kevino

Normally I wouldn’t care to share this type of story but nevertheless… I always wear my helmet when I am climbing ice and mountains. However, I'm very inconsistent when it comes to wearing a helmet while cragging. Over the last couple weeks at work, I've seen some young men (read: my age) with head bleeds due to sports and possibly preventable injuries. This prompted my reaction of, "I should wear a helmet whenever I climb, ski, etc." Well I'm sorry to say that when I went rock climbing yesterday I didn't bring a helmet! Fool! Anyway, at the end of great warm and sunny day of climbing, my buddy wanted to climb one more route. I belayed him while our other two friends were just relaxing. We climbed a sport climb arête thing just left of stem and seeds/bob's your uncle. Originally I had been belaying beneath, the route, but opted to move over a column so I didn't have to crane my neck so much. About fifty to sixty feet up, my friend dislodged a rock the size of a grown man’s chest. I heard him yell, so I took up whatever slack there was and looked up. However I was surprised to see him still hanging onto the rock and the aforementioned rock plummeting toward me. Keeping my brake hand tight, I rolled to my right away from the rock, making sure to protect my neck and head. The rock crashed into the column I was sitting next to, about a foot away, where I had been originally belaying. About a football size chunk of rock hit my hip and the rest went careening down the ledges towards one of my friends on the trail. The impact of the falling rock left a dinner plate sized crater on the top of the pillar. My friends on the trail were scared because they saw me disappear and the rock fall pretty close to where I had been sitting. After a few moments of stunned silence, we all regrouped. I was very fortunate that all I have is a sore/tender left hip with some bruising and that everyone else came out unscathed. A lot worse could have happened, should the rock have hit my back, leg or something along those lines. Long story short, wear helmets, pay attention and be safe. Thanks for listening to my sob story.

By no means is that one comprehensive but there is more than enough to keep you busy.

So stupid question...the obvious snow pyramid of a peak is Pleiades? That looks to be an amazing ski from the summit if given the correct conditions.

While I don't want to interject into this passion filled argument, I believe the reason that eldiente and pete_h are opposed to such an idea is the fact that this guys left arm is now a walking billboard for BD and its ice tools, which shows more dedication to advertising rather than climbing. That being said, I noticed he went with the Titan pick rather than the Fusion pick. Does that mean he climbs more ice than rock? Bad idea if you live in PDX.

There is at least one TR on here of a guy doing it solo I believe.

<---- Kevin O. I'm a sarcastic asshole in real life too so thats why I don't mind using my real name here.

That area is really nice. Never seen anyone up there, plus its only 25 minutes from my house!

I don't know if anyone else is still interested in these...I just started thinking about rock climbing and remembered these. Anyway, DMM will have the production type at the ISPO tomorrow...released in March?? I've seen a couple shops accepting pre-orders... link to full article

I liked the tools alot. I used them for pure WI and alpine routes and thought they were great. Very light and solid. Alpine leave as is, for WI I would but a pink rest like on the quarks.

walking is totally overrated... a sweet day...silken -> dribbles -> as much of avalanche as you can

i like how the first review says they're too heavy

Yeah what he said. Pretty much great snow for skiing as it was snowing even more on my way out Monday

Cascade is awesome. Theres a lot of ice to climb even if you don't feel like going for the finish part, which is what makes it a 3. In addition to their recommendations, there is King Creek. Which is a narrow canyon with a plethora or short and fun ice lines.

and check montanaice.com for updates, etc

Same story for Colchuck. Ended up skiing Aasgard since no one had skied it yet. Great snow. Sorry for the bad pictures, it appeared my camera is slowly dying.

Sorry Dane, I should have added an asterik next to my comment saying that I only ski and spray, no more climbing for me! (Both of which I do poorly, apparently!)

The reason why its not touching down is due to the fact that the ice in the pond melted and the water level is lower than when it formed.

Yeah, I was just giving David a hard time. He hiked and got no ice, I hiked and got the best powder of my life!

Sure it can be WI6 after an earthquake makes the entire cliff over hanging. Judging by the photos Dane was on the WI5 version this winter, and perhaps the WI5+R one last year...but what do I know, montana and wyoming messed up my logic!

yeah, i woulda said that plus others but the person is looking for wi3s. sorry to hear about strobach! thats why i don't climb ice in washington! haha

You can but bring a second and have your follower trail it. If you can still get to the east fork I'd recommend, Palisades, Champagne slot and champagne sherbert. Mainfork...tons. G1, G2, hangover, upper green sleeves, mummy II, cave and gully, twin falls (both), elevator shaft, fat one, magically delicious. thats stuff i can think of off the top of my head (meaning, theres a bunch more i can't think of. get the guide). that would keep you busy for 3+days depending how motivated you are.

I don't know if this is in one of the classic books, but of late this is one of my favorite: NW Couloir of Eldorado in the Spring Approach Climb Not to mention, you top out at the base of the classic knifeedge eeast ridge

When I drove by it this afternoon it looked 50/50 as far as bare rock to snow covered rock. Or something like that.

With all your money maybe you should start your own website? dogsonleashes.com But more importantly, link to the thread that started all this please?

Snow stability was pretty good from my opinion. There was some new snow (heavy powder) this morning. Enjoy! Sorry, this was about snoqulmaie. I'm going up to colchuck monday, I'll report back then.