jjd

Rig a Claymore facing out the front of your tent and you will remove any potential thief from the face of this planet.

If you can place a fluke with one hand, you can certainly place a picket - much more versatile than a fluke.

I, thankfully, do not have man boobs.

Surprising. The Guardian publishing another "sky is falling" story about "global warming." I am very surprised they would publish a story like that.

Rowing would be a good idea.

clever...simple minded and reductionist, but clever.

I drove to Bunny Flat Trailhead Tuesday night-arrived around 12:30 am Wednesday and slept near the parking lot. I started on the trail at 9 am. The trail to Horse Camp is melted out. Stopped at Horse Camp for a little snack. After crossing the causeway, I hiked over to the Climber's Gully and got onto snow. I highly recommend this as opposed to the shitty grind up the scree slope that you encounter if you follow the "trail." Throughout the morning, I watched a few clouds building. I arrived at Helen Lake a little before 1 pm. The snow wasn't terribly slushy-fair conditions. I cleared a site and spent a little extra time on bomber deadmen for my tent (which seemed like a colossal waste of time). A couple of other solo climbers came up a couple of hours after me. I kicked back for awhile and took some pictures of the now much larger clouds building in all directions around the mountain. As I got my dinner started, I noticed a group of three climbers arrive. One of them proceeded to grab the shovel next to the ranger's tent and begin to clear a site. This shovel looks like an ordinary wood handle pointed shovel-except for the HUGE black and red BIOHAZARD label affixed to the handle. I offered to let them use my shovel and pointed out that the shovel they were using "is for shoveling shit." They said they had one and "that's nice to know" (the one that said this did look a little disgusted by his partner's stupidity). I cooked dinner and went into my tent about 6 or 6:30. At this point, the clouds were looking quite ominous. About a half hour after I got into my tent, I heard the first thunder. About ten minutes later, all hell broke loose. It started hailing like a son of a bitch, the wind kicked up and lightning was striking at various points on the mountain. All of this combined to sound like armageddon from inside my tent. Armageddon lasted for about 20 minutes and then "died" to the same thunder and lightning with only occasional hail and steady 20 mph winds. The storm lasted on and off until at least 9 pm, when I finally fell asleep. I woke up a little before 1 am to cloud cover over the mountain and lightning over the Trinity Alps, Castle Crags and beyond. I started climbing about 2 am and within about a half hour, I encountered the first rockfall. I tried to dodge it by sound (there was no moon) and the occasional flicker from lightning in the distance. I managed to get to the Red Banks after being hit twice. Along the way, I crossed a several hundered foot long slide that had occurred some time during the night (you can see it clearly from Mt Shasta City-originating from just below the upper part of Casaval Ridge). I crossed the moat at a point just left of thumb rock and traversed above the Red Banks. At this point I commenced the long slog to the summit. The "climbing" above Red Banks was uneventful except for about fifteen minutes of rain about 300 feet below the summit. I reached the summit about 6:45 Thursday morning. I never even thought about putting on my crampons-just step kicking the whole way. I spent about 45 minutes on the summit and headed down. I downclimbed the Red Banks chimney, passing the "shit shovel" guys along the way. I was getting a little out of control trying to get down as fast as I could (I was being bombarded by rockfall from the shit shovel dudes) and took a spill when I hit a small patch of snow covered ice. I self arrested within about 50 feet. I glissaded from below the Red Banks most of the way back to Helen Lake, arriving around 9 am. About halfway down, I turned around to see a rock falling toward me. It bounced to one side of the glissade chute, then the other and at the last minute jumped back into the chute. I dove out of the chute, but it still nailed the back of my leg just below the calf (I have a nice bruise there today). When I got back to Helen, I grabbed a quick snack, started melting some snow for the descent and began packing up. At about 9:15 it started raining again and did not stop until I reached about 8,800 feet. I stopped at Horse Camp for a little snack and continued down to the parking lot, spraying about rockfall and the lack of a melt-freeze cycle the previous days to just baout anyone who would listen. I got back to my truck, threw all of my stinking wet shit in the back and drove home; concluding a "successful" Shasta trip.

That might just be the stupidest fucking thing I have ever seen. That is 30 seconds of my life I will never get back. Thanks asshole.

Whenever I read something like this, I am always glad I never leave home without my trusty insurance policies seen below. These are my primary policies against those who seek to do me any harm.

Saturday, we started from the Bunny Flat trailhead and hiked up and over to Hidden Valley. We ended up camping a little above Hidden Valley at about 10,000 feet. Sunday morning we took off for the summit up Cascade Gulch. Climbing from the parking lot to the summit on the Cascade Gulch - Upper Whitney Glacier route would be a LONG day.

How are these boots on moderate length approaches? How about vertical ice? General opinions about these boots?

Two partners and I climbed Cascade Gulch to Shastina/Shasta saddle. Got a little late start (about 3:30-3:45). Decent wind packed snow most of the way. Breakable crust in some spots. We reached the saddle a little before 6 am. By then, the wind was blowing a steady 40 mph with gusts of 60+. Turned around before entering the glacier. Climbers on West Face Gully appeared to turn around and then climbed back up. Wind seemed to die quite a bit by 9:30, too late for us. Heard reports of climbers on other routes summiting by 5-6 am to avoid winds. Overall, conditions are still good on the west side routes, although snow becomes slushy by mid-morning with the recent heat.

According to the book "Above the Clouds," Anatoli Boukreev climbed the West Rib in 10 hours and 30 minutes. This was documented in the October 1990 issue of Climbing magazine.

danielpatricksmith-in which issue was your research published?

If you are climbing most weekends, I wouldn't bother with stairs those weeks. The weeks that you don't climb, you might try reducing your pack weight a little and increasing the amount of time you climb the stairs. The whole purpose (in my opinion) of carrying the pack is to train the muscles used in climbing more "realistically". If you are only going for 60-75 minutes and not increasing your time, you will cease to gain endurance. Just a note of caution about two steps at a time: if they are wide steps, you risk overstriding, possibly resulting in an Iliopsoas (hip flexor) injury. In a typical week, I'll hike one day with a weighted pack. Currently, I ascend approximately 2500-3000 feet at a 1200-1400 foot per hour rate. I use a pack weighing from 50-55 pounds. The day after, I will often boulder and workout with weights (high reps at a rapid pace-one minute between sets and 2-5 minutes between different exercises). The rest of the week, I run 3 days for 5-9 miles each day and workout with weights a couple of days. I almost always give myself two days rest from running after my "pack" workouts. Over the past year using this formula, I have had great success in improving my endurance. For a good outline of a training regimen, you might check out the Denali training guide on the Alpine Ascents International Website. You can modify it to suit your individual goals and current fitness level. As a final note: I have found that training with a pack 10-20 pounds heavier than what I normally carry on a trip has had huge psychological benefits (as well as physical). I know that if circumstances require me to hike/climb for a long period of time, I have the ability to do so. Plus, when I put my 35 pound pack on my back for a trip after training with 55, it feels incredibly light (kind of like swinging a weighted baseball bat to warm up)!

I have this monster 6500 cu. in . expedition size pack that I wish I had never bought. I could carry gourmet food, cooking utensils, lounge chair, pillow, double sleeping pads, comfortable camp clothes plus lots of other stuff. Fortuntately, I have no desire to carry all of that crap. I got suckered into thinking "bigger is better" with packs. Now I am stuck with this monster pack that I have yet to even come close to filling to the neck (my top is adjusted as tight as it will go and it still flops a little) and it weighs more than my sleeping bag, my 3 season bivy shelter and my stove with fuel for 4 days! ( I'm too broke to buy a new one). Moral of the story: buy a small light pack, as small as you can get away with. You can always buy/borrow/rent a bigger pack for those long expeditions.

The article is on the front page of today's print edition. It opens with a little story about the "victim" of a bolt chopper. "The 48 year old Mr. Seurynck, who has been climbing rocks for 10 years, had just spent weeks drilling and placing numerous stainless steel bolts for securing ropes. He knew immediately what had happened: A bolt chopper had struck. He climbed down safely, fuming." The article then describes the basic difference between trad and sport climbing. It gives a couple of arguments for bolting (safety, otherwise "unclimbable" routes) and chopping (blight, tradition, raptor nests). It then discusses briefly the controversy around bolting in National Parks, wilderness areas and BLM land. The Access Fund gets a little print in voicing its concerns about regulation and bureaucracy. Alex Huber wants to unbolt a route in Basaseachic National Park, Mexico. The guy who bolted it says it's too dangerous without bolts. The article even provides a nice definintion of rock climbing; "Rock climbing--ascending a sheer rock face, sometimes called 'technical climbing' branched off from mountaineering in the 1920s. Equipment was crude: hemp rope, moccasins and a few iron pitons..." It then finishes with the conclusion of the opening story. "The real estate broker was so enraged by the Aspen incident that he launched his own investigation. He ultimately determined that Jonathan Thesenga, until recently the editor of Climbing Magazine, has yanked out most of the bolts on his route. Mr Seuryncks "J'accuse" posting on a climbing Web site last September sent climbers into a tizzy. Mr. Thesenga, in his online reply said he pulled only blatantly superfluous bolts. The route could have been protected with traditional gear, he maintained. Mr Seurynck has recently rebolted the route." There really wasn't much to this article, except it does give a little more national publicity to access issues. Unfortunately, for non-climbers I suspect this is somewhat of an arcane argument.

Any experience with these crampons? Opinions? Would these be suitable for moderate ice with dual front points and vertical with mono? How's the flex when front pointing?

From the overwhelming lack of response to this thread, I take it NOBODY has heard ANYTHING about these boots? From reading past threads, you guys seem like a knowledgeable group of people. Someone out there has got to know something about these boots!

I am planning on climbing Shasta's Casaval Ridge soon. I am wondering if there is typically a need for rock pro on this route? Any other advice about the route would be appreciated.

Has anybody had any experience with these? Any feedback on strengths and weaknesses?