wfinley

In October we will be headed to Nepal and have been advised to bring our own high altitude food. En-route to Nepal we will be forced to overnight in Bangkok (and thus have to go through customs) and then we'll finally head to Nepal. Normally we make all of our own climbing meals -- a mixture of rice, sauces, dried foods and meats. We then take each meal and vacuum seal them into individual servings. Can anyone give me feedback regarding taking such food through both Bangkok and Nepal customs? I'm assuming the standard Mtn. House meals are alright - what about homemade ones?

Namaste wayne1112. Going rate for porters it be $15 / day. Autumn season is quite busy season you have to booked your flight ticket in advance and get peak permit? otherwise in the mean time you will not able to get a flight or peak. Do we have to manage? or you going to manage by your self. Cost not includes: 1. Personal clothing and equipment (backpack and water bottle), sleeping bag (US $ 2 per day) 2. Climbing permit 3. Personal accident and health insurance, 4. Emergency evacuation and oxygen and medical expenses 5. Alcoholic and bottled beverages, deserts, mineral water, laundry, tips and expenses of personal nature. 6. Expenses due flight delay, sickness and other contingencies 8. Hot showers, expensive lodge with private bath & toilet. 7. Any other services and expenses that are not specifically mentioned in the programme.. 8. Sightseeing tour, major meals we are looking forward to hear from you.

FWIW.... we are a Fritschi, Dynafit, Silvrettra 300, Silvretta 404 and Silvretta 500 family. For normal weekend usage my wife skis the old Fritschi's and loves them. She never screws with her set up and just steps in and goes. They are obscenely heavy (especially mounted on Jaks) but she's pretty fast so that means I can keep up with her. I ski on Jak BCs with Dynafits. They're light and sexy and when gear heads see me on the skin track they drool; but they can be a pain. When skiing through thick brush the plastic pieces on the bindings have broken on me three times; when skiing in wet snow the bindings tend to ice up and I have to chip away the ice in order to get my boots in or lock down the toe piece. That said - I like screwing around with gear and thus don't mind the extra work to have light bindings. If my wife had to chip away ice in order to get her boots in the bindings would take the skis and throw them into the nearest crevasse. For extended trips where we will be climbing I use my Silvretta 404s and my wife uses the 500s. These are decent bindings for anything but skiing. For ice climbing we have 300s mounted on cheap waxless skis. You can find these for $30 on eBay. You can buy 404s for $100 on eBay. In a nutshell... if you like gear and don't mind fiddling with it then get the Dynafits. If you just want to go skiing and not worry about anything then get the Fritschis.

Cool video... but I have to know. Have you ever flown with snakes on a plane?

We had fresh snow at 5000' last week. The leaves are falling off the trees and the salmon have all turned red. Damn summer lasts all of 5 days up here and I only got to wear shorts once.

Thanks all. CJ I'll check out the AACUK info. We'll see if it's worth it or not or whther to just pay the $9/day when we know we'll be climbing.

Instead of resurrecting an old post i thought I 'd add a new one: We'll he headed overseas in the fall for climbing. We'll be on 2 peaks that are just over 6000 m thus we'll probably get the additional AAC insurance coverage (we are already AAC members). Has anyone here ever actually used (or at least purchased) this additional coverage? Any feedback on it?

It was more of a statement against giving money to canadian bums. They could all get jobs if they just cut their hair.

I have one: a friend of mine made the RMI cut but was told that the only way they would hire him was if he cut his hair. He declined and thus spent the summer sleeping on the street in Vancouver.

Apparently I missed the CC.com memo that lays out these unwritten rules. Could you please PM it to me?

Thanks for the picket suggestion. I think I'll stick with a locker though - the ends are pretty torn up from pounding them into ice. BTW - The correct terminology is Dirty Hippie not Stinky Hippie. PS - Scottier - here are a couple posts: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/s...true#Post522400 http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/s...true#Post263098

Don't forget to hang out with sarcastic annoying Americans. Here's a good link to help you plan: http://www.railay.com/railay/climbing/climbing_intro.shtml

Thanks!

This fall on our return trip from Katmandu we would like to cache our mountaineering gear in Bangkok and go sport climbing at the beach. We'd have a couple fairly large bags we'd like to leave someplace safe so we're not hauling pickets and -20 bags to the beach. Anyone ever done this? Suggestions?

My old neighbor started this site. His apartment (downstairs) was always full of freaks and they stayed up all night.

Black bears are wimps... check this out: Man kills Kodiak brown bear with a Bowie Knife!

FWIW I've never had a problem with hooligans in Canada.

We drove up some 4WD dirt road that paralleled a popular kayak river. There were a number of nice spots along the road and in the morning there were ruby throated hummingbirds everywhere! Getting to the crags takes a little longer but it's a nice quiet camping spot.

You are correct in a sense... actually most climbs consist of snow, then absolutely horrid vertical dirt and then finally good granite. If you're taking 2 weeks I would suggest a traverse overland to the Snowbird Glacier via the Mint and Penny Royal glaciers with climbing along the way. There are huts - but you will need to become a member of the Mountaineering Club of Alaska (http://www.mcak.org) in order to use them. $15 / year is all it takes and you're supporting a good cause and when the grumpy old school MCA guys show up you can say "Yeah I'm a member". The Snowbird Hut is privately owned by Dave Stahli. You can leave $5 in a can at the door to pay for use of the hut. Likewise you'll be there at a pretty busy time so consider carrying a tent to avoid stacking yourself inside with 12 other people. Below is a link to a map for reference. The red line shows the classic Mint to Snowbird traverse. The blue line is the Bomber Glacier cutoff (cool because there's an almost intact wreckage of an old B1 bomber on the upper Bomber glacier). There are 3 huts on this traverse but you'll have to get hut directions from the MCA. If it's your first time there marking the huts and route on a GPS might be a good idea as thick fog can envelop the area. http://www.couloirgraphics.com/images/misc/mintarea.jpg Below are recommended climbing routes along the way. Have fun and post a TR when you get back!! _________________________________ Easy: N glacier of Telemint: easy glacier walking; no crevasses and killer views. N gully of Lynx: Easy snow gully W ridge of Ozone: easy scramble but with an exposed summit crawl Higher Spire: W face. Moderate W face of Spearmint: head up to the col b/t spearmint and montana; ascend rotten rock and then a steep snow ramp to the upper glacier. Once at the base of the summit pyramid head up the north ridge for a 4th class route or directly up the W ridge for 3-4 pitches of 5.4ish climbing on granite. 3 Bell Spire: 2 routes to choose from. Head up the prominent couloir you can see form the valley floor. The couloir splits in a Y. Go left and it's 50' of easy 5th class rock hardly worth roping up for and the rest 4th class. Go right and it's 3 pitches of up to 5.6 on an exposed ridge. Summit Ridge of 3 Bell Spire Troublemint - East face to S. Ridge: Travel across the Mint glacier to the obvious col on the SE side of Troublemint. Ascend this col and then drop over the col and traverse N untily ou reach an obvious couloir. Ascend the couloir to the ridge where you'll then have to traverse a couple pitches of 4th class terrain to the E ridge. Once on the ridge climb one pitch of 5.6 rock to the summit ridge. Traverse N around the summit block and then climb the obvious friction route to the summit. Summit moves on Troublemint S. Ridge of Montana: ascend the giant dirt ramp on the SE face to the S ridge. Stay on the E side and hunt around for a 4th class route or go straight up the ridge for 3-4 pitches of easy 5th class to the summit. Be warned - the dirt ramp has been the scene of a few nasty falls. Nunatak: W Ridge - 2-3 pitches of up to 5.4 climbing; E Ridge - 5-6 pitches of up to 5.7. The sharp pointy thing is the Nunatak. Hard Spearmint S Ridge: Snow couloir to exposed ridge crawl to a few steep pitches of moderate rock. Troublemint Linear Accelerator: Ascend the prominent snow / ice couloir to the ridge; then pick your way along the ridge to the summit. Very exposed and has a few horrid sections of loose slimy rock. Triplemint: choose your poison. The N face begs to be climbed - I don't know if it has or not. Montana; N. Ridge: big long granite ridge that may or may not have been climbed. Montana N. Face: Brings screws and tools. and rock gear. It may or may not have been climbed. This was taken on the top of Ozone; the N ridge and N face of Montana are in the bkg. Yisbo S. Face: Big wall (5-6 pitches) of steep granite that locals claim has the best rock around. There are 5 or 6 routes in the 5.10ish range here.

Hell yeah! Glad to hear you guys are safe. Any frostnip? I guess this is another reason you shouldn't carry a plastic shovel!!

I have been there numerous times. Tell me a little more about your trip and I'll give you specific info. The climbing around the Mint is spectacular! You might want to check out threads on this page: http://www.alaskamountainforum.com/viewforum.php?f=18

I have to agree! The following pics were all taken in early July. I love the Tetons... but for the rock not the snow. Edith Cavell Andromeda Columbia PS... I believe John's photos are from Astroid Alley on Andromdea.

Watch this page for new reports: http://www.nps.gov/dena/home/news/ More info also here: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=204230&f=0&b=0

Once while belaying someone up a climb at the New River Gorge I had a blacksnake crawl out of the crack I had stuffed cams into for an anchor! It was a big one too... and it leaned all way out until it was inches from my nose and stuck it's tongue out a few times checking me out. I froze for about a minute while my partner yelled "TAKE!" over and over again. Afterwards the snake climbed down the crack we climbed and my partner actually felt it slither past his hand which he had jammed into the crack! If you guys are worried about snakes consider packing them up and sending them to some Southeast churches!

From KTUU.com --