alpine et

...weather is forecast to be moving in around 10AM on Saturday per the UW model. It looks to be a decently strong front, especially if you're above treeline, solo. be prepared to bivy...

Anyone know status of getting to these trailheads currently? They seemed low enough elevation that snow might still allow driving most of the forest roads up to them... Winchester Lookout Ruth Mtn Forest service hasn't updated their info since the snows have come: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mbs/alerts-notices/?cid=stelprdb5150431

These types of resources are great for the general weather forecast, but only constitute the minimal extreme events that can occur at elevation. It's entirely possible to have a perfectly clear outlook and have a rather severe orthographic driven weather event. This would be very likely on mountains like Shasta or Hood or SW Olympics which don't have much disturbances upstream.

Seems that folks are discussing a tradeoff at the belay to having uneven half ropes. Granted I haven't used this system much, but if the difference is only 2m, can't both climbers tie in with a bit of extra after the figure 8 and thereby making the ropes fairly even for climbing, and then as long as you've ensured you've threaded the long side through the chains, as has been suggested, you could get as much as you can out of the rap?

from their website... What will happen with my returned product? We will deal with your product as quickly and efficiently as possible. We will replace your Ropeman 3 with your choice of Ropeman 1 or Ropeman 2 together with locking karabiner what is a karabiner?

How was access up there? Still driveable to the Colchuck Lake trailhead? I guess those trailheads are open again since their fire closures earlier?

allrighty... that's a bummer... foot firmly planted in mouth... i'll just keep rubbernecking here to try and learn something then.

I reported back that he was wearing a helmet. I could have sworn I saw one on (didn't witness the fall) and ceratinly heard folks who did witness it say it would have been much worse without one. But I could certainly be incorrect.

comments regarding no helmet aren't true. I was there - he had a helmet on. as for other details, I didn't see or observe enough to comment. hoping everything works out for all those involved. as a newer trad leader I hope to gain some insight from what happened - hope I don't have to sift through too much junk here to do so.

Rainier was named for someone who never saw the mountain range, so doesn't count in the OP's list...

I haven't explored Vantage as much as many people on here I'm sure, but I think you'll be dissapointed if you are going there with trad in mind. There are some gear climbs, but there seems to be a lot more bolted face climbing.

I think we should all make an investment into the safety of other climbers and attach a spot beacon to each loose block. That way upon reaching it, you can immediately call for help.

Son, you're lacking perspective. You asked a question regarding work, then limit your vocabulary to force. The answer to your question is probably no (the scenario you describe is too incomplete to say no definitively). The explanation can be found in previous posts. I think the most revelant reason is that a piece is going to blow because it wasn't set well or the rock wasn't solid. I'm not usually too concerned with the kN rating on the gear itself. 6kN is a hell of a lot. But if we're in the situation where a bomber piece blows beacuse of mechanical failure, energy would be absorbed while breaking the cable, but if your pieces are spaced in a normal manner, you're free falling between them, and quickly picking up energy to throw at that next piece...

This scenario is quite different than climbing on lead. If the pieces are equalized, then the coredelette will not relax inbetween the first piece failing and the next one ripping out. That's not to say that the first piece didn't decerase the load, though[i mean load decreased via rope stretch, not cordalette, while this piece rips, not much energy absorbed by the actual piece blowing]. There is presumably a rope in the system that is stretching and taking load as that fisrt piece of the anchor fails. So the load can be lower on the next piece, but not beacuse of any energy absorbed by the cordelette. However I think this gets a bit too academic, as when I build my 3 point anchors, I make damn sure the 3 pieces are bomber.

I can't imagine that any two pieces would be put so close together that the rope wouldn't be able to unload after the top one blows. The rope is a really long spring and once stretched will recoil very quickly. The pieces would have to be almost equalized to keep the rope from relaxing... the second piece would have to be recieveing load before the first one failed.

Enjoyed a new route out at x38 after a tip from some knowledgeable folks. Anyone know who puts up routes with a salamander stamped into the hanger? Or maybe I'm showing my lack of experience here and that is a brand?? Not sure it's up to me to broadcast the location and details, but if anyone wants to know of a new 5.8 at gun show, drop me a line. Erik

Been out of the mountains the last few weeks... was wondering how the conditions were up at WA Pass smoke-wise? NOAA pinpoint forecast is still going for smoky conditiosn through the weekend: NOAA pinpoint http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=48.51706001210139&lon=-120.6556308935547 thoughts?

Thanks for your thoughts... seems like your setup felt odd because of the difference in technical nature of the tools, and less so the length difference. I think the two axes will still swing & stick fairly similarly, so I'll give it a go. I haven't bought the hammer tool yet... was scoping out thoughts before I picked up the other one and was stuck with a mismatching set... but I think it's worth a try- got one of them at discount, at least.

I picked up a factory second Petzl sum'tec 59cm adze version. I had planned on pairing it up with a 59cm hammer for alpine ice climbing. I only notice now, however, that Petzl only makes the hammer in a 52cm length. Will it be weird to have one tool at 52cm and another at 59cm? I guess they're going to weight slightly differently anyway, with the adze / hammer difference, but will that extra 7cm feel weird while climbing? Or will it be hard to notice it in practice? Anyone use mismatching ice tool lengths? thanks...

I think in both circumstances you get what you put into it. I took the basic alping climbing course with mountaineers last year and am most of the way through intermediate course now. There were several times when I was shown a skill or taught something that was not correct.... it's volunteer run. You will not get that if you hire a guide. However, if you get a guide it's much more up to you to be proactive and learn the skills instead of just being guided up something. I haven't been on any guided trips, but I've witnessed many of them in the mountains - most of the time it was unfit folks being dragged up a mountain. Short roped all the way up Shasta... did they not learn self arrest? I paid somewhere near $300 for the basic course. It's a time commitment, and I was lucky to get a really good instructor for basic who taught us the basic skills and the why/when behind them. either way... good luck. The mountaineers have a decent layout of their programs on the website: www.mountaineers.org

no matter the method you use, the pull should always be on the harness. When using a kiwi coil I usually tie into the end with a fig-8, coil away, then tie a butterfly and tie in with that again. If you need to drop the coils, you're already tied in at the end...

I researched this route recently as well - agree that most were heading up Lightning Creek instead of going to White Pass. If you want to go via White Pass, why not check out the newly reopened N. Fork Sauk road? I worked up the mileage of White River via Lightning Creek as ~ 32RT, which was somewhat similar to the mileage along the N. Fork Sauk -> White Pass route. Within a few miles, so basically the same given I'm just drawing lines on google earth. via lightning creek: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/609959/glacier-whiteriver.html

cool, thanks Josh - happy to contribute!

you use screw on ND? I've messed around with Cokins filters before, the rectangular ones, but they were bulky and a bit annoying. Pretty intrigued by the vari-nd filters, but they are so expensive!!

yeah - good call! the intervalometer isn't too heavy (I mean, I already had the rope, tripod, 60D, tent......) but the cheapo one I have is big, and is annoying to pack. Continuous shooting works well with most time lapses in the backcountry... most things are moving quick enough (clouds or meteors) that you want to be capturing rather continuously. With daytime timelapses it might be nice to be able to insert a few seconds between each frame... your camera will really be going bonkers nailing out 1/100" exposures over and over.