trainwreck

I guess I don't really know what kind of ice/alpine you're doing but I wouldn't ever go shorter than 60m and I think 70m is really the ticket. A 70m 8.9 Mammut Serenity is a fantastic single line that's light enough and easy to handle, if you're not bringing a rap line you'll get 37m rappels off of it. I find with alpine I almost always end up simul-climbing to get to stations so I'd be really hesitant to shorten my pitches down, more belays equal way more time on the route. Same holds true for ice, if the climb is 110m, you'll easily do it in two pitches rather than three. In my experience with alpiney raps (think bailing off) the longer the raps the better. Less gear left behind and more flexibility in finding stations. YMMV

I have. Do I get a medal or cookie? Please say cookie.

I went walking up towards the AA Glacier on Saturday afternoon and the wind was INSANE. Almost blowing me off the moraines and crazy shit like that. Lots of weird pockets and drifted sections.

We were going to try Sidestreet today, but it was -16oC at 6:45am and we weren't prepared for that kind of cold. Winter is a comin'.

That is BY FAR the best umbilical attachment I've seen for the Nomic. It looks like the wire and biner sit far enough away from your hand to not get in the way. Care to explain the process in more detail?

I haven't heard anything since those guys bailed about a month ago, I think some Americans I talked to tried heading up there as well but I don't think they made it as far as the narrows. I have a feeling that it's passable, otherwise why would Barry have agreed to give it a go... The Drip definitely wasn't in a few weeks ago when we were down in K-country on R&D, but I haven't heard anything else. It's a really strange year, but I think there's a tremendous amount of potential and opportunity to climb some cool shit given the weather window we're having.

We saw Barry's car at the GCC parking lot, so yeah, it was the 4th I guess. Super strong winds that day, we found the travel and avy conditions to be very reasonable, but we weren't really on a spot that'll load very much. It snowed again last weekend, probably about 20cms in the alpine and most of it has been transported. I was talking to a Public Safety guy last Friday and he said that there's a raincrust already. We climbed Cerca Del Mar in the Stutfield valley yesterday and there was surprising little avalanche activity, LOTS of serac fall though. The forecast looks really good for things to firm up. @John -- I think it really depends on the route. I wouldn't be super concerned about it on something like the A Strain, but certainly the GCC will need a few days to shed some layers. The bigger concern atm is the lack of ice up high. Apparently Marko Prezlej tried guiding the A Strain a little while back, didn't find much ice and ended up rapping off.

I've been out there a fair bit the last little while. Travel conditions are excellent, but there isn't much ice. Waterfalls are only now starting to freeze and consolidate, and only if they're in the alpine. Lean start to the year so far.

OR Alibis for technical ice climbing and mixed, they fit small but are extremely dextrous and plenty warm for leading. BD Punishers for belay and rappel duty. OR Alpine Alibis for alpine ice, routes with snow, etc.

He wore a hole in the side of the face fabric from harness rub. The worst part was that Westcomb wouldn't warranty it, they fixed it 'for a price.' The jacket was about two months old. He then punctured straight through climbing a chimney, something that pretty much wouldn`t happen with softshell. He ended up replacing it with a hardshell from MEC. I put so many holes in my eVent pants that within a season of light use they were functionally useless. I blame the fact that they were made by Lowe Alpine, but it soured me on the efficacy of the fabric. Perhaps things are different on the coast, but in the Canadian rockies softshell still rules.

Westcomb stuff SUCKS! Three of my friends bought Westcomb jackets and all three had to replace them within the year. eVent is a nice idea, but is so paper thin that it serves no function with respect to climbing equipment.

That's actually the first pitch pillar of Bobo Like in minimum of grade 4 condition, and Kevin placed 3 screws because pulling the topout was tough and the ice wasn't great on the pillar. What's "sick" is you making uninformed comments. But I digress, because this is the Yard Sale, not Spray. Oh, you mean there is some WI4 beneath the pillar? Because that pillar is two bodylengths long which =/ WI4 in any conditions.

My mistake, that's Bozeman WI1+!

BTW - I love that you placed not one, but two screws, on that pillar. When in doubt, sew it up!

It'll make you send WI2! Sick!

I took the new quarks out for a spin on the NF of Athabasca this weekend. They swing beautifully and are pretty much the ideal tool for leashless alpine climbing. I am happy with them.

When I have my home computer on the 'net I will upload some of the used picks I have from the last few years, Dane. My Astros from our attempt on Boobquake/Undertow show the typical type of wear from alpine mixed on limestone. I've actually chipped two of them in an odd way. I am stoked that you're thinking asbout producing a proper "Alaska" type pick as I've been thinking about the need for one. Hopefully you're it for making for Petzl tools!

Dane - I still use the Astro. It's the best pick Petzl has designed IMO. It cleans easily and isn't as squirrelly as the Cascade. Also faaaaar better for mixed.

I got my new quarks yesterday. They seem very light compared to the nomic, the bump-up/trig-rest is going to break during the season IMO, but overall the tools are pretty friggin sweet and will make an excellent alpine rig. I had the older quarks and have nomics and these new quarks are definitely an improvement on the older model. The astro picks are still the best ones for the nomics IMO. The new ICE pick has teeth that aren't sharp for hooking which is silly.

Don't buy Kayland boots. The quality sucks and they have a shite warranty.

PM sent.

Saskatchewan is way longer but much much less objectively hazardous.

The arcteryx R300 weighs the same and has none of the sketch factor.

I was the first person to climb Curtain Call this year and it took the better part of two hours (or longer!) to do the first pitch. There was a ton of cleaning and I had to think through the moves as well as the pro. I went back and climbed the same pitch twice more as a second (the leader took 1:30ish) both times and it was considerably easier then the first time seeing as we had solid hooks, no cleaning, and knowledge of where to place the gear. I then went back and lead the first pitch in ~1:15-30 in solid WI6 shape. The second pitch was in WI5 shape this year and took no longer than 45mins both times I lead it. So not two hours per pitch Dane, just the first, and only the first time I climbed it this year. The funny thing is that coming off of that two hour lead, I felt amazing. It felt like I had been climbing WI2 the whole time and I wasn't tired, sore or pumped. Just amped to keep moving higher and confident in my ability to comfortably climb the grade. Will (and by association, Dane) are talking out their asses. Leading takes time (apparently that's OK in the alpine though) and a WI5-6 pitch will take as much time as necessary to avoid sketching up the thing. If it takes an hour (or two!) so be it; lead and learn. Perhaps when I've spent as many half hours as Will has leading ice I will also be able to claim that anyone unable to meet my standards should abandon what they're comfortable leading and try something that I think they should climb. It was my right fibula and ruptured MCL in the ankle Dane, not leading, but walking down a snowslope. I guess I should have tried an easier snowslope.

I disagree with Marc's Rule 16, mostly because it is advice about 15 years too late. I also disagree with Dane/Will's point about how much time an ice lead takes. I think that if the leader is in control and comfortable, milking rests and shaking out a lot, a 60m WI6 pitch can take much longer than half an hour. I can see shitty, technical ice taking a long time to work out. It doesn't mean you should go climb WI4, it means that the lead is going to take a bit longer. I understand the point he's making but I don't think it really applies to hard ice as well as he thinks it does.