geordie

pacena es agua.. (and huari isn't any better)

Just got back from 6 weeks down south. Thanks to Jason and others for the beta and crackbolter for the down pants. Week 1 - Isla del Sol - various team members deal with altitude in various ways. vomiting remains popular. Week 2 - "easy" peaks in the cord. occidental. I start puking on a regular basis. Mostly we get shut down. week 3 - sajama. I feel like crap and stay at camp. My teammates bail after wind destroys tent. Week 4+5 - Cord. Real Finally some acclimitization and success. Peq. Alpamayo, Piramide Blanca (SW Face/ridge), Ala Derecha (gully 3), Cabeza de Condor. Other party members climbed the direct route on Illusion. we found there was less snow than we expected, but glaciers were in good shape. routes took much longer than the Brain book suggested. more to follow, pics too..

Thanks for all your advice, off to CO on Sunday, then Bolivia in a week!!

Amen, Brutha!! I'm never too upset when weather or conditions shut me down, the real bummer is having a great weather window and you can't get a partner to commit to climb.

I'll be at the grasslands from tonight until the 29th. Come join the fun.

Surprised I didn't run into you since I managed to get to most of those last week too. You missed out on This House of Sky- those last two pitches were worth it. Locals say the route was the fattest they've seen. (Same with Profs)

Cascade may be gone, but Professors was nice yesterday... Stuff in the Ghost was good too. Looking at the weather reports from Seattle isn't the same as being there... suckaz.

the only constant is change. snowed a few inches last night, but warm and sunny today. really depends on what happens btw now and whenever you come. That probably didn't help..

Yeah, I'm not saying the route was in or out of condition. We were not winning the game against the clock and since the going was getting any easier, decided to bail. The runnels certainly weren't an option for us, but maybe for a stronger/ more adventurous party. Another day..

Climb: Dragontail-Triple Couloirs Date of Climb: 2/10/2004 Trip Report: Baby Z Rat and I decided to use this wonderful weather window to get up something big. We stumbled our way up the trail enjoying the tracks of fellow cc.rs. Unfortunately we had left before they posted about snow conditions up high. We made a nice camp by the lake and headed up in the morning (later than we should have.) We found the first couloir to have mostly very powdery snow, with some windblown firmer spots. The going was embarassingly slow. We bailed just past the entrance to the runnels, which looked thin, though I've never seen them before to compare. So we rapped and downclimbed and were happy to sacrifice a little gear in order to save our epic for another day. Beautiful few days in a wonderful spot. Gear Notes: used pickets used pins wished we coulda used the screws

I feel your pain. Nearly a month ago I thought of posting the same question. I didn't feel any pain at the time, just had problems with my tele turns - boy was I in a pissy mood. We decided to go home before I killed someone/something and as soon as the boot came off I noticed the knee pain and instability. After 10 days of RICE and Vitamin I , I went xc skiing and managed some snowshoeing too. This weekend I skiied for a few hours on two different days. Still a little weak for a full day of tele turns. I think you need to be patient and especially try not to really tear it, by going back too early.

I don't doubt it. Seems like everyone's passed through these doors.

Anyone know about these old bindings? lowell?

OK - "Plumbbob Homecoming 04" Who's in? PB - gotta favorite watering hole?

Let's see if we can get a quorum. My thought was to get the locals (established and new to town) together, but apparently folks are being shy.

Right here! You can sign up right here! While I'd hoped the Orondo/Waterville Posse might head down, I hadn't expected the y-vegas crew to grace us with their presence. Who knows, maybe the Issaquah gangstas will get nasty and represent. (you know we all just wanna see Retro and Teamhilti in the same room )

Any folks in the L-worth/ Wenatchee area want to get together for a pub club? Rat, retro, leithal, teamhilti ? I know there's lots more.

As of SUNDAY 1/11.. Quiet in the AM but around noon more of the 'cicles of death resumed their reign of terror. We got some laps on Trotsky's Folly though.

I followed someone else's bootpack up towards the climbs across from the snowcreek lot. rainbow falls and maybe pivotal moment. both were thin and wetter than expected (it was -9 last night!!) I doubt they got climbed.

Tom- I know this as the Isolation Traverse. NOLS has done variations of this in the past. It gets done more often than you might guess. PM me for more. PS - saw you in trafffic in t-town back in November, small world.

Jason- on p. alpamayo is it the SE Face (directissima), SW ridge (via normale) or is the SW face a route not in the Brain book? g

Did a drive by today. It's icy enough. now get out there...

yeah well, we didn't climb "ice motherfuckin tea, bitch" when we were in the Icefields Parkway last winter. (that's MFTs route name on the topo, it's "Ice T" in the book.

Hoping to head to bolivia this spring. I've had some success with Diamox in the past (and some nasty AMS without it). Wondering if people have had success with Viagra or other drugs/herbs?

Anyone climbed this thing? Is it closer to 5.0 or 5 hard?