EISPIRATEN

Thanks for this post! I'm convinced now that I want to go back soon since it still looks beautiful up there (particularly Jepson). Congrats also on Whitney... I looked at all of your pictures from the trip and it looked like a great experience. When you get weather like that, it just makes the trip ...

You have some awesome albums.

Wasn't it AMAZING up there for mid April?? I'm SO glad you got a chance to get up there too

You folks might be amused with this graupel stream. It's on Facebook, sorry for those without accounts... video isn't mine. These went on for the hour or so it takes to get to the hut, and some (like the above) even cut "river banks" into the snow slopes! Pretty cool... In other news, as o...

I appreciate the heads up, Taco, but people have shangaied me into Jtree this weekend, Snow Creek next. Maybe I'll see some of you guys up there then?

OK--I'm still itching to do this! Anyone wanna join me this Saturday? I'm mostly looking for someone to hold my hand through the brush navigation. I will ski down, so if you decide to take the tram down I can meet you there (don't need shuttle).

Anyone wanna go in a few hours?

Seriously! Those winds were insane. They ripped the sunglasses off my face and sent them way, way down the north face even though they were under a balaclava (why is it that my stuff seems to want to fall off north faces?). Was immobilized with skis on the pack so I had to drop them 300 yards from t...

Ouch, ya, I concede.

Psh, check out a REAL car:



Go go Corolla!

Norma, I think someone from the CAC lost them. Could you let me know roughly where they are? I'll try to pick them up next time I'm on the hill. Alternatively, if anyone else sees them, if you could get them and drop them off at the lost and found at the visitor center in Baldy Village, I (the club,...

WOW! I know where I'm going this Saturday (barring weather). Anyone want to join for a long ski tour?

REI rents them

I'd also be interested in running the data for vertical velocity. An interesting property of this graph is that fitness will scale it vertically and probably only affect it a little horizontally; in other words, you will see an optimum angle plus or minus a few degrees. v_v = v_diag * sin(arctan gra...

Not only do Dynafits weigh 1/2 as much as other AT bindings, they also have jet-powered retrieval systems! After losing contact with their owners for 1 hr, they blast into the stratosphere, initiate sophisticated visual and infrared frequency owner localization systems at the apex of flight, and ent...

Yes--but fortunately there were no children present during the recovery process...

At least it was a good lesson learned! I read about the potential for this to happen after boot packing, but I didn't think to clean the toe dimples (probably because I'm usually skinning).

Stayed in hut Saturday night as my alpine club practice trip compatriots shivered outside, ha ha! Participation was very low, sadly, but Nick and I had some fun (the other two stuck to one lap). 44 minutes to summit from hut for me (I'm sure I can drop this to 35 minutes or less when my training reg...

I just watched the first video. IMO, it's sufficient to thread some cord or a thin runner through the eyelet and lower by pulling it. If the lowering needs to stop, return the runner to the rest position and the device will lock off. In practice, I lower by rotating the device by hand sans runner. T...

Patrick, Ellen, and Mark--it continues to be a pleasure to meet people from this board in the hills.

It was weird making those sounds, too! Glissading might have been faster than skiing on that first run.

FWIW (not much) the first half of this album shows you generally what to expect. You can probably skip the cliff bands if you're clever (don't have pictures of them).

We are indeed on for Sunday! No promises that the route will be marked, that no one will die, or that it will be a huge event, but at least a few of us will be up there to suffer for three laps, and you are most welcome to join us (even sans skis!).

I did the lower part several years ago with a rising traverse towards the normal ski hut trail. It was an adventuresome little variation! A little bushwacking, which is a fantastic character-building exercise with a snowboard strapped to the back, a couple of 70-80 degree, 5-7m rock bands to be clim...

Ha, I'm a retard! That's the first thing I should have thought of. I know where to take my next date

I just remembered this:



Anyone know what it is? It was spotted beneath the N Face of Tahquitz near Idyllwild around 7500 ft in the San Jacinto Range.

A couple new (to me) partners and I finished the route last Friday. It ascends the prominent, long right-facing dihedral of NE Face E and climbs through minor overhangs in the headwall, which are hopefully filled in with ice. Superb and highly recommended conditions--mostly neve but a large water ic...

Yup, that sums it up. The good thing about attaching to the belay loop instead of the leg loop is that you can transition quickly into ascending if necessary (whether self-belayed or by jugging or texas prusiking). I don't see a problem with attaching low load things like prusiks or clove hitches to...

Left a black, OR paclite upper shell at or around the ski hut yesterday. Couldja let me know if you have it?

Thanks!

The setup you want is actually quite simple, and it is used routinely on long, technical descents in climbing. 1) Make an anchor above the chute. Use either two equalized, deadman pickets or anchor to a tree. 2) Fix the single strand line onto the anchor (figure 8 on a bight attached to a locking ca...

I think this shot would be best right after the snowfall we're about to get. This Saturday a huge group (~25 people) from Caltech is going to Baldy, and it's likely that many of the couloirs will be skied or climbed and the pristine shot of the chute ruined. Just a heads up.

I've also been to Cafe Aroma! I second the recommendation if you're looking for a celebratory feast in town after some epic climbing. We drove in, although for stuff like this where you want a really alpine start, the wake-up times start to get a little silly (3 am for us). Mixed climbing... I tried...

Tahquitz conditions are pretty excellent by my warped socal standards, if a bit thin and rotten in places (especially near the top). I'm sure the Scots among us would be proud! http://lh3.ggpht.com/_6p5ZIZaoqxQ/S2-igKQTyCI/AAAAAAAALns/rmf6QIIb10M/s800/IMG_2274.JPG Pitons (lost arrows) and passive pr...