Marmot Prince

dammit, hate to admit it but you know your pugs

The pug looks very attentive, probably don't need a screamer

Thanks for the hands on experience, it's a great compliment to summitpost that I've also been reading. It's funny how SP seems to state an ice axe is optional on the easier routes when people fall all the time.

You mean like aid climbers or something? More like inner city kids without the opportunities most of us had. This looks pretty cool.

I'm planning a trip up Mt Shasta as part of training for another Volcano in the northwest, which will remain a secret, but it starts with the letter R. Obviously I'm only going up Shasta in good conditions without recent snow fall. Avalanche Gulch is the standard route, but I'm wondering if people have experience of the other class 3 routes, espiecally at that time of year. Concerned about minimizing rock fall, avalanches etc.

I agree there are ways to take the load off the belayer. But a brief look at any climbing crag suggests that leader falls are still painful and potentially dangerous. Surely we are not arguing about this? You're right that maybe a load limiter at the belay device isn't optimal. But why wouldn't one at the climber be useful? Again, as I stated before, the device does not have to be a screamer. The screamer was an example of a load limiting device to help understand my question. I'm discussing a hypothetical device that trades some extension for a reduction in the peak forces. An elastic band for example does this and does not require replacement. Also you probably wouldn't be using this in sport climbing where the bolts can take any reasonable force. Why do you climb on dynamic ropes and not static ones? Few people get injured in most climbing falls. I'm not saying the "design dynamism is insufficient", I'm asking why couldn't there be ways to lower the fall force further. Not sure what to say here. I've climbed with alot of people. Although we all enjoy the feeling of climbing, I know the majority don't consider the possibility of accidents a plus. I don't understand the responses in this thread. I'm asking why wouldn't taking some load off be useful? Are we really arguing that people die or are seriously injured every year when protection fails? Why do people spend $$$$ on trad gear and why is new gear constantly entering the market if falling on gear is not a problem.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/shovel lolwut. What is this really about? Definitely sounds like you have alot of experience and some useful advice I guess the consensus is that a snow claw can be useful in some conditions and definitely is better than nothing. I wonder if people have ever used the snowclaw for other purposes, it is advertised as a splint. Maybe it could also be used as part of a sleeping pad system in some way (since the curved shape creates an air pocket above the ground). I

So how does having extra penalty slack make a load limiting system less useful? My suggestion of a dynamic device for a belayer or climber uses a screamer as an example, ie, just to help you understand the concept. The device is not literally a screamer. There are alot of things that could pay out a little rope during a fall to the force.

Happy new years, First of all, are we confused on the setup? I'm assuming the belayer is belaying from the device on his harness, not directly off the anchor. Of course the belayer is tied into the anchor. What we disagree about is basically the friction in the anchor and first piece: I think it's impossible for the belayer not to feel ALOT of the forces the leader or anchor felt, UNLESS there is a shit ton of friction in that first piece or anchor. Just imagine this: the belayer is asleep and lets the rope go through. Clearly there will only be some frictional force and the leader will not be greatly slowed in his fall, and the anchor and pieces aren't going to be feeling much force at all. Since I've seen belayers lifted several feet into the air by a leader fall, and felt the forces myself, I just don't believe these frictional forces are the major taking the fall. A screamer-like device on the belayer or leader, (a good idea you pointed out) seems like it would lower the peak forces in this system. Comeon, you do you really feel ok falling on any trad climb? Just the potential gear damage itself is worth avoiding, much less human safety. Most people trad climb multiple grades below their sport to avoid falling. Some people climb for years with only a one or two trad falls. Well if we could take alot of the forces out we could safely and push trad climbing more.

You mean like people who enter threads off topic to insult others? Then why is it always a good idea to give dynamic belays? The force is only applied because the belayer holds the rope during the fall. If the belayer gives rope (by moving his body or letting the rope go through) the peak force is greatly reduced.

Yeah easy enough for top roping but what if you're belay station is a 2 foot shelf or just hanging? Instead of carrying 4-6 screamers and having to place them with your pro, you could have such a device, or have both to reduce impacts further.

This is as much a party as I'm going to get. I have to pack for another trip. Anyways, we both know how this is going to end sobo. You, Me, and 2 ice axes on Columbia Crest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBTtq2Gzm6w&feature=related By the way, a dynamic belay device is a pretty interesting idea, at least a clue.

Jesus Christ, he even changed his signature... I'm pretty concerned now about a new hazard on my Rainier trip, forget crevasses, exposure, or HACE, the most deadly predator: Vengeful CC members! I'll be careful not to publish the dates of my trip, otherwise sobo and others might be waiting in a quiet section of the mountain with special "ice tools" just for me. Well, that's assuming they can make it out of their chairs...

I am an engineer, with decades of experience in these calculations and related matters, but by royal proclamation of Marmot Prince, I am an e-mountaineer and I don't know shit. BTW, your math sux. But I don't know shit... Are you the guy in the other thread who creeped all my previous posts and spun them into a nonsensical story and started crying after I told you how crazy you sounded? I thought you were Mr. Rainier super hero. Don't you have some gumbies to rescue from a crevasse or something instead of following me from thread to thread? At least you're being consistently creepy.

It takes twice the force because there is fall force on the piece and opposing force from the belayer. So a screamer like device at the belayer level that reduces forces at the belayer by 1 kn could actually reduce the force on the piece by 2 kn, so wouldn't it be twice as effective? Maybe some engineers can chime in.

Just wondering a thought, why isn't there some kind of device for belayers that extends rope in a high factor fall, like a screamer but working near the belayer's device? There are alot of situations where you would take a high factor fall but would be far off the deck, so adding another 3-5 feet of rope extension could take plenty of force off you.

Montypiton, goods points, as for the entrenching tool you mean this guy?: It does look pretty good but not sure I would use it as a grappling hook.

I guess thats why I'm training and doing research months in advance?

You assume I am gungho set on the summit or not coming back. I've climbed more than a few mountains solo, but probably abandoned more attempts than I have made it. On my first solo, on Whitney, it was winter and I turned back at only 13,000'. I had light trail hikers on that couldn't really fit crampons and got some weird looks from a guide who was coming off the mountain. I actually met up with some ski mountaineers from Redding who seemed friendly enough to accompany me to the summit, but I felt bad to do this, and watched them turn into little specs and disappear up the couloir and went back home. If I see things I don't like on Rainier I'll just chill at Muir camp and head home, or bag something nearby without massive glaciers. It's nice to know the options though if I make a summit attempt and if there's any non-obvious dangers of pushing on.

I think the permit and useful advice were the main prize, but the angry posts definitely paid for the effort, like a fancy dessert after a main course.

Whoops, picture fail. How about instead of walking on the glacier, I'll tunnel underneath through the crevasses? No fall danger then. I'll put on all of the five arc'teryx jackets the dude at the outfitters store told me to buy just for you.

Actually it does… http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1033930 But, back to your main point… I’m guessing the goal of the question you are referring to on the solo app is not so much to see if you are aware of some special technique for rescuing yourself from a crevasse, but more to ascertain how well you have thought things through, as well as to get some insight into your experience level and how you think when faced with unexpected challenges. The fact that you are going to the Internet searching for a textbook answer makes people suspect that you are missing the point, and that you therefore lack the experience necessary to answer the question, and therefore aren’t a good candidate for a solo attempt. Your pushing back at those who understandably think this and are trying to dissuade you invites spray. As to a specific canned answer… Describe your technical method of crossing crevasses safely: How about – if there isn’t already a ladder across it, and if I cant step across it or ski across it, I can’t cross it. Describe your method of self-rescue from a crevasse: For starters, if you fell in a crevasse and found yourself alive, upright, uninjured, and not wedged above a dark abyss, you could start walking. Sometimes you can walk to the end and climb out. If you can’t walk out and have screws and slings you could possibly climb and aid yourself out. Beyond that you have to think on your feet and use your intuition. Maybe you could tie something to the scrambling rope you have in your pack and lasso an anchor up above? There often are not textbook answers to performing a self rescue and experienced people are aware of that. Perhaps a textbook answer is not what the question is trying to get from you. Fair points. But I poised the question to get general information about the application process and what is expected. I think the wording reflected that. After the 2nd or so post implying everyone got accepted, I basically answered along the lines you said and submitted the form a day ago. The thread was intended to be useful not to get a textbook answer but to understand the application process, which I do now (it sounds like a rubber stamp). It's accomplished this. Now as for the solo rope with a silent partner over 9 pitches, that truly sounds scary to me.

You'd be surprised. A)Better to start in the dark than finish in the dark B)6 hours is for a very strong team who doesn't get lost, doesn't get stuck behind anyone else, and has very good conditions. C)Snow conditions become worse as the sun comes up. Soloing Rainier is not like soloing 5.12 or something badaass like that. Slogging up a glacier by your lonesome doesn't feel a whole lot different than being roped up to someone, just a lot safer. Perhaps you should hook up with another climber for your first run up the big R. Pretty good points. Also, do you think HACE is possible? This is a little disturbing. I've done alot of climbing at rates at least as much as the Shasta guy who died, and I always assumed the worse that could happen is a headache. I've always read that HACE is rarely below 20k.

Thanks for the advice. Again, this wasn't about resumes and it's interesting you felt the need to post yours. You might have well said you climbed K2 50x because all of your claimed experience makes your previous post about my lack of ice climbing experience sound even crazier. I guess I'll be hearing from you the next time you go trolling through my posts to jump on me for trying to buy ice screws, or when I make a thread discussing lightweight snow shovels. Sanctimonious sprayer. The only narcissistic ignorance is being posted in this thread by you guys. It's funny how you people criticize me for being a noob, and then when I try to demonstrate experience at altitude by mentioning I climbed other mountains with the same height, use this to imply I've got a hardon for myself. Vacation time what? WTF are you talking about. I have no idea what these pyschoanalystic relationship problems you people keep referring to are. I'm not an amalgam of the bad things that have happened to you in your life. Stop projecting your own wierd problems onto my reasonable inquiries to climb a mountain.

So what's the answer to doing these things solo Choada Boy? I'm waiting.