icmtns

The thought of climbing it was too scary so we did iconoclast and rpm instead...maybe the new snow test piece?

It's been almost 6 years since the first ascent...I'm wondering, with the improvements to sticky rubber and Tc pros, has the A0 been freed?

Used but not abused La Sportiva TRANGO S EVO GTX (W-size41.5). Length to short for me so need to replace. You can see from the pictures boots are in good shape. $175 (new sells for 320) http://www.sportiva.com/products/footwear/mountain/trango-s-evo-womens

Ski mountaineer and photographer, Jason Hummel, will take you on a winter traverse of the Picket Range in the North Cascades to skiing lines off the ten highest summits in Washington through his photographs. He'll tell stories and show photos of summer skiing on Mount Rainier, to winter skiing on the highest non-volcanic peak in Washington, Bonanza Peak. Bring your questions about skiing in the cascades and his photo techniques. A nationally published photographer, Jason started climbing in the Cascade Mountains as soon as he could walk. After leaving his job in finance in 2009, he decided to seek out his passion. Since then, he has published images in magazines like Backcountry, Skiing, Coast Mountain Culture, and more. He has shot photographs for ski resorts and companies alike. Take this opportunity to join Jason at the Mountaineers on Monday, March 5th at 7pm in Seattle. Stories and images: http://www.cascadecrusades.org/ Images: http://www.alpinestateofmind.com/ Free admission, no registration necessary, members and non-members welcome. When: Monday, March 5, 2012 at 7pm Where: Mountaineers Program Center - Seattle The Mountaineers 7700 Sand Point Way NE Seattle, WA 98115 www.mountaineers.org

Filmed by Keith Ladzinski.... Hope to see you there!

Surprise news! Steph Davis will be premiering her new film, A Perfect Circle at the Seattle Mountaineers on Friday Feb 17. Here is the announcement on her blog: http://www.highinfatuation.com/blog/the-perfect-circle-premier-and-clinics/ To purchase tickets, go here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/220705

World-class climber Steph Davis presenting her slideshow "Earth to Sky" at the Mountaineers Program Center A story of free climbing and base jumping four classic desert towers in Moab, Utah: Ancient Art, Hindu Tower, Sister Superior, and King of Pain. She chose four very different sandstone spires, and looked for the most beautiful way to climb each one, and the safest and best way to jump it. Each tower is unique, and each one offered a different adventure. She teamed up with Mario Richard, a highly experienced base jumper, on three of the four towers. The last one she climbed and jumped alone as a free solo. Her book, "High Infatuation: A Climber's Guide to Love and Gravity," will be available for sale at the event..get your copy signed! She is teaching crack climbing clinics, for all abilities, the following day at Stone Gardens in Ballard. To purchase tickets, go here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/220705 (also available at the door) To sign-up for the clinics, go here (If you are not a member you can sign up using a guest account: session 1: http://www.mountaineers.org/source/atrips/TripRegister.cfm?Event=29444 session 2: http://www.mountaineers.org/source/atrips/TripRegister.cfm?Event=29442

http://www.mountaineers.org/stories/news.cfm?reader=86 Water-ice master, Dane Burns, October 27, Thursday, 7 pm Dane Burns, longtime climber of hard routes, grand poobah of ice and beloved gear guru (see his blog, Cold Thistle ) will speak about the nature of water ice at The Mountaineers Program Center in Magnuson Park. The event is open to the public as well as Mountaineers members; no registration required. "The Inuits have somewhere over 100 names for snow. As an ice climber you should know the half that relates to water ice. Knowing the subtle differences in ice and how to identify them will make your own climbing easier and, more importantly, safer," says Burns

Yep as Lowell said.. ...lots of volunteer hours making something useful and fun! http://mountaineerswall.wordpress.com/about/

Yes, a dream come true for sure. In the same year, we also went ice climbing for extended periods out in Cody WY, Bozeman, Ouray. Ice climbing interspersed with the Alpine in the Cascades, including Eldorado in the winter, Chair peak 2.5 times, Dragontail. Then moving into the spring and summer with lots of cragging, Outerspace, Orbit, The Complete NR of Stuart, took a group up the Emmons in July, then Ingalls S and E ridge, plus the long trip up to Squamish-the highlight being Angels Crest. Miles of climbing and roads traveled. To complete the year, A couple of trips to Lilooet, Tatoosh trifecta. Now we are in present time.... 1 day in Vantage soaking up the sun.... We've met lots of cool and interesting people along the way I still think I was dreaming, possibly was... A few more pictures.... Don't say your tired Geoff!

The tools: Both OLD fusion and Cobra have two bolts. One holds the pick directly and one is further back. At first it appears that the pick is only held by 1 bolt. I am now looking at the top view of the OLD and NEW Fusion. I can see that the plate that the Bolts are in connect on the OLD, same overall housing. Thus: 2 Bolt system (View of the top of the Cobras is the same as the OLD Fusions) I was just reminded that sometimes my COBRAs come a little loose sometimes, slight pick wobble, but not like the looseness of the NEW Fusions. From the view of the OLD fusions, the 2 bolts are holding the pick (via the housing and directly) On the NEW, the single bolt becomes the focal point for the forces/moment, etc... Every swing, every hang all on that 1 bolt. It makes total sense now why there would be a problem! Got it. Thanks Dane!

Typo in the translation (Yes, Old Fusions have 1 same as new) My partner couldn't figure out the why the loosening (he has both pairs Old and New, and hasn't had the problem with the old ones) Wondering if perhaps a better model is two bolts, as in the photo of the Petzl? Dane pointed out the issue/solution: Guessing the old tools don't use the chromed bolts? Thanks again to Dane for knowing how to fix and providing a suggestion. And also cleared up the is it just this NEW one set? or is it a many NEW set issue?.

The xtra-smilies, like guitar guy, beer, etc are no longer working on cascadia climbers. "Thumbs up"

Norway looks pretty cool too

It's been hard to come back to all the rain this winter!!! Zion is my favorite place! Want to go back! (Canyons esp) And Indian creek WOW! More pictures to dream about!

Nice Doug. Norway is on my list sometime in the future. Funny, I've been looking at some of the Caroline George Climbs and Guy climbs there. Look fantastic. and Just happened to spot this TR. Cool! Looks like you had a great time! Were the routes crowded? Avy info, guessing low because lack of snow? What about cost?

Looks like a fun link-up! with the S peak and adding Fortune too! Also glad you survived the car /deer/car near hit. Good reminder. Here's a picture of our recent return home trip near miss: (also don't have all the rocks in the road that we had to swerve to miss)

I'd like to try out the nomics for a season, lots of people use them, and seem happy but also a lot use the cobras and seem happy. I have really loved the cobras, so far not too many complaints. Thanks Dane for your ideas on how to fix the bolt problem....

Thanks for posting this....The blog post does a great analysis of the tools. I'd like to share some in the field experience: My climbing partner has the Fusions. (He replaced his old Fusions with the new green ones) On a recent trip, he was using the ice pick on the fusions. He broke the pick on the Fusions, so switched to my Cobras. He felt they were far superior to the Fusions,couldn't believe how much better they climbed,and now wants a pair.... A pain he discovered on the new Fusions is that the bolt loosens after every couple of swings...Frustrating!!! His old Fusions don't have the problem, they have 2 screws. (yes he could use loctite to try and remedy). But as the photo shows, both the petzl's use 2 bolts. Also a consideration about the hammer on the Fusions are that they don't work as well for hammering,they are a funny angle so you can't effectively hammer.

Trip: Tuolumne, Yosemite, Red Rock, Zion, Indian Creek - Lots Date: 8/30/2010 Trip Report: After climbing Denali in Alaska, then spending our summer in the alpine of Washington and Crags of Squamish. We spent a month traveling from California, to Nevada, to Utah. Stopping in: Yosemite, Tuolumne, Red Rock Canyon, Zion, The Grand Canyon, and Indian Creek. In addition to the canyons, these are the routes we climbed: (#pitches, grade and *if was a standout route) Yosemite-Tuolume Meadows *Fairview Dome Regular Route 5.9 (12-P) *Mathes Crest (Full Ridge from South to North walk off) 5.7 *Guide Cracks (a couple single pitch trad cracks) 5.8 Alimony Crack 5.8 (2-P) West Country 5.7 (3-P) South Crack (first 3 pitches) 5.8R *Golfer’s Route 5.7R (2-P) Holdless Horror 5.6 (4-P) Bulldozier 5.7 (3-P) Northwest Books 5.6 (2-P) (On a previous trip we climbed *West Crack 5.9 and *Cathedral Peak 5.6, just wanted to add them here because they are awesome routes) Yosemite-the valley *Central Pillar of Frenzy (Middle Cathedral) 5.9 (5-P) (AWESOME!) Mungenella 5.6 (3-P) Harry Daley 5.8 (2-P) *East Buttress of Middle Cathedral 5.9 AO (11-P) (Linked first couple pitches with 70m rope, can link whole thing if no parties in front with 70 m make the route about 6 p, topo on mountain project or supertopo forum) Royal Arches 5.7 A0 (16-P) Church Bowl Tree 10a/b (1-P) *Lazy Bum 10d (TR) *Jam Crack 5.9 (2-P) *Bishops Terrace 5.8 (2-P, did as one) Red Rock Canyon *Dark Shadows 5.8 (4-P) *Group Therapy 5.7 (7-P) Tunnel Vision 5.7+ (6-P) *Olive Oil 5.7 (5-P) (with Jack L) Geronimo 5.6 (4-P) (with Jack L) *Ginger Cracks 5.9 (5-P) (AWESOME!!) *Black Magic 5.8 (4-P) Mud Term 5.9 (1-P) Frogland 5.8 (6-P) Couple of sport routes (3-P) Ballantine Blast 5.7 (2-P) Ragged edges 5.8 (2-P) Plan F 5.9+ (1-P) *Beulah’s Book 5.9 (3-P) (with Jack L) Solar Slab 5.6 (6-P..did most of the pitches, not all) (with Jack L) Zion and Indian Creek, didn’t spend nearly enough time here but climbed some fun routes! The best free climb at Zion was Tourist crack, there are some others that look good. We mainly focused on hiking and spending time exploring the canyons of Zion (and Grand Canyon). Zion definitely is sandbag and an experience like no other. At Indian Creek we had some weather trouble, so we only got 2 days of climbing, everything we climbed was spectacular, but hard and sustained. Donnley crag is good starter area. Everything goes at 5.9 and up and is like nothing I’ve climbed before. I would describe it as “pure, sustained and vertical crack climbing”. Hopefully will go back to Indian Creek soon! Some random photos: Gear Notes: Trad rack, tape, shoes, backpack Approach Notes: Many!

Trip: Lillooet - Lots Date: 3/5/2011 Trip Report: Geoff and I (Jessica) spent 4 days on Highway 99 South – Duffey Lake Road. This was our third trip up this season, best conditions yet....mainly not too cold! First! Some photos from our last trip: Geoff Leading the Deepening Wall Jessica leading pitch 2 ICY BC Geoff leading Pitch 3 ICY BC This trip! On Saturday March 5 we climbed Carls berg, tending to the left and weaving back to the right. Geoff led the route, finding an assortment of chandeliers, cauliflowers, mushrooms. Good screw placements for the most part. Technical climbing. Solid WI5 maybe WI5+. It's about 180 feet. We also climbed the WI 3 above, then Spent a few hours TRing different lines. Overview of route Geoff Leading route: Next day we went to Rambles right. Found the column to be in good shape. Jessica leading: 3rd day we climbed the rambles left, up to 3rd tier. Curtain WI 4+, Geoff led. Last day we went back to Carl’s, it was pouring water. Geoff led far left (dry) up to midway and we TR’d. Gear Notes: ice screws Approach Notes: Lots

Sweeeeeeeeeeeetttttttttttt! Something b wrong with the smilies, this is a BEER + Guitar dude!

me too! See you there!

Maybe the wind on Wed night and Thursday helped us out with cooling off the snow on Thursday and a clear starry night too. Great 2 days for climbing. Almost T-shirt weather...Warm, but good snow conditions.