Eric K

You will need to take care of the insurance documents as well. I was borrowing my parents truck and was super happy it had my parents info on it and not mine when it was broken into.

Trip: Mamie Peak - Ellation Date: 8/28/2014 Trip Report: Ian and I climbed Ellation on Thursday. It was a great route with fantastic scenery all around. Really fun climbing the whole way through, especially if you are into slab stuff. The route itself took 7 hours with a lazy pace and a few rope issues. We went car to car in 10 hours with a long lunch in a beautiful spot. This link has the good info on it. cascade climbers On the decent you need to be real careful of the rope eater flake at the top of pitch 6. It got us so Ian climbed the pitch, freed the rope and then down climbed it. Also at the start of pitch 4 the is a small wasp nest that seemed to be abandoned. We saw no activity from it. Gear Notes: Lots of small stuff, doubles to 1" and a single red and yellow C4 are good. We place no nuts. 70m rope is needed for rappels. Lots of draws, like 10. Approach Notes: Once you get into the woods there is a "trail" which is pretty easy to follow, and flags are still marking the way.

So the wife and I are packing up and heading east from August 3rd till the 22nd. We are planning on heading to Lander and then stopping by the Tetons on the way back. Is there anywhere else we should go. City of Rocks seems to be on the way. Is August a good time to go, is there anywhere else we should visit? We are good with either trad or sport. Looking for ideas. Eric

Best rant I have heard in a while, but I have not been to WW1 in a while for just that reason.

I definitely did not a send! I could link bottom to crux and crux to top, but could not climb through the crux. I have no idea how to grade routes but since I could get up it couldn't have been more than an easy 12. I will be back for sure. Let me know if you want a belay so you can show me how its done. Eric

Skagit valley, mountain project 7 mile is one of three crags in the area and all are above 3000' and there is almost never anyone there which is nice after many busy days at index. I would recommend picking up a copy of Brandon's guide book. They sell it at the big rock cafe which is more or less on the way.

Swung by 7 mile crag today. That place is great, lot of really cool climbs and really good friction. I "climbed" someones project, I hope they don't mind. Really fun day more people should head up there. Eric

I LOVED it! Really fun to watch.

I think that Pearly Gates is a good place to learn since it is stacked with 5.8-5.10.

Here is a great video that demonstrates climbing technique

Any chance the amount of ticks per square foot has gone down yet? Really want to get out there but don't feel like brushing ticks off me every few minutes. Eric

Weather looks good Monday. If index is dry would anyone want to meet there? I could also be convinced to drive out to leavenworth as well. Interested mostly in 5.10 gear routes but don't mind sport either. Send me a pm if interested. Eric

Too bad, you posted this like 2 minutes after I left to go mountain biking for the day. Index would have been good.

Great trip! I am glad you had a relatively good rescue experience. I have read a few reports of people being unable to self arrest for one reason or another this winter and it reminds me to keep my helmet on and make sure I don't put the tools away until I am certain there is no need for them any more.

Index is better, but 11worth has more variety. Bouldering to alpine. Eric

The nomic may be a bit much. Depending on the year only a little bit of actual ice needs to be climbed. Sumtec plus standard ax would work well. I think a large sum tec and light tool like aztarx or quark is real good. What weights of boots and bag you use will be determined by the weather. I did it in pretty bad weather in June with silver trangos and 40 deg. bag and I was fine. Ask your guide he/she should know what's best. Eric

Cool use of editing, I was hoping the video would include a ski descent though. Eric

That would be great

Is that book available anywhere?

Looks like a super fun trip, Mexico seems to have a ton of potential.

Whats the ice situation like so far this year in Lillooet?

Trip: North Cascades - Cutthroat Wilson-Cauthorn attempt Date: 12/17/2013 Trip Report: Back in November about a week before the Highway closed, Josh and I thought there may be enough ice to make a attempt on cutthroats east face. The approach was long and the snow sucked just enough to need skis. We were very happy when we made it to the route. We started climbing not sure if there would be enough ice and the ice we could see in the upper corner looked very suspect but we had made it all the way there so we decided to give it a go. Josh lead past the first little ice step which at one point had enough ice to take half of a 13cm screw. He found two sketchy pin placements before the next bit of ice. I lead up to the end of the ice, I could not find any place to put any gear since the rock was all crud. Since there was no ice left and no good rock in sight I down climbed back to the anchor and down climbed the rest from there. Josh pulled the pins out by hand so his anchor was really no good anyway. The climbing was not hard so we probably could have climbed it but we will wait until spring and have a bit more fun on the route. Gear Notes: If we had small cams we could have had a few placements Approach Notes: Skis

What are your favorite routes to solo in the cascades. I know everyones abilities are different so I am not looking for the easiest routes in the cascades. I am more interested in routes that have less loose rock or other objective hazards that you think were fun safe solos. I will start, Spontaneity Arete at WA pass was really pretty safe and fun. Just enough exposure and an easy walk.

I love my lynx but hate the heal lever. I was thinking of replacing it since the petzl version digs into my boot too much. It can become painful it it is worn long periods of time. I wanted to buy some grivel heel levers and use those on my crampons instead. Has anyone done this, is there any problems with this setup? Eric

Great video