Maple Syrup

The wind river range is awesome.

I love that the detonator pin is on a lanyard.

Apparently the rail road decided to put up No Trespasing signs on the access point. You can read about it here: http://alpinegreg.blogspot.com/2009/02/iron-mountain-crag-access-issues.html

I'm curious if any progress has been made with this SW Portland spot.

yeah I went for the dry cover. there is also a goldendry option or something which has a dry core as well, but I decided to spend the extra money on some BD stoppers instead. then all i have to get are some hexes, a few tricams, oh yeah then some cams, and that should be it, except for a second ice tool, some screws and pickets... hmmm I bet I could save a lot of rent money if I lived in my car. But where would I store all the gear?

suddenly my credit card feels lighter...

yeah that's what I was thinking, maybe my title should have been "why is this rope so cheap?". Looking at the reviews online people seem to like it - I'm going to get it.

Hope your teeth are gettin' sharp. I was just flipping through the portland rock climbs book and came across the chemistry slab - it's got a couple of 5.4s, and a 5.5. Also, rooster rock is a fun location and it's pretty easy.

I am about to buy my first rope, will use for top ropping this summer, maybe a bit of alpine, and if I can find the money to build a rack I'll probably start doing some trad, but my emphasis at the moment is top ropping. If you know of another rope that's less than $140 that would work too. These are all 60m Beal Edlinger II 10.2mm $119 Weight: 65g/meter Impact Force: 8 kN Number of UIAA falls held: 8 Mammut Promo Rope 10mm $139 Weight 66g / M Impact Force 9.2k UIAA Falls 6 New England Apex 10.5mm $125 Weight 70g/M Impact force 9.4 kilonewtons UIAA falls 5 Edelweiss Axis 10.3mm $130 Weight 71 g/m Impact Force 8.5 kN UIAA Falls 10

I went up the left gate and wouldn't say it's not viable, but I would recommend having a second tool, ice screws and be comfortable leading on ice.

PaulO I was up there yesterday, I'm a newbo so I don't exactly know the kind of info you're looking for. The hogsback is well bootbacked, the bergeschrund had a good snowbridge over it. The gates are looking more jagged than pearly, the right gate looks like 15' of steep ice, the left one was 10' of steep hard ice. the summit ridge is well bootpacked, and there's a bit of a cornice on the summit. it was also f#!*ing beautiful.

Ok I'm a stupid newb, Autoblock? Is this something that can automatically catch a fall, like a grigri?

As my subject and post count may suggest, I'm new to the sport and new to the area. It seems most lessons focus either on technique or lead climbing, but I just want to be able to set up a good anchor for top roping. Books are great but I don't want to die because I misread something, and I'd like the comfort of having someone check my setup.