sweatinoutliquor

mO7pxR6YP8E If you haven't seen the movie Sur le fil des 4000 I STRONGLY recommend seeing it. I have no idea where you can find it, but here is a brief clip anyway, showing some absolutely stunning climbing in the alps. The story itself is remarkably sad, but beautiful at the same time (at least for me). If you don't speak french the first minute or two of the movie doesn't make much sense...

Dude, this is funny, but was just down in the valley over thanksgiving, and I was wondering around the camp 4 boulders trying to find a problem that I could do (totally suck at bouldering, didn't even have a pad or any idea what ratings were). I found this exact problem, took a look at it and thought "hmmm, doesn't look that steep on one side, lots of chalk on it... yeah, I got this no prob". Of course I couldn't even do one move. I'm back for two days and I find out that it was a climber who is much better than me's eight year project. Anyway, congrats man, and thanks for the great read!

to you ivan and ken. Good story as usual, and way to keep it together when the shit hits. Sounds like quite an adventure!

Call me a pansy, but if I can help it I try to avoid hood from November to March unless there hasn't been any significant precip in the previous 5 days or so... Frosting on the cake is if the mountain has been in the sun for a few days, or scoured by high winds. It's just too far of a drive for me to go up only to find out that avy/postholing conditions aren't conducive for an ascent. During those months I've really only considered routes accessed from Timberline (hogsback, west crater rim, leutholds, sandy, reid, wy'east). If you go up there in winter, bring skis and have a backup plan (like ski bowl or meadows).

Holy crap! Way to really spice things up on the decent! A big to you both for keeping it together and making it outta there safely. Great photos too. Thanks!

My heart goes out to Jim's family... Although I don't know him personally, I know for a fact that Jim's contributions to climbing in the northwest will NEVER be forgotten.

oddly enough I think I was talking to one of their sales people a number of months ago and told them that their grivel photo stuff was all messed up... Glad they got right on fixing that up. That's a picture of their condor arrest grip (for skiing). Their third tool is the little ice hammer thingy with a red handle. I guess you are supposed to bring them so you have something if/when you drop one of your ice tools.

I've heard that the nelson stuff is smoke. I'd suspect that the backcountry around the Wasatch is pretty decent, but maybe not as remote as you are looking for??

I thought the first one was the best! Dude laughs and is like... "...whippah". It does look like her body sorta folds on impact. Ouch!

Very enjoyable read guys, and good photos too. Dan, I agree, there is something very cool about making the trek back to the car from the west side after dark. Thanks!

not too bad... Although I heard that they were going to close it this week maybe? Still a little hard snow between the ruts up higher that could be rough on a vehicle without clearance. Probably make it though. No problem for my buddies tayota pickup.

-White Stripes -Prince Yeah, that should cover it.

NF route not in condition as of 10/27 (nothing more than verglas over the rock bands in the gullies). The short gullies leading up to the spur (left of the N. face routes) are in FAT condition.

Got one for my fitzroy. Never use it. The tent is kinda a jumbo 2 person rig, so most of the gear that needs to be inside fits inside. It pitches pretty nuclear proof though, almost hard to get the pole into it's little sleeve. The tent has 2 doors, so gear goes into one door (in vestibule), people go out the other. I really only bring it if it's gonna be raining/snowing a crapton and I have a ton of gear (usually not a very often combination for me). Probably the best use of it is for cooking when you want it to be out of the wind, but aren't intersted in the "awesomeness" of CO poisoning. Anyway, think about what circumstances you would really need it for... then imagine adding another pound or so to your already overstuffed backpack. Then imagine how much beer you could buy with $100. Then go buy one anyway.

Should be more beta than you need if you use the search function and select the North Cascades forum and/or try summitpost.org If that doesn't work let us know and we can help more. Welcome to cc.com, how's the weather in 'hampshah right now?

One other thing Jamin... First off, the mountains/climbs you would like to decend off of "however you please" may not want or need any more bolts if they already have an established descent line. Second, if you go plugging bolts in at random places you are going to confuse the F&$# out of other people who will try to figure out why there are bolts in such a weird place. Who knows, maybe they will follow your decent line thinking its the right way to go? Maybe that's safe, but I would guess it's not. Third, I don't care how you look at it, bolts, hangers, and bolt kits are heavy and expensive. All that stuff is probably going to set you back 200 bucks at least (hammer, hand drill, bit's, bolts, hangers). Wouldn't you rather buy some nice cams or screws with that money? How about a nice set of jumars? Fourth, please don't buy or place cheap assed bolts in the alpine. The cheap ones just don't seem to last in the harsh NW climate all that well. Fifth, have you ever placed a bolt with a hand drill? God it's a humbling experience... After 25 minutes of whacking that hammer you are seriously going to wonder if you are going to get off your alpine climb that night. It sounds like you are getting the point. I must admit that I have been in this situation before, and I rank it among the stupider things I have done to forge ahead (downward) rather than turn back and find the right way down. I now carry a single light ascender which can be used in conjuction with a reverso/ATC Guide to ascend. Better than prussiks IMO. Good luck out there, be safe!

That sucks about the weather... Lame! Otherwise I would say it still looked like a sick trip. Those photos are sweet! Next time better luck!

My goodness that looks like fun.

I didn't notice any snow at the ledge below the fin, but maybe I wasn't looking hard enough. Yes, there are lots of bivy options on the ridge before you reach the fin, and if you had a light enough bivy kit it would probably be fun to spend the night with such an impressive view. That being said, it is nice not to have to bring the extra gear... We climbed with just one pack between the two of us so the leader got to climb without much weight... Made it a lot more fun I think. Also, like Ivan said, you can get on and off the mountain without crampons and an ice axe. I'm glad we didn't have to mess around with the rappels and just walked down though. The snow was soft, and although I brought crampons, we didn't use them. I'm not sure if it will be soft enough for that this late in the season.

Personally I think rapping through webbing is lame unless it's an emergency. If you are going to leave something behind, why not make it something that others can use too? Pulling your rope through the webbing can damage it (the webbing) and then the next group through will potentially have to replace it, or worse, maybe they will rap off it too and either get hurt, or damage the webbing more. Just my $0.02, sorry it doesn't have much to do with the topic.

Too many to even pretend to pic one, but this is what came to mind first:

Cool... I think I may have waved to one of you.