Dannible

I don't mean to alarm anyone, but I think that this could very well be the beginning of the end; thats right, its the Apocalypse. We can't say that Pat Robertson didn't warn us, I just pray that everyone has started planning the layout of their underground bunkers.

The 50-60 degree slope leading up to the NF gully and the first pitch had solid, fun ice. Not great for screws, but it would have almost been hard to fall off of it. Above that it was mostly snow, but it was good enough to not be scary even without pro (a slung root was all I got on P.2, and all that was needed). And yes DirtyHarry, it was kind of like the Tooth in the summer, only with a lot more shit falling down on your head. A constant stream of falling ice added to the adventure.

Did Chair on Saturday, along with about 20 other people. On the NF the first pitch was good ice and the rest was snow with a thin crust in places, and a couple of short ice patches. The NE buttress looked good too. Freeze-thaw has been doing it's thing.

I thought I saw some in The Alpine Experience in Olympia a while back, I will check sometime and let you know in a couple of days.

Sure, nothing lasts forever, but it could be history for a little while.

One could argue that we should leave all the rap tat that we find because one day it will be a historical artifact.

Does anyone know how much strength webbing and cord loses when it is frozen?

Also ask yourself if you even need rock shoes. I climbed in my boots in the gym all last winter and was pretty good at it by the time summer came along.

Yep, I made the mistake of leaving my skis behind in the woods because I felt like they were slowing me down in there, and the other guys left their snowshoes way down the road since it was groomed.

Me and another guy went up today. The road is groomed for snowmobiles so you can walk or ski in, but if you walk you will be post holing once you leave the road, and you won't be able to get down nearly as fast. It took us over three hours to get to the wall (with overnight gear), so I personally would not want to do the approach both mornings. There are plenty of good places to camp. We are not sure if we went far enough to the right once we got to the wall, but we only saw a few thin moderate routes, and a bunch of long steep ones. We both took a few swings on one route, but both bailed because it was thin, hollow, and had a rotten crust. Two other guys got discouraged by all of the post holing and lack of good moderate ice and headed off to Leavenworth before they even swung a tool. It seemed like there was a lot to do for a solid WI5 climber, but not much for the rest of us right now.

That is true, but it is also exactly how I got giardia. Now when I want to chug lots of water I give the iodine a little less time to do it's thing and hope for the best. At the same time I don't worry about really high, isolated steams, only those that get lots of animal/people visitors. Of course, when I am super dehydrated and thinking about nothing but water, it all goes out the window.

A couple of people have said not to treat your water, but after getting giardia this summer I think a few iodine tablets are worth the .001 grams that they weigh.

Like she said. Some people say that washing is bad for gore-tex, but really sweat and dirt getting ground in are worse. Do it a few times a year and let it air dry.

Unless it is supposed to be really cold and rainy you can get by with just bivy sack and maybe a puffy jacket rather than a sleeping bag. Spread out your rope and pack to sleep on top of rather than a pad, and don't bring a stove unless you will need to melt water. It will be a long cold night, but you should be able to get some sleep still. If the weather turns then go sleep in your car.

I second that, any advice for the approach would be nice.

You might be right, but this is climbing in style!

I'm pretty sure napkins actually cost more than most the food at the G-O, they might be a little better for you though.

Yes, its true that the wine is cheap and delicious (until it comes back up), but sadly I am to young get some on my own. Yet another reason why Canada is high on my list for next summer.

This summer I got a lot of climbing in by working just enough to pay the rent, get $10 worth of food from the gross out (enough to eat like a king for the week), and pay for gas. Only $1.50 for a box of 6 balance bars , they taste like garbage and freeze solid at about 40 degrees, but have protein and carbs and all that good stuff. I'm thinking next summer I will leave the whole rent and work thing out of the equation.

Nice, I have a few freinds who have been looking for this. Did you write it? Its funny to see how many of these we figured out without the book when I was living there. Drytooling in the hallways in A (not in the book) was a good time, as there are all kinds of cracks and holes in the walls.

Climb for yourself. If you prefer to go leashless, do it; don't do it just because the heard says you have to. I just got into ice climbing and want to give leashless a try because I like the idea of being able get some bloodflow in my hands. I think tethers are a good idea to avoid the whole dropping your tool to the base of the route thing.

I think this is about what we did. Anyone know anything about it?

Me and my friend were simul-climbing on the NE Buttress of Goode (2500 feet of mostly class 4, with a mid 5 crux, pitching out would take forever); I was leading and I suddenly heard him yell something like "oh shit, are you ok?" I didn't know what he was taking about at the time, but it turned out that he fell when a foothold broke off, and I didn't even notice because of rope drag.

I was there the week before last. It was in but the less than vertical sections had about 6" of snow on them, and the ice was not all that solid. We were just TRing but there were 2 or 3 vertical steps with ice that would probably take screws. It was pretty thin near the top but you can drytool and hook roots if you need to. There were some thin mixed climbs nearby that might be in better shape by now. I say go for it, it's way better than nothing.

Do you think that a 4x4 could still drive up there?