John Frieh

Huge :tup: Rack? Did you take a shovel or shovel head? How cold did it get at night for your open bivy?

Legal consequences would only apply if one got caught A speedy descent would be key... perhaps a BASE jump to a waiting boat... I think I saw it done in one of the recent Bond movies

I wanna know who is going to bag the FA of the tram tower... I think you'd have to slide the cable down from the hill... RogerJ: do you live/work near OHSU?

Jim Nelson

Actually being able to "work from home" allows me to also "work from Ouray" or "work from beacon" or "work from the sawtooths" or anywhere else I might be. So suddenly 4 weeks of paid vacation doesn't seem like such a small amount

It's days like these I hate being able to work from home

Amen to that brother. My name is John and I have a climbing/driving problem. I average 40000 miles and 1.5 speeding tickets per year. :laf: See you in the hills! :snugtop:

I disagree with that. This ice newb has been on several WI5 lines this year (TR of course) and if you are a strong 5.10 climber there really is no reason to TR a route of this grade. It's true that you probably should think twice about leading something like this, but immersion is the best method for learning (at least for me) IMHO. If you are climbing these WI5s flawlessly and demonstrating the correct technique then I would agree with you but climbing something to the top and climbing something to the top in the best style are two very different things. I suspect that you and most 5.10 climbers are fairly strong and with underdeveloped ice technique likely use strength and/or fitness to "muscle" ones way up and over compensate for lack of good technique... this happens and we are all guilty of it but it builds bad habits so when you move into leading 5s or 6s or whatever you do the same thing you learned and finally get caught with bad technique. There was an excellent climber pod cast on this and discussing the difference between topping out and topping out with style... I think Marcus has it... does anyone else? The example the podcast used was John Gill... his whole MO back in the day was to repeat hard problems using flawless technique... and we all know what levels he achieved. I agree with immersion *assuming* you are ensuring that you are using nearly perfect technique... taking the time to learn/enforce good technique will take you much further than jumping on the hard rigs right away.

Disclaimer: I am still very much learning how to ice climb... my thoughts are based on my experiences to date as well as watching others learn how to climb... but still: I'm no expert or anywhere close. But yeah... if you are true n00b or just someone looking for improvements in ice climbing find a TRable WI3 and work on your footwork. Seems every time I look at the ice forum or the gear critic people are regurgitation what they read in some climbing magazine about different tools that they may have picked up in the store once. Swinging a tool is one part of ice climbing and if anything much much less important than good footwork... another way to look at it is WI5 has been climbed with straight wooden shaft general mtneering ice axes... if you have good technique (feet and swing dynamics) what tools you own won't matter. Hyalite is a long drive but worth it if you ask me. You could get a TR on Mummies 1 or G1 and run laps over and over and over and over till you can't wipe the frozen snot off the end of your nose. Other closer options might be Mazama (short drive long ski) or Bluewood Ice. I bet they have some options like this up in BC... I don't know the area that well so I hesitate to suggest anything... perhaps Mr Serl or Dru could...? Getting on a WI5 as a n00b (or even a 4) is just going to teach you bad habits and put the fear of god in you so that when it does come time to get on 5s you won't because of previous negative experiences (read rock warriors way for more info). So yeah... TR a 3 or 3+ and use only one tool... this will force you to learn how to stem things (very important at any grade) and drop your heels. Think about your swing but don't over think/focus on it. Ice climbing is no different than rock in that if you learn to use your feet and position your body you will get much much much higher than if you just do a bunch of one arms. And one last thing... get over this driving thing... if it is just this weekend that is cool but if you refuse to drive more than 4 hours for ice you might as well sell your toolz now because face it: we live in WA... a gym membership would be a better investment than ice toolz. And the more time on ice you get the better you will get which mean driving. Find some motivated individuals with cash for gas and car pool car pool car pool! Have fun!

Nope... only your bro is qualified and talented enough to craft such fine ice sculptures I did use the penguin pump as well as every other trick I knew in the gorge but I still got barfies It gets cold!

Sorry you didn't like the "Patagonia LifeStyles" TR Mike... I'm not good at hyperbole TRs so this is the best I could do

Out of your league :lmao: Just kidding dude! Sorry couldn't resist! Check yer PMs for location

Vision check:

Trip: 7 days - Ice in 3 states Date: 1/14/2007 Trip Report: Summary: Jan 8th - 11th: Colorado - Bird Brain Boulevard (BBB), Mixed climbing Jan 12th: Utah - Stairway to Heaven (S2H) Jan 13th/14th: Oregon - Gorge Ice Ummm... where to start? Marcus and I had planned on a week somewhere the second week of Jan... we were tentatively planning on Cody but conditions lead us to CO. We left da Pearl last Sunday at 4 amish and 19 hours later were in Ouray. Welcome to Utah: This is the statue in Ouray (not kidding): I will let you draw your conclusions about Colorado kids On Monday we hit the ice park... it was ice festival week/weekend so we knew if we wanted to get on any of the routes we had in mind we had to do it early in the week. We both pumped ourselves stupid on Dizzy with the Vision and one of Helgi's routes (forget the name). We ran into Tom Tom and Philonius (don’t worry Phil… your secret is safe with us )... see their TR here: TR On Tuesday we headed for BBB... the more or less objective of the trip. I had heard of BBB before but didn't know too much about it where as Marcus has a long, storied history with as he calls it "the albatross". If you are like me and haven't heard of BBB for a little history/background (and some great pics) Jared Ogden recently wrote a great article on it: click me Basically BBB follows a chimney system more or less (in a few places you leave it) for 1200' and is generally done in 7 pitches (we simuled 4 and 5 so we did it in 6 pitches). When in the chimney system it varies in width but never gets wider than a wing span. In a few places it narrows down to a foot or so across so taller people (hint hint... Marcus is 6'7") or fat people (hint hint… I like doughnuts) find the climbing much more challenging then shorter people. BBB: BBB marked: But yeah... I'm no world ice travler but BBB is one of the coolest mixed ice routes I have ever done! We didn't get a ton of pics as while climbing it you can see each other for the first 10' or so off each belay and then they disappear into the chimney. But yeah... a few: MD starts pitch 2: start of pitch 3: MD following pitch 3: simuling 4 and 5: start of pitch 6 (for us #5): the 5.8 exit pitch: So on BBB day the car almost didn't start but I suspect the fact that I made many many many offerings to the ice gods the weekend prior in Hyalite (see puked my guts out and lost my wallet) the car started after a few fuse checks. We climbed BBB in 5:20... we could have gone sub 5 but a rope clusterfuck at one belay + Marcus having to channel his aid climbing placement experience for one anchor + someone (ummm... okay me) dropping one of their tools and having to downclimb 20' to it on the crux pitch cost us some time. But really... who cares? BBB will numb yer ballz... go do it! We ran into BillA and Brendon (spelling??? sorry man!)... the next day (Wednesday) the four of us headed up to the Skylight area. Bill and Brendon on p 2 of skylight: Marcus sampling some fine mixed climbing: BillA: Brendon: On Thursday Marcus and I drove to SLC... cheers to Kim for letting us dirtbag On Friday we climbing Stairway to Heaven (S2H): When fully formed S2H is 7 pitches long… only the first 5 were in when we did it. S2H is like 20 minutes on a paved asphalt trail from the car… maybe… if stop to have a sandwich… it took us like 10 minutes. Talk about urban climbing! Even better: S2H sports multiple mixed options on the side of almost every pitch so you could climb it differently every time We only did the first 4 pitches as I was having a major gaper day… embarrassing to say the least. I’m hoping to go back and get all 5 (if not all 7 if they all come in) sometime. Great route! After S2H we drove home. If you drive fast enough you can make the sunset last longer headed west: On Sat I caught up on work and did some laundry while Marcus checked out the gorge. On Sunday (today!) we headed out and did Starvin Marvin... Starvin Marvin: MD: After Starvin we hit Dog River Coffee in Hood River where the cutest barista ever hooked us up with stumptown and smiles… All great trips start and/or end at Dog River Gear Notes: Hair bender in the morning Los Delirious in the evening Approach Notes: da Pearl to Ouray: 19 hours da scenic route back Music Notes: Rilo Kiley, Arctic Monkeys, Johnny Cash (complete Folsom Prison is out!), Lucinda, etc etc etc Edited to add title.

Sorry for the slow reply... been chasing ice in CO this week Oly summed it up perfectly: Gated road = much much longer hike = less and/or no access. If you have any specific questions shoot me a PM or post them here. And thanks to all who have done the survey.

Enchainments or traverses? All you need for enchainments is an imagination... traverses have to be on the same ridge or something... wayne1112 would be the guy to ask. Some fun enchainments: - # 5 camalot day: east face of lexington + SEWS SW rib (or butt or whatever that thing is called... though you don't need the #5 for SEWS it is fun to have) - NEWS day: west face + nw corner - lib bell lib crack + DEB SEWS saw a cool TR for this last summer - lib bell day: lib bell nw face + barber pole - east side day: Minuteman + east face of Lex or lib bell lib crack or DEB or tooth and claw (basically something on the east side) - all wine spires in a day (bonus points if you get silver star or Paisano) Basically have fun combining routes at wa pass... Other stuff: - stuie spring day: SGC descend sherpa then ICG - stuie early summer: lower Stuie north ridge to notch downclimb east slabs to ICG and then climb girth... don't know of anyone doing this yet - stuie long weekend: do all the ridges (west, razorback, north) or hell as many routes as you can. More peeps should climb razorback - prusik south face and west ridge - dtail: serpentine + backbone - rainier long weekend: nisqually link up (ice fall, cliff, cleaver) - forbidden: at least west and east ridge in a day. all 3 ridges or east and west and south face in a weekend. if you were on it you could do all 4 of the nelson selected in a weekend (hint hint) - SCW: outer space to orbit (earn your forearm endurance merit badge if you do hyperspace + those 2) - beacon rock: Dod's -> Blowout -> SE corner -> YW. Ask the regulars on other ones... - 3FJ + Washington (in OR... slog madness) - 3 sisters marathon - Elephant's Perch: pick 2 or 3 if you are fast: mtneers route, sunshine, astro elephant, Beckey Direct, Myopia, Sideline, Splitgerber-March, trunkline, the wendy - ReDoubt to Bear: I was looking at this last summer and I think you could do it in a weekend... if you were fast you could do a different route (flying ) on redoubt going back over... I'd be stoked to try it with someone - Speaking of Bear I thought linking Ursa Major and Ursa Minor on Bear could be a possibility till I got on Ursa Major. - Pickets: use your imagination. just don't tell Wayne - ptarmigan traverse is an enchainment i guess... whatever you want to call it you should do it... beautiful that should keep you busy for awhile

actually that is a triumph but I don't know of any songs about triumphs

thanks for the heads up have you seen the new neutrinos yet? 32 grams

sorry just changing the subject. carry on.

It depends... are you a man over X? If you are we can leave the spot in my Maserati girl

As I attempted to explain to you it appeared you were "poking fun" at JoJo. You say you weren't... I believe you. But obviously I was not the only one who interpreted your post as directed at JoJo as your post was pulled. Spraying regular cc posters here and there in non spray forums is fine from time to time (mods: correct me if I am wrong here) but spraying or appearing like you are spraying a non regular poster who just so happens to be the author of 2 of the most purchased ice climbing guidebooks in North America is fucking stupid. I'm not going to let you ruin it for everyone else by ticking JoJo (or anyone else for that matter) off by trying to be funny in a very very serious thread. Anything else I can clear up?

Basically there is a new gore-tex that is going to replace XCR in the fall of 2007 so all XCR jackets need to go... this sale is being put on by a company the reps for Arcteryx in the NW. Might be a good chance to get some dead bird cheap. No I don't know what they will have on hand Make sure to say hi to Jenna if you swing by

That's what you get for constructing the liar on the ghetto side of town. If the commander had done his homework he could be plotting world domination in a property tax protected lair with annual returns on his property value as good as the views. You won't see any 3-story Barry Manilow poster over here... in fact you don't even have to worry about getting ran over by tapas eating hipsters pushing fixe cruisers in cigarette jeans that didn't see you because their hip bedhead haircut also blocks their field of view. Just boot the overgrown rat dogs when they get in the way and hop the trolley down to Powells.

Laptop doggie door Laptop Waterskiing :laf: :grlaf: