forrest_m

trip report if you go to the trip report index an type in "snowfield peak", there are several other TRs

dru wrote sad, another dearly held misconception bites the dust. according to WA DNR Geology Website that would make them, what 150-200 million years old? sorry for the thread hijack.

joshk wrote 5.9+ = burly climbing (usually wide cracks), but you're afraid someone else wouldn't have as much trouble as you did, so you don't call it 5.10 5.10- = delicate moves or technical technique without actually being desperate btw, nice climbing mike and darin, that looks very cool. i love that olivine. a geologist friend of mine told me that it is the oldest exposed rock formation in n. america ~2 billion years!

don't fall. seriously, it's the kind of route where both people on the rope should be comfortable at the grade

drive to trailhead is about 4-5 hours from jackson, looks like about the same from lander. we did the hike to big sandy lake at night after arriving at the trailhead late, might suit you if you are flying in that day. easy night hike, as it is flat and boring. got up the next morning, hiked the rest of the way in and did the e. ridge of wolfshead. wolf's head is one of the coolest 5.4 routes of all time, but not a great route for total beginners because of all the traversing. looking down 1st ridge pitch of wolfshead, you can see Mark if you look carefully... i think the se buttress on pingora (? standard descent route) is the easiest route on that peak at 5.6. most of the moderate routes in the cirque are at least 5.6-5.8. it's the right skyline in the photo above on pingora. north east face of pingora (the route in 50 Classics) thunderheads over warrior peaks. be prepared for daily lightning spectacular

I like his suggestion that there may have been some damage to the cable. A lot of breakage-type failures require some place to start, concentrating the loads in one place which leads to successive failures in the surrounding material. It seems like even slight damage to that tiny cable might be enough? Another argument for religiously examining your gear...

I have to say, this is an impressive testimonial to BD - granted it is in their own best interest to investigate this kind of thing, but still, they put a substantial amount of time into the multiple responses, additional testing, replicating the failure mode, etc. And then, finally, after demonstrating that the breakage was almost certainly due to pilot error, not manufacturing flaw, they still send you a new piece.

picture must be on a web server, then put web address inbetween tags. try uploading pic to gallery on cc.com, then right click and open "properties", cut location out and past into image tags.

no deer on capital hill, but the raccoons are an unstoppable army. no fence can keep those bastards out of your garden!

i agree, a hammer is a good tool for testing, but if you don't have one, a thorough kicking is better than nothing. (while still on rappel from the previous anchor if possible). LOOK for any movement, any shifting dirt around it. If the block is big enough to rap on and you can get any visible motion from it, it's not solid. LISTEN for any hollow sounds, thuds, rock-on-rock grating. the block is big enough to rap on and you hear anything but solid rock, it's not solid. all that said, sometimes you have to use something that is questionable. in that case, it is probably better to use something wedged into the side (stopper, chockstone, knot) rather than slinging the whole block, because the force from your rap would lock the big block into place rather than pull it out/off. (this often uses a lot less sling, too). on a tangential note, if you ever find yourself in a rescue situation, remember that climbing gear is really "optimized" for light weight and dynamic loads. in a rescue situation, with multiple people weighting an anchor and an "inert" subject, it is very easy to develop forces large enough to break standard climbing gear or cause failure in ordinarily solid anchors. obviously, in an emergency, you do what you need to do, but if there's any way to get redundancy into your system you should try to do it.

ok, here it is: from the top. note the extra piece of wire attached to one of the screws to wrap around the stove when you put it in place from the bottom. plastic grid held to metal plate by drilling tiny holes and wiring them together. you can see a bit of deformation in the plastic after ~40-50 days of use with the stove assembled. base of stove slides under screw heads, loose wire wraps 2x around stove to hold it in place:

over mem. day, there was lots of snow near the summit and you could fill a water bottle from running water less than a pitch below the top. i'll bet right now you wouldhave to drop down to the notch e. of the summit to find snow (blake?). late season you are probably SOL, but you could probably find some snow at least partway up the route instead of hauling all the way from the glacier.

we climbed the route over memorial day and descended the route. we made 11 raps and downclimbed the rest unroped. (sounds like my stoppers blake found - FYI, they're pretty old, PM me if you want the full history) we were 3 people with a single 50 m rope, and comparing notes with several other people who have done it, our time was almost exactly the same as going around via the stormking col. if i were to do this route again, i'd do it as a carryover and plan to spend the night on top. (there is a perfect flat bivy spot, really one of the best in the cascades, on the exact summit) then descend the park creek side, down park ck. to PCT and out. both of the descents back to the n. fork bridge creek valley are a pain and only necessary if you have to collect your camp.

thanks for the suggestions. i'm in a little bit of an unusual situation in that, rather than searching for the "ideal" boot, i have a credit with vasque that i am trying to decide how to spend. (i.e. do i blow it all on the m-finity or do i get a 10-year supply of trail runners?) thus the specific question about whether anyone has personal experience with this boot.

nice catch of a poorly worded explanation, tomtom, but i think the point is that the factory that reduces pollution can sell tcredits for their reduction on the market and the bad factory can buy those same credits. no reduction in total pollution, but at least a zero sum.

i made mine by with some of that 1/2" plastic eggcrate they make for those fluorescent office ceiling lights, cut into a circle that fits into my pot. i cut a smaller circle out of a piece of metal roof flashing and attached it to the plastic with wire to act as a heat reflector. finally, i put 3 sheet metal screws most of the way into the flashing so that the base of the xgk fits snugly, holding it into place. it's very light and diffuses heat well enough to use directly on the snow w/o melting. i'll try to post a photo tomorrow.

the boot in question anybody used these? what do you think about using them for alpine climbs? the description makes them sound one step removed from a fruit boot, but they look like competition for sportiva super trango or similar? thanks in advance. (i'll have a chance to try them before buying, but i'm curious if anyone has first hand experience)

bidiot - someone who bids against themselves on ebay?

to answer your original question, i would assume that they mean to butterfly coil the rope over your shoulders instead of tossing the rope down the pitch so that you don't have loose coils of rope hanging down below. also a useful technique when it is windy, or, say canyoneering and are trying to avoid throwing your whole rope into the pool of water at the base of the rap. i have no idea what that piece of gear is, but it seems like it might work to stack the rope at a belay, but would probably be a pain to feed rope out (i.e. while rapelling).

i recommend doing it on a hot day so that your sweat will help stabilze the dirt avalanches that sweep down from the dirty ledges above. (ok, i agree, clean it would be a decent route, but it's not clean and because of the way the slot is fed from the foliage above, it will never be clean)

not every abandoned route is a lost classic... some are abandoned because they suck. some routes deserve to be forgotten.

Climb: Liberty Bell-NW Face Date of Climb: 7/9/2005 Trip Report: Ade and I climbed this on Saturday. It was really cold for July. On the 3rd pitch, to the left of the standard route, there are 2 different variations on the slab. Does anyone know the story with them? Both follow good flake/crack systems up to a small roof, and then the crack systems peter out above. The left hand variation (which we did) has a fixed pin about 1/2 way up; the right hand variation has a bolt about 3/4 of the way and looked harder(?). Gear Notes: small wires would have been useful on the p. 3 variation

jsh - driving home from wa pass just yesterday, i was wondering if anyone was ever going to climb our route... so it sounds like you came straight up below the corner pitches? it sounds like you were off to the right of where we climbed. the start of the "improbable traverse" was reached via a big chimney just left of the crest. the traverse itself starts right on the buttress crest and traverses up and left. we were aiming for the big offiwidth above... we got to the base of the .10 corner by traversing about 80' straight sideways on a big ledge. here's the topo , not that it helps you now... anyway, congrats, that's likely the 2nd ascent. glad the route gave you the adventure you were looking for!

not as much as burning the roof of your mouth because you were breathing with your mouth open...

the i-tent + XGK combo is very common in alaska and other expedition contexts. how this works is you use a small stove board that you put on top of an ensolite pad. near the door. when lighting the stove, hold the pot lid over it so that the flames are contained, or if it's not windy, light the stove outside and only move it in once you have a blue flame. the non-cook will be more comfortable if they sit where he/she can stich their head into the sidewall vent. it will get warm enough in the tent to dry socks and gloves. be very, very careful. actually, don't do this. you could burn your tent down or die of CO poisoning. i'd definately never do this and you shouldn't either.