OlympicMtnBoy

Nice job, lookin good there.

Nylon repair tape, works great and you might find a color to match, check REI or most sporting goods stores (Swains or Browns in your area). Or Seattle Outdoor Fabrics. If the hole is really big I normally hand stitch it shut and then cut a patch with rounded edges of the repair tape. I find running a warm iron over the patch helps make it more permanent. The patches on my Wildthings Epic jacket are still there after several washes and 3 years.

Don't forget the Needles in the Olympics!

Oooh, ooh, pick me! Pick me! I volunteer for the Committee to Fix Everything! Oh and the one to execute the bad people! Is there a committee to choke Steven Segal? I'll be on that one too!

I have the little Garmin Geko with the barometer too. I've had it for about four years now and it's been through a lot of crap unprotected in my pack and pocket through all sorts of conditions. I managed to scratch the screen when I stupidly put a crystal in the same pocket and walked around with it rubbing, but nothing else has gone wrong with it yet. It doesn't have the greatest reception as mentioned above, but works for my purposes 95% of the time.

Looks great guys! Nice job.

Sweet! Nice pics all around too, I love the climber dot pic. I was just bruising my hands on basalt columns, glad someone was out getting bigger stuff in the stellar weather.

Looks like a good time Kevin, good to see you back on the board!

Now if all that snow would just settle down so we could get somewhere. Thanks for the pics!

I did Pine Canyon a few years ago in the spring and had a blast. I think the last rappel needed a 60m rope but my memory is fuzzy. I would definitely recommend renting or borrowing a wetsuit, we were semi-hypothermic towards to end, even with suits. We had to run laps on tin sand bars between some of the swims to build up body heat. It stays dark and cold down there in the spring. Awesome times though!

Way to get out there! Aiding gets faster with practice, but the snow probably slows things a bit. :-)

If I have a tear, and not an actually hole (ie: you can pull the edges back together), then I just pull out my sewing machine. Set it for a wide zig-zag stitch and just stitch the sides back together. It works pretty well and if you do a tight stitch with polyester thread it will be as waterproof as the softshell material and not look too bad. Or have your mom or girlfriend do it if you don't have a sewing machine. That's how I fix crampon holes in my pants and gaiters. For a real patch I had a pair of softshell pants I took an extraneous pocket off of and I use that for patch material. That McNett stuff probably works well too, or check Seattle Outdoor Fabrics for material. I don't know about the durability of seam grip though, I just don't worry about it since softshells aren't really waterproof to begin with, a good sewing job should be fine.

The ones I bought from MEC several years ago have stylin round real glass lenses. It doesn't look like they sell em anymore though (they were fairly cheap too). You can watch ebay for those old swiss army glacier goggles. Those have real glass and will totally get you old school points.

I have to work on Sunday so I've only got one day this weekend, but I'd like to get out on some ice. I'm up for anything within a few hours of Seattle, maybe Vantage or Leavenworth or ?. I've got gear and a car and lead around WI 3-4, follow harder. Drop me a PM. - Stewart

I favor the laser sonics, cept for being a bit pricey. I got one on REI closeout last year and kick myself for not getting a few more. At the Feathered Friends gear demo night they had clear ice blocks set up for the v thread contest and I got to watch a CM screw driven right next to a BD screw. With the clear ice it was obvious that there was a whole lot less internal fracturing with the CM screw than the BD screw. I'm not sure how much this really related to the real world, but it was eye opening. My laser sonic starts super easy and the handle doesn't bind on me. I do unscrew it with the sling attached some of the time. Just my $0.02.

I might be interested. Any idea what the actual weight on this one is? How old is it?

When I used to do SAR they weren't that uncommon. So yes, people actually used em. You also might look at any of a variety of pants made for alpine or expedition climbing with a zipper seat (whatever you call it) for the very purpose you're needing. I've used that feature on my shell pants many times, dropping the leg loops of my harness and just holding stuff out of the way. I imagine it wouldn't be that much different for your elimination needs, a bit of practice and it's not so hard. Why am I reading this thread anyways?!? :-)

Yeah, I paid some extra money so I can be cool like everyone else! When do I get a nifty new title too?!?

Come, move to Ballard! It's hip, it's funky, it's the "in" place. You can even go bowling, oh wait your new condo is where that used to be, how about hanging out in the cool googy style Denny's, oh your brother is in that condo now. Starbuck's anyone? Friggin tragedy of the commons.

Way to get out there for another try. Keep working on that trail, it really is there. I can see how that last bit would be harder with no visibility or cattle trail. I did both peaks when I got up there, the shorter peak only added a few mins extra, but is a cooler (small pyramid like) summit than the higher one. Good luck on the next try.

If you do go to Vantage, pick out a dirty crack (towards middle east wall or something) and see if you can clean it up some for some spring free climbing!

Chris! Long time no see since our party in Kyrgyzstan! Let me know if you need a partner when you come up, or at least come grab a beer. There's some choss exploring to be done in the Olympics too but the above objectives are probably all steeper/longer. - Stewart

Hehe, nice job Jo. If you were headed up the standard Vaillunaraju route (not the one in Brad's book), you probably weren't in virgin territory. I screwed that approach up while solo as well earlier this year. It was incredibly unpleasant grass/slab climbing in a nasty gulley. I even pulled out the axe for some extra security on overhanging grass clump moves. Did you see a short and useless fixed rope down towards the bottom? Fortunately I found the proper route on the way down. Have fun int he rain (we had some this summer too).

I saw Erik speak some time ago and it was pretty inspiring, not just climbing, but leading rock. Not entirely on topic, but maybe interesting, my plane travel book for the holidays this year was "A Sense of the World" by Jason Roberts. It's about James Holman who was a British sailor in the early 1800s. He went blind in his 20s and proceeded to travel solo around the world becoming one of the most well traveled people of the age. He eventually learned to sort of echo-locate with his walking stick and even to ride a horse, all alone with basically no support (given the historical era). It was an inspiring story and highly recommended for anyone, including your friend. Also mentioned at the end of the book is World Access for the Blind http://www.worldaccessfortheblind.org/ which has more resurces on echolocation for the blind and some stuff about their blind mountain biking team, I think they've done some climbing too.

Awesome, too bad I missed it. Hopefully it will air again. I sent them a note a while back and suggested they do a segment on making cams. They actually wrote back and said they had recently shot the ice axe bit and were regretting not staying longer to do one on cams made at the same factory. They said to look out for the ice axe show though.