ropegoat

mtnman- thanks for posting, I am planning to use 0 degree and 30 degree 2 bag combo on west buttress this year (going late season), and was curious about other experiences.

Trip: Mt. Adams - South Spur- the really really long way Date: 5/8/2009 Trip Report: So I wanted to ski this weekend, really really bad, but avy conditions friday/saturday were not promising. Dinomyte (Jon) and Whiski (Chris) were of similar inclinations, phone calls were made, and Adams provided good low danger terrain with the possibility of nice turns. I packed the tele gear, met whiski (with AT gear), and we met Dinomyte (Jon, hoofing it with a snowboard) at the "trailhead", about 6 miles down the road from the actual trailhead. (Dinomyte posted some detailed conditions under the thread on this forum). We started walking up the road at 145, put the skins after 30 minutes of walking, and they stayed on until 11,200ft. Jon got shut down by the thin crust over light powder once we left the road (430am). He encouraged us to head on up, and we took a variation east of the regular route to avoid some obvious avy terrain- we saw debris from a size ~2ish avy likely released on Friday. Took a food break around 7 (~8600'), but kept moving, the length of the day was just sinking in with another 3800' to climb. The snow really shaped up nicely above the lunch counter. We took off the skins for the steeper section under pikers, but the snow was still good for kicking steps. The top of Pikers was a total mess- ice chunk crap everywhere, and the ice chunk crap continued to the true summit. We summitted around 1245 in beautiful blue skies with big puffy clouds. We hung out for about 20 minutes, and just as we were packing up, whiteout conditions rolled in. We couldn't make out the ground from the sky, we couldn't see if the ground was angled or where we might ski. I got one quick window to shoot a bearing to pikers before it really cemented in. Ultimate, we took the skis off and followed our boot track all the way to the snowfield below pikers. Dropping off pikers we dropped below the whiteout, found great snow, and had a blast descending to lunch counter- got there around 300pm and had super beautiful views of St. Helens. Neither of us were familiar with the route and we ended up skiing the wrong snow lead out, but realized our error and hiked west over a bunch of rock bands. The snow below lunch counter was surprisingly hard and windshaped, not much fun to ski. Lower, it turned to complete slush, just glop impossible to turn in. Chris and I briefly lost each other in the snowmobile tracks leading down to the road. We eventually found one another and boogied towards the car. We found a few snow leads we missed in the morning and with just a little walking, ended up skiing to within sight of my van. The packs and boots came off at 645pm. Thanks for a great trip Chris. Jon, props for the help and checking in. All: my camera is still buried somewhere in my smelly gear, I will add photos as soon as I find it- but I wanted to get the info on conditions up. Gear Notes: skins required, Approach Notes: pop tarts for breakfast

you interested in a partner on a pair of board that are only half strapped to his feet? I'm fit to suffer as much as you like, but we ought be wary of avy terrain. I'm also in Ptown and game to ride on your timetable.

Anybody down for doing some conditioning? With the new snow and fresh avy conditions, I'm thinking it's a good weekend for a skinning overnight. I'll be touring on tele gear and mostly just looking to be outside. Anyone have a recommendation for a good place to tour, away from avy terrain? Tatooshes? Goat Rocks? etc. I'll be driving out of Portland either Friday night or Saturday morning. PM or 847 ^% 644 %* 5006

where do you live/where are you driving there from?

mountainboy, where are you leaving from. I could be interested, but am in portland, have a car, but was curious as to your location and logistics.

John, You want to go hit one of those great routes this weekend???

John inspires the rest of us to get the fuck off the couch. I only hope my trip north goes so well as that. Props John- Way to get it done right!

Big THANKS to whomever put that on- that prevents me from screwing it up (again). Someone took note of the fact that I started this post with "I've never placed a bolt before..."- might have indicated I was not the best person to be doing so. Billcoe- tsk tsk, that looks like a serious owwie. Hope that heals up quick. See you out there.

Billcoe- much thanks for putting the supplies there, I will bring my own torquewrench and loctite. Sorry I haven't been out there recently- stupid professional exams get in the way of climbing... hoping to get it done this Monday. Many apologies to everyone eagerly awaiting it's installation

Props dude, well done. I had beautiful skiing off the summit on Sunday (along with half of the population of the Portland metro area), nice to know someone found some solitude out there.

elliot- I was thining about my situation, and decided to buy a plane ticket. Got a roundtrip from PDX to ANC that fits my needs perfectly for $530. Sorry I couldn't help- but the time was the biggest factor. I'm stuck in a "career" job, so the time is worth more than the money, and my boss already wants to kill me for taking 24 days off. hopefully you can find someone to ride, that would be hella fun.

All- After talking to my partners I realized I reference the wrong route. We were actually on House of Pain, which is quite removed from Masterpiece. My fault to all- everything else stands the title was intentionally not titled "popped nut" cause I knew all you perverts out there would go nuts. Billcoe- thanks for the great info, I'll try to replace it this weekend. 112- yes, thanks for the grammatical correction, I'm not actually as dumb as a type, but I also don't spend all day thinking about the phrasing of my cc.com posts. (joking). Pink- it's clearly Bush's fault, blame is well placed.

hey all, was at Ozone last Saturday (took a while to post this), and climbed Masterpiece Theater (just talked to the partners we were on House of Pain) as part of the day. As we were cleaning, I helf the rap line under tension so my partner could clean the bolts under the small roof, and as he grabbed the draw on the first bolt, the nut popped off. Bolt still in the wall, hanger now on the biner. The hanger looked new, and the bolt seemed solid as we clipped it. while you don't really really NEED the very first bolt, I thought it was nice the the FA party put one there... so spare the commentary on how over bolted Ozone is- I know, I don't care, I just want a straight answer. I've never placed a bolt, so I don't really know the protocol for this sort of thing, but currently the hanger is missing, and I feel responsible for it. I'm happy to replace it, but don't want to do a crappy job, who should I talk to/how should I replace this? What's the standard size for a nut out there (or do I wander out with a whole selection)? Is it kosher to just put a new hanger and new nut on the existing bolt? Thanks

I've flow with a full trad rack several times. The guys at PDX just laugh and tell me to have fun. In San Diego, I had to sit in the detention area while the TSA person did a chemical swab test on every single piece that had a wire... (nuts, cams, and wired hexes, but not tricams or slung hexes). You'll get all types, but I've never actually had stuff impounded or my flight status denied. I did get fined $250 for having signal flares in my CHECKED bag when flying out for a solo trip. Carry on is the way to go- United lost my buddy's bag with a full trad rack in it, and gave him a check for $400. He figured the rack was worth about $1500.

When are you thinking of going? I need to be in Talkeetna by June 26th, coming from Portland. I can fly, but if driving is cheaper, I'd want to drive like hell- minimum time from Portland to Talkeetna- how fast would you be interested in doing it?

I'm headed up from Portland to St. Helens Friday night to ski Saturday if anyone is interested in splitting gas. Could go Sunday too if the weather looks better then. Thinking to crash in the back of my van and go for it in one day. PM me.

Burglar- I was thinking of heading up to give it a shot this weekend. I'm in Portland as well, are you interested in splitting gas? I'm free either day this weekend.

Stewster et al, I'm just getting into backcountry tele, and am in Portland. Would love to get turns every weekend possible. Goin to Denali in June and must train. Goat Rocks, Hood, Jefferson, wherever. I have basic avy training, car, gear, and solid roped travel skills. Drop me a PM.

Jay- we should hit it by bike... in a few months. But really- if anyone is down for the ski in approach, I'm game to hit it anytime. PM me.

I forgot to include that my final opinion is also to put the pulley at point 2, even though point 2 and 3 might be the same, I think that with rope stretch and other effects (ropes rubbing against each other in your system, possibility of not having something set right, etc.) this makes the most sense. Anyone in the PDX area and want to go play with this sometime on hood or somewhere?

Connally's point makes sense in the traditional z pulley case, but not in the case of a drop pulley. The tradeoff is the between the point that sees the most rope travel versus the point that sees the most stress. Energy (aka work) = force * distance In the case of the pulley, force is: (tension across the pulley) * (friction coefficient) so: energy = (tension)*(friction)*(distance of rope) the tension across the pulley is 2 times the tension on each strand (the force in each strand running through the pulley is equal and must oppose the load on the opposite side of the pulley) we get a 6:1 advantage in this system, meaning we have 1/6 the load on each strand, also, the tension across pulley 3 = the total load, the tension across pulley 1 and pulley 2 are both 1/3 the load. for every 1 foot the victim moves up, you pull 2 feet through point 3, 4 feet through point 1 and 6 feet through point 2. Mark hits it on the head: so if you put the pulley at point 3, the energy lost is 2*load*coefficient if you put the pulley at point 2, the energy lost is 6* (1/3) the load*coefficient thus these two placements are equivalent. You want your worst pulley at point 1, because it only sees 4/3*load*coefficient Catbird: your logic is right, but it's important to consider how much rope passes through each point, that's the difference between force exerted and energy expended. You can exert more force, but you have to balance that with your endurance. I prefer to look at system w/rt the total energy expended. If this were a traditional Z pulley, the full load hangs from point 3, the tension across the pulley at point 1 is 2/3 the load, and the energy lost is 4/3, while the energy lost at point 2 is 2*load*coefficient. David: unless your rope is sliding across the pulley surface without rotating the wheel (usually this wears a flat spot on your pulley), only the friction in the bearing of the pulley matters. I've definitely worn flat spots in two SMC pulleys- have you had this happen to you a lot? Also, the tension across pulley three MUST bear 100% of the load, otherwise the system would not be balanced.

Shortstow, I'm in PDX. Want to go take a look tomorrow? I was thinking about taking a look at either St. Helens or Adams. Totally guessing, it'd be an adventure. Really just looking to split gas with someone in that direction

I'd plug for another gym on the east side. I know a lot of people who come down from NoPo and the Couv for PRG. Which side of the river is huge for me, and I would put props to rmncwntr above that the eastside is the underserved area. I actually don't mind PRG that much, but the lack of natural features and 3D climbing (chimneys, aretes, arches) is a little lacking. Supporting a few aid lines would be super sweet- exactly, warm and dry place to practice systems.

I guess I had to do this at some point, proves I exist or something.