Andy_Bourne

I am an idiot.

Never been to the area. Is it too early to think about Yak Crack? I know it is south facing. What the scoop? Beta greatly appreciated. cgentzel@aai.cc

Never been to the area. Is it too early to think about Yak Crack? I know it is south facing. What the scoop? Beta greatly appreciated. cgentzel@aai.cc

The American Alpine Institute is seeking a full time assistant registrar to work in the office through September of 2002, with the possibility of a permanent full time job if things work out. Applicants must have climbing experience, computer skills, be well spoken, and be a nice person. Pay is dependent upon experience. You won't get rich and the work you'll start out doing isn't very glamorous. But you do get to work around some really cool people and possibly get your foot in the door of the guiding industry if that is something that interests you. We are located in Bellingham, WA. If you'd like to apply or have any questions, drop me an email at abourne@aai.cc.

In Bolivia, May has the 4th least amount of precipitation for the month, behind June, July, and August respecively, according to one web site I found. But high avalanche danger keeps a lot of people off routes they want to climb, from what I hear. I haven't been there myself. As to where in the world to climb in May, Alaska is one of the few places where May offers the most stabile weather out of the year.

I spent two weeks climbing in the Halong Bay area of northern Vietnam in the winter of '99. Getting info, for us, was also very difficult or impossible. We tried to find Lynn Hill's and Todd Skinner's bolted routes based on a photocopied magazine article, but we never found them. We put up several traditional routes near the island of Cat Ba, I'd be happy to share info on. It was a very interesting experience, definitely be ready for some surreal terrain, very similar to Krabi but a little cooler and no people what so ever. No established routes. Boats, hotels, food, and transportation were very sketchy. Definitely some of the nicest, most hospitable people in the world. If I had any advice on gear, it would be to bring a lot of tape (to protect edges; the non-overhanging rock can be as sharp as broken glass in some places) and a good rack with sufficient Lowe tri-cams for the pockets. Get info from someone who has bolted sea-side rock before bolting anything. I would visit Krabi before going. You'll have a better sense of what type of rock to expect and therefore, better decision making abilities when scoping routes from a distance or from the boat. One other thing I would tell someone going off the beaten path over there is learn the language. I got myself out of some sticky situations and I got a shitload of respect and a lot of laughs for doing it. It isn't hard and you don't have to learn a new alphabet. Send me an email if you need other stuff.

Oops, I accidently posted this on the Drury/Pencil thread . . . . . Anyway. . . . I hiked up the Shuksan Arm last Tuesday and there were several climbable flows, drips and smears on the north side of that giant rock band. If you were to take chair 7 to chair 8 and connect up with the Arm, it would be about a 2-3 hour hike/ski. The rock band essentially forms a barrier on the Arm to accessing the White Salmon glacier. The warm trend we had this week may have destroyed a lot of it though, who knows.

I hiked up the Shuksan Arm last Tuesday and there were several climbable flows, drips and smears on the north side of that giant rock band. If you were to take chair 7 to chair 8 and connect up with the Arm, it would be about a 2-3 hour hike/ski. The rock band essentially forms a barrier on the Arm to accessing the White Salmon glacier. The warm trend we had this week may have destroyed a lot of it though, who knows.

I have two friends down there right now climbing the Polish Glacier. They just got into basecamp, so they missed the riots apparently. They will be arriving back in Mendoza on January 5 or 6. I'll get an answer from one of them on that day and I'll post it here as soon as I know.

Well, this isn't such an exciting trip report, but I figured I'd follow up. I was only able to round up one partner and due to weather deterioration today, we only had Saturday and Sunday. So because of that and a few other reasons we only did the west Ridge of N Twin. The climbing conditions were quite wintery and a little more slow-going than I anticipated, but 4th and 5th class climbing with gloves, pack and crampons was pretty exciting. We even roped up for the last pitch. We reached the summit about 4:00p on Sat, after starting at the trailhead at about 9:30am. We set up a really cool, super exposed bivouac just below the summit on the south side. The coolest thing was watching the Leonid meteor shower from that vantage point. Truely one of my best mountain bivys. I got a good look at the connecting ridge between N and S Sister and it looks great. I am stoked to try this again in another high pressure spell. I think for a complete traverse, summer would be a little easier with longer days, lighter packs and easier travel. Thanks for the info dberdinka. Next up is some scouting on the south end of the range. Have a good one.

One thing that might help with finding a good area to climb- don't try to climb on the pretty blue ice. That is the stuff that has fallen more recently and therefore, more dangerous. Look for dirty ice, the ones that have been stable for longer. No matter where you end up, watch out for stuff above you. [ 11-16-2001: Message edited by: Andy Bourne ]

I'm actually thinking about doing it this weekend. I was out in the San Juans last weekend and they look pretty cool with a little dusting of white. There's supposed to be a high pressure system on Sat, Sun and Mon. I think I will do it with a couple friends, probably two days. Yea, Summer would be doable in a day, but I think I'll take bivy gear with the short days and snow cover. North to South was what I was thinking too, my only problem is that I am not familiar with the way out going south. I guess I'll just make a loop out of it and go back north on a logging road or something. I am definitely looking for suggestions on this.

If you can't beat 'em . . . . .

I am thinking of trying a traverse of the Twin Sisters range, and I am just checking to see if anyone out there has done it. Haven't really made up my mind on where to go in, and whether to make a huge loop, or to leave a car on one end and start from the other. Anything to be aware of going in on the south end? Road closures? Also, I am assuming a fast party could do it in two long days, it looks like a pretty long way. This is something I am also looking for info on, how long it takes, since most of the terrain up there would be new to me. Any info would be appreciated. -Andy

"yea, it's like 5.10" -- describing the road leading up to the Mt. Rexford area. "that would make a fine bivouac" -- standing outside the Howe Sound Brewery looking at the couch in the corner.

Excellent beta. Thanks for passing that on.

I explored around there once last year. The rock where I walked around is a lot like Peshastin but a little more crumbly. I saw two bolted routes on a couple of minor formations, but nothing to note. There may be other stuff around, maybe even higher quality rock. But from what I saw, honestly, I didn't think it was worth much as far quality climbing potential. Though I am sure someone has found some stuff around there worth doing, it depends on how much you want to explore around. Two things good about going there, I found an ancient ring piton on top of one of the pinnacles, and it was pretty fun scrambling around on some of the weird formations.

I was up on Baker about two weeks ago. The Coleman Glacier is pretty broken up below the headwall, which is pretty normal this time of year. Generally the route is "out" this time of year due to just that. I have a few friends who, in late season, have gone up nearer the Roosevelt glacier rather than the standard approach from below Colfax or black buttes area. You cross under the lower icefall and onto where the Coleman and Roosevelt come together. It is still broken up there, but way less than going under the Roman nose. About the only good thing about doing it now is that it will be almost totally ice the whole way. This will also make it much more challenging. The bad thing is that there will be higher likelyhood of bergschrund problems on the route and getting there, no matter which way you choose, will be a lot harder. Billy and Brukb, regarding the spray, the best thing to do is ignore the people who post purely junk on this part of the site. It is their right to do so, but of course there are those of us who think THEY are the boring ones. The way I look at it, they are just losers who sit around all day long, waiting to pick and prod at someone. Pathetically, this site is their life. Don't even bother to acknowledge it.

There are only two sports in this world, bull fighting and mountain climbing. All the rest are merely games. -Ernest Hemingway

I think Beckey had been trying to find someone to go put up a route on that face with him for the past year or so. Recently, however, there was a couple of dudes that gave some beta to him about it and said it was probably going to involve some difficult aid through a significant portion of it. He told me he has lost interest in it since hearing that. It is probably something worth exploring though. I haven't been up there myself. In general, I heard that the area has generally good rock.

My vote is to keep the elementry school blather to either the regular board or on the spray board. I think that some funny/condesceding comments and ethical pissing contests are OK, just KEEP THEM OUT OF THE F**KING ROUTE REPORT PAGES. That is the only area of real interest on this used-to-be good site. Please, jon and Tim, help us out here.

We went up there on 5/5-5/6 weekend to the Eldorado Glacier. It is pretty much winter conditions anywhere above 5000 feet. Eldorado Glacier was completely filled in. Forbidden Peak looked totally snow covered, though we were looking at the NW side of the mountain. The snowpack at the time was fairly solid, despite having quite a bit of recent snowfall. I was expecting to see slides all over the place, but only saw evidence of one wet snow avalanche. I think alot of the S and SW facing stuff had been scoured. With the storm system that just passed, I bet alot more new snow is up there and maybe watch out for wind-loading. It's been quite breezy. Bring skis or snowshoes. We wore snowshoes almost all the way to the summit. Road conditions may have changed, but we drove to the Eldo trailhead (2160 ft) and didn't encounter snow until approx. 3500' on the trail. Have fun.

my favorite is "much ballyhooed overhanging crack of infamy". . . good one.

This will tell you as much as the medical community knows about it: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lymevaccine.htm I spoke with a nurse about it, and it apparently isn't available in the NW unless your doctor special orders it. It is new and they don't yet know the long term effectiveness (i.e. how long it lasts) I am seriously considering it, and if my doc orders it, I'll throw a party and pass around the syringe.