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ajpederson

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  1. Pro Ski said they would do inserts when I asked a while back, but it seemed pretty expensive. Apparently its a very labor intensive process.
  2. Here are some more pictures from the climb. Album 1 Album 2
  3. Trip: Lane Peak - The Zipper Date: 11/23/2013 Trip Report: A group of us headed up The Zipper on Lane Peak. With the warming and freezing the last few days we were thinking we'd find some good snow and ice for climbing, and we weren't disappointed. We drove down and got to the gate just after its opening at 9. We packed up quickly and got on the trail. Great view of Rainier. Hiking the road. Approaching Lane. The last bit of climbing up to the base of the route had slid some time during the warming of the last week and was more like climbing a boulder field of ice than snow climbing. Once at the base of the route we roped up and were on our way. The first part of The Zipper had great firm snow and a few fun little ice steps. Field of ice boulders. Looking up the start. One of the little ice steps. About half way in we found the crux of the route. It was a thin little bit of ice around to the right of a large chock stone followed by a little squeeze between a couple more rocks. The snow above the ice held great tool sticks and made pulling through this part easier than it looked. Looking up the crux. Once we were above the crux section the rest of the route was firm snow. Sara leading to the top. Once at the top of The Zipper, Luke and I headed down so I could run him up to Paradise so he could skin up to Muir and sleep in the hut. The other 4 in the group headed for the summit along with 2 others that followed us up the route. The route up to the summit was thinner soft snow in the sun and they did a double rope rappel to get back down the gulley. Approaching the summit. The descent was a little thin over a little stream going down the gulley to the valley floor. Heading down. Sunset. Glowing Rainier. It was a great day to get out and really fun to get some steep snow and ice in this early in the winter with a great group of friends. *All pictures from Alicia and Sara. Gear Notes: Used a couple pickets and some small rock gear. Could maybe find a spot for a short screw if you looked hard. Approach Notes: Good firm snow, no flotation needed.
  4. $160 OBO for the skis and skins now. $30 OBO for the REI pad. NeoAir is SOLD.
  5. Price Drop. Located in Seattle, prefer local pickup. I have a set of K2 Mt Baker skis and BD skins at a 174 length for sale. These are not the twin tip version. The bases and edges are in good shape, but there is one small chip in the top. They have been drilled for size M Freerides, dynafits, and Voile ski crampons. Skins are cut for these skis and in good shape as well. $170 obo for both. I also have a couple women's length (5'6") sleeping pads for sale. -Women's REI Light Core 1.5 Sleeping Pad in good shape. $35 obo. -Women's NeoAir Xlite sleeping pad. Warmer than the men's version and in great shape. $125 obo. Pictures can be seen here.
  6. No idea. I think she snapped the pic right as she was starting up the route.
  7. Trip: Tatoosh - Assorted - Unicorn, Castle, Pinnacle - E Ridge, and 3 walkups Date: 9/7/2013 Trip Report: Justin has been getting in to rock climbing over the last year or so, but had never been on a summit. We decided to change that this weekend. Rather than just one, we decided it would be better if he got 6 in a weekend, and the Tatoosh sounded like just the place to make that happen. We headed in to climb Unicorn and Boundry peaks on Saturday. Having only been in the Tatoosh with snow on the ground, this was a completely new experience for me. The boulder field and choss on the way up to Unicorn was a pain compared to the snow the last time I went up there. Once we got up to the summit block, Justin led the standard 5.6 route up to his very first summit. Choss. Justin leading up to the summit. Unicorn summit. First of 6 summit selfies, don't worry I won't post them all. Next up we headed over to Boundary Peak. This was a quick walk across the ridge and around to the backside. The way up was a simple walkup. Heading to Boundary Peak. We then hiked back across the ridge and down to the car by our ascent route. We grilled some sausages for dinner and spent the night camping at Cougar Rock. After day one of two summits, Justin was a bit skeptical that we would get four more on day two. The next morning we headed up to Paradise to check out the views and take some pictures, as Justin had never been there before. After that, we headed down to the trailhead by Reflection Lake. We made short work of the hike up to the Pinnacle-Plummer saddle and then did the walkup summits of Denman then Plummer. The quote of the weekend was Justin saying the trails made it feel like we were cheating after yesterday. Heading up Denman. Pinnacle and Castle from the summit of Plummer. Back at the saddle we had some lunch then headed over to Castle. There is a climbers trail that leads to a gully that accesses the back side of Castle. Once at the base of the rock you can climb it pretty much anywhere and they all looked to go at low 5th class. Gully that accesses the back side of Castle. Heading up Castle. Next up was the last peak for the weekend. We decided we had time and had carried gear so we had might as well do the east ridge of Pinnacle. East ridge of Pinnacle from Castle. Summitpost had this down as 3 pitches, but it can be done in one. We scrambled what is described as P1, as it is loose and pretty easy. Our pitch combined P2 and the beginning of P3 of their description. Alicia go the lead for this one and started in the group of trees and headed up the ridge. She then traversed across the notch and up to a big horn a few moves above it. Justin and I followed. Not knowing if we actually had a third pitch to do, she took off on lead again but quickly realized we were at the scramble to the summit. We followed and packed up the rope and gear and headed up to the summit. Looking up our pitch on Pinnacle. The east ridge of Pinnacle. Pinnacle summit, the last of the weekend. We scrambled down the standard route on Pinnacle and then quickly hiked back to the car. Overall it was a pretty fun weekend and a great way to introduce Justin to some exposure and climbing some peaks. *All pictures from Alicia. Gear Notes: Nuts (didn't use), Cams .4-2, half rope. Approach Notes: Choss to Unicorn, nice trails to the others.
  8. I'm heading to Tieton this weekend with a couple people that lead 5.8 or under on gear. We've been to the Royal Columns a couple time and have climbed most of what they can there. Are there any other areas around Tieton that have a decent number of routes in that range?
  9. Trip: Prusik Peak - West Ridge Date: 9/2/2013 Trip Report: We were able to get Snow Lakes camping permits for the long weekend and decided to head in to climb Prusik Peak from Sunday to Tuesday. This would make for a nice way to extend the weekend and spend a little extra time away from work. After a day of cragging in Leavenworth on Saturday, a night of drinking, and breakfast in town, we started up the Snow Lake trail later Sunday morning. This made for a hot approach. Snow Lake Trail None of us had been into the Enchantments without snow, so it was exciting to see all the lakes and peaks. Enchantments We hiked around the lakes for a while and then up to Prusik Pass and to the start of the route. Prusik Peak Now for the climbing. From the balanced rock, the first pitch went up and left to a dihedral and then up to a belay station made of webbing. Looking up P1. Pitch 2 gained the ridge and followed it to the unprotected slab, up the slab to a belay before the exposed traverse. Coming up the slab. Belay at the top of P2. Pitch 3 was a short one across the traverse. We stopped right on the other side so we could watch people cross. Leading across the exposed traverse. We had a short easy pitch 4 to get to the base of the next harder pitch. This was really just to move the belay. Our P4. Pitch 5 included a nicer corner, then a hand traverse, then a squeeze chimney and went all the way to the summit. It would probably be better to stop below the chimney and add one more pitch as the rope drag got pretty bad. Alicia led that pitch and somehow squeezed the entire length of the chimney, there was no way I was fitting in that and had climb to up the start of it and walk across the top. Start of P5, the nice corner. Hand traverse. Sprinkles the Stegosaurus on the traverse. The squeeze chimney. After a short break on the summit we used 3 double rope rappels to get down and walked back to our stuff at the balanced rock. We got our stuff and hiked back down past Gnome Tarn and back to our camp at Snow Lake. Prusik view. We spent Monday night at Snow Lake again and headed down Tuesday morning, avoiding the 50% chance of rain in the forecast somehow. That pipe that shoots all the water out of Snow Lake was pretty crazy to see. The water level in the lake dropped noticeably in the time we were up there. Pipe shooting water. Prusik Peak made for a great way to spend the holiday weekend. *All pictures from Alicia and Matt. Gear Notes: Set of nuts and cams from .3-2. Approach Notes: Snow Lake Trail.
  10. Trip: Mt. Thomson - West Ridge Date: 8/18/2013 Trip Report: With Highway 20 closed, the BOEALPS Basic Rock Class (BRC) decided to move graduation climbs a bit closer to home. We were headed out to climb this weekend, so decided to take a couple students with us and split up into 3 teams. After a little discussion, it was decided Mt. Thomson would be our objective. A stop for breakfast at the golf course in Northbend and a leisurely approach up had us at a nice campsite between Ridge and Gravel lakes for Saturday night. Taking the old trail through the Commonwealth Basin is a nice way to cut some mileage off the PCT. After a meal of grilled cheese and Fritos it was time for bed. Approaching the catwalk. Ridge Lake. The next morning we got started about 7:00 and hiked up and over Bumblebee Pass and up to the start of the route. There's a lot of scree to hike over, which for some reason I didn't take as a sign of the rock quality on the route. Mt. Thomson So many rocks. Once at the start of the route, we got roped up and started up. The first pitch was a fun chimney like feature after a step across. The second pitch seemed a bit runout, and we're not really sure if we went the right way. After that, a few more pitches of slab and face with some loose rock brought us to the summit. Getting ready for P1. Finishing up the slabs on P3. P5 slabs. Group summit shot. The descent involved 3 rappels and then a lot more scree to get back to the basin. Back over Bumblebee Pass, back to pack up camp, and then back out on the PCT and through the Commonwealth Basin trail. Heading down to find the first rappel. Apparently abandoned=shortcut. Overall a pretty fun weekend. The loose rock, sparse gear, and crappy descent definitely give this route more of an alpine feel than some other beginner routes of the same grade. -All pictures provided by Alicia. Gear Notes: Set of nuts, cams up to #2. Up to #3 for the others. Grilled Cheese. Approach Notes: The trail through the basin cuts a bunch off the PCT.
  11. There were a couple people on skis, but the sun cups were big enough I wouldn't want to ski it.
  12. We did Klawatti on Friday via the SW Buttress. We did one low 5th pitch off to climbers left of the camps at the col and then simuled up the ridge until the climbing got easy. For the most part its 4th and 3rd class, but pretty loose. We downclimbed and then did one rappel to reach the snow to climbers right of camp. The snow route looked to have a big crack through it.
  13. Enjoy it. I did Paisano a couple years ago and it was a lot of fun. Lots of clean rock, and really only one boring pitch on the whole thing.
  14. The Paisano-Burgundy linkup looked clear. What were you looking for? Once we crossed over Burgundy Col, there was a lot more snow hanging up on stuff than on the highway side. Here's some more pictures you can look through if you want. My Flickr Alicia's Picasa
  15. Trip: Silverstar - Burgundy Col to Silverstar Glacier Date: 6/22/2013 Trip Report: Headed in to Silverstar on Saturday with Alicia, Matt, and Sara. The weather was great when we started from the road in the morning. View from the road. (Alicia's pic) The trail up to the bench was just as steep as I remembered it, but nicer since it was a little wet, which kept the dust down. Heading up from the bench to Burgundy Col we ran into some snow patches, and took advantage of them when we could. Heading up to Burgundy Col (Alicia's pic) Once at the Col, we stopped to enjoy part of the alpine burritos from Qdoba that Sara convinced us to bring. MMMMMMMMMM.....Burrito From Burgundy Col, it was all snow to the start of the scramble to the summit. We all carried crampons, but it was warm and the top layer of snow was soft, so we didn't use them. The scramble had some snow on it, but was still a lot of fun. The clouds started to roll in just as we were starting to scramble to the summit. Scrambling Looking back down the scramble Riding a Flake Summit Rodeo? (Alicia's pic) Group summit shot (Alicia's pic) Back down to the snow to finish our burritos, then time to head back. The glissades down were nice and fast on soft snow. View from our lunch spot Jacket glissade diaper? (Alicia's pic) Glissading, apparently I was having fun (Alicia's pic) Of course the weather decided to clear back up as we were heading back down, so much for those great summit views. The hike out was the normal kitty litter fest, complete with a nice sliding maneuver by Matt that resulted in some dirty pants. Oops (Alicia's pic) A stop for raspberry chocolate chip ice cream at Cascadian Farm on the way home completed a great trip. Gear Notes: Alpine Burritos. Used ice axes, carried crampons but didn't need them. Approach Notes: Patches of snow above the bench, then snow from Burgundy Col to the scramble.
  16. I think my position on passing can best be described in a couple short stories: 1. Let a "guide" and a couple pass us on Monkey Face at the bottom of the bolt ladder because there was going to be a proposal on top. Ended up taking hours to finish while we shivered in the monkey's mouth and had to rappel in the dark. Right: asked us to pass. Wrong: make sure you're faster than the people you're passing. 2. Guy traversed in above us on an alternate start to a route even though we said he was going to make a mess and we were already on route, then his two followers who were just starting climbing outside clustered the route for us and the group waiting behind us. Right: seemed friendly enough at the belays. Wrong: Didn't wait in line, didn't pass in a good spot. I really think the responsibility for passing falls on the group that wants to pass. Find a good spot to do it, have a plan, do it quickly, make sure you're faster, and be friendly about it. I generally go with the "guess I should have gotten up earlier" attitude and only try to pass when it won't inconvenience the lead group.
  17. I climb at nowhere near the level that I'd ever notice the difference between most ropes, so I usually set some basic criteria then find the cheapest rope that meets them. The last rope I bought had to be in the mid to upper 9mm range for diameter, dry treated, 60m long, and bi-pattern if possible. I ended up finding an bi-pattern Edelweiss Laser for about $150 and I've been pretty happy with it. For the slight difference in feel or weight to other ropes, I couldn't justify spending the extra money. I'm sure a lot of other people have specific ropes or brands they love, but I've been pretty happy using this method for my last few ropes.
  18. CAMP Ice Rider Crampons with anti-balling plates. These are used but still have plenty of life left. They have the attachment with the metal bar in front. $60 or best offer, and they're yours. In Seattle, prefer local pickup.
  19. I made some once with milk jugs and zip ties. They worked for a while. The zip ties kept cracking and eventually i gave up and just bought some.
  20. I've used woolite in the past with pretty good results. I run it through a second rinse cycle to make sure all the soap is gone. I also wash mine in a mesh laundry bag, which seems to reduce the tangles quite a bit.
  21. Look at the ABC Huevos nuts. They're the same sizes as the BD ones and usually a little cheaper. When I first started I had cams from .3-3 with some doubles in the mid range of .5-2. When you start, most of the easier climbs are in this range. Then as I started to climb harder stuff I got smaller and bigger gear as needed. I do like my little mastercams though.
  22. +1 for duct tape and finding boots that fit. I also know a lot of people that use liner socks, but I can never get them to stay up and they always end up bunched up under my foot. I had a similar problem when I was first starting. I used a pair of boots for months on just snow and never had a problem, but as soon as I did Rainier and had some trail to start the climb, this happened less than 2 miles into the trip: What made the difference for me was realizing that walking in stiff shank boots on a trail was different than softer hiking boots. I had to change my walk a bit to lift my foot a little more and roll up onto my toe less. My walk ended up being a little more flat footed than I normally would. Another option is if you know you're going to be on trail for a good chunk at the beginning of the climb, wear a pair of light running shoes until you get to the snow and swap into your boots there. Also, a good place to look for different ways to tie your shoes to prevent heel slip is running websites. Runners have a ton of different lacing patterns to do different things.
  23. That's not a very nice thing to call your partner.
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