kurthicks

is it a bozeman-made version or overseas? Also, what's your torso length (for my size comparison)?

so what size are they?

Zoo, but maybe Timmy can provide a more technical perspective.

I'm looking at getting a big pack, anyone use the Vortex 5800? Kurt

I'd definately pick up a pair for myself, so would a couple people that I know. I definately agree with others in that it just adds to our wasteful nature (culture) to produce 'one time use' items (although these will last more than one day out).

Saturday: cleaned the house Sunday: cragging at Vantage, 60 degrees in the sun, getting sunburned.

i was at Vantage yesterday and Frenchman Falls and Fugs were actively FALLING down. it was 60 in the sun I bet banks was suffering the same fate. the rock climbing was good though.

I led the WI3 gully to the right and scrambled/rapped to the top of the pillar. It was big enough to be led though.

Here is NYC007 on said pillar: And The Cable on 1/9/05.

maybe right now, but not always. I heard there's some farming going on...

so would they allow climbing at Pictograph caves with Rebolts and no chalk? I'm going to look more into this stuff, but it looks pretty reasonable.

UI - as a 5 year resident of Pullman (and recent UI grad), i feel your hurt. All I can say is be willing to drive. I've put almost 35k miles on my car in the last year. There is a lot to be climbed if you're willing to work though. the Weeping Wall at bluewood is alright if it's been cold, it's usually in when there's ice on the local roadcuts. as for specifics within 6 hours: Bull river (5ish), Gibraltar Wall(5ish), L-worth (4), Banks (3), snoqualmie (4), wallowas (3), Banff is 7-8... there's a lot out there. PM me if you want more or need a partner. I'm pretty free these days. - Kurt

how does Frenchman Falls look? climbable yet?

yes. oh, and More Banks Ice looks leadable on the right side. it had the bluest ice of everything we saw.

This will bring the crowds, I'd bet, but... climbed out at Banks yesterday with NYC007. conditions are improving, but the ice is still generally thin. we spent the day at PeeWee's, mostly TRing a 5+ pillar on the left side. it's probably thick enough to lead for those who climb that hard. Other than that, we saw a party from Oregon in Devil's Punchbowl (the death-cicles are there) and then they showed up at Peewee's. topouts there are super thin. For specifics: The Cable hasn't touched down, Zenith has grown but isn't in, Agent Orange is getting close, Absent Minded Professor isn't in, Fred's Gully looks in, most everything else looks like it might be climbable to some degree. we didn't drive up to Electric Avenue.

Martin- you'd like to know, wouldn't you? It's in Idaho, just about an hour or so from Moscow. I saw it mostly frozen last winter after the New Year's cold snap. what do you have going tuesday? I've got one other project that could be done the same day, I think. PM me.

Palouse Falls would be cool. 198' free standing pillar with a flowing river inside. Edit to add a project and a :

redirecting the rope doubles the force on the anchor/piece. the best way would be to belay direct with a munter or reverso from the master point... especially if your anchor is at all sketchy. the only reason to redirect in my opinion is just because you don't know any other options.

thought i would add a little more: the brush climbs are getting close, Salt & Pepper appears to be a no show, Agent Orange is filling in also but not there yet, Zenith has a long way to go as it's only coming down ~20 feet on the upper pitch. I took some pics on friday and will try to post them later.

they're in eastern oregon, kind of south of the wallowas. One of the reliable ice spots in the state actually.

When were you guys there? We were there from the 1st-4th and saw a couple cars w/oregon plates and never managed to catch up with them. I'm assuming it was you guys... how was getting off the Main Vein in the dark? It looked a little epic from the road. We also saw your truck (i'm assuming) parked at Deer Creek, we thought you were doing that 70m, WI4 climb just up the creek... we bailed when the cold weather came in on wednesday but did manage to get on High on Boulder before that happened. super cool climb. Definately worth the drive

thought i'd give this a ^BUMP^

awesome!

on #1, there was a tech tip in climbing about this a while back. I'll look for the picture, but essentially you tie the two ropes together as normal, then tie a fig-8 on a bight in the small rope and clip a biner through that and the larger diameter rope. it will jam on the anchor when you load the lead line, allowing you to rap on the single strand. just pull the tag line and you're set. it looks like it'd get hung up easily though since there's a biner on it.

yeah, give us the info. I've got lots of free time potential this winter if you've got some good ideas.