K^2

The first ascent of the year appears to have been gib ledges: linky Conditions on the Muir Snowfield look awful... for a skier.

Fuhrer Finger W Ridge of Stuart Forbidden N ridge of Baker

linky

I agree that isolating muscle groups is very important and effective. However, I would caution against picking one or two exercises for a particular muscle group and doing those same exercises exclusively for that muscle group. A better approach is to have an entire "suite" of isolating exercises for each muscle group that you cycle through to mix up your workouts. Otherwise it is easy to stagnate and not completely develop said muscles. On the biceps theme, here are some isolating exercises I use: 1) standing barbell curl, wide grip 2) standing barbell curl, narrow grip 3) standing barbell curl, reverse grip 4) preacher curl, barbell 5) standing dumbbell curl, supinate 6) standing dumbbell curl, hammer-head 7) seated dumbbell curl, hammer-head 8) seated concentration curl 9) preacher curl, dumbell 10) preacher curl, "nautilus" style machine Typically I pick 3 of these, and do three sets each in a workout. Then the next time I focus on biceps, I swap the set of exercises I do.

Given that I only do one set till burn, what's the upside/downside of working the same muscle group 3 times a week instead of only 2? I've read 48 to 72 hour recovery time minimum, so I went with 48, with a 72 hour rest once a week. I split my body into 3 parts for working out: biceps/triceps chest/back legs/shoulders It works out great this way - can in theory go 6 days on, 1 day off when I am not climbing. Otherwise, I try to go 3 on, 1 off. However I have dropped the legs in lieu of more cardio the last 2 years, and in general rarely do more than 4 weight-training days a week, so the breakdown isn't as useful as it once was.

I think that going to failure is the most important factor. In the 5 to 15 rep range my own take is fewer reps and fewer sets is fine for building strength and makes recovery easier. On lat pull down I use to like to do the following: 1 set of six Rest 3min 1 RM Rest 3 min 1 set to (six max) at a higher weight than first set Rest 1 RM rest 3 min 1 set to (six max) at a higher weight than third set Rest 3 min 1 RM It takes awhile to get the weights right but in general the 1 RM should be of increasing weight. Another practice that is useful for strength building is "pyramid"-ing your sets. Warm up with a weight you can do 10-12 reps, then increase the weight by 5-10 lbs (depends on muscle), go to failure, keep going up until you are at a weight where you can only do 4-6 reps, then start dropping the weight. biceps again 10 reps @ 35 lb 8 reps @ 40 lb 6 reps @ 45 lb 4 reps @ 50 lb 6 reps @ 45 lb 7-8 reps @ 40 lb 9-10 reps @ 35 lb

The way I learned it (and it's worked for me is): 9 sets at 4-6 reps for "bulk". 9 sets at 8-10 reps for "strength". In both cases you must be at failure on the last rep. So to get through 9 sets you may be dropping the weight 5-15 lbs at some point. You rest 3 days between muscle groups and don't do one mucscle more than twice in a week. So, for example, for biceps, I might do 3 sets of 6-8 reps at 45 lb per arm, then drop to 40 lbs for 3 sets, then 37.5 lbs for the last 3. I would do this no more then twice a week. YMMV. Another thing I've tried are supersets where you basically bundle three sets together, rep to failure on the first, drop the weight, rep to failure, drop the weight and rep to failure with no rest - big burn. Then rest 2-3 minutes before you do the next superset.

+1 I have little kids and climb alpine routes. I just tend to be a little on the cautious side, both in terms of route selection and in terms of canceling a trip or bailing if I don't like the weather or conditions.

Quit playin and you die...end o' story.. If yer gonna die, die with your boots on.

Fuhrer Finger: both weekends I set aside had crap weather. Putting it on the list for 2008.

To me it seems that there are some serious mistakes you can easily make rock climbing which will lead to certain, serious injury or death, and less such mistakes on moderate glacier routes. For example: rapelling. Beyond that I'd say the question has more to do with the commitment level of a climb (e.g. grade III and up) than to whether it's rock versus glacier. Once you get up to higher grades on glaciers for example, it seems the margin for error shrinks.

Trip: Alta - S. Ridge Date: 11/23/2007 Trip Report: With the nice weather, C., L. and I decided to head out on a snowshoe this Friday. A crack of dawn start was not in the cards for me with in-laws over, and the overindulgence of food and drink that comes with the territory. We met in Issaquah at 8 and headed up to the Rachel Lake TH. Not far up from the turnoff into the snow park, we hit snow, which deepened and became hard and icy in the tire ruts. We were grateful to have C's 4 wheel drive. Also, we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of snow at this elevation (well under 3000 ft), expecting bare trail at the TH and on up. Certainly you'd not guess this amount of snow based on the drive up I-90. We got to Rachel Lake TH at about 9:40, and saw just one car - a subaru - which impressed us based on the deep powder at the TH. We never saw the occupants of the car, which was gone when we returned. The temps were hella cold... definitely low 20's if not colder. We all kept a jacket on, and put on snowshoes. It was foggy here although the drive in had been sunny. The trail had about 6-12 inches of powder most of the way up to Rachel lake. There were a few bare spots here and there, and some nasty ice, including over two stream crossings. We saw two wonderful, partially-frozen waterfalls. I kept snowshoes on the whole time, and winced with every scrape or creak on the intermittent bare dirt or rock. L. took off his snowshoes and found the going a bit tougher - fell once and banged his knee. Rachel Lake was partially frozen. Still hella cold, but better in the sun which was hitting us now that we were above the low-lying fog layer. We quickly ascended the trail to gain the ridge above Rachel lake, and broke trail through mostly deep powder upwards. After an hour we saw our objective... or so we thought. Up ahead was am obvious prominence at about the right elevation. Soon we were upon it, but a tree grove was in our way. We opted to drop down a bit on the E. side of the ridge to traverse maybe 100 meters, which was a bit exposed and nasty on snowshoes. I wished I had my ice axe out instead of trekking poles. Then we were within 60 feet of the summit. The slope was steeper and a bit icy. So we switched to crampons and ice axes and topped out. It was 2 pm. Oops. Not the summit yet. We were at 6100 feet or so. Summit was about 1/2 mile away and 150 feet higher. Took some compass readings on Lila lakes and Hibox to verify. It was a nice spot - good views, sun up, daylight wouldn't be around much longer. I voted to stop there. C. and L. had summit fever and went on. I plopped down, ate, drank and enjoyed the views, and watched my partners tag the actual summit and return in about 1 hr and 20 min. They reported an easy ridge run with one steep nasty exposed part at the end. Don't fall. They kept their crampons on. We quickly hauled ass down to Rachel lake to keep as much daylight as we could. After our last gear change we headed down at 4:15. It soon got dark. Headlamps on, and time for the icy parts. L. and C. wore crampons the whole way down - I just had boots and trekking poles. I kept up just fine, but slipped once, and my trekking pole broke in two (time for an exchange at REI). We got back to the car at 6:15. A good way to work off the Thanksgiving glutton-fest. Gear Notes: ice axe, crampons, snowshoes. Approach Notes: 1 foot of powder at trailhead. Nasty icy patches at several spots, including stream crossings under waterfalls.