OlympicMtnBoy

Having had multiple partners lose crampons that were "well strapped" to their packs, mine go inside if possible. Otherwise make sure a strap runs THROUGH the crampon frame so you don't lose it even if it works loose. I made my own plastic crampon box out of a couple of 1/2 gallon milk jugs and a plastic sheet cutting board (cut the jugs in half, use both bottoms, cutting board piece for the middle joint, duct tape plus a strap to hold it together. It's lighter than the commercial ones and has held up for 5 or six years (the milk jugs are breaking down now though). Kind of hokey looking but worked great for my M-10s. The G-12s may have less volume. You could also find a scrap of neoprene or thin sleeping pad and make a crampon taco with it.

The high top is essential for me for alpine. I always manage to scrape up my ankles in the usual offwidth pitch otherwise. I also like a higher top because it keeps the gravel out better on those ridge climbs that always have a short walking bit somewhere along the way. I love my old blue Kaukulators but a little bit more modern shape like the TC Pro would be nice. I hear the 5.10 Grandstones are alright too and way cheaper, but I haven't tried either one. Leather vs. synthetic doesn't matter much although I like leather. I don't know how you could do anything other than laces for lots of crack climbing.

Cool, thanks for that little tidbit! The cracks on the Owl looked pretty nice with pretty large continuous blocks making some good splitters. Peak 1 and 2 served that same nice afternoon climb role since we were camped just below Peak 1 at the creek. Also on closer inspection of Beckey I think Peak 1 and 2 are the "Nada Creek Crags" that anchor the end of Temple Ridge but aren't labeled in his pic.

Nice, looks like some fun and speedy work!

Crampons but no axe sounds like a good way to get yerself on something steep with no way out. I'd go the other way and just bring the axe if it were me. The snow as of last weekend would take steps with a little work and your axe will keep you from taking too much of a ride. Besides, an aluminum axe is lighter than aluminum crampons. :-)

How was the snow? Did you need crampons or just your axes?

Lots more pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/matthiesen/BlackPyramidAndPrussikWithMatt#

I have the older non-goretex Nepal Extremes but have use the above mentioned wax stuff for years with no problems. I do try to work it in to the seams and stitches pretty well, but haven't used a real "seam sealer" for it. The wax stuff may impair the breathability a bit but I haven't noticed it that much, my feet still generally stay much drier than in my impermeable double boot lines, so it must be breathing a little bit. On my leather and fabric hiking boots I use a combination of wax on the leather parts and the aquaseal fabric stuff on the fabric bits (get the fabric wet first) and it seems to work ok. Ultimately no amount of goretex and sealer will keep any breathable boot totally dry after a day in really wet snow, at least in my experience. Those things help stave it off though.

Count me 3! Maybe we can get a cc.com group discount somewhere!

Sounds like a great adventure! Did you get any pictures?

almost regardless of anchor type Option 1: lower through the anchors = small wear on the anchor which can be noticeable over time Option 2: rappel from the anchors = no wear on the anchor I always try to have the lowest impact possible (in climbing and many other things). Always seemed pretty straight forward to me. Unless you are on a crag where you are involved in replacing the anchors yourself, or at a gym where you are paying others for the upkeep.

Woohoo, nice dood! So what are we getting on next?

Much of the route fell down (we're talking train car sized blocks). I'm not sure it has been climbed since then, it looks scary with loose block and would likely be mostly new route now. Here is a picture from last year, look at the large whitish scarred area on the left side, that is where the route used to be as far as I can tell. I would love to hear a report if someone goes and does it, as long as it's not an accident report. Sounds like it used to be a fairly moderate line in a cool location.

The looks like it ought to hold for a while. I always like the before and after pics on these things. You ever gonna tell the exciting story of how this happened? ;-)

The looks like it ought to hold for a while. I always like the before and after pics on these things. You ever gonna tell the exciting story of how this happened? ;-)

Nice to see it public now! Looks great! I've got more pictures if you need em. :-) Or we can go take some!

I know we soloed the summit block and used the rope as a hand line/body rap to get down, but it is exposed and probably worth having a few medium pieces for anyone not as comfortable, or in case you get weird weather.

I was up there a few years ago on a sunny May weekend and climbed Triple Couloirs one day and the NE Couloir on Colchuck the next. Weather was warm and sunny, snow was great on Dragontail and mush on Colchuck. The aspects aren't exactly the same but I figured it was close enough and the snow would be better on Aasgard than Colchuck Glacier. Fortunately I wasn't too far off. :-)

Here are the pics from our trip a week and a half ago, a couple pics of Dragontail in there, but it's kind of falling down. http://picasaweb.google.com/matthiesen/EnchantmentsTripWithCourtneyAmyAndBrendan#

I'm pretty sure they do a regular loop, at least on the weekends, all through permit season. I would expect to get checked if you are on the main trail then. Hardly a soul up there the last non-permit weekend though!

I finally put some pictures online of our three day backpack last weekend. There is a pic of the South Face of Prusik looked nice and dry. http://picasaweb.google.com/matthiesen/EnchantmentsTripWithCourtneyAmyAndBrendan#

Yeah, the right hand crack takes a more fun looking line up the face for sure. It just looked like it hadn't been done in a long time, or someone ran it out a lot more than I on crumbling moss holds. Both are possible. The approach was not as bad as I was expecting, there were only a few spots of really thick dead fall. Having sticky rubber approach shoes made walking on the down logs easier, James took a few less of the elevated highways than I did. The routes up there are mostly only a few pitches long but I wouldn't mind heading up there again, some of the rock looked nice.

You can see it on the drive in to the park, but not from in the park itself since it's on the opposite side of the formation from the parking lot. Depending how bad the knee is, the flat trail along the river will give you a good view as well once you round the corner of the Smith Rock Group. Other than the drop to the river from the parking lots it's flat, wide, and well graded and could probably be traveled by wheel chair. I think you could probably find the back road that leads to the Monkey Face side and accesses those big houses over there too and get good views.

I have always been happy with my CAMPs in many different types of snow and they have decent front points. I have also been impressed with the Grivels that friends have used, and I kind of like their anti-bot plates better. I had to make my own for my CAMPs but they may come with some now??? My CAMPs fit on my low top approach shoes and my giant double boots no problem.

Yeah that was us, we waited a bit and watched, lots of wet slides in the expected areas but I think Asgaard was reasonably safe. I knew it would be more solid than the Colchuck glacier route. We had great step kicking snow all the way up till near the top. We had a great camp up on the ridge with an awesome sunset and didn't bother putting on the snowshoes until the next day. I'll post some pics tomorrow. We just did the loop and hiked up Little Annapurna, foregoing Dragontail because of the avy/rockfall danger.