Jump to content

alps

Members
  • Posts

    52
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by alps

  1. Awesome! Would have liked to help. Thanks a lot!
  2. Well, the total force on the anchor is probably smaller when not clipping the belay. But when belaying off your harness, I think there are other reasons why it is a very good idea to clip the belay as your 'first piece'.
  3. Seeing the other replies, I think I come too late. Anyway, if they are still available I am interested, too.
  4. Yes, but doesn't work 100%. I have had it freezing up because of some remaining water in the hose (collected at the lowest point and froze to a solid plug). I haven't tried an insulating sleeve - I just don't just the thing when it's really cold...
  5. Here is the "before" picture: I am glad to hear that nobody got hurt.
  6. The main reason for us to turn back was the other guys' tracks. They had gone all the way down only to turn around and head back. We met them again later, and they said that it looked like it might go, but they were worried about being too late, etc... Whatever, the climb may well be in shape, but unfortunately we didn't really check it out. So I can't tell.
  7. Trip: Eldorado Peak - NW couloir attempt / NE face Date: 10/26/2008 Trip Report: Expecting Colfax to be quite the zoo in the weekend, we headed to Eldorado to check out the NW couloir. On Saturday, we started around 9:30 from the trailhead and reached our camp on the Inspiration Glacier ~5.5h later. It was pretty cold and windy up there. On Sunday, we got a late start after spending some time defrosting our boots in the sleeping bags. Partly following another party's track (we had met them in the parking lot already the day before, and now we were hoping that they would near finishing the route by the time we got there), we went to the col which has been described in previous trip reports as a short-cut to the approach. Looking down the other side, we caught a glimpse of the lower part of the route: there was snow, but we didn't see any evidence of ice anywhere on that side of the mountain. And we could see that the other party had rappelled and decided against climbing the couloir - their track led away to the right, obviously just coming back up. Somehow that didn't help very much in making us more confident that the route would be in shape... And we didn't feel particularly inclined to go down only to find the route in bad conditions and end up doing a circumnavigation of Dorado needle. Therefore we decided to turn back and simply went up the NE face. The NE face was a straightforward, not very steep climb on hard snow (after a little bit of wallowing at the base). We enjoyed the sun and the lack of wind on the summit for a while, then went down along the east ridge and back to camp. After packing up, we made it back to the car pretty quickly. Some pictures: Eldorado above the glacier: Camp: Inspiration Glacier: The NW face of Eldorado: Nice views from the summit: Gear Notes: Ice tools, crampons, glacier stuff. We brought gear for protecting the couloir, but didn't get to use it. For the NE face in these conditions, a single ice axe would be perfectly good enough.
  8. Sure, you're right. That's why I do have more than one pair already So, what I meant is replacing the ones for waterfall ice and steep mixed. When I say "technical alpine ice/mixed" think something like more difficult couloirs in Chamonix, for example. So, that is more akin to waterfall climbing than to lower angle alpine terrain. Thanks for the replies! I think I have settled on the M10 now.
  9. On the shorter ice screws, the threads extend all the way to the hanger. So the outermost threads don't have much to hold on to...
  10. I'd like to replace my Grivel Rambo II crampons (the old, straight version with a rigid frame). A model that offers both the monopoint and the dual-point option would be nice, and it should be suited to waterfall ice climbing as well as steep, technical alpine ice and mixed routes. Right now, I'm considering the Petzl M10 (a friend of mine has it and likes it). But maybe the BD Cyborg would be an option, too? I haven't heard much about those yet, but it looks like they are a bit cheaper, come with anti-balling plates (though they are pretty stiff - do they work well?), and they have a lower frame in the front (which looks like it could be nice). Any recommendations/opinion? Maybe some other ideas?
  11. Somewhat related: When I click "Past 24h", I get a spray-free list of active posts. Clicking "Page 2" on the bottom brings me to page 2 of the list - with spray included. Then again, clicking "spray-free" leads to the spray-free list - but also back to page 1. Doesn't bother me much, but it seems inconsistent...
  12. I agree insofar as I'd recommend to make single rope rappels when possible because they are way less likely to cause trouble. But that's not always an option. And being able to rappel the full rope length sure is nice in case of a retreat. Can't say much about the original question, though. My doubles are around 8.4mm. But I don't know why thinner ones should get caught more easily.
  13. BTW, for the optimum angle they got similar results as the study mentioned above.
  14. A few years ago, the German Alpine Club published a test conducted in real waterfall ice. I'll try to summarize the results as I remember them: ice screws in solid, compact ice seemed to hold about as well as bolts (in fact, they broke quite a few bolt hangers in the process - they used them to anchor their test setup). Also, making screws longer than medium lengths doesn't seem to improve their strength in solid ice very much. In not-so-great or bad ice (lots of air in the ice), the results are somewhat unpredictable. They also tested snargs and v-threads. Snargs seem pretty crappy in terms of what they hold, for v-threads in good ice it was usually the cord which broke. In case anyone can read German and wants to read the article, here is a link: DAV test. And personally, I haven't fallen on an ice screw (and I don't really want to).
  15. Nice! Looks like the ice climbing season is starting!
  16. Regarding rock climbs, I'm not aware of many recent publications. There is a new guidebook by Michel Piola (Mont Blanc Massif: Envers des Aiguilles), but it covers only a fraction of the Mont Blanc area - mainly the back side of the Aiguilles, as the name suggests. I think it is available in English. Otherwise, you can try to find the old Piola book, or maybe have look at the two-volume select guidebook from the British Alpine Club. I don't know much about these. For snow, ice and mixed climbs, it's a lot easier (Snow, Ice and Mixed, vol 1&2, available in French and in English)...
  17. I can't help you regarding the trail, but getting there via the GNS is easy indeed: from the topmost anchors, just follow the climber's trail. It's not very far.
  18. alps

    Simulclimbing

    If I am not mistaken, Petzl's manual for the Grigri also says something like "10mm <= rope diameter <= ... (9.7mm OK)".
  19. Yeah, it was great to get back to the car finally... I'll try to post a few of my pictures tomorrow.
  20. alps

    Goodbye

    I have only met you twice, but I wish you all the best anyway. Have fun!
  21. I hope there is ice somewhere out there! The weather is great, I'd like to give it a try and look for some alpine ice or mixed route already in shape in the Cascades. I could leave early on Friday (from Seattle). Anybody interested? I'll be away most of the day tomorrow, so maybe just send me a message with your phone number...
  22. I recall a study done in the Alps published a few years ago. There's a lot of more or less old iron around there... If I remember correctly, they asked a bunch of mountain guides to estimate the strength of fixed pitons, then they tested them. The result in short: it seems to be near impossible to say how much they will hold if you didn't place them yourself. Even with lots of experience, you don't know what it looks like inside (corrosion, cracks expanding due to frost/thaw cycles, whatever).
×
×
  • Create New...