bargainhunter

Great TR with historic flavor. Such crisp photos. Sixteen cents!!!!

Check thrift stores for old ski gear. I just picked a pair of Silveretta 404s with skis attached for $7.50 (50% off listed price of $15 because of green tag day sale).

You can link up both without a rope. We did South Twin and descended the east side on to the glacier, then ascended North Twin and came down the west ridge. We were following some guy's strava path and it led us down sketchy loose 4th class on the descent from South Twin; we passed several rappel anchors so I think that the strava guy must have had a rope; we didn't! I almost bailed at the moat, jumping across the chasm from the rock onto a sloping glacier in running shoes, and looking into a black abyss. Agree with dberdina that North Twin is more aesthetic. He rode his bike RT from B'ham on the link up! Mega-style points for his approach/deproach! Interestingly, I felt that west ridge of South Twin was LESS exposed than North Twin.

Please identify it and where you left it to claim it.

Cool that you proposed this Jason, and that it got approved! Making history!

1st problem to solve: the log is currently out over the Nooksack near Price Creek. With the heat, the Nooksack may be flowing briskly.

Shocked that there aren't more comments here. He did make it sound so casual. He basically 4th classed two 8000 peaks like he was out peak bagging some Cascade volcanoes on a 3 day weekend. His trip report seriously downplays the intensity of this trip! My favorite part: "It felt kind of weird sleeping in a sleeping bag after the previous three nights of shivering without bags. But I soon got used to it." Second favorite part was Andreas' sun faded, grease stained alpine jacket. Such a welcome contrast to all the guided noobs with the latest and greatest brand new gear.

Outstanding! What a wonderful trip report. Thank you so much for sharing. Great logistical beta and straightforward writing. Congratulations on both Broad Peak and K2 in good style!

I heard Colin Haley talk about it in an interview. Basically you put in an anchor that can hold upward and downward forces and put yourself on rappel, but climb up, feeding the rope through as you ascend, placing pro as needed. When you run out of rope, pull one end through just like rappelling. Unless you want to abandon your pro, you need to descend the same way to retrieve it. Colin may log on here occasionally and maybe he could chime in or correct me, but I think I got the gist. I think Strassman or Middendorf talk about the clove hitch method in their books. It's simple and bombproof.

I'm a big fan of high waters in general, esp. if I'm wearing a gaiter. No point in excess fabric overlap. In your situation you could have them hemmed and have a channel sewn in for a replaceable circumferential bungee. Another option would be to leave them the way they are and put a grommet or sewn loop on either side of each leg to allow you to attach replaceable bungee cord to go under the sole, in essence to turn the longer pant legs into a built in gaiter. There are pros/cons to either approach.

For solo aid, I use the tried and true simple clove hitch method. I also stay tied in to the lead end of the rope as a habit (that also helps the trailing end from blowing and getting stuck on a flake, etc.). I haven't tried solo lead free climbing but Colin Haley's backrope system sounds reasonable if you are descending the same way you are going up (in order to retrieve your gear). Bags to stack ropes in belays for easy feed out; ones like duffle or canvas shopping bags with handles so they stay open work well, no need to pay premium for specialized rope buckets, etc.

My guess would be never? If you are on terrain that steep, you would likely accelerate out of control too fast. But perhaps if you landed on a more moderate section and slowed, you might be able to stop before the next steeper section or a cliff, assuming you weren't too injured? I haven't climbed Triple Couloirs and can't comment on that route specifically. My point was that it's easy to get complacent with certain skills and a fraction of a section of reaction time can be the difference between arresting and a fatal fall. Think about those who have died descending Aasgard Pass because their glissade got out of control. Again not saying this accident was caused by complacency etc. and I assume anyone who attempts to solo Triple Couloirs is up for the task. We have all "4th classed" terrain on approaches or descents when the rope has been put away and gotten away with it, and we have pulled certain moves unroped that, if blown, would have led to tragic outcomes. I respect the doctor for getting after it in his 60s. It could have been any of us.

Phil Powers describes watching Dan Culver fall near the bottleneck after summiting K2 in 1993 and attributes his death to not reflexively arresting fast enough (then letting go of his axe). Phil was a long term NOLS instructor (and later director of NOLS) and practiced self-arrest every season, all season long, with beginning mountaineering students so to Phil, his self-arrest skills were well honed and frequently practiced, ensuring they were hard wired into his reflexive muscle memory. He felt that many climbers view self-arrest as a beginner skill and once you learn it, very few continue to practice it on a regular basis. I can say from my own NOLS experience that the instructors drilled into us practicing arrest in a variety of conditions and positions (upside down head first etc), even how to arrest when you've lost your axe. It's a skill that can get rusty if one takes it for granted, and I have been surprised at times while glissading how long it can take in different snow conditions to fully arrest when I've switched over to a self-arrest position. I'm not saying this was a factor here in this specific accident, after all, he could have had a medical emergency (syncope, heart attack, stroke) that caused his fall. A simple trip on 4th class terrain can be fatal.

Thanks for replying. I have a few dozen scattered issues that I’ve inherited for free from various people downsizing, but was dismayed to find out that many of them have the “centerfold” removed with the adjacent articles also gone (usually the main feature article). Bummer. I too have back issues of Climbing, Rock and Ice, and Alpinist, and can probably swing a trade if you need particular issues of those.