Valhallas

I met someone at White Pass last weekend who had come to climb Glacier Peak. He turned back at Glacier Gap but lost his camera while there. I don't have the camera but met someone on my way out who found it and have some info about how to get in touch with them. I'm pretty sure the camera belongs to Chuck Craig, who was climbing with Jim Savage (I know his partner was named Jim, and I pulled those names out of the trail register). If you know either of them, or are either of them, PM me and I'll share what I know about how to get your camera back.

There was some on the snow just west (be feet) of the trail up the railroad grade moraine. I didn't see any above that, and none on the glaciers themselves last weekend.

Yesterday (5/24) afternoon while descending the Easton glacier route on Baker, my partner lost an ice axe, likely falling off her pack after being improperly secured. It's a 65cm BD raven pro, about 9 years old, with considerable wear on it. It doesn't have any identifiable markings. It's likely location is around 6500 feet, just below the first small crevasses and above some of the spots where people are camping, and will be along the boot pack heading up the glacier. Please let me know if it's found. Thanks.

Is it possible your shoe fell out in Colorado instead? If so, think I might have found your shoe. It was in a bivy cave in Rocky Mountain National Park.

I climbed outer space on wednesday and found some stuck cams and nuts that I was able to get out. I extracted on the 5.9 traverse pitch a #.4 camelot with a climbx nut tool stuck in the trigger (handy, I needed two nut tools to get the cam out), and then later, on the traverse portion, a #1 that was pretty easy to get out. On the bottom of the 5.7 portion of the first pitch of the headwall crack, I got out a pretty badly stuck red c3 and a golden BD nut (#7?). Some of them had carabiners still on, so maybe people bailed off them? If you think these might be yours and can tell me what kind of gear markings they had, I'll return them. My partner was unable to retrieve my yellow c4 from the bottom of the final pitch. I placed the piece in a pin scar one move off library ledge, and I bet it'll actually come out. If you can get it out, please let me know as I'd like it back. Beer or other rewards will be forthcoming.

Still looking for someone... Confirmed date of June 26th.

Hey folks, I'm looking to hire an experienced wilderness medicine instructor for a 1 day, custom course in the Port Angeles, WA area on or around the 26th of June. There will be 6 high school age students and I am looking for someone who can create a highly interactive and engaging experience. Because it is only one day, my goal is something like a WFA-lite curriculum, the particulars of which cab be sorted out later. If you (or someone you know of) might be interested, send me a PM with your contact info and I'll be in touch.

I know this is an old thread, but I've been trying to get some answers to the same questions as the original poster and have some relevant info. I'm planning to go with a 2 stage approach: lifewise of washington for health insurance, and the nicholas hill group, through the AAC, for accident insurance. I have read all the application paperwork for Lifewise and even called them on the phone to confirm, but to the best of my knowledge, there are no questions about activity in the application process. The rep I spoke with on the phone said all insurance companies in WA are legally required to use the same form to determine coverage, the Health Survey Questionnaire. I haven't filled it out yet, but reading through it quickly didn't reveal any questions about your activities. As a previous poster mentioned, the only questions are about smoking essentially. Because I'm opting to go for a very low monthly rate/high deductible plan, I've decided to also get accident insurance. Specifically tailored for climbers and other outdoor folks, the accident insurance plan through the Nicholas Hill group, in conjunction with the AAC (you need to be a member I think, but why wouldn't you - I've already more than recouped my $40 fee in discounts at local stores with the AAC membership card) offers two policy tiers: gold and silver. The silver is $34/mo, $250 deductible, and covers up to $5,000 per incident. The gold is something like $44/mo, $150/10k? During ski season, if you call them up and ask for it, they will cover you for ski accidents for an additional $4/mo (yes, four) on the silver plan, or $50 for the gold. Seems well worth it, given that this is essentially what I'm saving by being able to go with a lower monthly premium insurance plan, and I would have significantly lower out of pocket expenses in case of an accident. Hope someone finds that useful.

There is a couchsurfing.com group dedicated to climbing. If you join there you can post about your trip or look for other people traveling where you will be who are looking for climbing partners. I get the newsletter every once in a while with lots of similar such requests. It's also a good way to find a place to stay, if you're looking for that, and you might get a bonus and find someone who could host you and want to climb.

Anyone have any thoughts on the PMI 8.1mm Verglas? I need to purchase two ropes to use for glacier travel, and I'm curious if anyone's got experience using these for this purpose. I don't intend to use them together - I need two ropes for multiple rope teams. They seem reasonably priced and they've got a dry coating and the thickness I'm looking for. Besides that, not sure what else might matter much and I can't recall ever using a PMI rope.

Bob, thanks for a terrific story. Mattp, I think if you lowered the anchor, it would have to be below the top crux on the first pitch, which is probably the only reasonable place, making it a pretty short pitch. That would then mean you start the next pitch with a crux move and keep all the more difficult climbing in the second MJ pitch rather than split it more evenly between the two. Also, there's enough rope drag on that pitch as it is, and if you move the belay lower it'll create yet another point of directional change in the rope, further increasing the drag. On top of that, you'd still need to replace the old belay bolts, because there isn't really a reasonable protection option there (otherwise, why would there be bolts), so you'd have to clip the old bolts on lead. Just seems to make more sense to replace the old bolts and keep the belay at the same spot, which would also avoid the retro-bolting concern.

That makes sense, especially given that it seemed like there was little or no traffic the way I went. One confusing thing is that in the new guidebook the topo line very clearly stays in the main corner.

I appreciate the feedback everyone, especially yours Bob. I'm thinking only of replacing the two bolts at the hanging belay, since there is really no other option there. The crack is full of rubble, and like I said, I was able to sling a chockstone, but I don't think that's a really sustainable or especially safe component of a mandatory hanging belay, given that I bet that particular chockstone could be dislodged pretty easily. I don't want to change the character of the route - I like that it's spicy, I just wish I hadn't made it spicier than it needed to be, since I evidently missed the shallow dihedral out to the left. I am really curious now if that corner would go if someone actually cleaned the vegetation out of it, to create a more continuous line. I'm thinking I might rap in from the top soon with some gardening gear and really scrub it out to see if there's a protectable crack in the corner covered by moss. If so, then you wouldn't even have to go out left to the shallow corner, and the line would be a lot more aesthetic.

Hey all, I tried to climb the MJ dihedral yesterday and took a big whipper above the second bolt on the second MJ pitch. I've got a couple questions: 1) does anyone know if the route has been climbed recently? it was extremely mossy, which is a shame because it's a really good line and great climbing. I'm interested in going back for a day of gardening and pruning. 2) on the pitch above the old 2 bolt anchor, when the dihedral is leaning to the left, there is a bolt out left across the slab. I went out and clipped this since the alternate option was a thick blanket of moss, but it then seemed like I had to go back right into the mossy crack again. I did, got up a section covered in bird shit, clipped another newer bolt, but then there didn't seem to be any pro options (mostly due to moss?) and the move was seriously desperate for me. Was I supposed to keep going left at the first bolt? edit: just found this TR and the photo with caption "Kyle stepping over the small roof atop pitch 4:" shows the spot I fell from, right below the bush. It seems like the climber is coming in from the left there. Is that the route? 3) how would people feel about having the 2 bolt anchor replaced with new bolts? I think one is an old leeper hanger, which should be replaced. I'm not sure what the other is, but it's also a very rusted 1/4. I would be interested in replacing them if people are Ok with that.

Last Sunday (4/22), I found a harness at 8 mile crag. I'm pretty sure I know who owned it, but I don't know their names. It was a man and woman, mid 30s?, with a brown dog named Chaco, driving a brown 1981 VW camper. It's an older metolius harness with a yellow daisy chain, chalk bag, and a reverso. If this is yours, or you know the folks I've described, let me know.

I was out climbing on the south face of the Tooth today when my camera, in it's Lowepro case came unattached from my pack and fell out of sight. I was at the top of what I think is the second pitch, right at a tree that starts the rambling third pitch. The tree has a piece of yellow tubular webbing and a piece of 7mm blue cord looped around it. The camera fell off to climbers right, in a fall line that would take it approximately to the bottom of the descent couloir from the base of the south face route (not pineapple pass). I turned in time to see it rolling down the snow, and since I was on lead without much pro, could only watch - I checked around on rappel to see if it hung up on something, but was unable to locate it near the point it fell. Searching below what seemed like the obvious fall line produced nothing either. If you happen to want to rap starting from that tree in the obvious fall line, it might be found. Then again, and more likely, it's probably buried in snow and won't be found until it's a decrepit and rusty POS in the summer. Oh well, lesson learned.

Any thoughts on the grades of the two lead lines at the Cougar mountain crag? I went there the other day for my first non-gym dry tooling and for some reason made up the numbers M3 and M4 for the left and right lines, respectively. For some reason I thought that's what my friend said, but he asked me where I got the number, so evidently that was all in my head. Anyway, they felt harder than some M3 and M4 lines I've done at stone gardens, but the holds there are 1) big, 2) mostly wood, and 3) I was wearing rock shoes rather than boots and crampons. I'm just curious as a point of comparison when I see M grades in writing.

a friend of mine climbed denali earlier this year and the lcd froze, destroying the camera. he said it looks like he smashed it on a rock, so thats something else to consider.

I realize this is a bit far from Washington ice, but I thought most of you would enjoy the ice porn and that maybe some of you would be motivated to make the drive and actually climb. Here are some photos showing the Weeping Wall (location of Polar Circus and many other routes) on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National park, Alberta, Canada. I took them on Monday the 25th. I don't know what the conditions are normally like, but based on the photos I found after a quick search on google images, it looks to be in pretty fat condition. Much to my dismay I didn't have any of my climbing gear on this trip. If I did, I probably wouldn't ever have come back. The whole thing [img:center]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ansEpFOcjYo/S2CI-QIhcUI/AAAAAAAAEn0/Xo8M1K93lEg/s640/IMG_7049.JPG[/img] The bottom [img:center]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ansEpFOcjYo/S2CI-kx0--I/AAAAAAAAEn4/Te5PjMJrczU/s640/IMG_7050.JPG[/img] Closeup [img:center]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_ansEpFOcjYo/S2CI_AmX_TI/AAAAAAAAEn8/zGE83c3IRs0/s640/IMG_7051.JPG[/img] The top [img:center]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_ansEpFOcjYo/S2CI_a3Ez9I/AAAAAAAAEoA/BMJkGMBZ6A8/s640/IMG_7052.JPG[/img]

Nevermind, wasn't them. They sank 5 feet from the shore.

Dunno about taste, but I love the smell of that stuff, so no problem there.

If that works, how long does it last?

Just use the v-threader and blow into the screw.

Hey, I found a single Grivel g12 crampon on Mount Adams last year. It's for the left foot. I brought it to Bozemen once to give it to some guy and he never picked it up, so it ended up back at my house in Seattle. If you're missing the left one and its the same model (or it'll work for you) you're welcome to have it. It so happens that I'm also driving down to the Three Sisters area tomorrow, so if you live somewhere on my intended route, perhaps we could meet. If you get back to me tomorrow before say, 1 or 2 PM we can probably work something out.

Here's Bridal Veil Falls on Saturday, 12.12.2009 Here's another step farther up the flow from the top of BVF. It was definitely not in on Saturday, and is probably worse now. Here's a couple fat lines off the Silver Gulch near Silverton. These last two are probably gone by now, but if we get another cold snap they may well form up again, along with the many other lines in close proximity. Zee and Waterboy nabbed a couple of the new lines over the weekend.