bonathanjarrett

My understanding of flukes is that they are designed to dive deeper when loaded. The essential problem with this is that they can therefore glance off a buried object, like a rock, or even a hard layer of snow/ice This can upset the integrity of the placement. Pickets buried as a deadman take longer to place, but they are ultimately immobile and can be extremely strong. I have never placed a picket vertically which I felt would hold a severe load. (As well there always seems to be at least one story every year of a team ripping a picket, usually on Hood, when a member or two of the party slips.) Any snow hard enough would probably cause you to mangle the end driving it in. Ultimately though it seems like trading speed for safety, and in the end nothing takes the place of skillful reading of the snow and the ability to climb safely and confidently without slipping/falling.

He may be a genius, but he still can't spell spineless.

http://www.neice.com/Video/Wipper1.wmv

Would you recommend a particular detergent to use? Would something like Tide be ok if I wash it in the washing machine?

Does anyone have experience cleaning climbing gear that has been in contact with poison oak oils? I am mostly concerned about the soft stuff: slings, harness etc. I don't want to use something that will damage the nylon, but I want to make sure that it gets clean so I don't risk future contamination. I know about Tecnu, but I am not sure that it is safe to use on slings. Thanx

I would be up for something in the PDX area this week. I still have lots of time before I start working in a couple weeks.

I have tons of time off too right now. Send me an email and maybe we can work something good out.

Check your PM's.

A buddy of mine and I went up to climb the Sunshine Route on saturday. Not expecting to get around the 'schrund and not expecting to make a true summit attempt, we left camp at 4:30. After poking around up high for a while we descended around 9:30. At that point in time the snow conditions were still reasonably good. To complete the route one would either have to traverse a long way west or expose themselves to rock and ice fall. I suppose that the route is still doable. Call it laziness, but we just didn't feel either option spoke to us that day. The day was just so beautiful that we just felt like going for a stroll.

I will be free for a good chunk of time in August and am looking for a partner to do some alpine climbing with. I am safe, experienced, skilled, and motivated. Send me a PM if you are interested.

Ryland, I was the leader of the party behind you on saturday, and I was the one who accidentally hit your partner. I am extremely sorry that he was injured, and am willing to make it up to him in whatever way is reasonable. I take full responsibility for my actions. However I would like to explain to everyone who cares to hear it what I was thinking and to try and curb the firestorm of opinion being passed back and forth on this thread. First: I started up CJ as the leader was finishing the second pitch. I took note of the fact that the climb trended to the far left on the first pitch and then to the far right on the second. I considered that any ice being knocked down by the seconders would not be a serious objective danger while I was leading and that this danger would be gone when my partner started up. Second: I did not consider that your party would rap back down the route. One can either rap the route or traverse out of the bowl and descend via the gully. In my experience, one does not rap the route they just climbed (particularly ice) if there are others starting up and there is another reasonable descent option. Third: My partner is relatively new to ice climbing. However he is a strong and skilled rock climber and aware of all the potential dangers that exist in the mountains or at the roadside crag. We had the discussion at the base before starting up, and he was comfortable with the minor risks incurred by following you guys. Fourth: We waiting for a short time at the first belay station, to see if you were going to rap down. You did not come down in what I considered to be a timely manner, so I figured that you had gone to the descent gully. You dropped your ropes after I had started up, and I was therefore mildly commited to finishing. I climbed as gently as I could and yelled as loudly as I could everytime I knocked anything off, because I was super aware that there were people below me. So I sincerely apologize to your partner. We all make choices in the mountains based on the best information that we have, and unfortunately we have to live with them. I am thankful that he was not injured more severely. Please have him PM me, so that I can chat with him more privately about this matter. I hope that I have explained my thoughts on that day well enough.

Hey, we were the party that you guys saw at Ingall's Lake and again at Goat Pass. I am really glad to hear that you got down ok. Joe and I were a little worried about you. We fully expected to see you guys during the day but never did. We screwed up a bit ourselves by descending Ulrich's Couloir instead of Cascadian. What a horrible descent that was. We for whatever reason did not traverse east far enough. On a cool note, when we summited around 1PM, there was a stinking mountain goat chilling on the very summit! The little bugger almost refused to leave so that we could tag the top for real.

I am headed up to do the complete North Ridge next week. Could you post on the conditions of Stuart glacier: crampons needed? ice ax? How was the descend via the west ridge?

If you are redirecting through a single piece of the anchor then you are putting you, your partner, and the anchor in danger. If the piece rips, you have just weakened the anchor. If you redirect, either bringing up a second, or as the leader heads out of the belay, it is best to clip into the master point. Belaying off the anchor for bringing up the second is the best idea as it does not multiply the force created. Either rock and Ice or Climbing just recently did an article on this topic. Check it out.

So perhaps the crucial point to be made is that a few hexes are a reasonable supplement to a normal rack when weight and other factors are taken into consideration.

It is funny that I hear all these folks extolling the virtues of hexes, and yet I rarely ever come across an experienced trad climber carrying them. Yes, I understand that it is a valuable skill to be able to place and use a hex. Yes, they are a cheap alternative to cams. Yes they are light. However one cannot ignore the fact that they are cumbersome to place and the given range for a particular size simply does not compare to that of a cam. As for this repeated argument that they are somehow superior and more bombproof than cams, I am a little astounded. A properly chosen size will not get stuck (newbie mistake), and the appropriate length sling will prevent rope drag and the cam from walking (also newbie mistake). If I were to bail and leave gear, my first choice would be one or preferably two bomber equalized nuts, because they are inexpensive and easy to evaluate. That said I have never bailed off a piece of gear in 15 years of climbing. I also remember being low on cash and full of climbing dreams. I was duped into buying a set of hexes when I first started, because I was told that was the cheap way to get into leading. However I quickly learned that I threw away a good chunk of change that could have gone towards buying three cams, which I did eventually. And once I had that set of cams, my hexes were relegated to the back of the closet. I hate to see some newbie read this thread and buy a set of hexes also because they think that that is the best way to spend their hard earned cash.

A well made v-thread anchor drilled with 22cm screws will almost always be stronger than a single screw of the same length. That said a couple meters of 9/16 super tape and a v-thread hook will be perfectly adequate to get off an ice climb. With that you can also thread natural chockstones and horns. Remember that anything that you leave behind is trash and thereby contributes to the overall problem of impact created on a climb. As for "throw away screws" I would not suggest them. There are better options. Plus, if they really suck so much you are willing to leave them, chances you might not bring them anyways because who is going to bring a couple of extra screws that they "might" leave in an emergency. My philosophy when it comes to prepping for a climb that I might back off of is to integrate into my rack pieces that I would not be sad to leave. For example I rack some of my gear on a few older d-biners so that I don't have to leave any of my precious and expensive wire-gates.

Aaaaaaaaaargh. For the sake of not disrupting the newbie thread on building a rack with what will certainly become a rant, I have started a new topic here. So the question is this: Does anyone out there seriously think that hexes have a place on the modern climbers rack? Following the argument that hexes have a place on an alpine climbers rack I looked at three pieces that would complement as set of nuts. For the comparison I looked at BD C4 camalots versus BD wired hexendrics. The total weight for three hexes covering .94"-2.5" (#5,#7,#9) is a hair over 9oz. The total weight for three C4 cams covering essentially the same range .94"-2.55" (#.75,#1, #2) is about 14.3 oz. Yet for each of these peices you get a much great range of expansion, placement, and security. All this for saving 5oz? Sounds pretty good for me. I have seen people climb with packs and ropes that are rediculously overkill for the objective. Yet they choose to save weight on their rack by using hexes. They sound like a herd of goats with that jangling. My preference is to use tri-cams. Three pieces that cover essentially the same range as mentioned above weigh in a hair over 8 oz LIGHTER than the hexes.

I would surmise that you lead at some level? First you need a belay device. The reverso is probably the most versatile device out there. You can use it as a normal device or in autoblocking mode. Trango's Jaws and BD's classic ATC are also great choices. Obviously you need a new rope. I would steer away from a super skinny cord as your only rope (i.e below 9.8 or so) because they will most likely wear more quickly. Look at the proportion of sheath, the weight per meter, and the number of falls. Obviously how a rope handles and feels is important as well. Read the reviews. Although a bit spendy, a rope like Mammut's 10.2 supersafe might be a great all around rope for you. If you are going to mostly clip bolts at Smith, a rack of 10-15 draws will be necessary. People will spray about this biner versus that and which company makes the best draw, but in my mind it comes down to two things: price and feel. Yes you could outfit yourself with super spendy keylock biners or wiregates on fancy-a$$ dogbone draws by some designer gear manufacturer. But you can do very well if you shop around and look for bargains. Often you can buy quickdraw packages at a discount. What really matters in the end is how the gear feels in your hand and how easy the biner is to clip for YOU. Some longer shoulder length slings (and biners) are also a great idea on your sport rack as are a handful of small lockers. If you are also planning on leading some trad: -Set of nuts. Wild country Rocks are my preference. BD makes a similar style. (stay away from the smallest aid pieces that some makers add at the beginning of their set as they are body weight only) -Set of cams up to a number 3 or 4 friend (this is personal preference but Metolius and BD are two stellar choices if for different attributes) -DON'T make the classic newbie mistake of buying a set of hexes because they are cheap and old skool. Spend your cash elsewhere first. -Pair of 7mm nylon or 5.5mm spectra cordalettes -nut tool -a couple of HMS lockers The list could go on and on. But as a basic leader's rack you can do quite a bit with this. There is a pretty informative article in the current Rock and Ice about the characteristics and relative advantages of nylon versus spectra. It might help you better decide what you are going to spend your hard earned dough on when you buy slings and cords.

So do you get the onsight if you rap-bolt the headwall before sending it? I mean really, you would have seen all the crux moves and ideally slapped a fatty glue in right before them? There goes the sick-a$$ headpoint!

What did you do to your shoulder? I probably can sympathize; I dislocated four years ago once and it has never been the same again. In the past few years I have probably had a dozen re-dislocations even though I recently had surgery to reattach the labrum to the bone. The joint is still super unstable. If you are going to have surgery, DONT do it arthoscopically. They can miss some of the damage that way. That is what happened to me. I have found in the last few years the best thing to do is make the supporting muscles super strong, because the hard tissue does very little when the joint comes under load. A critical exercise has been internal and external rotator cuff exercises.

I am sorry but that was the silliest thing I have ever heard. You all are splitting hairs over a rediculous topic. The essence of climbing, whether it be sport clipping or alpine, lies in gathering information about the route on a moment by moment basis and responding to it physically and mentally. Any climber worth their salt also looks ahead, reads the terrain, and makes a plan (which they will most likely alter as needed). Onsight does not mean no knowledge of the route. It means no knowledge provided by an outside source: guide book, friend, climber on the route, etc. Anything that you can see for yourself from the ground or on route is fair game. Onsight is the ability to adjust to the terrain that you discover around yourself while climbing.

Anyone out there buying and using 70M ropes? What for? Any thoughts?

Check out Mammut's soft shell collection. They are pricey but generally top of the line without the silly bells and whistles that come on some pieces. I have a Laser Jacket (hooded) which is excellent. Their New Age Jacket does not have a hood, and it is also an excellent choice. Both are Schoeller fabric, the former WB 400, the latter dryskin-extreme. If you are looking for softshell pants, my favorite is their Courmayeur pant. Their Champ pant is also great. Both are schoeller fabrics.

I was changing in the parking lot of Timberline after climbing; it was stinking hot down low, so I was going to take the long underwear off and slip on some shorts (the kind with the bathing suit lining). There didn't seem to be anyone around, so I dropped trou and was about to jump into the shorts when a tour bus rolled up right next to me. My toe snagged in the lining of the shorts, a mass of Japanese tourists with cameras got off the bus expecting to shoot pictures of Hood, but all they saw was my bare ass. Flustered, I tripped and face planted in the parking lot with nothing on but shorts still tangled around my feet. Of course they started taking pictures. Somewhere in Japan my retarded, naked ass is in someone's vacation photo album.