psychobikere

Awesome video! As a fellow Pittsburgh native, it's great to see others getting out and having adventures. If any of you ever make it to Oregon, you have a place to stay. Good luck with the contest, I voted for you!

Personally, I think the Vertical Limit drinking game hit the nail on the head. I own Touching the Void, and have yet to make it through the whole thing without falling asleep.

They were definitely wearing wetsuits. For sure. I'll ask tonight and get back to you on the other stuff.

My friends just did it yesterday. They had a blast. They just jumped all the waterfalls, and rapped the last big one. They had a 70m, and still had to rap off the end into the pool. Go get it!

I am assuming that will be enough extra distance to cover for rope stretch also?? Are there any advantages to one type of cord over another? Thanks.

Call me ignorant, but up until now I have always climbed on single ropes and brought a second rope for raps. I am considering trying this system out and getting a skinny line in lieu of the second rope. Anyone have any specific suggestions for a skinny rap line?

Thanks for all of the feedback. I 100% agree that it is an issue of fit. I am looking for other packs to try, in an attempt to find a brand/style that DOES fit me well. Unfortunately, I live in Corvallis, OR where there are not many places to get fitted for a pack. The other issue is that whenever I do have time to travel to a good store (weekends), I would rather be out in the hills than sitting in a store in front of 15 different packs trying to decide which one would be best for me... I am heading to the enchantments tonight with my Direttissima and a Marmot Kompressor pack (little lightweight thing). I will see how that setup works for me.

Was there this weekend. Lakes and the park are melted out. Still snow left in the trees once you hit the PCT (we came from the Whitewater TH). Mostly patchy though, and nothing that was even mildy bad in approach shoes. That was my first time up there - so beautiful!

So I have been considering going the route of bringing along a separate small climbing pack. I have just been using my Cilo 30L for climbing with, but it is overkill to carry that in with a larger capacity pack. The Cilo 20L packs look pretty cool though. Maybe I will check out some of those small lightweight packs. No problem skibum. I am definitely not new to buying packs, or climbing for that matter, but I think it is always good to hear what works for other people. With all of the innovation going on these days, I wonder if I am missing out on something by being too narrow-minded. With that said though, my favorite packs have always been the most simple ones, so I don't really know where that leaves me...

Thanks guys. So I have owned an Osprey Variant 52 that I thought I was going to be very happy with. However, I found that the frame folding over on itself at the hipbelt with a heavier load (30-40 lbs). I think this is because it just didn't fit me well (duh). That seems to be the only pack Osprey makes that has the features I like (proper ice tool attachments, not a lot of outside extras, removeable hipbelt and frame, etc...). I have also owned a Cilogear 45L. I found that this never carried right for me either. This has bugged me because I LOVE my 30L, and really dig their design concept. However, this may be a total fluke because I have reason to believe that I was shipped the wrong size pack, and I am just stupid enough to not have realized it for a whole summer. So because of that experience, I am both tempted to try another Cilo, but also worried that I may have the exact same problem. Not to mention the prices have gone up since I last purchased a pack from them...That dyneema is sweet but I am not badass enough to be the fast and light alpine climber complete with the $1000 white pack.

I am in the middle of looking to purchase a new pack, and figured I would see if anyone here had any suggestions. I currently use a Cilo 30L for just about everything I do, but am looking for something bigger for slightly longer/more gear intensive trips. I would like a bag that can fit a tent, sleeping bag, pad, stove, etc..., a full rack, a rope, and enough clothing and food for 3-5 days. I will be making two trips to the enchantments soon, where we will hike in and set up base camp for 4 days each time, and run around and climb routes each day. Ideally I am looking for a pack that can cary all of my gear into camp, and then strip down to be able to use on the day-long excursions. Currently I have a MH Direttissima, but it carries like shit for me and I am looking for a replacement. So what does everyone else use for these types of trips? I am thinking something in the 45L-65L range. The Black Diamond Speed 50 and the North Face Prophet 52 both look interesting to me, but I have zero experience with either one. Would be great to get some opinions as to where I should be looking, and then I will go from there and try them on to see what fits me best. I also tend to be characterized by the slow and light style. I hate carrying extra junk. So something with a zillion pockets all over the place is going to be useless for me. Thanks!

Pleeease let it be a yellow helmet. With a big ol' Mickey's sticker on the front. Probably well downriver by now though....

It happened at Ozone, I was there climbing yesterday on the eastern end, and the accident apparently happened toward the western end. It was only my second time there, so I can't give any specifics about exactly where it happened. We were oblivious to anything having happened, along with another party who were climbing near us. It wasn't until we got up to the lot that we saw all of the police/fire/SAR vehicles and personnel. We had heard nothing suspicious all day, and thought that maybe they were doing some sort of training exercise. We ran into some other climbers at the store right after, who were the first to respond to the accident. Apparently it was a random rockfall that struck a climber in the head, knocking them unconscious. This caused them to take a fall. I'm not clear on whether it was the leader or belayer who was struck, but believe it was the leader. The two climbers I spoke to at the store said that the victim was stable whenever they left. This is all second hand knowledge, and the conversation I had with them was after climbing all day in 90 degree heat during a beer run, so take that as you may. I am positive though the accident was caused by a rockfall strike to the head. NO I don't know whether or not he/she was wearing a helmet. I've climbed long enough to be around more than a few of these kinds of accidents, but this was the first time that something happened so close to me while climbing and I had no idea. It was pretty surreal for my partner and I to hear about it after the fact. Be careful out there.

As I remember, the "crux" piece that was actually solid was a red camalot.

Awesome, sounds like you guys had a great time! I want to see the mud footage though.

Thanks Dane! Yeah I'm not too worried anymore. I just thought it was sort of an obvious thing that I couldn't find much discussion on so I thought I'd throw it out there.

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm going to give BD a call tomorrow and see what I can learn. I'm sure my 150lbs doesn't put the tools anywhere near the stress levels that BD's testing does, but I'd like to hear what they have to say. I'll post whenever I get in touch with someone.

That's good to hear about the curb test. That's kind of what I was hoping to hear. My knowledge of carbon fiber is also limited to bike frames, which is why I have been worried about my tools. But Dane, if I understand you correctly, you are saying that the shaft on the cobras is NOT hollow? I was under the impression that it is...

Thanks Bob. I do have some gouges in the tools, the worst being shown in the top picture. I am just pretty surprised, because I don't do much mixed climbing at all. Needless to say though, the thought of retiring a set of $600+ tools after one year is a little too much for me.

So how much scratching/chipping is too much? I have only used these tools for one season, and they seem to have shown a lot of wear. I don't have much experience with other carbon fiber tools, but I know that if my carbon fiber bikes looked this bad, I would think twice about riding them. Should I be concerned about this? Or do my tools look like everyone else's?

No one knows how often this climb comes in? It could be the most popular climb around, or unclimbed, and I wouldn't know the difference. I'm new to the area...

Trip: Big Four Mountain - Dry Creek Ice Climbing Date: 12/13/2009 Trip Report: After spending Friday ice cragging in the Gorge near Portland, my friend Forrest and I decided to flee the coming ice storms and head up to Big Four mountain. The recent TR from there was really motivating, so we decided to go check out the north face for ourselves. The plan was to head up through the Dry Creek drainage to access the upper north face. We got a too late start however on Sunday morning, and found ourselves at the base of Dry Creek at dawn. After scoping out a few lines, we decided on the obvious large ice flow to the left. The pictures are very foreshortened. Due to the late time in the day and the coming snow, we decided to forgo the summit and follow the ice as far is it would take us. We found mostly wet ice, with quite a bit of running water behind it. There were quite a few thin sections, but mainly good sticks. The ice was soft enough in most spots to make screws seem like more of a formality than anything. We ended up climbing 7 or 8 pitches with some simulclimbing on moderate terrain up high. The first few pitches were the steepest. This is only my 3rd season ice climbing, and my first outside of New Hampshire, but I would put the grade somewhere around WI3/4. Teh snow began in the late morning as flurries, and came down heavier throughout the day. I can't say enough about how beautiful it was. We downclimbed most of the route, and made two 60m raps at the end. The climb was a great consolation prize for not being able to go for the north face. We both walked away (in the dark through waaayy too much alder) feeling super stoked, and wanting more. This was the first time I have ever climbed a big ice line without any prior knowledge of the route. It was a great experience for both of us, and left us wondering more about it. Does anyone know how often it comes in? Grades? I know the mountain is in great condition right now, but I'm sure many have come before us. There were also at least 4 or 5 other very obvious lines which looked super fun, also in the WI4 range. None seemed to be as long and sustained however as the one we chose. Sorry I don't have more pictures, but Forrest was making use of a digital video camera rented from OSU, so hopefully we can post some of that up once he gets it downloaded. Gear Notes: 8 screws, picket Approach Notes: Tightrope as many downed trees as possible.

we ended up bagging our trip on account of a bad forecast. looks like that was the wrooong call, judging from JoeMack's photos. I headed up to the sun in WA though and discovered the heavenly place that is the alpine lakes wilderness....

A few of us are planning on attempting the Jeff Park Glacier route this weekend for the first time, and I'm wondering if anyone has been up it recently. Any idea how far up 2243 is driveable? What the glacier and ridge are looking like? Any info is much appreciated. Thanks!

yeah, i knew there was going to be a sh*t ton of snow, i'm just getting desperate to get out and climb something. i'm stuck here on the coast and haven't even had any decent surf... figured maybe the north ridge would be safer with all of the snow. if anyone has any suggestions for doable climbs right now i'm all ears...