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I almost skied into that adolescent bear on the way out of IG on June 5th.



I yelled at him and waved my poles, then had to back track a few hundred feet since he was pretty much content to saunter on his way towards the river. Typical teenager.
Nice Frank, great report.  Were you on your chain-link-NTNs?  How are they holding up?
TobyT - I think we can all think of scenarios that highlight flaws in each method.  

(example - Two roped climbers, one of which has a crevasse fall and is rendered unconcious.  Arresting climber is unable (for whatever reason) to build anchor and unweight and free from rope, remains trapped in self arrest position.  The same fate befalls unconscious climber as situation with knotted rope, with the added problem arresting climber cannot go for help).

I think each of us who...
Great discussion! Thanks!
Roman, what is your thought process on an unresponsive person in the crevasse?
-Consider this situation,

-You fall in, your partner arrests your fall with the aid of knots. You hit your head on crevasse wall 10' down and are unconscious and stay that way. You are dressed in a light soft shell and become hypothermic. Your partner can't haul you up because there are knots in the rope and doesn't trust the anchors available to hold both of your body weights (to desc...
I have used the knots in the rope technique with my wife while climbing on glaciers.  You can feel the knots get hung up on suncups so they will probably help quite a bit if they get caught in soft snow when the rope digs into the lip.  A good way to use this technique is to divide the rope into thirds, tie in on each side of the middle third , then tie the knots in the middle third.  Each person then keeps a third on a coil with them to drop into the crevasse to pull the other climber out or to...
Thank you Lisa. I wasn't sure how much snow has melted since I was last up on the 21st of May
Fun report tele.skier. Nice job.

Sounds like all the classic mini-challenges of touring: bacon-ear sunburn (done that), mangled toes (done that), gear challenges (yep), snow bridge collapses into stream/river (check), and bear joins touring party - uh, nope that one's new. Guess you must have been an attractive group to bring out the big guy; I hear bacon will do that with bears. Note to self...
author=Lowell_Skoog link=topic=21155.msg90574#msg90574 date=1308106091]
It would be interesting to know more about these sources. The latest text I have is Backcountry Skiing by Volken, Schell and Wheeler. They don't teach the use of knots in the rope.


Craig Connally, The Mountaineering Handbook: Modern Tools and Techniques that Will Take You to the Top, Ragged Mountain Press, 2005 --  page 331.

Mark...
Another technique when using stopper knots is to climb out using a pair of "aiders"( I have a pair of lightweight alpine aiders that don't weight much) and clipping the loops on the stopper knots( like clipping fixed gear while aid climbing) while stabilizing yourself with a fifi hook connected to your harness .This assumes you have the stopper knots close enough apart to allow clipping your top aider while standing in the lower. Not as ideal as a knot free rope and prussiks, but...
Thx for the update!
author=Lowell_Skoog link=topic=21155.msg90574#msg90574 date=1308106091">
It would be interesting to know more about these sources. The latest text I have is Backcountry Skiing by Volken, Schell and Wheeler. They don't teach the use of knots in the rope.


It's in "Alpine Climbing" by Mark Houston and Kathy Cosley. They call them
author=James Wells link=topic=21155.msg90580#msg90580 date=1308110305">
Prusiks have been replaced almost across the board for use in caves by mechanical ascenders that don't generally have this problem; I think that prusiks are still used widely in crevasse kits only because mechanical ascenders weigh too much.


I have a set of Petzl Tiblocs, which...
author=Lowell_Skoog link=topic=21155.msg90574#msg90574 date=1308106091]
Self-rescue using prussiks would be a lot harder too. .... Maneuvering the upper prussik around a knot could be really tiring.


A possibly mitigating factor - infrequently used prusiks have a tendency to slip down a rope especially if they are not sized correctly with respect to the main rope (the prusiks need to be a little smaller).  Knots in the main ro...
Good report and welcome to the exciting world of TAY-writing.
author=Roman Rodyakin link=topic=21155.msg90539#msg90539 date=1308082966]
Re knots in the rope, I believe it's a common technique for two-person roped glacier travel -- I have seen it recommended in a number of respected climbing texts by respected authors. 


It would be interesting to know more about these sources. The latest text I have is Backcountry Skiing by Volken, Schell and Wheeler. They don't teach the use of kn...
Me?  That hanging, exposed summit snowfield is what gets me.  That looks intense.

Nice. 
Nice Scott!

that walk across log crossing in boots looks like a challange!
Good looking crew, Amar.

Sounds like everyone had the timing down except Robie . . .
Lookin' good, Honeybadger!
way to go you guys!!! awesome pix .. even if they aren't fm afar scott  ;)
As always, Amar, a stellar TR.

This photo

author=Amar Andalkar link=topic=21148.msg90468#msg90468 date=1308001162]

I did not ask them to pose like that!


reminded me of the "Crevasse Angels" poster that Jerry White did of Allyson, Cinnamon, and Monika a few years ago for the Glacier Travel cla...
dennyt - I think we must have seen you. I was with a group of 4 and ended up on the same ridge. See my report for our little tour. Really good coditions that day.

lowell - I think you blew by us on the trail on the way up. We saw you descending the bowl. Looked great!
Interesting. To each his own! Thanks for the TR. The corn on that side of the mtn. is prime!
Re knots in the rope, I believe it's a common technique for two-person roped glacier travel -- I have seen it recommended in a number of respected climbing texts by respected authors.  The reasoning is basically that it adds to the friction during a typical crevasse fall and therefore reduces the force necessary to arrest the fall.  While I personally have not measured the forces in knotted vs. non-knotted rope, it seems obvious to me that in any reasonably soft snow a knot does g...
author=Marcus link=topic=21158.msg90529#msg90529 date=1308072306]
Nice Mark!  Glad you ticked off the last of the days...


I added a link to some pics!
Phil, nice meeting you too.  I didn't have a lot of hope for TAY partners wanted section, but it does apparently deliver, even on a Friday afternoon.  Great trip, efficient pace, equipment in sync between the two of us, just enough clouds to provide an occasional shade and dramatize the views, but not enough to impair the visibility or route finding.  Everything was pretty perfect -- we even hit the upper mountain at the right time...yay for the long summer days -- come to t...
author=old guy link=topic=21155.msg90533#msg90533 date=1308076959]
I was so afraid of that....Another point is if you are soloing with this technique think about how you would exit the crevasse when you try to turn the edge.  As you ascend up the rope you will reach a point where you can't go any further up without pulling the knot out of the slot it is caught in. 
The only way I have seen used successfully to self belay on a glacier is by standing...
Did you have another rope? If you have another rope (and the person with the rope was still on top) then your system could be ok. Otherwise, think of how the knots would get in the way of the people pulling you out (or you ascending the rope). You can't pull a knot through a pulley when hauling. And you would have to rewrap or reposition your ascender at each knot when ascending. A PITA in an already difficult situation.
I was so afraid of that.  Bear Grills said the same thing on his survival show.  He tied knots in a parachute cord as his belay!
If you think about it there isn't enough weight on the end of the line to enable the knots to cut into the lip of a crevasse.  If you have 4 or 5 feet between the knots think about the force generated prior to the knot hitting the edge; there is only a very, very small chance that the knot will catch. 
Another point is if you are sol...
author=old guy link=topic=21155.msg90531#msg90531 date=1308075206]
In your second photo are those knots in your rope, and if so what are they for?

Thanks.


I just read about this in the Mountaineers Alpine Climbing book ... the knots will help to hang up on the lip of a crevasse if one falls in.
In your second photo are those knots in your rope, and if so what are they for?

Thanks.
Nice Mark!  Glad you ticked off the last of the days...
Very nice. I considered posting a report of my trip there from the day before, but maybe I'll just file it in here...

I came in from the west, starting up Hwy 242 by bike Wednesday afternoon, then skiing along the Obsidian Trail (upper gate closed, but road plowed all the way to the trailhead and farther). I stopped overnight on the lava flow, then climbed Middle via Renfrew on Thursday. The turns back down from the saddle on that west slope were excellent -- an easy descent, whi...
Nice photos, Matt. Loved the shot of the volcanoes stretching as far as the eye could see.
great trip Roman
nice meeting you and excellent skiing!!!

thanks for the pics and GPS track



What a perfect weather window. Thanks for the trip fellas!
Here's me trying to add a couple photos of Red on the finger...
Nice work Roman.  Looks like at least ~7,800ft gain by your track on the topo map.  Thats a big day!!  I bet you enjoyed work on Monday ;)
Cool trip! I'm glad you were able to get out during the high pressure.
ha ha!  that helmet's making the rounds...

more good mileage!
Yup, we (party of 4 who I think was registering at the same time as you guys) were confused when climbing to camp because we expected to find a tent city at 9200'.  Instead, we didn't find a single tent at 5:30 p.m. (though we did eventually have 2 parties join us).

We were the headlamps you saw on the Finger around 3 a.m.  :)

Good call on turning around at 12,000'.  It seems that they shut off the oxygen supply above that point, which made thi...
Updating of the site's photo posting guidelines is long overdue (and entirely on me)... there's not really a limit on photos, just the encouragement to put up the best you've got and not dump the entire photo card into the TR.  Great pics Franklin.
Yo squirrel, your links are not working.  ;)
I figure you can add all the pics you want if you link to your own server/website.  That way the TAY storage is only of the link.  Well, that's what I assume.  If wrong, I'm sure the web gurus out there will let me know ; )
All That Jazz.. nice.  And there's just something about the name, Argonaut, don't you think..

Gotta like the 'new' pic non-policy, too.
Nice trip Franklin and Scott!!  8)  Scott, are those Dynafits on your split board? Btw, Jake wants to hit Baker again with his latest prototype binding, it's in the final stage. You game next month?
You don't need approach shoes for the 20 feet from the deck to reach snow. It's still good!!
Nice day out ladies and Amar. Good to see you all smiling!