TrogdortheBurninator

Unrelated, but on the same GNA page I found this story. Blanchards is good, but Vince Anderson's story is crazy! http://www.grivelnorthamerica.com/headlines.php?id=1

Well done! As far as I can tell, awkward corner is the correct finish to NYG. Reading the old reports I got the impression that the 5.7 cruise splits off at the moderate ramp that leads to the corner. Unless of course everyone else is super tough and thinks awkward corner is 5.7.

Glad to hear everyone is ok.

Looks like a great time.

the offwidth on EF Lexington seemed to require the requisite thrutching and awkwardenss to make it a classic. It is also in a pretty cool position.

Seriously, aside from ego driven machismo, why shouldnt Beacon have a topo. The crag itself is hardly secret. You (JH) constantly emphasize the need to reduce signs of previous passage on routes. Seems to me that by prohibiting sharing of information you increase the likelihood of people getting in over their heads and having to leave excess bail gear. Further, it increases the risk of serious injury, which can only serve to hurt access in the future.

Just got back from the rockies on Wednesday. The warmth has continued. Avy danger is high. TR here if you want details: http://uw.cascadeclimbers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=19140 Pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Jason.Killgore/ThisHouseOfSky

i usually wear softshell bottoms in all conditions. For winter/spring I have a pair of lightly insulated OR exos pants. For warmer days I have some schoeller dynamic (really light) moonstone pants and some cordura based OR pants. I only wear waterproof breathable pants for skiing/snowboarding.

Those are our ropes, it was pretty obvious when we got there that there would be some sloughing. Nothing too dangerous though. When the wall started sloughing we sat back for 20 minutes and let it do its thing. Regarding avy danger, this excerpt is from the MCR for the day before Farrgo climbed PC "There was a car parked at Polar Circus but today did not seem like the day to be up there. With "considerable hazard" in the alpine posted then the heavy wet snow combined with warm temperatures, I would avoid big terrain trap routes like Polar Circus and similar. Sean Isaac Assistant Alpine Guide " Avy danger was between Considerable and High the entire time we were up there.

We were out there today and the ice looked great. The avi hazard on the other hand would lend significant reason for concern. I would want some major settling and cold weather before I even thought about going up polar circus. Lots of fresh snow last night and lots of sloughing/sliding today. There seems to be sort of a 3 days of warm unsettled weather - one day of cold weather cycle right now. Definitely not ideal for climbing in Avy gullies. The weeping wall today:

Best wishes Porter!

Is anybody else going insane being at work know that there were 1000-2000' freezing levels yesterday and today after a 10k level on the weekend? I know I sure am. Selected reading that fueled my insanity (from NWAC): "Water percolation was reported by the Stevens DOT to the bottom of the snowpack" "1500 ft N, 2000 ft C, 3500 ft S Tue and Wed, slightly higher midday and afternoon hours, slightly lower night and morning hours." "Moderate avalanche danger above 5000 feet and low below Wednesday." "This allowed for a very hard crust to form in all areas." Hopefully somebody was able to get after it.

Hey Joseph, That first pic is awesome. Did the leader run that whole thing out, or are you guys toproping it? Bold!! PS, this is a great thread!

Good eye photocop gary:) That was from my website, guess I did soften the focus. Fixed now.

Alpine: W. Arete Eldorado Ice: This House of Sku Ski/Board: Shuksan Arm Cragging: Hotel Supramonte in Sardegna Scenic: Reflection of Bear's Breast Mt in Waptus Lk

Caught this film yesterday on SciFi channel. If anyone had considered taking an avalanche course, don't bother, just watch this made for TV movie. One of the highlights was when the avi forecaster checked snow conditions by digging a 6" hole by hand, then proceeded to listen to the snow, and the taste the snow. After this she mysteriously fell into a hole in the snow. I also learned how snow mobiles can trigger avalanches 3000 ft above the snowmobilers. Very informative stuff. http://imdb.com/title/tt0363448/

Sweet renton granite. Drive to leavenworth, take icicle creek rd to where it is no longer plowed (bridge creek campground). Park and walk up 8 mile rd for about 25 minutes. Whenever you feel like it, drop off the rd in to the Mtners Creek drainage. Cross the drainage and look up, you will see the ice. If you walk up stream more, you will see more ice. If you hike up the hill, you will see more ice.

Here are a couple pictures from the weekend: We lead the right side, then TR'd the middle. Not too bad for march. The topout seemed to melt considerably throughout the day. This 50 ft free hanger is about 10ft from touching down now. Another mini cold spell and who knows.

So pope, what solution would you propose? 1) Leave it be 2) Chop it 3) Clean the "unnecessary" bolts (not sure who makes that decision)

Here is a telling quote from Wharton (from climbing.com) “I’m glad we climbed so much of the route without bolts. I’m also excited to see that the 120-meter headwall (in better conditions) will go with perhaps only 30 meters of aid—20 of which are the legitimate aid climbing of the Bridwell pitch. And I thought we did a great job struggling onto the top in horrendous weather. I’m disappointed, however, that in the end we took the easy way out, using the bolts to gain the top in what would otherwise have been unclimbable conditions. Human laziness and coveting the easy way to the top is a sad piece of the Compressor Route story, and although Zack and I nearly avoided this path, in the end we fell just short.” A proud ascent, but as far as I'm concerned any further ethical debate about chopping the compressor route is completely hypocritical if it originates from either of these two climbers. If their ethics were genuine, they should have bailed when they could no longer proceed without Maestri's bolts.

So was it rack failure or negligence? If rack failure, you should just eat the loss. If negligence, I thnk 50/50 is fair.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=333051 I'm sure some of you already saw this, but it is a pretty interesting situation. Lots of key players chiming in with their response. Seems that the yosemite crowd and the CO/UT crowd have pretty different opinions/allegiances.

from this very thread!!!

Basically we're telling you to get off your ass and go climbing more. Jeez, what are you thinking? Not sure what you mean here. I wasn't trying to negatively criticize your review Oly, just saying how I think your review could be a cut above the rest. It'd also be cool to see more negative remarks in the reviews. For example, for even my girlishly skinny fingers, the new UL TCUs (non offset) are a really tight squeeze. Theyve also made the trigger bar narrower beyond the wires so you cant easily grip outside the U-stem. They still work for me, but I can imagine it would be tough for a fat fingered fellow.

That is cool that you guys are starting to put up full on gear reviews. I like the forum link feedback too. What I would like to see is pictures (or written comparison) showing placements that could not be made with standard TCUs in particular or aliens/c3/zeros more generally. If these placements were further compared with offset aliens, that would be cool too.