Eric K

Nice work, thats the best alpine ice route in the cascades IMHO.

Bump, Price Drop

I have a pair of brand new Verdons which are a bit too small and I cannot return. Yours for $80 which is 50% off retail. Eric

2015 Top 5 climbing accomplishments in order of occurrence 1. First 12c redpoint "Chain Reaction/Smith" 2. First 12a Onsight "Cobble Almighty/Maple" 3. First 12b Onsight "Never go right/Maple" 4. Getting my wife to lead her first route 5. First 12d redpoint "The Gift/Red Rocks" For 2016 1. Move to Leavenworth 2. Get my wife on a WA pass route 3. Darkness at Noon @ Smith 4. Onsight 12c 5. Climb 5.12 on gear, any suggested index routes? Eric

I love the orange petzl blob that sits on my head while climbing. I have not taken any hard impacts but have had lots of small impacts (rocks/ice) and it still looks great. The only thing about that helmet I don't like is the stupid magnetic buckle. It attracts tiny pieces of metal that are in the dirt, eventually enough builds up that you cannot lock the chin strap even though the magnet has pulled the two ends together it may not be locked. I may be the only one with this problem.

Has this been climbed yet? Has anyone gotten on this thing recently, or have these kept all potential climbers away? I rapped down the line and all the bolts liked like this or worse but if someone else has trusted them recently I guess I could as well.

Who has the best climbing shoe selection on the I5 corridor? Need a new pair soon and wanting to try a few on.

My wife and I are looking into taking a trip to kalymnos for Christmas, but we have a few questions to ask anyone who has been there. Is the weather consistent enough during that time of year? What is he cheapest way to get there? Is there any other cheaper international sport destinations we should look at instead? Eric

Anyone know if there is water at the bench camp for the wine spires. I am guessing no but want to hear from someone who has been there.

Any idea when the next guide is coming?

I can't imagine being on route when that happened

Thanks for all the your responses. I would love to get my wife up on some long multi pitch/alpine stuff but she is still pretty new and has not taken that plunge yet. It looks like it will be between Maple tensleep Canmore I ask the wife and see what she thinks since I'm cool with any of these. Thanks again for the help Eric

Thanks for all the info so far. I think the cost of plane tickets Europe is about our whole budget for the trip so that won't really happen this year. Any opinions on Canmore or Maple Canyon? Eric

So the wife and I are once again starting to plan our summer trip and we are looking for ideas. Here is what we are looking for... Someplace that will be good end of July till early August. A good spread of difficulty (one of us projects 5.10 the other 5.12) Mostly single pitch Free or cheap camping Enough stuff in the area to keep us busy on rest days Not in WA We did Lander/Wild Iris last year and loved it! We would like to try someplace new and not somewhere we can get to on a long weekend like City of rocks, Squamish, Smith. Canmore area looks really cool, also I know Colorado has loads of climbing but I don't really know where to start. Any suggestions? Eric

Sold!

I am selling my wife's FF Hooded Helios jacket. After a few tries she has deceded against becoming an alpine climber and since we don't live in AK anymore it does not really get any use. She only wore it around town so it still looks new. No tears, very clean. Its a feathered friends unisex medium. My wife usually wears a women's small for reference. $150 ehkrumland@gmail.com 360-420-8920 Eric

Good to hear! That's what I thought but I wanted to check, I have always gone in April so I was not sure what it would be like but by what has been said it should be great.

How is smith rock in January or early February? Warm enough to climb? Eric

I wish I could but it's not from REI. I have not shopped there for a while now.

Cool I'll keep using it. I have been told by many people I keep my stuff to long so I am trying to ask others before things get real bad.

I noticed this while climbing Monday, anything to worry about? Also has anyone tried the petzl screw sharpener on bd screws?

Really!!! If I had know that I think I would have tried to convince my partner to do it. It looks hard right now but defiantly doable. Someone go get it! Eric

My partner and I made it up yesterday. We brought no pickets and we were fine but having one or two would have been nice. The crux pitch was super fun. I took the left pillar which had very steep overhanging ice in places. I think I built a similar T-trench/meat anchor where yours was. We did it car to car in 13 hours and we felt like we were really cursing but could have cut an hour off if we took less rests though out the day and spent less time messing with snow anchors. There was another party behind us when we were walking down we could see them on the upper ridge. We cheered them on as they were going to top out and descend in the dark.

Yes! climbed the CH today. We wanted to get on the polish route but the upper pillar is not connected (very close) so the climb would have been a little hard for us off the coach. Otherwise its all the fattest I have ever seen it.

Can anyone comment more on this?