rocketparrotlet

Also www.mountainproject.com is good for hardware especially.

I'm up for icy aid pretty much anytime. (Disclaimer: I suck.) -Mark

I was up there at Baker last week. The seracs were pretty snowy when I was up there, and I'm sure they are more so now. You could probably get a couple short pitches, but you'd have to work for it.

It would probably be possible to drive to Vancouver and book it. (Squamish detour would also be possible.) I wish I could go, but school...

I'm always amazed by the number of hillbilly scouts that come out during scout camp. I think they crawl out of a hole somewhere.

No shit, I was at my scout meeting tonight, and a new scout was wearing an "I heart boobies" shirt.

All of it felt hard to me.

I'd like to get started on aid climbing. I have only aided City Park so far, but would like to expand my horizons. If anyone wants to meet up, send me a PM. I'll be your aid belay slave to learn some techniques. -Mark

I'd make a v-thread with a screw for backup.

So what I'm getting from this (with two daisy technique): you have two daisy chains, each clipped to an aider. Sequence: Put in piece Clip aider to piece (is the daisy on the same biner as the aider?) Move up on aiders Clip piece to rope Put in next piece Bounce test next piece (what's the best way to do this?) Clip second aider/daisy to second piece Move to second piece Unclip aider/daisy from first piece etc. How close is this to correct?

I must have read into that wrong. I apologize.

Thanks all for the advice. I will definitely read that link on Supertopo and check out Freedom of the Hills. And as for VERY basic gear: I only have a free climbing rack right now. I don't have a lot of extra money. What are the most essential pieces that I can buy to climb basic clean easy aid?

From Spray: From this thread: And seriously bigwalling? Don't you have better things to do than call for somebody's death? Go do some pull-ups or something. I'm actually trying to pick the corn out of this shit and learn to aid climb better.

I didn't know that. Thank you.

Thanks for the advice. I was the other climber here, by the way. It was my first time aid climbing- I aided the first part, found myself a little short on small nuts and cams partway through, built and equalized a bomber anchor to rappel off and let Colin jug up (I didn't want all my pieces to zipper off and kill me). Thanks for the links to those who posted them. I will read up on some more aid climbing technique, I thought it was fun. -Mark

Definitely, I have most of those downloaded to my computer. Thank you though. Anyone have either guide they would be willing to sell?

I'd like to buy a guidebook for Index. The Clint Cummins guide looks pretty nice, actually. I've heard good things about Sky Valley Rock, but I'm not sure how much better it would be than the Cummins guide. I am more interested in obscure climbs and cliffs than anything else; I know most of the popular climbs, and they're pretty easy to figure out anyway.

What's the offwidth/squeeze chimney directly left of Battered Sandwich?

When I summitted Mt. Baring, that was the first thing on my mind. MAN it would be sweet to fly off that mountain!

I might have Sunday off...send me a PM if you're still looking for a partner.

How do I get to the Lookout Point crag? I went to the actual Lookout Point with the flag on top of it trying to find Private Idaho yesterday. I've done Free Range Chook! It's a great climb...but I did not send. The crux is tricky. By the way, I improved and extended the Shady Lane trail for an Eagle Scout project this August. I haven't been to Blues Cliff before, I'll have to check it out. I will make sure to do my research before claiming a first ascent. I haven't given close look to anything yet.

As I've been climbing at Index more often, it has really hit me that only a couple of places get regular traffic. If we get more people at the less-used crags, maybe some great routes will be cleaned. An example is Hag Crag, a couple minutes right of Private Idaho. It's only a 20-minute walk from the Bush House, but the entire crag besides one slab route is covered in moss. That one slab route (End Run, 5.10a) is fantastic! There are 3 more like it on the crag. I don't have a car, so I can't drive out and clean these routes myself. But I'd be glad to come along and clean them with someone else. There are a lot of routes that could use some more traffic- and maybe we could even find a hidden wall and pick up a first ascent; I know of a couple of unclimbed cracks at Index. -Mark

That was a fun day! And yeah, I'm pretty sore myself. I am going back to the Hag Crag slab (End Run it's called) again for sure.

It is a fun route. Repeat? I don't know. But it was worth it. There is definitely no rappel necessary; you can just scramble around from the summit and it's class 3 or below from there. The second summit is another very short class 3 (which one is higher?) Then again, I was probably one of the young'uns you were referencing...that upper piton was pretty funny to me since there's an easy class 4 ledge right there.

I was hoping to do Outer Space sometime soon. Is there snow on SCW? How are the conditions up there? Thanks, Mark