ColinB

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.

I'll take those pins from ya. PM sent.

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.

I've got an extra pair of 404s (I believe size medium) in decent shape. Bought a pair of approach skis with 404s already mounted, so no need for a 2nd pair bumming around the gear pile. They're mounted on some long (187? cm) BD skis that you're welcome to have for free if you're local or I can pop them off and ship them to you. Asking $100 obo, buyer pays shipping.

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.

PM sent.

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?

I'm looking for a pair of approach skis with skins in the 160-170 cm range. I've got a pair of 404s for them already, but if you want to sell some skis as a package let me know. Looking for cheaper and more beat up as some non-snowshoe floatation. I'm not gonna shred the gnar on them, so dig out your beater skis! Willing to pay shipping, but I'd prefer a pair that are local.

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.