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Timcb

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Everything posted by Timcb

  1. So, I assume it's been done... rock as crumbly as feta cheese? any stories, anecdotes, rumors?
  2. I was above palmer chair, climbing towards Illumination saddle on Hood last spring in generally low visibility conditions when our pickets, zippers and axes started buzzing persistently. Strangest, most unnerving storm I've been in, since it was actually snowing and we couldn't actually see any of the storm clouds. The fact that the weather could actually be menacing hadn't even crossed our minds- it was cold, we were on good snow pack, and assumed the cloud we were in was nothing more than good old bad weather. We were quite shocked when we heard lightning strike almost right above us, prob right on the top of illum rock. My partner and I debated (very briefly) whether to drop packs and run for the saddle, but since there was a large party traversing above and a bit ahead of us, I just decided to book it up closer to them. safety in numbers right? eventually the storm died, but I'd never heard of "thundersnow" before that afternoon (or since).
  3. Nice- I was wondering what you've been up to pzack. I'll have to congratulate American Mike on his fine boot 'n' rally.
  4. Thanks Sobo- That's some good data. Though I'm curious- the student who was trying to catch your fall was not able to benefit at all from the extra seconds of warning derived from a slack rope? Stefan continues to make the same logical points I'm concerned with. I think I may still have to try and test this out.. the key question is just how fast the leader (blind to the troubles that might be occuring behind him) can get down into self arrest if given a half second of warning. or, just how difficult is it for the leader to recover into self arrest mode when he's suddenly dragged down the slope by his harness (quite possibly headfirst upside down). Thanks to those who've responded.
  5. Dope! just realized misspelling of "taut." oh well. "Besides, you aren't going to stop a falling body with a yank of your hand. Only getting down and digging in will do that." --of course I'm not proposing that a pull of the hand could stop the fall, I'm just picturing leading across a thin knife edge snow ridge or walking across a 30* glacier. If my follower should slip without warning I could well feel the sudden tug when I'm mid-step and not as stable as I'd like to be. It would then be too easy for me to get pulled from my stance. However, if I have that extra second (still unable to watch my partner since I'm in front), I might be able to "get down and dig in" effectively once I feel the coils of rope in my free hand pulling through my fingers.
  6. "On a route like they were on or something steeper, I would not want a bunch of slack in my hand, within 5 feet a fallen climber could pick up some real speed and would most like just rip you out of what ever good belay you thought you had." -------------------------- but when it's this steep, the sudden and unexpected yank down onto the slope could immediately prohibit the possibility of team arrest. which perhaps brings us back to the issue of unprotected, roped travel on dicey terrain...
  7. I was just reading the Accident on Hood posts and a couple people emphasized the importance of keeping the rope taught between teammates while traveling on steep snow and glaciers. I've definitely heard this before, but have also wondered if it wasn't better to carry 5 or more feet of rope in your hand so that, should a fall occur, you will have about 5 or more feet of time to set a good self belay or get into self arrest mode before the yank hits your harness. Of course, this leads to a bigger yank, but perhaps you won't be caught off guard. I kind of thought that the added time would be worth the harder yank, but maybe this isn't the case. what do you think?
  8. Climb: Source Lk Basin + Stevens Pass Area- Date of Climb: 4/3/2004 Trip Report: Forget snowshoes- After my first two backcountry tours this weekend I'm totally sold on skis. I was up in the Source Lk basin and over to Snow Lk and back on Sat, then up slopes on the S side of 2, a bit E of Stevens Pass and up to Big Chief on Sun. Both days had phenomenal weather and I just had a great time out in the mountains. Snow both days was variable, but generally slushy. The different aspects skied were all pretty much the same, but the shaded glades on the way down yesterday featured twig and pine needle-covered, hard, rough snow. Other notes from yesterday's Stevens adventure: -My partner set off two point release avalanches above the bowl on the SE face of Big Chief. We were both pretty surprised, since we figured the snow ought to have been stable, but the snow had really made it quite wet, heavy and unstable. Fortunately, my partner aborted his run down into the bowl only 5' from the ridge and was able to watch in relative safety as the slides spread to 30' across and a foot deep. Heads up -set off another avy on out descent in a north/northwest facing gully -We tried summiting Big Chief from the northeast ridge (sans skis), but turned back 25 vert ft from the top after finding exposed snow slopes to 50* on and left of the ridge and cliffs rt of the ridge. Potentially could have made it if we'd traversed the steep snow on the right a bit more, but no biggie. If only we'd brought our ice axes it would have been cake. Gear Notes: Randonee setups Wished we'd brought ice axes for the top of Big Chief Approach Notes: All snow. ~2-3' deep at parking lot.
  9. Even approachable this early, or are we talking 10+ miles of road skining even before the long climb? thanks, Tim
  10. this is a great thread, thanks.
  11. trying BC skiing for the first time. Aww yeah..
  12. beautiful. what lively, brilliant colors!
  13. --wazzu wrote:-- anyways, it's too bad you didn't follow our footsteps, i bet it was a nice staircase on sunday. ----------- yeah, we were certainly looking for footsteps on the traverse over to the base of the NF, but after about 50' of obvious steps, they'd gotten filled in by spindrift coming down from above so my partner and I were looking at completely virgin territory. perhaps if we'd just kept going west along the base of the NF we would have found your steps again.. and what's the consensus- which route is harder: NEB or NF? or about the same? Anyway, I'm definitely looking forward to getting back on chair (this time with a copy of the topo in my back pocket) Tim
  14. Wazzu- was that you I saw camped just below source lake sunday morning ~8:45? you headed up to the ne slab of tooth w/ cascadeclimber? glad you had such a successful weekend My partner and I were less successful on both the NEB and NF of chair. On the NF, we started climbing up too early (discovered only after returning home and having a look at the photo in nelson and potterfield). We crossed the moat/schrund and headed right up the first depression on the NF wall. I backed off that when I found the ice to be rotten, aerated and thin. That, plus what looked like several steep (60 and 70 deg) rock steps that would have been very difficult to protect and covered with loose snow barred further progress. I just didn't have the nerve to continue. bummer about starting up the wrong side of the face though.. Then we retreated off the NF and headed over to the NEB. My partner Mike started up this time, but before commiting to the first little chimney on the right side of the lower NEB he also got spooked by steep rock covered by thin loose snow. So we headed down off the mountain. Basicly, I think we were just in over our heads a bit and surprised by the difficulty (and sketchiness in particular) of the climbing. It was my first time up at Chair, and so I'm not surprised that we failed- I'll just have to come back when I'm a little more prepared and experienced. I'm wondering though if my experience is fairly common amoung cc.comers. There's so much buzz about that climb and I've thought about it frequently enough that I think I had begun to underrate the commitment of the climb. Have others of you had similar experiences on Chair? For those of you that were successful this weekend- what in particular (besides general experience) do you think was the difference between your success and my failure to summit? Did you find the same or similar conditions, but were just more willing to hang it out there? or did you not find it sketchy at all? did you think conditions on Chair were "good?" Thanks Tim
  15. Cool- at only 7-8 miles, sounds like the NW ridge would be pretty nice. ended up doing leuthold's couloir (with a bit of dabbling on the upper butt of yocum) on hood instead this weekend, but I'll definitely keep adams in mind. thanks
  16. I ran into the exact same problem, but rather than drilling the holes in my crampons, I just ziptied the hole in the ABS plates to the back of my crampons- works like a charm.
  17. I'd probably be pushing for something on the n. side, like adams glacier or something else of similar difficulty. though if you've got suggestions, I'd love to hear em may just end up on hood instead.
  18. how close can you get to adams this time of year? not too far south of randle or north of trout lake? thanks
  19. spent sunday pickin over the good flow in the hubba hubba area (maybe it was "right of hubba hubba?") with one other group. The ice really felt pretty good in places, hollow in others. but mostly it was great fun. and to our surprise and relief, the cliffs and ledges up above were really not that loaded- looked like they'd had just a dusting, despite the major storms that had been rolling through
  20. Hey all- I'm trying to figure out what's in as far as WI 2 and 3 for beginners this weekend. I've seen a bunch of posts from leavenworth that look pretty sweet- haven't heard much about alpental valley lately. Any tips? toproping a + thanks, Tim
  21. I got em this spring and did most of my mountaineering this year in them. I've also got wide feet (a fan of asics running shoes), and have found them super comfortable and very sturdy with good edges. The toe bail's not quite as large as I'd like it to be and I had trouble keeping a crampon on once, but I just needed to shorten up the crampons a bit more to solve the problem. waterproof would be nice too. all in all, I've really liked em and love em for the purposes I bought them (scrambling, snow, and easy rock more than a couple miles from the road)
  22. cool, thanks for the directions.. maybe this cold weather now will let the climbs form again
  23. cool- thanks for the tips, jja. now my question to you is do any of you have photos of the climbing areas at alpental? I was up at Alpental 1-4 (I think..) a couple weeks ago (and found way too little ice), but was looking around for some of the other cliffs and couldn't find them. I was just going off of memory from the WA Ice book, but maybe if one of you has actually got a shot of the ice with some reference points on the side, I'd sure appreciate a post.. thanks
  24. thinking about bivies again, it seems that it sucks big time to have to use a bivy sac in actual bad weather. Once you're tucked in it might be ok, but in terms of getting in/out, cooking, etc, a bivy in the rain/heavy snow seems totally unpleasant. with that in mind, I'm considering the ID south col or the ID endurance bag cover + a siltarp for predicted bad weather. The south col has much better self sufficiency, but I reckon most of my climbs will be under above average conditions, in which case something exceptionally light (the bag cover) is really all you need. Then when conditions call for it, the siltarp can be pitched over you and your buddy's heads, also providing a protected space to cook and keep your gear. +/-?
  25. you reckon the mk3 is the right size for 3 person expedition climbs? (andes, denali)
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