arentz

Bump for pics and price drop

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Hi, I’m selling a pair of G3 saints with axl bindings. The skis are as shown here: They will come with BD skins cut to fit. The ski dimensions are 122/93/112 and they are 170 cm in length. It is a great touring setup, is only 1 year old and has had fewer than 10 days on it. I’m getting rid of the skis because I am happier with my older, heavier plate binding setup, and I don’t get out often enough now that I have kids. I’ll part with the package for 250 obo$. I'm flexible with the price… just want to send them on to someone who will use them. I live in Seattle and would prefer to sell locally.

Thanks for the Trip Report Dave. I love that area. That route is one of the best 5.5 climbs I've ever done... and the colors are amazing this time of year. You should also check out "Little Fingers' (5.5) at Lake George (probably better in summer) and 'Gamesmenship' (5.8 but really only 5.7 after the crux start) at Poke-O-Moonshine if you haven't already. Both are classics!

Trip: Leavenworth - Outer Space Date: 9/29/2012 Trip Report: Peter and I went to Snow Creek Wall last weekend for a quick trip up Outer Space. Got to hang out with a few cool people and climb a great route. Really a great climb with some crazy crack/chickenhead climbing up top. I don't think I've previously been up anything with chickenheads like that. I know that there have been a lot of reports out there, so I'll space you the details and just make a few observations. 1. I didn’t think the crux traverse was any harder than 5.9, just strenuous. There are good feet at the crux if you take the time to look for them. 2. We found that the last pitch in the Nelson guide was really more than a full 60 m rope length to the top. I suppose you could have scrambled the easy 5th class stuff to the summit, but I didn’t feel that was safe. We belayed about 20 feet from the top, but a 70 m rope would make it much easier to set up a good belay and still limit it to 1 pitch. 3. The descent was well marked with cairns. If you don’t see them, you’ve gone down the wrong/early gully. Gear Notes: We brought a full rack to a no. 4 with doubles of the no. 1 and no. 2, which helped on the last two pitches of hand crack. Approach Notes: It took us about 1.5 hours to the wall at a leisurely pace. There are plenty of cairns to mark the way.

Trip: WA Pass- Spontaneity Arete & E. face of Lexington - Date: 8/1/2012 Trip Report: We spent two days up at Washington Pass last week during the heat wave. On day 1 we arrived late and only had an afternoon to do a warm up, so we scrambled up Spontaneity Arete on Le Petit Chaval. We climbed up the three fixed lines on the approach and were to the base of the climb by 1:30 (45 minute approach at a reasonable pace). Although this is listed to have some 5.7 climbing, we simulclimbed the whole thing and I didn’t feel as though anything was tougher than 5.6, with a lot of 4th class/3rd class. Maybe we were off route, although we tried to follow the most difficult line on the ridge. Definitely a much easier outing than the West Ridge of Forbidden. Topped out in about 2 hours. The descent involved a combination of downclimbing the route and scrambling down the gully. Awesome work by everyone who maintained the trail and fixed lines. Thanks for making the approach/descent route very easy to follow. It would be a great first alpine lead. On day 2 we climbed the East Face of Lexington Tower. We crossed the snow with approach shoes. The moat was easy to cross and we approach the 2nd pitch (the 5.7 run out) by traversing left on the ledge. I found the 5.7 run out on pitch 2 was the psychological crux of the route. Definitely a couple of long stretches with mediocre gear, although there may have been a different line that would have been more protectable. I linked pitches 2 and 3. The climbing improved considerably here, and pitches 4-7 were super fun. Pitch 4 was fun hands, and pitch 6 was short but involved a few fun 5.9 traverse moves around a roof onto a fun flake. Pitch 7 was easily protectable with an (old) no. 6 camelot. I thought pitch 6 was probably the crux of the route, and the off width was not bad, with two bolts that made it very safe. However, I was pretty tired by the time I reached the top of pitch 7 (I suck at OW). A few more easy pitches got us to the summit, I think it took us about 8 hours from the car to the summit. The descent down the backside gully was very straightforward by cascade standards and involved unexposed scrambling and 1 rappel. We were back to the car by sunset for some PBRs and dinner. This was a great route for the grade and I would highly recommend it. Unfortunately for those of you wanting photos (and fortunately for my partner), J is in the Bugaboos right now. I’ll try to post a few more pictures when I get them off his camera. Here are the ones I have. Gear Notes: Too much for Spontaneity. Singles of stoppers and 0.5-2 cams would have been fine to sew it up. We brought a lot of big gear on Lexington, but would have been fine with a set of stoppers, singles to a no. 4 and one no. 6. I didn't use the no. 4.5 or 5 on the OW.

Nice TR Bcrook. We did the West Ridge car to car on Sunday, and also descended the East Ledges. The various descriptions of the descent we read said 5 or 6 rappels. We did 6 which also works out fine, and we traversed out across to the gendarme with little down climbing. We encountered 1 section of snow, but climbed/descended in boots which made it easier.

Thanks

cool, thanks

Likely heading up this weekend and would appreciate if anyone has insight into the conditions of the couloir to gain the west ridge route. I'm presuming there will be plenty of snow but any first hand info is much appreciated. Thanks! Arentz

Not new, but I thought this should be in the recall thread as well. BD avalung recall

I'd second that... and I'd put Polar Circus on the short list for your next trip.

He embodied a lot of what I value in mountaineering and in medicine. Cheers to a life that inspired many.

Thanks. Much appreciated. Arentz

I'm considering going up the sulfide with some very fit friends this Friday. They have modest glacier experience so we should move at a fair pace but will not be setting any speed records. Since I have obligations this weekend, I wanted to do it in one day (or at the least, get back early Saturday). If you've done it in a day, how long has it taken? Also, if anyone has info on what kind of shape the sulfide is in, it would be appreciated. Cheers arentz