10 Nuts is overkill surely? Especially if you're taking hexes and cams.

JackCarr wrote:10 Nuts is overkill surely? Especially if you're taking hexes and cams.

I concur! Even my eight Nuts alone is pushing it. Last time I went up (last month) I only placed two pieces of lead pro, more as Directionals and two pieces for the mid stance and upper stance. The crux is protected by fixed pins.

What about protecting the lower ice sections, it's going to be blue ice in there. Seems like rock gear would be useful for protecting the lead and anchors. The nuts are all racked together, I suppose I could thin them out.

Serious question, do you think I should really try and rustle up a pair of 60M ropes? I may be able to if you think there are no options for additional rap anchors. There are only rap stations every 200ft?

I NEVER protect the couloir with rock pro...never. Waste of time. The damn thing is only 45degs max.

Speed my friend is your friend on the U-Notch couloir. Plus, your dealing with only 12 hours of light. Unless you know the entire route like the back of your hand, be super careful.

BTW, where are you planning on setting up BC???

And YES if you can get a pair of 60's. It will reduce the downclimbing to get to the current anchors in the Gully and the Couloir and the amount of raps you will have to complete to get down. Time is of the essence this time of the season.

rpc wrote:40 #1 knifeblades
10 #2 knifeblades
10 #3 knifeblades
6 short lost arrows

Nice, Way Retro.....

Okay, I'll see what I can do with the ropes. We're going to camp at the toe of the glacier and start around 2 or 3 am so we'll be starting up the U-Notch as the sun comes up or before. Would you use any ice screws in the coulior?

The size of the rock rack depends on how hard the rock is. If we're talking an easier alpine climb that involves a fair amount of ice, say, the Mt. Gilbert couloir, then I'm taking about 8-10 stoppers (mostly because they're so light), one each of TCUs or the equivalent and one each of cams up to about 2.5-3" for about three in all, four max.

Your rack is pretty heavy for something like Gilbert. In fact, I'd say it's pretty heavy with the larger passive gear, likes hexes and tri-cams (which I never use), which are just heavy and clunky. Sadly, the last bigger alpine rock route I did was the SE Face of Clyde, and we took the same rack as above but just doubles on the TCUs and cams. That was plenty.

DanielWade wrote: Would you use any ice screws in the coulior?

Take the screws just in case. From the last beta I got, you can still use the current established rap anchors as belays as well. I also suggest simul climbing the neve portions if your buds are strong and confident.

Thanks Guyzo - retro rack for a retro sort of route done in retro style (my wrist hurt almost as much as back when I first discovered the internet...from nailing that is!)

BD Stoppers #3-13
BD Hexes #7-11
Technical Friends #1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 (getting 3.0 and 3.5 soon)
CAMP tricams #0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0

20 nonlocking carabiners (they're heavy, but they were cheap)
3 locking carabiners
4 shoulder-length slings
2 short slings (longer than draws, shorter than shoulder-length)
2 double-length slings
2 one-and-a-half length slings (annoying to rack, but nice to use)
2 double length (9') tubular webbing slings
2 3' perlon loops
1 20' 7mm perlon cordelette
1 Web-O-Lette
Chock Pick
Daisy chain PA

For glaciers, I'll also carry:

Chest harness
Pulley
24" picket
Foot prusiks

-Mark

This is the rack that I use with some slight changes per route.

19 CAMP Nano biners
2 BD Positron Screwgate
1 Omega Jake Screwgate
1 Petzl Reverso
6 10mm 24 inch
4 10mm 48 inch
6 DMM wall nutz (1-6)
2 sometimes 3or4 DMM cams. (2, 3 sometimes .25 and 1)
25 feet of 9/16" Tubular Webbing
15 foot 6mm cordelette
1 nut tool
1 Beal 8.6mm Cobra II

Without the rope and with my harness it weighs just under 5 lbs.

For snow and ice I am still working on finding out what I like to use and what I need to use.
Does anyone use piton any more, say, in the Bugaboos or other wintery climbs? This might have been answered ready, but how do titanium pitons compare with iron besides being lighter?