Chad_A

So, did you make it into the couloirs, or is the an assumption based on conditions you saw elsewhere? Just curious. Here's conditions I saw yesterday on 10/24. It'll be interesting to see how much snow we actually get up there with this system. Hopefully, what we do get will consolidate quickly, and won't be enough to make us wait too long to climb it!

Service and food sucks at Rogue. Bridgeport isn't too far away; Rock Bottom is in the general vicinity, and so is the Tugboat. Anywhere but the Rogue; too bad, because I like their beer. Their waitpersons can suck my ass. Now, there's a first. Me complaining about a brewpub.

D- I know that Gadd's book on Ice/Mixed climbing has a pic of a modified Cobra with some added hand rests for matching, etc. Might want to take a look a that, if you haven't already. A couple of brews, and some spare parts from the garage or a local hardware store could come up with some interesting solutions. Or, sell them off, and get a set of Quarks or Vipers, that they sell removable hand rests for. That way, you can still use them for the alpine, if you like. Hope this helps, even a little. Cheers, Chad

Oh, Jesus! I've had blisters like that before; not fun! Good for you for finishing it out. Thanks for the pics and the TR!

Haha...uh, 10.21.05 (Monday)

10.21.05

Never got to meet you, but I always enjoyed your TRs, and your website. Good luck to you. Take care, and don't be a stranger! ---Chad

Sick, sick, sick....but, glad you got it done. Nothing was raining down on you?

What's the difference between the the previous, and the current versions?

Sidestep the whole thing and get the National Parks Pass, with the Golden Eagle sticker. Covers the NWFP, and all the National Parks for 65 bucks. They can jack up the Entrance fee at Rainier all they want.

Haha....naw. Didn't think you'd be phased out.

Alrighty then! Thanks much for the replies. That sums up my thoughts; I figured that they'd be very careful to mess with a good formula. Glad the Cobra will be around for a while...'cause I'd like to get a set

yup, I'll be there tomorrow night!

Heard a rumour that the coveted BD Cobra is going to be discontinued. Anyone know of any replacement that they'll do, or if this rumour is true?

I've used the Ceres 70 quite a bit; it carries very nice. It doubles as a great long trail pack, as well as an alpine pack. It has gear loops, and the tool tubes are very nice to have. I've you've seen one online, then I'm not going to be able to give you any shocking news, but it's a well built pack that can do a number of tasks. By the way, my favorite part about it is the straightjacket feature; carry a big pack to the bivy, then for the summit push, it cinches down to ~2000 cubic inches.

Update: bad conditions. Went up seracing today; gullies look worse today than before, then a lenticular came in. I'd brought binoculars to get a good look at the ice pitches, but it doesn't matter; the right gully has a brown, rock-showing runnel going all the way down to the bergschrund. Thought I'd post this, and save some people gas cash. If I get up there later on this week, I'll post another update, but I don't see anything huge in the forecast that will change anything before then. Supposedly, some good snows were supposed to take place up there, but from what we say today, they didn't happen. Hopefully a good storm will come along, and then some good freeze-melt will happen

Boy, that's hard to tell. Though, overall, everything else had some melting going on up there, and there were some ice daggers beginning to hang on the Cooper Spur ice routes that people always talk about, so I'd be surprised if there weren't at least some ice up there. My best guess is to wait for one more good storm, and some more freeze-thaw, and then it should be golden. Of course, last year I threw myself at it multiple times before I finally got it done. And it was well worth it...

Hey, no problem. Gas is expensive these days! Seracing was very nice, but the lower crevasses are pretty filled in with snow, now. Mainly seracing from here on out, until winter completely covers everything.

I know there's some local alpine-ists looking at doing the NF. Yesterday, went up to the Eliot to do some seracing, so I here's some of the recon photos I took. Got a good view from on top of the seracs Upper Couloirs: Lower Couloirs/Ice flows: Cooper Spur/North Face: Picturesque Photos:

Sent ya a PM

Beautiful. Nice TR! Thanks for posting.

I like my G-14s, but as I'm looking at them closer, the secondary points seem much less aggressive than the others that are competition; seems like you have to get the frontpoints really sunk in, or your heel incredibly low, for them to engage. Yep, I need to spend much more time with them. Looking forward to getting to experiment with some of this some more; here's to some good ice this year in BC/WA...or lower gas prices to get to Banff.

Great time tonight; sorry you couldn't be there, John! I have tomorrow, and Monday off. If anyone wants to head out there again, PM me, or shoot me an email. ---Chad Edit: Found out I have Wednesday night off. See you guys there

Just wondering, how many people believe in horizontal frontpoints for WI. I have a set of G-14s, and a set of Camp Ice Riders, which is extremely similar to Charlet Moser Black Ice's (very aggressive secondary points). I took the Camp's up to the Nisqually, and they performed remarkably well on damn-near vertical glacial ice. The G-14's, a week earlier, seemed to blow out easier on the Eliot Glacier of Hood. I realize that this is glacier ice, and is much different than water ice. I was reading Gadd's book, and he stated something about challenging climbers to try horizontal front points in water ice; how many people believe in this?

Hey everyone; Thanks for the responses. Sounds like there's about five of us going as of now. We're meeting at 3:00, barring any total downpours. Alan, there's another guy who's going to borrow my tools, so you can as well. I also have an old set of Omega Pacific Bulldogs that are up for use. To anyone that shows up: I have enough stuff for one TR, but will need more, by the sounds of it. Might want to throw in anything you have to contribute, to be on the safe side. Also, we'll meet at the same place we met on Wednesday. Hope to see you all there. Oh, and be ready for beer; probably hit the Mexican restaurant on 82nd afterward, or maybe we can head to the Alameda brewpub. Cheers, everyone, looking forward to seeing you all. ---Chad