Marko
-
Posts
600 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
4
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by Marko
-
-
Ade, wouldn't November be a couple months early?
-
It doesn't seem possible
-
Nice work, er, play!
-
To be clear, I absolutely agree with you MP on the steep stuff where you're hanging off your tools and/or where the terrain dictates which hand places the gear. But,
The mountain routes I'm on aren't that continuously steep or hard. Also, I use a quick-clip type leash to make it easier to place gear with that hand."Hybrid" leashed/leashless system: Still prefer it on easy/moderate stuff in the hills. Not as much on the steep stuff where you're sort of locked in to hanging off the same wrist at every screw placement. -
Crap, that's what I was afraid of. Sounds like I might be donating to the Jim Nelson retirement fund again this year! (My pleasure, to be honest.)
-
Nomics: I've been hearing folks rave about 'em for a while now; are they really that much better for ice and mixed than even Quarks?
No adze: On snowed/iced up climbs I seem to often end up digging for gear; it sucks even worse without an adze. Real climbers just run it out?
Plunging: Agree that it's usually better to just dagger.
"Hybrid" leashed/leashless system: Still prefer it on easy/moderate stuff in the hills. Not as much on the steep stuff where you're sort of locked in to hanging off the same wrist at every screw placement.
-
On the route to Boston Basin the snow was continuous starting around 4000'; there were ski tracks down to that level. Deep slushy snow all way the past 7500'. It's melting fast though (obviously). Likely the same for the Cascade Pass trail.
-
Goddamn beautiful; nice! Thanks for the inspiration.
-
Damn cool gents
-
If you can locate it, Simond makes a childrens ice tool called the "Fox". It's way lighter than anything I've seen, has an aggressive reverse curve pick and a hammer that beats in the pins pretty damn good. In summer the pick works great for cleaning cracks or glacier travel.
Hey Mike, it's for adults too, ages 6 to 60! I took one on the Waddington traverse; definitely enjoyed its light weight but its performance on bullet ice was quite a compromise...
-
You the man Jim, thanks! Think skis would be utterly insane? I'm guessing slowshoes.
-
Howdy Wayne!
Nothing much, just looking to get out east where there's a bit less white stuff accumulated. Probably should just go skiing, eh?
Cheers man,
twoohsixfoursixfiveonefourthreetwo
-
Anyone ever been in to the basin E of Colchuck Balanced and WNW of Enchantment Peak? Beckey shows a dotted line following the stream that joins Mountaineer Creek at the bridge about 1 1/2 miles up the trail.
Thanks
-
Damn cool doing the biathalon! Those are some great looking climbs.
I went in there with Mark Price on his first attempt at Squeal Like a Pig years ago. After we bailed off the crux free-hanging curtain we too paddled our canoe back in the dark against a wicked breeze. Frickin' scary with steep waves dumping into my lap and then freezing. Yeah, you'd be SOL if you went in; even if you were near shore a lot of that shore is basically a line of cliffs.
Sweet! Those are some awesome pictures!I've been making the drive from Seattle to Lillooet for 15 years now but have never sampled the Seton Lake climbs.
I have a ski boat with a Johnson 100 horse outboard. Would I be crazy to tow it up to B.C.'s Little Nugget- or are the climbs that good?
The climbs are definitely worth the trip but like jmace says, the shore is pretty damn rocky and would probably bash the shit out of your boat if (when) the wind kicks up. I think something light enough you could pull up onto the rocks is good, or light enough that you could use fenders to keep it off the cliff. Also, if you take a motorized boat be sure to tip up the motor to drain the cooling water so it doesn't freeze and fuck up your escape!
-
Thanks for bringing up "Degrees of Freedom" Bob; good article. Slawinski says something about bolts and M-climbing, though, that I've never been able to understand, about bolts and hard climbing in general.
"...This brings us to the thorny issue of bolts. Much of the recent push into extreme technical difficulty in mixed climbing seems inconceivable without them..."
And, "...Part of the reason why bolts have become an issue in mixed climbing is that rising standards have expanded our notion of what is climbable. Where it used to be that climbable and protectable lines more or less coincided, the new dry tooling skills have expanded our notion of climbable terrain far beyond what may be naturally protected. Conversely, it is absurd to pretend that mixed climbing standards would have risen as high and as quickly as they have without wholesale acceptance of protection bolts..."
So, whether pushing the limits in M-climbing or rock climbing, the idea is to make hard moves without the risk of dying. Assuming I've got the premise correct, why the fuck not TR instead of placing bolts? The consequence of falling onto a bolt is about the same as falling on a top rope. Sure, leading is funner than following but if it's just about the moves why not TR? Or headpoint like them crazy Brits. And yeah, some cave routes would be pretty wacked to TR, but in general you could certainly reduce the hole count.
Anyway, what do you guys think?
Oh, for what it's worth, I have fun clipping bolts on occassion and don't climb hard.
-M
-
Nice Lukey! But whats this hangover business? You could have been training!!!
But of course that is training
-
On it.
Did you give it a go?
-
Nice work lads; and damn cool shots of that chimney! Looks like yet another trip up there could be warranted.
-M
-
Blake,
I think your cam and sling were maybe more like 40 or 50ft below the traverse pitch. I'm guessing it was a bare slab when you guys were up there? We got lucky and found thin neve and alpine ice.
A few pics finally--
The start is the 2nd ice corner from the left:
The start of the 1st pitch:
Looking up the 1st pitch:
The start of the 3rd pitch:
3rd pitch:
More 3rd pitch:
Looking down from the 3rd belay:
Wayne starting up the steep bit on the 4th pitch:
Wayne stylin' the last technical pitch (5th):
-
I think Ade/Mark went a different way then Wayne and I. From your description it sounds like you went up and left on thin ice after the first pitch. We went straight up the middle on thin ice. Mark led this and set up a belay when the rope went tight in a chimney. I finished it off with a couple of sterenuous moves up a chimney, stepped out onto a chock stone and up. Did you guys climb the thin ice smear I have pictured in the route in the middle? or did you guys go into the far left corner?
Good job lads!
Yeah, the second pitch we did went straight up from the 1st pitch's tree belay and then we entered the dihedral just left of your ice ribbon pitch. I don't remember seeing that ice ribbon formed at the time. Looks like our routes met around the 4th pitch.
Man, there is a lot of ground to play around on up there!
-
Additionally, the tents I've seen are lightweight for the room, well designed and thought out, and frickin' bomber. Three of us spent a few weeks in a Keron 3 up in the Alaska Range and were very impressed. Spendy, but about the best I've seen.
-
Now there's a proper winter ascent; in full conditions!
-
Cool beans, man. That 2nd ice pitch looks like the business; definitely harder than any ice we found. How did the line look between Watusi and your route?
-M
-
Indeed we did, Ivan. We also took Tricams though, which I think would even up the style points!
[TR] Burkett Needle - West Ridge "Smash and Grab" (FA) 7/4/2009
in Alaska
Posted
Dudes, this is so cool! Fantastic send; and in a weekend! Cheers!