spionin

nicely done! great first ice climb/lead, and a fun report!

i have an older one (about 3 years), and love it. the material hasn't lost much of its water repellency (climbing, skiing, year-round bike commuting), it's largely windproof, and it vents exceptionally. for climbing, if it's a cold and dry day, this is my outer layer. the dropped tail, the overall length, the trim sleeves - it's great. i think the jacket really shines in its details though - the hood is great for a climbing or a skiing helmet, very adjustable in the right places. the sleeves are gussetted, so when you have your climbing harness on top of it, and you swing that tool as high as you can - the jacket stays in place and doesn't ride up. it may seem minor, but this is definitely one of my favorite things about it. i only wish they'd continued with the consideration for the harness, and put the pockets a little higher (but maybe it's been solved in the newer models). re: price, got mine (new, w/o tags) at geartrade.com

excellent job, slovenjans! more pics?

pins: a couple of knifeblades, bugaboos #3 and #4, two of each. i usually have 4 pins on me at most. screws (all bd express turbo): 10cm, five 13 cm, two 16 cm, two 19 cm. i climb almost exclusively on 13 cm, and carry five-six of those on a pitch plus a 19 cm for anchors and abalakovs.

dry tool at issaquah crag in the morning + 7-10 mi trail run at cougar mtn? i'm coming from seattle, would like to carpool, happy to drive.

since the aliens planted it there, in the middle of a sea of basalt

pretty hilarious! gotta get what you can, and way to brave the obviously gnar weather!

i love me some ice climbing, but i also got sunburned climbing warm granite at banks this weekend.

thanks all! stoke doesn't happen by itself you know. gotta bring it! i'm almost certain of it. baker's crazy like that. doug was saying something about packs of wild mountain poodles that attack bears, too. be careful out there! well, we'll definitely be going out - only getting closer to ice season!

the shark was totally after troy. that's why he kicked ass sprinting up that overhang! i have no review on fusions yet. this was my first time using them on "ice". i took off the fusion pick and switched to the laser pick for this trip. next time i'll try them in tandem with the nomics. i found it a little easier to climb very steep ice with them than with aztars, how's that?

Trip: mt baker - seracs Date: 8/29/2010 Trip Report: a mini-ice climbing stoke for august! doug (cbcbd), troy (t_rutl), and i went out for a day of tool whacking at the seracs. noaa predicted "mostly sunny in town of glacier, 40% chance of rain at the western flanks of baker after 11:00, and fresh snow at the summit of baker". surprisingly, it was about right. seracs little glacier tarns in summary, we hiked out from the heliotrope ridge trailhead around 10:00, and took about 90 minutes to get up to the edge of the glacier. after some scrambling around, we were roping up an hour later. by the time we headed out at 17:00, we had led 4 routes, and lapped them and nearby lines a few times. approach i won the toss-up for the first lead troy doug leads the cove-shaped 2nd route. although the start was slightly overhanging, it was total hero snice: single-swing sticks at every go. then we came to an overhanging wall with a large tarn underneath. doug led a stout line on it and we all lapped it. warning: ice climbing is a treacherous sport with serious objective danger! to practice clearing overhanging bulges we explored a line that contained three egg-shaped coves, which we named "the hatchery". while belaying, somehow one of my tethered tools managed to escape, slid down the icy slope, and ended up at the bottom of the tarn! here's troy, ice fishing for it with his tool. amazingly, after about 6 throws, he got it! as forecasted, it started to rain and hail around noon, and by the end of the day we were quite soaked. following a brief whiteout, we saw a fresh dusting of snow on top of nearby peaks. great day ice cragging with some of my favorite partners. rainbow on the hike out Approach Notes: heliotrope ridge trail -> glacier vista branch

wow - looks like a very productive couple of weeks! good job!

wow! those are some fierce photos!

nicely done, guys! hope you're enjoying the local glaciers, seb!

nicely done! that's amazing that the route is still in shape!

coleman-deming on baker was great last weekend!

thanks all! it sent down rockfall that nearly pancaked doug at one point. scotty, it's not hard blue ice, but it certainly ain't snow either. don't want to be negative or anything, but while climbing it never crossed my mind to ski down the ridge here's what it looked like:

it looks trippy when you stop and look uphill - as if you turned around and went up!

way to go, josh! kudos for persevering and getting it done on this try!!

haha - great TR! sounds like a great recovery route: sustained snow for thousands of vertical feet, icy moats and flying rocks to watch out for, and of course - pro-free wettooling on rock that looks like compressed mud. rad.

really awesome report/photo-essay. that granite looks stellar. have fun getting your carbs on!

word. seriously, dave. nice work!

whoa! two-for-two! rock on!

woo-hoo! way to persevere with the plan. glad you scored a combination of a solid partner and good weather! the 2006/2010 photo comparisons are stellar, thanks!

awesome report, and great photos, and way to give props to other parties! glad your tent didn't end up taking a scenic tour down the mountain!