ColinB

After the new gen BD Punishers have fallen apart in less than 10 days of climbing, I'm looking for new ice/mixed gloves. Anyone have experience with Rab's line of gloves, either softshell or eVent? Looking at the M14, Alpine and Latoks in particular. Any thoughts on eVent vs OutDry in gloves or the durability of Rab gloves in general? Also curious if sizing is pretty similar to Punishers (wear a medium but usually a large in other gloves)? Thanks! Colin

I had no problems flying with my rack this spring (ice screws in the checked bags...) and don't see why they should care. I had to unpack my bag every time I went through, but I think that's because the metal makes it hard for them to see whats there. I think that crackers did the same thing to Red Rocks recently and I'm pretty sure they didn't mess with him. Good luck and have fun!

I'm looking for a partner this Sunday to scratch up some of the excellent mixed climbing on Illumination Rock. Probably in the M5-M6 range. I can lead or swap leads, depending on preference/experience. I've got rack/vehicle/rope. PM me here or email me at colin.bohannan@gmail.com. Cheers, Colin

Doug Coombs skied the left gully back in the day. Stephen Koch snowboarded the right gully in 1992. Bad ass dudes for sure.

Its not technical, but backpacking into the diamond peak wilderness and scrambling up it makes for a good weekend close to Eugene. Maybe take an ice axe, and definitely take a camera. One of the little gems of Oregon for sure.

I know that The Mountain Shop in Portland has a bucket of 404 parts in their basement. If you call them up, they might have what you're looking for.

My 2 cents: I have an old Valdez and found it a bit small for most overnights (with a tent and what have you). For most overnights where I'll bring a rope & rack too, I use a CiloGear 45. I strip it down without the lid, framesheet, and most of the straps and it carries great while climbing. I think that the 30:30 would fill that gap for you pretty well too.

Glad to see you guys getting some ice climbing done in this funky winter weather. Looks like Washington is gunning for best ice crag in the West...

Just as a heads up, there can be avy hazard in the bowl of the SE Chamber along with on the uphill slog to the start of the route (its steeper than it looks from Timberline). Another option would be to traverse from over from Illumination Saddle and place gear in case it slides. Have fun and be safe!

I use a Cilogear 45 and its more than big enough. I'll usually take out the aluminum suspension, as it carries good enough on its own. It's expandable enough and can compress down easily for when you're actually doing some climbing with it on.

Doug, I'm too tall for a firstlight so I took the bivy sack outside. Three in a firstlight would not have been pretty...

Trip: Dragontail - Northeast Buttress Date: 2/3/2012 Trip Report: On February 3rd and 4th, Nate Farr, Jens Holsten, and I climbed the Northeast Buttress on Dragontail. As far as we know, it hasn't been climbed in the winter before. We climbed 16 pitches total with some pitches being long simul-climbing blocks. I think it worked out to some 1200 m of climbing at something along the lines of M5 5.7 A0. The first day we hiked in and started climbing at 2 pm. We climbed six pitches up, did the rap off the big tower and climbed one last pitch to get to a sweet bivy ledge. After some excavating, we tucked in for the night and woke up above the clouds. An airy pitch over the north face led to lots of rampy climbing. We found a few short vertical sections, but most of the climbing was moderate. We topped out around 4:30 pm and had an uneventful descent. Snowmobile approach/deproach was kickass and sure made it more fun to do in two days. Sure beats walking in on the closed road. Approaching the start. Nate scratching up the 3rd pitch. Home away from home. Waking up above the clouds. Myself leading off from the bivy. Starting up the 9th pitch. Jens working his way up some awkward climbing. Moderate simul-climbing late in the day. Jens enjoying the windy summit. Gear Notes: Doubles to #4. Extra instant coffee. Approach Notes: Two climbers on the sled at a time, not three... Walk across the lake. The right fork of the NE Couloir is the 1971 start.

In 1997, Guy Lacelle soloed all three in a day.

Classic!

I can promise you that at least 80% of the rock on Illumination stays in place. And none of this bolt-ripping-out-falling-on-my-ass shenanagins. It'd be good fun to scratch up some stuff in Oregon soon! Maybe on less chossy chosspiles?

Sounds like some full value climbing! Glad things worked out well. Hopefully you kept what was left of the bolts as a keepsake.

In Cody it helps to have two ropes for some of the raps (saves time making v-threads) but you can always get a tag line for rappels and make the 2nd carry it. Since you live in Bozeman, might as well get something that works for 90% of the climbing you'll do.

Not sure if anyone will actually get up there and enjoy the excellent mixed climbing on Illumination Rock but it's in fantastic condition right now. I was up there in early December and it hasn't iced up too much since then. As of yesterday, there are good sticks in the snice and good gear (mostly cams) in the cracks. The cracks aren't filled with much snow or ice, so gear is pretty straight forward. We climbed the first pitch of one of pdk's climbs (to climbers' left of the left-most skylight) and tried to shoot straight up to the summit from there. Some glassy offwidth climbing shut me down about 30 m from the summit block. Hope some of you folks take advantage of the conditions soon!

Thanks for the offer Graham. It'd be great to climb on one before having o make up my mind.

Thanks for all the feedback folks. Mammut ropes have been good to me so far.

I'm shopping for something in the range of 8.9-9.2 mm with a low impact force. Looks like the market is Mammut, Sterling, and Tendon. Any preferences between them? I've only climbed on the 8.9 mm Mammut single and liked it. Tendon ropes sound pretty amazing but I don't know if you can get their 9.2 mm single over in the USA yet.

Check out NW Alpine and their hoodies. They've got one that's about the same weight at an R1 and one that's lighter for summer stuff/warmer people.

What about a cheaper modern double boot like the La Sportiva Baruntse? Quite a bit cheaper than Spantiks and should climb well enough for the routes you have in mind.

Cilogear 30 for most 1 day climbs. Cilogear 45 if you have to hump in a bunch of aid gear or are going in for a few days. They both climb really well and carry well on the hike in. That said, if you're just getting started any decent 30-40 liter pack designed for being worn while climbing will get you by, some just make the process suck less.

I got the same form letter as John. No set date from Petzl.