mike_m

Seattle REI had a couple copies on the shelf over the weekend, the Mounties Boostore had several when I got mine.

Gadd went spurless and sent the route, everyone else I watched had spurs.

Watched the Ouray comp on Saturday; again this year, Ines Papert dominated all the women competitors, the only one to complete the route. The difference this year was that she beat all the men too. Only Harry Berger and Will Gadd completed the route for the men, they announced at the "fashion" show (visualize Jim Donini in a black and red, backless, low-cut lace dress) that she beat them for time. What a performance. On a more somber note from the same day, there was an accident where a climber's rappel failed when she backed over the edge. We'll probably never know what exactly went wrong, but she, along with the entire rope, with its locked locking-carabiner attachement, fell the full distance into the Gorge (80-100 ft), while the intact, properly focused and tied cordelette remained (empty, no attachement carabiner) on the bolts above. If she had checked the system from the anchor points through her harness and device, she would have saved herself from serious injury. She survived, albeit with life-threatening injuries. It seems elementary, but it reminded all of us there: Always check yourselves and your partners. The life that you save would be your own.

I didn't get a chance to try those; either they didn't have any at the demo booth, or they were gone whenever I came by.

I demo'd a pair at Ouray on Saturday, had them for a mixed clinic. The swing felt much more like a traditional ice tool than did the Fusions, Ergos or Trangos that I tried. Swing felt much closer to my Cobras than the others. Balance is great. The stock (Mixte??) pick sucks, has a very wide, pretty blunt end that would require a great deal of modification to suit me, especially for pure ice. I think Grivel (this was my first real try with Grivel tools) have a much better pick than that available, but not stock on this tool. The trigger finger was pretty cool, though it's not very good to use for switching hands. All in all, I thought it was the best tool I tried last week.

The only Rainier incident in the 2002 ANAM is a heart attack incident in August. Nothing at all on Liberty Ridge.

If you mean Bridalveil, last I heard the power company had closed off access again. There's no beta on the local site, www.skywardmountaineering.com On the other question, I've pretty much been climbing on BD tools, limited experience with others, so not much help there, based on experience, anyway.

For Western Colorado, Ouray and beyond, try www.skywardmountaineering.com

Just got back late Tuesday. Did THOS, was in easy shape, we solo'd the main gully in about an hour. The walk off was well beaten in, took about 45 minutes to get down. If you're contemplating the walk off, carry all your gear up and over. The walkoff drops you into the main Ghost valley about 1/4 mile upstream from the THOS drainage, leading to another slog up to the base of the ice to retrieve your gear. The first upper pitch was a chandeliery 4, the upper tier a more laid back 3. Spent a day in Valley of the Birds, all the routes are in, including Dead Bird (WI3), which the guidebook says isn't always in. Albatross (2-pitch 3) was fat, as was Yellow Bird (wet chandeliery 4) and the unnamed 2 upstream and across from YB. Great place for a day of moderates. Cascade was in good shape too

There's a Ouray-area conditions report on www.skywardmountaineering.com that includes Birdbrain Blvd for current info

Was up there again today, trail is mostly bare all the way to the cabin site, the low-angle part of the glacier is packed snow for easy walking, and the ice fall is still in great shape for serac-ing, despite a really brittle top layer; big bad plates in many places. Spectacular day.

Was up there this morning--road's clear all the way to the TH. Pouring rain, though. Didn't feel the need to fully test out the shell gear again.

The Paradise parking lot--used it for both regular crevasse rescue practice, and also with the sleds when we were getting ready for Denali. Good practice area and can't beat the approach

IMHO, the question is a little more complex than that. There are many different ice boots out there, all reliable, each with a different last, so what fits climber x and works great for that person, leading to a recommendation, may trash the next person's (your) feet. For me, I've used and given up on Salomons, tried Scarpas, Montrails and Kaylands from the demo booths at Ouray, settled on La Sportiva's that fit me like my foot was the last. Nothing wrong with Salomons, Scarpas, Montails and Kaylands; they're all fine boots. They just don't fit me. Best advice I can give, based on sometimes painful experience, is go to the shop(s), try on every brand you can, to find the boot that fits your feet the best. Make sure your foot stays in place on the downhill, kick the walls to see how your toes feel when front pointing, do heel raises on the edges of stairsteps or wall baseboards to see if your heel stays in place. Even better, wait and make it to one of the ice festivals and try out a variety of boots actually out on the ice. A good deal on boots that trash your feet might as well be money flushed.

Got mine yesterday. Amazing book, tons of color photo's. Great job, JoJo. JoJo's presenting a slide show (same title as the book) on Wednesday 11/10 at Feathered Friends. $5 for entry and beverage.

The book is called Winter Dance, it was supposed to ship on the 22nd and be available tomorrow. I know both Feathered Friends and the Mounties bookstore have copies on order.

MEC in Vancouver (the other stores too I assume) had them for $99 Cdn last weekend

I've been using my Grigri, been pretty happy with it. Couple of falls, worked very well.

Heard that Pete Schoening passed away this morning. One of the true pioneers of American expeditionary climbing, Pete was the one who held the fall of his entire team, using a state-of-the-art rope/axe belay, at 25,000' on K2 in 1953. He was also the only American, along with Andy Kauffman, to claim the first ascent of an 8000m peak, Hidden Peak, in 1958; he was also part of the 1974 Pamirs expedition so well-chronicled in Storm and Sorrow. Pete was one of the very early (and very active members) of Seattle Mountain Rescue back in the 50s. I am so grateful that I had the chance to know him.

Did Obs Rock yesterday, no ice, just really hard neve, more than deep enough for pickets. IMHO, it may not get down to bare ice this season. Fun climb in a spectacular location, regardless.

I bought a pair for a Foraker trip last year. They're about as heavy as my Asolo plastics, but much warmer (took them up Rainier last July, way too warm). A much better fit than any plastics I've had, no heel slop on front points. No blisters in the limited approach hiking I've done in them. So far,

In 2000 we summited on day 15, after losing 3 days (1 at 10k, 1 in the basin & 1 at 17k) to weather, back at the airstrip on the evening of day 17.

Petzl Mini PMP. A little spendy, but works great

Just don't tell them what you're going to use them for. I tried Tacoma Screw looking for Rawl 5-piece bolts and rivets, got alot of flack from the sales guy who didn't think I would be using his product in an appropriate manner. They allegedly didn't have what I wanted anyway. The local (Seattle) shops tend to have a fairly limited selection, the last ones I got were from Mountain Gear. Good service & selection, no bs.

Same topic, different area. Middle East Wall at Vantage is closed till August 1 due to nesting raptors.