OlympicMtnBoy

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.

So much for my Christmas present! I fricking hate it when this shit happens. Not even a discount coupon or anything, just a "sorry, our inventory system sucks". "Hi, Thank you for shopping usoutdoor.com I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but both the items you have requested are sold out at this time. Due to the high demand of Internet orders we have been receiving our inventory is at a minimum. We had one left in stock, but multiple orders placed for that one item. We had to give it to the first order received. No charges have been placed to your card. Your order has been canceled. I apologize again for the inconvenience. Thanks again for shopping usoutdoor.com"

That is so awesome! I want to go hug them.

4) Cats are better than Dogs 5) Chocolate is better than Vanilla 6) Chocolate is lighter than a cam

Hey, they came back, I just got a 3 and 4!

I'd look into it more before risking my neck. If I recall the older rc.com discussions, Malcolm Daly of Trango strongly recommended against it not because of the usual liability issues (like the Gri-Gri) but because it actually did not handle some potential solo situations well with potentially fatal results. JH has lots of solo experience so I'd listen to him too.

I only see the #1. :-(

I'm with Billcoe on this one. I was a little sketched when I first saw these things too, but I've since used them a few times (although I don't own one). In the case of this failure, I don't think I would have placed this sort of piece in that spot as these seem more limited in the way they will safely rotate. I think you sacrifice some flexibility in the placement for the additional range. It's possible you could place another cam in that spot and have it hold (of course second guessing on a route I've only seen but never climbed). It's also probably possible that you could place a link cam there in an ever so slightly different orientation and have it hold. There is always an element of uncertainty given the complex forces involved. As far as I am concerned, the link cam is a limited design, with inherent weaknesses, as are ALL other cam designs. It's important to understand those limitations and that they differ for each piece of gear. If anyone has any post recall link cams they want to get rid of, I'd actually like to buy a couple still. Although I don't have any reason to put them on my free rack, they are awesome aid pieces and handle larger natural flares (not pin scars) really well, also good for crack jugging. Ok, I don't believe I joined this discussion, I guess I'm trying not to work too much this friday. Rant away.

I took a course they offered down in Leavenworth a couple years ago and learned a lot too. Good guys and fun times. We also got a single ride lift ticket at Stevens Pass for the field day and I ended up lift skiing all evening after class on it. It's probably time for a refresher though.

Just saw the news blurb on King 5, nothing on their website yet. Sounds like someone got swept away near Panorama Point while descending from Muir yesterday. Search going on now. Best wishes to the subject and family. Be careful out there folks.

I've been told that, and I occasionally update mine (I thought it was just *228 which seems to work), but I think it has more to do with billing than reception. I think it tells your phone to give greater priority to verizon towers, instead of just using the nearest tower. It will still use the nearest tower if a verizon one isn't available, either way. As for the billing, it turns out that if your phone uses another tower (even if you are on the nationwide no-roaming plan), it just uses your minutes as normal. However, the other company has 3 months to bill verizon, who has a month to process it, then they apply your minutes retroactively and bill you for overage accordingly. My girlfriend got hit hard when a couple hundred minutes suddenly appeared retroactively on her bill, since she tracked her usage online and was close to the max for that month without the mystery minutes. Thus verizon urges you to update, although you'd think they could figure out a more automatic method.