montypiton

nick- what model glove? I remember you guys - I'll ask around for you! -Curt

sounds entertaining - when do we leave?

sounds like unusually forgiving conditions. thanks for the report. here's hoping conditions maintain - this is a good indicator that mixed routes throughout the Stuart Range may be in excellent shape.

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to see God. -- and, yes, I'm dead serious. I have pursued El Shaddai (one of the earliest Hebrew names for God, translates roughly "God of the high places") since the 'sixties. Early on, I studied a couple years with the Trappists (yup, Catholic) and was directed to develop my climbing as a spiritual practice - that was nearly forty years ago. When people ask why I'm still hard at it after 46 years and more than one near-death event I offer this explanation: imagine how a parent feels when their child takes joy in a special toy that the parent has made especially for that child. My "Daddy" has made the mountains for me, and me for the mountains, and I can only try to imagine the Joy He/She feels when I abandon myself to the joy of playing with that Special Toy. Should I insult my Daddy by deciding that playing with that Special Toy is immature or unproductive? Far more appropriate to simply sit on a bivvy ledge at sunset or sunrise, and simply lose myself in gratitude.

I don't agree that most manufacturers' ice-axe offerings are good for nothing more than easy glacier work and ski-mountaineering. Nearly every simple ice-axe on the market today climbs as well as the old classic Chouinard piolet, with which masters were climbing WI6 back in the 1970s. That said, very few of us who learned to climb ice in that era would care to use such a tool on anything harder than about WI3 these days. There are, however, many offerings among modern more aggressive tools, that I've found to work quite well for general alpinism - Petzl Aztarex and DMM Rebel, for example -- both have geometry and grips that function well on modern ice/mixed, but still plunge well, and I have found both tools perfectly functional for ice-axe belay. I have climbed on DMM Rebels since the tool was introduced, and rarely carry a standard ice-axe any more, though I sometimes carry only one Rebel. Self-arrest takes some practice, but the same must be said of the classic ice-axe. As for dead-man/T-slot style anchors, the only ice-axes I own are not enough longer than the Rebels to make an appreciable difference. A gallon-sized stuff-sack filled with snow and buried might make a more effective deadman than either tool... for softer conditions, the ice-axe or tool usually stays on my pack anyway, in favor of trekking poles. I've never used a whippet; pole self-arrest works perfectly well without, as does daggering on firm snow (NOT ICE!) My guess is that we're seeing more climbers using two tools where many of us would be comfortable with less because those climbers are using what they have, what they are used to, and what they are comfortable with. using two modern tools all the time might be compared to belaying and rappelling with a modern belay/rappel brake all the time: not necessary and overkill for many situations, but more comfortable and reassuring than a body-belay or dulfersitz, and many younger climbers don't even know these techniques. Leaving the second ice-tool behind to save weight could be compared to leaving the belay-rappel brake behind for the same reason. You can easily get along without them, but the weight saving is usually negligible - why not be comfortable?

a group of eastside oldfarts are headed to the Parkway on 2/14, returning 2/22. that's a week later than your specified period, but if you can swing the schedule switch, you're welcome to join us. -Haireball

bizarre media circus indeed! abc news this afternoon reports that two climbers have free-climbed El Capitan -- and I quote: "it had never been done before!" the report is obviously grossly inaccurate. El Cap has been free climbed thousands of times by numerous routes (East Buttress, West Face, Salathe Wall, Nose, etc) should Tommy and Kevin be held accountable for what their agents report? I'd like to be impressed, but I'm too busy being disgusted.

anybody really gives a rat's ass!?!?!?

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Erock great suggestions here, and as you can see, many workable options. my 2c worth: whether you go wool or synthetic, get your base layer the thinnest you can find -- "silk-weight" or such like. same for shells - get the lightest, thinnest you can find. your Marmot precip jacket is a good example - thin, light, effective - as long as it fits generously enough to accommodate a "meaningful" puffy. the only time I use soft-shells is when I expect to deal with abrasion (think technical mixed climbing)- and then the softshell replaces both a light insulating layer AND a shell layer. most trips a light shell with appropriate insulation is more weight effective. I prefer much lighter outer pants than most of my partners. my favorite for years has been the Mammut Courmeyeur - spendy, but LIGHT, very breathable, and I've rappeled waterfalls in them and remained dry! (Schoeller is worth the $) - so - silkweight longjohns, schoeller pants, and if the temp is gonna be pushing 0F, add a second layer of longjohns ("expediton weight) between them. (caveat - the schoeller pants are relatively fragile, and mine have an abundance of aftermarket stitching after a decade or so) In EXTREME cold (think arctic, say -30F) I'll carry puffy pants, and typically won't wear them unless I have to stop for extended period. for cold feet, consider supergators - you can find them insulated, and they will make almost any decent single boot more than warm enough for anything in the Cascades. (I've known fanatics to climb Denali in single alpine boots with insulated supergators, although I wouldn't recommend trying it) also, think about sizing up and doubling up on socks -- likely be warmer than buying a heavier boot. In my opinion, most buy more boot than they need, end up just carrying unnecessary weight on their feet. although for the most part I prefer lots of thin layers to fewer thick ones, one exception is I almost always carry a relatively big puffy. I like the option of throwing on a "belay jacket" at quick stops without having to "layer up". occasionally it feels like overkill, but in the event of a forced bivvy, it makes life bearable (even, on occasion, comfortable). synthetic vs down & wool? I've been using down for over forty years, and don't find that much problem keeping it dry - but that could be "practice" - I am careful about it. I've tried synthetics as they have evolved, and repeatedly gone back to my down. but for a less experienced mountaineer, the later generation synthetics are likely more forgiving. my experience with merino wool - my wife complains that my merino stinks just like my polyester, so for me it's a wash (bad pun) both seem to work, so I just buy whatever's on sale... a suggested purchase tactic -- get the minimum, take a short practice trip or several, add layers or items only as you need them to stay comfortable. this way you're less likely to end up with a closet full of "expedition weight" or overspecialized stuff that you won't want to carry or use on most trips. an example from my own experience: I used to own a big down sleeping bag that I used two seasons on Denali. It was more bag than I needed or wanted for all but the coldest trips. I get much more use, these days, out of a pair of lighter bags - an ultralight 3-season bag and a "pounder" for summer that I use inside the 3-season bag for extreme cold. I don't have a -30F bag taking up space in the closet anymore...

I've been lazy about reporting seasonal mixed lines that don't come in every year, but two of the more dependable I've done are: Dragontail: "String Theory" - a very narrow string of ice/mixed to the right of Gerber/Sink, joins G/S about ball-bearing ampitheater; ice to WI5 (fragile!), and moderate classic mixed. April of 1998; Haireball & Travis Hammond Mt Stuart: "Mixed Blessing Right" - a modest mixed line, the rightmost of three ice threads located between Stuart Glacier Couloir and the NW Buttress, joins W Ridge west of SGC; ice to WI3+,and easy classic mixed; Memorial Day 2009; Haireball & Bill Dobbins (we use the name "Mixed Blessings" to refer to all three lines, although this one is the only one I'm certain of having been climbed...) whether these really qualify as "routes" or not is, to me, questionable. they're not there every year, and in the years when they do come in, they only exist for a few weeks -- but they seem worth reporting just to get the word out about the opportunities for classic mixed alpine adventure climbing in the Stuart Range April-June. -Haireball

When MSR was all Larry Penberthy, (1970s) he put out an ice-tool that was so far ahead of its time nobody could relate. I don't think he kept it in production more than a year or two. It was a hook with a handgrip, intended to be used in pairs to make ice-climbing more like rock-climbing, foreshadowing today's comp tools. At the time, the pterrodactyl seemed pretty damned radical, and MSR's tool was generally considered to be too specialized to be very useful. Maybe somebody at MSR could help us out with a photo from their archives? Maybe one of the other geezers among us even has one gathering dust? Time frame would have been '77-'79.

five years ago I took a long avalanche ride down a tight couloir, and broke "pretty much everything". I finally graduated to resistance training in a gym about a year ago. for the four years before that, hatha and prana yoga were a HUGE element of my physical therapy. you mentioned yoga in reference to diet. I'm proof it works. recovery is long, but its EXCITING. that first year especially - each day I found myself able to do something I could not do the day before. I felt like a little kid again - learning to eat, learning to walk... I started rock climbing again before I could walk without canes - handholds supplied the function of the canes. if you enjoyed cragging, find a 5.0 (or even easier) to play on. I used to run ten to fifteen miles at a time when I couldn't get to the alpine. I cannot tolerate more than a mile or two at a time now but my ankles are still improving, (note the time line - five years and counting) so I am hoping... can you tolerate riding a bike? I guess the main thing I want to say is: don't WORK at it -- PLAY at it! be sure to journal to remind yourself of your progress on the "down" days... -Haireball

my wife suffered complete ruptures of BOTH ACLs back in the late eighties (on the same day - skiing "cascade concrete") - she developed and maintained knee stability sufficient to pass all of her orthopedic specialist's (Dr Ed Farrar - Tyler Farrar's dad) tests as "normal" by bicycling several hundred miles per week. three years ago, she started having more trouble with one knee, and had the cadaver repair done. no problems since then; the other remains unrepaired. she continues all of her pre-injury activities except off-piste downhill skiing. her experience suggests that an aggressive cycling program may be more beneficial than whichever repair you elect.

Although I do use a protein supplement, I wouldn't bother if I didn't lift fairly aggressively and have a warp-speed metabolism. If you're looking to relieve muscle soreness, glutamine works well by itself. It is by far the most abundant amino acid in your bod, and post-workout soreness is often more responsive to glutamine than to ibuprofen. I've tried tons of "sports drinks", and have had by far the best results with this home recipe: per liter of water - 1 tsp sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), 1 tsp potassium chloride ("salt alternative") 1 tbsp glutamine (mine from Optimum Nutrition), sweeten to taste with sugar, honey, fructose, or whatever. I usually also add a dribble of lemon juice for flavor - optional. aside from the home recipe sports drink, I've had the best results with just plain old V8. -Haireball

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I will be headed for Germany in June to marry off a nephew - then the wife and I will be "touring" until August. I'm looking for one or more partners who wouldn't mind getting on some of the "big" alpine classics with a broadly experienced "old fart" who's never been over there. Shoot me a pm if interested? -Haireball

Hey Dave- c'mon ... you know ice is never really "in" here -- we just jump on anything that faintly resembles ice & scratch around for slurpy placements! Thank Dog for turf! -Haireball on a further note: hiked up Snow Creek this morning, found Millenium wall less than half-formed, so didn't bother hiking to view flows farther up trail. other than a plenitude of smears on slabs that might be exercise for developing the extra-delicate touch, still pretty grim

if ya don't trust the belay loop, thread a runner through your harness tie-in points and clip to that.

a bunch of us climbed the Funnel, and the two-pitch line far left at Hubba-Hubba Hill on 11/23. There is more ice there this morning (12/2) than there was then. scoped ice in the Teanaway, a two-pitch line on the south aspect of Teanaway Peak on 11/30; might head down this weekend to get on it.

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heavy if youre out three days or less- saves its weight in fuel on longer trips. cook whole grains, beans, split peas, lentils -- in 1982 I made split pea soup from scratch at 14k on Denali for a potluck with the medical project folks (first year of project -- think Peter Hackett, Brian Okonek) I carry it on longer trips, and at altitude, so that I can eat "real" food as opposed to freeze-dried "faux-food". try cooking noodles at 19000' on Aconcagua, where you can stir boiling water with your bare finger... if all you do is boil water, the weight isn't worth it - except maybe at altitude when boiling water may not be hot enough to make even the freeze dried stuff palatable... of course this won't apply anywhere in the continental US... close to home its strictly for long trips and/or "luxury" trips.

surprise, surprise - will wonders never cease!?!? In "Big Lots" the other day to buy a mattress for my college age son, and lo and behold in cookware, a 3-quart pressure cooker for $20! a bit heavier than I would have preferred, but for now I'll take it!