bonathanjarrett

PM Sent

PM sent

Trip: Mt Rainier - Emmons Glacier Date: 7/10/2007 Trip Report: Climbed the Emmons Glacier monday. The route is still is good shape, relatively straight foward still. Most of the major crevasse hazards are wanded and much of the route itself is wanded. Summited at 7AM to bluebird skies, warm temps, and barely a breeze to be hard. Get at it before global warming turns Rainier into a huge pile of kitty litter. The only problem occurred last night in NE Portland at 9:30 after a long day. Photos of the culprit: Gear Notes: Lug Wrench and Jack Approach Notes: Follow the "Caution" tape into Glacier Basin

PM sent.

I'll be out there at 7:30 with my buddy, Andrew.

Trip: Dragontail - Backbone Ridge Date: 6/30/2007 Trip Report: (Pictures forth-coming) Craggin’ with ivan last week, I told him that I hadn’t climbed Backbone Ridge yet, and his immediate response was that I should make it a high priority. Plus with an up-coming trip to the Bugaboos, it was time to get "tuned up". So with the forecast for good weather this past weekend, my buddy Andrew and I decided to make a go of it. We cruised 97 up to 11worth Friday night, to arrive at the trailhead around 11:15-30ish. Andrew slept almost the whole way, waking only to wipe drool from his chin. Alarms were set for a 3:15 alpine start, and just when I started to nod off, the first drop of rain struck my forehead. “Damn”, was my first reaction. Although there were still stars visible, a steady mist was developing. Too tired and apathetic to do anything about it, I just rolled over and let the rain come down. In retrospect, I probably slept better because of it figuring why worry about the climb all night; it seemed we were most likely gonna get rained out. However when 3:15 rolled around, things seemed to have cleared up, so we packed, shoved breakfast in our pockets, and headed up the trail at 3:30. Another party had left about fifteen before us, and Andrew had his “rabbit” to catch. Being a lifelong cross-country runner and aerobic fiend, he can’t resist reeling in and chasing down parties who have a head start. Soon enough, we passed them on the trail. Didn’t catch their names, but they were (I think) headed up to climb Colchuck something-er-rather. I dunno, I wasn’t really awake yet. Crossing back over Mountaineer Creek, the battery compartment of my headlamp, popped open, and one of the AAA batteries jumped into the water. “Fuck!” But by the grace of god it had lodged in the crevice between two rocks, and I was able to fish it out. Shortly after 6 we reached the top of the moraine and suited up. Crampons were helpful crossing over to the buttress, although one might have been able to kick semi-secure steps across with a stiff boot. Quick work was made of the fourth class wandering traverse, and soon we were up at the base of the off-width. Leaving my pack with Andrew to haul, I began thrutching my way up the crack. Although physical, it was never really hard. Plus it would be pretty difficult to fall out of it. I did manage to somehow tear up my left ankle pretty good. The first half was protected by my #5 C4 which I slid along keeping me on top rope. Above the chockstone, I left it behind and began to slide the #6 C4 up ahead of me. I don’t think you would be able to protect the whole pitch with just the #5 C4. In reality the pitch would be pretty easy to French free (Freedom Free?) with these two pieces. Andrew followed with his pack on and then we hauled mine afterwards. This worked pretty well although we did lose a bit of time futzing around with the transitions. From here we stayed either on the ridge on slightly left of it, and climbed several more pitches until able to simul-climb to the base of the Fin reaching it around 11:30. All morning long the sun had just barely been peeking over the ridgeline, and we took about a half an hour here to take the rock shoes off and bask in the full on sunshine. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, and although you could see your breath, it was never really cold even in the shade. From the our perch I tried to plan out the route up the Fin, but the fact the sun was sitting right on the ridge crest made it all but impossible to see clearly the crack systems we would need to follow. Eventually I gave up, we just decided to feel things out as well went. We climbed the easy but rotten ledge up to a belay on a large comfortable bench. From here, it seemed like going left kind of matched the Nelson route description, face climbing to “twin cracks”, but right also seemed tempting. Left it was and shortly later we were at another belay below the flake which was quickly dispatched as well. The next belay was on a nice ledge out left, below a bulge. A short right-trending finger crack led back out onto the face and the cool traverse with the gear placements at your feet. Not sure if I would make it all the way to the ridgeline, I stopped to set a semi-hanging belay just past the off-width crack that goes straight up the face. Another pitch put us on the backside of the ridge just over the end of the third couloir. Not exactly sure what was next, we pitched it out along that ledge sytem until we were back across the ridge in the sun. From here, quick simul-climbing put us on the summit about 3:30. Some lazy cotton ball clouds were drifting to the north and west of us, but there wasn’t an ounce of wind and the temps were downright delightful. We spent a half hour relaxing in the sun, hydrating and fueling up. I was pretty spent, having led every single pitch we climbed, and it was excellent to finally be able to come down a little mentally. The descent back down to the pass was easy. The snow had softened up to perfect boot-skiing conditions: no crampons necessary. The slog down the lake sucked, and by 7:30 we had arrived back at the car, jogging the last mile and a half. A Couple of Observations: Leading all of the pitches was mentally more exhausting than physically. There wasn’t really any time when I could relax and just follow the rope. However, there is something to be said about not having to transition from leader to follower; it was clear at every belay who was leading and there was no need to rock-paper-scissor for the next block. The off-with was challenging in that it just kind of threw off the rhythm of the climbing. The leader could probably climb with their pack if they French-freed it. The Fin was the biggest challenge for me, mostly because I couldn’t really see the route due to the position of the sun. I was a little worried about getting onto a discontinuous crack system and getting screwed over. Time was definitely lost here not knowing where to go or how far to try and stretch the rope. With more knowledge of the terrain, we could have simul-climbed at least two if not three of the pitches particularly across the Fin ridge. Gear Notes: 60m rope Set of Nuts Set of Metolius Cams to #8 Pair of Link Cams #5 and #6 C4 Cams Lightweight mountain boots Crampons (not necessary for the descent at least) 1 light weight ice ax (never needed) Approach Notes: Too bad its a stinking-long drive from Stump-town.

Yeah, I kicked his ass and stole his look. BAM!

Shame ensued, so a new look was in order.

Me: Today we are going to talk about gerunds. Student: Damn. Why do we have to talk about old people? Me: No, a gerund is a verb acting as a noun. Student: But yesterday you said that a noun is a person, place, or thing and a verb is an action or state of being. How can they be the same thing? Me: They're not. Student: Isn't that like oxy... oxy... oxy-something-er-rather? Me: Oxymoronic? Kind of. Student: Are your calling me stupid now? Me: (forehead slap) Let's all just put our heads down for a little.

I'm also a teacher off for the summer. Got tons of time. Alpine, cragging, volcano slog, whatever. Sure as hell beats teaching juvenile delinquents what a gerund is. Send me a pm if you are interested.

PM sent

Butterfly the pants closed on the outside with packing tape, making sure to create a nice clean seam at the rip. Turn the pants inside out and squeeze a bit of seam sealer (like you would put in the seams of your tent)over the tear so that is covers the tear plus about a 1/2" around the rip. Let this dry completely overnight on a flat surface. Turn the pants back right side out, remove the packing tape, and you should end up with a barely visable scar in the hardshell.

The national park service has always been in bed with major corporate interests. Our first national park is a perfect example. Yellowstone was created as a national park in part to provide the Northern Pacific Railroad with a tourist destination. The railroad was instrumental in stimulating interest in the Yellowstone as a place for recreation. It is a classic case of you scratch my back; I'll scratch yours. That the park service should continue to cater to the interests of major economic players should not come as a surprise. If Mt Hood Meadows didn't exist, do you really think 35 would have been repaired so quickly and in such difficult conditions. Unfortunately no such major players exist on Rainer, and the road will be repaired at the state's leisure and only those with serious capital or clout will be given any preferential treatment.

What is the earliest that folks head into the Bugaboos to climb? I seems like mid to late July is prime, but is the middle to end of June too early? When does the road in from 95/Brisco open up? I would imagine that the weather might be more unstable then? It seems like day time temps aren't bad from what I have been able to gather. Any thoughts, reactions, or insights on mid June climbin' in the Bugaboos would be appreciated.

Hey, he asked for a recommendation on Mammut screamers. I offered my opinion based on many many days climbing New England ice with a wide variety of partners. Of course the dyneema slings have their applications. I simply meant that the Yates are generally the screamers that all others are judged against. No harm, no foul.

The other thing to remember is to use wiregates when using any screamer. Although the folks at Yates have said that the newer versions of their screamers don't do it much, it has been widely reported that the breaking of the tacks during impact causes a great deal of gate flutter. This could result in the final impact coming on an open biner. The lower mass of the wire gates reduces the chance of this happening. Then again, the leader must not fall.

Correct me if I am wrong, but tieing off a screw is rarely a good idea. I think what tests have shown is that the tie off will slide to the end of the screw either due to ice shear or the screw bending and the webbing can easily be cut by the hanger. A) Use a shorter screw if possible B) Or clip the screw if less than five centimeters is left exposed C) Or climb through the spot to thicker ice D) Or place rock gear if possible As for the Mammut screamers, go with the Yates Zipper Screamer. They are the gold standard.

People who use still use the figure eight baffle me. Once you have used a fork, why go back to chopsticks?

Thanks for all the great feedback folks. This has been helpful to hear individual experiences. It sounds like the Suunto Vector might be the choice for my needs.

I am just looking for a timepiece that will also give me an "accurate" altitude. No compass necessary. I have heard that battery life is fairly short on watches like these. Have you all found that to be true? If so, is replacing it a simple thing?

What's the best value out there in an altimeter watch? What are you favorites?

Of course. New Zealand and the PNW are not totally analogous areas. I posted the link not because I assumed it to be the be all and end all. Instead I think it interesting that despite the attempts to academically quanitify the relative strength of snow anchors it still illustrates how important PERSONAL JUDGEMENT is when it comes to assessing the appropriate means of protecting snow routes. I think that is clear when you look at the conclusions which assert, among other things, the importance of assessing likely loads and snow strength which are skills acquired through experience. I would be interested to read any such analysis that someone could find for the PNW.

The New Zealand Mountain Guides Association and the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council published a study several years ago to help determin whether current snow anchor practices being used in NZ were adequate. Their findings are in the following report linked below. It is worth pointing out that they specify in their conclusions several things. 1)There are many snowtakes currently in use that would not be strong enough to handle the upper limits of the loads that they could be placed under 2)Although snow anchors do not often come under the upper limits of load that they could be subjected to (6kn-10kn, many people are coming very close to the failure limits of their snow anchors without realizing it. 3)To increase the safety of the placement: increase the snow strength if possible, get the anchors as deep as possible, and pull from the middle Check it out for yourself. It is worth reading. http://www.alpineclub.org.nz/documents/activities/instruction/snow%20anchor%20report.pdf