny. if anyone else is heading up there, let me know since I might be there...

it kind of looks like the Youtlekut (sp?) Pillars in the North Umpqua (Glide, OR) area. It's been years since I've been there though.

if so, they'd be rubber over aluminum, not carbon...

um, yea, we were leaving Guiness on Thursday evening. right around dusk?

looks like both of your rope teams missed the intermediate bolt belay on cascade. there is one that splits the 75m of WI3 into 2 pitches so you don't have to simul... they are on the left and right sides of the route by the snow ledges.

These crazy hombres on route:

Dan's Fido?

20 hours/week plus grad school. mostly I just climb and spray.

Banff just drive fast Cascade (vw4ever at the top belay) Cascade (me leading the first WI3 pitch) Guiness Gully pitch 1 Cascade sunrise

I have not tried it since I don't have Quarks. I'll see if I can dig up a pair today from my friend and try my Strikes on them. I'll let you know.

that metal band is threaded for the screw that connects the Strike to the band. i think rigging something would be kind of challenging. BUT...the Viper shaft circumfrence and shape is similar to the quark just above the handle, so it may work by just bending the band to fit.

Sadly, I have 2. I bought a replacement.

Sweet stuff Jason. glad that Sam likes ice! I'm on my way up there this morning.

FYI, passports aren't required until NEXT year. they changed the regulations.

These look pretty cool. no fussing with unclipping, just lift your hands off. it seems like it would be great for those just getting into leashless climbing. too bad they're only designed for Camp Awax tools (which are pretty sweet IMO). "The Awax freestyle uses a special leash with a steel ring that rests in one of two hooks mounted to back of the shaft. The leash remains on the user's hand at all times while the semi-leashless functionality allows the user to manipulate placements for aggressive moves and establish a larger variety of resting positions." http://www.camp-usa.com/module/product/detail.asp?ID=71

I found that evolvs fit a lot like 5.10s without the stretch (since they're synthetic for vegans). so if they fit well out of the box, then they'll stay that way which is a good thing. good luck finding a place to try them on though. they seem to be reasonably well constructed and i know a handful of people who really like them.

I'm heading up tomorrow with a friend. Probably staying in Canmore. send me a PM if you're interested in hooking up.