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Who said it was supposed to be fun? Yeah, I've pulled the Dulfersitz out many times, but not much during the summer time, so I'm usually wearing some slippery g-tex pants. If you turn sideways the rope will rest more on the side of your leg, stabilizing you and getting some pressure off your balls. Like I said, it's nice for days where you aren't planning on doing any prolonged climbing or rappelling - just take a short rope and you're all set. Have you ever done a Dulfersitz???? sure in a pinch i would do it, but never for fun. I mean if you like friction burns on your crotch and shoulders, and burning holes in your gear, than ya go for it.... I practiced it once, and i couldnt decide between having my ass on fire, or all of my weight on my balls.

Another way I use to increase friction: When using a runner girth hitched to your belay loop with the belay device at the end - clip a biner to your belay loop and run the rappel ropes through that and break "up". If you need to add more friction just clip another biner to your belay device biner and run the ropes through that and now you are breaking "down" and have put 2 more bends in the rope = tons of friction. Another rappel setup tip: Girth hitch a runner to your belay loop. Tie an overhand in the middle of it. Clip your belay device to the loop in the runner closer to you, clip a locking biner for anchoring to the top loop. Lean back on that, setup your rappel, when ready just unclip the top biner from the anchor - use the same biner to clip at the next anchor before going off rappel. Dulfersitz: For light days where you might get cliffed out and have to rappel but are not planning on pitching anything out with protection - leave the harness, take some anchor building materials (slings, biners, rings, webbing...), and a rope. Learn the Dulfersitz. Even if you might need to use the rope for protection just tie it around your waist and use the terrain for protection and for belaying.

I'd give it to your second to wear or carry or just lead with doubles or as doubles. Trailing the rope I'd be worried of getting it stuck in one of the many crevices around - the route sort of wanders a little from column to column, so that probably ads to the spice of a loose rope. On a weekend, get there very early. When I was there we were spoiled from the weekday climbing and got there too late on a Saturday - 4 parties already on it... one, a party of 7. They were shuttling people up the approach pitch. Hauling water? Just wear a small pack with some water and snacks if you're worried. Routes on the tower aren't that long - 4 pitches at the most, IIRC. It is an amazing area, have fun!

First mistake was not trying on the boots with the insoles you are planning on using. My Nepals are too tight with my Sole's, which I use with every other shoe I have, but the sizing is perfect with Shockdoctors. You could try the Blue Superfeet or Green Superfeet. The Blue are the thinnest, the Green have a little more cushioning. The Orange are thicker than both because they have the padded forefoot area. One thing you could also try is messing around with sock thickness. I played with 3 different insoles and 2 sock thicknesses (I use Smartwool skiing socks with my Nepals) to find the perfect fit for my heel and my toes.

Ha! nice

Agreed, I know take a Petzl E-lite as the backup instead of extra batteries. Figure it beats trying to switch AAA batteries in the dark with gloves on.

Replace your pack's foam backing/frame sheet/stays with your sleeping pad. I have a T-rest Prolite 4 3/4 length that fits perfectly into most of my packs - takes about the same space, stays out of the way, pads the back, and is there in case I need it.

all right, I guess I'll be hitting up this site and wci and bugging the hell of the locals here for a good introduction to some ice. I'm not worried about my favorite sliding activity and will make sure to start a laundry list of alpine climbs with some ice runnels to play in... looking forward to some good times. I don't mind repeating classics - the beauty of ice, it's never the same twice.

I use Quarks and Nomics. Just got the Nomics a couple weeks ago... love the Nomics for the steep ice. Like Dane, I'm sure I'll be convincing myself to take the Nomics on alpine stuff. But for now they are too new and I'm protecting them, meanwhile bashing the hell of my Quarks on the chossy stuff

Sweet, I feel better now.

I'm moving to Seattle in June and just want to hear some reassuring words from out there that there is ice to be climbed. I know I'm spoiled in the NEast with 10 minute approaches to a plethora of fat ice climbing... I'm also not opposed to driving up to 5hours for ice, since that is what I usually do now. I'm pretty sure next winter I'll hanging out here a lot too. So, what's the good word?

Unfortunately there is no 100% way to be seen and cared for by motorists. Fortunately I grew up in a place where pedestrians don't have a right of way and if you think you do then you are dead. I carry the same mentality on the streets in town - I never trust that cars will see me and actually care to not hit me and always make a point to look after myself. One thing you can do is to run around intersections or entrances - I don't mean run around the block, I just mean that if you approach an entrance or intersection make a half moon around it - not necessarily crossing at the point of intersection but earlier in the intersection - you'll get more time to scope out the traffic turning and get out of their way and hopefully the drivers will see you better because you're not at the heart of the intersection. It sucks, but it's just the way it is - my only close calls were times when I assumed that I had the right of way. You may legally, but even if you have proved a point you'll always lose the battle with a 3 ton moving object.