Jason_Martin

The big difference being that the reverso will automatically lock you off, whereas most other devices don't have this option. This is particularly nice if you have to use both hands to deal with whatever problem has arisen. Tying off, using a autoblock, or whatever else you come up with, I still think the set-up I described above is the best option. Jason

To Get this back on track: I'm a big proponent of rappelling on an extension. In other words rappelling with a sling girth hitched through my harness, with the rap device about two feet away. The reason I like this is because of the diversity it offers. I'm not going to go into all the benefits, but I will go into the one that fits here. The following requires rappelling on a reverso. If I get to a problematic rope end or some other need to ascend the rope, I simply clip the fin of the reverso on my extension to my belay loop. I then automatically have a ratchet with which I can ascend the rope. If this takes place on in a hanging position, I have to add a prusik to do this and to ascend the rope. If there is a stance of any sort, I can create the ratchet by unweighting the rope. I can then quickly ascend the rope by pushing the ratchet up and standing on stances. Even on the tiniest of stances I can do this. The result is an extremly effective means of climbing back up the rope and fixing the snafu. Good stuff! Time to go climbing now. Jason

Beginner Climbs

I've climbed the left east couloir in spring conditions to the North Ridge twice. The couloir to the left gets up to about 55 degrees. Looking down on the one on the right, it appears to only be about 45 degrees. The crux of the route was the North Ridge. This low fifth class ridge will be mostly snow right now and will have sections that exceed sixty degrees. It is recommended that you have rock gear and snow pro for this section. Expect the rock beneath the snow to be loose. Good pro on the North Ridge is difficult to find. That said, this is an excellent route... But due to the looseness, not necessarily one for someone on their very first mixed climb. Jason

For six years, I taught in a traditional classroom setting at both the high school and the college level. For the last five years I've been an outdoor educator, two of those five years working as such year round as opposed to just summers... That said, I think that there are things that are more easily taught from an experiential perspective. Climbing is clearly experiential. Reading about crevasse rescue in a book or the building of an anchor is helpful, but doing it will actually set it in a person's mind. On the other hand, there are elements of education which cannot be taught with such a hands on approach. For example, most people will not understand philosophy or literature without some kind of traditional classroom oriented build to that understanding. Classroom teachers do use experiential learning as much as possible. How often did you have to identify a part of speech in English class or complete an algebra problem in math? There is no "better" means of teaching. Some people find certain techniques more effective than others. Lastly, the important thing to remember about experiential learning in an outdoor setting is that most of the time everybody wants to be there and wants to learn. This is not always the case in the classroom. The result is that outdoor educators appear to be stronger teachers because they get better results... Some ARE better teachers, but then again, some aren't. Just like methods of learning, there are tremendous differences in teachers both in the outdoors and in the indoors. Some are great and some should probably go back to school... Jason

About two years ago, a friend of mine was teaching crevasse rescue to a bunch of kids on the Easton. One of the kids called up that she could see some skis down in the crevasse and that there was something red down there. My buddy decided to rappel down and have a look. Turns out it was a snowmobile, jammed way down in the crevasse. Like the snowmobile my buddy found, I think it is very unlikely that they will retrieve the machine that fell in the crevasse the other day... Jason

I've put this up a few times before, but it might be useful to you anyway... Beginner Progression Jason

As a new trad climber, you should bring whatever you feel comfortable leading with. If you need a set of stoppers and cams up to #2, go for it. A 5.10 climber telling you that he only used two pieces of gear is not going to help you much... If you feel more comfortable in rock shoes, wear rock shoes. If you have a pair of sticky rubber tennis shoes (like La Sportiva Boulders or the like) wear those for the climb... If this is one of your first multi-pitch leads, I would sway away from wearing mountain boots on the route. You should probably have an ice axe for the the pass... Have fun! Jason

It is a common practice for guides to take beginners up mountains on a one to one ratio without other guides around. The reality of this situation is that the guide understands that if something should go down, he will have to be the one to deal with it. And a guide who is well trained will be able to deal with it... Guiding Mount Rainier or Mount Baker is an incredibly long stretch from guiding an 8000 Meter Peak. I'm no expert on guiding those types of mountains, but I do know that guiding the volcanos on small ratios with experienced PROFESSIONAL guides is about as safe as it's going to get... Jason

I think some of the people above have had a huge influence on high end climbing, but what about the average every day climber... My vote is for Paul Petzoldt. Petzoldt did the fourth ascent of the Grand, the first winter ascent and the first ascent of the Grand's north face. He got extremely high on K2 and probably would have summitted if the expedition had been better organized... From an influential perspective, Petzoldt developed rope signals (on belay, climbing, slack etc.) and was the first to do this in the U.S.. He co-started Exum mountain guides and was the driving force behind NOLS. He testified in favor of the 1964 wilderness act, developed the early leave no trace ethic, started the Wilderness Education Association, and the Paul Petzoldt Leadership School. Oh yeah, he taught cold weather survival skills to over 12,000 10th mountain division soldiers and tried to climb the Grand on the 70th anniversary of his 1924 ascent... From the way we dress, to how we communicate, to how we act in the mountains, to the way we treat the backcountry environment, I would say Petzoldt had a lot of influence on the way most climbers do things... Jason

Lummox, I loved the Donini slide show! I actually enjoy most slide shows and I've been to quite a few of them. I think I'm an easy audience... But the Birdwell slideshow was just plain bad. Jason

Which ultimately means RMI or one of the other guide services that work on the Emmons like American Alpine Institute, Alpine Ascents International, Cascade Alpine Guides, or Rainier Alpine Guides. Jason

There are definately places where skis suck too. If there is thick brush -- bushwacking brush -- then snowshoes are clearly better. If there is inconsistent snow on a boulder field, then snowshoes are better. However, in most other cases, skis are better. To say that one system is better than the other across the board doesn't take into account particular difficulties on certain approaches. My recommendation is to look at each approach seperately and then to make a decision based on the difficulties which a particular approach might provide. The unfortunate answer to your question is that both items have their place in the backcountry. Which of course means investing cash in two different methods of movement... Jason

If you get caught guiding without a permit -- especially on Rainier -- you could be in a world of legal trouble. Jason

About two years ago, we buried a powerbar in hard late season snow on Mt. Baker, tied it off with a cordelette, and then lastly tied a rope to it. We subsequently began bouncing on it, adding more and more people to the rope. It took five people bouncing on the rope to blow out the anchor! On a less interesting note, I've rappelled off rocks buried in the snow with a sling tied to them a number of times. Jason

Take a close look at the progression I put together for people in your exact situation: Beginner Progression Jason

I have had the unfortunate opportunity to be caught in a lot of white outs in the cascades. When I say "a lot" I really mean tons of them. As of yet, I have not purchased a GPS. However, I do bring along a map and a compass and an altimiter most of the time. I always bring these items on the volcanos because this is where you can really get screwed if you don't know where you are. I believe the biggest problem with the GPS is the battery life. A number of the GPS brands do burn batteries quickly -- especially when you turn the device on and off all the time. This is why I think an investment in a altimeter is a better investment initially... If you're going to Washington Pass or the the Tooth, you probably don't need an altimeter. Jason

Alpine ice is incredibly variable. As a result, you should look at each situation seperately and not confine yourself to one idea. Sometimes alpine ice really is hard ice and other times it's just really hard snow. Take each situation for what it is. Sometimes a V-thread will not be enough. Other times it will be fine. In the end, if you really think a cordellete is too thin and might rip out in the conditions you encounter, I don't think I would trust a piece of webbing either. Jason

I'm going to throw in my two cents on a few misquotes like everyone else. "There are old climbers and bold climbers but there are no old bold climbers." I've recently been doing A LOT of research on Paul Petzoldt and it appears that the line can be attributed to him on multiple occasions in multiple discussions and pieces of writing. The most famous time he said it was when he tried to repeat the Grand on the seventieth anniversiary of his 1924 ascent. Unfortunately, Petzoldt was dealing with cancer when he attempted to do this and was unable to climb to the top. This is when he said the line to a number of people in the press and it appeared in the media at large for the first time. He said the line a lot prior to this, but this is when it became a "famous" quote. The reference about drytooling and mastrubation can be traced directly to Jim Donini. This is HIS VERY FAVORITE LINE. In fact I was at a slide show at the AMGA annual meeting with Donini as a presenter when he said this. Afterwards a number of people who have seen him on multiple occasions -- including Alan Kearney who did a bunch of research on Donini's ascents in Patigonia -- made comments about how he's been saying this line for years and years. No one seemed to think that he ripped it off from anybody else. I've seen a Jim Birdwell slideshow. Nothing funny was said. In fact it was maybe the worst slideshow I've ever seen. Which brings me to another quote: "Death by slideshow." I have no idea who said this, but it's been floating around for awhile. Jason

"Dirtbags are people Too" A bumper sticker.

Will, I agree with much of what you said. It does take more than 5.10 and a WFR card to guide. It also takes passion for guiding, in part because of the fact that one doesn't make much money as a guide. Indeed, taking some AMGA courses is a very important part of guiding in the ongoing development of guiding as a profession in the United States. However, I don't believe that you are trying to make Scott think. I do believe that the way you are addressing him is in ridicule. And that's where I take issue. I personally love guiding and would like to support anyone who is trying to get involved in it. Being a guide is hard enough as it is. Jason

If I remember correctly, Will tried something similar with Tribal Guides or something like that. Nothing wrong with this except the fact that now he's attacking other people for doing what he tried to do some time ago and apparently failed to accomplish. Maybe there's a little envy involved in this attack. There is absolutely nothing wrong with people trying to make a living off of something that they love to do. I think it's unfortunate that people would attack someone for trying to do this. It should also be remembered that for however "easy" you might think something is, there are still a lot of people out there that do not feel the same way. Grand Canyon hiking guides and hiking guides in Yosemite Valley never do anything that most people on this board would consider "hard." However they do bring people with minimal experience to places that they wouldn't be able to get to otherwise. Believe it or not, but guiding routes that are third, fourth, and low fifth class is a lot more difficult than guiding something that is mid fifth class or harder... That is if the guiding is done properly. In any case that's a bit off topic... Anybody who's doing something they are passionate about and making a living off of it should be congratulated instead of made fun of. Jason

A good chunk of the time it is safe. Especially when the chains are relatively new. But you're right. This is my main concern. Most people are bright enough not to use the chains which are getting hammered. But then again, there's a reason that they look like they do. Someone is using them. And ultimately, this is why they have to be changed out by the people who maintain them.

The problem is that slings are not chains. While I agree that climbers as a whole are totally willing to leave corelette or sling material to back things up when needed, they are not so willing to replace chains. Most climbers who see the bottom link of a chain getting bad will just start to use the next one up. There's no attempt to fix the problem or to replace the chain. That's someone elses job. The vast majority of the people reading this right now have never replaced a chain and probably never will. That being the case, then there is no reason for them to be lowering off chains thus degrading them more quickly and then waiting for someone else to replace them. Jason

Yeah Mike, as you know, I usually don't tie knots in the end of the rope. But my point is that if you're going to do it, tie the ropes seperately. Not lame, this is a valid concern. What you can do is tie in through the chains with a sling as a back up. Tell your belayer to Take! and weight the rope. If everything looks good, unclip the sling and lower. I don't think you understand what I'm saying. Never put the ropes through the chains unless you are rappelling. Don't lower through chains at all. If you look closely at chains where this is happening on a regular basis, you will see that they are wearing out. The best thing to do is to just rappel instead of lowering off chains. If you look at the chains and then decide that they are fine for lowering off of, then you are part of the problem. Every time a person lowers off chains they get cut a little bit. If you rappel you are not contributing to the problem. Maybe I sound a little pissy about this... The reason is because I've spent a lot of my own cash replacing chains or links that are getting worn through. It is a REAL problem. Jason