ColinB

Thanks for the beta, both of you!

I was wondering if anyone has the GPS waypoints for the turn off to the Ice Cliff Glacier on Stuart that they don't mind sharing with me. Thanks in advance!

Damn, bummer to hear that bird boning wins over summertime climbing. Looks like some chossy & mossy fun over on the north side maybe I'll have to giver a look...

Is there any info on the open date for Beacon or is it the 15th of July? I'm missing the rattle of freight trains.

I'm free Friday and looking for a partner for a linkup of some moderate routes on Hood or going and doing some vertical rime digging on Illumination Rock. Should be warm out but not that warm, especially on the backside of I-Rock or the west side of Mt Hood. Hell, I'd even be down for heading over to the north sid eof the mountain... I've got group gear covered. Shoot me a PM or email me at colin.bohannan(at)gmail.com

I'll toss myself into the hat here. After Thursday (finals...) I'm regularly free and always stoked to get out and climb locally. Have rack/trad experience, will travel. Shoot me a PM if you're interested.

If your idea of ice climbing is doing pull-ups in a row up the ice, you've got a long ways to go... Getting used to swinging things overhead and then resting by keeping them up there is a much more useful goal. Being able to hold a lockoff on a tool or being able to hang comfortably off a tool and recover are skills that will get you up ice safer. I'll 2nd Will Gadd's book. It has a lot of solid advice for new ice climbers.

das baconwand

Dig, dig, dig. Find gear underneath if at all possible. Sometimes theres a decent layer of ice buried or you can excavate some rock pro. Chop with an adze to find less aerated rime (better sticks deeper down). Pickets are bullshit but sometimes nice to make it seem like you have some gear... Run it out. Pray. Don't fall.

I can't believe no one has mentioned it yet but... Don't forget your tauntaun.

When I was working in the industry, if we came across harnesses (new ones) that were more than 4 years old they were destroyed, not sold. Being frugal on safety equipment is fucking stupid even if you're a broke student. Last thing you want to be thinking about when taking a whipper is whether or not your harness is going to hold... Sounds like a sketchy story. The harness is probably fine, but "probably" is the most certain of terms.

Spring Break is the best time in the Rockies. Less crowds, fat ice, mellow temps so you can enjoy the climbing and not freeze your ballz off. Have fun up there!

Here's one of the recent CAMP harnesses that I really like: http://www.camp-usa.com/products/harnesses/air-cr.asp Not huge gear loops, but it gets the job done.

Don't feed the troll. It only gets larger and more grumpy.

Canadian Rockies > Hyalite. They're the same distance from Seattle/Portland too...

Here's Petzl's statement. Its the same as the emails. http://petzl.com/us/outdoor/news-2/2011/02/11/warning-regarding-presence-counterfeit-versions-petzl-products

Devils Kitchen HW was looking in fine shape yesterday. Why not link up Sandy HW, downclimb Leutholds, climb the Reid HW, down climb the Old Chute, climb the Devils Kitchen HW, then down climb the Wy'east? You could even loop back across the Newton-Clark and come back up Coopers Spur and still get back to your car at Timberline. Might take a bit though.

Do you have a link for that? It'd be interesting to see the data.

Just got mine back today. I second the super fast turn around time. I mailed them last Friday and they're back in hand today. Petzl is doing same-day turn around on them.

Do those even exist in Alaska?

w00t. Nice job you two. That was a bit of a hike from the Motherlode, no?

You might really like Oakridge outside of Eugene. Good brewery, sweet mountain biking, decent skiing, etc. Don't know what actually living there is like, but there's plenty to do outside of the town itself.

Fitting that Will Gadd posts something on his blog about this topic: Clicky

They're good for junk ice when you're too lazy to dig for a placement. Other than that, I rarely take anything longer than 16 on routes and its totally fine to rap off v threads from 13s if you bounce test them too.

Despite the warm weather and rain at the car, things are getting back into shape in Strobach. Freezing level was about 100 ft below the climbs yesterday and hopefully will stay about there. First on the left isn't in. Unholy Baptism is fully formed with the bottom pitch being pretty hollow & thin. Responsible Ladies Man is fatter than powerhound's photos of the FA. Didn't check out Primus Sucks. Sudden Change & Sad are looking thin but climbable. Dropline is in. Ponderosa Piller is in. If you follow trail 611 on FS 1202 there's a ski track in that we followed and was dead-on to the Motherlode. YMMV. P.S. Whoever put in that ski track recently have some good stories from Strobach?