CaleHoopes

Tstab, I can't find anything on the 2011 festival, but I found a post about the 2010 fest. In 2010 it was held at the Portland Rock Gym... you should ping them and see if there's a fest this year. I almost headed down there in 2010 to check it out... http://www.portlandrockgym.com/ And here's the poster: http://aaronmulkey.blogspot.com/2010/09/portland-ice-festival.html

Nice job! We were just across from you doing my first multi-pitch route on Liberty Bell up the Beckey Route. Nice summit!

I always take the approach that the pack is never waterproof - so if I think the weather warrants it, it all gets stuffed in a garbage bag as a pack liner inside the pack. Never thought of DWR on my pack...

I've had a similar experience in the wind. The reinforcements on this tent rock and the tie in points are excellent. You can even add more tie ins if needed and the poles are bomber. +1

I don't think it matters. Basically, the knot at the end of the rope that's tied in or clipped in is no longer in the system so that carabiner with your figure-8/butterfly is the main attachment point now. Usually, if this is an end person, I have them tie in anyway so the biner is already an extra piece until you clip the knot on the kiwi into the harness. On a middle person, I'd just use the same biner - keep in mind if you use the same biner, have a partner check that its locked both when clipping in the Kiwi and then re-extending the rope.

Nice TR! I'd like to do this route someday, just need a weekend.

Use the Kiwi if you're going to get to a spot where you need to extend it out again. That's the best use of it. If you're going to do your climb with no extension at all from where you're doing the coil, you can simply do a mountaineers coil and then uncoil it in camp or something.

Don't disagree with that point NotMessner... However, you've added probably another 8 oz to your kit that way... just saying. I think that's a fine solution to up a 3 season to a 4 season. I have an extra set of poles for my Nallo 3 just in case I am going into nastyish weather with it.

Don't forget the venom...

I hope this isn't saying you used crampons to glissade... Ask Wetslide about that experience...

BTW, the ROPE GUIDE in the Climbing Gear Guide 2012 is pretty awesome: http://www.climbing.com/print/current/april_2012_304_gear_guide/ - You should be able to find the issue somewheres.

I personally think 5mm is just fine for prussik cords. Really? You bought a 30m 8mm rope and are taking it back because you can't make a few prussik loops, a few cordellettes and a set of foot loops? 5mm isn't that expensive and it never hurts to have them around for lighter adventures. After coming off the DC a few weeks ago, I'd guess that the 30m + 5mm prussiks would have been just fine. The crevasse danger then wasn't too bad - although I'm sure we've had some melt out. Our riskiest crevasse crossing was because some dumbass on the first team of the night took the wrong trail when there was a split at the flats - and our dumbass team followed the line. By the time we came back down, the bad trail with the 4-5 ft crevasse jump was already blocked off and we descended the trail we SHOULD have ascended. Without that added bonus, I think we jumped ONE other crevasse and all the snowbridges were pretty awesome. I think you'd do great there. FYI, the route up the DC itself is MOSTLY rock scrambling from the nose to the rest at the top of the cleaver. I'd say 85% rock and about 15% snow and ice (and probably even MORE rock now that two weeks has passed). ADDITIONAL NOTE: 30m not that bad of an idea right now. Your biggest risk is NOT crevasse falls, but more likely full on rock fall. That means if you can swing a short rope interval, less weight and go a faster speed, I would. The blog is warning about rockfall and I can tell you we had more than a few close calls on our climb - and we had 11 people in our group. One suitcase sized rock went between rope team members at one point. If lighter means faster for you, I'd stick with your 30m rope and move faster to get out of rockfall zones. With how direct the route is right now, you'll spend more time in these zones then out in the standard glacier travel anyways.

This gets much harder with Expedition Sized packs. I've never had problems with the 40 and under range, but 50+ and it really starts to be a problem. I contributed to my torn hip flexor by pinching myself for a whole leg of climbing on Denali. Yuk!

Yeah, only concern I'd have with the firstlight would be it's ability to stay strong buried under snow and handle heavy winds since the poles are definitely thinner.

I'll be grabbing new pix from my friend Peter... but until then, here's a trip report from someone hiking the Burroughs and you can see the middle to upper part of the route in picture 39. Looks like after you traverse over to the Winthrop there's a little jog through some breakup and then a direct line up the glacier before switchbacking some snow bridges towards the shrund. Does look like the shrund has a hefty bridge over it currently - so probably no traverse over to the crater rim, just direct and then over. I'll find out from my friend Peter if he has anymore. http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8000109&highlight=&sid=41367231ae80c3dfdac01ebf800be451

Got a friend who went up this last weekend. I'll see if I can drum up some pix/beta from him.

Worked great for 1 person. For 2 people, no mas. Still dig a boot well and you could potentially cook there. As far as NOT cooking in there, the tent for 1 person is more than big enough for gear. Think about using pack as part of your sleeping kit - as an enhancement to your mattresses and then it takes it out of your way (and provides an extra R layer). So, this system works great for me. I have a half length Ensolite pad, a 3/4 length Neo Air & I throw my pack under the feet - works great and the whole sleeping system without the pack & sleeping bag ends up 17 oz. My point is: pack doesn't need to go in the vestibule - the tent is big enough to support all your gear as long as you go light and not nuts. The tent does a great job with condensation as far as I can tell. I had a good winter camping experience with it. NOTE: If you're really gonna hit the high winds, you want to ADD guy lines and probably also add some anchors to the 4 corners too.

I thought it looked pretty fishy for the Gap. Thanks for posting an awesome pic of the gap. I'm headed up with a group tomorrow. So, I really appreciate.

Hey, there's a picture just after your comment about "we made it to muir in 4.5 hours".... Is that picture from Muir looking across at Cathedral Gap? Am I really seeing that the Gap is still a lot of snow? Or are my eyes deceiving me?

Hmmm... I'd go with the half size larger. You can fill the boot with a little extra sock for the vertical ice (I agree, you want good tight performance for ice). Then you can use the boots on Rainier without the toe injury. I've gotten to the point where I'm gonna quit trying to marry the two sports as much - yes there is "approach" but my alpine boots will be a good mix of tight and a little flexible.

Actually, us Bushwhackers did a couple classes up at Paradise.... we found a GREAT PLACE right up at Alta Vista. Seriously, less than a half mile from the parking lot at Paradise and we had some great conditions. This was such a great place. There was a lot of area there - just watch out, RMI, AAI & IMG use that area for all sorts of climb school stuff.... so you'll have to choose a spot - get there early and it will go great.

That makes total sense! Thanks for a great report. My friend and I are probably going to try a guided climb up the Ridge next year. Your report is excellent. If we were more experienced, I think we'd check it out.

@Zoran - yeah, probably too small - very light though. Thanks for posting it, I had no idea Grivel even made carabiners.

Shouldn't all lists of steps to do something end with: 5. Drink beer ????

Buckaroo, nice comparison. Thanks everyone for the hints. Should make a difference.