lnunn

check out the size of Fred's "half ropes." what do you think, thumb-size diameter? pretty awesome, in any case.

Castle was supposed to be a warm up for us. It was my first time on rock since last summer, so a couple mellow multi pitch routes to start was the plan. Hence our frustration when we got caught in all the BS.

I'm glad we didn't head over to Castle Rock... that was my second possible idea for a multipitch. The route right of Jello Tower - could it be Winter Solstice (5.6, traverses under a bulge)? yeah, that's the one. at least we had an opportunity to get caught up on all the latest gossip while we waited... and a nice sun tan to boot!

we were the last party of two on the Buttress, saw you guys walking off. We did the same thing on the final pitch. my partner was about to coil the rope until I realized there was one more "roll" to climb. but it was a decent consolation prize after a horrible experience on Castle Rock that morning. not because of the climbing itself, but because we mananged to get caught in the middle of the worst Mountaineers fiasco I've ever seen. Not only did they take over all of the main routes, but members of their party were moving SO SLOW (on a two pitch route, mind you) that an observer in their group actually called SEARCH & RESCUE thinking someone was hurt!!! turns out they weren't, of course, just retarded. long story short, my partner and i waited on top of the first pitch of the route just right of Jello Tower (i forget the name) FOR AN HOUR so the last party of two could move off. finally, we just climbed past. personally, i love bringing new people into the activity & and I dont mind being patient while someone attempts their first trad lead. my beef is that while they're "learing the ropes," they're not being taught basic climbing etiquette at the same time. they apologized to us when we hit the ground, but I would much rather have someone on the rock helping these people (who were really clueless) get it done instead of shrugging their shoulders and saying sorry.

So that's how it works... Trango has posted instructional videos for the Cinch, Squid, Big Bro, Alpine Equalizer, & B-52 on their website (Hosted by Mr. Malcolm Daly himself... what a rockstar!). trango.com/videos

Yep, I always seem to be pulling out the yellow too.

The direct offset lobe design of the 4 smaller Flexcams is licenced from Splitter. The idea is that you can hang off one lobe pair when placing in shallow pockets or pin scars (if you're into that kind of thing). Apparently Trango is going to "split" off the Splitter cams into their own category and have regular Flexcams down through the smaller sizes. Flexcams are certainly not the top cams on the market, but the point is that they are light and inexpensive - a good starter set or supplement to your existing rack.

SUN MOUNTAIN LODGE in winthrop. check the website. it's worth spending the $$.

it's good to hear the issue is being addressed. sometimes it takes a while to get the kinks worked out on new gear, especially on one so complicated. chalk it up to good, old-fashioned grass roots product testing. cool that it was replaced in the mean time. cheers!

yes, i can see that the cam would have still held a fall. I haven't played with them much so I was trying to visualize what happened. do you think it was a matter of poor design, poor workmanship, what? In any case, it was certainly a pretty expensive "functional" failure. If that problem continues to show up in more units it could be a real issue. I mean, how did you guys feel about leaving a $90 cam somewhere in the North Cascades because the trigger wires came off?

I'm curious about the Linkcam failure. How, exactly, did the trigger wires fail? Any kind of cam failure is not a good thing and if the problem is systemic it could spell trouble for OP. Tell me more...

Has anyone recently summited baker proper? How does the glacier look with all the recent snow? For some reason I've been having visions of swimming up the mountain (actually drowning would be a more accurate description). Is it that bad do you think? And how close to the TH can you get? thanks

or try the Trango Piranha Alpine Knife. it weighs less than an oz. and clips to a biner.