Ade

Cheers, Shame they don't do more Rab stuff.

I also have a DAS and really like it although only ever really use it for belaying ice climbing. I have a Wild Things primaloft sweater that I use in the Cascades a fair bit. Really like both but wish the WT had a hood. Can anyone recommend a jacket that sort of weight that has a large hood? Where do you get Rab gear in the US?

This sounds great! If the burner is attached by springs to the bottom of the pot do you have to turn the stove off to empty the liquid out? Or do you scoop it out with a mug and keep melting?

Good point. The canister stove burns cleaner (see links). This is rather old but it does suggest that different stoves and different fuels produce different levels of CO: FAQ - Carbon Monoxide and Stoves This is really about car exhaust but basically tells us that CO is produced when a liquid fuel doesn't burn completely cleanly. Why doesn't gasoline burn cleanly?

The last thing you should think about when bailing off a route is the cost. A better reason for using passive gear over cams is that well placed nuts and hexes are less likely to move as you shift your weight on them.

You can build a stand for a XGK or similar out of a bit of plywood and add some shock cords to it to hold the fuel bottle in place. Spray the wood with heat resistant muffler paint to stop it charring. This will make the stove a lot harder to tip and reduce the amount of heat transfered to thatever you rest it on. Note: with an XGK the underside of the wood still gets hot enough to delaminate a thermarest. I've used this system on many occasions with no serious mishap. Not that I'm in any way suggesting that it's safe or that you should use it. I've also seen a Dragonfly converted into a hanging stove setup but not seen it used inside a tent. Seemed like a fair bit of thin wire and some swages were all that was required. Hanging a stove doesn't solve all the problems anyways. The stove can still flare, in which case hanging it puts the flames closer to the tent roof. You also have something very hot hanging in the middle of the tent waiting to melt anything that comes near it. The most important thing to consider is adequate ventilation when cooking in a tent. Burning your tent down would be very bad but I've not heard of anyone dying doing that, although a night out in the open could well do it. There have however been numerous fatalities from CO poisoning caused by cooking inside without adequate ventilation. I believe that liquid fuel stoves are much worse in this regard.

I have an Eldorado and it's only just big enough. I'm 6'3" or there abouts.

May I recommend my favourite ski Colchuck Lake. Big, flat, with no objects to ski into. On a more serious note I'm told that the Colchuck Glacier is an excellent ski.

BMC Technical Advice Articles

The best bit of fast n light gear I bought this year was a bicycle. Yes really, saved me nearly 10lbs. Layton's right. It's the stuff you leave behind that'll really save you weight.

I can verify it's chossiness. Quite entertaining, just make sure that there are no parties below you as there's plenty to pull off. A 60m rope just barely gets you to the ledge and a rather poor belay.

You might also try the junk box Marmot in Bellevue has on their gear counter.

North face of Baker looked in pretty good shape from lower down the Coleman. Hard to say how much new snow there was on it.

And tell him his arms are too wide

I've tried this in England on chalk cliffs. It's not much like climbing ice. Wear old clothes.

I used to use these. The narrow opening is much more prone to freezing than an Nalgene. They're metal so they conduct heat more than a Nalgene to they're more prone to freezing anyways. You can't flex the sides to get ice off and then shake it up to get more water out. They dent. When they dent this cracks the coating on the inside (not that your should worry about the whole Aluminum issue, it's rubbish). But it does effect the taste. They're heavier than a Nalgene and more expensive - need I say more?

Nice job... I was starting to wonder what had become of you.

And Mailbox is a prime example of why I have a bad vibe about the whole summit register thing. Last time I was up there I found; two mailboxes plus mail, a fire hydrant, a ladder and a whole bunch of wood with people's names carved into it. Registers should be unobtrusive and that would be fine. Sometimes I look at the ones on obscure peaks and they're actually pretty interesting and maybe of historical significance, but not a historical record. Unfortunately there presence seems to suggest that it's OK to leave other stuff on summits too.

I've done the direct finish. It's somewhat loose and you only just make the ramp above with 60s if belaying from the lunch ledge. There isn't a good anchor when you get to the ledge. I'm not really sure this would be my choice for a selected or recommended climb.

I have a set of these and so far I'm not too impressed. The crampons are great but the heel attachment system is harder to get on than a normal lever setup.

Chris Carmichael

The trips I did were self organized and unguided. I also figured you saved about $1-2k per person over a paid trip. This doesn't scale to 8k trips with O2 and lots of porters etc. The markup is more because the logistics, risk and market demand are all greater.

It's a slow day so here goes... Sure you can do this yourself but there are good reasons for enlisting help at some level: 1) Slightly larger groups are more cost effective. For the most part peak fees don't scale linearly with number of climbers, your team shares the cost of one Liaison Officer regardless of the number of climbers, unless it's very large it will also share one cook and sirdar. Guided groups maximize the savings by either bringing together climbers who would otherwise have formed separate teams and adding trekkers to the group who share the cost to basecamp. You can increase the size of your team too but it's a lot more work. 2) You don't need field staff and managers but they will save you time and money by; sorting out a lot of logistics before you arrive and knowing where to get reasonable deals on equipment and services. They will probably have relationships with people they've used in the past, this means you'll end up with a Sirdar who isn't an asshole, porters who do their job and a cook who can. Hiring these people cold is a increases the odds that you'll have problems later. 3) You can get a permit yourself but based on my experience with the IMF I might have done a lot better with an agent in Delhi pushing my application through. For the larger peaks the permits are booked well in advance, if you want to go within a year then your only option may be with a guided trip that already has a permit or to buy into someone else's permit at a premium - depending on the peak this may be costly. You can mitigate 2 & 3 by using a reputable "agent" who will do a lot of the in-country work for you and provide reliable staff, transport and services. Some agents will also help with permits etc. Again your paying for climbing but not for a guide. Several others have mentioned other US based services that do the same, get you to the base of something and let you get on with it. They might even help with 1. For one of Nepal's trekking peaks it's perfectly possible to do what you describe, just show up in Katmandu. I don't believe you can do this for a 8k peak simply because of the level of logistics involved and the permit issues. I did exactly what you suggest for a 6k peak in India with a team of two and it took a year to put the thing together. It was fun but I did it because I wanted to not to save money. I've not tried an 8k peak with O2 but I can't see this being any easier. If you haven't been to the Greater Ranges then I would suggest that your chances of failure on an 8k peak are very high with this approach. Go do some smaller peaks first to figure it out. Accuracy is important, getting all the logistics right requires a lot of organization. Assembling a team to climb a really big objective from people you met on the internet... Denali is full of teams just like that having all sorts of issues. There are lots of stories - my favourite involves the Hummingbird on Logan. The idea that there a lots of people getting rich off running guides expeditions is ludicrous. Otherwise it would be guides would be driving around in Hummer H2s not doctors and dentists.

This is great! Some of the requests for a paper version set me thinking... Why does everyone want a paper version? As an insurance policy against the Mountaineers dropping the project and the information being lost? Do people really want a PDF version or just something more printable, like a single web page version of each edition that's easier to print? Great job... Ade

Don't get an XGK unless your only going to melt snow or boil water. They are pretty useless for cooking but last forever and are super reliable. As for using gaz stoves in cold temps... Do not do this Or this