christophbenells

yes this is ideal for an approach ski to get to ice and mixed climbs. Also works well as a uber rugged XC/bushwacker setup! Not really for downhill use, for volcano climbing and peak bagging use an AT boot. I have done some nice turns in the mountain plates though...

https://www.voile.com/voile-mtn-plate-kit.html These work well with mountaineering boots, Use t-nuts to put into your ski so you don't throw a shoe, and replace the "pin" part of the system with a nut and bolt and some loctite. Non releasable in a fall (unless its a really big one....) These work great for approach ski bindings, I don't know why Viole doesn't market them as such. I bet you could fashion a telemark cartridge to these to make a reactive feel like modern tele bindings.

Beautiful photo, this is what draws us to the mountains

I would say, Valdez ice climbing and skiing. Ice climb if it is storming, ski tour if it is sunny. Or you can do both in one day. Highest of quality in both regards. Fly to ANC, rent a car and about 3hrs drive, or fly direct to Valdez for a few hundred more. Ice climbs are about 20 miles outside of town, skiing starts about 30 miles outside of town.

All the folks that i saw up there with those boots looked really hot and uncomfortable. They strapped the snowshoes on, unzipped the boots and clonked along the lower glacier. The reason they were wearing them is because they bought all their gear for the 7 summits quest, and most of those people are very European. I think overboots on baruntse/phantom 6000/spantik-esque boots is the way to go. Down booties inside 40 below overgaitors is the way to go for campwear. Its what everyone in the know does up there. Interesting though the weight difference is not that much. How does the overall bulk of the 2 compare? FWIW i only wore my overboots on the early-morning ascent from 14k to the summit (summitted from 14 camp), on top of stock dynafit tlt-5's (notoriously cold boots) and of course daily around camp

how about Banks Lake? anyone out there seeing anything?

a couple of climbs are in on the eliot glacier moraine on mt. hood. 4+ hours and ~5,000' ski from car...

there is cell phone service at 14k camp now. verizon i believe, people were getting 3 bars, full on.

Just moved back to PNW after 2 year hiatus, need some fresh climbing partners. Rock, Ice, Skimo. PLease and thank you. You can see me old TR's upon this website or view my ticklist upon the mtn proj.

not the anchors below the Dodd off width, the one to the left of that.

There is a very large, very loose block at the top belay on Free For All. it is about 4 x 3 x 3 feet and wobbles a couple inches with a slight tap of your foot. The ledge that this block sits on is slanted at about 45 degrees. It is the block the that makes up the climber's right side of the ledge that you stand on. You stand on this block at the belay.

There is a very large, very loose block at the top belay on Free For All. it is about 4 x 3 x 3 feet and wobbles a couple inches with a slight tap of your foot. The ledge that this block sits on is slanted at about 45 degrees. It is the block the that makes up the climber's right side of the ledge that you stand on. You stand on this block at the belay.

whats the difference between a fixed cam and a bolt? -fixed cam: ugly, dangerous, obtrusive -bolt: safe, damages rock, pussy shit I say BOLT IT, don't look back.

this year the "normal" route is the pearly gates, and the typical ski descent is down the old chute, so you shouldnt have to worry about skiing above climbers. Plus you will want to be skiing down later in the day, most climbers will have already descended by then. The tough thing with skiing hood is timing, gotta climb up early enough to where its not too hot w/ rock/icefall, but gotta descend later in the day when the snow softens up. Be ready for all conditions. The top 75' feet is usually less than a ski lenghts wide, so it is always dicey. an unarrested fall will likely end in serious trauma. there is a good spot to ski from just at the bottom of the old chute, and skiing from the hogs back can be a great time too. I personally like to go down either the west crater rim and to the north of crater rock and down the zig zag to miss head, or down the hogs back to white river headwall and down white river glacier traversing out around 7,500' to t-line lodge.

whenever I climb with someone with cord-o-lettes it takes them forever to set up belay stations. They are usually the same people that have petzl adjust butt floss style, knives on the harness, and all them other do hickeys. I use the rope for a several reasons, less stuff on gear loops (i dont do gear slings) 70m rope means extra rope for anchors/pas/longer rappels easy, simple and no extra gear needed. May end up a bit heavier, but much more streamline. Not that cord-o-lettes don't have a place, i may consider taking one or some extra webbing on a route that i'm not sure of the descent options or rappel station tat condition etc. Crags that utilize trees for top anchors you need some cord, etc. So, I guess, it depends for me. I have never owned, used or carried one, nor felt the need for it, but many people i climb with always have it on their harness. If leading in blocks, not sure how you would use the rope efficiently though...

Has anyone ever gone or heard of anyone climbing water ice on the northwest facing wall of Sandy River canyon?

That is a great looking line up an awesome peak. Good job on seeking out the new-new and getting something done as ephemeral and technical looking as that. But... WI5+? I have seen Craig Pope's photos and he is obviously a very talented climber and has way more mileage on ice climbs than I do, and compared to him I should not judge what grade he has put on the pitch, and the photos may not show the entire pitch... Shouldn't WI5 be a sustained vertical pitch that runs for a long distance? Not trying to be a hater, I swear, this mostly comes from my winter spent out ice climbing in NH this season, I witnessed many climbs on WI5 and 6 terrain that were truly mind blowing, only to be told by locals that it barely qualified.

Old thread but i'll throw in a strategy i saw some people using that looked nice,,, on the steep skiable sections- (ski hill, up to 11 camp, motorcycle hill,) take only a pack full of gear up, 30-40lbs, and drop it off at the top of the hill. ski back down and repeat until all your gear is at the top of the hill. once all gear is at top of hill, load up the sled to haul it across flatter sections. Takes longer, but you add in quality ski fun and you dont have to drag 100lbs up a 30 degree slope.

big thumbs up!

some sick climbs were in shape the last few days, big ol ice smears up to nasty dry tool finishes, we did one that was fun, up to the finish of pinnacle buttress rock climb, but dang, down climbing spotted a couple more that would have been all-time! but it looks like its the official end to ice season on mt. washington, as of tomorrow.

price glacier snowboard descent!!! pretty awesome. Would love to hear more and what you're up to recently.

UPDATE Mt. Washington NH climbs are back in shape!, for the next week or so should be good climbing, currently 75 mph sustained winds, -5 and at -40 with windchill, foggy.

haha, yes was a humble brag...but i aint on instagram so i have to show off somewhere! as far as skiing with the sled, there are a couple methods that work well. basically goes like this- on the up you have 2 sleds of supplies. by the time you are heading down you can fit it all into 1. take your extra sled and sandwich on top of the other. tie a rope to the front and one to the back. on flats the skier in front pulls the sled, on the down the skier in back controls the speed of the sled keeping the ropes taught. let the sled roll around as much as it needs. for me (on a snowboard, could be done on ski too) i did the "wakeboard" method. let the sled go in front of you, hold on to a rope tied to back of sled. don't ski faster than the sled moves, don't allow slack to get in the rope. when you need to change the sleds direction give a tug on the rope to redirect the path of the sled. I rode all the way from 11k to 7,800 on hero corn in about 15 minutes, while snowshoers were hating life (and having the sled run over their heels and pulling on all their partners, moving very very slow. That same trip to basecamp took snowshoers 2 days. RE: ski terrain on the mountain ski hill and 11k camp have great skiing around it, 14k even better. there were skiers hucking backflips off of seracs, there were powder days we enjoyed on days too stormy to move but perfect for skiing around camp. upper mountain terrain is much more variable but maxes out at 40 degrees at the autoban if you ski down the west butt route. Skiing from around 16-17k to 14 camp on the lower orient is great. I had the most memorable turns of my life between the football field and zebra rocks. full speed smooth windblown at 19,000 feet... Many skiers were doing yo-yo laps moving gear up the mountain. when you get to the uphills, load your pack w/ 40 lbs and ski up. drop off your gear and ski down with an empty pack, do 3 laps and you've got all your gear up to the slope while having fun. at the flats, load up the sled and drag the full load across the flats. this method works great along the lower mountain. As far as difficulty, depends where you go down, but i would compare it to a cold day down the fuhrer finger on rainier, while being light headed. RE- gear for west butt just use ski boots. I took TLT 5's with a closed cell foam under the liner. 40 below overboots on the upper mountain, took them off for the descent. Oonly reason to take mountain boots is if you are going for more technical routes. Skimo gear has changed alot since 2000... I could go on and on for ever, but i'll stop now unless there are any more specifics people would like.

depends, but for most products retail mark-up is %50. some higher end products get retail mark-ups in %30 range.

denali on snowshoes looked like absolute hell... even if your partners are not strong skiers i would still recommend them traveling on skis to 11 camp, you can continue on with your skis up to 14 camp and the top, most climbers feel comfortable climbing from 14 camp to the summit unroped FWIW. feel free to get in touch if you need any specifics on skiing the upper mountain.