CascadeClimber

I'm an IT consultant. I use IE for *everything* I do, except Facebook, which lives sandboxed in Firefox. And this is the only site where I have issues with login persistence. Didn't used to be that way until about two years ago. I do use the MVPS hosts file, but have been doing so for longer than I've had the login issues.

Thanks. Have been using this site since 2000. Have that one covered. I login on the main forum page (yes, tick the box), click on a forum, and am logged out when the list of posts load.

Win7, IE11. Nothing unusual. Been going on off and on for about two years now, through two different laptops. No issues anywhere else, including TAY and NWHikers.net

You probably shouldn't climb with us then. Double-negative, Dan: He's agreeing with you

I suspect that one of the issues causing the severe drop-off in participation here is the pain in the ass login problem that I've been having for several years now. Here's how it goes: 1. Login on main screen. 2. Click on forum (i.e. Climbing Partners). 3. Arrive in that forum logged out. Cannot post. 4. Lather, rinse, repeat until sick of it and go elsewhere. The only way I can work around it is to login, go to my messages (am then logged out again), login on that screen (the "You are not logged in" screen). Then the login sticks for a couple days. Drives me batshit crazy and most of the time it's not worth screwing around to make it work.

My Dynafit Speed Radical bindings failed a couple weekends ago and Dynafit is denying the warranty claim since they are more than two years old, even though I have less that 30 days skiing on them. I've been asking around and so far everyone I've asked has either had the same problem or knows someone who has. It seems to me that Dynafit either chose an improper material or the design has severe stress risers causing premature failure. If you or someone you know has had a failure like or similar to the issue below please post back here or contact me directly. I think Dynafit should be recalling or at least replacing these bindings when they fail. Loren loren@cascadeclimber.com

Spring of 2014 I was sitting at the car drinking beer after skiing the Easton. Two guys come down the road carrying skis. "Hey, uh, so, uh, can you tell us where we are?" "Sure, you're at the trailhead for the Easton and Squak glacier routes." "Ah. Yes. Uh, so, uh, that's not the same as the Coleman-Deming, then?" "Yeah, no." "Hmm. Uh, so is it far? We climbed the North Ridge and our car is over there. We meant to ski the Coleman-Deming." "Yeah, just yeah." "How far?" "The fastest way to get there, since you are apparently without a vehicle, would be to go back up and over the saddle at the base of the Roman Wall at 9000'." "That's far." "Yes." I gave them a ride to I-5. They were making calls the whole time trying to convince someone to drive up to get them, then drive them around to their car

+1 Also factor in weather. Block out time for a trip, have a primary objective, but also have alternates. If your primary is in the central or north Cascades, smart alternates are east of the crest and south. Go where the weather doesn't suck and you will have more fun.

My opinion (having come down the Ingraham and DC quite a few times), including Jan, Feb, and March: There is no place in the Flats that I would call 100% safe in winter, except maybe very close to Cadaver Gap. There are places that are more safe than others- away from Cathedral Rock and away from the more active north side of the Ingraham Icefall. But as you can see from the photo below, the area is often strewn with debris. I think Gib Ledges is a much better winter route. It's less prone to avalanche, it's more direct, and it doesn't collect wind-blown snow like the Ingraham Direct does. The ID is a decent descent route (especially on skis), but I've never ascended that way. The Ingraham in January 2014:

The North Face of Chair is mostly dependent on snow and freeze/thaw to come into condition. I'd bet it's plenty climbable now. It's not often a pure ice climb though- steep neve' is more the norm. +1 to the previous comments about avy danger: The Source Lake basin is dangerous, then you have to traverse from the NEB across the north face of Chair to get the route start on an avy-prone slope, and the descent route is also avy-prone.

Yes. I climbed a route on it with Dave Burdick in 2008. In fact, that year it formed in a 1/4 mile wide largely-continuous sheet of ice. There didn't appear to be a continuous ice line on it last Thursday when I drove home from Crystal.

If you cannibalize your core customer base by selling them (and their friends) gear at zero or negative profit it hurts the bottom line. It's not sour grapes, it's math. Here's what I see as the economic brokenness in this industry: 1. A cam costs $80. Skis $800 to $1000. Bindings are $600. A good Goretex shell (pants and jacket), $1000. So to buy all new gear to go back country skiing is what? $4000+? 2. Industry: There is no money in this business. 3. Me, who just paid $500 for a transceiver: Say WHAT? 4. Industry: There is no money in this business, so we can't pay our people well. 5. Industry: We can't pay our people well, but we can give them a huge break on our stuff. 6. Employees: Thanks. I'm eating Top Ramen out of my car, but I have shiny cams, in doubles. Result: 1. People who work in or around the industry get paid crap, but have really nice gear. Seriously, I've noticed a massive difference in willingness to leave gear behind between my Pro Form enabled partners and those who are not. 2. The same folks are end up as a sort of indentured servant; they can afford to pursue their hobby and squeak by on Costco food samples and usually keep their car running. But really moving up economically? Probably not. 3. The companies are forced to make their profit from weekend warriors instead of the core users of their gear. Those same core users are most likely to consume/wear out equipment and need to replace it more frequently. Car companies offer discounts to employees, yes. But gear companies give these discounts to employees and people who use the gear professionally. That's like GM selling cars at cost to anyone who uses them to drive to work. Now add on top of this the somewhat cyclical price disparity between Europe and the U.S. My last pair of ice climbing boots came from France. Cost me $125 shipped. Price on the shelf at Marmot: $400. My last ski setup came from France. Cost with mounting and shipping: $1200. Best price Marmot could offer: $1800 plus sales tax. Best price offered by Neptune: $2300 (full MSRP, "We don't do discounts"). So the next time you wonder why an ice screw is $100, this is much of the explanation. Not all of it, to be certain, but a lot of it.

Long, long standing issue with the climbing industry: The core of the market gets their gear below wholesale via pro deals. Then the industry claims there's no money to be made selling $700 jackets and $1000 skis. Well duh, you're giving your shit away at cost to half your potential customer base. So yeah, the poor schlubs paying full retail (especially in the U.S., which enjoys extra special pricing) are subsidizing a very large group buying at 70ish% off.

I still want to know who got all the FAs on that sweet granite in Renton.

Anyone been on the Kautz since late July and have something to add to this?

Whether you agree or disagree, if you stay tied in, you agree. If not now, when? Practically all of "Postcards from the Ledge", particularly Childs' 10 Point Dialectic of the Bivouac ("You can tell who the dominant climber is by who becomes the pillow", "If I had a sleeping bag inside this bivy sack I'd be dry and warm, if I had a bivy sack", "There's always a better ledge just above", "There's never a better ledge just above")

Solid work, and you're welcome for the track (we summited on Saturday).

Please read. If you want to have this be different, take 10 minutes and make a phone call... On the gate issue: I just spent over an hour on the phone with the deputy super, Tracy Swartout. And it was the most positive, engaging interaction I've had with any of the staff down there in 10 years or more. NOTABLY: She said she could recall just a handful of times that people have written or called about how they were (poorly) treated by park staff. So I strongly encourage anyone who got read the riot act at the gate or bull-horned in the Paradise lot in recent weeks to call and share. 360-569-6503.

The park is, and has been for a decade now or more, run by fucking idiots. Last night we got to the gate at 5:04 PM. In front of us was a line of 20 cars. An LE was lecturing every driver about the gate closure time. It took more than 20 minutes for us to get to our turn where I was also told they were trying to reduce overtime. Really? By paying an LE overtime to stand there and lecture a line of 50+ cars? They have not considered (or just don't fucking care) the inevitable outcome of this policy, which is people rushing down the mountain, from the summit, from Muir, and on the road to avoid getting a lecture, their time wasted, and/or a ticket. And that is going to lead to more injuries that suck up their precious OT budget. In our case, we could easily have made it down four minutes faster, if I had passed the three slow-moving cars in front of me on a double-yellow. Speaking of budget, I have, in the past, looked at their budget. They have plenty of money to extend gate hours on nice days. They just make poor choices on how they spend it. They have been using the lame-ass budget excuse to restrict public access (the guide services are unfettered) for many years now, including the infamous closures a couple years ago. Again, all bullshit posturing. Park management have entirely forgotten why they are employed, which is to provide access to the park to its the owners (the general public) while protecting its natural resources. Forcing a long line of cars to idle for 20, 30, 40 minutes so the drivers can be lectured after enjoying the park does neither. I'm fed up with being treated like shit by them.

Hmm, that isn't the name I remember...

Man, there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Used to see him at the VW in Redmond with his wife all the time. Someone should tell him the Block fell out of Blockhead at 38

who you are. Spill it, or someone else just might

I hope all involved are okay, and... Even in an age when the media usually butchers facts about climbing-related incidents, this article stands out as one of the worst I've ever seen. It reads like a 5th-grader wrote it and uses "on line" as a reference. Good grief.

Great TR, JCA. Some areas you describe I remember, and others we somehow avoided/missed. Here's a pic of the 100-200' ice cliff at the top. It sounds like JCA's party went left to avoid it. We went right at the Traverse of Angels. Edit to add: Here's the approximate location of the image above in the previous pic in this thread.

Jens and I cross the gully that you can't see for the avalanche coming down it at least a half dozen times in 2006. We topped out on July 1, his birthday. First *summer ascent* of the East Rib of Willis Wall I should finish that TR...