dberdinka

#4-#6 are adequate 99% of the time. #2 and #3 can be handy on Zion aid routes. #0 and #1 are pretty much pointless. I would recommend DMM Peanuts over DMM Brass Offsets particularly if you climb on granite more than desert sandstone. Very similar but better in every respect with the exception of a very specific type of pin scar.

Any North Face Route in the Pickets (a while back someone came close on the North Buttress of East Mcmillan). Any of the handful of Grade VI routes in the Cascades. 5,000 different great mixed and ice routes on the 5000' - 7000' peaks.

My wife and I did the exact same trip (in the other direction) in mid-September. Awesome way to spend three days. Another amazing journey is the Lost Ridge - White Chuck Meadows - N Fork Sauk Loop. Put it on the list for next late summer!

Another example of the debased, thoughtless, entitled nature of the modern climber Squampton Garbage Dump

Climbing is debased. There is a massive rush to the bottom when it comes to introspection, responsibility and general awareness. Climbers can't take responsibility for themselves much less responsibility for inspecting and replacing fixed gear. The only knowledge it takes to clip a fixed draw is how to tie a figure-eight. We even offload the awareness and responsibility of belaying to our Grigris with the trade off being more static belays and a greater likelyhood of chopped ropes. It will only get worse.

To answer my own question. Continue up the trail past Sunbug Slab for 2-3 minutes following signs to the "A-Wall". 30'-40' slab with several anchors on top. Perfect place to top rope with small children.

But again thats not some much different from anywhere else. CO and CA might have a lot more alpine granite but the number of features getting any traffic is still small. Seems to me that projecting a well protected pitch of 12b on the LTW is way different than sending a multipitch 5.12 on the UTW which is way different from clipping a scary rusty fixed beak under a 5.12 roof halfway up a grade V in the mountains. Each increase in commitment results in a magnitude drop in the number of climbers willing to bother. Ultimately I don't think the disconnect is any different here than elsewhere just a lot less climbers climbing at that level.

Peridition or something like that. The Skoogs put some nice sounding routes up on it. Nice photos!

Agreed. Have world class cragging 15 minutes out of town and 300+ days of sunshine a year is going to make for a technically more competent climbing culture. I'm not sure the ratio of crag-to-"alpine" climbers is any different anywhere else. At least thats what I blame it on everytime I going climbing with my friend from Boulder.

Nice TR Rad. I had my own bushwack epic BITD doing that approach for the first time in the dark, though not quite as epic as yours. Linkup of Roan/Salish? Sounds like a nice summer.

How many people are projecting 5.12 in Boulder Canyon vs. establishing or climbing 5.12 in the Black? Is it really any different than here? Seems like the weather is to bleak around here for the diehards to stay put (a lot of strong climbers I knew BITD moved to CO) and the generally lengthy approaches (other than WA Pass) limit the interests of folks who focus on technical skill.

Heading over to Mazama for a four day family reunion. Want to take the kids climbing at Fun Rocks. How is it? Any recommended routes/rocks/obscure slabs for top roping 4-8 year old kids on their first outdoor outing? Thanks!

+1 for Marks link to Chris Macnamaras website. If you start and learn to aid climb without daisies you will be far more efficent and fast.

When I drag my friends out to climb walls they tend to quickly settle for the single jumar/Gri-gri combination due to a greater sense of security. Two jumars is way more efficent for general jugging/cleaning though I'll switch to the jumar/Gri-gri for significant overhangs (real easy to go back and forth) Frog sounds great for free hanging ropes but I've never tried it as I've never fixed lines on the SE Face of El Cap and I'm of the impression it takes some specialized equipment and tuning to get just right.

I'm not sure whats more impressive. The climbers or the technology used to film it. Crazy world we're living in.

For those of us who don't crank 5.12 supposedly the historic north buttress is actually a good route.

Stunning John. Just incredibly stunning.

Those glaciers are amazing for the variability they exhibit year over year. When I climbed North Rib in 2004? the North Slesse Glacier was hardly more than a snowfield.

That looks amazing!

Wow. Definitely not the Cascades.

You're a hater. What the DEB of Liberty Bell?

Gene and I did this route 10? years ago. P1 off the big ledge is C1 until the last few moves which were either KBs or LAs (A1). P2 (crux) took a SO off the belay then hooks and cams followed by the long beautiful corner where I definitely used LAs. I'm not sure how you would do this clean unless you had a triple rack of Lowe Balls or something, it's not scars just a long 1/4" wide crack in a corner. Couple crappy heads at the top you might need to replace. I would bring 3-4 KBs, 6-8 LA, a couple SO 1/2" - 3/4" and some heads.

Beautiful Area! Question? What is your calorie intake on a day like that. How much and how often of what?

That is awesome. This post needs pics......

Nice photos. I climbed that route many years ago and really enjoyed it. Fact is there are not a whole lot of routes that combine steep (well relatively steep) glacial ice and exposed rock. It's one of the few.