korup

Borge Ousland, with some other bears getting waaaaay too close, direct hit with a flare:

"march is a bad time of year for snow protection." Agreed, and I don't want to start a pissing match, but this was a slope that had been skied, compacted and refrozen (Hyak is the lowest ski area in the state) all season. I stand by my statement. If it is soft enough to drive a vertical picket into, I don't trust it.

FYI, it was March, with heavy, compacted Cascade muck. The important point is that the fast-and-easy placements all failed, even in dense, wet snow. The only one worth a damn took too long to be useful for simulclimbing. Your results will vary, but after that I decided hammering in pickets = psychological pro.

In 2008, at Alpental a friend and I did some on-snow picket testing with skis. All the tests were done with a 24" MSR Coyote (no cable, just runners), a 10.5mm rope, and the rope was (unrealistically) tied directly to the anchor. Snow conditions were 3-4" of wet corn/slush, and then more consolidated snow below that, on a slope (Sessel) of 15-20 degrees. Speed at impact with anchor felt like ~25 mph(?). Test 1: Vertical placement, top clip, hammered straight into the snow. Skied 30m of rope. Slight tug on harness, followed by explosive anchor failure, with picket landing ~10 feet from where I stopped downslope, pulling the entire coiled rope with it. FAIL. Test 2: Vertical placement, top clip, ~15 degrees back from horizontal, placed below slush level. Skied 15m of rope, with the same results as above. FAIL. Test 3: Vertical placement, middle ("Sierra" style) clip, ~15 degrees from horizontal, below slush level. A slot for the runner was excavated, and then snow was replaced and compacted. Skied 15m of rope. FAIL. Test 4: Horizontal "deadman" placement, ~2' down, with a trench for runner. 15m of rope skied. Anchor INTACT. I don't have any way to easily estimate the forces involved, but the forces were all directed down, and should have pulled the anchor deeper in the snowpack, but they simply ripped straight out through the slope.

Awesome to read: "Recent slides off of Chair" and then see the avi shovel held on the *outside* of the pack with a tiny ghetto strap.... yup, that'll work!

Check out "Men Aspiring" by Paul Sidney Powell, if you can find a copy. It is nothing short of badass (Beckey-esque).

I toyed with number 1 a few times to test it. It scared the shit out of me, and didn't appear so reliable, so I filed it away in the "if no other conceivable option exists" category.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn1sMtkaEPE

Like OMFG !!! Rok on!!! I luv !!!!! don't u 2!!!!????

And now, he announces plans for an ascent later this year of Cho Oyu? Romero said he wanted to motivate young people. 'I am doing this to set an example for them and try to motivate them to get outdoors and set goals,' he said. And, and and make sure your parents are clueless and rich, too.

How many long, international, multi-person uber-expensive trips is that for the family in the past few years? They are clearly not poor. Great for them, but don't pretend little Johnny got there by hard work, or has anything approaching the experience necessary to be there. Remember when Everest was the *culmination" of decades of climbing experience? Now it's just a stunt. A long, physically challenging stunt, but a one-off stunt all the same. Any sane parent would say, "Gee that's nice, it's important to have dreams at your age." Not buying the little prince a plane ticket....

Just when you thought Paris et al had maxed out all possible avenues for vapid media whoredom, this kid's parents lay down a new "high" point. “This was not my idea; he’s provided the inspiration and motivation to keep it going,” Paul Romero wrote recently in an e-mail message from base camp. “Jordan is taking us on the Seven Summits quest and we are merely facilitating his wishes.” He meant to say, "And we, being stupid rich assholes, couldn't say no to little Jonny's little wishes." Idiots. Let him work a shit job, save his money, and get to see the world on his own two feet.

Back-HAR.

What about an Eastern-European-neon-sport-climber gear forum?

Fischer Tower sandstone is the scariest crap I have ever climbed. Pebbles held together with crumbly plaster.... rap bolt heads 2" out of the "rock" due to erosion.... those guys are batshit crazy.