pup_on_the_mountain

Hell Yeah!!! :tup: Congrats and thanks for the stokety stokety stoke! -- Man with blue balls

Fun stuff gents!!

Ththaannkkks!!!

:lmao: But then, John is not talking about "Awesome" FWAs though .

It was supposed to be a joke . Wankers on this board know what I'm talking about though. I guess I need to work on the delivery a bit .

Note: These are all First winter Ascents (FWA).

I have a TNF 3-layer Gore-Tex XCR jacket and a Mountain Hardwear Conduit bib (pants). The jacket is more than four years old, and the pants are more than two years old. They seem to have lost most of their waterproofing. I tried spraying them last summer with the waterproofing spray, but it seems to have worn off by now. I did not wash them before spraying last time though. What do you people do to keep your shells waterproof? Does washing them with some special detergent (before spraying, or just washing alone) help? Is there a specific brand of waterproofing spray that you like? TIA for any suggestions. PS: I tried searching for similar threads, and couldn't spot one. May be I did not use the right words to search.

With Kosciuzsko, this Indian dude has a claim for the "fastest" 7-summits. He seems to have done Carstenz also, though not as part of this 7-summit bid. Apart from "fun" and "money", I think these dudes must have had a lot of good luck with weather and conditions. Still fun though .

Go Wayne!! :tup: Peter Croft is not godly.

Eric, Good point about taking responsibility for myself. When Jamin and I talked over the phone, he sounded more experienced than I. He said he'll bring the rope, prussiks etc. Well, I assumed that he knew what he was talking about. When we were driving to the trailhead, I started realizing that he had done more scrambling than technical climbing. Still, I did not get any doubts about his glacier travel skills. Since the climb itself was not all that technical, I thought I could show him a thing or two, if he did not know. Thats exactly the reason I did not debate too much about going on this trip with him. Like most people, I also discuss the levels of experience with partners whom I've not climbed with before. Jamin was outright rash in his ideas and in the things he did. Most sane people would listen to their climbing partner(s), and would be willing to turn back if things were not going well in a climb. May be I should have gotten a written statement from him beforehand, affirming that he would do the same on this trip! I would've checked him out, and may be even not gone on to the summit from our high camp, if I had got the chance to check him. Honestly, I did not want to start a fight with him as we drove in his car to the trailhead! Well into the trip, he said all he knew about prussiks is that they are used in glacier travel - he did not know how they are used. If we were not doing the trip in two days, I would've shown him at least the basics of crevasse rescue. There are more spicy details from the trip that I did not mention in the PM. He forced me to go out of the way just so that he can look into a "bottomless" crevasse. He then said he wanted to practise arresting a falling partner on a rope. I obliged, and slid down ever ready to arrest myself. Of course he stopped me. But then, he wanted to test if I could arrest him! Even before I could tell him I needed no damn practice, he was already flying past me. So, he was about 50 ft above me on a 45 degree-ish slope, and I barely managed to arrest him after he pulled me off my stance with all the speed that he gained flying down! I can recall more spicy incidences from that trip. The point is this though - when you hook up with a stranger through CC.com, do you think about asking him/her whether he/she will take unwanted risks such as glissading with crampons on when they are roped up with you? What more stupid things can you put on your check list? Of course, its always best to climb with your regular partners. But as it happens many times, planned trips are cancelled in the last minute (as it happened with me that time for the July 4 weekend). The least you would expect people to do is to be honest about their experience levels and abilities. I do agree, though, that it was partly my fault to hook up with him, and thats exactly why I did not post these details for several months (even after Jamin posted the TR here). But, I think I ought to warn people now that he's planning on doing even more crazy things. I talked to the guy (Sunil) whom Jamin made do body rappels on his very first climb (see link posted by tazz earlier), and he was shit-scared. Its quite likely that some other newbie will be the scapegoat this time as well, since most experienced people will not hook up with Jamin. Thats exactly the point of my rant here (as bug pointed out). He does not have the "experience" that he claims he has. I'm not complaining about my experience on Dome pk itself - in fact, I look at it as a learning experience . I did not take any of the unwanted risks that Jamin took (like free soloing 5.5 with a heavy pack and boots), and felt safe myself most of the way (except when we were roped up). At the same time, I was honestly concerned that I might have to hike out and call for a helicopter to fetch his injured (or dead) ass out.

About seven or eight of my fingertips were frostnipped after a real cold day out on Longs Pk (it was -5F at trailhead, and there was 50 mph wind with faster gusts). They remained numb for about three weeks. A layer of skin peeled off from the affected areas after that. It all became normal after that though - at least I did not feel any increased sensitivity to cold. Take care Dave.

Okay.. I think now is a good time to add my story. I hooked up with Jamin for a trip a few months back. He even posted a humty-dory TR. What was missing from this TR was the mental agony I was subjected to . A few days later, I bailed from a trip that I planned with dannible. Getting desparate, Dan was looking for other partners. I felt obliged to warn him about Jamin though - and here is what I wrote in a PM to dannible on 07/18/06:

Awesome work gents!!!

Awesome John!! WTF am I doing sitting in my office...

Be safe out there dude!

A couple more pics from Saturday. Ice was mmmMMMMM MMMMMmmm !! Kurt leading the 50 ft pillar (after the steps) . Nice jorb dood Felt like a 5-. Matt on un-named climb to the left of More Banks Ice. Fun 3+. Kurt on another un-named climb to the left of More Banks Ice. WI 4-?

A few of us (Kurt Hicks, Matt (NYC007), and at least two more of us will be in Banks lake). You are welcome to climb with us.

Shit Dan .. So sorry to hear that. As they always say, them hills will be there for next time. Hope you get well soon. I'll stop by to say hi if I'm near the 'quah.

Nice pictures! Sounds like a fun trip Talking about Ama Dablam, check the news about the recent avalanche.

Cool videos all . Not sure if I should ask this question here, or in the CC.com News forum.. but ask I shall . I can click all the four video links in this thread, and all of them play at the same time. I can hear the metal, Kurt's commentary on the fin, gushing water (?), and a bunch of other sounds. Granted the internet is fast at work, but wouldn't it be nicer if only one video plays at a time from a thread? As of now, I have to wait till the first video finishes before I click another one. I can only see the pause button (and not a stop icon) when each of them is running (but this might be a "problem" with YouTube/Google). Could the settings be changed such that the first video stops if I click on another video in between?

Schweeet!! Keep it coming

Get well soon Dan!! We need to go do some climbin' soon!

All these are known unknowns... what about the unknown unknowns??

ManBearPig is very real! I'm super duper cereal.

La Sportiva Glaciers. I have wider than normal feet, and find La Sportiva boots to fit well. I tried Scarpa Freney (old model) before and it was too narrow for me. The Glaciers did not give me any trouble (or blisters) breaking in. They are my all-purpose montaineering boots on most places around here. The Glaciers have a half steel shank (so, they are not super rigid), and if you use NikWax frequntly, they resist water quite well. Needless to say, whichever boot you decide to buy, try them at a shop before shelling out the dough. Good luck .