max

No. No offence, but that's a terrible idea. First, the 5.6 part of YDS works just fine. Second, the V3 system works just fine for bouldering. And finally, the scrambling/ "interesting" starts/ anomonies have never seemed to pose that much of a problem. "Exposed scambling" seems to say it just fine. 3.7? It's just way too techno-geek... It's definately bee a long winter... dave

Does anybody have any experience w/ camp 4? I'm headed down with another guy and a set-up VW bus. My question: where can we park this beast and cook and sleep? I think I read in the guide book Camp 4 proper is cheap ($3 ?) but it's walk in, and that there is "car camping" but it's expensive ($15 ?). Can people discretely pull to the side of the road? I just want to park and sleep! dave

The video "Hard Grit" starts with a UGLY fall of... 25-30 feet. It's not the distance the guy falls, it how he hits the rock and starts spinning that makes you cringe. FYI: "Hard Grit" isn't that great.

grouchous_rex@yahoo.com I'm leaving town in a bit, but drop me a line and I know several people looking for more climbing partners. Send me you're phone # and we can talk. dave

Dave Page: looser. NOthing personal, but I've had two bad and no good experiences with the guy's work. First time it took two weeks from the time they arrived at him shop to the time I got shoes back. Second time the shoes came back with gaps, ans big ones, in the toe rand/sole interface. I've heard hew has lackies that do work for him. Sounds crazy, but I've sent two pairs to a woman in Las Vegas: Red Rock Resoles. http://www.redrockresole.com/ Awesome. Got my shoes back in less than a week and she did a nice job. And her rates were as good as anyone elses. Plus, she was nice.

Aproach shoes: dumb. Save your money for something else. In my opinion, there is no gap between the domains of sandles, tennis shoes, and a pair of hiking boots. I think approach shoes are just glorified tennis shoes with special rubber that wears off quick. And, I think they're the geekiest things I've ever seen. When ever I see anyone wearing them, I just laugh at a sucker fooled into thinking they've got something special. That's a tangent. The bottom line: they're just tennis shoes and I suppose you've already got a pair of those; save your money.

Tell me what you know about current conditions for the following routes/approaches: -chair N face (the pop. ice route) -the tooth (s face...) -that big one right on the highway near chair. (Guye?) -the road leading up to Longs pass trail (Ingal's Peak). Anybody know the snow level in Cle Elum? -Mt Persis. Ski routes? (no crazies, please...) -Whitehorse (n gully...) -Driving up towards Big Four. Thanks in advance.

Here's what I can tell you: I went to the twins sisters (the Cascade ones...) last weekend and ddid a north/ west facing route. Snow conditions were good/ just better than good. The snow pack consisted of consolidated but onlt moderatly cohesive layers toppped by a .5 to 2" layer of frozen water/ rain/ melted snow that was full on icy. Stability wise: seemed ok. Travel wise: excellent. Crampons and no snow shoes. As far as approach: I'd bet it's pretty good. We were (almost) snow free to about .... 4500. I think this would get you and oyu car to the trailhead. These are my experiences on the Twins, but i bet baker is pretty close. Also, the last week has seen some new snow, not much, but this probably would come into play. That's all I know. Well, I also know I'm supposed to be working now, but...

I've seenthe light green guidebook for bc ice...something like "Ice climbs in SW BC". But it seems like in this bb and in the bivuac.com bb there are climbs mentioned not inthe greenish guidebook. Anyone have any comments about this and/or sources of updated info? A new guide?

Hello. Just got back from a pleasant session on Panface. Monday it was pretty full and today, well it was thinnish. Lots of water running behind the ice and many sections had fallen off. The ice that was there was half styrofoam, half junky water ice. Some people led it from the far right half-way up, but there's no way I would have led it. We TR'ed (as usual!) and it was great fun. In my estimation, it won't be there much longer. I haven't looked at the weather report, but if it continues to be like it was today, it will be gone tomorrow. FYI: If you're calling the Mt. Baker ski area weather report or checking their web page, don't put toom uch faith in it. They give a morning weatyher report from 5:30 am. Today it claimed 23 degrees... water was running heavy at 9:00 in the shade. Several times before I've noticed... "optimistic" reports. I can't prove anything (I wasn't there at 5:30...) but I don't bother calling anymore.

a comment on practicing w/ beacons. We set up a practice session inside a warehouse once. It sucked. We'd start turning into a signal...then be thrown off on a tangent. It took us fifteen mionutes before the hider noticed something was wrong. It turns out the rebar in the concrete was screwing things up. I guess the radio signals were bent or retransmitted in a way that made any sort of directionalization impossible! How frustrating. Maybe you want to keep htis in mind if you set up a pratice session.

does anyone have any advice about the Elfin Hut or Diamond Head Hut? I'd like to go into these for a weekend. What about climbing Garibaldi from... Diamond Head? Is this a reasonable approach? What about winter climbs on Garibaldi?