Kraken

Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking has them on sale for $495. (907) 272-1811

These puppies have been molded once and never really used. Ideal for a mountaineering boot like the scarpa inverno, koflach, etc. Black, size 11, new condition. These liners can be molded up to six times. Lots of life! $100 shipped from Alaska.

anyone have any good info on how to get to the park from palm springs? Currently in Barstow, looking to catch a greyhound to palm springs. Current option seems to be the MBTA, but it is quite unclear.

Hey! flying down from the 49 to San Fran on the 3rd of October. Wondering if anyone will be making their way to the valley on the 4th or 5th... If you're passing through San Fran and wouldn't mind sharing the drive, I'd be stoked. thanks, Clint

I had a ranger wake me up at night and hassle me when I was sleeping in my hammock. It was right by my tent and then he demanded to look in my tent to make sure no one else was in it. They can and do come through camp at night. I did see them bust guys camped "illegally" at night so watch out or be prepared to throw up a hefty wad of cash if they catch you. Or go to the other camp ground and you won't have as many problems. They actually treat "guests" there with respect and don't hassle them as much. I'd imagine you could get away with more over there.

lots of the little prepubescent boy-wonders climb shirtless and walk around flexing. Perhaps the heat of room temperature during an Alaskan cold snap makes them overheat although I suspect differently.

It's a climbing gym...this happens at every one of them. The air is so thick with chalk, testosterone, idiocracy and newb-ocity that it's nearly impossible to breathe. My favorite gym climbing memory came when Steve House was bouldering at the Alaska Rock Gym last year. I saw some shirtless 13-year-old instructing him as to where to put his feet while he was on some crazy V6/7 in the cave.

Richard Holmes' Climber's Guide to the St. Elias Mountains (Icy Bay Press)

Article in today's ADN http://www.adn.com/outdoors/story/767942.html Denali rangers scramble for mountaineer rescue helicopter NO STANDBY SERVICE: High-altitude rescues could be more difficult. By CRAIG MEDRED cmedred@adn.com Published: April 21st, 2009 09:02 PM For the first time in 18 years, the climbing season on Mount McKinley opens with the absence of a high-altitude helicopter on standby in case of emergency. National Park Service officials who oversee climbing on the 20,320-foot peak in Denali National Park and Preserve blame contracting problems. They said last week they are trying to work out a temporary arrangement to have a Wasilla-based Eurocopter AS350 B3 Astar on call and hoping, if need be, the Army at Fort Wainwright can help out with its CH-47 Chinooks. The B3 Astar has a ceiling of 20,000 feet, just a few hundred feet shy of the summit of North America's tallest peak. And the Chinooks have gone as high as 19,600 feet to perform rescues on McKinley. John Leonard, the new chief mountaineering ranger for McKinley, said he is confident helicopters will be available if needed to assist climbers who get into trouble. "We are doing our best to try to make sure we have the capability," added Ken Barnes, the Park Service's aviation manager for Alaska. More than 1,000 climbers per year now pay a $200 per person mountaineering fee to take a shot at the summit. Climbers generally consider that a rescue fee, but Park Service officials contend the fee -- the highest charged to enter any park in the country -- is intended only to offset administrative costs associated with the climbing season that runs from mid-April to mid-July. Talkeetna rangers now put climbers through a lengthy orientation briefing before they are allowed on the mountain, maintain a ranger station at the McKinley base camp at 7,200 feet on the Kahiltna Glacier, and conduct regular ranger patrols along the popular West Buttress route to the summit. The Park Service claims all of these have helped diminish the need for rescues, although problems still arise. Just over 1,200 people registered to climb McKinley last year. There were 16 search-and-rescue operations in and around McKinley, according to the Park Service. Eleven of them involved medical emergencies, most of which were associated with altitude. Five climbers died in the area, but only two of those deaths were on McKinley, which in some previous years has seen up to 11 deaths and as many as two dozen rescues. "We're not doing that many rescues anymore," Barnes said. Still, the agency had planned to have a rescue helicopter available in Talkeetna this year. Bids for that operation were solicited in mid-February but stopped less than a month later. "The contract went out later than we'd hoped," Barnes said, "(and) basically, we only got one bid." That was submitted by Evergreen Helicopters of Alaska, which had previously held the McKinley contract. Evergreen pilot Jim Hood has flown dozens of successful rescues out of Talkeetna over the past 10 years. According to Evergreen here, the company had hoped the Park Service would renew its contract for its Aerospatiale Lama. Instead, the agency decided to cancel the solicitation and rebid the contract in the fall. "There was quite a bit of interest in the contract," Barnes said about inquiries from companies that didn't bid. A fair share of that interest came from companies complaining that the timing of the bid process was wrong, he added. Some felt they were restricted from bidding because there wasn't enough time for any company other than Evergreen to gear up for Talkeetna operation before the climbing season began. That raised some concerns about fairness. "We're required to have free and open competition," Barnes said. "We are going to put this out for rebid" probably in September. Meanwhile, Barnes has approached Prism Helicopters, a Vancouver-based company that has a B3 Astar in Wasilla, about its interests in bidding for "on-call" services, and he is consulting the Alaska State Troopers about whether that agency's B3 Astar could be made available in an emergency. "I actually did talk to them about supporting us,'' Barnes said. Meanwhile, Leonard said, "we're in the midst of doing a program evaluation. We will have a helicopter here in the future for a number of reasons. The Lama may or may not have been the long-term answer.'' Leonard noted the B3 Astar can fly slightly higher than the Lama and carry a bigger payload. The French claim to have touched the skids of a B3 down on the summit of Mount Everest, the world's tallest peak at 29,035 feet. Barnes said he is hopeful a B3 or a Lama can be made available on an on-call basis for McKinley in the near term, but if not, he said, the Park Service might try to get by with the use of a Bell 407. The 407 is a workhorse helicopter flown by several companies in Alaska. Leonard said it might be a good choice for servicing the Park Service base camp on the Kahiltna and for evacuating climbers from there, "but its ceiling is limited." To go to the 14,000-foot camp to try to save climbers with high-altitude pulmonary or cerebral edema, or those injured in falls high on the mountain, everyone agrees the Park Service is going to need the use of some sort of specialized, high-altitude chopper.

what kind? how much?

I just received word that due to state and federal budget cuts, the Llama helicopter which is normally on stand-by in Talkeetna will not be funded this year. I don't have a lot of facts right now but learned that support may still be available, it will merely be on a case-sensitive basis. Fixed wing rescue will still be available at 14k camp on Denali, if possible. Potential helicopter support will be dictated by availability from several private companies. As a last resort the military chopper may still be available. The bad thing for those in need is that the chopper pilot who has headed the flights since the program's start in 1991 will not be flying. To voice concern or comments, email Lisa Murkowski, Republican U.S. Senator for the state of Alaska. http://murkowski.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactMe.EMailLisa

Whatever it is, whether it's gels or drink powders, does not really matter. Gels are the most typical form used while alpine climbing although I do use both gel and drink powder. Bill, thanks for the heads up on the heed. I have a similar problem and that is great advice. The pills on routes...haven't tried them. Does anyone have any experience with them? I guess they're lighter than the gel packets...more expensive for a container it seems. Do they provide the same amounts as in gel form per use?

Forgive me if this has been discussed before but a search didn't find anything. What do you find to be the single best electrolyte gel on the market? For extremely taxing multi-day alpine climbing (think late in day two and three), what is the body most lacking, how is it degenerating and what helps and further taxes the body? Gu has long been the go to energy gel that is full of electrolytes and seems to work well. THen there's Clif Shots, which seem really similar. Finally there's Hammer Gel. This stuff has a totally different make up and has only 25% as much sugar. Is this stuff any better or is it just different?

Yeah SkyClimb, post a TR please!

they've already mentioned before that they plan to honor all subscriptions. Don't worry.

Well, not just for Tieton. Longer boulder problems, too.

wow, check this out. Shit's whack up here! http://flytat.blogspot.com/

I searched the forum and didn't really find any useful input regarding Portaledges. I'm in the market for a double ledge and was looking at either the Metolius Bombshelter or the Black Diamond Cabana. The Cabana looks a little bit roomier. It weighs about six pounds more than the Bombshelter, plus it has a few more bells and whistles. http://www.bdel.com/gear/cliff_cabana_portaledge.php http://metoliusclimbing.com/portaledges.html Thoughts? Typical use...The Valley, Tieton, etc. Thanks!

Speaking of unclimbed, when is this beast going to fall? I once heard someone describe it as the last great prize of the Ruth!

Trip: Alaska Range - SW Ridge of Peak 11,300 (Winter ascent - Attempt) Date: 3/14/2009 Trip Report: It isn't often that one an *almost* free trip to the Alaska Range falls into one's lap. We quickly learned that free doesn't always come without a price. Peak 11,300's SW Ridge Beautiful winter light over the North Wall of Huntington The southwest ridge of Peak 11,300 has long been a desired route. Several years ago two friends made a late winter ascent, climbing the route in six days. "We were slow, you can do it much faster for sure!" they said. When our pilot friend offered to fly us "anywhere we wanted to go" it was hard to resist. Seth and I quickly jumped on his offer and settled on a trip to the Ruth for some late winter exploits. We equipped ourselves with an arsenal of warm clothes that would lift a Russian's brow and ran up a hefty Costco food bill. The weather gods appeased us and granted us with a solid week of stellar bluebird weather and astonishingly moderate temps ranging from -10 to 10F at basecamp in the west fork of the Ruth. Despite the temps, the snow was extremely unconsolidated and dry, as expected. Our pilot's ski dug in on the turnaround and became hopelessly stuck. Hours and hours of digging, wedging and improvisation finally dislodged the plane. The strut on the wheel bent which caused the ski to edge in to the snow. Hmmm, was this a sign? The Rooster Comb With that near miss behind us, we hastily broke trail up glacier. The firing squad of gravity-defying seracs on Huntington's North Wall hurried our movement to the base of the ridge. Up on the route, everything looked good. We knew that in typical spring conditions the route can be done in two-three good days. We packed five days of food and fuel, knowing the deep snow would dramatically slow us. On the first day we made quick time up the approach gully. Snow ranged from waist or more deep snow to firm neve. Still, with so much snow on the route, every move seemed to take five times longer than it should have. Locating pick or protection placements turned into grueling minutes. The 35lb packs bogged down with cold weather bags, ample fuel and food, etc didn't help. Our goal had been the first col on the first night...roughly one third of the way up the route. On the first day we made it half the way, to the boulder bivy just below Flake Gully. Seth on one of the mixed pitches Seth at the boulder bivy "Ugh, this is painfully slow," we thought. "We have to move faster tomorrow!" The next day required full on snow trench warfare against Flake Gully and the subsequent mixed pitches beyond. Swing, swing, bash, bash, scoop, swing, drag, place. Step up, sink down. Repeat. Look back and see five minutes had advanced us three feet. "WHAT!" The North Wall of Huntington Day two came and went with not nearly as much progress being made as we had hoped. Despite continuous 55-58m pitches, we just didn't seem to be getting anywhere. "Hmmm, so tomorrow we'll make it to the first col...on day three. One third of the way up the route..." "Yeah, but what if the snow gets better up high and we can move faster?" "What if it doesn't?" We battled the decision on the morning of day three just below Thin Man's Squeeze and bailed. The descent down the south ridge and under the hanging glacier with waist deep snow didn't sound appealing either. On the way down a friendly raven followed us and cooed as if to say we made the right choice. We got back to basecamp only to find that this same lone raven had destroyed our camp. That damned bird had tunneled, literally tunneled under our duffel bags and gotten to our trash bag. He also managed to unzip my bag and pull my jacket and spare clothes out. We knew ravens were notorious for invading camps and even digging, but in early March?????? The raven's revenge We called Paul Roderick from TAT and asked for a pick up. "Sure thing. I'll need a six, no wait - eight, no wait - thousand foot runway with a big turn around." Five hours later Seth and I had a stellar 12'x1000' strip flattened out. Paul arrived in a jolly mood and whisked us away with ease. Despite not getting to the top, or even close for the matter, the climbing was amazing and very fun. The imposing North Face of Huntington, Rooster Comb and South Buttress of Denali provided incredible vistas throughout our week. It was a pleasant experience to be completely alone in the Ruth. We learned that Masatoshi Kuriaki, the Japanese Caribou soloist, is bailing from Hunter's West Ridge due to the same deep snow conditions we had. He has already climbed both Foraker and Denali solo in the winter and needs only Hunter to complete his quest. We wish him a safe descent. Hopefully we can go back this spring and tackle the route in better conditions. It was a treat just to be in the Range for a week.

I'm sure others would agree, but those Brooks Range Overboots are bulky, don't take crampons very well and are not nearly as warm as a pair of -40 Purple Haze or K2 Super Gaiter Overboots. Think about that, just a thought. Cheers!

What's the current story with this? Has anyone sniffed out any updates? Issue 26 was supposed to be released on march 1st...has anyone seen one yet? It will be interesting to see what becomes of hte magazine in the new format after the release of this one. I would assume 26 will still be in the original format given that it was basically completed just prior to the magazine's demise. A quick google search didn't pull up anything new.

Say what you will about the designers. Given that every RMI guide will be outfitted with all First Ascent gear, they will receive prompt, honest and critical feedback. They will find out real quick if their stuff is worth its weight.

closed

effin' rad!