TrogdortheBurninator

i blame the mountain goats. they drink from the upper lake and pee in the lower lake.

sounds like reverse flash flooding. very common really

crap, must be a leak

like for shaft plunging? actually, compared to quarks with a pinky rest, i think in certain conditions x-monsters do plunge better. Better spike and pretty narrow cross section.

not sure what other confirmation you need. i saw the bolts and powderx saw them being installed.

The x monsters are very fun to climb on, but their picks are still a bit thick for delicate ice. On mixed they are fun, but it takes some time to get used to the lateral springiness. For the money, especially on sale, they are good tools. I also think in many ways think they are better than my quarks for alpine.

no first hand knowledge, but I'd guess that sunny or windy walls should be fine. Walls with lots of seepage above might be damp in places, as might walls in the woods.

The shock cord keeps things shorter when not used at full extension. Without shockcord, you end up with very long lanyards with a tendency to catch on sharp pointy things. I used very thin shock cord, and it is definitely being stretched when I swing, but the cord is so stretchy that I dont notice the pull.

I've basically got some variation on these: http://www.alpinedave.com/leashless_rig.htm I use climb spec webbing, cause they were out of mil spec. Use pretty thin shock cord so it provides less resistance. Threading the shock cord is a bitch. I tied the shock cord around a nail and thread that instead. For the tool clip ins I've got some 150 lb rated hardware store biners. I tie 4mm cord through the hole on my quarks, but clip in direct to the spike on my x-monsters. At the harness I use a snaplink/swivel combo thingy and clip it to my belay loop. I can take a pictue tonight if you like.

for the most part, for most users, i dont think it really matters too much. yellow, orange, rose are all just fine 95+% of the time.

Looks great guys! Nice work.

We used the eldo creek approach. The rd to sibley is closed, and besides, eldo creek is much much easier. Not sure on mileage, but it was 5300 ft from car to camp, with only mayb 200 ft lost on the whole approach. Inlcuding the time spent looking for my sunglasses (~1hr), I think we spent a bit over 7 hrs on the approach. There is a log crossing for the cascade river maybe 50 ft downstream from the parking area.

Once again though, I think that OP deserves props for their handling of the situation. I still love my link cams.

The snow was nice and fluffy on protected and loaded aspects above maybe 7000'. You could definitely get some really nice turns in, but it would be quite a bit of hiking before you started skinning (probably not until you get in roush drainage).

last weekend from NWhikers: I would guess the road is still open, but you could call the LW ranger station to verify.

They range from pretty hard to wicked hard.

Mike and I thought we heard voices, but never actually saw you guys, seemed like mutual hallucination. Did the weather crap out for you guys?

they are probably mine. smith sunglasses lost friday in boulder field.

You would have to fuck up in a pretty big way to generate even half that much force in a crevasse rescue situation. And even then the actual biner is still rated to 24kN.

Trip: Eldorado - NE Face - N Ridge Var. Date: 10/27/2007 Trip Report: Mike (colt45) and I headed up to Eldorado Friday intent on checking out the nw couloir. This was our 2nd time to eldorado, but our first time up eldo creek. The log crossing was a bit icy, and closer to the parking lot than we had inferred from the directions. The approach itself is mostly dry still, with snow starting just below treeline (mostly continuous above 6000'). My bonehead moment for the day came when I left my sunglasses in the 2nd boulder field at lunch. I realized this about 700ft too late, but not wanting to be without sunglasses on such a sunny day, and given that mike had marked our lunch spot on his gps, I jogged back down to find them. Needless to say, even with gps, everything looked exactly the same and I didnt have any luck. By chance I brought the case to my glasses with me, and it happened to have extra orange lenses in it, so I resolved to fashion some stylish new glasses out of ductape. The glasses worked well enough and we eventually gained camp at around 7500' just as the sun was setting. It was a spectacular evening with sunset and sunrise coinciding perfectly. The next two photos are taken 40 seconds apart, in opposite direction. One more with the moon a little higher: The evening was spent melting snow and staring at the beautifully illuminated mountainscape. We woke up around 5AM and were moving around 6:00. Moving on to the inspiration glacier we found that wednesdays squalls had brought considerably more snow to the region than we had anticipated (8-12"). Navigating through the inspiration was mostly straightforward, however the recent snow still kept us on our toes. We gained the dean spire - eldo col (relying on the beta from Dave B's site) shortly after another beautiful sunrise. we scoped the couloir and comparable aspects as best we could, but the combination of unconsolidated snow and moderate winds ultimately led us to change our plans. As a consolation we decided to climb the "north ridge". Although more of a variation to the NE face than an independent line, the views in to marble creek and the aesthetic line make for a very striking, although technically easy, route. We climbed one 60m fixed pitch so we could discuss conditions, then proceeded to simul climb the rest of the route, finishing up the classic snow arete. The route was mostly power snow punctuated by one or two slightly steeper steps of more interesting climbing. This looked cool: Alpine ridge: "crux" step: Mike belaying up and over the summit: Camp and Glacier Peak: Descent: 3rd class gully connect eldo drainage to roush drainage: Overall, this was an exceptionally enjoyable route in the current conditions and I would highly recommend it as an alternative to the oft traveled east ridge or as a backup for more technical marble creek objectives. With the current snowpack, the route protects very well and feels quite safe. Gear Notes: With intent of climbing NW couloir, we had and used: 2 tools each cams from blue TCU to gold camalot set of nuts 2 pickets We had, but didnt use: 2 screws 5 assorted pins Approach Notes: Snow starts around 5000' and is mostly continuous above 6000'. Traversing in to roush creek, the boulder field provides quite a bit of postholing, however once in the roush drainage the going becomes easier. The 3rd class gully is a combination of dirt, snow, rock and grass. It is fine, but requires some attention. Inspiration glacier is in good shape.

it is in a small bavarian sub-country within washington state

Out at vantage last weekend I noticed that Go Cat Go is now fully bolted.

you sound like a motivated seller! I am a motivated buyer! Let's do business!!!!

it is mostly likely aluminum dust from you belay device.

grad school - chemical engineering