goran

pm'ed

Ah, great. Thanks!

Hey Todd, a friend emailed you about the 40B worksack --- did you see that?

PM sent for alpha fl 45.

Howdy, My wife and I bought a used Figure 4 pack a few years ago, and would be interested in picking up another. If you have a pack by Figure 4 that's collecting dust, let me know! Thanks, Goran

PM'ed for Direkt2 tent.

PM sent

We met you guys at the lake and ran into you on the descent. Rad work and a proud FA, and thanks for posting the report!

We found a piece of non-climbing gear at (roughly) the base of the Direct East Buttress of South Early Winter Spire. Identify it and I'd be happy to get it back to you!

Hot damn, gents, way to crush it! That sounds like a hell of a three day weekend, to boot.

Nice work persisting in the wallow! What route were you going for on Dorado Needle? Is there a good winter line, or just some adventure on the rock routes?

+1 for this. Last year (see here for TR) we found exactly 0 ice screw placements and a couple of pitches required every one of our 5 or 6 pins (many of which did not inspire confidence). I can't imagine it would have been a good intro alpine climb in those conditions. I think it was Jim Nelson who described TC as spanning a spectrum of difficulties; he has experienced it as everything from a 3 hour cruise on neve and fat ice to a harrowing near-death epic. So, could it be a good intro alpine route? Absolutely! But it can also be a scare-fest with avy hazard, marginal gear, etc.

Incredible images. Thanks!

Heh, that leftward traverse was an entertaining scene for us on Dragontail, as well. me: "@#%$, I'm 6 feet to the right of the notch!" partners: "Awesome! Nice!" me: "Not awesome. Not awesome at all." I agree that it's a 10a/b traverse, and certainly exciting. I also agree that the third couloir of the triple is lined by the most heinous arrangement of boulders in playdoh I've ever experienced. Nice work on making it up and down safely!

24hr Seattle-Seattle. Nice work, and thanks for the TR!

Send train! Nice work!

Thanks for the stoke, JP, and I look forward to reading your and Marlin's next TR as well --- the last one definitely inspired us to get after it! Let me know if your paths will cross the bay, it'd be great to get out with you sometime. The word on the street is that Jeff's planning a trip or two to the Sierra for alpine ice in September/October. Stoke!

Another great TR, Jeff, and a fitting end to April! TC has been on the radar for a long time, and it certainly delivered. A few route notes: It's amazing just how much this climb changes conditions. We never saw ice remotely thick enough to take even a stubby, and during the first runnels pitch I didn't feel comfortable climbing straight up steep (80+ degree) snow to the alcove belay since the only sticks seemed to be in a thin ice crust over a bulbous snow mushroom. In other conditions, that would likely have been a straightforward 10-20 foot section of steeper ice. Instead, Jeff led out left and then back right in a small left-facing corner system in what was perhaps the technical crux of the route. That said, the traverse left from the alcove belay was casual, and the icy chimney system above was manageable but hard to protect (both are often noted as cruxes of the route). I'm still figuring some things about pitons out. For instance, does anyone have tips for the "hammering a pin in behind my back" thing? In the second to third couloir transition, we stayed high and right far too early and got a pitch of extra credit drytooling on slab. That is, once we scraped away the foot of overlaying sugar snow. Half of our progress through this section was due to a sick and efficient lead by Jeff, while the second half came from perhaps the slowest 60 feet of progress I've ever inched my way through on the sharp end. Ouch. The best pro through the slabby step turned out to be hammered-in nuts, one of which remains for future TC suitors. Sorry to litter, and you're welcome! Finally, a shout out to Andrej (sp?) and Abraham who were great company on the route all day and also successfully tagged the summit. We did not envy your walk out on Saturday night --- burlfest!

Impressive effort --- glad to hear you made it safely back!

Thanks for another great TR, Jeff! A few special notes with this one: Jess wins the perseverance award after working all night Friday before taking a 6a flight from Oakland to Seattle and leaving from the airport straight to the trailhead. Badass. Also, the summit chocolate easter bunny? Genius. Kelsey takes the cake for cheerfulness; after feeling like total garbage and being unable to eat on summit day, she hiked back down to the tents (a very significant distance), only to hike back up to meet us on the moraine as we descended. I think she actually climbed many more vertical feet than the rest of us did, and then drove the entire way back to Seattle as we passed out. Jeff takes the trail-breaking and TR-writing MVP prizes. When I shivered something to the effect of "I can't seem to breath and I'm *#@$% freezing," he kicked more than a thousand feet of steps like a boss, and when I said I'd get a TR out a few days ago and missed the mark, he provided one. Gracious and baller. Thanks!

Dave, Alex, this trip sounds like it was pretty damn burly. Nice work on the summit, and I'm glad to hear y'all made it out safely after a >30hr day! Ouch.

Thanks for posting the TR, Jeff, and for being the consummate partner. While this went as smoothly as possible, I'll admit that I'm looking forward to an adventure which does not involve postholing along Mountaineers Creek past the Colchuck junction!

I think we talked to y'all at the gate on Friday night --- thanks for posting a TR and congrats on a great send! Looks like we were walking out only a few minutes apart on Saturday night and if the timing had been a bit different, we'd have all shared the zombie slog together.

I pulled over the would-be cornice on top of the ICG and the bootpack you left was less than 10 feet away! We followed it to the summit and back down; while it didn't offer much physical help as the previous night's snow had totally filled in the steps, there was enough trace of passage on the otherwise smooth snow slopes that we didn't have much (any) routefinding. Which was glorious. Regarding avies, the ICG didn't show signs of instability, but fresh snow on the S side of Stuart seemed to be forming more of a slab in the sun. We didn't see shooting cracks or anything really terrifying, but did see the recent snow beginning to adhere to itself and move as a unit. Getting into the wintery Sherpa was a relief.

On Sunday, Sherpa was consistently firm/chalky for the top ~800 feet, but below that, it was knee-deep, light powder.