northvanclimber

i'll second this one, although it's good to first rappel down and check out what's happening to the second. i was once in a similar situation where i was belaying my g/f from the top of a climb and couldn't see her due to an overhang. it was really windy so i couldn't hear her at all and only knew something was wrong when the rope stopped moving for quite a while. i rapped down and found she'd gotten off-route and was facing a big pendulum if she slipped. i managed to coax her back into the route and then re-climbed the rope before putting her back on belay. if i'd simply started to haul her up without checking first, she would've been pulled off her feet and gone for a nasty pendulum for sure....

Thanks for the heads up! The old settler was on my list of places to climb this summer...

I'd go.

So my buddy and I tried to do the NW arete on shuksan this last weekend via the approach described in alpine select(this approach takes the logging road partway up the road to baker, goes along the clearcut down to the river and then up the ridge). unfortunately due to border delays, and more importantly, a vague and slightly incorrect description of the approach in AS [approach 55], by the time we found the correct route we had to turn around cause it was getting late in the day. so, to clarify the approach for anyone trying to access either the NW arete or the north face on shuksan, here's a little info so you don't get lost like we did: 1) you'll notice that the logging road is perfectly driveable, so when you pull of baker hwy, keep going. 2) from the description in AS, you'd think the road just ends at a certain point and you'd just park and start walking. not so! Instead, at 2.6km down the road after the road makes a left turn, you'll notice a small spur road on the right. you can park here, or drive a short way down this spur road. If you miss this turn off, you'll find that the main logging road continues past this point, up a slightly steep hill (no go for 2WD?), and then stops abruptly. 3) back on the spur road, start hiking through intermittent nasty spots of slide alder. after a while (20 mins or so? I can't remember exactly), in one of the clearings in between spats of slide alder and various other nasty foliage, start looking for the clearcut that drops off to your left. the clearcut is not immediately obvious from the road if you're heading down the trail at full speed like we were, so keep your eyes open. from the clearcut, the approach is obvious down the slope to the river. 4) if you miss the clearcut you'll find that the road bed quickly disappears and you'll have a bi*ch of a time fighting through slide alder, etc., your parter will get poked in the eye with a tree branch and you'll quickly discover that you're not having a good time. sorry if this has been posted somewhere else, but it bears repeating. cheers.

There doesn't seem to be any widespread data out there on this topic. instead, it just seems to be a matter of those people who look at the EDK (aka, a simple overhand knot) and get freaked out by it because it doesn't look like much, and those people (usually those who've had their ropes get stuck when pulled after a rappel.. often late in the day with the threat of nightfall approaching) who use the EDK frequently. personally, i use the EDK all the time when tying ropes of different diameters together and have never had a problem. whatever you choose to use, just make sure the knot is tied cleanly and pulled snug.

i used to use dromedary bags but stopped because whenever i filled them up from a stream, or glacier, or anywhere else where the outside of the bag came in contact with water, the outer fabric material would absorb the water. As a result, when in my backpack, anything that touched the bag got wet too. kinda sucked...

yeah, i had my nalgene bladder rip in the bugaboos last year (it ripped along a crease that had formed along the side of the bladder). thankfully a buddy had brought an extra nalgene bottle so i was okay. have since switched to the camelback bladder. it's a thicker plastic and so far it's held up pretty well. also has a bite valve that can be locked closed and doesn't pop off the tubing every 5 seconds!

In the latest MEC catalogue i saw some thermarest-type mats that were filled with either down or a synthetic insulator. never tried this sort of mat, but seems like an interesting idea. anyone used them?

i couldn't take kelly hrudey's obvious bias towards dallas during the first round... he just kept going on and on about how dallas deserved to win and how great it would be for turco to win, blah blah blah... glad the canucks showed up ready to play last night...

out of curiousity i once looked at the pre-made sandwiches they sell at 7-11. i found a hero sub that had some 1300 calories and 84 grams of fat!!! i was amazed they could even fit that many calories into one sandwich! personally, i don't think you can trust the majority of pre-made foods out there. manufacturers simply want to produce something they think will taste good and will sell. your health never comes into the picture.

I too keep a sling (with a couple overhand knots in it so you can clip shorter lengths of it) girthed onto my belay loop. however, i don't think i'd do this with some of the newer (ie., really, really thin) slings that are out these days. just seems like they could wear out easier (maybe i'm just paranoid...). especially when doing a lot of rappels, having a method of tying into the belay that doesn't involve the rope seems like the best plan, but to each their own...

okay well, if poutine's involved, count me in

woo hoo! now if only the rain would stop!

maybe compared to last year.... seem to remember it being a fair bit fatter just a couple years ago. it's too bad though, cause it's usually a nice warm up if in good conditions.

hey, if rolf is good enough for wal-mart....

maybe we can all huddle up for warmth ! looks like it'll be pretty cold this weekend!

the other day i started making a list of climbs in kevin mclean's squamish guidebook that had 3 (or more) stars in an effort to psych myself up for the upcoming season of climbing. i then took a look through squamish select to see if that book recommended the same climbs... interestingly, the two books often matched, suggesting the climbs were actually considered by many to be good, except for a couple climbs that hardly got any mention in squamish select. now, not to knock kevin mclean, because he seems like a great guy and has obviously gone through a lot of work to put together those guidebooks, but all those "extra" three star routes were put up by him! bias? nooooooooooo... lol. but seriously, rating routes is pretty subjective. there are lots of great routes that never get any stars but are still fun to do.

http://clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19848, to make a long story short, at christmas time, a couple cars were vandalized in a parking lot into Garibaldi Park in BC (The elfin lakes trailhead near squamish). Two cars had their windows smashed and one car was actually set on fire! Unbelievable!

i've never seen a crack'n up, but are the current BD peckers the newest reincarnation of them??? i've been experimenting with the peckers (i'm still pretty new to aid and am just now expanding my rack beyond the usual cams and nuts) and have to say that i really love them for certain applications... There are definately places where a good cam hook or pecker is just sooo much better than a micro cam (zero, TCU, whatever) or micro nut.

at MEC? i looked online and didn't see 'em. i thought i remembered them selling them off a while back...

who sells zeros in the vancouver (canada) area now that MEC has stopped selling them? does anyone know if climb-on carries them in squamish?

this link-up should be named "the ultimate line-up"

i'm sure many of you have already seen this, but since i only recently stumbled upon it, i thought i'd share the beta: click on the "tech" video on this page for advice from Black Diamond

YUCK! that is gross! skull

weird.... i've had mine for several years now and never noticed that. would kinda suck if that happened in the middle of a trip. i think the vector is a pretty good watch and the battery lasts a good year for me. my only complaints are that it's awefully bulky and the menu navigation isn't the most intuitive system i've ever seen. still, those are pretty minor concerns all things considered.