tlinn

hey Nick, We're flying down with continental on the July 2 which isn't the cheapest time to fly down. A friend of mine is going down in early May and found some insanely cheap fair with Travel Cuts, something like 900 CDN after tax, but she's also a student so that may be part of the reason it's so cheap. But check it out anyway. Our flight is $1090 plus tax but you can fly with American on July 4 for only $990 plus tax. Anyway, have fun and maybe we'll cya down there!

That's good news to hear, especially the part about the Blanca being so amazing. I'll definetely enjoy! A couple questions: - wondering whether to bring a canister stove or a fuel bottle stove? Any difficulties getting canisters or white gas down there? - are plastic boots the only thing to wear or can you get away with leathers?

Guidebook is called Escalader en Cadiz. It may be covered in Costa Blanca rock as well by Rockfax but not sure.

Tarifa Spain a few hours drive south of Seville. Lots of sport climbs with almost no crowds. Great views of the ocean all the way to Morocco. It's great for windsurfing and the town is cool. It doesn't have a huge number of climbs but you could easily spend a week there.

So I finally booked my ticket down to Lima from Vancouver for early July. Planning on heading straight to Huaraz to acclimatize.... Any recommendations on places to stay down there? Do you need to book ahead or just show up? It sounds like it gets pretty busy. Thanks

I think the book is good for giving you new things to think about and consider. A few of the things are really far out ideas that you would never hear about anywhere else, maybe even because they're a bit dangerous. For example, the idea of taking a piece of tin and bending it over the bottom of your canister so that the ends are heated up in the flame. Does anyone actually do this? It sounds a bit dangerous but I'm sure you'd save a lot of time melting snow at high altitude or in really cold temps.

Keener below Wedgemount Lake was looking good last Thursday but the week's sun may not have been that kind to it. Going to Wedgemount Lake again tomorrow and I'll report back later. It's only a three hour hike to the climb with the current conditions.

Climbed some small flows below Wedgemount Lake today. Nothing to rave about but it was still fun. Keener looked really good but we had lots of newbies along so we continued to these small flows to set up top-ropes. Fast Eddie's Apprenticeship also looked reasonable. But tough to tell if it's fat enough from the bottom of the talus.

The look says it all.

I'm personally a big Jtree fan although I haven't been to Red Rocks. The first time I went down from the Pacific Northwest I took the I5 all the way to LA and then went east to Palm Spring and up the Twentynine Palms Highway. I THOUGHT this was the fastest route because I missed the rush hour the first time I went through. However, I found out the hard way this year that the LA rush hour starts early. Made it to LA at 6am and hit the rush hour bang on. I'll never go through LA again. Head off the I5 at Bakersfield and head to Barstow. From there you can take some back roads directly to Jtree. Camp at Real Hidden Valley, Ryan, or Sheep Pass.

Are these screws as good in practice as they are in theory? These are the new screws with the spot for your palm to rest while you get the screw started. They're nearly the same price as the Black Diamond Turbo Express so I'm wondering if they're worth getting. $63 at MEC, vs $59. Thanks.

Great info...thanks a lot

I have a lightweight 9.2mm rope that I like to climb on in the alpine. What kind of static line should I buy in case I need to retreat off a climb. I'm thinking of safety but also weight. Also, is there a problem rapping off of two ropes that are of very different thicknesses?

if you go to REI or some place like that they can sometimes put a new bar on the titanals to make them a different size. I had the same problem with mine. I bought XL titanal 2s and I got screwed when my boot didn't fit. Luckily the place where I bought the boots from had an extra bar lying around and they were able to change them over to regular size.

The hostel in Chamonix is awesome! I'm referring to the international hostelling one anyways. I was there last spring and it was only about 26 CDN for a night's stay with breakfast and dinner. It has a shower and a place to keep your skis but you do have to share a room with three other people. The staff are super friendly and there's a cute french Canadian girl working at the front desk. I think everyone who I spoke to was bilingual so don't worry about the language barrier. Oh yeah, there's a bar there with foosball and pool. The only downside to the hostel is that it's a bit of a walk to the village. However, there are buses that run every 15 minutes to the village during the ski season. Not sure what it's like transportation wise in the climbing season but I imagine it's pretty similar. Hope this helps,

I was down there two years ago during that time and it was excellent. Up into the upper teens and twenties celsius during the days and cool at night. We didn't see a cloud in the sky for 10 days. If you go, watch out for a big group of a dozen VOCers this year!

Are you guys talking about the N cirque of Needle Peak or the N cirque of the Thimble NE of Needle Peak? The NE cirque of the Thimble gets avy bombed from the highway.

Only been to Chamonix and Les Deux Alpes. Chamonix has the awesome village and climbing scene but unless you have some moutaineering skills you're stuck dealing with big lift lines and not so good terrain. If I could head anywher I'd go to St. Anton. They get the most snow, it's reasonably priced, and the terrain is supposed to be wicked. The nightlife is supposed to be good as well.

This has probably been asked a million times before but I would like some input before I risk trashing my very expensive down sleeping bag. Do you simply throw it in a front loading washing machine and let it do its thing? I know you need to use the down wash stuff. I've heard people say to use tennis balls. Is this a good idea? What kind of temperature do I want to wash it at? Any drying tips? Thanks.

The best directions I can give you are to stay as high as possible once you leave the "gully." Take the second exit out of the gully, the one AFTER the big downed cedar. From here, you head straight uphill, traverse a short open section heading east, then go straight up again to some open slabs. Once you reach the open slabs you should easily be able to find it.

I like this one

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'll have to hike back in there and give it another go.

He probably has a special helicopter that can airlift him off the summit like in Mission Impossible...

Yeah, once you clip the first bolt it looks to be well bolted, so I figured it had to be really easy getting to the first bolt, but after staring at it for a while from the bottom I decided I would leave it for another day.

Wondering what the situation is with Sunblessed. The Squamish Select Guide says the first bolt is a bit high but when I looked at it today it seemed a bit ridiculous. The first two bolts looked like they had been chopped. Have the bolts been chopped, or am I just not enough of a hardman to run it out 10 metres off the deck?