akicebum

Ok so several people have told me they want them and I can't get a hold of any of them. They are still available, I would like to sell them in the Seattle area. So shoot me a note if you are interested.

Barely used with extra picks still in packaging. $300 for both.

I am getting rid of the Metolius portion of my rack. 1 #1 Blue Power Cam 1 #2 Yellow TCU 2 #2 Yellow Power Cams 1 #3 Orange Power Cam $20.00 a piece. Or the whole shabang for $90.00. They are in pretty good shape, all have the range finder which I haven't used, but I am sure is still works great. Hit me up on here

You say 3 blades and 1 Pin? Is this Pin a crucial piece? If so what sort of pin are we talking about in addition to the 3 blades?

Nope, but it was warm and wet and now it is cold and dry. I'm not one to sit around and let everyone else go find all the goodies. But I am going to dragontail sat and further in later in the week. What did you have in mind?

So Top 3 Bad Partner Stories: 1. My Own Mistake A partner of mine gave his buddy my number and told him I was generally down to get down in the backcountry. This poor guy called me way....way after sober thirty asking if I wanted to skiing near lolo pass the next day. My response..."Hell yeah I wanna go shkiing, why not get an early start at it, pick me up at 6am." Just to make sure I wouldn't forget I set an alarm then and there. God knows when I got home that night but in those days I was catching the occasional sunrise. This part is a bit hazy, I was totally blacked out, but this is what I've gathered. I was awake and packed when he got there. However I forgot my goggles, gloves, shell, water food, basically everything except my headlamp little first aid kit and knife I always left in the top of my pack. I was ravenous and made him pullover so I could get a delicious gas station breakfast sammy (you'll hear more about this later, it came back). We were the first car in the parking lot and made great time over the first ridge. After topping out on the top of second I needed a nap. He agreed to do a run and come back up and wake me up. I threw down my skis pulled the hood to my DAS over my head and passed out. Well before said partner made it back up another party found me and they must have thought I was dead because they went WFR on me (not it full ppe) I think they were a little let down because like most nonresponsive patients I was just tanked. Well I came to, we did a few more runs, built a booter and headed home. It was 5 or 6 at night when my hangover decided to walup me. I was doubled over after a full day of skiing on the side of the road barf blasting the asphalt. We did partner up again and of course I was sober, but I have met other climber skiers that have actually heard this story and it was told in good light. I would never do that do that to a partner without being in the condition I was in. So let this be a lesson. DON"T MAKE PLANS WITH SOMEONE YOU DON"T KNOW IF THEY ARE HAMMERED! 2. The Lonely Marine I went to Red Rocks with a guy that was super motivated, somewhat in experienced but a good guy. It ended up being a sport climbing trip, but the prize is in the puddin. I awoke to heavy breathing in our two man tent. After a seconds awareness I realized he was rubbin one out. So I made every conceivable "hey I am waking up sound." It didn't work, he just kept after it, so I finally piped up and shot out a laundry list of profanities then got out of the tent and slept in the dirt. We don't together anymore. 3. Headwound Hippie A dear friend of mine had a tragic ground fall that resulted in some brain damage. At least that is the excuse use to describe Nick behavior. Nick is 6' 5" manimal. You can smell him from a block away, he lived in the woods, and had/has a pretty organic view of the world. Anyone that has met him has at least 10 Nick stories. After my first Nick experience I swore I would never tie in with him again..... I was wrong. We shuttled from the Tokositna to the Kahiltna to meet some friends on the Buttress. My partner was going to climb with his wife and I was going to climb with our friend Mike. At BC we learned that Nick's partner hadn't showed up and he was now soloing. He had taken off the day before. All the way to 14 camp we found Nick Artifacts, you know the things he didn't think he would need like his skis, his shovel (borrowed), his saw (also borrowed), and his rope. and rather than bury them he just threw them on the side of the trail and put a wand next to them. We found Nick at 14 recovering from some mild AMS. He had almost made it to 17, 3 days after leaving BC, and coming in from sea level. his reasoning. He reasoning, he brought 12lbs of various grains and that is it for food. He bought and I tent and a -35 degree feathered friends bag but didn't have money for anything else. He was wearing a 1960 drab green arctic suit with a white fake fur collar and bunny boots. Somehow he ended up climbing with us and eventually short-roped to me. At 17 camp I awoke to a pooping sound. Upon further investigation I discovered Nick sitting on his CMC dropping a bomb.....while cooking breakfast right outside his tent. Then on summit day I led and broke trail avoiding the autobaun to Denali pass. I was rope to Mike then Nick and the weather was such that once we got around the pass the visibility wasn't so great and the wind was blowing so hard that I was only able to communicate with Mike. We summited in a lenticular and it was on the summit that finally saw how messed up Nick was. He sat down around 19,500 or somewhere near the bottom of pig hill and was done moving on his own. So helped him along for a while, then had to load his 6'5" frame on my 5'9" stick figure and carry him back to the fixed lines that we would now have to use. Thank god we ran into some other people that helped us get him back to 17 camp, because after breaking all that trail and then Carrying his huge ass down 1500ft I was beat and Mike and I probably wouldn't have been able to safely get him down.

Air temp was -30ish with gusts to 60+mph. At the ranger's station they described the weather as nuclear and a friend at 17 camp that has more than 20 years guiding and climbing on Denali came up with the -80 figure. Any exposed skin was numb in seconds. We just if things ever got uncomfortable or began to feel out of control we would descend. It never really reached that point, it was just cold, really cold.

I was thinking the same. I am going to get on dragon tail this weekend and maybe do something else next week. Do you want to do anything besides dragon tail?

I was being polite earlier when I said all that crap about doing the right thing for yourself. Here are a few things to consider: 1. Did you yourself put up the first ascent and now feel the need to improve a route you opened. Or are you spoiling the integrity of the first ascent party and every person that has had an epic or adventure descending the route? 2. Do you really think bolts and fixed pro add to the adventure? 3. Why exactly do you climb in the mountains? I was in the shower thinking about all the times I have looked for natural anchors on descents and sweated it out on marginal belays to avoid bolting on routes I have put up. I was be violently angry if someone came along and retro bolted any of the routes I've authored. They have a word for them you know "Pussy Bolts." I think you had the best of intentions with this post and maybe you just let your imagination wander a little to far.

Please don't. Once done it cannot be undone, and you will more than likely regret it. Read Bonatti's the Mountains of my life and look at what happened to his routes. Or Marc Twight's beyond good and evil. It makes it it easier but not every climbing area needs to be Chamonix Disneyland. Even though it is a low use area, that isn't to say it won't see more use 70 years down the road. Do the right thing and suffer.

Ok so I summited the Butt in a lenticular wearing a 3 year old DAS that was busted and it was fine. Ambient Temp was estimated around -80 F. It sucked, but I was warm. I have also climbed the Cassin in a push and know two guys that weathered it for 12 days. If you are in a storm on a push you are going to be miserable no matter what. That said if you have the loot by a nice big downy from Feathered Friends. They will make you the Jacket you want at almost the same price as the other big names and they make a far superior product.

If you are just going for a workout then yeah it could be interesting. You get the same strength if not more from just strait up rock climbing. I train in my tools just doing pull-ups, lock offs and frenchies. As for core training there are a bunch of exercises I like, but if you want to develop the muscle for climbing on steep terrain then train climbing on steep terrain, and cross train with strength training exercises. You can get a bunch of big number ascents with this monkey training, but it doesn't do anything for your technique on lower angle terrain you will generally find in the mountains. If alpinism is your game. Then tape up your tools put on your boots and a 30+lb pack and start pumping laps on some easier routes. Straps won't imitate the pick balance that actually presents the problem when moving on delicate terrain.

Had some fun on Zodiac, here's the story. http://akalpinist.blogspot.com/

There has to be something out there. No one is down for an adventure?

Anyone down to go and see if this warm spell has made any interesting ice?