ajpederson

I think 2mm, but maybe 3mm. Not 100% sure on that one.

Here's what mine looks like.

I drilled a hole through the hook inside the metal hole of the tool without touching the metal of the tools at all and threaded a bit of chord through the hole and into a loop. Clipped the umbilical to the loops. Seems to work ok so far.

I'm curious why you say this? Your two points seem to counter each other. Bringing a screw per person, especially with a 2 person team makes sense, but what good does it do you if either you fall in a crevasse and hit your head, or your partner falls in, pulls you off your feet and you hit your head. I would imagine crevasse rescue is a lot faster when both the rescuer(s) and the person being rescued are able to contribute. I've only been doing this a few years, so these others are way more experienced than me, but both times I've been up the Emmons I took my helmet. It doesn't take much to knock someone out, and its not much extra weight to bring for the added safety.

Yeah, apparently Matt learned how to ski, and Niki didn't come this time.

Didn't dig a pit, but did some smaller checks and kept an eye on everything as we were going up. Conditions were pretty stable. The only thing that was moving was the newest few inches of snow on top of a crust layer that we would scrape off with our skis.

Trip: Red Mountain - Standard Date: 3/18/2012 Trip Report: Matt and I decided to head up Red Mountain this last weekend. Neither of us had been all the way up it yet for some reason, so we decided to give it a go. Weather was nice leaving the parking lot and we headed up the basin. The bridge looked a little tricky, luckily we didn't have to cross it. We then headed up the ridge up Red Mountain. The skinning wasn't too bad, a little deep, but not impossible. View of Guye Peak from the way up. As we got a little higher and the terrain steepened the skinning got harder. It was about 6" of new snow on top of a crust layer. The skins kept slipping out on the crust layer so we just decided to kick steps up the last steep bit to the summit. Summit, getting ready to ski down. The clouds blew in just as we were getting to the top. We ate a quick lunch and the clouds cleared just as we were getting ready to ski down. Me, part way down Red. The skiing down was great up high, then through some heavier stuff, then the standard tree mess to get out of the basin and back to the car. It was a great day for some skiing. All pictures were taken by Matt. Here's a link to a few more. Gear Notes: Skis, and a Matt to break trail. Approach Notes: Up the basin, then up the ridge. Was hoping that going Sunday would mean there was a skin track the whole way up, but no such luck.

Completely agree. We were there a week ago and used the 60 climbs book to get us in areas there was stuff we could climb. Then we used the big book to find other climbs in the area. That seemed to work really well. We climbed some stuff in the Atlantis area one day that was pretty fun. There was a multipitch that looked really cool out there, and I don't think it was too hard, we just didn't have time.

Completely agree. I wanted to leave a pile of those little camp ones on the top of Sherpa Peak after using a partner's gear for the climb. I know they're not the lightest, but I have some of the Black Diamond Hotwires. They work with my rope and hands and don't make me feel like I'm trying to clip to a keychain like those little ones do. Hard to knock them when you can get blemished ones for under $5 on REI Outlet right now.

+1. My stuff used to get pretty bad, but this stuff seems to work well.

PM sent on hooks.

Probably a bit of both. There is a ton of snow in the Zipper right now. We had a 60m half rope we rapped down, so that stretches a lot too. We had a second rope from the other team if one rope didn't reach. Here's a pic of one of our party at the end of the rap.

Thanks for the Zipper and summit steps.

There was quite a bit of ice on Denman. Didn't get close enough to get a good look at any of it, but here's a pic taken from the way in to Lane.

Trip: Lane Peak - Lovers Lane Date: 2/11/2012 Trip Report: Wanted to get out this weekend, so I convinced Alicia, Matt, and Kevin to go climb Lane Peak. After seeing pictures of some friends wallowing up The Zipper last weekend, we decided the steeper Lovers Lane might be fun and not quite as snowy. Lane Peak Snow conditions were a breakable rain crust that made it nice to have snowshoes on the approach. The weather was a mix of sun, snow, and climbing in a cloud. The snow in the route was deep, but wasn't so deep we couldn't climb. Start of Lovers Lane Alicia had never led steep snow, so she wanted to give it a try. There were even a couple short ice sections for her. Matt led the second rope up Lovers Lane with Kevin in tow. Kevin had never climbed steep snow, so this was new for him. Matt with Kevin coming over the first ice step. Alicia getting ready to lead the second ice step around to the right of the rock. At the top of Lovers Lane we found the rappel tree to get into The Zipper. We were able to get down using a single 60m rope. Alicia coming down the rappel into The Zipper. Thanks to some others that kicked steps up The Zipper and to the summit looking for somewhere to ski, the rest of the climb was easy and unroped. Kevin and Matt finishing up The Zipper. Matt and Alicia on the summit. The 4 of us on the summit. There was another group of 2 behind us in Lovers Lane that dropped a picket. If anyone is up there and finds it and is feeling nice, I know the owner and I'm sure he'd appreciate its return. Gear Notes: Few pickets, few nuts, 60m rope. Approach Notes: Snowshoes were nice. Having your girlfriend lead the whole thing and kick all the steps makes for an easy climb.

You have no idea........

I don't think any of us had any cams with us, but I'll check with the others. Where did you guys go? We sat on top for a little while having a snack, but never saw you come up.

+1 Being light like Alicia, or having bigger feet like Ambrose would have worked too. Guess we got the short end of that deal.

If you're in Seattle we found a pretty good deal last year on some Scarpas for my girlfriend at Second Ascent. They were cosmetic seconds so the white wasn't quite as white as it was supposed to be on a few parts, but who really cares. Don't know if they still have any, but it might be worth checking out.

Yeah, that was way better than going to work. I'm glad you saved me from the snowzombie.

My gf has expressed interest in starting to do some steeper snow and ice climbing this winter/spring. Does anyone have some suggestions of routes that would be good to start on? Already on the list of potentials: Lane Peak (Zipper, Fly, Lovers Lane) Chair Peak (N Face, NE Buttress) Shuksan (N Face) Stuart (Ice Cliff Glacier) Any help is appreciated, even if they're not in until later in the spring.

Yeah, he was pretty proud of the scrapes on his legs and hands until we told him that meant he was doing it wrong. We all make fun of him a bit while doing this stuff, but its pretty amazing for me to be able to do all this with him when he comes to visit.

Trip: Leavenworth - R&D - my dad's first multi-pitch Date: 9/30/2011 Trip Report: When my parents comes to visit from Minnesota my dad always wants to try out the things I've gotten into since moving out here. Two years ago it was a trip to Muir and then a trip up the Emmons route on Rainier. Then last year it was cragging in Leavenworth. This year he decided he wanted to try some multi-pitch rock. Him having only climbed for the one weekend before this, I decided R&D would be a good one for him. I was able to convince Matt and Aaron N. to come with, but had to entice Aaron N. with promises of cocaine crack. The four of us geared up and ready to go. I climbed the first pitch with my dad before trading him over to Matt's rope so Aaron N. and I could go for cocaine crack. My dad finishing up the first pitch. Matt and my dad working up to the chimney. Watching me curse at the wall a lot while slowly working up Cocaine Crack. Cocaine Crack had been on my list of things I'd wanted to climb for a while, but only having led a couple other 10a's on gear it looked really intimidating. The crux was steep and hard for me, but I made it through it eventually, and Aaron N. was happy to follow it. Me before the hard part of Cocaine Crack. After that we rejoined with my dad and Matt and finished up the route. My dad finishing the chimney. Matt "leading" the top out. My dad finishing up the route. After the top out we all hiked down and headed to town for some food at the sausage stand. The weekend was finished with my mom, gf, and a few others joining us for a hike to Stuart Lake on Saturday and a little easy cragging in Sunday before driving back to Seattle. We even saw a little rattlesnake on the trail while hiking down from Domestic Dome. Rattlesnake right by the trail. Its a lot of fun to be able to share all these things that I love to do out here with my dad. Wonder what he will want to try next......... Gear Notes: Small cams were nice for the hard part of Cocaine Crack. Approach Notes: Climb R&D on a Friday and there's no crowd.

We were up there a couple weeks ago. There was a little snow on the back side of the col but it looked pretty solid. There is the water down at the bench around 6500 ft. on the way in that's there year round. Here's a link to a pic of the back side of the col. I'm sure its melted out some more since we were up there. https://picasaweb.google.com/114475309056868243474/SilverStarAttempt939511#5649031360507781538 A couple of the people with us went over the col and headed towards Silverstar and were happy to have their crampons and axes.

I look lame without a sweet climbing beard, maybe that's why you guys are better climbers than me. Thanks for inviting me with, it was a fun climb.