vanisle

it doesn't really matter how far away you tool is when you place a screw if the ice is good. .....obviously don't place it on a fracture line or shitty ice. Believe me you will place the screw just to your side at gut height. if its a hard route you wont have time to ponder anything else. screw are poor gear at best anyway. that's why many great ice climbers NEVER fall. Also I have asked a few ACMG climbing guides if its OK to place the screw in an old hole that is starting to close up. they usually say its fine. also they say don't fall.

Is the guide Sky Valley Rock by Darryl Cramer's (2000), really the most current guide for index?? john

billcoe I think that was kacodameon boulder at the base of the grand wall

i use yellow tape on biners. I don't abuse it(no throwing or stepping on, but I definitely don't really keep track of it. Some people are so crazy about it. counting every biner and cam and nut. wtf, I have better things to do. I have no idea how many cams or biners I even own. bring what you need and if it has yellow tapes it mine at the end of the day.

get doubles if you climb ice or alpine routes. evrybody uses doubles. I use 8mm mammuts

What gloves do you all recomend for west coast ice?

with an MSR XGK stove. don't boil the water when your melting snow , that uses way more energy. melt a bunch of snow to fill the pot. pour some water into you bottle and keep topping up the melting pot. but if your not hiking much and you have lots of time to sit aroung camp use the black plastic sheet.

whoa, seems like he has been climbing many hard cracks lately

Don't use your GPS for altitude unless your are in open terrain. The can't be trusted. My garmin has been off 100's of meters in elavation. difinitely get a barometer type for elavation. I have a casio watch with the function. gps work poorly in steep forests or dense forest. they are good in the open realy.

Dude I would just use a "regular" harness like the black diamond Momemtum AL (14oz's) it heavier, but chances are that if you are new to alpine climbing your probably bringing to much other hardware (biners, pro, slings) the BD harness wieghs only 3 or 4 biners more than the other light harness/thongs. you may as well get something comfortable and you can use the harness for sport and trad rock too. ya you would still need to untie to get extra pants on and to take a crap. just plan what you are doing and an akward situation will not arise.

chech out www.dpreview.com no porn just cameras

I was in camore the last wek of feb. I was told by a few different guides that SOV was and easy grade 5.

I used the Alp Wings for a week. They have a rubber grip the light wings do not. For hard waterfall ice I was thinking of getting the Alp wing and putting on the horn and the trigger. for Alpine i would probably take the horn and trigger off. Oh ya how are those grivel easy G leashes??????

I am looking for the best all around ice tool for waterfall ice, long alpince ice, mixed routes. I am thinking of Grivel Alp Wing, BD viper or rage, petzl aztar? thanks

Why are you getting a new stove? I have used my XGK for almost 15 years now. Its simply the best for cold weather.

Was it leaking through the pump or the o-rings? Most people I know over pump the stove I have the XGK and whisper light. They are both more than 13 years old. I have never had and o-ring leak and i have never changed an o-ring. I doubt its the age thats making your o-rings leak considering my stoves are quite alot older than yours. I have used my stoves for 1000's of days of camping and never had any real troubles

Go with half ropes (double). There are many cons with twins...the only benifit that I can think of is that twins are slightly lighter. I don't see whay you would ever want to use twin ropes

I am not a new ice climbers, i am new to the rockies I should be clearer in some of the faults of joes book. -his maps do not have scale. Yes I know they are only sketches but scale should be on maps. At least he puts the north heading. The maps are somewhat randomly placed. -Like good guide authers such as Kevin Mclane . joe could have given a short description in the intro about each area. to help select an area. -I like guides that list route indexs by alphabet and also grade. His guide is great and very thorough. Its 99% perfect.

Thanks Alex Your info will be usefull. I hope the other goofs who replied are just a small minority of the climbers in the rockies. I guess localism is expected at a good climbing destination. Same as surfers.

I will be in the Rockies at the end of February for 1 week. I have never climbed in the Rockies and wanted to know what waterfall ice routes climbers recommend. Grade 4 is about my max, I was thinking of climbing around canmore. I have the Joe Josephson ice guide but it is very inadequate for a new climber to the Rockies. I will spend a few hours snowshoeing if it is good. Thanks