tanstaafl

Sleeping bag has been sold; thanks!

Posting this for a friend who is moving to Europe -- if you want a minus 40 degree bag, this is a great deal! Contact her at the phone/email below. Mountain Hardwear Ghost SL 800 fill down -40 deg sleeping bag Comes with storage sack and compression bag Excellent condition, fits up to 6ft and weighs 4lbs 12oz. Kept me toasty at 20,000ft on Acongagua! Storage sack and stuff sack included Retails for $880. Here's all the good stuff: AXF Super DWR finish repels water 5 times longer than standard DWRs Premium, 800-fill down provides outstanding, lightweight warmth Conduit SL shell is waterproof, breathable, windproof, durable and lightweight Patented welded baffle construction eliminates needle holes in shell fabric, yielding a waterproof construction and protecting the down from external moisture Laminated, double external zipper flaps keep water out 5" baffle spacing keeps down carefully controlled for even, predictable loft Six-chamber hood design maintains even loft around head for consistent warmth Ergonomic draft collar blocks the escape of heated air from inside the bag. The two-piece collar drapes naturally over neck and shoulders creating a soft comfortable seal. Two draw cords can snug down as needed to secure the collar. Down-filled face gasket comfortably blocks drafts at the hood opening. Only a slight tightening of the draw cord is required to seal in warmth. Two small pockets above collar provide storage for small items Double draft tubes along zipper prevent cold spots Comfort Footbox follows natural foot position for maximum warmth and comfort Erin (360) 689-5074 eshutes AT yahoo DOT com

Corgi ascents rock! No need for an expensive sleeping bag when you've got a dog.

chucK! I was just wondering what ever happened to you. Glad to see you're still getting after it and dragging Hansel along with you. Many thanks for the link to the JZ TR; I hadn't seen that one before.

I only met him for ten minutes, but he seemed like a really nice guy. Condolences to his family and his climbing partner who was with him.

Nice matching green shirts! Glad the routefinding difficulties were limited to the urban environment. Excellent writeup as always.

I think someone in the marketing department at black diamond took a mens harness wrote women's on it so they could sell more harness. Then everyone else followed. I think their coming out with all women's c4 cams next year. On the one hand, you're right, many women will fit just fine into men's harnesses. But many won't. According to a friend who was formerly a harness designer at BD, while there are some differences between the genders (women generally have a longer rise, for instance), the major factor is that the variation *between women* (waist to hip to thigh ratio, etc.) is much greater than the variation between men, so while five different sizes of harness, with adjustable leg loops, will fit most men reasonably well you need to add about five more to cover the greater variation between women. Like so many things, you've got to try them on to see what's going to work best for you. I've had both women's and unisex harnesses and I'd say the women's harnesses were generally a better fit on me, though not nearly as extreme as the difference in fit for pants, boots, rock shoes, ski boots, and jackets. (I'm 5'9" and so I often end up in men's smalls because stores often don't stock women's stuff in the larger sizes, even when it exists.)

I can't remember any more where I found this, but I pulled this off an internet site a few years ago: Day 1: From Seattle to a camp in Sulphur Creek valley. Day 2: Climbed to shoulder below SW peak of Dome Pk. Day 3: Traversed both peaks of Dome, walked to Spire Point and climbed it, returned to camp. Day 4: Moved camp to head of South Cascade Glacier. Day 5: Climbed Sentinel, Old Guard and Le Conte, moved camp to Yang Yang lakes. Day 6: Rest day. Day 7: Climbed Formidable, Spider and Magic, probably camped at Koolaid Lake. Day 8: Traversed to Cascade Pass, climbed Johannesburg, bivied on descent. Day 9: Returned to camp and rested. Day 10: Climbed Sahale, Boston and north face of Buckner. Day 11: Hiked down Stehekin River to Bridge Creek. Day 12: Hiked up Agnes Creek toward Suiattle Pass. Day 13: Hiked over Suiattle Pass and out Suiattle River back to Sulpur Creek. If memory serves, six of those twelve peaks were FAs. Hard men indeed.

nope, sorry, but if you go please report back; I was wondering the same thing myself last weekend.

It was a little hard on him eating Iberian cured ham and Manchego instead of canned tuna dumped in pasta, but he rallied. We did at least stay in some fleabag hotels, although I recommend the place we stayed in Finestrat if you ever want to do some limestone climbing in the Costa Blanca: http://www.casafigueretes.es/01_english.html Your trip to Cham looked pretty swank too!

After I saw your Jordan TR, we actually talked about going there until Rolf pointed out the wine would be abundant, good, and cheap in Spain, but not Jordan. Still, someday I'd like to go.

Thanks; be warned however this is the only climbing trip I've ever been on when I came back fatter than I was when I left. I even put myself on a little wine diet for a couple of weeks afterwards. I'm over that now though.

Rad. Wish I could have come this year. I would have summitted Silver Star finally.

Trip: Spain - La Luna de Miel Date: 4/30/2012 Trip Report: I have no time (read: I am too lazy) to write up a long trip report, but since there isn’t much on this site about Spain, I thought I’d post a few photos and a quick summary of a month in Spain. La Pedriza: Got out with forrest_m and his delightful daughter Sofía to this granite area about an hour north of Madrid. Granite slab climbing ranging from 1 pitch to 200 m with approaches varying from 20 minutes to several hours. Mostly bolted, though word is there are some routes requiring gear. Sadly we only got two pitches in before it began to rain. As a consolation prize, we stopped in the village after the hike out for some beer and tapas and a visit to the local castle. Zafra: The grow shop was closed, but without the artificial aid of pot Rolf still managed to eat almost all of the tapa I accidentally ordered that consisted of nothing but a pound of cheese. Really, the name made it sound like it was going to be some sort of omelette-like thing. Sevilla: No climbing, but we spotted an enormous housecat and a couple of imposing locals: El Chorro: a tiny little village in the province of Málaga, El Chorro is home to El Caminito del Rey, subject of a YouTube video that made the rounds a couple of years ago. The Caminito is a three-foot-wide walkway built between 1900 and 1905 suspended 100 meters or so above the bottom of the narrow gorge. It’s quite deteriorated, and at this point it’s hard to see what’s holding much of it up except for habit. It’s a belay ledge for many of the climbs and walking the length of it and back is a highly entertaining rest day activity. Caminito del Rey Traversing the Camino A little baling wire reinforcement The first day or two in El Chorro were hot, but later on the weather turned a little and I discovered some surprising similarities between limestone sport climbing in Spain and Cascades alpine: Granada: again no climbing, but we did visit the Alhambra, which has some of the most impressive architecture I’ve ever seen. Rolf: “The Spanish have an edifice complex.” Granada is one of the last bastions of “a free tapa with every drink,” so I recommend you check it out before that changes. Calpe: Finally in the Costa Blanca, we spent a couple of days in British-retiree-infested Calpe climbing on the Peñon d’Ifach before renting a car and fleeing inland. No pics, sorry. Finestrat: we spent a week in Finestrat, climbing at several areas. We started with a couple of days of single-pitch sport climbing in Sella. The longer routes on The Divino looked good but we never got around to them. The Divino We spent two days climbing on the Puig Campaña just outside Finestrat. First up was a five-pitch 6a called Diedro Magicos which involved “rescuing” some climbers who got hit by rockfall on the next route over (read: we let them rap on our ropes). Next day we got on a 12-pitch 5, Espolón Central. I cleverly dropped my belay device on p2 so we rocked the hip belays for the follower and I used biner brake rappels for the rest of the trip. I initially was going to rap on a Munter but Rolf wisely said, “No. Fuck that.” Puig Campaña Following p2, Diedro Magicos Rolf on p4, Diedro Magicos Helicopter rescue Helpful Spanish belay station, Espolón Central Our last climb was Via Valencianos on the Ponoch, just outside the splendidly named village of Polop. It was a long, vegetated, wandering, scraggy climb redeemed by two really nice 6a pitches, both of which fell to me. Sorry Rolf. First 6a pitch, Via Valencianos Madrid: Our last night in Madrid forrest_m and family were extremely kind to let us crash at their apartment and act as our tour guides to the best tapas places. Another point in favor of Spain: you can take your six-year-old to the bars. Is it time for another vacation yet? Gear Notes: Single rack to 3.5, a bunch of draws and runners. Approach Notes: American Airlines. Business class would have been better.

If you're going to do Newest Industry, might as well do Beak Beak Beak and Lamar's Trust too since they're right next to it.

Just to clarify, do you mean the #0.5 purple or the #4 purple (or the even newer #5 purple, which I *think* is the same size as the old #4 purple)?

Orange Flake on Saddle Rocks is a 3-pitch 5.8 Lost Horse has several 2-pitch 5.7/5.8 routes: Roan Way, Dappled Mare, and the Swift, and a sweet 10a called Bird on a Wire. Ball Bearing on The Sentinal is another fun 2-pitch 10a -- technical and balancey rather than burly. I really enjoyed High Strung on Foolproof Tower. Rated 5.9, it starts with really thin fingers and gradually gets wider and wider. Lots of fun. Like many JTree climbs, the crux is right off the ground. Indian Cove also has some really nice climbs, but I can't remember the names of any of them.

I want to go to there.

Maintaining fitness/training/energy/motivation as you get older, tireder, and more injury prone. And by older I do not mean in your thirties.

Rolf's 'stache in the fourth photo reminds me of the Swedish Chef. bork bork bork. Nice work guys; glad someone got after it in the alpine!

It's excellent style to photograph Rolf, but he has to be flipping you off when you do so.

Nice work taking advantage of the good weather! You really need to work on making your TRs a little less verbose, though.

Tell Mark to bring that slideshow up to Seattle!

PM sent

So ridiculously jealous.