montypiton

stick clip is a form of top-rope, and, as such, is as acceptable as top-roping. this option didn't seem to be available as a voting position...

If you're really serious about maximum improvement in minimal time, spend the $$ for a PRIVATE lesson, and specify your objective - backcountry skiing, perhaps with a pack. A decent ski-school should be able to match you with an instructor (take time to interview more than one) who will take you off-piste, ski your brains out, and larn ya more in a day than you could accomplish in several seasons of self-learning. No, I'm not an instructor; however, I did benefit immeasurably from many a day with a certified instructor during my 14 seasons as a professional patroller...

If you're really serious about maximum improvement in minimal time, spend the $$ for a PRIVATE lesson, and specify your objective - backcountry skiing, perhaps with a pack. A decent ski-school should be able to match you with an instructor (take time to interview more than one) who will take you off-piste, ski your brains out, and larn ya more in a day than you could accomplish in several seasons of self-learning. No, I'm not an instructor; however, I did benefit immeasurably from many a day with a certified instructor during my 14 seasons as a professional patroller...

A larger tent will permit you to stay drier, especially if you have to sit out a storm in it for several days. A sturdy shovel is not just an emergency tool on a Denali expedition. Your shovel may well get more & harder use on this trip than in the entire rest of your life. As a veteran of several Alaskan expeditions, I would consider the shovel more critical than the tent... If my shovel fails in the Cascades, I'm never more than a day's ski from a trailhead. On my Denali trips I was happy to have the short-handled steel-bladed grain scoop we carried... A minimum of two field-maintainable stoves is a must. You cannot stay alive on Denali without a working stove. Most successful Denali climbers travel relatively heavy - and the use of freight sleds makes this more manageable. If you're reasonably competent on skis or snowshoes, I predict you'll have an easier time with a 100lb load on a sled than with a 40lb load on your back. I carried a pressure-cooker as my main cookpot on my Denali expeditions. Yes, it weighed many times what a "backpackers/climbers" pot normally weighs. However, the weight saved in fuel more than made up for the weight of the pot, and the cooker allowed me far more latitude in my menu planning, because I was not limited by the boiling temperature of water at altitude. It's a real bummer to discover, after you're already there, that water does not boil at a hot enough temperature above 14000' to cook rice... The West Buttress of Denali is little more than a long trudge on snow with a couple of steep spots, but this presents its own unique challenges: Many extremely competent technical climbers fail on Denali because they neglect to develop the skills necessary for living comfortably in the arctic environment for extended periods. On this route, your snow-camping skills may well be more critical than your climbing skills.

After seeing Lowell Skoog's presentation of an early film of Otto Lang sticking his skins to his skis with Klisterwax, I tried that method, and was gratified to find how well it works. I don't use glue on my skins anymore... just a relatively soft wax before I start uphill, the skins seem to adhere to that just fine, with no glue. If I guess just right, (occasionally do), I can just peel the skins at the top and make my run down with no other prep...

I survived precisely this scenario descending after climbing the N. Face of Mt. Robson in 1979. Having summitted near midnight, we chose to wait for daylight to descend, since we would be descending a route unfamiliar to us. By daylight, fog had moved in, and we had a full on whiteout. Knowing that our descent followed the south ridge, we used compass and rope to navigate a straight south bearing (one climber stationary, watching the rope pay out, and calling directions to the moving partner who was invisible). We found a line of tracks leaving the ridge towards the Robson Glacier, which was where we had camped, so we followed them, descending the Kain Face without visibility. At the base of the Kain Face, we found ourselves in a crevasse field, still with no visibility. At that point, we sat down and waited for the fog to lift or clear. One bivouac later, we had visibility again, and threaded our way through the crevasses on the snow dome, and down to our glacier camp. Expertise with map, compass, gps, and altimeter will all expand your capabilities, but none of these will get you through a complicated crevasse field. Wands only help if you're retracing your previous route. Sometimes, you have no choice but to simply sit it out.

threads do help a screw stay in the ice, but a greater factor in the screw's holding capacity is refreezing -- once the tube stops turning, assuming the ice is below freezing temp, the tube freezes in place, and both the threaded exterior surface and the smooth interior of the screw present bonding surfaces... this has led, on occasion, to some terrifying experiences on warm days / sloppy ice...

I've climbed on twins almost exclusively since the mid-eighties, and find the versatility of the system hard to beat. Yeah, sometimes I'll just carry one and double it over, but I usually carry both. I think you'll find the cluster factor will resolve itself with some practice -- I can remember (rather not say how many years ago)some pretty nasty clusters with single-rope belays when I was first learning. Like single ropes, twins have gotten thinner over the years - I don't really notice much difference in the handling, other than the lack of weight (bonus) and needing to update belay devices occasionally (probably a good thing, too).

I've used a pair of Cobra brand frs radios for ten years or so, with an earbud/handsfree microphone - generic, as far as I know. It's not perfect, but it does the job. Mine are fairly old, and short range, but this is not an issue when communicating from 60 meters. As far as brands go, Motorola has been the gold standard for handheld radios for as long as I can remember. I prefer the models that use regular AA or AAA batteries over the rechargeable models, because my trips are often several days long.

When gear gets trashed on a climb (dropped, crushed, eaten by a critter, etc) I work it out with my partner according to the situation. Sometimes, I offer to pay for his/her gear. Sometimes, he/she offers to pay for mine. Sometimes, we split. Sometimes, we just blow it off. Do you pay your partner when he/she leaves a rappel sling/ring, or a back-off piece from his/her supply? Exit anchors have been a significant source of gear attrition during my 40+ years climbing, and I've never kept score... Would you pay a partner's medical expenses if he/she were injured climbing on your rack? As a rule, I prefer to climb with easy-going, flexible, undemanding partners...

Jeff - For the use you describe, it sounds like you made a wise choice. It's perfectly adequate for rappelling, just limits you to fairly short rappels. About the only thing you need to stay aware of is you'll want to use it doubled when leading very high-angled (say steeper than 60') from an anchored belay...

into the third year with a pair of Garmont Epic-Karbo-Goretex, I'm very happy with them -- super sticky, rigid sole, and extremely comfortable -- 5.10 rock & wi5 ice, no problems. the toe welt is minimal, and I've done some tweaking on crampon toe-bails to achieve reliable purchase -- but its worth it for a boot that performs this well. I have a buddy who had durability issues with a pair of these -- seams failing, and Garmont replaced his boots in the first season. I coated the seams on mine with liquid neoprene and have had no problems. I love 'em!

the question on thread profile is best answered by reviewing a bit of history vis-a-vis ice screw design. fifty years ago, tubular screws were designed with threads having a "rectangular" profile with thread faces roughly perpendicular to the screw shaft. The thinking was that this profile would resist pull-out best. While pull-out resistance was ok, later engineers discovered that the most significant determinant of holding power for ice-screws is surface area - because the screw freezes in place, so greater surface-area yields greater freeze-bond. Any fracturing around the screw reduces quality of the freeze-bond. For these reasons, modern ice-screw manufactures increased the diameter of the tubular shaft, and machined a parabolic thread-profile on their screws (BD, OP, Grivel,Petzel). The larger internal diameter yields more surface area to freeze in, and the parabolic thread profile reduces fracturing during placement, as well as offering a slight gain in surface-area for bonding. This is also why the modern recommendation is to place the screw sloping slightly UP into the ice, instead of slightly DOWN as in the old days. While it seems counterintuitive, the up-sloping placement greatly reduces fracturing around the screw when it's loaded suddenly, thus increasing the overall holding power of the placement. So- overall, your Russian screws are probably fine. When we first started seeing Titanium screws from Russia back in the '80s, everybody mostly loved 'em, and I still use mine from that era. They don't place quite as easily as the latest versions from BD-OP-Grivel-Petzel, but they're certainly functional - truth is, I don't really notice the difference that much unless the climb is extremely steep/strenuous (V and harder).

update - reported injuries were a clavicle fracture and concussion, sustained in a fall on the approach. the injured party self-evacuated.

Chelan County Mountain Rescue volunteers were briefly mobilized for an evacuation from Yellow Jacket Tower, then shortly later recalled. The party on Yellow-Jacket had determined they could get down without help - so what you saw was resources that got to the site more quickly than they could be recalled. I was not told what problems were reported in the initial call for help, and the recall was made within thirty minutes of the original dispatch.

check your PMs.

Nice post. From your description, I'd say you handled yourself well. Responding to your initial question - on any climb longer than a half rope-length(where the climber can be lowered to the deck), I carry enough of a variety of sling material to effect self-rescue. Besides a couple of cordelettes, my runners are all open loops (no dog-bones), and my nuts and stoppers are rope-slung rather than wired, except for the sizes too small to accept cord slings. To facilitate communication, and especially with inexperienced partners who may want coaching, I often shorten pitches (when my sons were younger, we broke Saber into 5 pitches), and, for climbs where I expect to be leading a full 70-meters, I have a pair of frs radios with hands-free setups. Thanks for sharing your little epic - I hope other readers will take note.

I'll try one last time to make myself understood: For nearly thirty years on alpine climbs I carried a pair of ice tools, one head with an adze and one with a hammer. In September of 1979, descending Mt. Robson, I found it no particular hardship when the tool with the adze broke. I carried on with the hammer tool and hardly missed the adze. In February of 1983, retreating from the direct north ridge of Mt. Stuart, I found myself stranded, unable to build rappel anchors, when the tool with the hammerhead broke. For several years in the '80s and '90s I carried three tools on big routes (two hammerheads and an adze). Some of my more conservative partners still carry three tools. I stopped carrying a third tool about ten years ago, switched to a pair of hammerheads, and have had no reason to regret not having an adze-equipped tool with me during these years. I do occasionally still carry a tool with an adze (normally a classic-style ice-axe) on glacier routes on the volcanoes, where I don't expect to be building rock anchors. And I have one partner who insists that an adze is absolutely necessary when you need to move a group of porters in tennis shoes across a steep snowslope - (he gets to go places I don't...) Most of the tools you're evaluating are modular design anyway, (the Aztar being an exception), so you'll most likely have the option of changing your initial configuration if you find it not to your liking.

a novice climber fell attempting the final lead on the R&D route on Icicle buttress. He was evacuated by personnel from the Chelan County Sheriff's High Angle Rope Rescue Team, assisted by volunteers from the Chelan County Mountain Rescue Association. the fallen climber was taken by Cascade Ambulance Service to Cascade Hospital (Leavenworth), with an apparent ankle fracture. The 911 call was received by Rivercom (Chelan County's emergency dispatch agency) at about 1530, and the climber was in the ambulance by 1900.

t-slots are my favorite anchors for hard-snow / soft ice - and I have to say I honestly haven't found a lot of difference between constructing them with an adze, or with a hammerhead. I have, however broken the head of a hammer (a brand-new Chouinard Zero north wallhammer on the direct N. Ridge on Stuart in February of 1983)and wished I'd had an extra... if you think its rough constructing a t-slot with a hammerhead tool, try driving a piton with an adze!

I prefer relatively light, rigid, single "leather" (is there such an animal anymore?) boots for technical alpinism, but I've never owned or seen any such that would keep my feet dry on an extended glacier/snow trip. I use an old pair of Lowa Civettas (surprisingly nimble for a plastic boot, and perfectly capable of demanding technical climbing) on extended snow trips. Locally, temps are mild enough that single boots are warm enough year-round. The main argument for plastics is dry feet on extended snow/glacier trips. So, if you're planning to climb mostly volcano routes, a light plastic is a good bet (Scarpa's newest ones are pretty streamlined). If you're headed for places like the Pickets, or Cascade Pass, or Mt. Stuart, something like the current version of Sportiva's Trango Extreme or one of its many imitators would get my vote.

I just bought a pair of DMM Rebels (demoed them in Canada last season, and "fell in love") Bentgate.com is discontinuing them and currently has them on sale @$139.00 apiece - so I felt like I stole them. They have the best grip system I've seen & used for a tool to climb both alpine and waterfall ice, with solid support for leashless use, but retaining a functional spike for use in the cane position on alpine routes. I haven't bought a tool with an adze since the 1980s - realized I never used the adze anyway, and haven't missed having it - hammerhead seems to work just fine for bashing the occasional step or stance. Prior to purchasing the Rebels, I had been climbing on Aztar hammers for several seasons, and like them as well, although I had to modify the grips (installing finger support-triggers) to climb leashless...

to those who were wondering, both poison ivy and poison oak are common along the eastern side of the cascades. The Icicle and Tumwater canyons are thick with both at this time of year, as is the Wenatchee river corridor (its a big problem for rafters & Kayakers, too). long pants are a dubious defense, since the oils are fairly volatile and persist on clothing sometimes even through a washing or two - the clothing you thought was protecting you may only be spreading the contact... I've only had one SERIOUS case, back in 1976 at Devils Tower when, as a climbing ranger, I had to thrash through a patch of it to reach a head-injured climber we were rescuing... Made for a miserable month. Suggest sticking to fairly well-beaten trails, and paying close attention to where you drop your pack & your shoes, as well as the path of travel your rope takes on climbs. those "in the know" place gear on climbs to direct rope away from encounters with the weed. and if you suspect you made contact, wash EVERYTHING immediately on arriving home - I've washed my rope twice this month... and have escaped with only a hint of bad around my ankles so far...

Hey Doc - how about approaching it from the other direction -- how many of us have been climbing for 30+ years and are regularly pushing our limits? (or 40+, like many of my regular partners...) As in trade apprenticeships, degree programs, and marriages, four years barely gets you started...

I second the V-8. don't knock it till you've tried it. Several years ago I pushed myself to the point of collapse on a four-day high-intensity trip in the El-Dorado area. After my partners helped me hobble that last half-mile back to the car, the e.r. doc in Sedro Wooley piped in two liters i.v. for the drive home, then my doc here in der worth piped in three more liters the next morning. (this was truly hilarious: "can you pee yet?"-"no"-"hey-bring us another liter, willya?") After taking blood, he told me I needed to supplement potassium for a week and then look at blood again. I consumed one-half gallon of v8 per day for that week, in addition to my normal food intake. Say what you will about the taste, the stuff works, and its WAY cheaper than formal supplements... if/when I go hard enough to produce significant DOMS, (a rare occasion) I do supplement with glutamine to resolve that. My wife, a fairly intense cyclist, likes the glutamine after any ride longer than a half-century... and, yeah, the banannas and yogurt and whey protein and all are great, but you're missing a bet if you're not adding eggs and olive oil to those shakes. --but that's my normal breakfast diet -- the glutamine and v8 are specific to the really serious recovery episodes