dbb

I would make your own. Plastic and wood holds are too soft and quickly feel like "jugs" even when they provide very little surface area for hooking (wood especially). Home made holds are harder and standup to prolonged drytooling better than commercial ones. Plus, you can easily design any type of hook placement. Most commercial holds are aimed towards fingers, not picks, and thus provide too much surface area (I'm talking about training for slightly overhanging DTing, not the way horizonal stuff). The ice holdz look like a neat product, but they are aiming to replicate ice, not rock.

Braydon- There are lots of aesthetic and technically easy couloirs around the I-90 corridor. Check out: - the slot couloir on Mt. Snoqualmie - North Couloir on Mcclellan's butte - East gully on Chair peak (the descent route from the NF and NEB) - the East and South gullies on Guye peak (might want a partner/rope for these in this low-snow year. the summit traverse can be tricky) - The couloirs that lead up to the flanks of the Dutchess & the Duke in the Alice Creek cirque (next to Mt. Kent and Mcclellans butte)

Very nice! I did notice that when moving a "route" object via the "move & scale" options it was actually changing the route angles

For big days I like a big breakfast that includes several eggs and some carbs (pancakes, bagel, etc). Toss in some sausage on that, and you're good to go for maybe 8 hours with just minor bars/gu snacking. I use this breakfast a lot for cold winter ice climbing. Obviously not very easy if you're brewing up on an alpine climb. I think ryan is right: peatnut butter. Calorie dense and high in protein. It even comes in little packets now. Then go for ~5 bars and 5 GUs for the rest of the day.

are there any bolted mixed routes under those hanging pillars? It looks like a smaller version of the Genesis I area in Hyalite!

seems like ice follows the old adage: hard from afar, easy from the belay, hard again while you're on it! Jens (K.) - shouldn't you be teaching delinquents??

if someone is looking at a thread called "Pro Beta for Sloe Children" I think they know what they're going to get. The only 10d is on the last couple moves (any maybe the first move? seems different for everyone). If you can place a nut from a perfect 10b finger lock, you only need a double set of cams up to .75 and a set of nuts. The real beta is that your last (crux) piece is going to be a blue metolius, #1 C3 (red), a green alien or a #5-6 nut. Have fun going for the OS of that last move!!

It's amazing to me how each year of climbing just keeps on getting better. My mountain highlights are: Made my first trip to Patagonia, climbed Poincenot and hung out with a great group of folks! Pineapple Express on Snoqualmie Lots of dawn patrol skiing took a long time friend on his first voyage down the slot Spent a lot more days at Index and started leading harder trad than I'd done before Climbed a new route on the west ridge of Burkett Needle with my man John Climbed a bunch in Squamish!! Grand wall twice, upper black dyke, millenium falcon, and reconnected with old friends up in vancouver. Climbed the Beckey-Chouinard RT from seattle in 3 days Onsighted my hardest sport lead to date finally realized that sport climbing and bouldering are way fun swung the ice tools. rad. here's to another year!

Oh man that sucks! sorry to hear that you guys.

Also, on the picks- If you plan to climb ice with them, I'd put the Laser pick (a B-type pick) on them instead of using the T-type fusion pick.

Nice work guys! Cool area, eh? It's hard to day trip that one, given all the variables. Even when John and I had the approach all dialed (including steps), we still left the car at 2am!

Ha! Classic! Great looking trip there John!

I agree that tools like the new fusion and the nomic take some getting used to in their swing, and are better suited for steep routes. Another grip I use on these "Z handled" tools for swinging places the index on the upper match like a trigger and the other fingers down in the lower grip. It's a nice compromise grip for swinging on low angle terrain where you don't need the whole weight of the tool.

awesome, thanks for sharing!

The Carbon Monoxide (CO) issue applied only to the first generation of the Reactor, and only when the stove was run at less-than-max gas flow level. They fixed that issue pretty quick. There are two key differences between the two: - The Reactor runs at a lower PSI for the duration of the canister (instead of an effective variable psi like other stoves. this is why in a lab test the jetboil is "faster". the real world tests show otherwise) This gives consistent performance over the entire canister - there is no exposed flame with the Reactor, so it works well when exposed to wind There is a 3rd party aluminum pole hanging stove thing for the Reactor btw. Those things said, they both have their uses. Reactor is great for alpine climbing, cold, etc. I like the jetboil for tossing into the pack on a ski trip where we want to have a quick brew up. I find that the jetboil is also handy in a small tent because it attaches the pot to the stove... until I kick it over of course.

nice work doug, looks like a fun route!

Holy moley, who knew that portland turned into Canmore every few years? Nice guys!

looked like there was ice on the first pitch of pineapple a week ago. Given the warmth we're having now and the cold predicted for the weekend, I'd say those routes will be worth the walk. I wouldn't expect a lot of ice on the crack topout of NYG though!

and what the hell did you fall on?? looks like a big blue dild* we're just jealous John

nice effin' directional john! and I thought penalty slack was bad

R-A-D.

thanks for the link Dane, I have to say, this pic is rad:

rad rad rad! but no skis? don't tell me that you've been hanging with monkeys up there...

Demo tools are provided, including a debut of the new BD fusions! just bring your rock shoes and harness unless you really want to compete in your old 45cm X-15s