montypiton

why bother reslinging? save your money. just cut the old sling off, and use as is, either doubling a runner through where the sling was, or clip a quickdraw directly to the cam. The sewn sling is just a link, and entirely unnecessary.

Carversprint - I do my own ice-screws with chainsaw file, get good results. Just as with sharpening any tool (chainsaw, mower, handsaw, knife) maintaining the correct angle is critical, and takes practice. Also the face on most screw teeth is curved, so the size of the file must match the radius of the curve on the tooth. Practice does, in fact, make perfect, and if you become proficient at doing your own, you can not only tune up damaged screws, you can also correct mistakes (if you or a buddy messes up when resharpening). I have even succeeded with improving the performance of some screws that didn't work all that well out of the box. If this was your first attempt, I'd say give it a few more tries.

Why the incdredulousness at belaying the entirety of the complete north ridge of stuart in a comfortable day? Its been soloed car to car in a day by numerous folks, and Croft must have completed it in a couple of hours or less when he traversed the whole range in a day. Fact is, I usually climb more confidently, hence more quickly, when I'm belayed. And the rest I receive at each belay allows me to carry a faster pace overall. True, I do on occasion simulclimb, but my experience with partners who are not amga-trained guides has been discouraging. Most amateurs, even vastly experienced ones, tend to leave much too long a rope interval between simulclimbers to be safely managed. Most have never practiced holding a falling partner without a formal belay under controlled conditions, and consequently have no real idea whether they even can. For those who would like to approach this activity safely, I suggest a practice regimen: With an open-minded partner, rope up together at a short interval, say, 2 to 5 meters. Anchor one of you to a bombproof anchor with a foot or two of slack to the anchor, and have the anchored climber try catching the other climber's fall without a formal belay, and without loading the anchor. As you become adept at the catch, try longer rope intervals between team members, and less-secure stances. Vintage belay techniques like the hip-belay, shoulder belay, and ice-axe belay on snow may be useful because these can, with practice, be effectively performed "on the fly". A few hours of such practice will at least provide you with an informed idea of what your safe simulclimbing limits might be. Also, I would take issue with the recommendation that the weaker climber lead when simulclimbing. Any significant difference in ability levels between climbers is likely to apply to routefinding and rigging/protecting skills as well as pure movement ability. The stronger climber should lead because he/she is less likely to fall, most likely more adept at routefinding, will most likely provide better anchorage/protection for the rope team, and is more likely to be capable of holding a falling partner without a formal, anchored belay. Having the weaker climber lead puts the entire rope team at greater risk of catastrophic system failure should either climber fall.

Mr. Phil - FYI - in July of 1982, climbing with a partner I'd been introduced to in a pub the evening before the climb, I "pitched out" the complete nort ridge of Stuart in a reasonably casual day from a bivouac in the moraines below ice-cliff glacier. We both climbed in mountain boots, did not even carry rock shoes.

tips? - well, mattp just gave you a great one: wear as little as possible while you're digging, because whatever you're wearing will be soaked before the cave is finished. digging into a drift or wall allows you to tunnel upward from the door, which traps heat inside. practice caving is a great idea - dig a few close to the car and sleep in them before you commit yourself bigtime. be generous with interior space - seems like they always look big enough long before they really are. like anything else, a little practice goes a long way. After a couple of regular caves, try a "shovel-up" - which is a cave dug into snow you've piled up when the snow's not deep enough for caving. I've slept in shovel-ups with groups of six and more, with less than a foot of snow on flat ground...

Liability was a prime factor in the birth of the AMGA - an insurance industry crisis in the mid-80s resulted in the entire adventure guiding industry in the US losing liability insurance, and the AMGA was the climbing community's response to that crisis. They can definitely help with your liability concerns. If you're not prepared to fork up for certification courses, at least join up. Membership alone will make you more "credible". Ultimately, your liability concerns must be met not by certification, but by appropriate legal counsel and insurance. The AMGA helps its members with all of that.

My experience echoes mattp's. I used down bags in snow caves for years before gore-tex was invented, never used a cover, and had comfortable trips. Doubling up on foam-pads underneath has worked well for me, and, as they said above, a smooth ceiling drips less than one with lots of "pointies". Another consideration - it's easy to inadvertantly overheat a cave. You stay lots drier if you can maintain the temperature below 0 centigrade. Larger caves are easier to move around in without rubbing against walls & ceilings, and they don't overheat quite as readily. If you're considering Denali, learn to build igloos; - the shelter of choice among the guides & climbing rangers there.

hey Freethinker - I grew up in Idaho Falls - check out the Idaho Falls Alpine Club. The guys I knew there would be pretty old by now, (I'm in my mid-50s) but that club was a great source of instruction for the boy-scout group that were my first climbing partners. And before you dump several hundred dollars into boots, consider that for summer climbing in the Tetons, most experienced climbers use "approach" shoes, unless they're planning on climbing ice. Even for Hood and the Sisters, a decent pair of medium-weight hikers may be all you need for starters... as you get into it, you may be surprised how much mountaineering is done in running shoes! good luck!

50 years ago, every skier learned on ungroomed snow, and on equipment far less forgiving than the very worst crap you could dig up today. don't let anyone tell you that you need resort support to get there. yeah, you might learn quicker at a groomed, lift-served slope, but if you can find a halfway decent mentor, you might learn just as quickly in gentle backcountry terrain. And gear doesn't have to break the bank. Last winter, I equipped my two teenage sons for a/t skiing for less than $100.00 apiece! Fritschi model 88 bindings (not state of the art, but perfectly functional) are available on ebay for less than $25 per pair, and brand-new skis, still in the wrapper, were less than $60 per pair. They did their first backcountry tours in old plastic mountaineering boots that I had never got rid of, and had no trouble, but that might be because they've both skied since they were old enough to stand. More critical than the gear you choose initially (you'll probably upgrade within a couple of seasons) is finding some knowledgeable soul willing to drag you along on a few beginner-level tours. Clubs and college outdoor programs are good places to look for such individuals. good luck!

That's the best season for the Alaska Range. Long routes and midnight sun make a pretty appealing combination...

for bindings, do a search for "fritschi" on ebay in the ski section. There's a liquidator who's selling older fritschi model "88" bindings for under $25.00. I bought two pair for my teenage sons last spring, and they work perfectly. mount the bindings on a secondhand gs or all-mountain ski, and you're set. The bindings will work with any boot with a heel & toe welt.

Answers to several questions in this thread: short answer to basic question - yes I usually carry a beacon; there are very few places in the Cascades that are not, at one time or another, avalanche prone. Case in point - I once assisted in the rescue of the occupants of a car that was buried when a road-cut sluffed on US 2 near Stevens Pass. I ski-patrolled professionally at three Class A (significant danger to lodges & lifts) Alpine Ski areas for twelve winters, including a a stint as lead avalanche tech at Stevens Pass. Pros were required to document two beacon searches per week with recovery times under 5 minutes in order to be eligible to participate in avalanche control missions. Most veterans regularly posted recovery times under two minutes. I have two close personal friends who have endured complete burial and been found by beacon searchers, and a third who assisted in the beacon-assisted recovery of a heli-ski guide who was buried last winter. (My friend was one of this guide's clients) The two were buried and recovered were a USFS Snow Ranger and a Canadian Certified Alpine Guide. In 1981, I myself triggered a small soft-slab at 16500' on Denali's Cassin Ridge, and was fortunate not to ride it - I was held on belay. In my experience, most winter mountaineers are blissfully unaware of the true avalanche risk they subject themselves to. Not enough carry beacons and shovels, and of those who do, most are woefully inept in their use. Asking this question indicates, to me, that you probably ought to be carrying a beacon and shovel. Training is widely available. I have great respect for Paul Baugher (you can contact him through Crystal Mountain) who offers a full spectrum of training courses.

I coaxed three hard winter seasons out of a pair of Mountain Hardware "Torsion". Initially, I nearly gagged on the price, but Brian assured me he'd take them back if I didn't find them worth it. After two pretty stormy alpine trips, I was convinced. They are thin, dexterous, yet somehow manage to keep my hands warm as well - I've used them to zero farenheit. Below that temperature, I have gloves & mittens big enough to use the torsions as a liner. I've also had good experiences with the Atlas rubber-palm hardware store gloves -- you can't go wrong for the price, and they do actually perform pretty respectably.

hose-clamps & sawed-off wire-rope-thimbles (cheap)- I tape over the hose-clamps so they don't trash my gloves

I've used retrofitted, homemade leashless support grips for several years with excellent results - even on old straight-shafted tools circa '89. While I rarely "choke up" to where my pinkie rests on the upper support, I find "trigger" support for the index-finger to be invaluable - think of it as power steering for the pick -- It saves energy. plus, going leashless saves literally hours on alpine-length technical ice routes where even operating clip-leashes adds up over the course of several thousand feet. At first I expected that mounting two "triggers" on each shaft might interfere with plunging the shafts, but I have not found this to be an issue. Where the surface is soft enough for piolet manche or cane, the "triggers" don't seem to make any difference. Given my success with retroftits, I doubt I'll ever bother to acquire a set of factory leashless tools...

In 1976 I climbed Pico d'Orizaba with a group of friends, of whom one had had a childhood history of asthma. Walt had not had an attack in so many years, he had quite literally forgotten he had been asthmatic. When he began to have breathing difficulties, after a night at 16000' we all suspected HAPE, & reacted accordingly, initiating evacuation (he was past the point of moving under his own power) It was not until we got him to a physician in Mexico City that he was properly diagnosed and treated with an ordinary inhaler from a nearby pharmacy. But, here's the kicker- he nearly died before we got him evacuated. If you're asthmatic, and going to altitude, pack your meds!!!

depends on style: I've found communication difficult on ultralong pitches in alpine conditions. If the climbing requires protecting, long ropes means more gear to adequately protect, so more weight, both in ropes, and in hardwear. on easier ground, I often find myself short-rope-simulclimbing, and the ultralong ropes just get in the way. lately, I've favored doubling a single 60m skinny rope and doing 30m pitches. haven't found it to be a problem. probably a matter of personal taste/style.

I typically go with a half-dozen or so pegs ranging from knifeblades to standard (3/4) angle, then hexes for larger cracks. I haven't had trouble with cams, and I sometimes throw in a few. The one off-beat item(s) that accompanies EVERY winter alpine outing is one or two wart-hogs. These pound-in-screw-out ice-pitons can also be used as rock-pegs (work in cracks that would accept a baby angle or half-inch piece), and are the hot ticket for frozen turf.

here's a second vote for jumping rope -- I'm trying to work up to 30 minutes, by jumping until I miss, resting until I can get started again (typically between one and two minutes), and keeping this routine up for thirty minutes. long-term goal is to eventually be able to jump for thirty minutes without missing, however I have not yet reached genepires' five-minute mark... feels a lot like interval sprints...

this thread, and another, got me thinking... Wartley's Revenge, at Smith Rock, was, in the seventies, a single-pitch trad climb. I saw it listed in another thread as someone's favorite single-pitch "sport" climb. WTF? The cracks on Wartley's swallowed any chock I threw anywhere near them, and the angle is severe enough that I can't imagine anyone considering it less than "gymnastic". Would your friend argue that Wartley's is worth doing if you clip bolts, but lame if you protect it with chocks in the cracks? And if he holds this view, do you agree? After leading Wartley's in '79 (admittedly, with a few hangs), I commiserated with Bill Ramsey about my poor style. Ramsey, who had stunned the Oregon climbing community the previous October by FLASHING Separate Reality,(at that time still rated 5.12) surprised me by saying he knew of almost no-one at that time who had led Wartley's cleanly on-sight. Of course, if a 5.11b continuously overhanging fingercrack led on wired stoppers is too lame for you, you might try Never Never Crack. Last time I looked, it had not yet been bolted for lead. I've never done this one, but I got to watch Peter Croft fail on it once... I wonder how far Skinner would have got on the Salathe if he hadn't had a sackful of Never-Never Crack - type single-pitch trad climbs under his belt? Back in the sixties and seventies, when I was learning to climb, some of us wimps even practiced protecting boulder-problems on the lead, before attempting to apply that skill to a long route near the limit of our climbing abilities. How lame is that? Truth be told, I have taken more, and longer falls on trad climbs than I have ever risked on sport climbs. Somehow, the idea of launching onto a bolt about which I know next to nothing has never inspired the confidence I feel in falling onto a placement that I have engineered myself. Your buddy's arguments may sound compelling to you, but they sound inexperienced to me.

thirty-three years ago, climbing in the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, I survived a harness failure on rappel. I had been taught to run the brake portion of the rope from the rappel brake between my legs and then to my brake hand. When the harness failed, I slapped my brake hand to my chest, holding myself "seated" in a bight of rope. I was able to pass the brake portion of the rope over my shoulder and continue the rappel dulfersitz style eighty feet to the ground. most climbers I've witnessed do not pass the brake rope between their legs when rappelling. but this simple adjustment creates a lifesaving redundancy that worked for me...

one argument in favor of tied runners that I rarely hear anymore is the shock-absorber effect as a knot tightens under a shock-load. A study conducted by a consortium of European rope manufacturers, presented at the 1987 spring meeting of the California section of the AMGA concluded that, on average, about 30% of the impact force of test falls was aborbed by the tightening of knots in the belay system. I infer from this that a tied runner ought to transmit significantly less of the impact force of a fall to your placement than a sewn runner.

Wow - I'm pleased to see how many take this seriously - and so much is truly worth reading - several posts stand out for me - the gent who took the long factor-2 in Austria, the gal who lost her fiance, Mr. Skoog -- I've lost some partners along the way - one of my early mentors died teaching a club class - and I have twice climbed into circumstances where my survival was a result of a change in weather (both times on "expeditionary" alpine climbs where I got pinned down up high, ran out of food & fuel, and was 'as good as dead' if storm continued) I have found my own "near-death" experiences invaluable. One mentor (this one still lives) insisted that one cannot live authentically who has not accepted his/her own death. To avoid activities because "I might die doing this" is to live in denial. Climbing, and other "high-risk" activities are valuable precisely because they confront us with our own mortality. Staring death "bang in the eye" is far more empowering than a simple adrenaline rush. After confronting death, what is left to fear? Each of us knows we are going to die living, yet we continue to live.. An old trappist monk once told me that he could tell from photographs of Messner and Habeler that these men were mystics (he said he could tell by their eyes) - and he counseled me to keep climbing as a way of getting closer to God. I have followed his counsel, though perhaps not as closely as I might have -- I turned down a couple of significant invitations because I was too proud to let my partners pay my way... Anyway, the short answer is "Yes - if I knew I was going to die climbing, I would continue to climb"

I started all three of my boys as soon as they could walk. Used the dead soles off my re-soled rock shoes to resole their old tennies (cheaper than kids rock shoes which they'll outgrow in a season, anyway.) My youngest (12 years old), now follows 5.10 rock and wi4 ice, prefers ice to rock. I live in Leavenworth, so pm me if you're coming to town and we can try for a kids day...

Anders Ourom, of Access Society BC, informs me that Mr. Dunlop has accepted an offer for his farm, from a purchaser who intends to continue providing access to Skaha Bluffs. If this deal fails to close, the "CFCC" stands ready with a backup plan...