Chad_A

I met Rodney for coffee this a.m.; he handed me off a CD of the pics, so here's some of them that summed it up. His camera did much better than mine; thanks to him for taking some shots for us. It's nice to see it from another perspective. Here's Oleg, across the 'schrund, working his way to the ice pitch that we did just a few hundred feet left of where the Left Couloir usually starts. Note to the viewer: it was much sketchier than it looked, since we didn't know if that huge block of snow would remain attached to the rock: A nice view of the 70 degree ice that he lead: Thin ice The belay gathering at a ledge: Me, finishing up the last of the ice leading: Dave, running away with it... Myself, with the Spur below. This is where we split a bit; Rod and I diverted right, back into the left couloir; Dave and Oleg stayed straight up to continue on the Left side of the NF/right side of Cooper Spur. Here's the Left Couloir. Dave and Oleg over a bit from us: Oh, by the way, anyone who says that Quarks don't plunge, here's proof that they do. Me near the Summit; Rod already on top. Oleg and David a minute from the summit. Rapping off the south side- yeah, that's right. I'll take a rap any day, over downclimbing a missing step of snow/ice. Dan Smith is much more a hardman than I And, the obligatory sunset shot on the way down. Thanks to Rodney S. for the photo documentation. Out of respect for him, I didn't post his summit self portrait, but I will if he asks me to

Funny you should say...yesterday, while going through the bargain bin at US Outdoor Store, I found an old Spectre. Heavy and the older style, but at ninteen bucks, hell, I'll take it. Next time, it'll be useful on a route like this one, if I run into conditions like this again. Regarding the belays- usually we were able to get in a couple screws, and back them up with our tools. Not bomber, but not awful either. I never had one that I thought, "Christ, man, don't fall."

Mike, well, 6 screws each, per rope team. Mostly shorties, and even a few of them got dinged bottoming out on rock...

Good job, Dan! Glad you finally got it done. Sorry- meant to contact you, but by the time I was at my cell, it was too late. Cheers!

Thanks for posting that, Oleg. I had a good time. I never thought that it'd stay so chilly up there, all day long. That's the benefits of a north facing route, for ya. Here's a goofy shot of me, with the crew, getting ready to drop onto the Eliot. Here's the same shot of David and Oleg high on the finish to Cooper Spur; my favorite shot.

Ok, I haven't heard of that trail. Where does it start from?

Nice guy. Normally, I'd suggest going up to Illumination Rock. There's probably enough snow up there now, but a couple weeks ago, I spoke with a gent up at the top of the Palmer snowfield that took an unexpected foray into a crevasse on the way back form there. So, I'd say head up to the Cooper Spur area, and head up to Tie In Rock. If you pick up any Oregon Hiking book, you're bound to find a description of it; and there's great bivy sites up there as well that are well protected. Have fun snowshoeing...I will too until I can afford a ski habit.

Aw, man, that's great news. Let's hope so!

Bill- it was nice to meet you in person, and to match some faces with cc.com avatars. We'll have to do that again sometime. Tim was really nice, as I talked to him after the show, and the slideshow was great; very entertaining. Come back to P-town sometime, Timmy!

Would've liked to have met you all; I'll be in Arizona. Have a good time!

Thought I passed you on the way up to take some pics, Marcus. I had a few hours before I had to head into work, so I took a drive around it, and snapped a couple of pics. The sun washed out the photo of the NF pretty bad, but I could see from the binoculars that the base of the two gullies is completely filled in, or almost so. Anyway, here they are, enjoy. Wyeast and the Black Spider. The North Face.

Ok, that's what I figured. More or less, I was just wondering whether or not to throw away the old hardware, because it looks to be in fine shape. Thanks for the input, Gene

Just bought an adze for one of my Quarks for use in the alpine, and noticed on the directions that you're supposed to throw away the old bolts afterward. What exactly dictates that you throw them away? Are they stretch bolts, or do the lockwashers somehow crush after you use them? Or is it just Petzl covering their asses, and they don't really need to be thrown away?

Oh, man, I didn't know where to post it, but I'll post it here. I snowshoed up to the top of the Palmer today; full on maelstrom. It was falling at an alarming rate up there; even if the gate isn't closed, consider it so. I don't know any vehicle that could make it up and down without a winch and a snowplow. It's only an hour and a half snow-hike anyway, from the Cooper Spur ski area, up to the base of the approach for the NF. Not that we'll be climbing it in the next week or so, anyway. Man, I can't believe how much white is up there!

Methinks it will be a good turnout. Who else is officially going?

I don't know if they're just covering their asses, but Petzl suggests not to take a tool that's been drytooled with into the mountains; they're pretty staunch on keeping a separate pair, but I don't know how realistic that is. I'd change out your picks; the T rated picks are usually for dry tooling and severe usage, but since you've already thrashed the B rated picks, I guess maybe continue using them for dry tooling, and get another B set for the WI that hasn't been stressed. Just my thoughts. I understand that Charlet picks are pretty tough, being that they're forged. But, Hell, they all might be forged, it's just what they tout.

Nice TR and pics! The Mt. Hunter photo is now on my desktop. Good to see what the route is like, outside the perspective of a guidebook. Thanks for posting

Incrementally? Not to my knowledge. I think they pick a time when there's enough snow, and just close it up for the season.

The NOMIC! Hadn't heard about this before. Not that I'm in the market for something like this right now, but damn, looks sweet. On this page, there's a performer doing a juggling act with them. A bit strange, but cool. http://www.petzl.com/petzl/SportNews?Mot...ws=121#imaginer

Thanks much for posting that. Damn! That looks fun

what did the rest of your body do during the lesson? fourtunatly for my lesbian lover my fist is detchable so the rest of me was in the bar Ouch!

Bought a house, and drank too much (ongoing). Other than that, Coleman Headwall was a blast. Continuing infusions of IPAs are fun as well.

Cold Cold World Chernobyl for shorter trips, BD Shadow 55 for longer ones. Both under 180 bucks.

Weather looks ugly. Hope everything turns out okay; sometimes the east/northeast side of the mountain is a bit quieter. Let's hope for a good report!

Dat'll work. Low Brow is fine. Long as they have micros, it's okay by me.