davidk

I demoed both the Nomics and Fusions in Hyalite last weekend and definitely agree with Doug. The Fusions are for hard routes only. I felt that the Nomics are far more versatile. I personally didn't like the Fusion grips. The pinky support was too tight for my XL hands, and very uncomfortable. (But grip size/adjustability was fine) Cobras, on the other hand, were amazing to climb with.

they work great. The big secondary points work well for support on steep ice, but are noticeable on hard pack/icy approaches. Most crampons that are geared for low angle walking have a rocker design, so to speak, in the length of the forefoot points to facilitate easier walking. The Cyborgs don't, but that's because they are designed to be optimal on steep ice.

Since I have some things to take care of during the day that prevent more involved ventures, I would like to get a solid drytooling session in this week before heading east for an ice trip. I'm available Monday or Tuesday afternoon. I have tools and can do any or all of the leading on any of the routes. You must be lead belay certified at Stone Gardens, and wear warm clothing and a helmet. I would like to run half a dozen or more laps on the drytool wall before heading inside to boulder or toprope for a while. Reply to kiehld@msn.com with a phone number and I'll get in touch. -David

Part of what made this a great trip for us was the fact that the access is really good right now. Not too much snow, good trails pounded out to the climbs that are in, and the East Fork road is very driveable right now. Go get some, and keep beating in the trails! It's worth adding for some of you guys heading there soon that "The Good Looking One" (Unnamed Wall) was actually pretty good looking... and it appeared that it was climbed the day we saw it. Even with a whipper on Sherbert, seeing all the carnage on I-90 made me feel like our sport isn't as dangerous as some make it out to be

an update on my setup described above: with my umbilicals clipped to a loop of 4mm cord through the spike on my Quarks, a single side of the umbilical and one tool caught me in a 4 foot fall when my right tool popped trying to overcome a bulge. The tool that held was sunk about 1.5+ inches in good ice at the lip of the bulge. I had a bomber 16cm screw at my feet on the short step, so I wasn't counting on my leashes to catch me, but it is nice to know that it can hold a little slip. Resulting damage: loop of 4mm cord (tied with double fishermans) grew about two inches from the knot tightening and maybe stretch. Will replace. Grip rest on Quark got yanked so that it rotated in towards the grip, and got pierced by the front of the spike that it conceals. Will inspect and maybe replace. On the umbilicals themselves, the knots on side involved tightened up, so it is now a bit longer than the other side. I'll take a close look at the webbing, but I might just scrap it and make a new set. (And Dane, you're right, I might need to make the next set a bit shorter. Fortunately I had my other tool to help retrieve the stuck one ) Damage to me: none

I don't do too much matching/tool switching, but yes that could be a problem. But I could always add a swivel if I wanted to. And I'm ok with having a couple twists in my leashes per pitch - I can just untangle at belays, which is really not as much of a hassle as it might sound.

I recently made my own, following instructions found on AlpineDave's website and a couple slight modifications. I omitted the swivel, and so far have been pleased with them. Materials: 1/2" tubular nylon webbing (4 kn strength) from Mountain Tools (also available from Mountain Gear, and maybe some small shops, but not REI anymore), 1/8" shock cord (from REI), 1" heat shrink tubing (optional, hardware stores), two Metolius full-strength mini biners = around $17 total I used the heat shrink over the knots (to reduce abrasion/loosening, make it look a little less home-made, and help hold the biners in place). Heat shrink tubing is pretty expensive though, and I had to buy three feet so I could use about 5 inches worth. Comparing my setup to the BD leash, which I have played with in stores: I sized mine to allow full reach (I'm 6'3", +2 ape), whereas the BD leash does not allow that for me. One could add a girth hitched sling to it to extend it's reach, but then why not make your own custom size? An employee at FF said the BD leash is shorter because it is primarily aimed at alpine climbing, but I felt like the length and resistance from the elastic stretch might be limiting. Otherwise, the BD rig is a polished, professional piece. I know Dane loves his BD umbilicals, and that's saying something.

Not taken from Ingalls Lake/Peak, but both shots are from evening hours, and are 2736x3648 pixel resolution (the copies posted below are reduced size of course). PM if you want'em

John, thanks for the intro to Cody. Sure felt good to swing the tools and play in the snow again.

sold

Delorme Topo USA, Version 6.0, West Region. Covers all states west of and including the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Includes Alaska and Hawaii. Compatible with Windows 2000 SP3/XP/Vista (not sure about Windows 7?). It originally cost $50. Needs a new home as it is not compatible with my new Mac. PM or email at kiehld@msn.com. Payment by cash in person (Seattle and Eastside) or Paypal+shipping.

Not really any easy way to tell if there is still melt going on - precision GPS or transit surveying over a couple years would tell you if it was still sinking. The kettle will last until the slopes surrounding it diffuse. In areas that have numerous geomorphic agents such as high rainfall, vegetation/roots, burrowing animals, mass wasting, etc., slope diffusion is relatively rapid (geologically speaking...). But on a probably-not-very-active-or-dead rock glacier in an alpine setting, the diffusion will be slow. Your scrambling around in the sinkhole was probably the fastest erosion that the kettle feature will experience. But Porter is right, the Earth's core is actually frozen, Hollywood just hasn't released the film yet so most people don't know about it.

I don't go for max reps anymore, but I've been doing pullup pyramids to maintain muscle endurance. The concept is simple: start at 3 reps (because doing 1 and 2 separately is trivial), rest briefly, then 3, 4, 5, ..., up to around 10, then back down 9, 8, 7,... to 3 reps. Rest enough between (30 seconds to a couple minutes) so that you can complete the pyramid. That's 100 pullups. Do a couple pyramids a week, and you'll never get tired of pulling yourself up on any climb. I agree that being able to do a lot of pullups isn't very important for rock climbing, but for ice and alpine climbing it's good insurance for muscles that can get used a lot.

the sinkhole was most likely caused by deflation of the surface after a buried mass of ice melted - a pretty common occurrence in morraines that have burried, stagnant ice. The sinkhole feature is usually referred to as a "kettle" (and sometimes form "kettle lakes"). Thanks for revisiting this feature - I was really curious after the first photo you posted, but not enough to hike in there myself!

Just a couple other parties. Our first two days were Labor Day weekend, so there were half a dozen parties camped in the cirque, but that's when we headed to Shark's Nose. Almost everyone cleared out on Monday though. Pretty quiet really. The dog wasn't tied up. It was free to jump on us, run over our gear while we racked up, and free to jump off the ledge (which it almost did).

I would guess that there are more, and the high-elevation Continental Divide ranges will probably be some of their last hold-out habitats. There are many thousands of acres of talus at the optimal high-elevation for them to live in, whereas in the Cascades, most of the talus is too low to maintain the <85 degrees F temperature threshold (I think that's the right temp) in the coming decades so that the pikas can survive. They were certainly more visible than in the Cascades!

Stellar, and it goes pretty quick. On the approach, head up the trail as if going towards the East Ridge of Wolf's Head until you look back to your right and see an obvious diagonal black dike/ramp. Take that to get onto the slabs below the buttress. And if you have a little more time, word has it the East Face Left route is fantastic as well. Good luck!

Trip: Wind River Range - Cirque of the Towers - Pingora, Shark's Nose, Wolf's Head Date: 9/9/2009 Trip Report: Wind River Range, Wyoming "Cirque of the Towers" After a whole summer of "we should do some weeklong trip in September" conversations with Kevin, a trip finally materialized. And for me, this adventure came right on the heels of my trip with Steph to the Valhallas, so I was extra stoked to round out my summer with some time in the Winds. (photos by David Kiehl and Kevin Oberholser) Itinerary: 9/4 - drive from Ellensburg to Big Sandy Trailhead 9/5 - hike in to Cirque, climb South Buttress of Pingora (III, 5.8, 3p) 9/6-9/7 - climb Southwest Face of Shark's Nose + epic descent (our variation: III, 5.9, 10p) 9/7 - rest day 9/8 - climb East Ridge of Wolf's Head (III, 5.6) 9/9 - hike out, drive back to Ellensburg The Approach: takes you through some of America's finest land The dirt road to Big Sandy Trailhead is well signed (with one exception... I suggest a left turn here) The trail is pretty painless too The Scenery: The Wildlife: Really people? I don't think a ledge at 11,000' on a windy afternoon is a responsible place to leave your dog while you take a couple hours to go up and down a climb. And yes, it was quite wild! One of many pikas we saw, which is encouraging considering most of their habitat is getting the axe from global warming. This young moose paid a visit to our camp, unannounced, in the middle of dinnertime, and made a scene about it. Rude! The Climbing: Kevin on Pingora West side of Shark's Nose (second from left). This turned into quite the adventure for us. After screwing up the approach, getting off route right off the bat, climbing a difficult but fun super-stretch face traverse (my 77 inch wingspan sure helped on the lead) to cruiser handcrack dihedral pitch, and then traversing ledges back to the left, we regained the route. David following the "parallel cracks" pitch, back on the published route. Kevin following up the crack system. David straddling the Continental Divide on the summit ridge of Shark's Nose. Kevin beginning the raps from the summit at dusk. Impending doom on the horizon. Back on the ground, we proceeded to try to do the correct descent back to the Cirque, in the dark. This involves traversing some ledges on Overhanging Tower to get back to Overhanging-Tower - Wolf's Head col. We failed to start up the correct ramp/ledge system, and ended up scrambling up and down 3rd/4th class terrain on Overhanging Tower's west side. Eventually we were too cliffed-out and tired to proceed, and decided to get some rest. Moon over Shark's Nose. After a couple hours of sleep and shivering, we decided to get moving again. That is, after performing the obligatory "damn it's cold!" dance on the ledge. Kevin all tucked in to our "alpine double bed" at our bivy. Shown with optional hard-plastic pillows. On to Wolf's Head. The classic East Ridge... Sweet belay ledges on the whole route. Airy hand traverse around the towers is the name of the game. A great trip, and hopefully just a preview for future trips back to the Cirque. It truly is a classic destination, with so many stellar moderate routes. Put it on the list! Special thanks to my sponsor, Redmond Park Operations Dept., for providing me with a steady paycheck and fulfilling my copious leave requests during the past month.

Nice. As the South face of Asgard proved for us, "Valhallas 5.8" can be some pretty heady leading, but super fun following

so the wall has a name... any routes though? Looks like some potential for a couple hard lines. We were confused initially as to what was the SW face (and the corresponding routes) of Gladsheim, but it became clear once we were on the mountain. 5.5 for that ridge? We stayed as close to the ridgeline as possible, and the upper pitch (which went out on the face to the left a bit) was more difficult than 5.5 It would be cool to see the results of some strong 5.11+ climbers tackling the SW walls of Gladsheim

It definitely looks like more than a cool series of moraines, but the pattern seems a bit chaotic for it to be a relatively small rock glacier. A very intriguing photo

Steph, this was an excellent idea for a way to finish off our trip. Pitch 5, the chimney-to-roof-to-handcrack, goes down as my most fun lead yet!

lots of partners found, thanks for all the replies

Rent a hot water pressure washer, preferrably with adjustable temperature (3500 psi, ~210 deg. F is adequate). The pressure + heat will remove everything you want, and no additives should be required. Use proper technique too: go in close and slow on the rock holds, and back off to ~4 inches (nozzle to surface distance) to really scrub the concrete, and be wary of pockets or protruding aggregate chunks that could be blasted off. At work today I was using this equipment and technique to scrub some greasy steel repairs prior to painting, and it worked like a charm.

Judging by the pictures, the "aesthetic rating of 1+" might be a bit low... That's a helluva rigeline, with stunning exposure - well done indeed!