Colin

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.

Thanks, swaterfall. Indeed you got it right, although my partner, Freddie, also went and did Kronenburg one of the days that I was nursing my fingers. Two weeks. But seriously, those Australian and Canadian chicks were hot!

Spent a day warming up on Carlsberg and Pilsner, and then drove up the Icefields. Did the Strain on a bitter cold day. I got first degree frostbite on all ten fingers, and also my plastic boot and the plastic sheet in my pack both cracked. I spent 4-5 days out of commission, hangin' in Canmore. Then we went up to the Stanley Headwall 2 days in a row, to do Nemesis and Suffer Machine. I'd never been up there before, and both were really cool routes. Went back up to the Icefields and did Kitty Hawk and Polar Circus. By some freak-of-nature good-luck karma thing, we were joined in bivying at the Weeping Wall pullout by a van full of 6 hot 20-22 year-old Canadian and Australian chicks. I could hardly believe it. I didn't send that "route" unfortunately, but it was fun to stay up to midnight drinking wine in a cozy van with them. Went for a quick jaunt up Cool Spring on the way back to Seattle.

Just got back last night. It is certainly starting to get quite warm, but tons of climbs are still in fat. Anything south facing is out, but most climbs that are north-facing or in deep clefts still seem to be good. The alpine conditions are just now starting to get good up there.

Rad! I often wondered if that would make a good winter climb. Way to break the spell, Ade. I ended up not going climbing at all despite the beautiful weather and conditions this weekend. There was plenty of suffering though - in fact the worst hangover of my life.

We've got 5-6 of the 20ft. lengths at Pro Mountain Sports.

Are you talking about the rescue cache near the summit of Shuksan, on the rock ridge adjacent to the Sulphide Glacier?

Klenke, what'd you climb? Or am I just too blind to find the TR? Josh, skis were definitely necessary. We went between Chiwawa Basin and the Chiwawa-Fortress col on foot, and there was definitely a bunch of postholing. The way things are going though, if someone goes to try the route in the next few weeks, I think I would reccomend snowshoes instead.

I got the M6 pitch, and actually I have a suspicion that it would be more like M5 a lot of the time, depending on the conditions. What made it really hard was that the chimney walls were coated in about 0.5-1 inch of verglass - too thin to swing into, but totally coating-over all the holds. I did a lot of slow picking away at the verglass to uncover holds. As for getting caught up with school, well I'm not doing so hot in that respect. I just had a conference with my 'technical communication' professor: "Yeah, so I don't have my paper with me, I didn't get around to it." "Well, could I at least see your outline then?" "Hmmm... I didn't really get around to that yet either." "OK, let me see the sources you found." "Yeah, about that... Ummm..."

John Scurlock's photo of the face. Our route in red, and the possible direct finish in green. http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showphoto.php?photo=9735&sort=1&cat=500&page=1