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YOUR bicycle may not be, but Pax's girl-bike sure is!

some friends went up towards argonaut this past weekend. punched a set of tracks up into the alpine (mtneers creek), but said there weren't many folks out. still have to hike the whole road.

mike- I think that alpinfox went out onto the arete instead of the chimney on beulah's. are those bolts in the chimney there? I guess you don't need giant gear to do it

Climb: Abiel Peak-It's All-Der Date of Climb: 3/25/2006 Trip Report: After changing plans at the last minute, Keith, Pax and I decided to check out Abiel Peak on Saturday. The approach trail is popular with day hikers, and was packed down so well that we didn't need our snowshoes at all. Having hiked up in here this past fall with Keith, we sagely knew not to follow the picknic-table-nature-trail loop trail out of the parking lot. If you're coming in on skis, I would just go up the valley which is to the right once you reach the railroad grade (as Ade mentioned in his TR). As it has been mentioned, there are a ton of lines up there. The rock is like the sourrounding peaks: compact and fairly crackless. mixed lines could be bold. (big topo in the gallery) Fun climbing with two pitches of AI3 and one of AI4 on the right side of the face. We easily walked off right and down a wide gully to the west. more pics/details on my website Gear Notes: 4 screws, short and medium length lots of slings #1 camalot Approach Notes: Exit 47 off I-90. Take the Annette lake trail

make sure you use a metal shovel too, I hear the plastic ones are worthless in a street fight. and thanks for the suggestions jordop

shit dude! glad to hear you're okay

nice find! I liked this quote: "If you will not let me help you, or at least talk to someone who knows what Linux is, then you will look like an idiot. Your choice."

Gary, leave the avy beacons on so you can just locate the packs after the breakin. doh

wow, rad Blake!

Jens, check out the trango "cinch". I think it's an auto lock that works w/ skinny ropes (one site said 9.4 to 11mm). http://www.mgear.com/pages/product/product.asp/CMP/KNC-97950/cmpn/97950/store/MG/item/640518/N/0

way to go Jon! I'm all for this site making costs back by using google's relatively unobtrusive ads.

it's about 10 miles

nice work lads!

great shots Don! shriek looks fun

right on! way to get er done sky and ross... I think you should rate your trip bottle-of-patron+

what about that overhanging handcrack at the Portland rock gym? 5.10+? I don't remember it too well, but it was something like thin hands, to hands, to rattly fingers.

thanks Jon for putting this together, fun!

I get to drink for Ken4ord in his absense

why did you need a headlamp last weekend? didn't the light of the Luxor guide you back to the car?

It was John's that inspired me to get a better lamp. I just didn't end up with his... likely because I had a pet named Spotty once, and he is quick at putting his own gear into his pack. I kind of doubt the XP's numbers... those are huge, but who knows with AAs. I like headlamps that fit in my pocket while climbing. you tend to always have it. plus, WWCD? he'd have those three extra carabiners on the rack (there's your 90g homeboy!) and refresh my memory Mr. Olympia climber... last time, was it after your set of 3 reps or 4 reps that you needed help putting down the 15 pounders?

I just got one of these and was really impressed. Maybe I've been living under a rock for the past year or so, but these headlamps with the super bright LED along with an array of small LEDs are super nice. This one has 3 power settings and a strobe for each set of lights, pretty much what you would expect. I like that it has the batteries up front, three AAAs, just like the tika. It's a little bigger than a tika due to the extra big LED. Usage wise, I was blown away at how bright and far the high beam shone. I'm not really that good at judging distances, but it was at least 1-200 feet and concentrated as a spot light. For everything else I just used the small leds to save on battery and it gives about as much light as my tika. not sure how long the bright spot light will last on a fresh pair of batteries, but I haven't noticed much decline after a full 12 hours or so of use. I didn't like how the band attaches to the headlamp though. You have to take the band and slip it into some keepers on the actual headlamp. maybe they did this so you could put it on a bike easier? dunno. But, with a real solid yank, the headlight could pop off the band. I fixed this by putting the band on, and the placing duct tape over the slots. easy...

for what it's worth, I made my own grivel double spring-like leash the other day. cost about $5: $1 - swivel from the hardware store $2 - shock cord: 10 ft $2 - that red non-climbing tubular webbing: 12ft you can get the webbing and shock cord in the rental department of REI. I threaded the shock cord into the webbing, tied the swivel in the middle, and then adjusted the shock cord and the length of each 'tentacle' so it felt about right and then tied overhand knots in the ends. you can pick up the little mini carabiners at REI and tie them in here, or just clip in regular ones. I ended up cutting off about 1 ft of excess shock cord and a little webbing. looks just like the $40 grivel, but better b/c of the swivel.

great show Mark! I know where I want to go next!

fun looking place. end of season though? not quite!

I bet you could make your own at Cafepress and just buy one. that way it could have 1000 pictures of you yOU YOU!