woodchips

I think this is a great time of year to go up there; when I did it in october, it was all scree and brush on the approach and rockfall in the final couloir. I couldn't find a summit register for the south summit, but I'm pretty sure we found the right spot.

Anyone been up the Teanaway lately? Just talked to the ranger, sounds like road is snowed in somewhere between 29 pines and Beverly as of last week. Might be able to get to Berverly by this weekend? We could take the truck, and try to push a bit further over snow.

You can rig a piece of cord on the biner which the rope wraps around and gain some advantage by using one of your anchor biners as a "pulley". This gives you a 2:1 advantage, which usually is enough to allow you to lower the climber. That said, the new reverso seems to be improved in several other ways. It's lighter, works with skinny ropes, and shouldn't have the sharpening issue the ond ones did. If I didn't already have a reverso and a reversino, I'd definitely try the new one.

Here's a copy of the email forwarded to me via the Skagit Alpine Club: Hello, The City has received a request from the Department of Fish and Wildlife to help protect a peregrine falcon nest on Mt. Erie. The birds appear have built a nest and are incubating eggs at a site on Skyline Rib or Skyline Arete (an area north of the main wall and south of the cirque). We are asking climbers and scramblers to avoid this area while we review the situation. With nice weather expected this weekend we would like to help get the word out to as many people as possible. Staff will post information at Mt. Erie and hopefully a map or photo showing the general area where the falcons are nesting. We could use your help. Please forward this information to climbers or scramblers you know. I have attached a letter from Fish and Wildlife with this email. If you are climbing on Mt. Erie and the falcons demonstrate defensive or territorial behavior, please refrain from climbing in those areas. It would also be very helpful if you could report where you were if this happens so Fish and Wildlife can better understand the falcon's territory. I acknowledge that this is a difficult situation especially with the beginning of climbing season and given comments we heard during our public meetings regarding the Forest Lands planning process that people are concerned the City is trying to restrict access on Mt. Erie. Our goal is to try and balance the needs of recreation and the environment. Simply put, we want to keep the falcons from abandoning their nest while keeping as many climbing areas open on the mountain. I will stay in touch and would appreciate your feedback. Thanks, Jonn Jonn Lunsford Anacortes Parks & Recreation 360-299-1953

Nice work keeping your cool, Amar. Glad you managed to get some pictures as well. While it's fun to read TRs of sunny desert climbing, it's more informative to be able to read TRs of trips like this. Glad you made it out in one piece.

Anyone been up there recently? I'm assuming everything's still pretty snowed in? Thinking of the North Twin tomorrow (friday).

Hi Gil, You could consider Bellingham Mountain Rescue: BMRC Website They're a great bunch of folks. They'd appreciate hearing from you. Their mailing address is: P.O. Box 292 Bellingham, WA 98227

There's some OK stuff at larabee. It's mostly top rope stuff, but good for after work, and then a beer on the beach. The outdoor center at WWU has a copy of "bellingham rock" by Jason Henrie which covers most of it. It's out of print, but if you're a student you can check it out. Mt Erie has some pretty good stuff, but it can take some work to find your way around. The guidebook is for sale at the Lake Erie Grocery, right by the park.

As promised, Graham sent me a NEW pack (which appears to be improved in several ways over the v2 pack), not a repair, and it showed up today. Thanks Graham.

Nice TR, Off. We had ambitious plans to go up to Wa. pass yesterday, but decided to sleep in and go to Erie. That led to many hours of muddy scrambling, not finding the routes we were looking for, pulling off several head size holds, and climbing a grand total of 2 (short) routes for the day. Thanks for the pics.

Hey Travis, Welcome to B'ham. Have you checked out the AAI Courses? AAI courses Maybe you know about them, if not, they're in Bellingham, and do most of their classes up at Baker. I've taken one class with them and it was great. Anyway, have fun at Baker.

I guess I should say single boot. I've had good luck with synthetics; I like how they dry faster and tend to be lighter.

Thanks, Dane. I tried on a pair of the Trangos, and they were too narrow, so I guess the Nepals definitely would be too narrow. I'm considering having my little toe removed.

I'm looking for a pair of insulated leathers to supplement my Scarpa Charmoz. The Scarpas are a bit narrow in the toe box for my liking, so I'm interested in trying a few other brands. The Sportivas I've tried have also been way narrow. They're always fine in the heel, I just need more room across the toes. Anyway, I'm looking at these: Lowa Cristallo X Pro GTX Any feedback on these boots? Any other suggestions? I tried the Kayland super ice (sold those to Couloir), and they had the same problem, although the Apex Rocks fit fine.

Also in Bellingham: Barganica, on State street and also on Cornwall, not as cheap as Deals only, but often has cases of bars for <$5 and more of a full grocery. Oh, cheap beer and wine and 25% off produce on Sundays. That is, for dirtbags that eat things like vegatables.

I wasn't expecting miracles, just hoping for replies to my emails and some guess of how long it would take. I know that in my work, a little communication goes a long way. Sometimes you just have to tell people "thats going to take a couple of months," and then they don't get their expectations up. I realize that you can't always expect the same service, but I'll continue to support small gear companies like Cilogear.

\ What? Um? Repeated emails on the 23rd of April about where to ship the pack? A pack that got shipped out to YOUR NEW ADDRESS AS YOU REQUESTED? I have to imagine that for some reason you are not getting my emails. As I wrote on the cilogear blog last week, UPS totally screwed us up, and I can't give out tracking numbers for packs shipped from the 23rd of April to 28th of April very easily right now. I called UPS and after about twenty minutes, Ian's tracking number is K107 586 2920. Everybody and their brother can track it. Why it went out from Maspeth on Monday when I shipped it on the 23rd is something I will never be able to explain but is no doubt associated with our UPS accounts screw ups. Thanks for the update, Graham. I did not get the emails, nor did they show up in my spam folder, so not sure where they went, but it looks like it's on the way. I realize you're up against alot of other problems than my pack, but I've got other things to do than send unanswered emails and wonder where my stuff is. Anyway, thanks again. I look forward to getting the pack back.

It's been something like 7 weeks now, and still no sign of my pack, nor any word from Graham except for the above post. At this point I'd like to get it back, repaired or not, so I don't have to go out and buy another one. I realize people get busy, but some more communication would be in order.

Probably true. I'm just being paranoid; in fact I think I'll go take my pills now.

I'll check that out too; is there a good description in the Beckey guide? I'm really partial to backcountry stuff, even if it means more hiking/skiing in and less climbing, so a short "alpine" rock route is ideal for this weekend.

Yeah, I tried that, but I couln't find it locally. I'm sure it's fine, but I was just surprised they wouldn't just knock a few bucks off and call it good.

Thanks Matt, I was looking at that last night; looks like the NW couloir could be a good route up, but we'll have to see what the conditions look like tomorrow. It might not be the spiritual center but could be a good day trip.

I ordered a rope from Backcountry.com, and got it yesterday, which is great, but the wrong rope (it was supposed to be bi-pattern, but wasn't.) Anyway, I called them this morning to sort it out, and the guy on the phone said he could just exchange it. I offered to keep it, if they would just knock some money off of the bill, as I got a cheaper rope than I paid for. I told him I didn't want to just have the rope destroyed after I returned it, and he said they would just repackage it and resell it anyway, even though I had opened it. He said he didn't have a price for the cheaper rope, so couldn't do that. So, the moral of the story is that if you order a rope from Backcounty, it may have been sitting in someone's trunk under the leaky car battery for awhile before it got returned and sold to you. Caveat Emptor.

Any updates? Any speculation as to conditions this weekend?

Shitty as in snowed in?