bar-tacked

Thanks Alex, yes, I use tape and it helps quite a bit. I don't usually have problems with perfect hand jam or perfect fingers (although my footwork is indeed much worse when cracks get thin), it's all the other stuff (mostly very thin hands and fist) which gets me. I remember when I was just starting I managed to make even perfect hand jam quite painful, and that somehow resolved itself over time, so I was wondering if it's the same for other crack sizes.

I’m not necessarily new to crack climbing and I’ve done my share of easy crack climbs, but as I’m trying to progress into harder climbs where significant portion of one’s weight needs to be placed on hands, I find this incredibly painful, to the extent that often dealing with pain is the hardest part of the climb (as opposed to e.g. getting pumped) As an example, I tried Pisces at Index just yesterday and I could easily find quite secure (although thin) jam at the start of the climb, but committing my weight to it just before I could reach a better foothold on the face above the small overhang hurts like hell. So here is my question: is this just a normal nature of things and I just need to learn to deal with pain, or does it simply mean that I’m doing something wrong?

Get a low-profile alpine harness with minimal or no gear loops at all. I use mammut alpine light and find it quite comfortable to wear under a hip belt. I add gear loops/ice clippers to all my packs, so I don't need to carry any gear directly on the harness.

When climbing with people I trust, I frequenty rope up ahead of expected difficulty, but don't place protection just yet. Strictly speaking we'd be much better of not being roped up on the terrain we choose not to protect; We chose to do so simply because it's much easier to start placing pro when going gets hard and you have the rope already on. Otherwise it's very easy to fall victim of "it's just one move, we'll be fine" mentality.

Either way you look at it, eventually you'd end up with a short one, long one, light one, and a few others which are completly unneccessary... For your general mountaineering axe, what you have now seems about right. I wouldn't consider super-light ice axe for your first axe though. They not only bounce of ice, but it's also harder to get them to stick to hard snow pack when self arresting. I own corsa nanotech but only bring it as a "may not need second tool" option, or when rock climbing follows snow approach and I'm really aggressive about minimzing the weight.

Hi All, My old overnight pack is nearing it's end (and I didn't quite like it anyway ) so I'm looking for a reasonable replacement. I'll be taking it for multiday (2-5) day trips, on somewhat technical outings, so I'd like to have a good way to attach rope/tools/crampons/helmet etc and ideally some gear loops or even better a way to attach ice clippers (my BD day pack has nice little slots for these which is awesome) I've been looking into NF Prophet and Osprey Aether (the latter doesn't seem to have gear loops but I guess I can just make some) so if you have any comments / recommendations on these (are any other) packs I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!

Very important thing to consider is the weather. Sounds like your husband really wants to get this mountain done on his terms (time-wise) which tends to lead to poor decision making when deciding to turn around or even start the climb. On a good day, ID or DC may not hold much challenge for many, but that can change very rapidly when the weather turns bad. At the minimum they should make sure they know how to navigate in poor visibility and simply don't even start if the weather is coming in. Also, crevase rescue in a party of two is much harder than in a larger party. It's quite unlikely to fall into crevasse on well-traveled route, but still a possibility (otherwise why even carry a rope?) Finally, one day is hard way to attemt the mountain for the first time. Not only is it not enjoyable (for most) as you're going to feel like puking every step near the summit. Alititude does make a difference, and going in one day to 14k is much different than doing 2 lapses of similar elevation gain in a day, but never exceeding 7-8k

I always thought figure 8 is much more likely to flip? Some random webpage I found on the topic: http://user.xmission.com/~tmoyer/testing/EDK.html

Omega link cams work great for doubling - you can add red + yellow and that will get you covered until a little over #2. If I need to double in #2-#4 range I just bring hexes

I guess with all the time left to the sunset we just got slower toward the end and you left us behind - we departed some time after you cleared the rock step and never caught up with you. We still saw you from the South summit, but that's about it

Also - curious - how did you know to turn left from the gully? Granted, we knew nothing about the route other than more or less where to start, but I'm pretty sure we'd just continue straight up if we didn't follow your tracks

I was one of the 2 guys climbing behind you (really appreciated the steps ). You didn't happen to leave a cam behind, did you? We found one which looked pretty old, but didn't appear stuck or anything, so I thought I'd check.

Just a word of warning and a reminder to not keep anything valuable in the car when parked there - my car got broken into in front of Stone Gardens (Bellevue) yesterday evening. Fortunatelly nothing was stolen (nothing was really there other than a GPS which for some reason the thiefs decided to leave - not sure what they were after, since they clearly took the effort to open all the compartments and break my window in the process).

I took my rack on the plane few times - never had any problems. They will typically make you unpack it fo inspection though (I was explained that it obscures the X-ray so they are concerned not about the rack, but what can be hiding behind it). Since I found out, I always proactively unpack it and just send it through x-ray machine on a separate tray. I think worst case scenario you can always check in your bag (in case they would try to confiscate the whole thing), but I never had to use such option. From what I was told, they see at least few bags with gear a day (at least in Seattle), so it's not like they've never seen climbing gear before...

Looks like a great trip, thanks for the update. Are crampons needed to descend Cascadian or would approach shoes + axe work?

Not sure about the boots, but BD sells extension bars for their crampons, which should make them fit (and can be easily changed for the time of climb even if you have rental crampons). I use them for my Sabertoohs when worn with 13.5 plastics and they seem like they will expand plenty more if needed.

Looks like at already has one angry post below

Does anyone know what's the easiest way to descent from Gib Ledges right now? I can't find any recent conditions update. Looks like Ingraham was pretty thin in late December? Is DC an option or does one need to descent back through ledges? Thanks!

Try this one, it can come handy if you ever forget climbing partner http://www.igkt.net/beginners/solomon-man.php Seriously though, you can try Blake's Hitch (at least I didn't know it)

Anybody knows what the conditions are like on Ouray right now? I'm trying to decide if it's worth going to around next weekend. Are there any good web sites with ice condition updates (the most recent update I found was 3 weeks old )? Thanks!

I find Omega linked cams pretty good as doubles. They cost (and weight) a lot, but they have huge range so you can carry 1 or at most 2 pieces (I carry only #2 in addition to BD set #0.4-#3) and you don't need to guess which size you're going to need. Works, unless you're climbing a lot of cracks which eat only particular size.

Last Sunday (9/28)

I'm looking for some easy/moderate alpine ice climbs which can be climbed so late in the season. I just got into ice climbing (only climbed Observation Rock and spent few days on lower Coleman glacier until now ), and I'd like to get some more practice before the winter...

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08346.html

In case some of you are still wondering about this: http://www.rockandice.com/inthemag.php?id=56&type=tnbeblast It seems a matter of time though, before somebody comes up with something equally crazy for real. Makes me wonder how much the technology can move forward without degrading the nature of climbing... Having said that, if the gear looked the same like 50 years ago, I wouldn't have balls to even start climbing in the first place.