OlympicMtnBoy

Found yesterday on the trail when we were coming down around 5 PM. Let me know if it's yours! - Stewart

Partner found.

For me channel 2 is Northwest Cable News which is also affiliated with Channel 5 (KING).

I'm booked with my girlfriend (birthday) and the Seattle International Beer Fest on Saturday. I've got Sunday and Monday (maybe tuesday) to climb but all my friends are heading off on Friday/Saturday for stuff. Anybody up for an adventure Sunday-Monday? I was thinking of Darrington (anything other than Dreamer or Jacobs Ladder since I've done those, Squire Creek?), or maybe a less traveled pinnacle in the Alpine Lakes, but I'm flexible for destination. I could be talked into spring skiing too but I'm not a great skier. Oh and I love choss, chimneys, and high bivies. Have rack, car, etc. Happy to lead mid-10s and follow harder. 15+ years of climbing shit. Drop me a PM with your number. I'll be gone most of Thursday-Friday to help some friends retrieve research gear off Rainier but will check in when I return Friday night. - Stewart

Thanks, I'm going to have to check this out some time. Welcome to the board Martin!

Sent you a PM undermind.

Sounds like a nice tent John, bummer the price has gone up so much since you last bought one. Wasn't it only $20 in 2009? http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/918680/1 This topic got 8 pages of enlightenment last time.

Damn, sounds like a great trip! I need to get out there and bring a boat someday!

Oh, yeah, I guess I did forget the bleached bones, 6K of deadfall and wading through blackberries and slide alder while digging my ice axe into the dirt for insecure footing. Oh and when you get there the Mole is really on 30 ft high, it just looks bigger from below. Colchuck Lake is a much better hike all around. ;-)

Nice job, that's a pretty spot up there. I didn't think the approach was all that bad for the elevation gain when we went up to do the North Face of the Mole last year. It was certainly easier than when Matt and I came down from Toketie. It's a haul though!

I'm free all day, got home from work in Mississippi a week early. Anyone up for climbing anything? I'm open to trad or sport up to 5.11 or so. It will probably be a half day given that I'm posting this at 11:00 PM, but drop me a note here and I'll check when I wake up. - OMB (Stewart)

I've got a Metolius Safe-Tec, brand new in box for $40 if you want it, never worn. I'm in Seattle.

Let me know when you want to do Ship Rock, I'll bring my helmet. - OMB

What Gene said, take out the inner foam liner and cut a notch in it where your crampon lever will meet the heel welt of your boot, might take a couple of tries to get the right amount trimmed, but worked great for my OR Brooks Rangers and Nepal Extremes. Or try a longer strap. If you can't get one you can just find a piece of webbing the right size (Seattle Outdoor Fabrics if the local gear shop doesn't have a skinny enough width). You can tie it on the old strap for extension or replace the old one. Use yer noggin and it should be an easy fix. Or go buy new overboots if you'd rather go the $$ route. :-)

I have some super light short softshell gaiters from Montbell that work well as a really simple gasket to keep the snow/scree out of my shoes in the summer. I've had to replace the bungy cord underfoot several times but it's easy and the softshell fabric is easy to repair for the inevitable tears. They don't like to stay on all my low top shoes though in snow. I'd recommend something similar though, I think MH, OR, and MEC (maybe REI too) make short softshell gaiters that are similar. I opted for not having any sort of velcro/zipper and haven't really regretted it although you have to take your shoe off to put the gaiter on/off.

Dang you guys/gals are OOOOOLD. ;-) I started in the 80's as a wee lad with an old green REI aluminum framed thing where the hip belt ended up just above my knees. Shortly after that my parents got me a state of the art Jansport external frame pack that was small enough to fit. I have fond memories of hiking along the beach on the Ozette Triangle and occaisionally falling between the logs I liked to scramble on and getting stuck as my frame pack would hang up between them with little me dangling underneath. Good times!

Good question, I keep my adjustables daisy and my aiders on the same biner as many (most?) people do. If I have to high step to get to the next placement, but it is a dicey placement, I will often crouch down and step back down a step after placing the piece before fully committing to it. This way you are in a better position to absorb the shork with your body and closer to the lower piece if the upper one blows. If it doesn't blow you are now at a good level to quickly clip the rope and unclip your daisy from the lower piece and move on. You don't want to waste time and energy with this on every placement, but it's good to think about how you will absorb the shock when you are bounce testing. You don't want to just go limp and fall on the daisy, instead use your arms and legs to cushion the fall onto your daisy and aiders.

I think Aerogel needs to be encapsulated by something so you can't really buy a sheet of it to cut down. They do make foot beds with it but they'd be too small to cover the sole of an overboot. I recall the sole material of my OR overboots was a white foam very similar to closed cell sleeping pad (hardman pad style) but thinner. I would just call OR and ask them and they will probably get you some. They do have great service, even if you aren't the original owner I think they'd help out for something like that. Otherwise I think finding a thin sheet of something similar would work just fine. Order a thin hardman pad from one of the ultralight backpacking co's and trim it? Good points on the crampons with those too. I trimmed the foam on the uppers of mine right at the toe and heel bail area so step-in crampon bails didn't have to compress the foam at the welt. They held well after that but you want to make sure you get the fit dialed at home and are careful to get the toe and heel bails on correctly on the mountain.

Town Crier has a decent sloping ledge you can sleep on off to the right of the easy part of P3 if you want to do something with an overnight and not sleep on the ground. I'd probably do that for practice over fixing and firing GD although GD has better climbing slightly. I've only done the first 2.5 pitches of Dana's Arch but I wasn't excited about the hooking above an old quarter in buttonhead and a cam behind a loose flake. Maybe I just wasn't feeling it that day but after p2 it's not well travelled (P1 low anchors really but the first 2 full pitches are fun and mellow). One of these days I have to go finish the whole thing.

Cool! Bring on the sparkles! It'll add more variety to the usual shirtless beanie clad crowd (which some like more than others). ;-)

That looks like fun! How many days did you take?

Hot damn that looks like fun! Why is the sky so blue in all your pictures. Did you photoshop that or something? ;-)

Sounds like fun! We nearly had a similar experience on our return drive just north of Hines, OR, well after dark, with a big SUV just parked in the middle of the fricken highway, no flashers or anything, just headlights on and stopped. Those of us dozing off in the back had a rude awakening but fortunately Ivan didn't hit anything with my Chinook. Sometimes driving is the crux (and the most dangerous part of a trip). :-)

Bad Buds, this sums up the canyon and they weren't even cold yet:

Not a huge issue but you've have to move the whole 3 bolt belay station down a ways to be able to reach it from lower. It may make the start to that pitch rather hard for the free climbers as well and the route is gaining popularity free (we ran into Cedar Wright and Nellie rapping down it). It's a stellar pitch, free or aid (and one of those where you can actually envision the moves to free it, 5.12+). More of my pics of the trip here: https://picasaweb.google.com/matthiesen/ZionRoadTrip#