Jason_Martin

All I can say about local Bolivian Guide services is Be Careful. I've watched Bolivian guides do some extremely sketchy things. I watched a Bolivian guide lower five English school boys off of a single ice axe and we're not talking about an axe pounded into the snow, we're talking about lowering off the pick! Last year numerous fatalities took place in Bolivia that could have been attributed directly to guide negligence. The most important thing to realize about Bolivian guides is that most of them are not climbers. Most of them start out as camp cooks and see how much money guides are making. As a result they do their best to learn how to guide. It is unusual to meet a Bolivian guide who climbs for his own enjoyment... This should be an indicator. You're going to get what you pay for. Ecuador is a little different than Bolivia. In Ecuador there is a certification standard for guides. Bolivia doesn't have anything like this. I would strongly suggest employing an American, Canadian, or European guide or guide service. This is the only way that you will know that you're going to get a solid guide who has been trained in both guiding and climbing skills. Jason

What that woman was getting at is the drug issue. Bush probably spent time doing community service because he was caught with cocaine, but got his record expunged through his dad's legal connections. Wouldn't it be great if he just answered the questions. Check out the book "Fortunate Son" for more info on this dirty little secret. Jason

If you look at the AMGA website and look at the guide access page, it tells you exactly what is required as far as insurance goes to work in certain areas. Usually they require liability insurance and it's not uncommon for different areas to require between five-hundred thousand and a million dollars of insurance to operate. Jason

Try Wasatch Touring in Salt Lake City. I recently took an avy class and ordered a kit from them with a bunch of the items you listed in it. The kit wasn't very expensive. Jason

The shitty snow stance held him for hours... There is a simple way to pass a knot using cordellettes or slings which is often taught in self rescue courses which would not shockload the stance. Jason

In the movie Joe says it was eighty feet to the ground from where he was hanging. So the extra 150 feet would have been acceptable to get Joe down. Many climbers do not know how to pass a knot. Or if they do know how to pass a knot they are incapable of doing it quickly. In the book, the part where Joe is hanging appears to go on forever. If Simon had experience with any type of knot passing or belay escape (much more difficult from a decomposing snow seat) the amount of time which elapsed between the time they lost contact and the time which the rope was cut would have been more than sufficent. If the knot were jammed in the belay plate there are still ways to "unjam" it. Once again I don't think Simon knew how to do this. In addition, were the knot jammed I think it would have been mentioned in either the book or the movie, but it wasn't. The crux of the matter is that Simon made a choice based on what he knew how to do and didn't know how to do. Some basic rescue techniques were overlooked and this is ultimately what resulted in the extension of Joe's epic. After cutting the rope, Simon didn't even bother to check and see where Joe's body was. Had he looked down the hole he would have found Joe to be alive. This is yet another major oversight on his part. On top of all this, Simon has been involved in other incidents throughout the years which make me question his abilities... So I really don't think he knew how to pass a knot or escape his belay... Jason

Simon should have known how to pass a knot. If he knew how to do this then he wouldn't have had to cut the rope.

One other thing to consider is the publisher's strategy. If you look at the design and layout of the book, you'll see that it matches a number of other guidebooks that they -- the mountaineers -- have put out. Both the cover design and the internal setup match. This is some kind of marketing strategy. However, I don't really know how this will sell more books... It just seems to distinguish the line of books. You'll see the same setup with the new how to books being put together by the mounties. Will Gadd's book and the Clyde Soles books both match one another... Same idea. Personally I'm pleased with the way our design turned out. Jason

Sorry Geordie, I meant the SE face of Pequeno Alpamayo. Jason

Geordie, My favorite climb so far in the Condoriri region is the Southwest Face/Southwest Ridge of Pirmida Blanca. It's a short approach with about four pitches of sixty to seventy degree ice and then a bunch of fifty to sixty degree pitches. Super fun! The Southwest Face of Pequena Alpamayo is another great route of similar difficulties. The topout on this one can be a bit more scary though as it generally climbs through a region of unconsolidated snow. I've heard reports of trips through many years on this particular section where parties have continuously found the same type of ground. Something you might consider is picking up the Alan Mesili guidebook when you get there. His "Los Andes de Bolivia" is in Spanish but still has quite a bit more info than the Yossi Brian book. (Don't get me wrong, this english language book is a good start.) Mesili is the Becky of the Bolivian Andes and his book has a lot of good aerial photos with grades and overlays that you can easily understand even if Spanish is a bit of a stretch. Not only that but the book has about three times as many routes as the other. You can find this book at some of the Bolivian Guide services which are spattered throughout the touristy areas of La Paz. Good luck! Jason

I believe that it will be very difficult to redirect traffic after a large snow or even after a moderate one. Trudging through deep snow instead of walking on a path that has been groomed by machines and constant skiers will dictate a much longer approach than a mere five minutes. Currently there are numerous signs on the trail. At least one says not to enter, others warn of avalanches and speeding skiers. I think that skiers coming down that trail are for the most part aware that people use it on a regular basis. The people going up the trail are very aware that they might get run over. These user groups have co-existed here for a long time. Honestly, I would like to see the winter access remain open to backcountry skiers, snowshoers, families of sleders and climbers. I think that the only time the alternate summer trail will be five minutes longer will be after a long period of dry weather or rain. A good chunk of the normal winter trail is maintained which makes it very quick. I understand that as a climber the trail is not being maintained for me, but because it's already there I have a hard time wallowing in deep snow. Jason

Mike, Don't think I'm going to make it up... Got to get out of here early tomorrow. Will I see you down south this spring? JayB, I don't remember what exit it is near. However it can be seen immediately left of McClellum Butte. Check pages 179 and 180 in your ice guide. Jason

With deep deep snow and avalanche danger many of the routes are clearly difficult to get to but are forming. Today a buddy and I went up to the Rap Wall. The approach required a bit of wallowing, but hey that's part of the game around here. It appears that one of the Bryant lines above source lake is in good condition and many of the smaller lines around Alpental are climbable...but don't say that I didn't warn you about the deep snow. Even with big snow shoes I had a hard time. It appears that CYA near Exit 38 is coming into form. This route has yet to be led and doesn't come in every year so keep an eye on it. The large waterfalls on the North Face of Kent Mountain are visibly blue from I-90 right now, though with current snow conditions it will take a long time to get there. On Saturday in Mt. Rainier National Park, I saw "Hey Mikey He Likes It" from the Nisqually Bridge. It was blue. I can only assume that the more attainable "Mikey's Gully" is in form but not visible as it is in a gully nearby. The snow is deep and slated to get deeper. Watch the avalanche conditions closely if you check out any of these places. Jason

I've used the technique lancegranite is referring to many times. A lot of people call it "the spider" or an assortment of other names. It is a good rock rescue rappel technique, but as lancegranite indicated there must always be a autoblock backup. One issue that often comes up with simul-rappelling is the fact that it is often done on extremely skinny ropes with little friction. There is an excellent technique that a friend -- who has written about it as a tech tip for a forthcoming issue of "Climbing" -- showed me just the other day to increase the friction when rappelling on super-skinny lines. Here is the technique in a nutshell. 1) Extend the rappel away from your harness by girth-hitching a shoulder length sling through your belay loop. Put your ATC into the end of the sling on a locking biner and set it up for a rappel. This places the rappel about eighteen inches away from your harness. 2) Take a very short slung cord and put a friction hitch into it below your ATC. Clip this into your belay loop with a locking biner. This will act as an autoblock. 3) Clip a non-locking biner into your leg-loop. 4) Clip a non-locking biner into the rope ABOVE your ATC. 5) Now this is where the rope that you are rappelling on will go. The rope goes through the ATC, down through your autoblock, then through the carabiner in your leg-loop. It is then redirected up through the carabiner above your ATC and then back down to your break hand. When rappelling, one hand will move the autoblock down, while the other holds the rope beneath the second redirect biner above your ATC. This system creates a whole lot of extra friction so that rappelling on skinny ropes is not a scary affair. Give it a try and see how you like it! Jason

There's nothing wrong with this technique. I've used it a few times for this and that... The main thing is to make sure that both people are weighting the rope simultaniously. Jason

The second picture is "Death Banquet." There will be info on this WI 5+ route coming on the wastateice.net webpage in the near future. Jason

Though private school teachers get paid less it is important to look at one other MAJOR factor that hasn't been addressed, parents. Parents who are willing to pay for schooling for their kids are often more involved in the school process. I've had the opportunity to teach in both public and private schools. Public schools are a zoo. You spend half of your time just dealing with attendance issues. Private schools are nice. Comparatively there are few discipline problems and a lot of resources for teachers. The guy who wrote that article is an idiot. He has clearly never been in a public school situation as either a teacher or administrator. Public school teachers do deserve A LOT more money. The work they do is tremendously hard. Since I left teaching I've had the opportunity to do a lot of different jobs and so far I have done nothing more difficult than teaching and nothing that paid less. Jason

Philonius, Check your Private Messages. Jason

This particular area was put up by a mountaineers ice climbing course to initiate their study of mixed climbing. The area actually went through some kind of review process before they put in a single bolt. They wanted to make sure they weren't going to be putting anything together that would ultimately be in the way of future sport climbing development. And believe me there will be no future sport climbing development around this crag. The rock is low angle and slabby which makes for some interesting drytooling. Jason

Another Thread About Table Mountain.

Another Thread about Table Mountain.

Lummox, Educated guesses on the thin stuff. I've interviewed a lot of people and I have some leads on a few things there. But as yet I have heard no "rumors" about these super thin lines aside from the idea that they might be good new wave mixed routes. Jason

You shouldn't bolt "Death Picnic." I believe that the mixed discussion relates to as yet unclimbed lines on the face. Jason

I've just received a report from some climbers who went into Table Mountain yesterday. It sounds like there is quite a bit of ice up there. Death Picnic is in but scary. This particular party climbed a route to the left that went at WI 3+. Info on this route will be available on wastateice.net soon. The story is that there is a tremendous amount of ice there right now that doesn't quite touch down. The climbers who were out there yesterday believe that this could be an excellent place for futuristic mixed climbing adventures. Jason

Bush's so called "healthy forest act" is anything but. This bill goes way beyond thinning. Take a close look at it...a look beyond the propaganda. It is not a call to environmental logging practices, but an all out assault on forests that are healthy. Though I consider myself an environmentalist, I'm also a realist. Logging is important. However it can be done more effectively without attacks on former environmental legislation. Jason