wfinley

I got my wife some Vipers with the leashless attachments (Fangs) and yesterday she climbed with them for the first time. We climbed a long route (150m) of moderate grade II - III ice and she had a lot of trouble with the leashless attachments (she was still using leashes) - claiming that the plastic pieces slid around when she braced the ends against the ice. After we rapped off I bouldered around using her tools and thought they were really nice. Anyone else use the attachments? My feeling was that they would be better for steeper ice but if you're climbing moderate flows (and she is just starting to lead grade II ice) that the Fangs might be more of a hinderance. Anyone care to share their thoughts on them?

110s or 112s and what size 404s?

Looking for an old beater pair of Silvretta 300s. Not interested in 404s or any of the newer models - I want cheap and light. You know you have them and haven't touched 'em since you got your Dynafits. PM me if you desire to rid yourself of these things.

NASA called this one Saturnian Psychedelia. "This psychedelic view of Saturn and its rings is a composite made from images taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera using spectral filters sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 728, 752 and 890 nanometers.'

I know Clint and can vouch for his lack of trustworthiness. The guy drinks beer, climbs ice and works at a gear shop. He's more interested in flirting with the girls at the shop then he is in fitting my boots. How could you trust a guy like that? I call BS too. Waiting for the check to clear to totally legit. However if you send me a check for $50 I'll go rough him up and force a confession.

Are you ready for another barrage of stupid questions?

Actually if everyone walked down a popular route it would lead to more erosion then the impact of rapping off one tree. I likewise saw this happen in the east -- at Seneca Rocks and the New River Gorge. At Seneca all the trees had slings wrapped around them for years until they began dying off; now there are rap anchors bolted just next to the tree. Below are pix form the link; seems that if bolts were placed at the top of the pitch fewer people would walk around on the cliffs edge thus less erosion.

Not to mention that Chessler used to have a real store but is now only an online / mail order store. On the other hand if Seattle can support an left wing bookstore that caters to Anarchist then why couldn't it support a outdoors bookstore that caters to yuppies?

Chugach State Park is 20 minutes from my door, the Talkeetna Mountains 1.5 hours and the Kenai Mountains 1 hr. Each range would keep you busy ice climbing, mountain climbing and skiing for a lifetime!

Trademark infringement is nothing new for Apple: They've been sued by Tibco over 'Rendezvous' and there was talk of Creative claiming a TM over "Nano". And of course there's the famous "Apple Records' dispute. Cisco might as well settle because there's no way they can compete with the marketing hype.

But he's not doing it for the money... he's doing it for the children. :

Whatever, I never spend those stupid Canuck coins. I always end up with like $80 in change after a trip to up to the "Great White North". Pshaw... I'll PM you my address so you can send those coins back home. Ha! I'm with bstach... those loonies won't fit in the parking meters and thus sit in the change dish for years at a time. A perfect spy op considering some schmuck probably tried to jam his loonie into the vending machine only to find they're slightly larger than quarters. And given budget cuts they probably couldn't hire someone to fix the vending machines.

Does he come with leashes or are you supposed to go leash-less with wieners

Don't get the Verticals - give them a season to fix what will break (I know a guy who busted the heel piece of the Verticals). As for Comforts - I've broken the front plastic (under the toe piece) twice - it's a pain but I like them b/c the binding can be adjusted 2 sizes which means my brothers (who are one boot size larger) can borrow my skis.

From Wikipedia... Selected First Ascents of Bradford Washburn. 1934: Mount Crillon, Fairweather Range, Saint Elias Range 1937: Mount Lucania, Saint Elias Range 1938: Mount Marcus Baker, Chugach Range 1938: Mount Sanford, Wrangell Mountains 1940: Mount Bertha, Fairweather Range, Saint Elias Range 1941: Mount Hayes, Alaska Range 1944: Mount Silverthrone, Alaska Range 1951: West Buttress Route on Mount McKinley, Alaska Range

Just got this in my In-Box. Here's to a pioneer who inspired many a mountaineer!

There's a good troll and flamefest about that company here: http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=11966&start=0

If you want Lasers there is some guy on anchorage.craigslist.org who is selling 10.5 Lasers.

I've had the MK1 XL for about 5 years, have used it heavily and really like this tent. Since a couple of my climbing partners are pretty big (6'3") the extra inches are necessary. I only have one door - which in my opinion is fine (I wanted to keep it as lightweight as possible); but always carry the vestibule on mountain trips longer than 1-2 days. It is pretty small with a big partner; you can only dress one at a time - if both sit up it's too cramped - however with the vestibule it's fairly comfy. As for stability etc. - I've endured a couple horrific storms (both in terms of high winds and lots of snow) in this tent as well as numerous gloppy snow/ice/rain storms that leave everything coated in ice, The tent holds up fine even when buried under alot of wind loaded snow (see pic below) and does not buckle under high winds. After last season the coating that the tents are treated with wore off and we found snow was sticking to the sides (this was after 4 years of heavy usage) - but per ID's instructions we just treated it with Nikwax's tent spray and now it's as good as new.

Here's a photo from a rarily formed route up north:

This was posted in another thread: This explains why people tell you you have to have a guide on the Matterhorn. There aren't any laws apparently, just "hoodlum guides", trying to protect their monopoly. Sounds crazy but it all depends on local perception. Having just climbed in Nepal without a guide I can attest to this mindset; In Nepal we were continaully asked where our guide was and on one occasion were yelled at and told there was no room for climbers without guides.

Your neighbors must think you're crazy!

I used to carry one until once we fixed a line over a bergschrund and I had to jug up the icy line. The ropeman sucked... it slipped all over the place and wouldn't hold worth a damn. This was one of the older models... maybe they've gotten better.

Mid-late May will be pushing it for alpine routes in the Ruth; it can get pretty warm in there at that time. However June is a perfect time for a place like Little Switzerland.

Do these count? How about the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1312540,00.html How about Newsweek (note that this article was not published in the US version of Newsweek: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0306/S00055.htm