kinnikinnick

west ridge north twin sister

shit. time for a beer

about a month ago my doctor told me i have patellar tracking disorder. to improve the situation he suggested i do a series of static exercises to strengthen and balance the joint. this makes sense and all but wouldn't i have to continue to do the exercises almost everyday of my life to keep the weak muscles strong? use it or lose it right? how many of you have knee issues and find these static exercises to be helpful? i'm only 23. seems a bit young to have knee problems. if i lose my knees i'll put a bullet through my head

dry?

i second what dan miller and others have said about hannegan pass to ross lake. ruth mountain is a fun easy glacier climb near hannegan pass. and the views of the northern picket range from whatcom pass are epic. i did this 60 mile trip (with side trips) over labor day weekend and didn't see a soul the whole time.awesome mix of high alpine and deep dank forest. like others, i heartily recommend the north cascades over the olympics...not sure what the buzz is all about, olympics wise.

i certainly meant no disrespect with my comment...hard to gauge tone over the internet. the "you" was more of an all inclusive you

i climb with an old school, straight shafted chouinard tool from 1987 in my left hand and a grivel alp wing in my right. the chouinard tool sucks for steep climbing, yeah, but i cant justify to myself the expense of cutting edge ice tools. for just about any climb WI 3 and lower i hardly notice a loss in performance and am happy with my mismatched tools. i think for josh and mark who are just starting to ice climb straight shafted tools(cheaper) would be a good choice. yeah, modern tools make climbing ice easier. but if you open up a copy of chouinards "climbing ice" and look at pictures of people sending hard with a single 70 cm wooden handled ice axe, don't you feel like a cherry picker?

the kautz glacier route is probably AI 2, the amount of ice increasing into summer. other quality AI routes: the northeast face of redoubt, northeast face of fury, adams glacier on mt adams, northwest face of forbidden, the north face of mt buckner, the north face of shuksan, coleman headwall on baker. but most of these routes aren't AI 3. steeper alpine ice is found mostly in the winter/spring months in the cascades.

i'm looking to buy an edelweiss sharp 8.5 mm to use as a single rope for alpine ice and doubled over for simuling/pitching out easy alpine rock with short pitches like forbidden peak. obviously this isn't the safest idea but i'm curious how many of you use this strategy to save weight. thanks

awesome, mark. the big pictures make me feel like i was there!

i always figured the bend is part of the design?

i noticed a similar deformation on my alp wing's goulotte pick. if i hold the tool in piolet canne and look down at the pick, the tip of the pick is bent slightly to the left.

how stable were the upper snowslopes?

did you get a look at the ne butt or north face of chair?

just curious what the wisened elders think about the possibilities of there being good climbable ice in leavenworth(or anywhere for that matter) this weekend.

dane what boots were you wearing when you suffered the frostbite in the above pic?

last week up at chair peak i was wearing two pairs of heavy socks in lasportiva nepals (not my usual practice, but i was sketched about the temperatures) and had very numb feet until i removed one pair of socks. fine balance between heel lift (climbing performance) and keeping feet warm. i had foot and hand warmers, dont think i'll ever climb again in the winter without them

anyone?

inquiring minds, the northeast buttress is in fun, sporting conditions. we took the left variation and had a ball. the water ice step is fat and plastic. get it before the weather comes!

what route did y'all climb?

doug, did you climb it? if so how'd it go?

sick.

just got back from the west ridge of north twin. the bottom half of the ridge was a cruise but the upper half was plastered in rime, verglas and light powder snow. me and my buddy opted to turn around at the obelisk due to falling ice on the upper ridge from sun warming. the route would definitely go but we didn't really feel like getting beamed with ice chunks climbing in those conditions. other than that, snow doesnt start til a little past dailey prairie and snow conditions are perfect for flotation-less travel.

i swear it was me