David_Parker

I have my doubts as to using the 2 biner (1 for each rope) method. I'm not sure they will align properly as there is limited space. I'll check it out and report back.

It sounds like you expect the reverso to be a light weight gri-gri or something. While the lock-off function is a benefit, I personally don't expect it to allow total inattention. I used a reverso on my latest climbing trip to Canada and found some benefits and some problems. For belaying the second, it was nice to be able to arrive at a belay, set up the reverso on the main anchor point and belay my partner and be able to put on a jacket, dig in my pack for food or water, etc. I never really let go of the rope, but wasn't concerned about proper belay technique as with an ATC. We also did a top rope in Marble canyon where you rap in and climb out. 2 climbers went down and I belayed them both simultaneously from the top. One climber was faster than the other and it was nice to be able to shift attention from one rope to the other and not be so concerned about how I was handling one rope, while pulling in slack on the other. I never really let go of one rope altogether however. Personally I find it hard to believe a wet slipperry rope would keep slipping for very long and/or would stop quickly as soon as you grabbed it on the belay end. I'd like to hear more personal experience. The problems I encountered had mstly to do with the fact I use a harness (alpine bod) without a belay loop. Arriving at the belay from a lead, you are supposed to set up the main anchor point with another pearabiner and then simply move the belay devise to that. The biner on your harness becomes the locking biner for bringing up the second. With a belay loop, I imagine it is fairly easy to unclip from the loop and move it to the anchor. But with the bod harness, it's really difficult to unclip because your belay biner goes thru the waist loop and the part that comes up thru your legs. I was thinking of just having two locking biners, one that stays on the harness and then clip the reverso and another locking biner to the first biner. But I don't know if 2 locking biners would be a good idea. ANy thoughts? Maybe I should get a "real" harness.

Alpine Club of Canada in Canmore is a really good value and you'll meet other climbers. On the icefields parkway, Rampart Creek Hostel is pretty rustic but cheap. You're far from gasoline so plan ahead. Ywca in Banff is probably best value there and includes a cafeteria. Also, fancy hostel in Lake Louise. Of course the ideal situ is what I have...climbing partner who lives there! I just got back and conditions were still good with cold temps. "Considerable" avy danger, but you should update conditions. The new quide book is just out and I'm sure in good supply at a climbing store once you get there! $29.95 cp (canadian peso) Buy your gas and alchohol in the US. It's cheaper! Enjoy!!!

I'll put my money on a telemark skier winning this thing! Common, Alpine K, are ya gonna do it???

Seems every time I go to climb ice in Field, I end up in some sort of misadventure of one kind or another. The latest was my 2002 ice climbing trip to Alberta. After a slower than planned start to head up onto the icefields parkway and exacerbated by inclement weather, my partner Mark and I decided to check out Field and Carlsberg Pillar. A quick stop on the road to preview it revealed it was quite thin and barely touched down. Next door and up high, Guiness Stout appeared in excellent shape, but the 1st pitch of the gully to get there was very thin looking. We headed back in the other direction and ran into a couple climbers who reported that Cool Springs was fat this year. I was feeling pretty good and felt up for leading it so we parked the car by the train tracks and started hiking the 1.6k down the tracks. At the first bend, a train came heading the same direction. Earlier, while stopped at the crossing, we had noted that even though the train appeared to be going slowly, it was still fast enough to be too scary to jump on, presented the opportunity. But this train seemed to be going extra slow. The idea of hopping on began to fester. Problem was that the snow was deep enough to prevent a running start. Mark was definitely not keen on the idea. But I couldn't let it go. I had never hopped a train and this was my chance. I back tracked about 50 meters and found firmer snow along side. I began to run next to the train, reached out and grabbed a rail and swung on easily. As I passed Mark, I yelled "piece of cake! Are you going to hop on?" "No" was his answer. "Well I'm going to ride it for awhile and then I'll hop off" And that was about all the time I had for conversation as the distance from he and I grew. As I rounded the next corner, I watched and saw he had made no move towards going back to the firm strip of snow where I jumped on. "Oh well I thought." The ride was rather pleasant and I enjoyed the brief solitude. I began to think about where I should jump off. I was on the north side of the train and all the climbs were on the south side. I could see the tracks where two climbers had walked down the tracks about 15 minutes previous to us, but I felt it would be easier to scope the situation if I crossed over to that side. There was a narrow steel catwalk on the back of the car I was on for just that purpose and I crossed easily. Now I could clearly see the slopes above and a few minutes later I saw where the two climbers had left the tracks and headed up hill. A small bridge was coming up so I let it pass and then jumped off into the fresh snow. I walked back to the bridge and waited for the rest of the train to pass. For a while I tried to see if Mark was hanging on the back of any cars, but decided he was probably walking. As the last car went by, I stepped out onto the tracks, barely glancing back at the end of the train. I began to backtrack and rounded a bend and came to where the two climbers had headed upslope. At this point I could see fairly far down the tracks and saw no sign of Mark. I broke a few branches off an aspen tree and wrote "Mark" in sticks with an arrow pointing up the hill and headed up myself. In about 5 minutes I found myself at the bottom of Massey's with the two climbers (from Britain). Since Mark had our guidebook, I borrowed theirs to see how much further down the tracks it was to Cool Spring. It was another 1.2K so I headed back down to the tracks. As I neared them I saw not one (thinking it would be Mark) but two climbers approaching. "Where's Mark" I queried and looking at me a little confused they said "Who's Mark!" "Well, he would be the guy you must have passed walking on the tracks" I replied. "We haven't seen anyone" they insisted. Back down on the tracks, I began to wonder if Mark had been walking far enough ahead of the two climbers and had passed my stick writing while I was up talking to the Brits. I searched for fresh footprints other than my own. But I found none. Could he have gone up a gully prematurely? Did he step into the woods to piss. Surely these two climbers could not have gotten past without seeing him. My brain went into advanced logic analysis. There had to be an explanation to the missing Mark! And then it dawned on me! What if Mark had hopped on the train after all. Knowing I was on the same side he was, he would be watching to see where I jumped off. And if he was intent on finding my tracks in the snow, he may have just rode right past where I jumped off because I had moved over to the other side before jumping. That was the only explanation I could fathom so I began hiking east again. I swore to myself, knowing he will have beaten me to the bottom of the gully leading to Cool Springs. I began the hike east keeping an eye out for fresh tracks. As I walked along I noticed something very peculiar. There were fresh ski pole tracks along side the rail, but no footprints. That's really odd I thought. Perhaps these guys are on skis. I could see faint tracks resembling ski tracks but quickly determined they were older. Hummmm, I wonder if these local boys had invented some device that rode one rail and they just pushed themselves along. I began to re-invent the device in my mind. Bicycle parts perhaps. A sled like mono rail. It would have to be light and small to stash away at their house. As the invention began to take shape in my mind, I found myself at a point where fresh tracks headed south, up and into the woods. I must be at the base of Cool Springs I thought. But all along I had been keeping an eye out for where Mark had jumped off the train and seen no such sign. So he must have ridden past, which meant I would see his fresh prints backtracking to this point. I continued past around the next bend searching for his tracks, sure I would see him walking along if they didn't materialize. But there were no tracks what so ever and no Mark down the next straight away. I retreated to the Cool Springs approach point once again. "Where the fuck is Mark!!!" I thought. "This is bazaar!" I ran through all the logic again. It made no sense. I decided to hell with him and decided to hike up to the base of our prearranged climb. I figured if I went to the base and waited, perhaps he'd show up. Someone was up there, I knew, so up I went. But not before writing another huge "Mark" in the snow with another arrow pointing up the hill. The path followed through the woods awhile and I decided to see if he was up there by some slim chance. "MAAAAARK" I yelled. A voice yelled back. "No Mark here!" By the sound of it they were quite far up the gully. I pressed on. Eventually I broke out into a steep gully where avalanches kept the trees clear. It was steep and straight, but I could see no one ahead. I plodded up, secretly hoping I wouldn't be coming back down without doing the climb. I figured if worse came to worse, I'd ask these guys for a belay and climb it with or with out Mark. Doubt of seeing him again plagued me. I wondered if he never really caught the train after all and had just walked back to the car. Maybe he was pissed at me for hopping on when he had said he didn't want to. Screw it I thought. 20 Minutes later I arrived at the big fat Cool Springs base where two new climbers were preparing to climb. They reveled in my mystery and offered their own logical explanations. None I hadn't already thought of. I asked them if they minded if I kept yelling and they said no, by all means yell, so I did every few minutes until I didn't want to any more. Far below I heard another train go by so I just hung out while the first climber headed up. I also asked them about their peculiar tracks with the ski poles. They announced it was a tradition to walk the rail, using poles to balance. Apparently they didn't want to get creosote and other train chemicals on their boots. I mentioned my invention and they laughed. There was no such thing! Five minutes later I stepped out into the gully and saw Mark heading up! I was pissed and happy at the same time. I tried to ascertain if he seemed pissed as he got close enough for me to see his face. He definitely wasn't happy, but that could be anything. It wasn't an easy hike up. As he got near, we both, almost simultaneously, blurted out, "Where the hell have you been!!!" And then he told me his story.... Listening, and interjecting my points to explain myself, we both quickly found the humor in the whole thing. Slightly undermined by the fact we were both a little pissed at each other, we still could only laugh at the comedy of errors that had passed. Mark had jumped the train after all. In fact he had reasoned if he jumped on the last car and slipped, there would be no serious consequences. There were no more cars to run him over. But Mark had been intent on finding my jump off tracks in the snow. Just as it had never dawned on me that crossing over to the other side would cause confusion, it had never dawned on Mark that he wouldn't see my tracks. Mark rode the train pass the Cool Springs gulley. In fact, Mark rode the train an extra 3 kilometers and it wasn't until he went through the third tunnel that he finally convinced himself there was no need to go any further! "As he put it, "Fuck Dave, I don't care if he rode this thing back to Lake Louise, I'm off this thing!"And as Mark backtracked, he too kept a keen eye out for my tracks. At first he said he didn't see the big "MARK" I had written in the snow, but he did locate my salomon boot tracks. Only then did he see the "Mark" with the arrow. Listening to him tell all the things that were going through his head became more and more hilarious. His logic was making perfect sense except for one key factor. He never thought that I had crossed to the other side of the train before jumping off! What really baffled us both was that we had not seen each other as the last car passed. I was almost certain I had looked at the back of the train as it went by while standing next to the bridge. I just couldn't believe that I had not. And Mark couldn't believe I was standing next to the tracks as the last car went past. He insisted he was looking back constantly as well as looking for my jump off tracks and would have seen me. How could he miss me since he was on the very end of the train. The fact neither of us saw each other at that point will always be the biggest mystery! Of course this story is best told over beers, when the two of us are together saying what was going through our minds simultaneously as the story progresses. But that's my train story and I'm stickin' to it! And yes we did climb Cool Springs and then returned to Massey's and did that too. It was just another great day ice climbing in the Canadian Rockies with a little mystery thrown in for flavor. Dave ParkerMarch, 2002 [ 03-25-2002: Message edited by: David Parker ]

Craftmatic, thanks for making me do my research. Seem there is are two sides to this story. Here are some web sites: Seems there is definitely a controversy here. You decide! Here's what I have always thought: http://www.olympus.net/personal/cline/goat.html Some "independent" research: http://www.igc.org/envreview/houston.html More research: http://www.consbio.org/cbi/what/goat.htm Pro goats: http://www.sunyit.edu/~millerd1/GOATS.HTM Let the Wolves do it: http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/97/2/wildlife.html

quote: Originally posted by Craftmatic:[QB] Me no eco-biologist, but exactly how did it come to pass that somebody "artificially" introduced goats into the Olympic Peninsula? It's not like they were inadvertently carried into the eco system on somebody's clothing. Come to think of it, I don't really know the whole history of the goats being introduced to the Olympics. They may have been introduced as potential game for hunting. Norm Dicks has been trying to pass legislation to get the Grey Wolf back but is meeting severe resistance from the lowland cattle and sheep farmers. I say fuck 'em. Bring the wolves back and restore the natural balance of things. Some people think the wolves will attack their children, but research shows this is highly unlikely. You're more likely to be attacked by a killer whale swimming in the straights of Juan de Fuca! [ 03-25-2002: Message edited by: David Parker ]

Actually I'm just attempting to make my first post with a photo! This was a climb I did last year in Marble Canyon. It was in last week too! If it doesn't appear, well I'm not worthy yet! [ 03-25-2002: Message edited by: David Parker ]

How much for the couch? (sorry, couldn't resist!)

My goat story was at Lake Constance in the Olympics. We had set up our tent near the shore and this one particular goat was keen on eating my teeshirt that was hanging on a limb. He also ate my chums (fortunately not my sunglasses). Not satiated, he decided there must be more inside the tent. He relentlessly pawed around the campsite and I kept yelling (get outta here!) I resorted to throwing rocks at him. He'd wonder off a little but kept coming back. I dosed off, only to awaken with his head completely in the tent! I got bigger rocks. Goats are NOT native to the Olympic Penninsula. They were introduced by man and the quantities now are causeing severe damage to the alpine ecosystem. (If you pee, do it on a rock, not in the dirt). Ironically, the greywolf was indiginous to the Olympic Penninsula, but has disappeared. They have tried various (expensive) methods to reduce the number of goats, but it has been ineffective. DUH!!!, Bring back the greywolf!!!!!!! [ 03-25-2002: Message edited by: David Parker ]

This is good feedback. How about sharing what companies and type of policies you have. Should I get an agent or check out this online stuff I get spammed with every day. I'm clueless but, investigating. FYI, I'm self (un)employed so it's all me, baby! What should I be wary of? Do they consider ice climbing as "more" dangerous? [ 03-22-2002: Message edited by: David Parker ]

[ 03-22-2002: Message edited by: David Parker ]

My solos have been mostly in the Olympics. They offer spiritual walks through lush forests on the approach, challenging yet safe routes (no glaciers for the most part) and awesome views from the summits. Solos are about the journey, not the summit! I highly endorse them if you've never done them. It's difficult yet inspirational to place yourself in a situation where there's nobody talking to you for an extended period of time. You really get to know yourself in a different way. Everything becomes much more clear in a simplistic way. I did a 3 day kayak trip in the south sound last year. That was fun too.

I too have been contemplating life insurance. It has been difficult to come up with the extra cash on a monthly basis. However my question is do they specifically ask you if you "climb mountains"? Or do they ask you if you do "anything considered dangerous." What if you don't tell them you climb regularly. That way if you do die, your wife could hide all your gear and say it was a "new" thing for you. I'd also like to know what else they consider "dangerous". Scuba diving, flying planes, sea kayaking, bungee jumping, driving on I-5, using power tools, eating non-organic food. This is a good thread and a serious one. So lets hear from those who have life insurance or those who have been considering it. BTW- Did you know that insurance was invented by the MAFIA!!! All you're buying is protection of one kind or another. A neccessary evil??

I think there is a big difference between planned sleep deprivation and forced sleep deprivation. Having done the latter will help you prepare for the former. If you haven't done it, then you don't really know how you will handle it. Therefore I'd encourage you to work up to it. My serious sleep deprivation came unexpectedly and I was therefore forced to "dig deep" to keep going. But having done it now, I have confidence I can do it again, willingly or not. I'm a huge advocate of power naps. 20 minutes of sleep does amazing things and imo way more effective than drinking coffee. Susan Bucher of Iditerod fame refused to drink coffee, claiming the ups caused severe lows and she prefered to be on a more even keel the whole way. Still, I don't think personally I'd leave the coffee at home on purpose. If you think it helps, it probably does. If planning a trip where you purposely deprive yourself of sleep, I think you need to be careful about where you will be when you hit the 20-24 hour mark. I wouldn't suggest being on the crux or in a dangerous situation. Many "accidents" that result in death or serious injury have been more of a calvacade of small errors, not one big one. There is no doubt sleep deprivation affects clear thinking and physical performance. I think it would be prudent to try it on for size before wearing it.

Michelle, you can put the person's name in the search and all the posts that person has made will come up.

I support convicts working and trying to legitimately re-enter society. I firmly believe there are too way many "convicts" doing time for victimless crime. Based on the excellent response from the OP rep, I am now more inclined than ever to buy their products. Just the fact he cared enuff to post here shows me they are a company that wants to be in touch with their customers. That's what good business is all about.

If I were to combine summer climbing with winter back country skiing, I'd go with the Dolomites.

Bring them to Pub club and I'll bet you can sell them!

Looks like I can make it tonight! Just back from Banff, but unfortunately no photos. I do have a great train story (from my climb in Field) which I'll save until I'm sufficiently buzzed! Hope to see some of you guys from Tacoma and other remote locations.

quote: Originally posted by JERRY SANCHEZ: BUT CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO PUT IT BACK ON. aNY SUGGESTIONS? tRY yOGA!

quote: Originally posted by Dru: I tried it myself. Apparently you are supposed to meditate, go into a trance, and visualize a flame spreading from the center of your body out to your extremities and heating you up. I got as far as the trance part Im gonna keep trying though, so I can ditch the fleece and down and climb everything wrapped in a wet cotton sheet. I had heard about this and had my own personal attempt in an unexpected bivy on the grand tit in winter with no sleeping bag. It kinda worked. I'm sure practice makes perfect eventually.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, not Seattle! East side, Tacoma, Mattp's house, anywhere else. I can only make it to the Seattle pub clubs (and I'm due)and I'll be in Banff by tomorrow night. Wait for next week for Seattle!

I would like to hear how you guys "bundle" up this mass of cord/webbing in a convenient, easy to get out again manner. Also, in a 2 point anchor (2 ice screws) does anyone see a problem in clipping both loops of the webolette into one piece, the other loop into the other, then tie the master knot and clip that? For those who are wondering how a webolette works,I found this including a diagram at: http://www.geocities.com/pipeline/rapids/2748/gearreviews.htm Webolettes - Everyone knows that a cordolette is the best way to equalize 3 pieces of gear for a belay anchor (as long as the direction of load is constant.) So why don't you see climbers carrying them on a regular basis? I think it's because of the fact that a cordolette is 18-20' of gangly cord and is not particularly handy to rack, at least for everyday use. Behold the webolette. This is not just a cordolette tied from webbing instead of cord. It is 10' of spectra with a runner strength sewn loop on each end. Here's how it works… Clip each end loop to separate pieces of gear. Then take a bite of the remaining webbing near the center of the webolotte and clip it to the third piece of gear like you would with a bite of cordolette. Clip a biner into the 2 loops hanging down as you would the 3 loops of a cordolette, pull in the direction of the anticipated load, and tie a figure eight master knot. Notice that because of the 2 sewn loops in the webolette, there are 4 strands coming down from the 3 pieces of gear as opposed to 6 with a cordolette. This makes the system simpler and results in less clutter at the belay but achieves the same equalization as a cordolette. After being loaded, the master knot unties easily because spectra is naturally more slippery. Important: It is absolutely imperative that you tie a proper master knot! If you don't, 1 of the 3 pieces could fail and cause the whole system to fail! Finally, the webolette is easy to rack because there is half as much material and the spectra is incredibly light. If you're a fan of spectra slings, you'll love the webolette. Be sure to know how to use it before trying it. Some climbers like carrying a cordolette because it is good prusik material for rescue situations. A webolette works well here too, just use a klemheist knot with one of the sewn loops instead of a prusik. The only drawback to the webolette is that it does not function as a giant sling for slinging big boulders or horns like a cordolette will. It does function however as a huge 10' runner.