Alpine_Dreamer

Inspiring pics, but I've gotta admit I'm not ready for summer to be over! How do you like your Fusions? Did you get a chance to compare them to Nomics? Curious if the spike noticeably changes your swing...

I'd highly recommend Dr. Mankey for surgery if it comes to that. I was referred to him by a former head nurse at Swedish when I ruptured an achilles tendon two years ago. He's fairly no-nonsense; he cut to the chase about what needed to be done and did a great job w/ the surgery. Good luck!

SOLD!

Starter setup for a small child - maybe 3-4 yrs old? Includes: Skis (31 inches) with bindings mounted for smaller of the included boots Mini boots (205mm/16.5 mondo/US Youth 9.5) Next size boots (223cm/18.5 mondo/US Youth 11.5) Poles (31 inches)

Awesome - thanks for the ski stoke!!! Brought back great memories from a May ski on the CD a few years back. I don't think I could bring myself to ride the skis over rocks like that, though - I cringed just watching it...

Wow, nice job going back for more after the first epic. I read your original TR of misery and woe when prepping for an attempt at the NF back in July (we got shut down by weather). There can't be more than 10-15 folks who can claim to have been on top of that beast TWICE - congrats!!

Awesome - thanks Darrin! There's a great shot of the crux pitch in the Layton/Ivan TR from a while back...but knowing where to expect it helps a lot.

I'm lining up a go at the Bertulis/Davis route this weekend and was hoping the McClane - Alpine Select guide I ordered would arrive in time... I gather it has a bit more route beta than Beckey's CAG. Unfortunately I just found out the McClane guide is on backorder so I won't see it til we're done w/ the climb. If anyone's got Alpine Select and is willing to send me a scan of the route Beta I'd be super grateful. I'm not trying to dog McClane out of a sale (I've already pd for the guide, and besides I'm a climbing guide ho!). I just need any beta I can get! e-mail: mvonhagel at nffc dot com Thanks!

Nice job, EO - I was wondering what you've been up to lately! I need to get out and test the achilles on the NEB or NF . . .

I happened to be getting ready to climb at the rock when Porter took his fall, and I don't think I'll view Coach's Crack (the top of which he fell from) quite the same again. It wasn't a pretty sight, but Porter was hangin' in there solid despite what, based on the crook in his lower right leg, must've been terrible pain. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

No sweat, Rob. I'll hijack your thread since the title pretty well covers it. Anyone want to climb at index tomorrow morning - maybe leave Seattle around 8? I'll check back in another hour or so, but I figure I'm stuck w/ UW rock at this point . . .

Still need a partner for a short day at Index tomorrow? My usual partners are all busy with other things, so if you're interested in hitting Index in the morning through mid-aft., shoot me a pm. Mark

BUMP - does anyone have more recent info on the amount of snow in the Enchantments? I'd like to give a late season run at Serpentine Arete, but if there's a lot of snow on route it could quickly turn into an epic. The weekend weather window is tempting, though. Any info would be much appreciated!

Thanks for the pics! The recent TR assault is great - been thinking about this one for Sept. If you'd left the trailhead at the a$$ crack of dawn (say 4-5am) on day one, would it have been feasible to hit Dorado Needle - SW Butt that day, then do EMS - SW Face on day two? It'd be a couple long days, for sure - but what a weekend!

Thanks!! I'd picked up an old 4.5 for cheap a while back, can't believe I lucked out a second time . . .

Anyone have hammerless aid cleaning tricks to offer? From the little clean aid bumbling I've done, I found cleaning gear to be a bit of a pain since every piece gets at least body weight on it. . . TIA!

Hey Cook, if you're ever looking for more suckers to DT at X38 on a weekend (especially mornings), I'd love to join ya'!

While scrambling around in the rain last Sunday I left a Grivel 360 mid-size screw (black handled) amongst the Coleman seracs. It's got lovely pink nail polish to ID it. If you happen to find it, good karma and a six pack of quality beer will come your way should you choose to return it to me. Thanks!

I watched someone climb it a couple weeks ago, and I believe they were throwing in pro on the right side in cracks ~ 2-3 feet from the chimney? I'm blowin' smoke though, since I didn't get on it myself. Midway was enough chimney for me that day. . . .

I'm already on the ropes w/ wifey - my rack would be a smoldering heap in the back yard if I use that line. Offsets are on the list, for sure . . .

Wow, Dan Jaffe (one of the FA's) will be happy! He was wondering earlier this summer if anyone had repeated it - it's a bit obscure. Beautiful area - nice job!

I'm sure it woulda held fine if it hadn't been tied off, but since it was, it took an ~10ft (I fell 5 feet to it, then another 5 past it) factor 2 fall - no dynamic stretch from all the rope below, no easy catch from a belayer, penalty slack, etc. Plus it was set shallow in a pin scar, not deep in a crack. It still works, but was pretty mangled. . . .

Climb: Index-City Park (gumby goes aiding) Date of Climb: 9/25/2005 Trip Report: I realize writing a TR about a one pitch climb is pretty lame. Moreover, my first aid and solo climbing experience is somewhat embarrassing to share, since it was the biggest fawking epic I've ever had on a single pitch. I share it mainly because other hacks like me who are thinking about trying aid may learn from my mistakes. Over the past year I’ve slowly been accumulating the gear and motivation to try aid climbing. I have no plans or desire to climb a “big wall”, but there are lots of great free routes out there that, with a bit of aid, I could manage to crawl up. I’ve also been thinking about giving a go at roped solo climbing for a while. Since I usually get permission to climb at the last minute and for odd hours (like “can you be back by noon?” on a weekend morning), it’s often hard to get partners excited to come along. I was thinking about this dilemma a week ago when I noticed MattG selling a used Silent Partner for cheap. I immediately jumped on it! For my first experiment I thought I’d try City Park at Index, often recommended as a great beginner aid climb. I was supposed to be home by noon, so I left Seattle at 6am – ugh! I began climbing around quarter to 9 after setting up my anchor, triple checking the system and gear, etc. It starts off w/ a bolt ladder, which is awesome for getting the feel for moving w/ aiders (and also gave me a chance to back up my anchor w/ clove hitches on a couple solid bolts). Then it was into the crack. I started off hugely puckered, because it's seemed to be mostly pin scars so the pro is not "bomber" by my normal trad standards (I know, it’s C1 and I suck). I slowly got the hang of it, and to stretch out my gear I used cam hooks between placements. The cam hooks worked great, though my heart rate picked up a bit when one that I thought was solid shifted on me. They'd work AWESOME in a laser cut thin crack, but City Park is fairly flaring from all the pin scars. Anyway, I was moving along okay, watching a party climbing the classic “Godzilla” just to my right, and digging the beautiful day. As I neared the end of the pitch I noticed that the weight of the rope below me was pulling slack through the Silent Partner. The instructions warn of this, and tell you to tie off periodically to a piece of pro to reduce the weight of the rope pulling down on the Partner. I was a little worried about doing it since it'd reduce the dynamic effect of having the full rope out, but I went ahead and clove hitched a green alien. I shoulda thrown in something right above it, but I was running out of small gear (I had 2 sets of BD nuts – triples of 4-7 would’ve been nice) so I cam hooked up a bit higher and placed a blue alien (smallest alien I've got). At this point I was less than 10 feet from the end of the challenging part of the pitch, and about 20 feet from the anchors. The blue alien placement sucked by normal standards, but I tested it and it seemed good. Sure enough, shortly after I moved up on it, it popped. I then factor-2'd on the green alien since it was clove hitched, and that popped too. When it was over, I'd fallen about 20-30 feet, and stopped upside down w/ a foot caught in one of my backup loops. It was a clean fall, so I was okay aside from huge blisters on my right hand from grabbing a rope as I fell. I plan to erect a shrine to the orange TCU that stopped my fall. After cleaning out my pants, I took a long while to get my nerves together and reorganize. I got a backup belay for a few minutes from none other than Mike Massey who happened to be at the anchors at the top of the pitch (shared w/ Godzilla, which he'd just floated up) while I got my head back on. I finally sacked up and finished the pitch, more sketched than I've ever been. I'd planned to head over to Toxic Shock to try some moderate routes on lead w/ the Silent Partner, but that plan was out the window. I'll go back and try the Partner for solo leading sometime, but I need to let my mind settle a bit first. Man, I'm a jackass! But I learned a few good things yesterday about marginal placements, aid and solo technique. And eventually I'll try City Park again and climb it w/ no falls. . . . If you’re an ubergumby like me and want to try clean aid, you may want to start off on a vertical ~.11 crack somewhere (preferably on a weekday, cause you’ll probably be slow). If you’re using a Silent Partner, I wouldn’t recommend tying off to anything beyond your anchor (other than a bomber bolt). You could tie off occasionally w/ prussiks on <1mm cord that would snap if loaded, but that sounds like a pain in the ass to me. Good luck! Anchor note: As mentioned in other City Park threads, the boulder at the base has two bolts w/ nuts, no hangers. I have no hangers, so I wrapped webbing around the boulder. Gear Notes: Way too much gear >1” Too little gear <1” (for my weak self) 2x60m ropes – trailed 1 to rap off. Approach Notes: Um, none

That looks fun! Glad to see you're avoiding the full-on atrophy. E-mail me if you think you'd have a day to climb when you're back in town - I'd take a day off fer sure. Remember to bring back the ice screws . . . it's starting to get cooler here!

I did the N. Face of Vesper w/ Happy Camper a couple weeks ago - fun day climb! Due to crap visibility, it was more of an adventure than I was expecting. Downclimbing to the glacier does get you a few more pitches of climbing on fairly decent rock - I thought it was well worth it. Definitely hope to go back again in better weather . . .