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tbunch

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Everything posted by tbunch

  1. Since a knot in the end of a rope can freakishly pull through at least some rappel devices (Jim Madsen, 1968, Dihedral Wall, El Cap), I don't want any part of my caffeine deprived, cold or terror-addled brain thinking I'm protected. If my rope is icy and I can't see what I'm rappelling into, I just tie the ends around my neck.
  2. Aw, dammit! What a great company and a bunch of great people to have such a rotten couple of years.
  3. No disrespect, but sharing one beacon (and let's assume you mean tranceiver) is about as useful as sharing one pair of pants. If nobody in your party has a receiver when you're buried, your beacon won't be useful until someone arrives with one, by which time you're dead. Your odds of survival are roughly halved every thirty minutes. I wonder if anybody else has this rule... if my partner shows up without a shovel for any backcountry activity where it's pretty clear requirement, I make 'em carry mine or we do something else.
  4. I spent a long night trying to fend off snafflehounds w/ my 9 mil at St. Elmo's Pass before I discovered that cranking the Mountain on my boombox kept them away, but then we couldn't sleep. So... long story short, we just got up, bolted down some crack and traipsed up Liberty Ridge. Can I get my Real Cimber's Guild Card now?
  5. That version is rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise by someone in a effort to explore which way might be "up". I think the concensus from looking at the shadows and such was that up is left and down is right, as posted here. That doesn't look like a permanent anchor to me. But... that's another thread entirely.
  6. "Y" is ground to air for "Yes". The "I am here" part is to the best of my knowledge merely implicit. What could you mean by indicating "Yes" if you were somewhere else? I wanted to correct something I read in the Mt. Hood thread. Someone wrote that and arrow "->" means "I'm going that away". That's correct. They said a variant meaning the same thing was like "K" (or "|<" if that's more clear). That's not correct. "K" means "you tell me which way to go" and implies that you're capable of travel. "X" means you can't proceed. It's probably worth carrying around a quick reference in your wallet.
  7. We could infer quite a lot if we know what equipment was left with Kelly James. If he was tucked in by his partners, they will have filled their water bottles before leaving him, then left him with a stove and the vast majority of or all of their stove fuel, knowing that he might have to wait for days. Are we privy to that information? It seems to me that we should be able to put to rest by now speculation as to whether he was separated from his partners unexpectedly or not, but so far everything I've seen has been speculation, including that from Sheriff Wampler. If he was separated unexpectedly, he would have relatively random assortment of shared gear.
  8. I can't get any of these video feeds. Could it be that they're digging in order to build a safe snow anchor... trying to find firm snow for flukes & pickets, or making a bollard?
  9. (6 am is an awfully late start, but I read 4 am, starting at 6k feet)
  10. I have a couple thoughts on standard practices. Regarding the question on stashing gear: it's quite common to stash gear such as approach shoes or skis, or gear you regard as overkill now that you're on the mountain and have suddenly become optimistic about a straightforward climb. Had a cache of bivouac gear and extra stove fuel been found it would have been a very negative sign. It hasn't. Hooray! Snow caves: I've spent probably around 2 weeks in snow caves, trenches and igloos. As others have said, it's imperative that the top of the entrance be lower than the sleeping platform. That accomplished, it's up to your body heat to warm the place up. The larger the volume, the more energy your body will use heating the place, so unless you're quite comfortable and well supplied, try to find another way to alleviate your boredom. Apart from enlarging your cave, that is. And of course, you don't want to get your clothes any wetter than you have to. Finally, because your world is built out of water doesn't mean you have plenty to drink. For all practical purposes, you're limited by the amount of stove fuel you have. Yes, you _can_ catch drips, squeeze it from your clothing (yuck!), and melt snow with your body heat, but you can't stay ahead of dehydration. I don't bring that up to discourage anyone - I'm optimistic that these well prepared climbers brought plenty of stove fuel. I just don't want anyone thinking they can count on eating snow for hydration. Oh, along those lines, when cooking and melting show in a cave, ventilate it! Carbon monoxide and all that.
  11. It's from The Oregonian. http://www.oregonlive.com/newslogs/oregonian/index.ssf?/mtlogs/olive_oregonian_news/archives/2006_12.html
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