Ade

In Mr Simpson's defence none of his partners have ever had serious accidents. He seems pretty safe in that regard. Thinking about how to get down before going up would seem like a top tip though.

Most people don't repeatedly second a route for half or a whole day hacking the shit out of it though do they?

Funny I thought the only people who climbed leashless were the ones doing competitions or trying to get media attention. They also climb with tools so light that they don't swing properly and picks so thin they don't take any abuse, mainly because competition routes have manufactured placements. I've tried climbing (real) ice with a Simond Scud and it's about as much use as a chocolate teapot. On and Europe suddently seems to not include Scotland, where last time I looked leashes were still pretty much in vogue.

Pandome was in last weekend but I didn't think much of the conditions, the line I took had pretty cruddy ice that didn't take screws that well. The whole route was pretty much uncovered so you get your full pitch of climbing. There's a bunch of other drips to the left and right too, they're much shorter but maybe you link some of the together. Dale? [ 01-07-2002: Message edited by: Ade ]

The Rambles in in and in no way "thin". The upper steeper pitches are wet but it's all good. Most of the other routes we looked at don't seem to have improved since New Year, based on Cpt's description, Carlsburg might have even gotten worse, the RHS seemed to have a lot of holes in it. It was raining in Lilloette when we left at dusk on Sunday night.

Worth noting that the classic routes will be the most crowded by far. There's a lot less ice in the Alps than there used to be so many of the classic couloirs aren't in any sort of condition by mid season, a case in point being the Whymper Couloir. Several of the books mentioned, including some of the AC Guides may not take this into account.

The (British) Alpine Club publishes guide to alpine routes for most of the Alps. You can buy them from The BMC online shop (I didn't check to see if they shipped to the US). There's also a bunch of English guides to European crags, but I'm not sure who does them, Chessler books might know. Ade

Geez...

If you're really considering taking that many wands you might want to consider a GPS. I'm not a big fan of gizmos in the mountains but a GPS can save you carrying a lot of wands. That way you only have to wand the really tricky bits and use the GPS to get between the wanded sections. Ade

From BC Ice Conditions Page: "Early season climbing in Marble Canyon - The reports below indicate lots of icicles, which lay down the foundation for the rest of the year,. If these get bashed off, then the ice will never get a chance to form. The ice is still not forming well and could use a few weeks to thicken and freeze before being bashed to pieces. Something to keep in mind..." Probably worth thinking about before we all dash out and spend the morning TRing the bottom of some classic to death in the pouring rain when it's not even "in" anyway. TR if you must but remember... it trashes the ice and rots the soul. Far better to go lead something easier instead. Ade

Just a reminder from the Ice Conditions Board moderators... The idea of this board is to make it really useful for those looking for good info on ice conditions in the Pacific Northwest (and elsewhere). To this end we'd like to keep spray to a minimim. If you want to post off-topic then please do it on the appropriate part of the site, like the Spray board, or on one of the other boards. We're going to start removing spray and other content-free posts/threads to make the board easier to use. So don't say we didn't tell you! Thanks, have fun when conditions finally get good. Ade

Managed to squeeze a day in at Pitchoff in the Adirondacks, NY. Super thin conditions (crap stubbies & rock gear) on the very few routes that were in. Most areas have nothing and it's due to get warm here again. Just letting you know that it's not like everyone else is having a great time and it just sucks in the NW. Time to come home early! Ade

I just acquired a Das Parka and took it out today... very nice touches. Waterproof stuff sack with attachment point on the bottom so water can't drip in Mesh pockets inside for gloves{*]Small pocket outside for other shit Big hood to go over helmet A bit more than your $250 limit but good doesn't come cheap.

Clipping into your tools as part of the belay isn't exactly recommended anyway. If you're going to do it then it should always be as a backup to the main belay. They shouldn't be weighted as part of the belay. Clip into the heads of your tools not the spikes. The spikes are only really designed to hold the weight of the tool or maybe body weight. Ade

The Alpine Club in Britain does English language guides to most of the western Alps. There web site is at http://www.alpine-club.org.uk/. You can order them by phone. Chessler Books may also have them. Ade

Mountain Review #7 (March/April 94) had an article on how to make a BOMB (Bloody Outragious Mountain Burner). Pretty straight forward by the looks of it.

R&I #109 (June/July 2001) has a training article by Vadim Vinokur. It's a pullup training program. Worth taking a look at for sure... Basically: Work out what your max number of pullups is, fingers and thumbs over bar, hands shoulder width apart. Do reps of 80% max (number of pullups) with two minute rests in between. When you can do four sets drop back to two sets and increase reps. Do pyramids to 50% max, resting for 1 minute between each rep. Do reps of lockoffs holding for 5s at 45 and 90 degrees and full up. Another variation, popular with some of my friends is doing four pullups a minute for as long as possible. You just keep trying to get four done in a minute. Enjoy. Ade

Perfect weather in the Gunks, NY. Lots of routes... steep...

Dru is just jealous, no surprise there. Krakauer not only climbs better than he does but also writes better too. What's worse is there seems to be a whole load of people out there who want to read what Krakauer has to say and will even pay for it. Dru on the other hand simply inflicts his poor attempts at humour on the rest of us and we have to live with it. Doesn't he have anything better to do with his time, climbing perchance? To answer the original question... which, after all, is what the original poster wanted, not yet more spray. I'd agree that seracing is a great start. But WA is worth giving a miss to for those first forays onto real ice, too fickle and often poorly formed. Drive a lot, fly a lot. All the best destinations have been mentioned. If you're driving 14 hours from OR to the Rockies then I'd say you might as well get on a plane and then the options are completely open. Don't forget NY, VT and NH when your booking flights, some fine ice to be had there too! Later... Ade

There is indeed a guide. I even have a copy. Haven't been there yet, supposed to be like Pe-shite-stin Pinnicles but not as good. I hate to think what that means.

Colchuck Glacier didn't look that inviting on Sunday. No snow cover, crevassed and dirty, implying a fair amount of rockfall. Even early in the day we could hear some pretty large stuff moving on it. It's also not that steep, you'd have to come up with a really contrived line to make it interesting. Alex is right. The Coleman Gl. seracs definitely represent the best ice for least hiking if you want to get on something steep. Liberty Ridge... nice one. You could drytool the 3000' of loose crap from the horribly crevassed Carbon Gl to Thumb Rock.

Well since you asked: MEC Penguin outer bag 3/4 length ultralight Thermarest GTX bivvi bag Waterproof jacket & pants Food & 7 pints of water (bladder + Nalgene) Gloves & hat Marmot dryclime top Wild Things wind shirt Approach shoes & socks Camera & film Headtorch (Petzl Micro) 50m 9mm rope (on the top) Helmet (on the outside) My half of the rack (bigger than Drew's full set of wires, 5-6 cams, 6 slings) This was fine for the 3+ hr approach plus soloing the bottom pitches. No axe or crampons (minimal glacier approach), that would have been tricky. Next time I'll get a foam pad for the back of the pack and ditch the thermarest, making room for crampons. No stove. [This message has been edited by Ade (edited 09-17-2001).]

I have an Eldorado which has been on a few trips. So far most of the damage I've done to it has been pretty much what I'd expect; bent a pole, put a hole in it with a rock. No other unprovoked damage/failures. The door is alkward and in some respects the internal pole system is a pain but for this type of tent I think it's done pretty well. If you want something like the Eldorado your choice is a bit limited. Integral Designs make something similar for a bit less money an Wild Country make the Gemini, which is even smaller but looks like it might hold up better in a storm. I'm not sure I'd buy a single skin tent that was much bigger then the Eldorado though. Mine was bought about the same time as Alex's, maybe they've sufferend from QA problems recently? [This message has been edited by Ade (edited 09-17-2001).]

If you want a _really_ light sack then the Serratus Genie is hard to beat at less than 1lb. There's room for a closed cell back pad should you need one, although it doesn't come with one. Best of all it's very cheap. About $46 Canadian, so you can have four of them for the price of pretty much any other pack mentioned here. I did a two day (took bivi gear) technical alpine route with this no problem. Ade

No, A British guy called Norman Croucher... Out drank us when we got back to Quito too. I'm still clutching at the "he was more acclimatized" straw on that one.