selkirk

The only part of a bear I've ever seen in the woods (16 years of hiking, backpacking, and climbing in North Idaho and Washignton) was it's hind end as it ran away. Around you need to be much more worried about mountain goats eating your boots, marmot's eating your trekking pole handles, and snaffles eating everything else. The mountain goats around here are not at all afraid of people. Of course they don't want to eat you, they just want you to go pee for them.

As memory serves wasn't Yates using a belay device from a seat dug in the snow because the snow was so insubstantial that there wasn't anything to anchor to? And wasn't the belay seat decomposing while he was sitting in it? It does kind of change the rescue scenario a bit when the only anchor is you. That said... Yates made the hard choice but IMHO it was the right one. Also learning some basic self rescue techniques is a damn good idea

The nylon liner socks aren't really similar to dress socks or to nylons. I would suggest going to an outdoor store and searching on "liner sock" or some such thing. Though running socks or something of that nature would probably also work. If you're feet sweat a lot (like mine can) you can wear these underneath wool socks as well to try and keep the surface of your foot dryer. The tube socks would definitely give you blisters even with good boots. I've had pretty good luck with smart wool socks, so those might have been from breaking in your boots.

Also on the blisters, is there any chance your hiking in cotton socks or rag-wool socks? Those things are the devil! and will give you a blister every time. For me if the weather is warm I usually just wear a thin nylon liner sock or a lightweight wool sock of some sort (Smart Wool is good, but it should be a pretty fine blend, nothing coarse like rag wool). Keep it up

I'll second Sherri's thoughts. The linkcam's are a great tool, but they're certainly not my "go to" piece. For me it's always nuts, hexes, DMM/Metolius Cam's, then Link Cams. They're great for anchors, and great to have 1 on your rack as that 2nd/ or 3rd piece in a range of sizes, but I'd never build a full rack out of them.

Forced down time (of any sort) is great for looking through Freedom of Hills, and going through guide books to start planning your next big trip. Having a definite, next near term trip (whether that be hiking, backpacking, or climbing) is often a great way to stay focused an motivated! My wife used to hang a picture of Mt. Baker on the wall when she was getting ready for the it

Arrogant, dogmatic, closed minded, self righteous, holier than thou, son's of bitches, who are convinced that they, and only they have the correct opinion on any given topic suck even more!! (that goes for militant southern baptists and anti-bolters both!!)

Grid bolting sucks Chopping bolts on the sly so no one knows who you are also sucks and makes you a pussy. Moderate and easy routes for beginners with reasonable bolting Topless Mormon girls :tup:

Cotton's great for some things, but once it's wet it never dries! (at least not in the amount of time you'll be on the mountain). For long johns that are next to your skin, that's a recipe for blisters and nasty chafing!! Cotton also loses all of it's insulating properties when wet (wool, poly pro, and fleece don't). It's probably an overstatement, but I've heard that in cold weather you'll stay warmer naked than wearing wet cotton So between sweat, snow, and condensation it will get wet Though a T-shirt at camp, or a cotton bandanna can often be nice depending on the trip. And yep, a "puffy" is a winter type coat, but very compressible. Think down or, sleeping bag type insulation. It's absolutely invaluable. Down is lighter, more compressible, and more expensive, but loses it's insulating ability if it get's wet. Synthetics are heavier, less compressible, less expensive, but don't lose they're insulating ability (as much) when wet, so it's a bit of trade off and depends on the conditions you'll be in. And I'm amazed that neither B&N or Borders have Freedom!! That should be a crime around here!

I'll Second this! There's a good reason that Freedom of the Hills is referred to as the Climbing Bible. It may not go into full depth on every topic but it's a great place to start and talks about an awful lot of your questions. (and quite a few that you haven't even asked yet ) With regard to your question about guides, 50/50 is probably about right. But a different way to look at is that probably 75% of the people going up with a guide have little or no technical experience (no other glaciated peaks, or semi technical climbs, under their belt and minimal other training). While probably 90% (or more) of the people who are attempting Rainer for the first time without a guide have some technical climbing experience (crevasses rescue, comfortable in crampons, and on rope teams, other peaks etc.) So if you think you'll take some courses, work with some mentors and climb some other peaks before you attempt Rainer, then you probably won't need a guide. If you think you'll get in shape, spend some time reading Freedom but won't have time to learn crevasse rescue, spend time working on crampon technique, climb some easier peaks etc. then a guide service is probably the way to go. Option 1 will take more time and effort and, more dedication, and overall may be more expensive (more gear, more trips, etc.) but I think is a more rewarding path as you are more independent, and at the end you'll be a good beginning mountaineer before you attempt Rainer. Option 2, would take less time likely, but you'll be more dependent on the guide service. Also keep in mind that not everyone summit's Rainer during their fist attempt (guide service or not). Does anyone have a handy statistic for the summit rate? With a guide service you'd need to book another trip (though they may give a reduced rate or something). If you tried it on your own, you just pick another good weather window and go. If you're looking for classes there are lots of good options around: Guide services, Mountaineers, Boe-alps if your in the Boeing family, etc. Each has strengths and weaknesses. Also keep your eyes open for Free Seminars at Feathered Friends, and REI. There are often Avalanche seminars, gear demo days, play days. There is even an AMGA guide thing this weekend where they are looking for volunteer "student" who want to spend a day at Leavenworth working with someone who is working on being certified as a Top Rope site guide. Good luck!

There's a reasonable 5.4ish route on Guye Peak that would have fewer crowd's than the tooth. There's also some good routes (5.4 to 5.6) on Ingalls Peaks (out by Cle Elum sort of.

Woohooo!! Another good place for gear at reasonable prices is Second Ascent. They've got a great selection of used boots, clothes, crampons, packs, tents, you name it, that will save you a bit of the sticker shock. They also get some great new clearance stuff a few times a year. if your looking on-line I've also had good luck at Northern Moutnain Supply, and Mountain Gear. (And backcountry supply seems to have some screamin good deals as well.) It's fantastic that your'e getting out with your Daughters! Hiking and backpacking with my parents is definitely one of my favorite childhood memories (and the little one can start carrying her own pack by the time she's 7 or 8!) Good luck and keep at it! It's well worth every sore muscle and blister!

Haven't spent the night, but I was up there and poked around a bit several years ago, and the Lookout was in nice shape. I bivied in one of the little flat spots in the saddles since the Lookout was taken. Either way it's a truly stellar view I think to actually get the lookout you'd have to head up friday morning. You'd definitely want your own sleeping bag though

The ankle actually didn't make any noise during the fall. I really think that was just a bruise at best. No pain whatsoever on the heel now and after 5 minutes of hanging and resting felt fine. I only mentioned if there is some way that the fall could have set the stage for the foot jam? The snap crackle pop happened during a routine foot jam (after the fall) when I pushing towards the anchors (had 1 mantle left to get to the chains) If anybody knows any good Sports Med Doc's in Seattle I'd appreciate the recommendation. So far still swollen and a bit stiff but nothing absurd. The pain certainly isn't as bad as the last time I rolled an ankle playing volleyball. The noise is just freaking me out!

and it's not immersed in rice crispies. I was working a route today and did something to my ankle. First took a fall (10 ft maybe?) and clipped my left heel on a ledge. It was sore for a couple of minutes but seemed to fade pretty quickly. Following that I was finishing the route, popped in a left foot jam and cranked it over to set it (like i've done 100's of time), and heard the magic phrase... snap, crackle, pop! Pretty sure it's not a good thing. Finished the route, lowered off, and my left outside ankle was starting to swell a bit. Taped and managed to climb on it for the rest of the day, but it's swollen. Current symptoms: laterally unstable, really doesn't like being pushed back on the toes or pushed to the side. However it supports weight just fine, and toeing in to climbing holds and edging is just fine (TR/followed for the rest of the day with minimal problems). Twisting makes it grumpy though. Does anyone have any idea what the hell I might have done?!?!?!?! It was loud, it sounded like something broke, but the fact that I can support full weight with a pack and climb on it seems like no broken grinding bones. So i'm thinking tendons or ligaments? I've never had them make that sort of noise before Currently icing and elevating and will be resting and hitting with NSAIDS this week. Any ideas would be great! TIA

Great little shindig

Your settup is just fine. I do that all the time with My web-o-lette. I think what they mean by "don't clip the eyelets" is really "don't tri-axially load your master/powerpoint biner". If you just slung the boulder but didn't tie the Figure 8, then the biner would get pulled in 3 directions (your tie in, and each eyellette). But when you throw the powerpoint figure 8 in, the biner is only getting loaded in 2 directions (powerpoint and you) which is how they were designed to be loaded.

That's funny, for hard finger cracks, I usually end up going for small nuts. From a good stance I'll place them in the next pod that I'll be using for a finger lock, and be sure to size them down a bit so they seat in the constriction below where my fingers will

I'm not exactly a siege climber either, but Why did you fall? Is it simply a blown sequence, or was there any mental/commitment issues doing it on lead? if it was just the sequence i'd lower off and go again. But if I was having any issues committing to the moves on lead or shifting from a TR headspace to a lead headspace, i'd say work the crux on lead a few times until it's dialed on lead. Then lower off and go for the redpoint.

If you go a mile or two past the Cutthroat Lake trailhead there is also a regular forest service pay per night camp ground on the right hand side of the rode. (Lone Fir maybe?)

A single day push was our initial plan when we were looking at it a few weeks ago and got rained out We'll probably head out next weekend. Neither of us are aid superstars or have roof experience, and we've lost a little daylight since then. So we were thinking the 2-day option would give us a little more margin.

With two 60m ropes would it be possible to fix the 1st 4 pitches? Possibly scramble to the top of the 3rd/4th class ledges? TIA

An alpine rack for moderate-to-easy terrain is usually a lighter and more focused on having just enough gear without having anything extra, and having a very general rack with a piece or two in each possible size range. I usually expect slightly longer runouts between pieces so I also don't carry quite as much. When I think trad cragging its usually closer to my limit so I end carrying a rack that is more focused on the climb at hand, instead of a general rack. (if it's a finger crack I may leave the ground with nothing bigger than a #1 camalot, or if it's a hand crack I might leave behind the small nuts and the fist sized cams and hexes). I also end up with more sport style quick draws and single length slings, and no double length slings (unless I know I need one).

Pretty much what Layton said. DMM nuts are the shit! I strongly prefer those over the BD. If your just going with a single set of nuts i'd say get the DMM Alloy Offsets, filled in with DMM regular nuts in the medium sizes, and a handful of smaller DMM Brass Nuts or BD Offsets in the small sizes. I also always throw in about 2 or 3 WC Curve Hexes taken from the top 4 sizes. They add some nice extra coverage in the hand sized and larger range, and quite often protect things where a cam or nut would be adequate but not as good (2 converging cracks come to mind). What grade are you climbing at and will your partner have a rack? An ideal rack for 5.4 / 5.5 IMHO is a whole lot lighter and thinner than an ideal rack for 5.9 / 5.10 and for me changes the gear mix. For easier climbs I swap out nuts for tri-cams, and the 2nd set of TCU's/Master cams for nuts. Good luck! and make sure you show us your rack when your done! p.s. Jim Nelson at Pro Mountain Sports has what he considers to be an ideal starter rack up on the wall is a bit of a local lightweight and efficient guru.

I wouldn't call Orbit runnout. But it's also not Condorphomine Addiction, or a single continuous crack that you can protect every 3 feet (like the headwall pitches on Outer Space). IMHO Orbit has kind of an alpine feel. You can get pieces every 5 or 10 feet, except on the easier ground (5.5 / 5.6 ) at the top where it might be 20 feet. Honestly, if you can get through the Chimney the rest of it is reasonable for a solid 5.8 or 5.9 trad climber. Good luck! and go get it!