salamander

Petzl Sarken Leverlock Crampons. Brand new in box. Never used. These are the updated post-recall version with the black frames. Great technical alpine crampon, I just have no need for them now. $150 shipped. Paypal only. Email: salamandridae at hotmail dot com.

TRbetaflash- I'm the one who sent you toward the creek. I will never use the boulder field approach after the first time I went in there. I'm glad you found it ok and it sounds like you had a great climb.

I think you will find Ecuador to be less 'chaos'. Super-easy approaches and huts at the more popular mountains make it very easy to hit multiple peaks in a short period of time. Never did make it out to El Altar so I can't give you specifics there. I did not use a guide, but there are a bunch of guide services in Quito. I don't think there is much once you leave there. You can also arrange transport through some of the tour operators/ guide services if you are short on time and don't want to deal with public transport. Public transport, however, is quite good in Ecuador. Comfortable buses and we never had a problem hiring rides to get us to where the buses didn't go. I thought Cotopaxi was a more aesthetic climb than Chimborazo but it was definitely more crowded too. I would highly recommend one of the more technical climbs on Illiniza Sur. It is lower elevation but the climbing is spectacular.

I'll be in the PDX area mid-June for a wedding and was hoping to get in a climb on Mt. Hood. I've done a lot of climbing in the WA Cascades but none at all in OR. I was looking at the Sandy Headwall route just because it is in the Classic Climbs book. I don't have any other guides that cover OR. Anyone been up there lately or have a sense of what it is usually like that time of the year? I would welcome any other recommendations for routes other than the standard walk-up for this time of the year. Preferably with some steeper terrain, some alpine ice is always nice. Any details or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. What is a good guide for other routes on Hood?

Jedi, Hey man! Met you this winter at Frankenstein in NH... I was climbing with the Australians. I've has some similar issues recently. Although quickly disappearing in stores there are many good projectors still out there. I bought one last year on Ebay in great shape for cheap money. I own literally thousands of slides and finally broke down and bought a scanner. If you care at all about having a quality high resolution scan, i would fork out the money and buy one of the Nikon dedicated slide scanners (current generation is Coolscan V). You can find them for about $500 if you look around. Even though it cut into my gear/travel spending it was well worth the cash for me.