Colin

Thanks, duderino. There should be a slideshow August 23rd at Feathered Friends. Although I would prefer otherwise, I think it will cost a few dollars to cover the beer. Funny, North Twin was the other thing we were comparing it to. Before Jed ever showed me a picture, he said "It's a granite and grano-diorite version of N Twin, with snow and ice above..." I of course politely replied, "Send me a fucking picture!"

Yes, we did a lighter leader pack, and a heavier follower's pack, but on the harder pitches we hauled the leader's pack and the follower jugged. We had a 9.9mm lead line, and a 8.0 mm rap/haul line. We took 1 breakfast, 2 dinners, and 4 days of energy food. We didn't take any tarp or tent or bivysacks, but we did both take synthetic sleeping bags, which turned out to be really important. Jed had a 20 degree bag, and I had a 35 degree bag, so I slept with our one belay jacket. The most interesting gear of the trip must've been the snowshovel, attached to an icetool, used as a rafting paddle...

We flew in from Delta Junction, Pax, and walked out to the Delta River afterwards. Moffit is not one of the shoulders on Mt. Hayes, but a seperate peak. Colby Coombs and Mike Woods guidebook describes the peak and our descent route a little. The climb took us four days roundtrip from our camp. The first two nights we had decent bivies, and the third night we simply stopped to brew and rest a bit. Funny that you say the Eiger of Fairbanks, Dave, because I couldn't stop making that comparison in my mind. Bigger, steeper, and a lot more remote though.

Back in Seattle, now. I'm sure that Jed will post some photos on his website (59a2.org) when he gets a chance. In the meantime, here's a couple of his digital photos: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=19625&sort=1&cat=500 http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=19624&sort=1&cat=500

Jed Brown and I just returned to Fairbanks after making the first ascent of Mt. Moffit's North Wall on July 10-13th. The Entropy Wall (VI, 5.9, A2, WI4+), approximately 1,500m and 33 pitches, is followed by approximately 900 meters of snow and ice slopes leading to Moffit's summit. It was the most serious and commiting climb I've ever done. Some rock was poor, but some was excellent and splitter. Highlights included a perfect snow-mushroom bivy, a 3m horizontal roof, steep water-ice pillars, and lots of free climbing and aid climbing up steep cracks. More pictures to come eventually! Picture of the face: http://59A2.org/hayes/200607/route.jpg

Hey Scott! Just saw this post. Good to see you out at Index the other day. My e-mail is colinhaley1 (AT) gmail.com. I'm leaving for AK in a couple hours for 3 weeks, but I'll be around after that.

Anyone driving to WA Pass, Mazama, or Winthrop from the Seattle or Everett area on Saturday evening? I get out of work at 5pm in Seattle, and I would love to find a ride up to WA Pass or Winthrop. I would of course pay my share of the gas. I don't need a ride back. 206-962-1798, or 206-232-1798

Indeed, it's a different scene here. No slide alder, no logging roads, no tents... A really cool way to experience the mountains, but I wouldn't want it to be my home range - no suffering leaves something to be desired... Tim, I don't know how late that route typically stays in shape, but the first ascent was in August (although that was in the 70's when ice was still plentiful). I climbed the Arete de Cosmiques the following morning, and it was in nice shape - mostly nice neve interspersed with relatively dry rock. There is still plenty of ice in the Range in April and May on the North faces, although the crowds start to become an issue around mid March.

Climb: Aiguille du Midi-Chere Couloir (North Face) Date of Climb: 2/1/2006 Trip Report: A short trip report from abroad because this is the type of day you can only have in Chamonix... 7:45 - Wake up. 8:15 - Walk two blocks to the Aiguille du Midi tram base. One Camelback pack, with crampons, 1 liter of water, and 2 peanut-butter-jellytime sandwiches inside. Icetools in hand. 8:30 - Catch the first tram up to Aiguille du Plan with friends going skiing. 9:00 - Start hiking (underneath the cables of the upper tram) up to the base of the North Face. 10:00 - Put on crampons and start climbing the Chere Couloir (about 1000m, with bulges at about 75-80 degrees). 12:00 - Reach the sunny ridge near the Col du Plan, and begin walking up to the Aiguille du Midi summit. 12:15 - Pass parapanters who decided there was too much wind to take off. Skiings walking in the other direction to head down la Vallee Blanche. 12:30 - Pass through the metal gate at about 3,800m and take off crampons. Walk through tunnels in the summit area, passing the tram to Italy and photo-snapping tourists, to the tram station back to Chamonix. 1:00 - Take the tram down to the Col du Plan and then down to Chamonix. 1:30 - Walk two blocks home and eat lunch. 2:30 - Go to French class. 6:00 - Class is over, head to the bouldering wall. 7:45 - Bouldering wall closes. Go home to eat dinner and later fall asleep. Approach Notes: ski pass, telepherique

Jesus sucks. You need to pray to Satan for hard leads. Duh.

Anyone been up to the Big 4 Ice Caves this fall? Is there some decent ice bouldering to be done? They seem to be significantly smaller every year.

Found one.

Anyone heading up to Crystal tomorrow? I'm looking for someone to ride with from the Seattle area. I will be staying up till Sunday, but I can still pay for my share of the gas round-trip from Seattle. -Colin 206-232-1798 colinhaley1@gmail.com

Jordan, we can order 60m spools of techcord for you here at Pro Mountain Sports. However, be warned that it is quite expensive (more than a 60m dynamic rope), and it is the type of item for which you would have to pre-pay.

Back in Islamabad again, and heading home tomorrow morning. My brother and I spent most of our time in the Nangma Valley (south of the Charakusa), and also made a quick hike into the Masherbrum valley. I soloed the South Face to East Ridge of Drifika (6447m), but I was turned around about 10 meters below and 50 meters from the true summit, because the last couple cornices looked too sketchy to attempt unroped. As for the 5mm cord: I use 5mm as rap cord all the time, and it is great (although expensive). Yes, it should be the special super-strong static kind, rather than perlon (There are many brands other than "Titan" - I like the Maxim techcord, which is popular for rappels).

I just got back to Islamabad from 6 weeks at Nanga Parbat's Rupal basecamp. My partner, Scott Johnston, decided to bail after an early acclimatization venture, which left me to try our route (the Schell Route) by myself. I made a couple of acclimatization trips and then a real attempt, but I never got higher than 6,600 due partly to the increased difficulty of soloing (heavier pack, nobody else to break trail...) and mostly to unlikely timing with the weather (I got down from my last acclimatization trip the night before the good weather arrived, which meant that I had to sit and recover in basecamp during painfully good weather). Ah well, it was a good experience nonetheless, and good training for Mt. Index anyways. Steve (House) and Vince (Anderson) had perfect timing with the weather, and if you haven't already heard they climbed a new route on the central part of the Rupal Face (to the right of the Messner route). Tomaz Humar tried the route solo several weeks earlier, but had to be rescued by helicopter from below 6,000m. It's a huge accomplishment, but I'm sure you'll hear plenty about it from Steve and Vince later. My brother arrives in Islamabad the day after tomorrow, and we're going to head back into the Karakoram for another 2 weeks. Mostly we'll be trekking, but I might be lucky enough to climb a bit on some smaller peaks. I hope you're all having a good Indian Summer, and hopefully I'll see most of you guys in the fall.

I would think that spraying some DWR on a nylong-shelled down jacket would be a good idea. Anyone know of a reason why it would harm the down or something?

Hell yeah, duderinos! What was the climbing like on the un-traveled sections? Let's see some pictures, eh?

Has it been done? I would think that it would have to be clothes-free (except for socks, boots, and sunglasses - gaiters are questionable) all the way from the car to the summit and back. Sunburn would undoubtably be the greatest hazard. Would the rangers and/or NPS cops arrest you, or do they have real work to do?

"Yes, I have. Expect crowds. MY ADVICE IS TO GO CAR TO CAR NO BIVY GEAR. Thumb rock camp gets crowded, you only wind up sleepin a few fucking hours anyway...just go for it. should take 18 or more hours. bottom to top to bottom" I believe the record is 23 and some hours car-to-car, but it was set by a few RMI Guides (or maybe they were climbing rangers) who were, of course, already well acclimated.

I think the first chockstone was M2-3, rather than M4. Twas a fun gully.

Supposedly that step is a lot harder than it looks, and Guy did a bunch of funky aid before placing several bolts and then backing off.

I know who requested that one, but I'll let him speak up, as he's a regular poster here. Guy Edwards still has/had the highpoint, right? Someone'll do it one of these days. Is there any cooler route name than "The Heart of Darkness?"

I decided that I finally want to upgrade from my Minox 35GL to a P&S with auto film winding and auto focus. I have narrowed it down to the Yashica T4 Super D (no longer available, but can find it used) and the Olympus Infinity Stylus Epic. Have any of you used either of both of these cameras? The general sense I have is that the Epic will take better shots in low-light, (2.8 speed lens, verse 3.5 on the T4) but that the Zeiss lens on the T4 will otherwise provide better contrast and color. Input?

Yeah, I know, you ole' clownpuncher (cool pictures from Cutthroat, by the way). I was sorta pissed at myself cause I might get to do some cold climbing this summer, and I hope my fingers aren't still extra-sensitive by then. By the way, Bob, Catherine in Canmore actually likes your sense of humor. She was on French Reality while you and Raphael were doing Nightmore on Wolf Street, and said you were funny. If only she knew about the sheep... We didn't do the bolt ladder free, but we didn't use aiders or daisys. We drytooled partly on the rock, and partly on bolt hangers.