Kevin_Matlock

Saw this when he did the Salem school gig. I give it two Everybody should go check it out.

There aren't any poles up to the summit, but rather around the moutain (the Loowit trail). It's easier than hood but you should have at least some very basic route finding skills. You might want to go with a friend who's done it before so you aren't a CNN story; just my advice since you are brand new. If you do south sister in the summer you will see the trail leading to the top.... just follow the other 500 people walking up the side. It's totally obvious. Do a search in the newbie forum for more general tips, pick up a copy of Freedom of the Hills, etc etc etc.

passing throught the gorge yesterday.... mostly looked like some mighty thin shit. might be a couple of things thick enough but most look desperate.

Is there going to be a max # of peeps? I'd hate to sign up and have 50 sign up.... all jocking for time trying to get in the aiders.

Well, me and another guy have been talking about making a run up WCR, Wyest, or the chutes in the next few weeks... just wanted to hit it at some other time of year other than the typical (for me) spring ascent. A third would be fine by me if you wanted to crank up the difficulty level by throwing in the winter factor. I've been up hood several times, but don't consider myself "mentor level"; but you'd be free to glean whatever knowledge you wanted from me. Guess the idea of Leuthold sparked my interest, so I figured I'd ask. PM me if you're interested in joining our rope.

Sounds interesting. Just wondering about the dates indicated in your post... these don't match what their website says. Have you been in touch with them and the dates/Leuthold's was the agreed upon deal? And... how many people do they take up at a time? (one last thought.... this isn't exactly a newbie route from what I've heard)

why? access reasons or ?????

Nice! Can't go wrong with helmet instructions like the following, either.

This is pretty cool. Can't imagine that this hasn't already been covered, but couldn't find it posted in any other thread, so..... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3620219244188425073&q=%22will+gadd%22&hl=en

Good info. Wonder what he made his pot insulator out of? Almost looks like 12oz soda cans! Interesting.

those Bushnell 7x35's?

i like them both. they could just go out on tour with both Zach and Chris. then maybe after 4 hours on stage morello would be so exhausted he'd shut up with all the politics already!!!!! seen slave twice; little bummed that they have (apparenly?) broke up.

That's for sure. Seem to recall reading/hearing/seeing someone mark the area with (amoung other things like crossed skis) a packet of red koolaid. Seems to make since since (1) it's cheap, (2) fairly permanent in the snow, (3) doesn't hurt anything, (4) you can leave it marked when you take off.

i'd watch it.... if for no other reason than to see someone plunge a tool in the head of that dipshit bear grylls!

Seems like a bitch when it's time to pull the rope!

Combination of lack of experience with v-theads and, well, I'm just bored at work so my mind was wandering... what are your thoughts/experiences with Abalakovs? Please consider this a one-stop-shopping area to dump your knowledge about them (mods: pls make this a sticky if it amounts to anything) Some random questions to discuss: ( This link from way back when discusses some other questions.) -I've read in some places that this is a "new" technique. Wondering how long this has been around and what the hell people did before.... leaver screws? -is a 22 cm screw mandatory when making one? I get the whole point that you want the most depth into the ice as possible, but what happens if you only have a 17cm? Has anybody heard of someone ballsy enough to make one from a stubby?!?!? -if you run cord through it, how do you tie the ends: double fishermans? Some other mysterious "v-thread knot"? -for that matter, do you prefer cord or webbing? (assume a water knot if webbing is used) -these used only for pro -OR- for rapping? What about used for a top rope? Too sketchy to trust in an abusive TR scenario? -do you "always" prepare 2 of them for redundancy or is this only for less-than-perfect ice; in other words if the ice allows, is it sometimes OK to rap off a single v-thread? Anything else you wish to toss in feel free.

Paper! Snow! A ghost! nah.... didn't think so

Won't somebody think of the children!

Shit, if the first guy nailed just one more car and he woulda won the little toy dog! That almost looked intentional. Did he hit the first car and think "fuck it, my insurance rates are going up because of these assholes, I'm taking them ALL out!!!!"

Yeah, probably me. I was the lone gumby bouldering around at the base. Were you the man/woman team? Looked like a lot of fun. I was drooling to get on your rope but didn't want to horn in. What was your issues... couldn't run the v-thread? On that side I was on I ran some screws in to see if a thread would be an option.... it wasn't. Got maybe 10 or 12cm of a 17cm screw in before it bottomed out. Figured it would be a safer time just to stay low since I couldn't solo up and rap off. Oh well, still learning ice skillz anyway. Also noticed both my tool tips took a pretty bad beating even in that relatively short time I was on the ice. Musta been bashing rock that was much closer to the surface than I thought. If you ever need a 3rd, pm me!

Mine aren't persciption, but I think you oughta factor in all experiences. I had/have plant. faci. but instead of paying hundreds of bucks, I was told I could try some over the counter alternatives. There are hard, 3/4 lenth inserts. Think I paid in the $70 neighborhood at the special shoe store the doc suggested. It's been over 5 years and I still use them (if I don't I usually have heel pain return). I find that a combo of these inserts AND stretching before/after a run, with icing helps a lot! Also found that running the heel of my hand on the arch helps stretch this tendon and relieves the pain on the heel of my foot (for obvious reasons...). So, I can't say with 100% certainty that my orthos "fixed" my problem, but I feel in combination with the steps mentioned above, helps me keep this condition in check.

Just got back from Mist. It was reasonable! I'd hit it early... even though it was freaking chilly, in spots the ice was really soft and wet (climber's right). The rest of the area, specifically the "main" line headed up slightly left, looked pretty fun. Saw a couple on it and nothing looked to be crumbling under them. Not sure how long this will last though. Oh yeah... and there are more gorge lines to be had. Certainly not going to go down in history as great conditions, but there were several spots that looked like they'd go. It's out there, you just gotta look!

No, mine are Ural-Alp (Uralsport... see ebay). Also have an older Ti-Top screw which is a little less robust looking, IMO.

I have some ruski screws that are a couple years old (so maybe they are a newer style?). They have cofee grinders and seem to place reasonably well. I would (and have) trusted them on lead. Much better than my crapy $10 REI leaver screws. Can they compete with something like a BD screw? No. But for they are light weight and pretty inexpensive. With that being said, if I were doing some shit were a long fall was a pretty decent possibilty, I'd probably go with a nice strong, KNOWN screw.

squeek, squeek, squeek nice where was that?