JohnGo

For easy routes like the Tooth, and for those of us who do not have double ropes (which is most CC members, I bet) try this. The second ties into the end of the rope. The third ties a butterfly about 20 feet from the end, and clips into it with a 4 foot sling (or two) girthed hitched to the harness and two locking biners. The leader then belays two climbers climbing at the same time on the same rope. The 4 foot sling allows the bottom person to fall, stretching the rope tight, lowering the chances of the middle person getting yanked off. For this reason, the stronger of the two following climbers should be on the end of the rope. This is a system to be used when fall possibility is very low. Works great on steep snow too. It's almost as fast as a two person team, with none of the additional cluster and cost of double ropes. Practice in a controlled setting is recommended before a real world application. (and Alpinefox, don't be so quick to think you have all the answers =^)

Cat, "Fear of heights" is an oft cited reason about avoiding climbing. However, there are many, many rewarding "climbs" where there is not significant exposure at all. For starters, most all the cascade volcanoes. The "going down" part of rapelling is a technical requirement typically found on more intermediate-advanced routes. Rapping is in no way a mandatory part of the alpine "climbing" experience. (But it is an essential skill for rock climbing.) Suggestions for mitigating the fear of heights: Get a competent instructor, head out to a local cliff you can walk to the top of, have her set up a confidence inspiring anchor and toprope, and rappell down it about 10 times. Be sure buy her a few cold ones afterwards. When toproping in the gym, take a few falls with an solid and attentive belayer. This will do wonders to boost your confidence in the components of the belay system. (Besides, kats always land on their feet, do they not? =^)

Hi treknclimb, Yep, I agree, an index would be nice. I'll mention it to the Mazama web gnome, and we'll see what happens. It's fun to scroll through, though, and see what comes up. Johngo

If you're looking for a large collection of climbing related tips and suggestions, have a look at the Tip of the Week pages on the Mazamas web site. It's got a lot of useful information, and should keep you busy reading for quite some time. It is certainly not all for beginners, I betcha even you experienced folks might pick up a few tricks. http://www.mazamas.org/your/adventure/starts-here/C188/ Also, if you're considering climbing Mt. Hood, the Mazamas have a "Mt. Hood FAQ" page here: http://www.mazamas.org/your/adventure/starts-here/C76/

bigtree, Email me at info@outdoordads.org I have some points for North Jeff climb routes I can share, which should be a good start.

Keep in mind that not all grocery bags are created equal. The bags from the higher end grocery stores, like wild oats, are much stronger than the bags from Safeway. The weight however is insignificant between the two. Go for the quality stuff from the high-end stores.

Here's two shots of the old Mt Hood summit cabin. It's on the Mazamas site, under Resources, Photo Gallery, Historical Images. http://www.mazamas.org/your/adventure/photo/127/ http://www.mazamas.org/your/adventure/photo/128/ If you climb Hood in late season (ie summer), with minimal snow on top, you'll see a rather amazing collection old cabin debris on the summit. With the crazy winds recently, the snow likely was scoured off to expose it - rare in the winter.

Hello KitCat, Thanks for being bold enough for asking the questions that many lurkers here are secretly wondering about. =) One important thing to clarify here before you get any more advice: what kind of climbing interest you the most? I'm seeing a lot of advice here that looks rockclimbing related, but in your opening post you refer generally to losing weight (way to go!) becoming more fit, and getting ready for your "first climb." To me, this sounds like you're more interested in alpine mountaineering (Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams) as opposed to rockclimbing at say, Vantage or Smith Rock. If your goal is to climb the Cascade volcanoes, doing pullups at the gym will not be very helpful. You may have an interest in both, which is terrific as well, but most people start off having some preference for one flavor of climbing or the other. Can you please tell us which style of climbing interests you the most, so the advice you get will be more appropriate?

A strong second to Savage Arena, by the late Joe Tasker. (IMHO, British writers generally have superior writing skills compared to us Yanks.) For nonfiction how-to, I am a new big fan of The Mountaineering Handbook, by Craig Connally. I see it as an opinionated, well researched and more advanced version of Freedom of the Hills. No, you will not agree with everything in it, but you sure will learn a few new cool tricks, I guarantee it.

My (first) donation will be sent in a few minutes, partially due to some encouragement from Mr. Healy. Great job, CC moderators!

And, for a British take on the question, I recall this from a book by the veteran climber Sir Chris Bonington. He climbs: for physical challenge to face and deal with fear and risk to appreciate the beauty of the alpine environment for the camaraderie of your climbing partner(s) for ego gratification Methinks most every climber would agree to most every one of these reasons.

"If the conquest of a great peak brings moments of exultation and bliss, which in the monotonous, materialistic existence of modern times nothing else can approach, it also presents great dangers. It is not the goal of "grand alpinisme" to face peril, but it is one of the tests one must undergo to deserve the joy of rising for an instant above the state of crawling grubs. " Lionel Terray, French Alpinist

As this forum is becoming a gathering place for concerned folks around the country with all levels of climbing experience, I thought I'd post this. There will much discussion about the costs of this rescue. Here are some facts about rescue costs from a detailed 2005 study by The American Alpine Club. The title is: "Climbing Rescues in America: Reality Does Not Support High-Risk, High-Cost Perception". For you speed readers there is a nice summary on page 1, which is too long to paste here. This information will be useful if/when you find yourself talking to a "those crazy climbers, using my taxpayers $$$ to get rescued . . ." sort of person. (Any reporters who are reading this, please have a look as well. =^) Link: http://www.americanalpineclub.org/pdfs/MRreal.pdf My best warm thoughts to our climber compadres who are hanging tight right now.

Folks, Here's a one stop link on the Mazama site for 3 Mt. Hood area web cams. It's useful for a quick visual of mountain conditions. The page covers Timberline Lodge (6,000 feet), Government Camp (4,000 feet) and Welches (about 1,300 feet). http://mazamas.org/your/adventure/starts-here/C102/

CC folks, The following email was passed to me a few days back. If anyone has been a victim of a recent gear heist in the Smith area, you might want to follow up. Be Well, johngo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Tue May 9 14:44 , 'Terry A Miller' <Terry.A.Miller@state.or.us> sent: From: Terry Miller, Oregon State Police, Bend Area I recently seized some suspected stolen climbing gear in a traffic stop, wondered if you or anybody you know had been the victim of a theft of such gear. Terry Miller

Hi gearheads, Below is a cut and paste email I got direct from DMM in mid September when I asked them about continued production of HB offsets. Looks like our little brass buddies will live on. Wind at your back, johnGo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John, Good news. We have just signed off on a deal whereby we purchased a variety of HB tooling. This includes the tooling for the HB offsets. We have also contracted a former HB employee to oversee production of the offsets and so the transition to production should be fairly straightforward. They will be re-branded DMM. We are aiming to have them in production in 4 weeks – this means you should see them in the States in 8 weeks. Regards Simon Marsh DMM International Y Glyn Llanberis Gwynedd LL55 4EL T: 0044 (0)1286 873 500 F: 0044 (0)1286 872 090 E: simon@dmmwales.com

Hi NW climbing friends, Here's an very slick new website put up by the British hardman Andy Kirkpatrick. (Think Mark Twight with a wicked sense of humor and a good dose of modesty.) http://www.psychovertical.com/ It's full of long, in-depth articles he's written on cutting edge techniques in rock, snow and ice climbing. Most all of these have been published in Euro climbing magazines - Andy knows his s**t and wants to share his hard earned knowledge of alpinism. All articles have the requisite edgy British humor intact. Warning - avoid this site unless you have at least two hours of free surfing time! It just may become your second favorite surfspot. Disclaimer - I don't have any affiliation with this site. I just found it a few days ago and want to pass it on to the CC community. Wind at your back, johnGo

Portland Climbers, Progress is being made towards preserving the Madrone Wall area near the Clackamas River as a park and climbing area. Come out to meet the good folks who are helping to make this happen, bid on some sweet goodies at the silent auction, and take a tour of the Madrone Wall itself. When? Sunday Oct. 9 (9:00 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.) Where? 1) Mazamas Business Office (9:00am - 10:45am) for breakfast, silent auction, and slideshow located at 909 N.W. 19th Avenue, Portland) 2) Carpool to Madrone Wall Site (10:45am - 11:15am) 3) Madrone Wall tour (11:15am - 12:15 am with carpool back to Mazama Business Office following tour) What? This is a FREE event to raise awareness and benefit the access and preservation effort for the Madrone Wall. General Beta: Breakfast provided by Mountain Soles Footwear & Fabric Repair. Silent auction of lots of climbing gear and other merchandise. Sideshow by noted outdoor photographer Adam Bacher. Even sponsored by the Mazamas and The Access Fund. All auction proceeds go to Madrone Wall Preservation Committee. http://savemadrone.org/

Hi Campers, Here'a a cut and paste of an email I just got direct from DMM. Looks like our brass buddies will be around for awhile. Peace, johnGo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John, Good news. We have just signed off on a deal whereby we purchased a variety of HB tooling. This includes the tooling for the HB offsets. We have also contracted a former HB employee to oversee production of the offsets and so the transition to production should be fairly straightforward. They will be re-branded DMM. We are aiming to have them in production in 4 weeks – this means you should see them in the States in 8 weeks. Regards Simon Marsh DMM International Y Glyn Llanberis Gwynedd LL55 4EL T: 0044 (0)1286 873 500 F: 0044 (0)1286 872 090 E: simon@dmmwales.com

Greg and Danimal, Nice TR and photos. A note on the vino: Try a stick and a hammer (rock, shoe, whatever.) Smack the cork down into the bottle and drink up! Cheers, Johngo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next Adventure in PDX carries a nice selection of (Chinese made, unfortunately) knives for super cheap. They are lockblades, range from tiny to pig sticker size, have a serrated edge, are super sharp if not really durable, and are ridiculously cheap. I think I got mine for about $3-$4. If all you do is cut up old rap stations, it's a great deal. I added a bit of 3mm cord to the small keeper hole on it, and clip the cord to a keychain biner so it can clip to my harness. There's no need to drop $40+ on an emergency belay knife!

On the approach to N side climbs . . . My pal and I climbed the Coe about 5 weeks back. We approached from Cooper Spur ski area. Although it might seem longer, it took us just over an hour to get to the Tilly Jane A frame, at a moderate pace. We stashed some gear and water there too. Accessing Mt. Hood north side routes from CS ski area is a reasonable option, and only adds 2K and a bit of time to the ascent. (Remember that before Timberline Lodge was built in the 30's, all Hood South Side climbs started from Govt. Camp. This added a similar mileage and vertical (about 2 miles and 2K feet) onto the route, which was routinely done in a day by many folks with a lot more primitive gear than we enjoy today.) So, next time you grumble about starting at 4K feet, recall these sturdy climbers who did it all the time.

Hey, 1/2 man 1/2 machine, My pal and I are looking to head up there and give it a go on Sunday. I think conditions will be sweet. We'll be hiking from Cooper Spur ski area. Good luck and hope to see you!