BootsandPants

1. Cut the top off of 2L soda bottle 2. Insert crampons tip first 3. Shove that shit in your pack 4. Profit!

Thanks for the links guys. I hadn't seen that one Marcus; good stuff. Had some planning beers last night; going to be a rad trip. It's kind of nice not knowing what we'll find! Fixed that for you Ivan

Heading to Iceland for two weeks; end of March/beginning of April. There's not a lot of beta out there for climbing and skiing objectives on the place, so even though it's a long shot I figured I'd ask here. Have any of you all been there and recommend any climbing or skiing (or both!) objectives? Cheers

Tried out a friend's pair and got a headache after one pitch. Just not for me. I can see the benefit to it if one has chronic neck pain, but holy hell they just look stupid. I'd wear hand jammies, or draws in the gym, rather than these. But that's just, like, my opinion man.

There were a ton of people there this past weekend, not just the big club group. I know there were two vans full of uni kids, another climbing team van full of people, a boy scout troop, and two guided "classes". These were the ones I ran in to or chatted briefly with. I didn't even see the huge club group. Other than 30 minutes or so on Zion at the 3rd belay to give the dudes in front of us some space, and the 15 minutes on Wartly's Revenge, we didn't have to wait on anyone the whole weekend despite the crowds. Sucks that you got caught up in the midst of a busy weekend, but that's often the case for a lot of the easier routes, large "club" groups or no. Rarely will there be a day (especially on a weekend!) when there aren't newbies clawling their way up Spiderman, Super Slab, Moscow, or First Kiss. I don't understand all of the hate seen here for new climbers or clubs. Sometimes it's a great way for people to get a good intro into the sport. Some days are just busier than others and we all have to deal with it. Not sure about the club you mentioned though, as I don't know much about how their classes/club is run (if it's the one I'm thinking about).

Nice to run into you on the trail and on the wall Jon and Eric! Real fun to see all those parties in high spirits having fun on the UTW. Rare gem of a day at Index in late October! BTW, thanks for the picture of us on DH-LA. You got me right at the kind-of awkward start of that first pitch of LA. Fun route!

Skiing is most definitely a worthwhile access tool, especially here in the NW with the amount of snow we get. I would definitely suggest taking the time to learn how. It may take a season or two inbounds, but definitely worth it on the time and fun scales. Like everyone else said, don't learn with mtn boots and silvrettas. Those things are hard to ski on for a good skier in decent conditions. Sure you can do it, but why? You can cut steak with a spoon if you try hard enough... There are good deals on new past years equipment and numerous used deals abound, especially at this time of year as people gear up for another season. Rentals are another good option until you figure out if you like it or not. I rented for 3 years before getting my first set up and was glad I did. By that time I knew enough to be able to decide what I wanted out of a ski and boots. I'm not sure where you are located, but if you're in the greater Seattle area and are looking for lesson opportunities, check out the Wednesday night lessons up at Summit West. It's a 6 lesson series that's pretty affordable (they will do rentals too if you don't have gear) and takes all skill levels. I did it last season and picked up a few valuable tips (and I've been skiing for 20 years), and had a good time. It's a great way to get out on the snow, learn some stuff, and still have the whole weekend free to do whatever. Most importantly, have fun!

I found some keys on the tooth on Saturday. If you've lost a set, describe them to me and I'll get them back to you. Hopefully you had a spare set and were able to get out from the pass without too much headache!

Interesting. I was climbing in Red Rocks the past week and apparently the rangers there were not allowed to issue citations. They could ask you to leave, but they couldn't fine you. I don't know the rationale behind it, maybe because they were working but not getting paid? Not sure how that works, but that was the case. Granted this was for areas outside of the loop road (ie. camping in the Black Velvet Canyon parking lot) or hiking to access canyons off of the loop. I don't think they were harassing anyone who walked in to hike or climb, at least they didn't bother us. I'm sure if you broke through the barricade with your car it would be a different story.

Very cool, and great pictures! Squamish is such an awesome place, and I was fortunate enough to spend a bunch of days there this summer. You're pictures are making me yearn for next summer already! St. Vitus to Karen's Math is one of my favorites. Such a great climb! I can see myself doing that over and over and over... I think we may have run into you at the brewery your first Saturday evening? I know we sat with Aaron, Andrew, and Sheila after the rest of our friends bailed on us (although it was almost 9PM by the time we got down, so I can't blame them).

I don't think so. His shop was still there when I walked by that way a few days ago. Map

Consider looking at an Alpine Threadworks Selkirk. Best "made specifically for skiing" pack that I've used. Well thought out features, and since they're MTO, you can pick and choose what you want/don't want on it. The pack is well worth it imo. Used a cilo for a year as a ski pack and trashed it within a few trips from the edges from carrying (partly my fault I'm sure). Seam grip held it through the end of the season when I replaced it. The AT is still going strong.

Thanks for taking time to post Adam. It's much appreciated. This is something that this area really needs in my opinion. While I somewhat agree to the "If you can't figure out how to get there, gtfo", it's not the easiest thing to find some of the crags in the canyon. Couple that with random paths from people wandering around lost and it makes it all the more difficult to find your way if you don't have any prior knowledge. Some signage would go a long way to corral everyone onto the same trail at least, which is a much better situation than what currently exists.

Very cool! I wish my dad took me out climbing when I was 11. Interesting to see how melted out the basin and the NF of Maude are. I've never been back there any later than July, so maybe it's normal, but it seemed pretty bare.

Lead fall and popped a cam resulting in a deck off of Sagittarius from what I gathered. I hope he is doing well. Good vibes for a full and quick recovery

Trip: Chianti Spire - East Face - Rebel Yell Date: 7/27/2013 Trip Report: After spending a week and a half in Squamish, I'm playing catch up with the TRs. This one is written by my partner, but since he only lurks on CC.com, I figured I'd post it. Funny stuff, and a great climb with a great friend. Get on it! Nash and I checked the weather forecast and again saw the usual thunderstorm warning for summit day. In light of this, we decided to opt out of the standard overnight alpine weekend and instead go cragging for a day at Washington Pass (yeah I said it, it’s a crag). With the Boealps 50 summits for 50 years celebration happening that weekend, we decided to eschew route quality over summit pose badass factor, and Chianti Spire is the most badass of all places to pose atop a summit in the Pacific Northwest. Having thrown down 2 different fist jams, 1 chicken wing and a full on knee bar this one time (on different routes no less!), I figured I was well equipped to handle the sustained off-width climbing on Rebel Yell (5.10b). Nash had been complaining about wanting to lose a little weight, so I assumed he had the squeeze chimney covered. With plenty of quality route beta available to us, both online and in print, we intently studied other teams trip reports and pictures and made sure we had a game plan for the summit poses. We discussed who would take the over, the under, to wear collared shirts or not, proper background lighting, and the limiting factor of only fitting one person on the summit block at a time. We finally settled on both doing an under and an over arms flex, taking enough pictures to kill the camera batteries dead, and photo-shopping the living crap out whatever came out best. Oh, and we took 2 ropes for the rappels, and doubles to 4” with a single 5 based on a passing conversation with some old guy who’d been up the route back in the day. With a dirtbag approach in mind, we rolled out Friday night and set up the Caddy-Shack at the Blue Lake climbers bivouac alongside a host of other cheapskate craggers. Despite our attempts to keep a low profile, we were soon spotted and harassed in our tent by good friends and trash-talkers Jeremy and Rose. They banged on the tent and let us know we were gonna be in way over heads while they were planning on strolling up several routes on NEWS. “Rebel Yell in a day huh”, asked Rose, “That’s a long approach. When was the last time you guys even went for so much as a hike?” “For sure, and no crampons huh?”, chimed in Jeremy, “I had some friends try that a few weeks ago. They were forced to turn back and never heard from again.” Thanks. After chasing them away, we tried to get some rest with fresh doubts in our minds and were promptly woken up at 430am by the deep sustained booming noises of someone packing up and getting into their Prius. Ironic that a car which can drive as quiet as summer breeze has doors and a trunk that can play the 1812 Overture. Moments later Jeremy came over and asked why we were sleeping in? *grumble grumble* A #5 means "hardcore": gumbys on parade Despite our “leisurely” start time, we were still at the trailhead by 530 and hiking up to Burgundy Col in the cool shade. The mountain decided to give a chossy welcome and I blew out of a pile of loose rocks heading down to the creek, butt slid for 10 feet and raked the outside of my ankle nicely. This seemed like a fantastic way to start of day of wide climbing. We hit the Col 3 hours later and after a short break we crossed to the east side and were greeted with sun and reasonably soft snow. We proceeded to step kick it over to the base of the climb and were geared up and on route at 10. I drew the first pitch and led up flakes and handcracks to a nice ledge, which would soon provide a good view of the squeeze chimney entertainment. After handing Nash the #5 and a flashing a grin, I settled into the role of belay gun and made sure my camera was nearby. Soon he was channeling the great Admiral Akbar and roared, “It’s a TRAP!!”, proceeded to deploy the boat anchor/umbrella and dove on in. Off widths are proof of the old adage that “necessity is the mother of invention” as Nash proceeded to craft up a technique referred to as the “Bump-n-Grind”, whereby he would push the #5 out front as far as possible (a few inches) and then drag upward whichever part of his body was least stuck. Lather, rinse, repeat until at belay. After cheating and using the face holds to stay out of the trap, I led the easy pitch 3 to another comfy belay and sent my partner over the blind arête. He warned me that the first thing you see on the other side is a slung boulder that feels like it would only take a tic-tac to send it flying. The urge to trundle was nearly overwhelming, but with a party below us coming up the alternate left side start this seemed poor form so there it remains (probably). Cool exposure on this climb (ignore the accidental tilt) At this point we began the money climbing up the headwall crack. It starts out thin and technical and slowly turns to a burly off-fist splitter that could eat every #4 cam you can carry. What we lacked in off-width technique, experience, style or grace, we made up for with sweat, grunts, curses and extremely high levels of gumption. I led the handcrack up to a bolt on a ledge that I mistakenly thought was the belay station. After bringing Nash up I tried to stoke him up for the beginning of the fist crack, “Wow! Splitter!! Looks awesome!!! Wish this was my pitch…..”, I said. With a raised eyebrow and doubts about my sanity/integrity, Nash clenched up the fists and proceeded to get a little thuggish with the crack above. For the next 40’ I cheered him on and offered great advice like, “Hey dude, you’re stepping on the rope. That’s cheating.” Once at the correct belay, he brought me up and we proceeded to play the role of gentlemen and continually offer the next lead up. I felt bad for cutting short his previous lead, and he insisted that I “Get in on the fun”. Eventually his insistence (and the fact that the rope was already flaked) won out, the couple behind us were getting near and so up I went (a little). I soon was enjoying the thug life and working my way up a precious few inches at a time. After a generous amount of grunting and shuffling and generally scrumming with the rock, I was asked, “What’s going on up there?” Politely I replied, “Can’t you tell? I am f—king SENDING this thing! What the f—k does it look like?!?!” Confused, Nash replied, “I don’t know but it sounds like you’re passing a kidney stone.”, to which I had no reply. Sasha getting his wide on A few shuffles more brought me to the ledge above and an even wider crack around the corner. Grateful to deposit the #5 for someone to clean, I placed that and moved to the final ledge above and enjoyed the rope drag and runout to the summit area. A strenuous lead can do funny things to your ability to use logic, and upon reaching the other side I saw a girl climb atop a nearby block and was very confused. Wondering if she was from the team below us and exactly how long I’d been in that crack such that I had been passed, I dejectedly asked her if that was the true summit. She smirked and said, “I think you’re on a different peak dude. That drop between us is pretty deep.” When I looked down I realized she was correct and indeed Burgundy Peak is a mere slack-line away from Chianti. Rejoicing in the fact that I was not lost (for once) and did not get passed by the party behind while stuck in a off width crack (Hall of Shame maneuver), I slung the first boulder I saw and brought up my partner to discover that his phone was rocking “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore! STOKE! After many fist bumps and grins, we followed through with our plans to act like tough guys on the summit block and took some Facebook profile worthy shots. After a nice rest and more fist bumps (an incredibly common occurrence), we did the 4 quick double rappels and were back to our gear at the base of the route and the Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies waiting. Yeah, tough guys like their summit treats too. Packing up and returning to the cars we made it back in about 14 hours total from when we started. We even had time to get to Winthrop and made an attempt to clean the Mexican restaurant out of Dr. Pepper, chips and salsa! Came close. All in all a great day out in the mountains and a ton of fun. Get on it! Route on the descent COLLAREDSHIRTSOVERUNDERSUMMITSTOKE Gear Notes: Chocks, blue MC size to BD 5, doubles .5-4. #5 probably not needed, but it was sure nice to have for P2 and P6. Definitely 2x #4s. Double ropes for the raps Approach Notes: You know the drill. Over the river and through the woods and up chossy gullies we go.

The thunderstorms in the area most likely caused the one party to descend rather than wait on the summit. Probably didn't know anything was really wrong (other than a slow moving team) until it was late and getting dark. They may have been too tired and didn't want to take on further risk by climbing in the night. Personally, I wouldn't really want to be climbing a loose-ish route in the dark if I was tired and relatively new to alpine climbing. Easy to armchair quarterback though. At least nobody was hurt and valuable lessons learned, I'm sure.

Trip: Mt. Garfield - Infinite Bliss Date: 7/4/2013 Trip Report: A little late, but thought I'd still share while I'm catching up on some TRs. Independence day; the 4th of July. Time to fire up the BBQ, grill up some tube meat, drink a bunch of beer, and blow stuff up. ‘MURICA! While drunkenly playing appendage roulette with gunpowder is certainly appealing, Sasha and I decided to abuse our phalanges in a different way; climbing. We searched for a worthy objective we could reasonably accomplish in one day and settled on Infinite Bliss, a fun little alpine romp close to home. Sasha had been skunked on the route a few weeks prior, it being at the top of his list for revenge. We met at a leisurely 530am. I was on my motorcycle and stated that I have a strict “no nuts to butt” rule on the bike unless dire emergency dictates otherwise. He agreed that it was indeed a good rule, and we were off in his car. After a brief stop for coffee, and another brief stop to deal with the after effects of said coffee, we found ourselves in the little pull-off used to access the climbers trail to the route. After a spirited debate on how many draws to bring, we settled on all of them, and were off. I had thought the approach was pretty short, and in terms of alpine climbs it is, but I’ve been focusing on improving my technical climbing this summer and let’s just say I’m not in the best approaching shape (at least that’s what I told Sasha, who believed me). 45 minutes of stairmaster root pulling later we were granted with a view of the route, or the half we could see that wasn’t in the clouds. ‘Holy shit, that’s a ton of vert’ I thought, but my mouth said ‘Holy shit, that’s a TON of slab’. We racked up with our plethora of quickdraws and a few heretical small cams and Sasha stole the first lead and took off flying up the slabs like he was levitating. The ropes eventually go taught with Sasha tugging on them telling me to get my ass moving. We simulclimb. Smearing up the slabs, I count endless bolts and pass 4 anchor stations, getting heavier and heavier the higher we climb. Eventually the unthinkable happens and Sasha runs out of quickdraws, forcing a belay after a scant 4 pitches. I reach the anchor, a quick fist bump is shared, then we launch into our regular routine as I set out on the next expanse of flowing granite. “You’re on belay” he says, “Alright, I’m out of here. Climbing” I reply, “Not for long” he retorts. This exchange never gets old, always smearing a grin on my face. I climb, picking my way up the expanse of granite spilling out from the upper mountain. The moves monotonous and uninteresting; smear, smear, smear, edge step, clip bolt, pause and look for the next one, find it, smear, smear, smear et cetera et cetera ad nauseum. Eventually the ropes go taut and it’s my turn to impatiently yank on them to tell Sasha he’s slow since he hasn’t cleaned the anchor in 3.2 seconds. “UP CLIMBER” I yell, no response (maybe a finger gesture). Time passes, we climb on. I stop once I run out of draws, luckily on a huge bouldery ledge. Greeting Sasha as he passes over the lip we check the time; 7 pitches in 90 minutes. Good time, although we pitch out the next few pitches as the grade goes into territory we don’t particularly feel like simuling after one 200 foot 5.5 pitch with one bolt on it. I draw the short straw and lead the first 5.10b crux. Sasha chatters away at how awesome it looks while I thrutch up vertical slab. Face climbing is a weakness, and it is being displayed for the Snoqualmie Valley to see here on pitch 11. I make it through and longingly look at a crack/flake system from the anchors while Sasha styles the thing. The climbing after is fairly fun for a little bit, going at 5.8 we start simuling again. Pitches pass us by and bolts become scarce. Finally we reach the point which I’d been silently dreading the whole climb. Pitch 16. Low 5th class. No bolts. No pro. Over a full rope length. This was the pitch that skunked Sasha earlier in the summer. Routefinding is difficult as everything looks the same; broken chossy rock with kitty litter spread about. My lead, and I’m TOTALLY AMPED ABOUT IT! At least that’s what I told myself. Off I go. 20m; rambling up a ramp type feature. 30m; straight up the face. 40m; consult the topo and continue to wander. 50m; place a tiny cam in a disintegrating crack to easy my mind and laugh at the thought of it holding a fall. 55m; start getting worried that I can’t find the anchors anywhere. Taut rope; fuck. I yell and ask Sasha if he’s OK simuling for a bit. “Did you find the anchors?” he asks? “Sure, they’re right up here” I lie. So here we are, simuling crumbly 5th with nothing holding us on the mountain but sheer force of will and C4 rubber, the rope a suicide pact between the two of us. Don’t look down. Don’t think about Sasha falling. I think about anchor chains and burritos instead; burritos are always good. After another 20m of fumbling around the anchor is finally spotted. With a sigh of relief I clip into the first hard point of pro in almost 80m. Sasha comes in and we share some words about that pitch, mostly profane. He sets out on another pitch of the same, however the anchors are clearly visible from our stance. After this last rambly chossy shitpitch; sphincters unpucker, we laugh and fist bump, the only things we can do to alleviate the stress. From here the bolts start picking up again. P19, the crux, comes up and Sasha gets the lead. Delicate face moves abound. His inner sporto is unleashed and he cruises it. Fun pitch even though I have to pull on the last draw since I’m short and couldn't reach the last hold in the sequence. From here, getting to the top is a formality. Some of the hardest 5.8-5.9 climbing I've ever done due to the exhaustion setting in. Both of us ready to be finished. I’ve been getting chills for a while now but dismiss it to climbing without a jacket. We finally top out, whooping and fist bumping while looking down at the massive hulking waterfall of granite we just climbed. We’re only halfway there; the descent taking us back down the route. 23 rappels now lay ahead of us. After the second rap, Sasha inquires if I have an extra belay device. In the spirit of the holiday, his decided it needed to taste the sweet freedom only America can provide and took off down the slab, pinging it’s laughter down 2000 feet. Fuck. I congratulate him on being the person I know who’s done the most munter hitch raps in a row, assuming we get off this wall that is. We develop a system that consisted of him rapping and twisting the ever-loving piss out of the ropes, then me following and straightening them out again through my device. After getting past the unprotectable kittylitter horrorshow on a bogus diagonal rap that was more assisted downclimbing, we begin simulrapping. This speeds things up a considerable amount and only twists up one rope at a time. Success! We make it to the base just as the twilight fades. Upon packing up, I start to worry that the reason I was feeling really cold on route (and still at the packs) was not due to the lack of jacket, but to a developing fever. Sasha dismisses my thoughts and diagnoses me an acute case of wussitis. Stating that I don’t need him to call a whambulance, we head out and make it back to Seattle sometime late. I spend the next 3 days in bed with a 104 degree fever. Wussitis my ass. My Conclusions: • Saying Infinite Bliss is a sport route is wrong. Infinite Bliss is NOT a sport route, it’s a full on alpine experience in which you must be comfortable with many alpine style techniques, route finding, and have excellent endurance. It just happens to be bolted. Your standard cragging sport climber will have a very hard time finishing this route. Much more to it than clipping bolts. • While I see the vision the first ascentionists were going for, I don’t really agree with it. It’s cool though and that’s the beauty of it; we don’t have to agree. I’m glad it’s there for the experience it provided, and there were definitely some fun pitches, but we won’t be going back anytime soon (or ever probably) • Doing Infinite Bliss with a fever makes it much harder • I suck at face climbing Top-down Sasha on the "summit" Obligatory over-under Stoke Gear Notes: All the quick draws you have. We took 25 to simul as much as possible without having to reset. Approach Notes: Follow the trail. Don't turn off too soon, you need to go above the lower waterfall

Put some intuitions in the TLT5s. Much cheaper fix for your problem. The TLT5s are the shit for winter alpine fun; I prefer them over the other Scarpa boots I've used in the past.

I'm very interested in these questions too. I've never felt the chockstone rap route was unsafe; probably slower than a direct line down the face, but never any more unsafe than most other trade route raps in the alpine. This would be a poor reason to have added another rap line when one already exists.

Cool and super fun climbing! I was on the upper pitches of Peasants route while you guys were climbing the pillar (I recognize that dayglo green shirt). Sounded like you guys were having some fun with the whooping coming from that way Was a nice weekend to be up in Squamish!

Nice! This one's on my short list. Heading up to the spires next weekend and have been wondering whether or not to take the pons. Did you get a look up towards silver star from the col? Think we can get away with out the pons or should we just bite the bullet and bring them?

Ran a set of these through about 30 pitches this past weekend and my partner and I both agreed that they're the best placing cam we've used. Never have I though I'd be placing C4s on the B-team, but now I am. I'm now interested in seeing what their basic cams are like too. Easy to place, easy to clean, and they bite really well (at least in squamish granite). Purple one caught a small fall I took no problem. The flexy nature of the stem is very nice. Very well put together; high quality product. My only major complaint is that they stop at the 1 size (and price of course). Definitely recommended.

Do you have any background skiing, or is this your first stab at it? If you have some experience, how do you like to make your turns? What kind of response from a ski do you like? All of these factors will play into a good ski recommendation for something you will think is fun. I see a lot of people get hung up on weight numbers and forget the ski-ability/enjoyment factor of the ski. I'll take a weight penalty (within reason) to have a ski perform to suit my skiing style than the lightest/fastest thing out there. What works for me may not work for you however. I agree with Chris; I gravitate towards K2. Their designs seem to work very well in these snow conditions and my ski style. Maybe since their ski designers live here and test their skis in the Cascades.

This is going to absolutely crush the already strained tourist industry in the Hunza and Gilgit areas. Very sad about the people who have died, and also very sad news for all of the people in the region who depend on the tourist income to feed and take care of their families.