Marko

Exactly the point, but less knot tying and other jiggery pokery. The equalette looks like it also might have less effective length for a given length of line.

Yeah, probably even more true with the small locking carabiners we're using these days, crowding the strands all together...

After spilling a couple pot fulls of hard won water with the Rocket and the small size canister, we came up with the idea of putting a bag of instant rice under the canister. Squish the canister into the rice and it's way more stable. Mind you it goes from insanely tippy to merely quite tippy. Everything's a compromise though right... MCash- The Pocket Rocket with the JetBoil pot, not the canister, was the quickest boil. Due to the heat exchanger no doubt. Yo Sky! Hope things are groovy man! You ever compare a Whisperlite with the XGK? I always use a Whisperlite up in AK and it seems faster than the XGKs I've been around. The burner is closer to the pot than with the XGK and could be an explanation. -M

So no one here makes a double sliding X for a 3-piece anchor using a cordelette?

Not super impressed with the JetBoil. Attached is the results of some backyard testing I did a while ago. Also cooked in the tent up at Muir a couple times and was seriously jonesin' for the Pocket Rocket. I think maybe if the JetBoil pan was short and wide instead of tall and narrow it'd work better. It's very convenient for converting into a hanging stove though. -M 3740-Stovecomparisons.xls

Right on amigos. Is it fun up there in April or what?

YOu can use a biner block with a pull line. Put a rap ring or small sling loop in the anchor and run the rap rope through it. Clove hitch the rap rope to a large locking biner that cannot pass through or jam in the anchor (the 'block'), then tie it to a smaller pull cord (4 mm or larger). Rap only on the rap rope, paying out the pull cord from a stuff sack on your harness as you descend (you can't throw a pull cord...too light and tangly). When off, retrieve the rope with the pull cord. There's also the "rappel off the fifi with the bungie attached to the top of the fifi retrieval" trick. Dangerous as hell I'd say, but light.

Pretty cool amigo. Good looking pitches. So sad hearing about Lara. -TW

The problem I've found with Ridgerests and the other corrugated type pads is that when you invariable track snow into the tent, the snow ends up on the pad and is impossible to sweep off. It melts and you've got yourself an increasingly damp home. (I've seen a lot of folks use these though, so I'm probably just missing something...) The blue pads I've had seem to soak up water on their surface a bit. As far as I'm concerned there's nothing more reliable, insulative, and lightweight for Alaska trips than the good old Evazote pads (Mr. Layton's "yellow hardman pad"). Throw an inflatable on top if you want more comfort. Have a blast up there. -Mark

I'll be there Saturday, anyone want to climb a bunch of moderates? I'll be in the grey VW camper van brewing coffee if you want to hook up. Cheers, Mark

Right on amigo, I'm glad I know somebody that got out today... Cheers!

Sarkens. Lighter than either, great on ice and alpine, good on rock/mixed, front part of crampon seems to be made of harder steel and therefore stays sharp longer than others I've had. I like 'em. -M

Beautiful, man!

Slacker.

Thanks for the inspiring TR, and well done!

True, true.

Howdy Buckaroo, Here are a few answers: Quarks & Venoms, Sarkens & Switchblades, Civettas & Trango Extremes (?) 1 lightweight synthetic pullover for the 2 of us, Pocket Rocket & a small canister & mini-pot, 2.5 oz space blanket that I didn't tell Colin about Gu and those Clif block deals, cashews, meat, 2 qts drink each, <10 lbs each total not including climbing gear Training: Colin does a bit of climbing from time to time... I haven't been running since tweaking my back a couple months ago. Colin definitely did the work on this one. You know if you think about it, to do the traverse in 2 days I think you'd spend about the same actual travel time as we did. I don't think we did it all that quickly (because of my fitness level) given we had almost no loads and had such fine conditions. Besides, the whole thing was way too frickin' enjoyable to be any kind of sufferfest! (Except for the painful, sore feet that is.)

Looks damn sporty lads, nice work.

Thanks John, it sure was a hoot. That first shot is looking back at the north peak I think. We started up it right around daybreak but did the main peak at night. It wasn't particularly cold out but there was a little breeze that would have made any catnap real shitty. We did stop to heat some water and have a little picnic down by the lake on the way out.

8.5mm x 60m Sharp 6 cams to 2" 8-10 nuts to #8 2 KBs 1 Ti KB 1 Ti LA size 3 Ti screws 6 singles 3 rabbit runners Too many 'biners (>20 maybe, would of been fine with ~4 fewer) (Colin, correct me if I'm wrong on any of this.) Nope, no Tricams. I wasn't sure a climb could even be considered a true winter ascent if you didn't bring Tricams, but Colin convinced me that SLCDs would be more versatile in the long run. We used every piece except for one of the screws. (For the record Colin wanted to bring only 2.) Something I tried for the second time, and am now totally sold on for alpine climbing, is going leashed on the adze tool and leashless with a tether on the hammer. This allows for no pinky rest on the adze for good plunging, and quick dexterity and gear access on the dominant hand.

Yup. Basically I just tried not to slow the Haley Machine down too much. He pretty much led the whole thing and kicked all the steps. (This was an 'off the couch' climb for me...) Conditions were pretty damn good. Probably the most neve I've ever run across on a single climb, and the full moon didn't hurt either. There was a fair bit of climbing/traversing on breakable crust covering loose snow but still the best conditions I've ever seen on Index. (There has been at least 2 other winter ascents of the traverse.)

...And in the same article, how does this quote strike you? "...alpine climbing is about routes, not summits."

Yup, it been done and we had fun!

Howdy Senor Sharrett- A couple years before you guys did Surrogate Panama my partner and I tried for the first time getting in there to do the lower ridge. That ended up in failure due to illness, but was also the first of 10 or 11 trips in there to try various things, including the lower ridge. I've got to say that your CAJ article contributed in part to this addiction, particularly the photo of Jack in this killer iced-up goulotte. That was some inspiring shit! Cheers man, Mark

That is damn inspiring my friend! T.W.