jja

Ain't I fuckin lucky? and I had my $35 annual pass in the glove box, remembered I forgot to put it on the dash half way up to the lake .. hmm let's see $50 fine or an extra 3 hr round trip - 50 bucks it is.

nice

It would have to have one of these: Or at least throw some of these panels over the standard wall:

I must be an idiot , I stepped on the bottom of my pole last winter and just assumed it was my fault and not bd's. Went to FF and they ordered me a new bottom section, cost ~$20 I think. I have the expedition poles so the replacement actually came with both the middle and bottom sections. anybody wanna buy a middle section ?

thanks ken, with so many stellar routes I don't see how we can go wrong - unless of course we hit 7 consecutive days of weather I think I'm just going to have to resolve to go back again for more.

yeah the drive sucks, I'll only go back to hyalite for a 4 day weekend - maybe turkey day weekend if it's in. speaking of driving, commuting can suck here, so maybe you should consider getting a "whatever" place until you find a job, then find a place close by. I live 1/2 mile from work and it's the best thing ever, an extra 2hrs every day!! Send me a pm or call when you get here if you need help with anything - and of course to climb !!

hey neri, up for another 24 hours of driving for a day and a half of ice climbing at hyalite ?

yeah, we'll never do all that .. just developing a list of possibles, and then we'll play it by ear. It's 7 weeks away and I can't wait to go !!

thanks mattp (and everbody else) .. yeah, I think I'd like to do mostly rock, with maybe one snow/ice route. I like the suggestion of Fay that's been mentioned a couple of times. I'm pretty much clueless on the area which is why I asked for beta. generally I just look at the pictures and say - ooh that looks cool !!

missed that one .. looks good, esp. like the part about "All the routes can be climbed in a day trip from the road" ... guess the Kain route would be the obvious classic here right?

after reading some tr's on the web I think you're right and this one would require a lot of time, and would only be worth it if we did more than one route. ... weather's a crapshoot everywhere right? or are the bugaboo's worse?

The book says there's a logging road and the route is doable in 3 days, is that only if everything goes right?

I've got 9 days in august for climbing in the canadian rockies, 2 days for travel and 7 for climbing. Interested mostly in moderate "classic" alpine routes to about .8-ish and would like to get the most climbing on the best routes possible for the time we have. I've never been to the area, but partner has mucho grande experience and is the designated rope gun. I've been instructed to come up with some ideas to add to the tick list. I'm looking for routes that are all day long (possible bivy ok), no more than a day approach, not crowded (yeah right), lots of history, exposure, and aesthetics. After a quick glance at my newly purchased selected alpine climbs, this is a list of possibles I've come up with. Anything you would add or subtract to this list? tia, john Mount Sir Douglas east ridge (maybe nw face) Mount Assiniboine north ridge Mount Temple east ridge Oubilette Mountain east ridge (south summit) Mount Sir Donald nw arete Bugaboo Spire ne ridge

This sounds great I have now heard several bids for the finger and it sounds like the conditions are good (and hopefully will remain so for the next two weeks). I will look into it more. Anyone have more thoughts on the technical difficulty of this route? technical difficulty? low to moderate I'd say. the first part of the finger is the steepest at ~40 degrees or so and takes a direct line up the right side of the waptowy(sp?) cleaver. If you've got good frenchy style going on, no need to front point on it - single axe works fine too. Route finding is easy, just keep the cleaver on your left and the nisqually on your right till you reach 13K or so where the route joins the kautz route to the summit. Descend the kautz back to high camp or carryover and decend the dc. start early to avoid rock fall. the route is narrow in spots and fairly aesthetic. did it on a june weekend a couple of years ago when that side of the mtn was teaming with climbers, everyone was on kautz and dc, we were the only party on the finger that weekend!

Don't count on the lower crowds on the Emmons, that route packs 'em in on a weekend. And you're right early to mid season it's mostly a boring slog (later on it can get interesting with route finding and crevasse problems). Instead of DC and/or Emmons have you considered something like furhr finger? It's not any harder and way more interesting. Probably shortest approach on the mountain, and you have a good shot of having the route to yourselves (even on a weekend). Go light and do a carryover and come down dc, that way you don't have to worry about decsending the kautz if you don't think you're ready for that. The route usually stays in till the end of June, early July.

Postcard: ViaFerrata route:

Even flicklocks will lock up eventually. The preventive fix is easy, just make sure to always take them apart while they are in storage between use. .. doesn't help you now though ...

Hey Jarred, I did the via ferrata route around 98, and the memory is way foggy, but I'll tell you what I remember. Zugspitze (and it's neighbor Alpspitze) are in the town of Garmich-Partinkirchen, which was the site of a winter olympics in the 30's. I first tried to climb the mtn. along the standard winter route, which starts at the ski jump complex in town, and travels up a valley on the austrian border and eventually climbs relatively gentle slopes to the summit (on the ski slope side of the mountain). This is a looong way in, I was generally clueless about mtn. travel and decided to turn back when it started snowing heavily. Later that spring, I did the via ferrata route (which was still partly snowed over - making for some spicy sections). The approach is from an adjacent town that I can't remember, and starts out walking on a tourist walkway built in a steep gorge (kinda like the flumes in NH). This via ferrata route takes a very direct line up the mtn. and has some fantastic exposure, walking on iron pegs and holding a cable when traversing across a rock wall - that kind of thing. It took me about 8 hrs to the top I think, ... the best part of course is that when you do summit you can get something to eat in the lodge, and then buy a ticket and take the aerial tram back down. Sorry, don't have any info on technical climbing routes, but I might have some pics of the route I took if you're interested. -john

TR: 3:30am=35deg.=back to sleep=hike back down at 7am

CBS, did you lead the first pitch? if you did I was the guy you shared the anchor with on saber ledge.

Ski down this? .. I think I'll take a pass.

nice tr chris. Can't take credit for the steps in the 3rd C, just as we got to the top of the 2nd there was a party of 3 that topped out on the n. face route ... they kicked the steps up the 3rd for us. Thanks guys

On Sunday Frank, Jeremy and I did TC. I can't imagine the conditions being any better than how we found them. Great day, great climb, and great partners!! These photos are a combination of Frank's digital pics and my scanned photos. Dragontail from camp Plenty of room to pass at the start of the 1st couloir Jeremy in the 1st couloir 1st pitch of the runnels Slabby 2nd pitch of the runnels Start of the 3rd pitch More of the same Break time at the top of the 2nd couloir Near the top of the 3rd couloir Traversing the summit ridge Summit photo Dragontail wasn't enough - Frank goes bouldering

I've got a little british guide book called Bernese Oberland - Selected Climbs by Les Swindin. You're welcome to borrow it -I'm on the east side. Not too far from Interlaken is the mtn village of Grindelwald which is just below the Eiger, Jungfrau, and Monch. There is a train that runs through the eiger and terminates at the highest elevation of any train station 12k-ish I think. The train stops midway through the mtn at some windows that look out onto the north face, really impressive. Anyway if you're not into doing the nordwand , there are some easier routes up the eiger. The mittileggi ridge is the left skyline. The approach is to buy a train ticket !! and exit the train midway through the eiger, and walk through a tunnel to the eiger glacier, then acsend some scrambly loose rock (to 5.easy) and a ledgey traverse to the ridge. There, on a very narrow ridge is an alpine hut, complete with solar panels, a rain catching cistern, bunks with wool blankets, a propane stove, and the real kicker - a shitter that dumps out onto the nordwand. I didn't get much farther up the ridge than that as the fixed ropes on the tricky bits of the ridge that were supposed to be there according to the guide book weren't, since I was alone I bailed. It's on the tick list if I ever get back to europe. There's also a ton of via-ferrata stuff that might be worth checking out. If you drive through Bavaria on the way to switzerland you could do the Zugspitze which is in Garmich-Partinkirchen (sp?) there is a via-ferrata route to the summit. Buy a ticket on the ski tram for an easy descent. Have fun on your trip.

On Saturday Tim, Frank and I did Colchuck under a bluebird sky. Here are some pics. Colchuck from the lake Traversing to the base of the couloir Looking up the couloir from the entrance Nearing the top of the couloir Tim catches some ice Heading up the west slope of the north buttress Stuey on our right Nearing the summit Final bit of rock to the top Squinting into the sun on the summit