Chad_A

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?

BTW, I'll second Wazzumountaineer's comment. That sounds like a pretty nice deal to me. They're a good tool, even with the new stuff that's out.

The first WI I lead was with carbon Prophets. They dampen well, but due to the mainly straight shaft, even with the curve at the bottom it's still not as fun to clear a bulge with them. The Cobra obviously has more curve to it, but not radically so. When I climbed with them last, I had the same impression of the grip; too big for my small hands. Man, did they feel great when they hit the ice, though. Just wish I had a little bit more fingertip span, or else I would've gotten them. I don't, so I sought out a pair of Quarks.

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

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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.

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.