jared_j

Point well taken, but you likely overestimate the amount of cost these companies take on by giving free or reduced-cost gear to bloggers, folks just asking, and the general non-elite crowd. I have little visibility into the climbing industry specifically, but have had some into cycling and running. What I've seen leads me to believe that the vast majority of asks for free or discounted gear are turned down. Most folks getting "pro" or "bro" deals are people themselves employed by the industry - and even then, it's usually an impersonal thing (such as a login to promotive.com) which is really a no-loss for the company (as such pricing is usually around cost). These are businesses after all, and I argue this is a case where the invisible hand of the market keeps companies from ratcheting up margins on Joe Consumer to fund Bro Blogger. Armchair psych speculation (no formal training in the area): People who acknowledge or boast about sponsorship on their blogs, etc, at least in part are doing so because they're upholding their end of the bargain if they indeed received a discount. But part of it I believe is the part of "looking pro" and "feeling pro". We see professional athletes thanking sponsors, and acting similarly in some small part makes folks feel that they, too, look a little pro. Which is a big part of the whole thing in the social media world.

I have a hall pass for the morning tomorrow, and am hoping to do some mellow ski touring somewhere around Snoqualmie. I'm coming back from a lengthy spell not skiing and as such categorize myself as having novice downhill backcountry ability. I'm in decent physical shape, appropriately equipped, and safe. Or at least that's what my Mom tells me. I'm down to wake up early and would like to be back in town around noon-1pm. Was thinking something like going up to Kendall Lakes, Catherine tour. Not really looking for extensive tree skiing or steeps.

Supply and demand, it's a bitch.

I think this stuff is pretty niche in application. It seems ideal for two situations: 1. Relatively low - output activity punctuated by frequent stops. I'm thinking situations where you don't wanna constantly be putting your puffy on and taking it off, but could get sorta cold sitting around. Like taking your special man or lady friend on a winter hike to Snow Lake when it's sunny out. 2. Moving in balls-ass cold conditions (that one typically does not find in the PNW) where a next-to-skin grid fleece type thing plus a breathable shell of some sort is not sufficient to keep you warm enough. It seems to offer a middleground between the "action suit" where the only way to stay warm is through relatively high-output exertion, and the "belay jacket over action suit" that's only comfortable for when you're not moving. Bonus conjecture: I bet this stuff is really nice for climbers and athletes who are gettin' on up in years and find that they generate less heat and/or have trouble staying warm enough in the traditional "action suit" that was adequate when they were younger and more flat-stomached.

I've used this pack occasionally, but thinning the herd and it's next up on the chopping block. This is a pretty fully-featured pack with lots of pockets, etc. Here's a review. Lou Dawson at Wildsnow also praises it as a ski pack (though I haven't tried like this. I think it's a great bag for someone who likes a lot of external pockets and access. The only reason I'm selling is that the pack is larger than I'd like for dayhiking but just a little too small for overnighting. I'd say it's perfect for the dayhiker who likes to carry a lot of supplies "just in case" (or if you carry bulky layers like fleeces), and/or an overnight pack for someone who's embraced ultralight shelters / gear but wants lots of pockets and features. PM for pictures.

Bump price drop

These are also listed on TAY but I don't know how much overlap there is between the two sites... Also open to offers.. I am the second owner of these. They were purchased second hand in 2008 from someone who hadn't ridden them much at all. They saw about 25 days in 2008-2009, and have been in storage since then. I baked the liners once, previous owner claimed to have not baked them. They're in great shape and great for someone getting into it who wants Dynafit compatibility. Shell is stamped 301mm for reference. I live in Magnolia and can meet at Vertical World. I have a M-F day job in Tukwila where I can easily meet someone at my workplace parking lot with a few minutes notice to show them.

Im taking my daughter to the grandparents' house in Wetsnatchee tomorrow and was thinking of cragging in the Icicle (conditions permitting) afterward. Seattle seemed to not get a big dump of precip as forecast and the radar looked like it wasn't much over there. Can any locals give a conditions update?

im pretty sure I left some Tifosi sunglasses with blue lenses at the parking pullout just beyond the second washout at Exfoliation Dome. I'd be grateful to get them back.

I know it's a mega low-snow year and all but have to ask... Anyone have perspective on whether this is "in"? Maybe looking like Sept / Oct conditions now??

Wow, you moved steeply up the learning curve. This is your post for a Tooth partner from this past February, right? "I am an advanced skiier, have had many ice, rock classes at the mountaineers and AAI I can lead 5.8-5.9 on trad, can follow 5.9-5.10 can follow WI-1-WI3, and have a bit of mixed expierience, unfortunately i dont have much of a rock or ice rack but..."

Sold

Sold

I'm thinning the gear closet, and realistically don't need / use this axe. Pics here along with some other random crap I have for sale. Located in the Magnolia area in Seattle, close to Vertical World; also have a day job in Tukwila M-F.

My miniature wife gave climbing a try, but she prefers sports closer to the ground. The following items are for sale: $25: Black Diamond Primrose Harness, size XS. Used a few times in the gym. $40: 5.10 Siren Shoes, size 6.0. You'd better have small feet to fit these. I live near Vertical World Seattle and can meet there in the evenings.

Experienced aid climbers in Seattle, what is your recommended progression of local crag routes for practicing / honing aid technique? I have no experience aiding. My goals are pretty basic - just practicing / refining systems, not pushing the difficulty / rating of placements.

Ran into a team of two successfully coming off of Liberty Ridge Sunday 6/21 heading to the summit as we were coming down (having done the Emmons ourselves). So someone did it as recently as two days ago.

Were y'all the ones with the wands with the red tape? I think we bumped into you on your way down as we were coming up. Nice work finding that little bridge over the bergschrund, I was surprised at how faint / faded previous footprints were up there.

+1 on the REI Arete ASL 2 tent for volcano use. It's pretty lightweight for being a 3-pole tent. It's more than you need most everything besides volcano high camps, but I don't think you'll ever need a more robust tent in the Cascades. It isn't cheap, tho. Also +1 on the tarp camping. I've been happy with a flat tarp in summer conditions, and have been wanting something like the Black Diamond Beta Light for ease of use (pitching a flat tarp is a little more work / thought, sometimes more than I want to expend when I'm tired at the end of the day). The only downside is bugs / mosquitos during those intervals when they are particularly prevalent.

Great name; congrats!

I know OP is about training in a hypoxic environment; I don't know anything about that but it's counterintuitive to me (hobbyist here, no medical training). I've known three bike racers who lived at low elevations and got hypoxic tents to sleep in for some timespan (usually early in their periodization). Two of them said they couldn't tell a difference - and one was a sales rep for the company selling them. A third actually was nutty enough to prick his finger and measure his hematocrit every day - the idea being that if you see a rise in hematocrit that it's evidence the tent is working (he had a little blood spinner). This guy said that the measurement was so noisy day-over-day that he saw no firm evidence of adaptation. I don't know how long he did the tent, but recall from conversation that he committed to at least a multi-week spell. I knew a couple of researchers working on this back in the day, and their opinion was that the tents for low-elevation folk didn't work because it simply wasn't enough duration (sleeping hours only) to stimulate adaptation.

I practiced some escape scenarios when I started TR soloing, and found that trying to get off the ascenders and onto rappel mid-pitch when on a single strand was more tedious than just jugging up to the anchor and then going on rappel, and comparable time-wise. FWIW, I tried Chris' suggestion early on (weight a prusik above the ascenders, mount the rap device below the prusik, then somehow transfer the weight back onto the rap device), and it seemed OK in my garage but not workable (for me) in the field if was actually hanging on the rope. I have no big wall experience and therefore my self-rescue bag of tricks isn't very diversified - the only sensible thing I could figure out was using a releasable hitch (PMMO out of some cord) so that I could lower back down onto the rap device once ready.

A pre-rigged prusik on the rope is pretty handy if and when a proper crevasse rescue situation arises, and would only get in your way if preposterously rigged (like with a really long piece of cord). Perhaps you're referring to people having a Texas-kick style system of foot loops pre-rigged (a la the illustrations in Freedom of the Hills)? To OP, I'm assuming you're referring to pre-rigging some sort of chest harness but not running the rope through it while walking on the glacier; it's there to clip yourself in the event of a crevasse fall to help keep yourself upright. The "old-school" chest harnesses that the rope goes through all the time I've never actually seen done in practice (though I've only climbed locally and a tiny bit in Alaska). The chest harness setup (as I described above) is most often used in situations where a heavy (read: overnight) pack is being worn on terrain where crevasse fall risk is hard to mitigate (e.g. crossing snow bridges, or times / locations where there's concern that there are hidden crevasses under the snow that climbers could fall into). In the Cascades, I think of Rainier and Baker as being examples of this terrain. This sort of travel is common in the "greater ranges" (Alaska, etc). Many climbers moving over glaciated terrain during the summer climbing season may choose a to forego the chest harness setup if they're on glaciers that aren't heavily crevassed or if it's late enough in the season that the crevasses are visible and there isn't much concern about lurking hidden crevasses that one could pop through.

Thanks for having the courage to put your story out there - I hope you guys didn't sustain any frostbite / cold-injury that has longer-term consequences. I, too, have that ResQLink model and appreciate learning that there was some trouble with getting a precise location on y'all. This link is from the ACR website explaining how the device is supposed to work. I'm curious if the 'bouncing' of the signals relates to step #3 (repeated satellite passes updating / processing new info)? Or step #6? Or it was sending GPS-based lat/long directly via the satellite signal, and it was this data itself that was inaccurate or bouncy? I know you don't know the answers to these questions right now, but I have thought of the ResQLink PLBs as being as close to a 'failsafe' device with respect to functionality as you can get (in contrast to other competing products on the market like SPOT or DeLorme). It'd be great if more detail from the SAR staff could be provided about what exactly the issue was (if they know). I'm curious if there was similar difficulty in precise SAR location of the recent party on Stuart that initiated a rescue from their PLB?

Can I get to the Breakfast of Champions anchors (to TR it) from the top of GNS without shenanigans?