davidjo

There was at least a foot of new there last weekend. Perhaps it'll melt out soon with the heat.

http://www.chesslerbooks.com has two good ones: Dane Bass's The Whole Enchilada and Magic Ed's Potrero Select. Both were useful on our trip last February. We met both authors down there and they're both good guys.

Montypiton: I have similar feet, so I'm curious about what's in your boot quiver. I have a custom footbed, but can use that by itself only in my La Sportiva Trango Alps. In my other boots (Trango Extreme EVO, Scarpa Triolet) I add a neoprene tongue insert and sometimes keep the factory insole in addition to the custom insole and the fit still ain't great. I also use the thickest socks I have (SmartWool Mountaineering). It would be awesome to find boots that can feel like I was born in them.

I'm really sorry to hear this. I think Leubben's rock climbing and anchors books are the best ones out there and I appreciate him for that. It's sobering it happened at a place I was at last summer. My condolences to his family. DavidJo

I use the NOAA point forecast for Mt. Stuart where they do elevation extrapolation for you. Note that I have seen adjacent forecast areas have significant differences, which seems unlikely, so YMMV.

I ordered a pair from Moosejaw last summer. I have a pair of Trango Extreme EVOs for ice, so I felt okay ordering the Alp online. I had tried on the Trango S before, but they felt too light and seemed to wear quickly for my partners. After a long wait and seeing the model removed from Moosejaw's site, they arrived directly from LaSportiva on July 3rd. They are a bit stiffer than the S's. They fit my low-volume feet without my usual extra padding to take up space. I walked around the park and they felt good enough that I used them on a 3-day trip the next day. They climbed and hiked very well (but we bailed in the rain on the second day). I used them for about a dozen more days in the alpine last season and they were great. They have the grippiest rubber I've seen in a boot, but the sole might wear faster because of that. They make a good platform for crampons, but they don't have a front welt for step-ins. I'd definitely buy them again. Pro Mountain Sports in Seattle has 'em if you want to check them out.

Great trip report, even with no photos. We did this on 9/6 and spent an unplanned second night at the bivy. On the descent we traversed east staying between 7,700 and 7,800 ala Nelson, but ran into a large dark rib that looked improbable. After going down quite a ways, we went back up over the top of the rib at ~7900, which worked well. Once the snow melts in the gullies to the north it looks like you pretty much have to go all the way to Sherpa Pass.

Looks like he's got it wired: 4-3EyMPzMoo

There's more on this thread: climbing course discussion. Once you start getting up to speed, climb with various partners, and watch how they do things in different situations. Figure out what works best for you. Books can also give you good ideas for things to try. Freedom of the Hills often shows outdated methods, so go with the Mountaineers "Expert Series", Falcon's "How to Climb" series, or Connelly's sometimes contrarian Mountaineering Handbook.

From Boston Glacier Sunday morning From Sharkfin Tower yesterday FWIW: An IMG guide we met on Sharkfin said the word was that NF Buckner was out.

People were crossing the creek Sunday and Monday on a large log below the bridge. Someone sprinkled gravel on it so it wasn't too bad. We got to it via snow that has probably melted by now. At least you can now drive to the trailhead. The trail also has some washouts higher up. On the way in we did a short but spicy mud/rubble/root traverse above the creek. Coming back we followed a new boot path through the woods above to avoid the sketchiness.

The Temple we climbed last July is the peak just left of the one identified as Temple in AlpineMonkey's photo above. The route matched Nelson's description and the peak was definitely higher than the one to its right.

I bought a pair when they first came out a couple years ago. I rented their prececessor Scarpa Alphas a couple times before and those worked well. The liner boot of the Omegas "cracked" around the ankle in several places after maybe 5 days of use. Others I've talked to have had similar problems and also report that the laces break quickly too. Before using them on an extended trip, I'd probably get Intuitions for them.

Guide services and climbing clubs each have their advantages. If you're interested guide service offerings, I've had good luck with the American Alpine Institute. Guide service pros: - instructed by professionals - many offerings to fit your needs and schedule - you'll learn current techniques Cons: - expensive - compressed schedule -- a lot to learn in a short time - dependent on weather for your chosen dates/location - no ongoing community to climb with Cimbing club pros: - inexpensive - extended schedule -- absorb skills over weeks and months - see different locations and conditions - provide a built-in community to start climbing with Cons: - instructed by weekend amateurs, some good, some not so good - one size fits all format and curriculum - if you're not signed up by winter, you're SOL for the year - techniques can be dated

I learned to lead trad from SRG the summer before last and they did an excellent job. For classes they used Metolius gear exclusively, but the guides were happy to recommend other brands to try before assembling your own rack. If the class goes, I recommend reading Craig Leubben's and/or John Long's anchor books beforehand. Heidi Pesterfield's Traditional Lead Climbing has some useful info too, but it's not as good a book.

I bought a pair from FF last year. They work well for general 3-season Cascade use. I used them on glacier slogs, rock to 5.6, and ice cragging on the Coleman. They're holding up well. The fit is just okay for me. For my low volume feet I added a custom insole on top of the stock one and a neoprene shim to the tongue. A half size smaller fit generally better, but my toes hit the front when walking downhill.

Something similar happened to me following an inwardly flaring crack at J-Tree. My partner led up and it then started hailing and raining. I followed and weighted the rope to clean a piece from a smeary stance. That pulled the rope through a constriction above a small overhang higher up. When I got there I got a stance so I could leg press hard trying to get the rope back out. That jammed it in so tightly that I couldn't even get it back into the flare by bouncing with my full weight. I was stuck hanging in space with the rope siphoning rainwater from the crack right onto my crotch. My partner ended up tying me off and rapping down. As I was dangling, the rope finally popped back into the flare and I dropped a few feet. We then rapped off and were able to scramble around to pull the rope. Fun times.

Porcupine Peak, 7762'. According to Red Fred, "the unofficial name for the multispiked peak between Porcupine and Swamp creeks. ... The rock appears to range from granola to solid."

I second this. I've taken several courses/trips with the Institute and they have been excellent. Unlike some of the other companies, courses and instruction are a primary focus for AAI and they do them often and well. davidjo

I bought a few of the new ones at Marmot last month. In addition to the improvements mentioned above, the hangers don't rust and the crank handles are color coded by screw size.

We climbed the Easton Tuesday morning. Snow stopped our cars maybe 100 yards from the parking lot, so it'll likely melt out by the weekend. The trail was maybe 60% snow in the trees and 100% snow above. The trail on the railroad grade itself is mostly snow free. Portable toilets had not been flown in yet. It was sunny enough that we found water in the rocks near the moraine about 6000'. The clear skies hardened things up nicely, so we used crampons from basecamp. The glacier was in great shape with few open crevasses, but we had one guy punch through to his thigh. We stayed on the far right side of the Roman Wall and that went well. On the summit it warmed up enough that we took crampons off for the descent. Have fun!

One should be able to generate electricity on rappel. Instead of using a rap device that dissipates kinetic energy as heat, employ some form of regenerative brake. Make sure it brakes effectively too so you don't die.

We were up on We Did rock yesterday when the fallen guy's brother came by looking for the incident site. He said he was given virtually no info by from the authorities, just that it was on "the first rock wall up from the first trailhead" off Exit 38. I hadn't seen this thread yet, so I thought from that it must have been somewhere on Mt. Washington. That's where he started from, so I showed him the map in the guidebook and sent him back west again. Now I see it was really less than 50 yards away.

Did it in September. Getting off the summit to the ridge is a bit chossy. Further on there is the cliff. We headed off the ridge quite a ways to find a line we could scramble down. Rapping would have been better. Overall, it was a fun little adventure, but probably not the fastest way to reach the catwalk.