forrest_m

We walked past the base of the N. Butt of Fury in '99 (the record snow year) and there were huge, Alaska-style double cornices on much of the route, especially the last thousand feet. Needless to say we abandoned that plan... It looks like a great climb, be sure you have the beta figured out for the descent because it's long and roundabout getting back to Luna Pass from the summit. Regarding the carryover, I think if one was fast, it would be possible to camp at Luna Pass, descend to the base of the route in the morning, climb the route in a day with light packs and return to luna pass by nightfall. Not having to carry all your gear over would make this more feasible and this would minimize the back-tracking.

My friend Marshall and I climbed the E. Ridge of Inspiration over 4th of July weekend in 1996. This is one of the best routes I've done in the cascades, the kind of thing that reminds you why alpine climbing is worth the suffering. The pitches on the ridge are fabulous - super exposed, challenging (solid 5.9) and great rock. I'd say that early summer is better than late (especially this year) because the more of the upper basins that are snow-covered, the better, both for easy travel and water at camping sites. '96 was an average snow year and there was no significant 'schrund problem getting to the climb. The crevasses on the glacier were already mostly open. (We blew the descent and instead of coming down the W. Ridge route descended to the Deg.-Insp. col and had a very difficult time getting back across the 'schrund-crevasses there. This sucked, be sure to get the descent right!) The climbers trail from the end of the Goodell creek (abandoned) logging road up to treeline is actually pretty good, but it fades into the brush the last thousand feet. The problem is finding it again on the way down. We ended up paralleling a drainage downhill sharply to the south of where we knew the trail to be, then, once sure we had descended enough, cut straight across the hillside to find the trail. Watch out for getting sucked down the drainages, they all cliff out down low. The trail is definately worth the effort it takes to find! One final note, don't be too ambitious about your plan, many people go in there planning to "knock off" multiple peaks, but usually after the approach and one climb, people are too beat to make a second attempt! Good luck. On a related topic, does anyone have any experience approaching the other side of the Southern Pickets, i.e. N. Face of Inspiration? Are there any tricks, or do you just have to resign yourself to the hateful bushwack? (Or wait for a heavy snow year - in august '99 [the super snowpack year] we descended Access Creek from the Northern Pickets and had glissadable snow on avalanche debris almost all the way down to the Big Beaver trail!!!)

I've always seen it done with 1" webbing. Better for walking and also maybe nicer to the trees? It's usually mounted with a slight modification to the system that bronco describes: 1. Tie one end of the webbing to tree #1 and tie a small loop at the far end 2-3' from tree #2 2. Construct an anchor with a separate piece of webbing on tree #2. 3. Put an old oval biner on both pieces. Tie a loop in the end an old cordalette and clip it to the tree biner. Pass it through the webbing biner, back through the first biner and reef for all your worth, then tie it off. The "poor man's z-pulley" helps take extra slack out of the system and allows you to re-tighten it easily as the componants stretch out, and also to remove it when you're done.

Definately both! I know that a lot of top climbers are very serious about slack-lining, but I think it's training in the same way that stretching is part of training - a supplement to more "hard" forms of training like fingerboards and walls. Really works on balance, coordination and focus, but doesn't work your muscles that much (although I've found my abs are often sore after a session). On a recent trip to patagonia, we were sharing a basecamp with yosemite superstar Dean Potter, and he swore by a routine of 2 hours of slack lining a day + bouldering to stay in climbing shape during the long spells of shit weather. They had this amazing network of slacklines set up all around their tents, up to 10 feet off the ground, he would absentmindedly spend an hour or more walking around without touching the ground - while chatting with whoever was around. (Probably that's why Dean's a 5.14 climber; I feel good when I can stay on 30 seconds.) ;-)

Larry, I'm guessing that you want this photo for production purposes, not because you're trying to climb the mountain? There's a photographer named Will Landon who has published a book called "Rainier Panorama" (Falcon Press) full of spectacular aerial views. There is also a poster available at local climbing stores and poster stores with a dawn aerial view of the mountain. I'm sure you could track him down through the publisher. Good luck.

The difference is *not* just the diameter of the ropes. Of course that's part of it, and twins are usually thinner than even the thinnest half ropes, but not by that much. The way I understand it, twin ropes are formulated (through different types of nylon? weaving? relationship of core and sheath? only your rope engineer knows for sure) to be much stretchier than an apparently similar half rope, even if they have similar diameters. That way the impact force of both twins together (totalling about 16mm in total diameter) is still within acceptable limits while giving greater resistance to being chopped. In contrast, the half ropes are each individually designed to essentially function as a single lead line, with the other as a "backup." Thus, clipping them both (i.e. twin technique) can lead to unacceptably high impact forces. The thing to remember in wading through all this stuff is that the big danger is impact force - none of these ropes is likely to *break* under a fall, but mixing and matching technique (i.e. using half ropes for twin technique) may boost the forces outside the range that the rest of your climbing gear (harnesses, carabiners, your body) is designed to deal with.

There was a pretty good discussion of this topic a few months back, here's the thread: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/000013.html

Another vote for the Arcteryx Nozone. I just got back from 3 months in south america, and I took the Nozone as my only pack, and I am a satisfied user. Most packs that try to "do it all" end up doing nothing really well, but this is an exception. Consider the extremes: I used it to carry 80+ pounds, including climbing gear and skis and food + fuel for two weeks. It was maxed out, but tolerable, as comfortable as you could expect for the weight (and I mean compared to any pack, my dana astralplane included). Later, took out the framesheet, put on the minibelt and compressed the straps and used it for light & fast day climbs and it did not feel ridiculously big. Usually when you try to squish down a bigger pack you end up with a bulging hefty sack or all you gear in a fat bottom, but the internal compression straps on the nozone do a great job of reducing the overall volume evenly. And Arcteryx stuff is built bomber. Two thumbs up.

I just got back from 3 months in S. America, we had an XGK and a Dragonfly along, so I got to see them side by side. As expected, when we could keep it running, the Dragonfly was the preferred stove, because of the second throttle and wider legs, but it seemed to be a lot more finnickey with the funky fuels. In particular, they would build up a black gunk on the inner end of the fine-control rod, necessitating frequent cleaning. You also cannot pull the cable out of the fuel line, leaving you dependent on a foam filter in the end than you (at best) only have 1 spare for in the repair kit. That said, we never had to eat cold food, the problems were always resolvable, which is why I am an MSR fan for long trips like this. Two comments to add to the discussion: 1) For funky fuels, replace the normal jet with the kerosene jet (included with the stove), it has a wider hole and will clog less, even if you are using some fuel other than kerosene (ie automobile gasoline) 2) Regarding the viagra fuel rod, we met some dutch climbers who had simply bent the stiff fuel line of their XGK so that it fit into their pot. They had been going for 7 months with no problems to report. Seems like a good solution to me, but I would be curious to know if MSR would claim some reason why this is not desirable. This is a bit of a side issue, but interesting: it is pretty common on long trips in the boonies to use emptied pop bottles to haul extra fuel around (i.e. 6 weeks of fuel to base camp). Unlike in the US, where you would just bring a couple of metal coleman fuel cans along, when you are buying fuel at the pump or the hardware store, a reliable can is hard to find. The "fuel" cannisters you can get usually leak or are of the extremely heavy and expensive mount-on-the-back-of-your-jeep type. In most respects, the pop bottles are a great solution: dirt cheap, quite durable and easy to pack and you can flatten them when they are empty for easy carrying out. However, we discovered that after about a month, the fuel got contaminated by a gummy substance that caused us endless stove-cleaning headaches. It seemed that the caps of the bottles were dissolving from the gas fumes, though by appearances the bottles themselves were still ok. Anyone know why this might be or how you could avoid it?

This is a question directed towards the Jon & Tim, (I've been away for a while and upon returning it occurred to me...) when the site started up last year there was some mention of a 'route report writing contest' with an MSR stove as the prize, which of course inspired my to rework some of my best yarns in an attempt to be "literary" and "polished." So what gives, are the prizes already covered with soot in the back of your closet? Just curious. Hint: I really need a new stove, since my whisperlite is pre-shaker jet technology... Forrest

arg - I spent 3 weeks in Lil' Swiss about six years ago - let me know what kind of routes you're interested in and I can try to suggest something. I also still have the articles on the area that we photocopied from the AAJ that I could send you. (you can send me a "private message" through the board with your mailing address) I was so resentful when that Climbing article came out, there's a picture of someone tiptoeing out to the end of a diving board-like rock that overhangs a big face - I have exactly the same photo!

dan, well of course he told you that... what's he going to say, "oh, you got me, we've been ripping you off for years..." ;-) actually, I think jon's got it right, though it's not the store owners (they have to sell stuff at "suggested retail" most of the time or risk losing that product line) but rather the national distributers who set the US prices. there's only a handful of big distributers who import the vast majority of euro gear. RICO, anyone?

Plus, the Eiger Sanction is the only major hollywood climbing movie to actually have been filmed ON the mountain it purports to portray. There's a great scene where you're thinking "ok, clint's climbing on a fiberglass rock in the studio" and the camera just keeps zooming out and panning back without a cut until you see the whole N. Face of the Eiger... (though the scenery of Mt. Waddington and area in K2 are pretty good, too) Thankfully, VL has added at least one useful phrase to the climber's vocabulary... I'm going to work "Use your axe!" into every climbing trip at least once a day...

You're right, Alex, it does all come down to personal preference. My point wasn't to say that it's an automatic death sentence to use doubles and twins interchangeably, but to point out that though many people use them as if they were the same, there are real differences between them. It may not make much difference when you fall from way off the deck, or with bomber pro, but think about it... you say that one is unlikely to have equal lengths of each rope out. This is generally true, except for the first 30 or 40 feet (where you haven't placed much pro and the ropes are often still pretty even). This is exactly where you *also* have a greater chance of high-impact-force falls (ie, you develop more force on you and your anchors in a 10 foot fall with 10 feet of rope out than in a 30 footer with 100 feet of rope out). The two load-increasing elements would compound each other. I use screamers to limit the load on pro in dicey situations, so I don't think it's unreasonable to think about the effect of your rope(s). Again, every situation is different, and there are no "rules" - for example, I might be more concerned about hitting the ground or a ledge due to rope stretch than about wrenching a bolt out of the wall with high impact force. In that case I might go ahead and clip both doubles. (I've also clipped both cords in 'cause I was sketched and only one 8.2 mm strand just *felt* way too thin... logical reasoning be damned) Lowell, I've never had any doubts about the safety of the 10mm/7mm system, only the convenience. I admit, the small rope we used for a long time was pretty thin (it might have been 6mm? 5.5?) because, like you, we always jammed the knot against a narrow loop in the anchor. But I swear, after 7 or 8 rappels, that thin line felt like we were trying to pull on dental floss, both for being difficult to grasp and for slicing painfully into your hands. Have you seriously never found this to be an issue? Maybe our thin rope was just *too* thin. I also wonder (maybe I've just had more stuck rappel ropes than the rest of you) how one might ascend the 7mm cord if something got hung up after you lose control of the end of the 10mm rope. Prussik with your shoe laces while belaying with the other end of the 7mm cord? ugh...

Alex, it sounds like you actually agree with me, then... The following is slightly off-thread, but I want to pick on something that you mention very casually in your post. I'd be careful with using the same ropes for both twin and double technique. They really are designed to work differently, even though they may appear very similar. The composition of stretchy vs. static fibers is often different. The double ropes are designed to each function more or less independently, each strand has to pass the same tests as your thicker single line (same setup, just fewer falls). The twins are only designed to work together, thus a single twin rope will often fail in a *single* UIAA std. test fall. So there is increased risk clipping alternate pro with twins because you could easily fall on a single strand. Likewise, if you clip both ropes of a double system into one piece of gear (especially early in the pitch where you likely have nearly the same amount of rope out on both strands) then the impact force on your pro is actually significantly greater than the design impact force (which is intended to keep the force on your body and your pro within certain limits). Esentially you're falling on one 16mm rope! I used to clip both strands into the double for the first couple of pieces (it felt safer), but I finally figured out that this is actually where the situation is the worst! This super-fat line will essentially function as a static line. Do you really want to increase the impact force on your tied-off ice screws? The twins have a differnt configuration of nylon strands and differnt elongation characteristics designed to overcome this, but this is what makes them dangerous to clip singly. Obviously, in the real world, you do what you gotta do. Just about any kind of cord is safer than nothing. It makes sense to me to start clipping every other piece with your twin when you top out the 50 feet of 5.10 and are running out 100 feet of blocky, wandering 5.4 to the anchors. I'm not trying to impose rules on anyone, but it does make me cringe when people use "twin" and "double" interchangeably - Colin and everybody else needs to have accurate information in order to make informed choices about how they are going to climb.

I tried for a long time to make the 10mm/7mm system work and finally abandoned it after a number of narrowly averted epics. I think it might work in big-wall rappelling, but the problem is most alpine rappels pass over ledges, through piles of loose rocks, over/behind flakes, through treees, etc, and I found that it's *very* hard to pull on the super-thin cord, esp. for 60 meters of length. It's hard to pull on the cord hard enough to move the full length of the lead line. Even though it's a "static" line, the stretch makes it even harder. Anytime the other half of the rope going up snags on anything, you have to wrap the 7 mil around your hands and reef, which is particularly hard (read painful) when it's cold out. The lightweight rope is also even more likely to get whipped around by the wind and get stuck. I badly wanted to like this rope system, so I kept trying, but IMHO the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. I've never used twins (though, again, I've found it's hard to pull on ropes that are TOO thin), but have done a lot of climbing with doubles. It's great to be able to use them to reduce rope drag on wandering pitches by clipping alternate pieces. I especially like them for climbing with 3. You lead on both ropes, then belay both followers (who climb simultaneously) with a GiGi. It's no slower than with 2 and you can split the group gear 3 ways on multi-day routes. Plus, you can always lead on just one rope if the other gets damaged. I know, its not recommended by the mfr., but it's safer than soloing. ;-) [This message has been edited by forrest_m (edited 12-07-2000).]

I agree with everything Yeti has to say... just thought I'd add another weather note, if you're more interested in the tick rather than the denali-simulator, the weather pattern to look for is the winter inversion. Two out of the last three winters have included a 1.5 - 3 week long period of cold and rain in seattle while above 5,000 feet it was clear and actually warmer. (60 deg. at paradise, 40 at 10,000') Many, many people made "winter" ascents under these conditions. They are hard to predict, but usually stick around for quite a while. I'm not sure of the exact mechanics, but I believe that the upper level high pressure system actually pushes incoming lows underneath itself (thus the poor weather in the lowlands). But the point is that a seattle forecast is not always a good indicator of conditions on the mountain.

hey robert, what time of year did you do the tower? (if you're posting it now 'cause you did it last weekend, i'm even more impressed)

Lillooet Ice Climbing Festival 2001 January 19 to 21 Lillooet, British Columbia You are cordially invited to Western Canada's premiere ice climbing event!! The Location The historic gold-mining town of Lillooet (pop. 2500) is located deep within the Coast Mountain Range, nestled on the sage and pine covered terraces above the Fraser River (ele. 240m). The rugged, surrounding mountains frame this tourism and resource-based community, affording spectacular vistas and exceptional outdoor recreation at every turn. Lillooet is approximately 400km north of Vancouver, and 200km west of Kamloops. It is accessible from the south on Highway #1/ #12 (Fraser Canyon), or Highway #99 through Squamish. Highways #97/ #99 access Lillooet from the Interior. All routes are regularly maintained in the winter, but it's worth checking the BC Road Report before travelling to Lillooet. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Climbing Don Serl's and Bruce Kay's Climbers' Guide to West Coast Ice (Elaho 1993) describes Lillooet as being "the epicenter of the finest, and certainly the most reliable, concentration of winter ice routes in southwestern BC." Lillooet is host to over 100 climbs, from quick roadside hits to towering epics. Grades range from WI2 to WI6, and the season runs from early December through to the end of March. Most climbs are concentrated in the Cayoosh Creek Canyon and Bridge River Canyon corridors. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Event The Lillooet Ice Climbing Festival is scheduled to take place from Friday (January 19) to Sunday (January 21). Friday and Saturday nights (starting at 7:00pm) will include Festival and Clinic Registration (Friday), guest speakers, slide shows, ice climbing videos, raffles and door prizes, plus a chance to socialize with a group of ice climbers from around the Pacific Northwest! Friday night will be held at the Royal Canadian Legion (737 Main Street), Saturday at the R.E.C. Centre's Mezzanine (930 Main Street) . The Saturday and Sunday climbing schedule will include tours of the Bridge and Cayoosh Canyons, clinics by BC Mountain Guides, equipment and climbing demonstrations, and lots of climbing! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For More Information and To Pre-Register Contact Lyle Knight at lknight@uniserve.com or write to: Lillooet Ice Climbing Festival 2001 Post Office Box 254 Lillooet, British Columbia V0K 1V0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Important Note There are blocks of rooms (at Ice Festival rates) booked at all the hotels and motels until December 31, 2000. Due to limited availability, it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you book your room in advance. The phone numbers are: Mile 0 Motel: (250) 256-7511 4 Pines Motel: (250) 256-4247 Retasket Springs Resort (formerly JG Motel): (250) 256-7525 Hotel Victoria: (250) 256-4112 Reynolds Hotel: (250) 256-4202 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsors To-Date Gripped: Canada's Climbing Magazine -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE FORWARD THIS PAGE TO ALL OF YOUR ICE CLIMBING FRIENDS!! Current Lillooet Ice Climbing Conditions: http://www.bivouac.com/casbc.ice.htm Lillooet Ice Climbing Photographs: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/kamloops/district/lillooet/Recreation_Opportunities/ice.htm

one of my fondest memories from my college years is from getting liquored up and sitting in the front row of Cliffhanger with three climbing buddies of mine. i laughed so hard i felt like i'd been the one hurled off a 500 foot cliff. sounds like i'll get a chance to relive it...

Ade - Grivel system looks great for keeping ice chips/blown tool placements from embedding themselves in your cornea (all the cool guys in the magazines are wearing them to send M10), but not much use as protection from high winds/blowing snow/etc.

Climbed the S. Face of the Tooth yesterday (Sun. 11/05). There was about 3-4 inches of new snow on the approach, 4-6 inches on the route. The lower pitch was most affected; steep wall just below the summit held less snow. Snow made the boulderfields on the approach and the climb slower than usual, approx. 7 hours car-to-car. Great warmup for winter climbing. Only a few inches more snow and it'll be easier with crampons!

I'm not familiar with the Farmer Walk, but it sounds like it would work. Another good grip strengthener in the same vein (i.e. low tech/low cost workout equipment) is to take a foot long piece of 1-1/2" dowel (closet rod or similar) and tie a 3-4 foot piece of cord to the center. Attach the other end of the cord to an appropriate weight (a 5 or 10 lb. plate, etc). Now hold the dowel in both hands in front of you and roll the cord up around the dowel, which will slowly raise the weight until it touches the dowel. Slowly unroll. Repeat until your forearms burn. Nice thing about this exercise is that it's lower impact than the hangboard - its really easy to overtrain/injure yourself with tendon excercises that use body weight because the "minimum" resistance is quite high. Hey, Jon, you scooped me! When I started writing my post, yours hadn't appeared yet... [This message has been edited by forrest_m (edited 11-02-2000).]

I have to agree with the pack carrying advice; (alpine) climbing is such a full body workout because nothing beats on your whole body like climbing with a pack. (Imagine how much less far you could run/ride/stairmaster with a pack on...) Maybe Courtenay can answer a related question: what is the physiological basis of "base fitness?" Let me give you an example of what I mean. After being a very active climber and maintaining a fairly high fitness level for years, a few years ago I lived in Europe for 15 months, got no exercise and basically ended up in the worst shape I'd been in since I started seriously working out back in high school. I returned to the US and immediately went on a month long climbing expedition. Within a week, I was carrying huge packs that I know would have crippled me when I was 18 and on a nationally competitive crew team. I suffered some, but less than I expected to. The only explanation I could come up with was that years of hauling big packs around had strengthened my muscles in such a way that even after being ignored for such a long time, they reached some point below which they would decline no further. Is this true? Or was it only willpower overcoming good sense?

Tim & Jon (and others) I wanted to go back the discussion about ads and making the site pay its own way for a minute. I don't want to seem ungrateful, and I totally appreciate your point about hosting not being free, however... to be perfectly honest, I know that my interest in the site will be inversely proportional to the amount of advertising and commercialization that I encounter. Even banner ads would reduce my visits from daily to occasional. That said, I think the "partnership" model could be pretty effective, by bringing in a commercial partners who actually have information that people want - like your health and fitness section. If you have to have some equipment/gear shop sponsors, maybe it could be on that model, some store that would be willing to chase down in-depth answers to questions, interview reps, write up a lowdown on the latest trade show. At the very least, I hope that any advertising in that vein would remain totally segregated in a "gear" section of the site. Anyway, I appreciate all the effort you have put in. Keep looking for creative solutions!