mike_m

This was the Sunday accident, just not very accurate. A 5:1 lowering system? The leg injury was Saturday.

pm sent

No, below. Their belayer was on the dirt about 20' above and just a bit left of the R&D start and the route headed pretty much due north. It looked like it would have ended below and left of Cocaine Crack. Kind of a blocky crack/chimney line. Never seen anybody on it before.

Probably because it wasn't R&D. It was something (not in the book)left and higher than the easy start to R&D.

We did Hubba Hubba yesterday, the bottom 10m was thin but reasonably solid early in the AM but was thin mush by the time we got back around to the packs. Most of the climb was still in good shape

I tried mine out for the first time this weekend in Canada; belay, rap & auto-lock. Really sweet device.

Straight-shaft CFBP's w/ Alaska picks for alpine, Cobras for ice. Just got a set of Taakoons to give leashless a try. For crampons, went back to Sabretooths for ice, use the Bionic monos for mixed.

No cave left, more of an arch. There are decent walls on both sides that are top-ropable, or good for traversing.

I was up there last weekend--more of an arch than a cave.

http://www.komotv.com/authors/

Tickets are $20 and available from the Fisher Broadcasting website.

Was there Sunday--the schrund is pretty big; there was about 500' of ice way around to the north or a short ice step just right of the East Ridge. The ice face above the schrund was impossible to get to safely in the snow conditions we had Sunday.

I still use my Bionic mono's for mixed, but went back to my Sabertooths for pure ice last season. Felt much more solid.

I've got the Iceline doubles too; have the same issues with wear, and the dry treatment is very disapponting. Going with something else for my next set.

anybody out there have one they don't need any more?

My Nikon digi camera uses rechargeable batteries; I'm wondering if those cells will hold their charge for an Alaska trip, or if I'm better off using something else. Anybody out there have any experience with those batteries in the cold?

I've used the Vireo/Volant combo on Rainier, down to 15-20 at high camp and been plenty warm, though I sleep warm generally. I've been very happy with the system for pretty much all my non-winter climbing.

MEC still has their one-piece undersuit, with the confusing name of "MEC mid-weight powerdry union suit". Product # 4017-482, $65 Cdn. Bummer about the OR quadratic suit. That's my favorite base layer for ice or cold.

Amen on the 1-piece base layer. Mine is an OR version. A little spendy, but well worth it. MEC makes one too, I think around $75 cdn.

List looks pretty complete, noticed a couple of pretty minor omissions. A stove board works great for the kitchen, mine is 14" x 24" (big enough for 2 XGK stoves); thin wood (actually a piece of old mahogony door skin) covered with very thin aluminum. Also, a "hero loop" length prussick loop for securing the back end of the sled to the rope

For the West Butt, you will want one ascender for the fixed lines on the headwall and around Washburn's Thumb. Trying to pass all those anchor points on prussicks, with gloves, sounds awfully time consuming. We all took one traditional ascender each, and one Ropeman. This year on Foraker (no fixed lines and much less crevasse hazard) I'll be taking Tiblocks.

Hyalite sounds better than Cody. All the South facing climbs were gone as of the week of 2/21, the main North facing climbs were still good: Mean Green, High on Boulder & Bozo's were all in good shape.

Cobras

That would probably work. I don't recall ever getting higher than my fifi going from bolt to bolt. Tried skipping a couple of bolts, were too far apart for that.

Both of the brands you mention make great bags, but if you decide that a down bag is best for your purposes, then nobody can touch Feathered Friends, IMHO. Most of their bags are built to order, so you can customize each one to a certain extent: different shell material, down upgrade, extra down in specific areas, vbl around the face, bags with half-zips to save weight, an ultra-light bag with no zip at all, etc. I've got 3 of their bags, super happy with them.