ryanb

Agree that this sounds sketch depending on what this device is for. That said check out these (now old) test results: http://user.xmission.com/~tmoyer/testing/High_Strength_Cord.pdf Spectra (similar to dyneema) looses a lot of strength when knotted (or, I believe, repeatedly bent) so I wouldn't expect it to be an improvement vs steel. Nylon holds up better but is weaker to start with.

Set of nuts...bd's or hueavos. BD's .75 - 3 Alien Clones (fixe, totem, master) down to yellow or green (alien)/blue (metolius). Then start buying doubles in those sizes. Larger and smaller then that are less frequently used and can be bought later if you find yourself needing them. Nuts overlap with the smaller cam so double up on the BD's first so you can climb long hand cracks. Lots of slings.

Trip: Bass Creek, Bitterroots, MT - Lappi Lake Date: 3/26/2013 Trip Report: Since leaving Seattle for rural MT in october we've had a lot of good days in the mountains but been forced to do without the niceties of guidebooks, up to data beta and even daily avalanche forecasts. The learning curve has been steep and we've spend a few days that could have held epic powder turns boged down in endless blowdowns. Saturday It felt like we've started to really get the hang of it. Following rumored beta passed on by a local in Missoula's climbing gym we got an early start, booted and skinned up one of the Bitterroots many granite walled canyons and skied a totally untracked wilderness powder bowl from ridge line to creek bottom making some of the best turns of our lives. After 12 hours and a briefly lost skin we were back at the car exhausted and happy. Many locals here would do twice as much in a day but for us it was a big one. More photos and details on the hillmap blog: http://blog.hillmap.com/2013/03/deep-up-bass-creek-without-skin.html Gear Notes: Skis, Skins, Homemade Cookies Approach Notes: I-90 E to us-93 S. Right on Bass Creek Road. From the trailhead stick to the old road for 5-6 miles crossing the creek twice. The summer trail we took on the way in avoids the creek crossing but has more blowdowns, the old road is skiable most of the way. Map of our Route: http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychALEghTYXZlZE1hcBiA7EwM

Houdini is great and on sale a lot. I've used mine for everything from skiing to running. DriClime's are also nice but they are a two layer deal like a houdini with integrated thin base layer. Great in colder temps but not as versatile for use in wind/sun/bugs. Rab makes some well regarded ones as well.

Not sure on the adjustable one but I bought some salewa "mountain trainer" boots when I was recovering from a sprained ankle and wanted something more supportive then my typical approach shoe and they are great. The ankle harness thing really seems to work well and they offer a ton of support for how light they are.

Liner sock. Fiddle with how you lace/tie them to increase heal retention...I use a single overhand knot to keep the ankle tight before I run the laces through the upper hooks. Hydropel (applied the night before or two smaller hot spots) and Leukotape (sticker and more durable then duct or athletic tape).

MIne isn't for sale since we live in the bitterroot now but if you can't find a copy I could photo copy it or something...you might try giving the trailhead in missoula a call. Also, if you are headed to the area you should check out the newly developed Mill creek crags which have a pdf guide online: http://millcreekreport.blogspot.com/

Read the care instructions. Apparently the price includes a sort of service contract where you send it back to patagonia for a special CO2 cleaning to preserve the loft. Seems like a lot of thought went into it but also seems a bit fragile. I would be surprised if the sweat, salt and stank I put into a parka from a couple months use ski touring leaves a more persistant residue then a bit of downwash...at leased based on smell I did notice synthetic advocate Kelly Cordes mentioning/climbing in a "killer new downsweater prototype" in some recent posts on patagonia's the "Cleanest Line" blog.

What works for me: Scarpa Maestrali Boots (the old Orange not the new more expensive white Maestrali RS), Dynafit Bindings with Brakes and a Fatish Ski with some rocker...I have Carbon BD Justices (111mm under foot) which are very stable, stay on top of difficult heavy snow and pivot and smeer quickly in tight trees etc. I also have a pair of 88 under foot skis with no rocker but never use them any more and might switch the bindings to something with rocker (but skinnier then the justice) to have a lighter setup that still handles soft and variable snow well. Boots are the most important and the Scarpa Maestrali (and related models like the Rush) are relatively cheap and light and tour and ski better then most older models. There are lighter models that tour, walk and climb even better (dynafit TLT5, the sportiva's) but they cost more, can be colder and are only designed to work with dynafit/tech bindings though they may work with others. The maestrali should work with your Silveretas but dynafit bindings are awesome in terms of weight, efficiency, reliability and safety release and you should upgrade if you can. Ski wise I would get whatever light rockerd model >92mm under foot you can find on a good clearance from a brand like BD, Voile, G3, Sportiva etc...Sierra Trading post has some good options or you could buy used. Go a bit sort for maneuverability and weight...I'm on the 175 justice though I should ski the 185 by their chart and find them plenty of ski for anything but busting through cut up resort crud at speed.

Total guess...Plus I think they sell a bracket that lets you use the same crampons on other bindings too.

I think ours are 350 cm but I would probably go 300 if we bought again. If you get a 300cm probe you can use it with one of brooks range's slick tents: http://brooks-range.com/Propel-Tent.html Also pay attention to the folded length of the probe (and shovel) if you plan to keep it in the avi tools pouch of a dedicated winter pack.

I've got 130mm g3 alpinists cut wall to wall (no edge showing except at the tip tetonat style http://www.tetonat.com/2009/01/30/cutting-climbing-skin-video-tutorial/) for my bd justice which are 138/111/123 and they work well. If I had your skis I would probally go for the 140 g3 and have a bit of edge showing at the tip and tail. Being skinier, more flexible and having more glide then the bd skins are all nice in skis that fat...I might even consider a mohair mix with a super wide ski as lots of people really love the light skins that dynafit makes for their fatter skis. Buy some B&D ski crampons if you are worried about edging ability: http://www.bndskigear.com/dynafitcrampons.html

They imported beal ropes until maybe 2009.

Thanks guys, the song is sung by an old neighbor from Seattle and her band Prairie Empire. Kevino, we are in Stevensville which is a small town south of Missoula in the Bitterroot valley and just bug enough to support two micro breweries. I am working remotely and Jen is applying for jobs so we could be almost anywhere but chose here. We are renting but thinking of buying a place somewhere between Hamilton (another two Brewery town with several big walls just outside of town) and Missoula. The climbing (and skiing from what we have seen) are really good if you like a bit of adventure. The Bitterroots valley was formed by the Saphire mountains sliding off the East face of the Bitterroots and leaving foothill free access to 5000 foot slopes and steep sided granite canyons. It is quite striking on a map or satellite photo: http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychALEghTYXZlZE1hcBjw1jkM There isn't a real "destination" ski resort or climbing area but there are loads of scattered crags, bouldering areas and ski tours with 1-2 mile approaches. There aren't up to date guidebooks but there are some really solid locals who have blogs or websites with beta: http://millcreekreport.blogspot.com/ (see also the linked climbing blogs from there) http://mt-adventures.blogspot.com/ http://www.backcountryfocus.com/ http://downingmountainlodge.com/winter.html There is a growing Climbers meetup which is a cool place to meet people and check out new crags: http://www.meetup.com/MontanaRockandIce/ We will be trying to post tr's and things on the hillmap blog as well to get people to use our mapping site: http://blog.hillmap.com Missoula is a cool town as well. We saw the banff tour there in a packed 1000 seat historic theater to give you soem idea of the culture and there are a number of good restaurants including some thai and two sushi places that are pretty good if you don't mind fish that has been frozen. The downsides are the Smoke from forest fires in late summer/early fall (we couldn't even tell we had a view for our first few weeks here) and a winter haze in the valley due to frequent inversions and lots of people using wood stoves. There are also a few local ski areas that people seem to really like and you can head north to kalispell for a bigger area and more rock climbing (the couple who runs the meetup is from there).

Trip: Gash Point, Bitterroots, MT - Skiing the E/NE Ridge/Bowl (Video) Date: 11/25/2012 Trip Report: My wife and I moved to the Bitterroots of western Montana from Seattle last month in Search of something like a less bavarian leavenworth. Sunday we took our skis out for the first tour of the Season and had a wonderful time booting and skinning through breakable crust and thinly covered logs and rocks to find some very skiable pockets of powder (and high winds) in an old burn along a ridge up high. We turned around before the summit but still managed to ski a couple thousand feet. I made a video to celebrate the first tour of the season. Be prepared for tentative early season/thin cover skiing, gratuitous skinning and scenic shots, hillmap stickers and wistful folk music from an old neighbor of mine: (best in full screen HD with the sound on) I'm not really sure what the locals call the route we skied but here it is on a map: http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychALEghTYXZlZE1hcBjStzkM Perfect low angle powder terrain. Gear Notes: Skis, Warm Coats, Ptex Approach Notes: An AWD vehicle could make it to the upper trailhead, we hiked from the lower.

25's spoken for; 30's still available.

Getting ready to move and don't have time to ship so priority goes to people who can pick up this week or next in Seattle (Magnolia Near Vertical World). I have two sets new, in box, never molded with tags "SCARPA Intuition Universal Liners" mondo size 25 and 30 that we bought at the end of the season a couple of years ago for $50 each but they were the wrong size and we never used them. Will pass them on for the same price to anyone who can pick up. Edit: Skis Gone.

I agree, but I think you missed the point of the article. It's one thing to be able to lead a few 11s. Being able to confidently lead testpiece 5.11s in all different styles is a much, much higher bar. Well sure, and anyone who can send (let alone reliably onsite) 5.11 in all styles is absolutely a badass. Personally I suck but I've had the privilege of following a number of great local climbers up a bunch of 11's and leading 1 or 2 myself. My point is more that only having time to train in a gym doesn't really stop you from climbing 99% percent of the 5.11's in wa. I mean the only pure (ie no face holds) 5.11 offwidth jamming I can even think of is the p3 variation on freedom rider. A stylistically diverse WA 5.11 trad tick list might look like: Slab: Newest Industry, thin fingers Pure finger locks: ??? Even Steven has a short section but is more of an enduro sport crux. Pinscars: Iron Horse Off Fingers/Thin hands: Pressure Drop Hands: ??? Royale flush...i can't think of any roped hand cracks that hard? Fists: Isn't there something on midnight rock?* Offwidth: p3 var to freedom rider, Another Man's Car* Really Steep: ??? Maybe Mastadon's roof* Munging in a Corner: Numerous More or less vertical face with bad holds far apart and occasional jams: Everything else *Route's I only know by reputation...not that i've done more then flail on the others. I'm probably missing a ton of great climbs. Anyone else have any suggestions?

Skeletal jamming is a great way to describe it...for both hands and feet it is key to use the flat parts of your bones against the rock and not overgrip. Pain comes from grinding the pointy parts of your bone into the rock. For feet this is easier in flat shoes but, with care, doable even in slightly downturned shoes like miuras/anasazi...place the edges/bumps of the crack in between your toe knuckles. Crack bouldering is the best way to develop the control to do this reliably unless you have a very patient belayer who doesn't mind you hanging out feeling the rock and trying slight variations on jams till you find one that can support your weight without pain. Off hand the best crack boulder problems for training in wa/seattle/highway 2 area are: 1) The concrete cracks at the uw rock. 2) Royal flush (steep hands) and a couple of nearby offwidths at swiftwater: http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychALEghTYXZlZE1hcBi44C4M 3) Various things at clamshell cave and the v5 roof crack in the hanta man cave: http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychALEghTYXZlZE1hcBiI8C4M The starts to various taller crack climbs. As for libra...It has been a while but I think you can knee bar the wide bit to reduce the weight on your hands.

I'm more of an "occasional v2 move" trad climber but just to offer a dissenting opinion, for me the difference between climbing 5.11 at index and not climbing 5.11 at index has more to do with the ability to hold onto really small holds then anything else. Pure 5.11 jamming is rare there (pressure drop is the only climb i can think of off hand) and most things get a lot easier if you can stick the tips of a couple of fingers in a pod and think it is a good hold or campus credit card edges. I watched an australian sport climber learn to place gear on iron horse climbing up and down into the crux and fiddling around with cams he had racked all on one biner. It wasn't pretty but he made it. The few 9's and 10's or 9 and 10 sections of routes there require a lot more diversity of technique and are often more intimidating...a friend told me she didn't like to climb the 9's because it made her forget how doable the 11's were. Other areas may be different but in WA climbing 5.9 cracks and bouldeirng at a reasonable level will get you up a lot of 5.11's...

Hey Ryan, I'll assume a scenario of building acnhors. If there are two bolts, just clip them both with carabiners and there's your anchor. If I'm leading in blocks I'll generally try to connect 2 or 3 piece with a sliding X using a 48" runner or normal runner if the gear is close together. Maybe I'll equalize 2 pieces and then put another piece in, clipped to one of the two legs. I'd belay off the "x" with a reverso-type device in auto-lock, and have the arriving follower clip in there with one locker, cloved to rope they are tied in to. While belaying I'd likely be just cloved to a couple pieces in the anchor, and when I am ready to lead again i remove the cloves but switch my clove into the anchor's top piece and just clip through that piece for factor-2-avoidance. If we are flipping leads, the follower never clips into anything, they just hang on the reverso and I'd steal their belay device and put them on lead belay with it. Thanks guys. Thats actually more or less the method I learned before I switched to the cordalet and with the unavailability of high strength nylon (ie not techron/vectran/spectra that weakens in knots) 6mm cord I may switch back as 7 mm is pretty bulky. I'm hearing that using the rope only makes sense when swaping leads...otherwise you end up having to tether in, untie and swap ends of the rope instead of flipping or restacking it? When not using the rope I do think the cordlet is faster then slings because you only have to tie one knot instead of one per piece/sling to get an anchor that won't extend if a piece fails. I feel that non-extension and redundancy is much more import then equalization because, when we rope climbed we tend to do so on less traveled things and I often find myself setting belays off several dirty thin kitty litter cracks where it isn't unheard of for a piece to fail unexpectedly at relatively low force. If you are belaying off hand sized cams in clean cracks this is a non issue. For using the rope when the pieces weren't in a single line/crack I used to use something like (http://www.chockstone.org/TechTips/BunnyEars.htm) and then clove hitch two pieces in one of the ears but that takes up a lot of rope and doesn't make sense if you are leading long pitches. Also I think there is some confusion between an autoblock (ie reverso or atc guide) which is essentially a one way clutch and pretty darn fool proof for bringing up a second and an assisted braking device like a gri gri which is not what we are talking about here.

Never use autoblock devices or belay off anchors, ever, so it's not an issue. No autoblock? Then when do you eat??? I would definitely consider leaving the cordalets for a crag climb at index or similar with bolted anchors and where the second would potentially want to lower negating the use of an autoblock but for longer stuff with gear belays on cramped/no ledges I bring one. I'd actually love to learn the rope management/organizational tricks people like sol and blake do when leading in blocks and using the rope as an anchor and moving quickly as, to me, having a dedicated piece of gear to build the anchor and dedicated tethers for each person takes the thought out of the process and speeds up transitions (ie you can flip the coiled rope, unteahter and go or swap ends) though using the rope is definitely safer. Also I seem to often find myself in a situation on easier stuff where the nice belays are exactly 60 or 70 m apart and there is no rope left to use in the anchor.

We usually cary two 6mm pro cord (no longer available high strength nylon) cordalets. Sure they are dedicated pieces of gear but they get used every pitch. I went without for a while but a friend who had done some guiding and hard long free climbing convinced me the extra organization was worth it. Especially when leading in blocks with hanging belays and autoblock devices...I don't understand what people using no cordalet or personal anchor sling do here. Clip the autoblock to a knot in the rope and when they need to swap ends clip in with a sling, untie and trade ends? Doesn't sound efficient to me. I also find double length slings aren't long enough for much slinging of blocks and large trees as found commonly in some areas like Blodget Canyon.

My wife has the starlet (with dynafit radical st's) in that length and loves them in heavy spring slop...haven't had them out in anything hard or dry so can't comment on chatter but they are awesome for typical cascade conditions. She is a bit taller then you but only an intermediate skier and likes to make lots of turns (I hear the starlets/drifts can be hooky if you don't like to turn). Next years are supposed to be a bit stiffer and add a bit of tail rocker I think. You could certainly go lighter by going narrower towards rando gear but the starlets seem to be in a pretty happy place as far as weight vs typical cascade snow performance vs price. Wild snow ( http://www.wildsnow.com/6957/ski-test-review-backcountry-skiing/) and off piste ( http://offpistemag.com/themag/backissues.asp see issue 50) both have good run downs of the more touring oriented skis available. Maybe also look at the manslu and voile vector and charger for something that comes that short but with some width under foot.

I haven't done that but I've been up from the bottom on those routes. I think you could only walk/scramble safely to the anchor at the base of newest industry. Straight down from that and you rap tadpole/model worker which are left of those routes. Not sure if you can swing over or traverse further from there. Pressure Drop below the upper wall is really good for solo tr'ing and I think there are other routes in that area that you can get to the top of more easily including stuff below the perverse traverse and on other small crags. Edit: I'm also not sure if two sixties will get you down from below model worker? Marginal karma, dwarf tossing and stuff over that way might be good options too.