cbcbd

When they first came out with that glove I loved them. Went out and bought a second pair. But... Both pairs that I had started to unstitch along the tip of the index fingers. When this happened, a string of material would be exposed as a loop that would then start catching on biner noses and get clipped randomly. This was all from regular ice climbing use on pure ice routes. Anyway, both pairs are now sitting in my car's trunk and are the designated car work gloves - both are sporting busted open index and middle fingers. No wonder they discontinued those gloves - a shame since I liked the padding on the back and the weight of the glove. I second these and my buddy would third them as he's also looking to get a pair. Got them to replace my other busted ORs. They are great for climbing in real cold. They do get soaked easily, though, so I always climb with some BD Senseis in my jacket for belays and stash the Extraverts in my pits to warm them for the pitch. So far so good, even after some glove-wringing pitches. Another glove that I just got that am trying out and so far digging (for alpine) is the Marmot Exum. http://marmot.com/fall_2008/mens/gloves/work_gloves/exum_work_glove

I don't see a "plastic" option, wtf??

Icy BC P1 P3 Last Honeyman Honeyman Mixed Loose Lady Rambles center Honeyman vid [video:youtube]

Didn't, but judging from the snow we saw last weekend up to the Tilly Jane cabin at 6K something... the snowpack is solid and old. It seriously looked like June or July on the tilly ski trail - just dirty and icy snow. You might have 6" of new from the last week.

Hell yeah! Now I owe Kevin (quasi) a nice glory shot. No lugging. Quasi took no pad/no bag to the hut. I took a pad, no bag. flatnose brought bag/pad/stove and coincidentally his buddy was up at the hut and agreed to take his stuff down with him. And talking of crap stolen... the group from last week had some stuff missing when they went back to fetch.

and they have no fine swear words, epic-ness or graphic photos to contribute?!? Fuck yeah, check TR section.

Trip: Hood - North Face Date: 2/8/2009 Trip Report: To get it while the getting is good, quasimoto, flatnose, and I headed up the right gully of Hood's NE aspect (aka North Face). For those looking to stay at Tilly Jane on a weekend night... do yourself a favor and bring freakin earplugs and lots of beer to knock you out. 10pm excited yelps and screams, dueling recorders playing various movie theme songs, and impromptu steel drum jams were the crux of our short night. Left Tilly at 2:40am... some new snow fell between the last report and us. We got to the shrund at around 6-6:30... had some fun getting through on the left side and then wallowing to the base of the first ice pitch. The first couple ice pitches are easy snice with no pro... but who needs them there anyway. The last ice pitch was fun easy AI3 with plenty of pro if needed. Top section was soft thunker AI lightly covered in snow for most of it. The snow gully sections included much wallowing in unconsolidated powder on top of hardish ice. Some sections of neve but not that many. Took a little longer than expected, on summit at around 1:30-2pm. In the end it was a real calf-burner, with calf-saving step-kicking neve being replaced by front and side-pointing snice. Quasi and flatn did a damn fine effort breaking trail up the face. We descended on the South - inf, from last week's report, had told us they were downclimbing blue ice on the South. This week we were downclimbing blue ice covered by 4-6" of snow. There were poking and hidden blue ice bulges all the way down to the top of the Palmer lift - made for a great game of "roll your ankle unexpectedly with every step". Wallow wallow Gear Notes: 5 screws (could've done with 3), 2 pickets (used both), 2 pins (used but not needed). Approach Notes: Icy up to Tilly Jane, neve up to the base of shrund, wallowing snow to base of gully.

I agree with taking a day lesson and spending time at the resort. I also prefer touring and would rather not to have to pay to ski but the only way to get good at skiing is to get the mileage in at a resort. If you want to practice on variable conditions then don't be picky about your skiing days... of course easier to stomach if you have a pass somewhere. But still, this doesn't mean that you can't get out there on smaller and easier tours and build from that. Nothing wrong with doing a "blue" BC tour. But still... if you really want to get good at skiing it's all about the mileage.

I think it took my friend a little less than a month and that was with spending some good days hanging out at all the towns along the way. Not sure of any records. No permit required. You need to take your passport with you if you plan on returning to the US.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dougseitz/NorthTwinSister111508#5269806944325489538 http://picasaweb.google.com/dougseitz/SahaleAttempt112308#5274648947154989986 http://picasaweb.google.com/dougseitz/Eldorado91408#5267512860345510466

Ya'll enjoy the ice. http://neice.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/4863

Not gonna argue against getting more gear, if you can, but just a reminder that along the equator the seasons don't change too much temperature-wise. It's more like rainy season/dry season. Most of the big peaks have huts right at the base and don't usually require multiple overnights in the elements - so it's easier to use leathers and be able to dry them. But this is just Ecuador... I can't speak for Peru/Patagonia, etc...

The weather in Ecuador is pretty mild. On Chimborazo I had a baselayer and a shell and that worked fine. One of the guys had his Nepal Evos, at the time I had Degres. I think you should be fine with the Evos down there.

Hey Kurt, I will be back East for most of Jan. Don't really know what my schedule will be like but I'm taking my ice gear (some of it) with me. I'll get in touch if I'm looking to climb.

Nothing life threatening, just day bumming... Early winter back East, a guy posts on NEice looking for a partner for a day of ice climbing in the Catskills. The season already had a lateish start so I desperately bite. We'll call him Trevor. After a 2hr drive I meet up with Trevor about 30min from the trailhead to Bridal Veil falls and we carpool the rest of the way. On the drive over he talks lots... regales me with tales of climbing 5.12s, putting up new bouldering problems back in the day in CA, getting his knee stuck in some problem and having a hard time coming free, dating some crazy over-dependent bipolar woman from Florida... anyway, from the sound of it all he seemed like he had climbed much rock in the past (he was in his 40s) and just started getting into ice. The fact that he chases unstable women... well, who am I to judge. So after our little chat I sort of assume that I'll probably be doing the leading. Although I had just started leading the previous season I felt pretty confident doing so now and he seemed to be just getting into it. We didn't explicitly discuss, but I guess we should've. After a short 40min walk/bushwack we get to the base of the lower section of the climb and now Trevor is getting very excited - "Wow, that is just beautiful. Gorgeous! I just want to climb it right now" He starts gearing up real fast... too fast and now he's already got his tools out, has his screws racked, is tied in to the sharp end and is rearing to go... Odd, I thought I was leading - well, who am I to argue with this very excited man. Anyway, low commitment, first pitch is short... let's go. Trevor starts bashing up the first 15-20ft shelf. By his technique he's looking like he maybe needed another day of intro to ice. He stops at about 4' from the ground and says he's putting in a screw... fine. I notice that he failed to find some obvious good feet placements to cop out a good rest for placing the screw and then he proceeds to try to place it right above his head - oh man. Trev- "I can't get it to bite!" - yeah, we know me- "Try to place it near your hip, so you can get some leverage into it" Trev - ignores me, proceeds to reach out to the left with arm fully outstretched at head level... tries to put the screw in there. Trev - "I can't get it in. I'm getting pumped, I'm coming down" Good, he was already getting the Elvis legs anyway. Anyway, he starts his downclimbing sequence, which involved leaving his tools placed high where they were and first moving his feet as far down as he could. Did I mention he was leashless? How one would manage to remove their tools from high up when full stretched on the tips of their frontpoints we'll never know and we didn't find out because at that point his feet skated out and he lost his grip on the tools. He fell maybe 4' onto the sloping base of the climb and slid off to the side, laughing. For a second I thought he was fine, would get up and I'd lead the rest of the day. Well, he was laughing... I asked if he was ok (expecting a broken ankle/foot/something), he said he was... until he tried to stand up and couldn't put weight on his right foot - dang. So anyway, his tools were still stuck up on the ice and his consolation was "I can belay you up the first pitch if you want to climb it". Well, that's fine, but the longer and more fun part of the falls was the next pitch. So I led up, threw his tools down. Rappelled down to him and we called it a day since he obviously had broken something. We hobbled out slowly and he told me more about that girl he somehow was still attached to... mentioned something about wanting to write a story about it. So yeah... 5hrs driving for 20' of ice... kinda still worth it

Are the crevasses open on Ruth right now, though? There is a campsite on the right before ascending toward Hannegan pass. Also, another good option is to head up towards the Easton Glacier on Baker. From the Schriebers Meadows trailhead in a few miles cross the creek then start switchbacking up this very flat well graded trail... when you crest out of the trees and now see Baker you might see some snow right there. If not, you can keep heading uphill from there or just hop on the railroad grade (dirt/grassy ridge to the right). Keep going up and camp on the left wherever you see snow. There is a camping spot shortly on the left with a sign with views out to the sound. You can pretty much keep going up higher for a while with camping options on the left without getting on the glacier on the right. I hear ya on the lack of snow (and cold temps) at city level...

Dan, hard to tell... this is the zoomiest pic taken. Downloading the full size might give more clues http://picasaweb.google.com/dougseitz/NorthTwinSister111508#5269807141733924594

Anyone interested or around? thanks, Doug

Looking to get on the Cosley-Houston Sat or Sunday this weekend. I can lead, we can swap, whatever... let me know... 203-300-7765 Doug

I didn't say that they did. I was comparing screws of different lengths with the same number of threads - meaning 13cm and up

Actually BD's 13cm screw has more threads than the 22. So it should hold more. But, every test has shown this to be false. It's all about the quality of the ice. Assuming that the quality of the ice is the same (ie. good) throughout, the threads "should" hold the same. Craig Luebben's How to Ice Climb book has a good chapter on screws and tests. Even in controlled conditions there were huge variances in results. eg. in 17 tests with 10cm stubbies (which definitively have less threads then the rest) they held between 300-4100lbs - ice is variable and a gamble - you just gotta try your best with getting good gear in and just not fall. I took a pic of my older 22 BD express, older 16 BD turbo, and new gen 13 BD Turbo. I am not sure if they changed the new 22cm screws, but the threads on all 3 were the same:

I have the G14s and M10s. I prefer the M10s - for one, I think the secondary points stick out further than on the G14s. Another - you can configure the front points on the M10s in more different positions than on the G14s. Also, I do recall getting anti-balling plates with my M10s - I got them as the recall replacement for my Sarkens, so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. If you don't mind not having the mono point option I'd consider the Petzl Dartwins or Sarkens - I really dug the Sarkens for most everything and will be getting a set of the new ones this year.

Haven't fallen on a screw and don't plan on doing it, but I do know that the strength comes from the threads and that a 22cm screw has the same holding strength as a 13cm because they both have the same number of threads. You use longer screws just to get to "better" ice deeper in the surface. But longer screws do hold your head at peace more than shorter screws.

hey goat, It took a lot less time than we expected to go from Mesahchie col, drop to the glacier, walk around Cub peak, climb up the ice fall and up the couloir to the ridge. We were taking it easy and it took about 2h 30m from col to the top of the ridge. Sorry, no pics from me of the route before the ridge, we topped out at 6:30am so it was dark through the ice fall/couloir section. Some good pics of it here: http://www.summitpost.org/route/160438/mesahchie-icefall-couloir.html

Trip: Mesahchie - Icefall and couloir Date: 10/19/2008 Trip Report: z-man and I hiked in on Saturday to the bivy basin and got an early start Sunday on the route. The neve was firm, the weather just cold enough, and the snow continuous. After topping out on the couloir, the gully systems heading up were mostly covered with snow, with rock steps here and there. After a nice (but after we looked down on it, probably unnecessary if you went around on climber's right) rock pitch lead by the man to the top of the last false summit we agreed to current satisfaction and decided to start making our way down. In all, very fun route and perfect conditions. (click pics for bigger version) rest of pics: http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showgallery.php?cat=500&page=1&ppuser=15545 Gear Notes: 3 screws, few nuts, few tricams, 1 cam. Approach Notes: Go up the grassy slope from Easy Pass to 7000ft and start traversing.