dylan_taylor

If you can hit only one park, I think I would suggest heading straight into Argentina from Puerto Natales, and cruising around Los Glacieres for a few days (Cerro Torre, Fitz Roy, etc...). Not that I don't like the Torres, they are indeed spectacular, I just thought that the Chilean Style of over-developing every campsite, charging lots of $$ and putting refugios all over the place was kind of a turnoff. Argentina is a bit more low key, and you just can't beat the exchange rate. Don't take big boots unless you actually want to get out on glaciers. And even then, take sneakers. I made it up the Torre glacier to Polacos camp in my running shoes, the glaciers are dry low down anyway... I forgot to mention before. Even for just trekking you might want to take climbing shoes and a chalk bag. There is world class bouldering surrounding Chalten and up around campo bridwell. There is also bouldering in the Torres Del Paine, but it is more obscure and scrappy. Regarding fuel, you can get white gas (benzina blanca) in all of the main towns in both Chile and Arg. Or you can just burn unleaded in your whisperlight or XGK and expect to have a few more cleaning sessions. Or you can get gaz cylinders for a canister stove at lots of the trekking supply shops in either Puerto Natales or Calafate. I noticed that it is very hard to find threaded gas cylinders, but possible. Most of the cylinders are the un-threaded kind (e.g. won't work on MSR pocket rocket but will work on MSR superfly). Take lots of peanut butter if you like it. Its hard to find down there. Take your normal favorite snacks, like power bars or balance bars or whatever. Regular candy like snickers or milky ways can be found down there, but are subject to random acts of supply chain disruption... All the rest of your food, soups, pastas, grains, sauces, deserts, drinks, fruits, veggies, etc... are easy to find in the towns.

No Problem. Let me know if you need any other info as december approaches. As far as places to stay and eat in P.N., I can't really remember. There are a lot of little Hostels and Pensiones, like Casa Cecilia, for example. P.N. is a small town, and easy to look for accomodations. There are a lot of hotels on the waterfront if you have more of a budget, and I think the Indiglo serves food too, along with the standard pisco sours and the like. Cool slideshows too. When eating down there, you can't beat the salmon. Pizza and steak are good too, esp. in argentina. And don't forget to fill your extra baggage space with lots of wine when you fly back.

There aren't any flights to Chalten. There are, however, flights to Calafate, a three hour bus ride from Chalten, where you start hiking. To my knowledge, they don't operate international flights to Calafate, mainly just domestic flights on Aerolineas Argentinas out of Buenos Aires. Lambone, you can certainly hit both Torres Del Paine (Chile) and Los Glacieres (Arg) in two weeks from Punta Arenas. Try to get a bus to Puerto Natales as soon as you get off the plane in P.A., thus avoiding the need to spend an unneccessary night in "puta anus". Its about 4-5 hours to Puerto Natales via bus. In Puerto Natales, there is everything you need logistics-wise for some trekking. You can get maps, groceries, and beta. Go hang out at the cafe Indiglo. It used to be the Amarindia. And is or was owned by Hernan Joffre, who also runs Bigfoot expediciones. Bigfoot does sea kayaking and light mountaineering excursions in the torres and among the fiords near Bernard Ohiggins. You'd probably be more interested in the sea kayaking stuff that they have to offer. About half the people who do the TDP circuit love it, and about half hate it. THough beautiful,. some people find the "backside" 2-3 days of the circuit a bit bland. These type of people are more suited to hikin the "W". It is the circuit minus the long stretch from gardner pass stretching east and then south on the other side of Valle Ascencio. In 5 days, you can easily see a lot of the park by starting at Lago Grey/Refugio Grey (a couple hour boat ride from near the park admin center), and hiking/camping at Campo Italiano, day hiking to the french valley, and continuing to Refugio Paso Cuerno. You can day hike up into the Bader Valley - still sweet climbing options await, and few people go there- and return to Paso Cuerno. Then hike to Refugio Chileno, where you have two days of day hiking options, before heading to Hosteria Los Torres and catching a bus back to P.N., where you can get organized and get a bus ticket for Calafate. Enjoy.

9mm and smaller ropes are dangerous to use with a reverso. They can slip under suprisingly low loads. Use a reversino, or get bigger ropes. If one person is jugging, why use a reverso? Just fix the line. However, I would be scared shitless jugging 60m of skinny line, wondering about what kind of edges are sawing the sheath above... If one person is "sprinting" up the pitch, belay them ATC style, rather than a reverso. It is faster. This assumption may be way off base, but I figure most people climbing in a team of three and reading this post are not going to find themselves on terrain suitable for jugging anyway, unless they are on a big wall. For long cragging routes and alpine routes of moderate grade, freeclimbing is often faster. My $0.02 about whether to use one or two ropes for a team of three: They both work fine, but it depends on 1) the type of route, 2) descent (walk off vs rap) 3) The skill and experience level of the team, etc... Two followers tied 10-15 ft apart on the same rope should be fine on routes clear of loose rock and sharp edges. The route ought to fall within their ability as well. e.g: diedre. The force of two followers falling neccesitates a grigri, reverso, or other plaquette-style belay to handle the higher load. A climber leading on two ropes, with partners tied to the other end of each one, can belay efficiently with a reverso or some type of plaquette. In this situation, the leader will probably have to keep leading pitches, rather than swapping leads, because belaying two ropes/partners simutaneously can easily create clusterf%$cks at belays if you try to swap leaders.

Re: earlier in this thread: I don't see what helmets have to do with yuppies, or vice versa. A lot of friends of mine are total dirtbags, and helmets have still saved their lives. For a couple of them, maybe helmets would have saved them from brain damage, and a long, painful, recovery. Perhaps someday some statistician (sp?) will figure out your increased probability of survival when wearing a helmet. E.G., increased survival rate for a seatbelt, I heard during drivers ed 14 years ago that it was around 20%. I heard that the increase rate of survival for someone wearing an avalanche beacon is several percent (not that much) - please correct me if you know. I still wear my seatbelt, and I still wear my avy beacon. If a helmet increases my chance of survival by 2% I'll gladly take it. Many folks have pointed out that helmets aren't guaranteed to save you, so don't put all your faith in them. Well, no shit. I think most of us spend some time here and there trying to mitigate risk, not eliminate it all together. I will wear my helmet most of the time. I will not wear it sometimes. I will raise a to all of those who should have worn one but didn't.

About one year after one apeared in my left hand, one apeared on my right. In line with the tendon from my ring finger. That was three years ago. Most of the pain i feel is when mountain biking, long ski tours, etc. Or when trying to stretch my fingers. (like when doing a hand stand). How much mobility do you have with you fingers - i.e., how far back can you bend them? I am curious to hear what your doc says.

VS.

probably the permeable and porous kind.

Only three hours to get off Mt. Wilson? Makes me embarassed to admit the time it took me about 12 hours to descend wilson. I guess about 8 of those hours were spent spooning around a scrappy fire with my partner on a lumpy ledge while wearing cotton after we chose the wrong gulley to descend. But I think I have learned a lot since then. I guess the moral is that approaches and descents in RR shouldn't take more than a couple hours unless something doesn't go quite right... But then again, if you do epic, at least you'll have cool stories to tell...

There is usually a lot more that goes into installing a fixed line. How long will it be - just your one 60m? How many people will be using it? How steep is the terrain? What are you using it to protect you from? will you be climbing up it with prussiks, and rapping down it? Or just using it as a hand line on slippery 4th class? Dru is right - no reason to put in a fixed line unless the anchors for it are bomber. But some anchors are more permanent and low maintenance than others. Depending on how long it is, and how many people would use it, you might want to build additional intermediate anchors (buried pickets in good snow, etc...) so that if there are several people on the line at once, they are not all stressing the upper anchor. If there is no jugging or rapping expected, or if you are leaving it for a while, you should leave each section of the line tight. If jugging or rapping is anticipated, leave 6 or so feet of slack in each segment of the line.

I think it is good advice to assume that you are the only one using it. I always leave an old biner anytime I am rapping off of webbing. Ice climbs tend to be wet places, and with wet webbing or cord it is hard to pull the ropes through. (also, wet webbing is way weaker, but thats a different story). The last time I didn't leave a biner on a webbing rap was on an alpine route in south america, and the ropes froze to the webbing, and one of us had to prussik back up and leave a biner anyway. V-threads can get stronger or weaker after you are done using it. In some cases, I've yanked webbing out of a v-thread with my hand, in other cases, I have trusted old v-threads with my life, after inspecting the webbing and noting that the holes had filled with water, and then frozen.

what are the prices?

FWIW, I haven't had too much of a problem putting pants on over crampons when the pant zips only go up to the hip. I have done it at hanging belays without even puncturing my pants! You have to be kind of careful with balance, it can be a bit tricky... You would never be able to do this with ankle length zips, furthermore, it is a pain to put pants on over plastic boots with ankle zips. Full sidezips are all but obsolete. I second that the hip length zips are far more comfy when carrying a pack. They are also way more comfy when you have to bivy with the pants on.

This idea seems pretty cool, the only thing I wonder about, is this: How do you manage the clusterf%&k at each station when you are rapping with a partner, or say, with two partners? I'm sure you probably have something figured out that works well, but I know that one hassel I am always trying to deal with is making transitions at each station easy to deal with when there is more than one person to rappel. There is one thing I have done in the past when rapping long routes with bolted anchors. Premake a cordattle or double length sling into two legs and a powerpoint, same as if you were building an anchor on lead. Make two of these. The first person down takes the rig, and clips it into the bolts. Since most bolts are placed on an almost horizontal plane, your powerpoint is equalized almost instantly. Then, you can clip in with the sling that is girthed to your harness, the way most of us do - but you are clipping into two bolts, not one, and there is room for your partners to clip as well. Once the ropes are pulled and re-rigged, there is no order that you are forced to rappel in. Since everyone is clipped to the anchor the same way, anyone can rap first. Re: prussik above or below belay device: I don't know anyone who puts the prussik below, but I know plenty of people who put an autobloc below! It is easy, super fast, and it is not nearly as much of a pain to undo as having a prussik above your device.

Butterfly knots work great in most summer cascades/Alaskan snow conditions, but not so well in soft (powder/slush) or rock-hard snow. They are a good last resort for two man teams, but that said, don't go hog wild and tie too many of them. I tie one 8-10 feet from me, and one 8-10 feet from my partner. A couple of other tips: So far there has been much discussion of pickets used this way and pickets used that way. What about flukes? They are way easier to place when you are lying on your belly with the weight of your partner trying to drag you backwards. Plus, they are a dynamic anchor, and will self-adjust to meet your second anchor (a picket) if they are overloaded by a bouncing (prussiking) fall victim. Pickets. To avoid trouble with taking them off your pack: Rack up tp 2-3 of them on your strong side, clip a biner from the front picket sling to the upper part of the webbing which runs down your pack shoulder harness, clip each biner from the next picket in line below that. That way they are always easy to remove, even in awkward situations. Pulley systems: The more I practice it, the more I think the 6:1 Z to C is a little overrated. I think a 5:1 is way better, especially when a dynamic rope is being used, along with biners as pulleys. In a lab, under static frictionless conditions, the 6:1 is obviously better, but notice that when you practice hauling someone out, you have to pull about 5-6 feet of stretch through the system. The 5:1 has less stretch, and only one prusik to reset, rather than two. On forces. No properly set up pulley system should ever multiply forces on an anchor. The only way of multiplying forces on an anchor is to set up a haul so that you are pulling towards the crevasse. This is bad. Make sure you are pulling away from the crevasse. On rigging yourself for glacier travel: The texas kick is great. But one system that allows you to set up swank rescue sysems is to attach a short cordallette for your feet, and nothing for your waist. Leave a waist-prusik sizes sling clipped through one of your two lockers on your harness, and clip a locker with a tibloc to the other end, and clip this to your gear loop. If you go in a hole, it is quick and easy to pop the tibloc on the rope below your leg prusik (depending on adjustment), and start jugging. If you have to rescue, your leg prusik gets attached to your initial anchor with a munter mule if you can. A third prusik get added where your texas waist would have been put for a Z to C, and your tibloc prusik can be used to self belay to the lip, or, in the case where you are using butterfly knots, can be added into the system in between the top pulley and your leg prusik. Once the load is transfered to the tibloc (after your knot-pass), you no longer have to tend this prusik, just haul away.

I've found the megamid really usefull. Cheap, light, and works great in snow. Wind does suck sometimes. I've had mine up in some pretty strong winds, and it has never let me down, but the bad part is when grit and sand constantly blow underneath. I don't take the pole, on snow, where the bottom is dug down really deep, I clip my ski poles together (via the wrist leashes) and then use a cordalette to splint them. Then I can make a pole that goes up to over 6 ft. I try to lean the pole into the prevailing wind direction.

Exactly! Brilliant! I'll be retrofitting my alphas and my leather flip-flops ASAP!

I thought it got all scorched from the big fire 2years ago and got put off limits. Go to Cynical Pinnacle & sunshine wall if you've never been there. It is kind of city-of-rocks-ish except that is is bigger, more sandbagged, and generally more bad-ass. I think COR is probably 2.5 hours from SLC if you drive fast, so maybe for you, <10hrs from the fort.

Good point. Some of those dynafit boots aren't compatible with fritchis. I'm waiting for someone to start making a real climbing boot modified with the little metal gizmos for dynafit bindings. Maybe with a drill press and a dremel tool...

Todd, what do you need city of rocks for if you're so close to boulder? Is Eldo tapped out yet? Hell, go spend a few days in the Platte (bummer about Turkey Rocks) or heck, the Black is probably perfect right now! Or ride the next heat wave up to the Diamond! See you in the ham.

I believe he means from a territory near the Peoples Republic of Boulder. Takes about 12 hours + or -.

Hey T! COR ought to make a nice rest stop 2/3 of the way from boulder to b'ham! I went there years ago in early july and it was hot. May seems perfect, but it's been years since I was there and I don't remember much.

have you looked at the Dynafit TLT 4pro?

and !

If I tried to free solo the challenger (or anything else) I would definitly be entering my next life way too soon.