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Trip: Castle Peak - Middle Buttress Date: 8/3/2008 Trip Report: Blake Harrington and I, Peter Hirst, climbed the Middle Buttress of Castle Peak in the North Cascades. The Middle Buttress hosts one other route - the "Colorado Route", climbed in the early 90's. Our route probably shared some of the same terrain as the Cod route, but probably a lot of independent terrain as well. The rock was high-quality for the most part, though some of the cracks higher up were choked with sod. Blake led two challenging 5.10 pitches and I led one, though his was more runout than mine. The other pitches were in the 5.7 - 5.9 range. A good route that felt very alpine in natute, in that it followed a feature rather than a crack system. Here are some pic's (taken by Blake). I have more I'll post when I get a chance. Gear Notes: Climbing equipment involving the use of pitons. Approach Notes: Oh the Wildflowers.

Trip: Molar Tooth - West Face - FA - II 5.8 Date: 9/26/2007 Trip Report: This is one of those faces in the North Cascades that is hard to get a look at from popular destinations. Last spring I viewed it from 4 miles away and recognized the profile as seen from the Cutthroat Lake side (but in reverse). I thought that there was probably something to climb there although I couldn't make any detail. Yesterday I went to take a look at it with James Hamaker. We intended to hike up the drainage shown on the Green Trails map but we never found it. Instead we ascended the forested rib east from where the PCT crosses Porcupine Creek and this took us fairly efficiently up to about 7000 ft. At this point we weren't sure exactly what was the summit of Molar Tooth, let alone what we should try to climb and the clouds blowing across the mountain tops weren't helping matters. We decided to traverse south, climbing class 3 over one rib of rock and traversing steep slabs around the base of the next. Up a bit and we found a clean 40 ft slab that we scrambled up to set a belay at a small larch tree (center of photo): James led up some easy 5th class then traversed to the right where there was an exposed 5.7 move around the corner (under the smooth bulge). There were some loose handholds here but solid ones could be found. He belayed closely above at a dead tree. The next pitch started up a chimney (poor rock but easy): Above was some 5.8 face climbing and an interesting boulder-pedestal with a fist crack behind it. This involved climbing up one side using the crack then descending the other side to get back on route, not that hard, but awkward. There was a loose rectangular block at the base that I considered trundling but it was OK to stand on with downward pressure only. Some more 5.8 led to a low angle heathery section. James was eager to lead and I didn't argue as I would have taken longer on the harder moves. Above were some cool slab overlaps. James went straight up and was able to place pro in a crack at the steep part (5.5): We were heading for the gap between the two apparent high points seen from the start but weren't sure where the actual summit was. There was a chimney with overhanging chockstone at the end of this 3rd pitch that went at about 5.7. Above this the summit was an easy scramble. The clouds had cleared and the scenery was great: We descended by the normal rappel route down the north ridge. The rock on this route was good. There were some loose potential holds but they could be avoided. There seemed to be less black lichen than on the north ridge and east face. We didn't see any signs of previous ascents on this climb. Robert Campbell Gear Notes: 50m rope, medium rack up to #3 cam

Trip: Mt. Goode - Megalodon Ridge ( IV+ 5.10- ) Date: 9/6/2007 Trip Report: Last Wednesday, my friend Sol Wertkin and I headed out to the North Cascades National Park on an attempt to stretch a little more summer into what was rapidly becoming fall. The intended destination was a climb of the complete East Ridge of Mt. Goode. After seeing photos and encountering the ridge last month, I knew it would be a "big fish to fry" hence Sol coined it the " Megalodon Ridge" in honor of the biggest and scariest fish to ever swim the seas. The ridge runs from L->R across the skyline. On the first day we approached the base of the technical climbing and had a perfect bivy on the ridgeline before it steepened up. A few drops of rain fell on us, but by morning it looked as though things might clear up. After crossing some icy snow in the morning, we started up the ridge, with the summit often lurking in distant clouds. Dan Hilden and I had climbed this first part on a traverse a few weeks ago, but bailed off due to 40lb packs, and very little climbing gear. We made one 50m rappel and began swapping leads along the crest. The position was amazing, with alpine lakes below us, and the sun coming out just when we needed it. The rock wass often pretty good along the crest, with memorable highlights including a 5.8 finger crack and another overhang corner of the same grade. Soon the steep wall of the SE peak began to loom closer ahead of us. Sol fired off the first headwall pitch, which ended up being a splitter 5.10- hand crack to a nice belay ledge. I got the next pitch which started up a perfect corner before stepping left and doing some delicate stemming to the top. A bit of scrambling brought us to the last pitch on the SE peak, which Sol lead through with scanty protection. "No life Guard on Duty" here... From the SE Peak we skirted the steep glacial ice by climbing through the moat. Ross and Sky skied from near here ~5,000' down to Bridge Creek a couple years ago, that just blows me away. Some steep solid rock and an au-cheval crest led us up to the final pinnacle before Black Tooth Notch. We had joked around for much of the climb about all the potential shark-themed names, which was fitting as our crux involved this pitch climbing down into Black-Tooth Notch. I belayed Sol down and across the wall to the notch, with several thousand feet of exposure to bridge creek below his feet. He protected this lead perfectly and memorized nearly every move so as to feed me beta as I seconded the traversy downclimb. It ended up being overhanging 5.10 climbing, but it brought us back "on the map" and past all major obstacles. From there we did one long running belay to the summit. It was late and we were tired, so we did some quick construction and settled in for a night on the highest point in the National Park. An amazing sunset and meteor shower had us in awe all night. The next morning's chilly sunrise was a nice sight as well... As Sol says "Livin' the dream, life is Good(e)" Yesterday we made the 5,000' descent down the south side of the mountain to Park Creek and were thankful for the cool fall breeze on our 19-mile hike back to the car. There was also a forest fire that provided some temporary entertainment. This was a really fun trip with a great partner. The summit bivy spot is (obviously) highly recomended by us both. The register which was there last summer is gone now though... Gear Notes: Standard climbing rack. Should have included goldfish crackers to complete the fish theme. Approach Notes: Up N.Fork of bridge creek for 2 miles, turn left and cross the creek through open clearings when the ridge is obvious.

Trip: Mt. Triumph - FA SW Ridge - Layton/Wallace III 5.8b Date: 9/2/2007 Trip Report: This summer has been a long string of alpine failures. Wayne and I were 0/2 on our big project list, and with a shitty weather forecast, we were thinkin' it was going to be 0/3. Rain, shitty routes not worth finishing, partner failure(Bailure), and too much work finally caught up with me this summer. So with nothing better to do than try another one on the "list", Wayne and I did a lap around Mt. Triumph via a new route on the Southwest Ridge and down the NE ridge for full mountain circumnavigation. Having been told by irate girlfriends, annoyed climbing partners, rangers, and hapless co-workers that I was a bit rough around the edges, I decided to make the best out of my "time to think" at camp saturday night I don't know what the fuck this "Dale" guy is talking about Of course along the way, we followed proper protocol and picked up a permit. Thanks NPS for your permission to use "your" wilderness! Wayne and I had a great time walking on durable surfaces, collecting our waste in bags (to keep next to my Kleenex boxes, jars of urine, and bundled newspapers at home), fishing with dynamite, building huge fires, hunting birds, and stealing picnic baskets from day hikers. Since we were not allowed to bring a machette, we had to use gas powered weed wackers. After it ran out of gas, Wayne hucked it in the lake, and we had to use our trecking poles to hack at plants and wave at bears. Wayne wondering where a good spot to heli-lift the Ski-Doo's into this winter Anyways, up and around Thorton Peak we went, and down to below the South Face of Triumph for our original intended objective. The still unclimbed S.Buttress of Triumph It was much to steep and crackless, also soaking wet (the main line is a watercourse) so we opted for plan B. It could go, but it would require some aid and bolting, also hard climbing. We scrambled up ~500 feet of steep cliffy heather. It wasn't so bad, except for the fact that the sky was turbulent and threating a mega storm to hit any minute. The thought of downclimbing was not a happy fun one. All the peaks had big lenticulars forming, and the thick black wave-like patter of clouds above our heads shouted "hurry up and climb be-otch!" It gonna Rain! The climb started off with a few pitches up steep slab. The rock was solid, lots of good holds, and fun! Pro was scant, so there were a few moments of nervousness. I had to bust out my ice tool for an "M" move to bypass grabbing a very untrustworthy looking flake/key hold. It was solid, and the mixed/moss mantle was unnecessary. It started raining, then stopped. Hurry up! Wayne scoping the route The ridge topped out about ~1100 feet up to the final summit headwall. Wayne had a great fun steep lead. It looked scary but turned out to be a super fun 5.8 pitch. Climb Monkey, Climb! I got the last pitch, traversing some shitty gendarms and up to the summit. 20' up the exposed crumbly gendarme Wayne shouted, "It's about to let loose up there!" A wall of rain headed our way, but somehow it cut north at the last second and spared us a slippery and scary descent. We only got a few drops the whole day, but we did get in a great fun climb and an awesome mountain. Our cramponless hike out wasn't a great idea, but I'm here, so I guess we didn't need them! Heading down the Northeast Ridge just waiting for the douching We got back to the car at 7:30, having left camp at 5:45 a.m., which is funny since the 1500' route took only three hours of impending rain hurried climbing to the top! Gear Notes: Nothin bigger than 3" and no pins or tat needed. Crampons if you want. One rope. Approach Notes: Up the 3rd lake to a col next to Thorton Peak, down and around (long) to the S.Face, and up a steep moss gully to the SW ridge.

Trip: Cutthroat Wall - Easy Getaway (F.A. III 5.10-) Date: 8/29/2007 Trip Report: This TR is going to read like the boring blow-by-blow climb description that it is, but that's in hopes of providing adequate info for folks to go get on it and have some fun. Upon climbing one route on the Cutthroat Wall, I was eager to go back and investigate the clean looking roofs and corners to the left of what we'd done in early August. Last weekend, Dan Hilden and I headed up to check it out. Bryan Burdo was a late scratch on the roster for this climb as well, after he dropped his tennis shoes off a new route on SEWS and was left with just rock shoes and sandals. His Methow valley cragging guide should be out within a month, and his North Cascades Rock (WA Pass Area) guide by next spring... Anyhow, we braved the 45 minute approach from the car and began the climb ~40' to the left of The Perfect Crime on a perfectly flat granite patio. From the base, one can locate a series of clean L-Facing corners which serve as good landmarks for the route. A vertically striped dihedral (the Zebra corner) is especially obvious. The climb went very well, with fun moves, some nice challenges, and a few spots where the cliff seemed made for climbing. Pitch 1 (5.10-) Up left on a slab to a clean crack and obvious overlap/roof. This roof move can be protected from above with a blue alien. From here, climb up and left (easy slab), past another steepface, to beneath a large roof. Pitch 2 (5.9) Start up the R-Facing Corner with stemming and finger cracks. Past tree, move left (delicate undercling) into the clean orange corner. Move right out of the corner and belay. Pitch 3 (5.9) Face climb up and right, then follow clean cracks (layback, mantle) back up and left to a short splitter finger crack, ledge, and belay below short overhung RFC. pitch 4 (5.9) This pitch leads to the base of the striped corner visible from below. Power up the short overhung corner and face climb up and left into a crack. (Don't get tempted rightward into the blank corner) Follow this crack up to a tree at the base of the corner Pitch 5 (5.9) Again begin by fun moves up another overhung corner, then follow the beautiful/clean Zebra Corner crack upward. The top of the corner was seeping from the prior day's rain, so we "walked the plank" rightward across a solid/safe block and along the ledge to the right. If dry, consider following the corner to the top and doing an undercling out right for the directissima. Pitch 6 (5.10-) This pitch looks imporbable but works out great. Face climb up to the base of a L-facing corner below roofs. Jam the corner, climb left through the roofs, and continue jamming and laybacking up into the granite chimney. Follow the chimney to a large pine at the base of an obvious long corner. Pitch 7 (5.10-) Jam or layback the perfect hand crack up past a tree to some roofs. Undercling/jam through the roofs to the very top of the corner, step right, belay. (From here, one can downclimb rightward ~30 to get to the belay ledge before the last pitch of The Perfect Crime, whish is a *** pitch featuring splitter cracks on the far right edge of the buttress.) Pitch 8 (5.9) Head up the obvious chimney straight above. Good pro can be placed deep inside, and one can then move to the outside edge to climb though. I found this great fun. Dan, with a pack on, had a differing opinion. Follow the lower-angle stemming slot to a 5.5 hand crack on a slab, and belay above. From here, unrope or belay one more pitch (low 5th) to the flat summit. The rock quality on this climb is as good as Rebel Yell and better than anything else I have climbed on in the Washington Pass area, but the climb is only an hour from your car. All the cruxy bits are well protected and could be A0ed. I think it'd take a strange climber to not enjoy this route quite a bit. The only drawback is the pine needeles on ledges, but maybe with some traffic this would change. We also found an OLD rusty, and completely unmarked bent piton on p2, so maybe someone did the whole route back in the 60s and didn't tell anyone... who knows. I'd enjoy re-climbing it and leading the pitches Dan took as well, so if you are looking for a partner, send me and email. From the top, you can scramble up to the ridge and look down on the Hwy 20 hairpin, and of course see much of the North Cascades as well. Descent: walk across the flat summit terrace (cairn) to where the crest narrows before you'd need to scramble up again. Look for a pine tree on the right with a yellow runner. Make one 20m rappel down to the right, then contour at that elevation, skier's left around the head of a gulley and walk down/left on timbered rib to the base of the wall. Mini Topo - Big Version Linked Below http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/Complete_topo.JPG Green Writing goes with Green Topo, pitch-by-pitch Gear Notes: One set of nuts Cams from finger tips to #4 camalot (only needed if you avoid the chimney and do the last pitch of The Perfect Crime) Doubles in finger-hand sizes Approach Notes: From the Cutthroat Lake TH, walk up the old road bed for ~5 minutes, then head left up the hill into the brush. The brush is moderate at first, then the forest is pretty open and easy until moderate brush for the last couple hundred feet. The route begins at the far right (west) side of the wall. From the base of this route, the toe of the "Snout" is a ~10 minute level traverse across open ground, so one could combine a climb of those routes as well.

Trip: Cutthroat Wall - The Perfect Crime (F.A. 5.9 III) Date: 8/10/2007 Trip Report: A few weeks ago, Max Hasson and I did a new route on what I'm calling "the Cutthroat Wall", near Washington Pass. The top of the wall (and top of the climb) can be seen from the Cutthroat Lake Trailhead, but most of the wall cannot. The climb was done in 5 pitches (most were 60m) and featured very good rock and some fun moves. It was all pretty neat to be anble to walk up to a wall like that, one hour from the car, and climb a new free route of good quality, hence naming it "The Perfect Crime." Dan and I repeated it the other day, and he liked it as well. Here's a small topo, the larger version is linked below. http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/Cutthroat_wall_Topo.JPG Climbing begins at the right toe of the buttress, above a small cairn, and just left of ~6 dead silver snags in a group. The first two pitches begin with a steep bouldery step, before angling on nice cracks, slabs, and a couple short/steep corners. Generally begin going up/left and follow the cleanest line of least resistance. The 3rd pitch has you undercling and layback rightward along a nice crack, before overcoming a roof. This roof is smaller and further rightward than the other prominent roofs. another view... You'll know you are on route if you climb to the left of, then above a spiral-trunked "barber poll" tree. The 4th pitch goes up a steep crack from the belay ledge, traverses right across bulletproof orange rock, then follows a hand/fist crack up to a nice patio belay spot. The 5th pitch begins with a face climb traverse right, then beautiful splitter cracks (4" then 1") for most of 60m, to where the angle eases off and the flat summit can be reached. and From the top, you can scramble up to the ridge and look down on the Hwy20 hairpin. For descent, walk across the flat summit (cairn) to where the crest narrows before you'd need to climb up again. Look for a pine tree on the right with a yellow runner. Make one 20m rappel down to the right, then contour at that elevation, skier's left around the head of a gulley and walk down/left on timbered rib to the base of the wall. The rock is overall very good, well protected, and with nice views. Every belay is on a comfy ledge, but with a 50m rope you'd need to do it in more pitches. Every pitch is rated 5.9 except the first pitch (5.7) and cruxes are short. At only 45mins-1hour from the car, this might make a good alternative to other routes in the area, especially if traffic gets more of the pine needles off the cracks. Feel free to email me if you want more detailed info about anything. A written topo is attached. Gear Notes: One set of nuts Cams from finger tips to #4 camalot (needed for last pitch) Doubles in finger-hand sizes Approach Notes: From the Cutthroat Lake TH, walk up the old road bed for ~5 minutes, then head left up the hill into the brush. The brush is moderate at first, then the forest is pretty open and easy until moderate brush for the last couple hundred feet. The route begins at the far right (west) side of the wall. From the base of this route, the toe of the "Snout" is a ~10 minute level traverse across open ground, so one could combine a climb of those routes as well. Climb Location 3785-PerfectCrimeDescription.doc

Trip: North Cascades - First Ascent N Arete of Varden Creek Spire Date: 6/22/2007 Trip Report: After looking at this fantastic piece of rock for several years while skiing around Silver Star Larry Goldie and I finally overcame our sloth and made the long trek up to try to climb what we thought would be the N Arete of pk 8252. This striking piece of rock rises up from the head of Varden Creek and forms a significant high point along the complete E ridge of Silver Star. We made this foray late last Sept and were sent packing by very thin pro and a thin coating of frost that did not melt. After two longish and very run out pitches on slippery lichen we rapped off trees vowing to return with knifebaldes. The rock quality, position and asthetics of th eline were irresistable. In mid June of this year we ventured back armed to the teeth. The climbing turned out to be all we had hoped and so I think others might like to know about a route of this quality. We reached the toe of the buttress proper and stayed very close to the arete all the way to the last pitch. The rock quality is some of the best I have seen in the WA pass area. And it remains such all the way until a short very easy section just below the summit tower. The climbing is consistantly 5.FUN with a few spicey moves thrown in to keep you on your toes. We placed (and left) around 7 knifeblades in strategic locations so that you won't have to lug in pins and a hammer. Just stick close to the arete unless the climbing becomes harder than 5.9 then follow the easy way but steer back the arete ASAP. We never went more than 20 feet or so off the ridge and most of the time were right on the arete which gave great climbing and nice exposure. I'll post a few photos and a topo here but there are more photos on ncmountinaguides.com. The climbing in general is not sustained with just the odd hard move here and there. The exception to this is the 5.9 variation on P7 which is a sustained finger crack and licheny. View looking up Varden Creek at the proud line Sorry for the squiggly line Sweet rock typical of the whole route Larry following P5 Larry leading P6. Yep, it goes up the RH skyline Larry next to the summit Gear Notes: Light rack of single small cams to number 2 Camalot, runners etc. Like I said we went in loaded for bear and were way to heavy. Most hard pitches have crux protected with fixed pin. Approach Notes: We are nothe guys to ask about approaching this thing as we went the hard way both times. What I suggest would be one of the two following options. 1)Camp at the Larch bench below Burgandy col and approach over the col and cross SS glacier and over the Varden/ SS creek divide to the toe of the route. 2)Ascend Varden Ck but reputed to open trees and not bad by moderately reliable local source. We went up Mudhole lake trail and then cross country to the base. Took us 4 hours to the base. DESCENT; It turned out that this was not the N ridge of 8252 but was its own seperate little sub summit and hence the unique name. So we did two short raps to get us back to the start of the last hard pitch and then down climbed to the snow basin below the E side to the Arete. Pretty easy down climing but it could be rapped from tree anchors too.

Trip: Mount Shuksan - Northwest Arayete III 5.9 Date: 8/6/2007 Trip Report: On August 6th Matt Alford and I climbed an enjoyable rock route on the northwest side of Mount Shuksan. The route follows the crest of a fine arete on good rock for nine pitches to the summit of a prominent horn above the White Salmon Glacier. Though dirty at times, the position is incredible, the rock is solid and every pitch is sustained for it's grade. I had first seen this arete at least twelve years ago while descending the glacier and thought it both beautiful and improbable due to a lack of features. Ever since the idea of climbing it has been knocking about in my head. I'm not sure what took so long but it was great to turn that idea into a reality! As it worked out the rock here (Green Schist) is horizontally banded and the rock is just littered with positive jugs and pockets that allow moderate climbing up imposing walls. We left the car at first light and reached the base of Winnies Slide four hours later. From here a short descent led to the base of the arete. There was significant shrund that made accessing the rock a bit problematic. We end up rappelling off a bollard to reach a ramp on the left side of the arete. A good ledge system on the right side could probably have been used as well. Matt takes the first pitch. Fun, juggy face climbing was followed by a 100' of 5.8 friction right up the crest of the low angle arete. The gear grew increasingly sparse until he had to run it out maybe 40' to the belay. A second short easy pitch led to a much steeper wall. P1 Frictioning up the crest of the Arete The third pitch exemplified what makes establishing new routes such an amazing experience. We're at the base of a steep blank wall. On the left is a filthy corner system full of grass. Out right a few weaknesses lead towards a steep arete and the possibility of good climbing around it's edge. The grassy corner will go, but the climbing will suck. The traverse out right is a total mystery. Will it go? Is there any gear? Whats on the other side? What if I can't make it? P3 Working things out on the crux traverse Intending to head up the corner I find myself heading out right instead. Focusing on protection I find that the apparently blank wall has a few narrow seams obscured by lichen that allow me to place several solid pins. Soon I'm at an obvious crux move. Cleaning some loose blocks off a small ledge I watch them freefall to the glacier. Hesitating I close my eyes, focus on my breathing, feel the chill in the cool shade, listen to the ice creaking and groaning below. Eventually I just run out of reasons to stand still so I commit, stemming wide, finding a small uncling, shifting over and reaching for the crest of the arete. Grabbing solid jugs I pull over the corner and find myself on a beautiful wall of clean, orange rock. IT GOES! P3 Matt pulling around onto the beautiful orange wall So many intense experiences tend to just slide away. Things no longer "stick" like they once did. But this one is different, this one set deep. I'm going to remember exactly how wonderful it felt to pull around that corner for a long time. The fourth pitch was the best of the climb, awesome juggy 5.7 climbing on near vertical rock with great gear. Soon we're at the base of the imposing upper arete. The climbing looks improbable but once again the rock turned out to be covered in positive holds. Staying about 40 feet left of the arete Matt is able to climb more or less straight up the wall on 5.7 rock to a belay in an alcove. P4 More Arete P6 Starting up the steep upper wall Climbing through a grungy 5.8 roof I find super featured 5.6 rock on the crest of the steep arete for a full ropelength. Matt quickly leads another long pitch of fun corners to a fixed pin belay at a small roof. A final short pitch up clean slabs ending with an easy arete brings us directly to the summit. Unreal, the route unfolded far better than we could have imagined! P7 Stellar climbing on the crest of the Arete P9 It Ends like it Begins…. It's late in the day so we snap a quick summit shot and get moving. An easy scramble down the backside gets us to the Upper Curtis Glacier. After following some mountain goat tracks we picked up the boot track leading back down the mountain. In my exhausted state the entire descent seemed somehow timeless as if it took no more than half-an-hour. Yet many hours and a beautiful sunset later we reached the car with the last of the dieing light. Well there's already a Northwest Arete and a Northwest Rib on the mountain so Matt (grudgingly) agreed to name our route the Northwest Arayete after someone I know. Gear Notes: Rack to 3.5" with a double set of very small to medium nuts and small to 1” cams. A few short knifeblades and bugaboos recommended. Approach Notes: Follow Fisher Chimneys Rt to edge of White Salmon Glacier (bivi sites) then descend a few minutes on steep snow or ice to the base of the arete. Potential Shrund problems getting on the rock.

Trip: Gunsight range - West face-north peak Date: 7/25/2007 Trip Report: Inspired by CC.com trip reports Jens (Holsten) and I got on a boat last week and headed towards the fabled gunsight range. Though this website can sometimes be a waste of time, even a repository for spray and slander (mine own included) I feel sort of obligated to return the favor, as without the info gleaned here our trip may have never been. Anyway, enough bullshit. The trail up Agnes creek was uneventful right up to five mile camp, where the trail crew had stopped. Immediately after this we encountered the aforementioned hundreds of blow-downs and developed a cowboy like posture after so much straddling. A light cloud cover didn't do a whole lot to abate the heat, but it was better than nothing. We had hoped (foolishly) to knock off the approach in a marathon afternoon, but after reaching the spruce creek turn off decided to bivy. This was a smart decision, as darkness would have found us stranded on a 50 degree hillside suffering in the rain. Instead we camped on the river and ducked in the tent when the light showers hit. Not a whole lot to say about the next day, just some straight suffering up a hill. Blake and company humbly understated this phase of the journey, we were just glad to find the mountain. Several hours later we hopped onto the blue glacier in the afternoon heat, hoping not to get creamed by an ice fall. We walked right by what was to be our basecamp, intent on making it over to the chikamin. After some sketchy recon we discovered our mistake and settled in to one of the most amazing bivies ever. Wednesday morning we ambled over the pass above our camp and roped up for the super loose step down onto the gigantor chikamin glacier. A mellow crampon session found us at the base of the west face, I only fell into one talus hole where I nearly lost control of my bowels. The route is gained off a rad traversing ledge which beats the hell out of some ungainly moat. As almost everyone else has said the rock quality is superb, if a bit grainy the higher you get. If this wall was a little closer to the road I don't think this would be the case. Anyway, I headed up just to the right of Blake's cairn and wound my way towards the fabled crux pitch. It seems like Nelson and Dietrich (I think that's his name) veered right on the second pitch and climbed a very thin corner before moving back left to the belay which supposedly needs bolts. Again, no bolts were found in situ, leading us to conclude that Jim Nelson had a bad memory. The second belay would be more comfortable with bolts, but they certainly aren't necessary. Jens tentatively made his way upwards, made a tenuous move left of thin flakes and was still unconvinced that the pitch would succumb to our assault. However, move by move, he found unanticipated decent holds, good gear, more positive flakes (a trademark of this wild wall) and uncanny knobs, all of which took him past the crux to a well deserved victory whoop. Here he is crushing. I also managed to scrap my way up this stellar pitch, which left us exhilarated but also a little nervous about the rest of the climb, which wasn't quite over yet. The next crack system looks sort of like a hand crack off the belay, unfortunately its a shallow flaring flake. It does accept gear however, and after a little bit of pansying around I commited to the steep lieback. Another flake follows the first, and I did a little more pansying, unsure if our relatively light alpine rack would get me to the next stance. Luckily the crack finally turns into hands, where I was able to recover enough to run it out to a little knob belay where I plugged in the last of my gear, the four camalot and a blue alien. Here's Jens following. The final bit of steepness supposedly contained some crux wideness, which Jens so graciously allowed me to lead, but it ended up being a little less difficult than the third pitch, which didn't dissapoint me in the least. Jens led one more shorty to "flat ground" and we eventually found a way up onto the crazy summit blocks. The library is about to close so I'm just going to leave it at that for now. I'll give everybody some time to slander and wrap it up when I get the chance. Suffice to say, the rock is good, almost as good as Index. Maybe even better than Mt. Stuart.

Trip: Forbidden - NW Face, with a near disastrous descent. Date: 7/26/2007 Trip Report: On July 25 Blake, AJScott, and I headed up to the Boston Basin with our sights set on the NW Face (really a ridge) of Forbidden. This was my third trip up to the basin, and I had been telling Aaron and Blake how easy the trail was all morning, but somehow I managed to lose the trail in the first avy path, forcing us to shwack straight up for an hour to get to the basin. We were planning on bivying at the west ridge notch, but the prospect of lounging in the sun for the rest of the day and not having to carry bivy gear any higher stopped us at the high camp. Boston and Sahale Forbidden. To get to the notch we climbed the rightmost "catscratch" just left of the couloir. The next morning Aaron and I woke up at the ungodly hour of 3:33 for coffee and tea, and got Blake up when our breakfast burritos were ready. At about 5 we were on our way up the glacier. We were told that the couloir was out (on a side note, someone left a rope sitting at the base of the couloir), so we decided to go up one of the gullies to the left. One mid 5th pitch lead to easier ground, and before long we were at the base of the west ridge. We downclimbed to skiers left for a while, then made a couple of 60m raps down to the snow. From the top of the glacier we belayed a traverse down and to skiers right to a 2 pin rap anchor that would get us over the gaping shrund. I went first, and ended up having to do a free hanging rappel down to the knots in the end of the rope, and a swing and quick axe placement to get over to other side of the shrund; I was then able to direct the other guys to a better spot to come down. From there it was an easy walk down to a ramp that put us on the ridge. Aaron rapping the huge icecliff. The ridge is pretty much amazing. The first half was class 4 with a little loose rock here and there, but fun climbing. A short simul pitch up an arete just past a neat ridge top sidewalk took us to the crux, which was a short but steep 5.8 fistcrack (could be bypassed to the left), and a pitch of fun 5.7 face climbing. From there we simul climbed 2 long low class 5 pitches on spectacularly clean and solid rock to the summit. This route deserves far more attention than I think it gets. It is like the west ridge in terms of rock quality, but a little steeper and about 3 times longer. I would say that it is the best moderate climb that I have ever done. Aaron called it a mini north ridge of Stuart. If you are up for the alpine shenanigans on the approach, seriously climb this route. After relaxing for a while on the summit we quickly downclimbed the west ridge, and once at the notch I told Aaron that we should be at the car by 8 or 9. I spoke too soon. Aaron found a reasonable way to downclimb all the way to the snow in one of the gullies and was way ahead of us, but Blake and I went a different way and decided to do a rappel because of all of the loose rock. At the base of the gully I started to pull our ropes, and a few rocks came down. Blake suggested that we get out of the line of fire, so he moved to the left of the gully, and I to the right. As I continued to pull the rope we heard the terrifying sound of a big rock coming down, and at the last moment I decided that Blake's spot looked more protected, and ran in that direction. The next few seconds happened slowly. I felt a horrible pain in my leg, saw a big rock and my shoe flying down the slope out of the corner of my eye, and gave a loud yell. I think we both knew in an instant that things had just gotten bad. I lifted my pant leg and a stream of blood squirted out a ways. I sat in shock holding pressure on the deep gash while Blake clipped me into a #2 Camalot anchor, grabbed my medical bag (which happened to be in my coat pocket because we had decided to leave my pack at camp), and went down to get my shoe. I quickly decided that my leg was not broken, which put my mind at ease because it meant that I would get to climb more this summer. I managed to stop the bleeding and bandage myself up, and somewhere along the line slid down a few inches to put my weight on the anchor. I suddenly heard a huge crack behind me. Blake yelled something and shoved me aside and in my numb state of shock I watched a several hundred pound block roll past where I had just been sitting. “Wow, things just aren't going well.” It turns out my weight on the anchor had caused the Camalot (which was destroyed in the process) to tear the flake off, just as Blake was working on setting up a better anchor. Without much discussion we decided that it was time to go. Blake found a crack to place the only nut that we had left (Aaron had the rack, and was way below us at this point) to lower me down to the glacier. Once on the glacier I glissaded and limped down to camp as Blake ran ahead to start packing up. Once I got back to camp we ate some dinner donated by our friendly neighbors (if you read this, thanks again), and Blake and Aaron packed up our packs, dividing up most of the weight between themselves as the marmots watched curiously. Under normal conditions it is reasonable to get to the trailhead in about an hour. We left a little after 8 and got down there at about 1. The walk out went pretty much as one might expect: a lot of swearing, some clenching of teeth, and a snail's pace. By 4am I was doped up in the Skagit Valley Hospital, chatting with the doctor about how great the mountains are. I got 6 stitches and can't really walk all that well for now, but things could have been a whole lot worse; in fact things went about as well as they could have in that situation. The point: Never get too comfortable or let your guard down in the mountains. Once you do, they will kick your ass just to remind you who's in charge. Rockfall has been my biggest fear for a long time, but for some reason I was not paying enough attention to it in this case. Climb with people who you think you can trust in stressful situations, and don't go out there if you aren't sure that you can keep your head on straight when the shit goes down. Aaron and Blake get two thumbs up as partners, as they really stayed calm, and were super helpful on the way out. Thanks guys. Oh, and if you climb with Blake, remind him that he might want all of that food that he may have left behind at the last minute. Gear Notes: Carry a medical kit and know how to use it. It doesn't need to be huge, you can only do so much out there, but you should be able to stop a good amount of bleeding to stabilize a person. Sure you can improvise bandages, but it is nice to not have to think about things and be creative when everything is crazy. I had a wide gauze roll, a sponge, tape, a triangle bandage, and was glad to use it all. We bootied about 4 nuts, 1 pin, 2 slings, an atc, and could have taken 2 ropes (though one was bleached white). Approach Notes: Road still closed at the Eldorado TH. This adds about 2.75 miles to the Boston Basin approach.

Trip: Gunsight Peaks Traverse - "Gunrunner" IV 5.10 Date: 7/11/2007 Trip Report: John Scurlock Photo A long-winded TR from a long, windy climb... The Gunsight range is a N-S trending ridgeline of fantastic granite near the southern end of the Ptarmigan Traverse. With four named summits over 8,000' tall and several intermediate pinnacles, it made the perfect candidate for an early July destination. Dan Hilden (Dannible) and I spent 3 full days climbing up there this week, and completed 2 new routes, plus the second ascent of the E. Face. The first day we were tired from the approach, so we didn't aim for anything too big, but found an exciting climb anyhow. I'll let the pictures tell the story... The route begins in the obvious corner which splits the face. We had to downclimb into the icy moat, so the first pitch is about 15' longer than it looks. The first pitch was splitter fingers/hands and ended at a nice ledge. Dan escapes the moat... The next pitch Dan lead around to the right, then straight up through wild loose overhanging chimneys. Here's looking straight down past my shaking toes: The last pitch was an easy romp to the summit where we found great views of Dome and Sinister. Artsy rope throw photo on the descent After playing in the spotlight of a natural cannonhole, we headed back to camp and sorted gear out for the next day. On July 9th we circled around the range along the Chickamin Glacier to the north end, well past the NE peak. We found some great hand cracks which lead to the ridge crest at its terminus and began the traverse. Wide stemming into a perfect hand crack... From the ridge crest we climbed south on fantastic granite above the Chickamin and Blue Glaciers. N->S allows you to climb the steep North faces and descend the south sides of the peaks. Pitch 2 climbs to the left (East) side of the crest and featuresan amazing 5.8 corner and face crack. The day definitely had more of a "climb" feel than a level traverse, and we'd both fully recomend it if you have a complete day in the area. Along the way we had one single rap from the NE peak and one double rap from the middle peak. The fourth pitch on the route was a well-protected face climb leading to an exposed roof on golden rock. We summited the Northeast peak in 7 or 8 pitches, and the climb to there would be a fun grade III. The last pitch to the NE summit actually began by circling around to the right (West) and climbing a chimney and then through the hole in the back of an enormous roof to the top. From there it was on to the North and Middle summits. The West face, in profile on the right, is still awaiting a FFA. There was one spot while climbing up the the North Peak where we were in a face crack which ended, so we pendulumed to the right to join other features. Apart from this bit of aid, the entire climb was done free, and I think we could have avoided it if we had looked ahead more carefully. By the time we summited our third peak (the middle one) I was feeling dehydrated and exhausted, but Dan found his second wind and led on as the sun set. He lead up to the top of the South Peak as the stars came out in force, and we rappeled down onto the Blue Glacier in the dark. The next morning we went to the East Face of the middle peak to climb the route which Sol (Frosty_the_tradman) and friend did last summer. (By the way, congrats to Sol on getting married last weekend, your route is fantastic too!) We broke up the pitches differently, and belayed on comfy ledges. See their trip report for more details. Above this splitter hand crack step right then up the finger crack and continue up the crack in the R-facing corner, over the lip(crux .10d), and to a big ledge. This elminates the need for a hanging belay and as long as you save one hand-sized cam for the last 15', it should be easy gear-wise, because of changing crack sizes. The second to last pitch features a beautiful delicate slab climbing. This face is in shadow all afternoon, and the sunset topout gets a Blake-and-Dan thumbs up. This was a fun trip and Dan is a great partner and camp chef. It was nice climbing with another young punk for once, as we have a combined age of only 41. [edited to add topo -porter] Gear Notes: Single cams Blue alien, #3 Camalot, #4 Camalot Double cams Green alien - #2 Camalot One set of nuts Crampons, Ice axe Should have brought more pringles... Approach Notes: Agnes Creek via Stehekin 3786-3784-Gunrunnertopo.doc

Trip: Three Fingers - Northeast Face (FA); FWA North Peak Date: 2/3/2007 Summary: First Ascent of the Northeast Face Three Fingers WI4+, M3 Grade IV. Feb 3rd 2007 Dave Burdick and John Frieh We believe this was the FWA of the North Peak of Three Fingers by any route. Also... we both wanted to make sure and tag the high point which prior to today we both thought was the south summit. By the time we reached the top of the ice the weather was already crapping out so we hit the North peak instead (which I think most would agree is the more aesthetic finish to the route). Dave checked today and according to Beckey's book the North peak has been the true summit since 1931 as in 31 they blasted 15 feet off the south peak, thus making it lower so we did the highest summit by accident I guess!?!? Hopefully someone can provide some further insight on either one of these... Northeast Face of Three Fingers courtesy of the great John Scurlock: topo (dots mark approximate belays): Conditions the week prior (taken jan 28th): Quick note for the newbs: Comparing John Scurlock's photo (top pic) with the conditions last week photo is a great illustration of how foreshortening works. blah blah blah: Ummm... where to start? Dave, Micah and Keith attempted this line some time last year (2006) but a combination of factors (deep snow, later start, etc) resulted in them coming up short... Jump forward a year. Dave, Pax, Keith and myself hiked in last Sat Jan 27th. With a little work we managed to get to the trailhead. WA state representatives: We hiked in and camped in the valley below the face at the last available running water. Dave and myself headed up the following morning... we had just gained the glacier when a healthy avy came down near the entrance to the couloir... we took a vote and bailed. On the hike down Dave and I joked about the bad luck the two of us have had with avyies (we've bagged a few attempts in the years due to avy) and this came out of it (Alpinedave's excellent artwork): Stay tuned for Volume 2! Never the less as bad as it sucks to get skunked we agreed we needed to come back before this weather window expired (which according to NOAA was roughly noon on Saturday) as the route looked to be in great shape. So Saturday it was! We left the car at 2 on Saturday and made good time to the face thanks in part to the boot pack we had installed the weekend prior and a full moon to light our way: We managed to find the access couloir that gains the glacier with relative ease and traversed over to the start of the route. We started the NE face couloir about first light. Dave fired through the initial step (a wee bit of 3/3+) and when the rope ran we began simuling. We covered approximately 1000' of mostly neve mixed with patches of ice and snow before arriving at the ice step. Dave on the initial step that starts the couloir: Lower couloir: So the ice... 600' of fat ice as blue as your balls are going to be after you look at the pics Pitch 1: Pitch 2: Looking down from the top of 2: Pitch 3: Pitch 1 was solid 4+... I could see it easily being a 5 in thinner conditions. Pitch 2 was 3+ and Pitch 3 was a 4. All 3 pitches were 60 m in length minimum (we climbed on a 70 m). From the top of the ice step we simul slogged for the north summit. To The Top! We encountered a short mixed step followed by a ramp that put us on top The mixed step: The ramp: Dave on top So we had topped the ice around noon and it started lightly snowing at 12:05 (why is it that NOAA is always right when ever you hope they are wrong ). We summited the north peak at 1:30 and by this time it was a healthy snowfall... we took a quick snack break and headed for home. Marco Polo on the descent: We wasted some time finding the access couloir that connects the glacier to the valley floor but we managed to find it before dark and followed our boot pack out and headed to Darrington for burritos at the Shell Station Gear Notes: 11 screws 1 picket (used a few times) Rock gear we brought: 4 cams to #2 camalot 7 nuts Rock gear we used: .75 and #1 camalot few nuts (larger size) Dave would likely recommend 1 set of ear plugs for this route or for that matter any route you climb with me ... 2 sets if I have dehydrated food for dinner Approach Notes: Darrington Music Notes Pete Murray, Bloc Party

Climb: WA Pass: South Early Winter Spire-F.A. Mojo Rising III 5.11 A1 Date of Climb: 10/14/2006 Trip Report: NORTH CASCADES: WASHINGTON PASS South Early Winter Spire (S.E.W.S) F.A. Northwest Face Direct “Mojo Rising” III 5.11 A1 Mark Allen, Joel Kauffman, Tom Smith Oct 13-14th 2006 Trip Report By Mark Allen I am reminded that the warm Indian summer is slipping. “Line is fixed!” My hands are nipped by the cold as I turn up the ibox. Not accustomed to classic wall style I impatiently wait at the belay but the Doors bootleg is helping me pass the time. The wall being technical it’s faster for both seconds to jug the line. We have been in this style for three pitches on a new line that the group had been cleaning from fixed lines days prier. I look down mouthing the words to Break on Through to Tom Smith as he jugs past the first three pitches covered on Friday Oct 13th. He gives me the thumbs up. Joel and I are re-racking getting him ready to cast off into the unknown pitches. Our excitement is highlighted by the strange tunes of Jim Morrison. Joel Kauffman Jugs fixed line on pitch 2 during the First Ascent of Mojo Rising. Photo By Mark Allen The Northwest Face of SEWS dominates the Western side of the Liberty Bell group in Liberty bowl. For years I have admired the aesthetics of this face. Its solid golden granite holds the afternoon light bringing out the contrasting black water streaks. The moonlight on this face is even more impressive. I never thought of climbing it until this year. During many trips to other spires I kept drawing lines on the face and then referencing the Red Fred. It seamed that several proud crack lines had been explored in the 70’s and 80’s. C. Northwest Face: FA Boving and Pollack 76’ FFA Boving & Kerns 77’ route III 5.11a begins low on the NW face and traverses to the West face into the famous Boving Roofs pitch finishing on the SW Rib. E. Northwest Face Var: Riders on the Storm FA Jim Yoder & Lee Cunningham August 15, 1989 A route that Becky recorded little about (but strangely knows exactly when it was climbed). From what I can piece together from studying the face, Becky’s description, and several topos of the Boving & Pollack 76’ route I can only see one available option. It appears that the party deviated from the Boving route during the third pitch into a vertical flake forming a flaring chimney or OW (This feature looks like a hand crack from the ground). At mid-pitch the crack doglegs left up an undercling ramp to a large ledge located directly plum under Dolphin Chimney. Then the most obvious thing to do was to get on the direct splitter 5.9ish corner hand crack to the Dolphin Chimney. I stood under this hand crack pitch several times and every time was disappointed it was not a part of our line. A. North Face: FA Doug Ingersoll & Andy Selters August 88’ III 5.10 A2 (5.12?) A steep face starting just below the chock stone raps takes a nearly straight line in cracks then traverses left on an arching crack. This leads directly to the false summit and avoids the SW ridge climb. Others seem to have attempted this line by the looks of the bail-tat that I always spy on the first pitch when coming of the N.E.W.S. After comparing the references to the rock it seemed the main breadth of the Northwest face appeared to remain undescribed and more importantly unclimbed, and for good reason. The most fantastic feature was a massive golden right facing dihedral that magically continues arcing across the top of the face intersecting high on the SW ridge just above the infamous Dolphin Chimney. Below the golden dihedral ramps and cracks incipiently completed a line except one area, the first pitch. This blank section guarded the upper pitches. During a climb of the NW corner of NEWS with Paul Butler earlier this summer I got a closer look at this crackless first pitch. Our imaginations were intrigued by the fun sporty face as our eyes moved from feature to jug to seam to finally crack. My hopes were now rekindled that this could and just might go. “Wow, that looks sweet!” I exclaimed then and the next three times I stood under the face this summer. But it would have to protect with bolts. The thought of bolting from the ground looked sketchy due to the nature of the face. I spoke with several route setters and first ascentionists that are historically prolific in the Methow valley to get their thoughts from a separate generation on the best approach. All thought that the classic nature of the pitch deserved to be properly (perfectly) bolted. So the approach was top-down for the first pitch. The rest of the climb would be discovered on the first attempt. Joel Kauffman on the first ascent of Mojo Rising Pitch 1 going at 5.11 sport. Photo by Mark Allen The second week of Oct I rap-reconed the face to confirm the lines continuity before one hole was drilled. It looked good. The belay stances rocked but not the gear. I established bolt anchors at three belays and we all cleaned/gardened the cracks that needed it the most, Pitch 3 and down (the steepest section). The first pitch required seven pre-placed bolts over 90ft and a short A0 bolt ladder to the belay. We pulled the lines and took a rest day. Mark Allen on pitch 2’s A1 seam. It is thought that this will one day go free. Photo by Tom Smith We left the car at 8:45am. Alpine starts were not an option during the fall cold temps and the dark morning of October 13th. The face does not get sun until afternoon. This made the first pitch a little sand bagged until the morning air warmed the rock. Pitch 1: Joel started climbing Pitch 1 at 10:30am. Joel just coming off his RMI guiding season was feeling floored by the sustained pitch but climbed excellent. We jugged the fixed line and congratulated Joel. Everyone raved about this classic pitch and can’t wait to get on it separately. Pitch 2: I left the anchor in full aid-mode and scrambled up the first ten feet plugged in my second cam and weighted it. It has been a while since my trip with Tom to the Valley but my aid skills were resurrected and then somehow peaked during this pitch. While top stepping fully extended off my fi fi I somehow slotted a stopper with the tip of my middle finger. The gear was good but small and sometimes tricky. We originally hoped that this pitch would go free. After the gardening recon it was not the 5.10 hand crack we had hoped but a steep aid seam. It appears to look freeable for some unearthly climber. With this futuristic vision in mind, I wanted to cater to a free ascent but thought it should go as clean as possible. We did not use pins. At mid-pitch the crack fades to a closed seam where a pin or gear could not be placed for two moves. I fixed a 3/4 inch bolt here for the aid and free ascent to come… Pitch 3: Tom Smith is off up a wide crack and moves over to a small ledge were he stares up at a short overhanging dihedral with a limited fingertip layback crack. His gear is just as cruxy as the climbing he reckoned at 5.11PG. Not able to trust his stances for placements he submitted to aid for three moves then pulled the roof of the dihedral on stellar finger locks at 5.10. He continued up for 30ft on ring locks and traversed left on a rail to the third stance. It was getting late in the afternoon, and we knew darkness fell at 6:30pm. At 4:15pm we fixed the lines to the ground. We knew we didn’t have enough time to explore and clean the last three pitches. Joel Kaufman on the “skywalker pitch” headed for he Golden Dihedral. Photo by Tom Smith On Oct 14th at 11:45pm Joel left the belay to the sound of the Doors on the ibox. Pitch 4: This is the traverse pitch to the Golden Dihedral. This is a fun exposed 5.7 ramp we called the “Sidewalk in the sky” shortened to the “Skywalker pitch”. Joel lowered 15ft from the anchor and pendulumed over to the ramp. Along the way he gardened for placements and established a belay. Tom and I separately rapped of the bolt anchor and pendulumed over. Mark Allen working Pitch 5 just below the 1 Ton belayer slayer. Photo by Tom Smith Pitch 5: I’m up. Originally I had planned to work the line up the laser corner crack formed by the dihedral. This did not directly connect with our summit cracks. On the other hand, just to the left was a much simpler 5.9 crack that did connect. The choice was simple. I got into an insecure layback with dirty flaring ring locks. This led to a dihedral with a cool stem box on edges while lay backing the wide crack. I climbed to the top of the dihedral and examined the status of a wedge shaped 1-ton block precariously perched in the corner. Touching on two points it seemed to levitate. There was no way not to climb on it. Planning my moves I committed to the hand jams with the same deliberate way I used to sneak back into my house in high school. Uneventfully I did not kill everybody. Good. I now entered the money section. A 100ft 5.8 finger crack dihedral. “This is the End my only Friend the End” Jim sang confidently with each brain-off finger lock. After 160ft, I clipped my old recon anchor. I brought Tom and Joel up hooting and hollering the whole way. Tom Smith enjoying 100ft of finger crack bliss on upper pitch 5. Photo by Joel Kaufman Pitch 6: The last new pitch took us to the simul-climbing ridge of the SW Rib. I was most familiar with the terrain so I cast off to seal the deal. We stashed one rope on Tom’s back and tied in like glacier climbers to the other. I pitched out the last 100ft on classic dirty alpine 5.6 and brought every one up to the ridge. Pitch 7: I re-racked with Tom. We were now staged for Simul. The three of us finished to the summit at 4:00pm. This was a fantastically fun line. Tom likes to refer to it as our Mini-big wall commenting on the classic wall style, the technicality, and the steepness. The rock is some of the best in the area. This was a worthy project that we are glad to have completed on the last day of Indian summer. Mark Allen on the summit after completing Mojo Rising. Photo by Tom Smith Storm front over Cutthroat Peak marking the end of Indian summer. The last clear day in our two-week streak. Photo by Tom Smith My approach to the Mojo Rising project was with the vision that in the future the route will go entirely free. So I made the effort to create a user-friendly line. I left cracks that were just protectable bolt free and bolted the faces to preserve an honest free ascent. The first three belays are bolted and rigged to rap with one 60M so it can be easily worked. I am guessing the 20M A1 pitch 2 will free at hard 5.12 or in the 13’s yet classic. ROUTE INFO Mojo Rising III 5.11 A1 Pitches: 7 (6 new) Pitch style: 1-4 climbed classic wall style. Pitches 5-7 the seconds freed Date/Time: 1-3 climbed on Oct 13th in 5 1/2 hrs. Pitches 4-7 Oct 14th in 4 hrs: 9 _ total (Due to party size and the fact that we are Gumby wallers, plus dirty cracks, and cold temps this is a recommended max time) Belays: Bolted at 1-3. Rigged for rap with one 60M. Trad anchors 4-7 (It is easy to bail during pitches 1-3. I suppose a party could bail into the NEWS gully from the 4th belay with one 60M rap or two 30M raps requiring a hanging stance and left gear) Gear Notes: Rack: Cams: 00”-4” Doubles sizes: 0.0, 0.4-3” TCUs helpful. Nuts: Single set with doubles in smaller sizes to 4 (Pitch 2) RPs a good range of smaller size 11 draws a few with slings 1X 60M Rope

Mike Layton and Erik Wolfe 8/26/06 Wednesday Mike and I met at the Marblemount Ranger Station to sort gear and secure our permit into the Southern Pickets on Wednesday evening. Geared up, we set out up the Goodell Creek and set up camp at the base of the boulder field around 4100' after dark. Thursday. In the morning we had fairly cloudy conditions as we continued our approach up and across the hill. Clouds drifted around us, allowing glimpses of the cirque, but visibility was decreasing. Towards noon we found ourselves completely socked in with clouds somewhere in the middle of the McMillan Cirque. Rather than wait and get cold, we spent the afternoon picking our way around the cirque with 200 feet of visibility, trying in vain to find our way to the Barrier, but more so to keep from getting bored and cold. Snack time: To show how poor visibility was, we ended up camping at Azure Lake Col!!! At 6:00 PM the clouds just weren't clearing. Shortly after dinner the storm set upon us for a bracing hour of torrential rain, wind, and hail. Mike predicted the fog to go away a 6pm. He was right! Just at 6pm the fog lifted and we got our views. Unfortunately, the fog decided to consolidate into a thunderhead, as we dove frantically under the tarp we foolishly pitched in a large patch of dirt. It took a few seconds for the water to come crawling under the tarp...so we dug a moat frantically. We were safe for another few minutes until the damn broke and our spot became a lake. We furiously shoved everything into our packs, and sat on top of them until the storm let up enough to move our tarp to a better spot. The rest of the evening was spent revising plans for the lost day, contingency plans if the weather continued, etc. ...to be continued...

Climb: Mongo Ridge-W.Fury F.A.- VI-5.10- Date of Climb: 8/28/2006 Trip Report: Quicky tr to tell about an amazing new route done on West Fury . The SW buttress of Fury proved to be very challenging, but was done in a 5 day solo effeort . The Trip Report is developing as I have time to write it, It is now located half - way down this page, Enjoy and Thanks, Wayne Gear Notes: lots(no porters)

Climb: Spectre Peak-Haunted Wall. FA. IV 5.9+ 2100' Date of Climb: 8/14/2006 Trip Report: Wayne and I had a big adventure and then I got home with the pre-spray all rigged up. Then I went to sleep and woke up tired and had to wait to type the real trip report until I finished eating breakfast and getting some shit done aroudn the house goddamnit

Climb: Gunsight Range-Various Date of Climb: 8/7/2006 Trip Report: My good friend Martins Putelis and I spent Aug 1-8 in the fabled Gunsight Range. We spent the first couple days slogging our way up through Bachelor Creek and over to the Dome/Chickamin col with some pretty monstrous loads. We climbed Dome, and then traversed the Chickamin Glacier to an immaculate bivy on the nunatak directly beneath the W Face of the North Gunsight Pk. The Chickamin had a few thin bridges, and was gained via a sketchy downhill leap across a five-foot gap in a broken snowbridge. Near the summit of Dome: Tower of Babel Bivy: We gave the W Face of the North Pk. a shot on our first day. P1 went fine, but we had a hard time locating the line to pull the roof and access the prominent cracks above on P2. Figuring we had plenty of time we bailed off with intentions to return. With plenty of time left in the day we scoped a different line in the cirque and gave it a whirl. The first pitch lived up to everything we had heard about the range, splitter fingers on perfect, clean, well protected granite, it clocked in at about 9+. P2 was a differnt deal a loose yet fun 10a chimney we dubbed the Hall of Hollows: We rapped from the top of p2, stoked on an adventerous and fun first day in the range. Day 2 saw us traversing onto the Blue Glacier to see if this hook-em-dook-em about the top of the 1979 Skoog/Brill line on the E face of the Main pk. falling off was really true. Well, it was, its gone. Not wanting to waste the day, we looked to the right of the line onto the NE face to see if anything else would go. We spotted a few nice looking cracks that lead to a prominent flake breaking the headwall above. what the hell, lets do this. The climb couldn't have gone any better, splitter, mostly well-protected, onsight, and all free at 10c. FA: NE Face Main Gunsight Pk. III 5.10c Sol Wertkin and Martins Putelis August 7, 2006 P1: from the moat crossing at the very bottom of the face work left on ledges and ramps to the base of two prominent hand-sized cracks to the right of the 1979 line, just left of a dark corner 5.6 P2: Climb the twin hand cracks to a ledge, move just right and climb wild eroded out dyke fist crack, move left, mantle, and continue via face holds to a good belay 5.10b Martins getting ready to mantle: Looking up the twin cracks from the base: P3: Traverse right via prominent flake, mantle and continue up, look left around corner to perfect splitter, climb splitter to arete belay 5.10a. Martins seconding P3: P4. Work up thin corner on right, move left to prominent flake seen from below. Pull bulge on left-hand side of flake into mind blowing splitter in amazing position. Continue up to slab of E face and climb left via runouts to good belay on base of the SE ridge. A long pitch 5.10c Beginning of P4: Pulling into the splitter: P5: Continue up moderate and airy ridge to summit. 5.7 SE ridge with Sinister in the background: The next day we woke up late and climbed the unique and fun South Cannonhole Ridge on the S Gunsight Pk. Its a super fun ridge that besides the memorable traverse is quite easy. Martins starting the traverse: Myself contemplating the Cannonhole: Stoked, we bowed down to the Gunisight gods and thanked them for the great time. Gear Notes: NE Face: Glacier gear, double set of cams to #3,one #4. Double ropes. Cannonhole ridge: single set to #3, nuts, single rope. Approach Notes: just pm if you really want this stuff.

Climb: Mt. Buckner-Southeast Ridge (F.A.) IV 5.8 Date of Climb: 8/6/2006 Trip Report: On August 5th and 6th Gordy Skoog and I climbed the SE Ridge of Mt. Buckner. Gordy had been eyeing this climb for 25 years, ever since seeing the line from a climb of Goode. I had been interested in the line for about 25 days, since seeing it while windsurfing in front of my house. I asked Colin Haley if he was keen to have a go at it, but he was busy with some other little climb , and he mentioned that Gordy had shown an interest in the Ridge. We met up at the toe of the ridge and the base of the Buckner Glacier on the evening of the 5th, after I approached via Park Creek and he came down Booker-Buckner Col. We soloed the lower 1/3 of the ridge in a couple hours that evening finding nice 4th and low 5th class climbing. (Gordy still looking photogenic after 12+ hours on-the-go.) We slept at a notch where the glacier reaches the ridge and began pitching things out the next morning. The climbing was initially quite loose, but the rock quality improved and good cracks were found as we climbed up the first of several major towers on the ridge. We made one rappel to get down the backside of this tower and decided to try bypassing future towers in order to avoid more up-and-down than needed. After skirting around to the left side of the ridge, we climbed back to the crest and topped out on the SE summit at 5:30. We scrambled over to the true summit and enjoyed the views all the way to Puget Sound before heading down towards Horseshoe Basin. I spent the night in Horseshoe Basin and hiked home yesterday, while Gordy headed out via Sahale Arm. We creatively named it Southeast Ridge of Mt. Buckner – grade IV, 5.8 If you do the climb from Stehekin mid-season onward, you won’t need an ice axe, crampons, or even boots. Ditching my crampons and approaching in light running shoes definitely made climbing easier on the carry-over. We figured if you climbed up and rapped off the towers we bypassed it would likely be a grade V route. Thanks again to John Scurlock for some excellent photos and to Gordy for the climb. Gear Notes: Rock gear to 2" Approach Notes: Leave the Park Creek trail in open meadows 15 minutes past the 5 mile camp, cross the creek and head directly to the base of the route. Two hours from the trail to the start of the climb with no brush and no steep snow this time of year.

Climb: Pernod Spire -Direct West Face, III-IV 5.10+ Date of Climb: 7/15/2006 Trip Report: Tony and I climbed a new route on Pernod Spire, the tallest of the Wine Spires near Washington Pass. We climbed the Direct West Face. III-IV 5.10+ We left the car at about 6am and quickly made our way up to the bench below the spires. We traversed right below the spires and started up the gully below Pernod Spire we scrambled up the gully which was mostly shittly kitty litter and big loose blocks...fun fun as we approached the face we were wondering if the rock would improve at all When we got to the base of the face we wandered around looking for a line with climbable rock. The face has a large wave like roof about a pitch up and we had thought that the line would go to the left of the roof. We finally found a crack and corner sysem with solid granite and started up. The first pitch was nice hand cracks and a corner that led up to slabs below the roof Tony led the second pitch which climbed a thin crack and a slab up and right, right up to below the roof. The third pitch was the crux. I traversed on slabs left around the roof and launched up an incredible corner with an off-fingers crack...steep, with a nice bulge, this led to some wild stemming moves and finished with a leftward move into a seam and grooves, a full 60m pitch at 5.10+ The 4th pitch started with an interesting leftward step across a slab into more cracks. Intermittent finger cracks led up for a full pitch between a corner and a huge freestanding horn. The fifth pitch started with another interesting move right off the belay, and then up an arching corner with a thin finger crack under the lip and finished with a really cool move up and over the lip and up ~30' of face/slab. Tony led the 6th pitch up a broken face and through a little notch and then left on nice cracks. the 7th pitch was another nice crack that seamed out for a few moves and brought us up to the ridge crest, where I traversed the airy narrow ridge, until...OH CRAP! We can't get to the summit from here! Damn! what to do? We ended up rapping a full 60m down to sandy benches and finished the climb on the 5.10 corner of the Nelson/Bale route, which is a very fine pitch. The summit block has 2 old aid bolts, the first with no hanger and the second about 1/2 way out of the hole with a rattly hanger, made for a couple exciting moves. The summit is spectacular, the highest of the wine spires...but no time to waste, the sun was low on the horizon and we still had to get down. A long rap brought us to the Pernod/Chablis spire. Major rope issues, ended up with me with shorter ropes, but enough for 2 more raps to get off. The snow on the east side of the spires was just soft enough for us in our tennies, and once below Chianti Spire there was a nice boot pack up to Burgundy Col. A long jaunt down from the col led to a much needed frosty brew! We both feel that this is a great route. Varied, and sustained climbing, fun moves on high quality rock. p1-5.8 p2-5.8 p3-5.10+ p4-5.9 p5-5.10 p6-5.9 p7-5.9 p8-5.10 -Ross Gear Notes: 2 60m ropes full rack incl. 4" (could use one larger maybe) left a fixed rap station of equalized nuts on the ridge crest below a blank face to rap to benches below Approach Notes: Easy approach up trail to bench below spires. Traverse right until gully below Pernod Spire Up gully to toe of west face 1st pitch starts just around the left of the toe in an obvious corner with nice hand cracks on nice dark, solid rock

Climb: Gunsight Peaks-West Face & South Ridge Date of Climb: 7/10/2006 Trip Report: Just The facts: July 8-10 saw myself and John Frieh climb the North, middle, and South Gunsight Peaks. We did the 2nd ascent of the North Peak's W. Face (new route or variation of the 1986 route), and we believe our route on the South Peak was a new line entirely. It was a great trip to a very remote spot. The Narrative: On the morning of the 8th, we set out from the Agnes Creek trail, and climbed to the Chickamin Glacier where we set up camp for a few days in the "Patagonia of the North Cascades." We were really hot, tired, and dehydrated from the approach, but decided to give the 1986 Nelson/Dietrich route a try, on the towering West face. I led a 40m pitch of sustained 5.9 on awesome granite. I climbed past two sets of bail gear, one of which we believe belonged to Forest Murphy's attempt a few years ago. (He had previously told John that they were off-route). After stopping at a saucer-sized belay perch and bringing up John, he lead up about 20' to where a wide roof intersected our line and all cracks thinned out. I was nervously trying to balance on my one-foot belay ledge when I heard a sasquatch-like scream and saw John flying through the air. He had taken a ~20' fall and was luckily caught by a 1/2" cam he'd placed below the roof. We decided to call that our "recon" attempt and go back to the shade of our tent and re-hydrate. On the 9th we braved the 5 minute approach back to the route, climbed back up to the first day's belay spot, and John led out again. We were able to work together to ID a likely looking crack to get past our prior high spot, and some A1/A2 moves on hand-tied aiders got us past the roof and into a set of good looking flakes. The next pitch (#3) was my lead, and I started out with some free moves up to 5.10ish before resorting to A0 cam-hanging as the crack widened and flared. With a mix of aid and free moves I lead to the next belay and John got the security of a top-rope on a beautiful fist-jam flake pitch. Too much fun... For pitch four, the flake/corner system went through a couple of small roofs and continued to be fairly vertical the whole way. John was grateful for the #5 camalot as he climbed up more vertical granite to a belay at the first moderately comfy ledge on the face. I followed mostly free, but with some definite rope-tugging on sections as well. From here I grabbed, the rack, and led straight up into P.5, a dark corner straight over our heads. This was a really fun free lead for me, as I knew we were getting close, and the climbing was a good mix of stemming, face features, and crack jams. The top of the corner visible from the belay spot is the top of the route. You literally mantle up from the corner onto the flat summit terrace. From the exit move atop P.5, you could easily flick a rock out a few feet and it would free-fall to the base of the wall. We didn't see any of the three bolts used by the 1986 party, we climbed the wall in 5 pitches (as opposed to their 7) and we encountered bail gear of other climbers who felt that they were NOT on the previously established route. We don't know how much is shared between the two lines, but maybe Jim Nelson could add some input. It's rad to consider that the only other ascent of that face was done the year I was born. After looking at the old summit register and reading the autograph of some guy named Fred Beckey, we scrambled to the North/Middle peak notch, and climbed a solid pitch of low-5th class to that summit as well. On the 10th, John and I decided to try to climb the South Peak as well. From the Gunsight-Blizzard Col we climbed North along the ridge crest, before dropping off the ridge to the right. It would be best just to stay to the right of the ridge on easy snow and slab. Eventually we reached a clean right-facing corner and began the route. The corner went at 5.7, and I led up and continued to the ridge crest on cool chickenheads and face features and belayed up John. From here John took the lead on a balancy and memorable traverse pitch across a giant cannonhole, and into the last notch before the South Peak. From here, one more pitch of mid-fifth class led to the south summit. From this summit, you can rappel the last pitch, and then make one overhanging 90' rappel onto the snow down the east side. We're calling this the South Ridge - South Gunsight (Grade II, 5.7, 3 pitches) Overall this was an amazing few days in the mountains. Thanks John Scurlock for the really inspirational photos! (Scurlock's shot of the 3 summits) Gear Notes: glacier gear, full set of nuts, full set of cams, pink tricam. Approach Notes: Should have been a week or two later for ripe huckleberries.

Climb: whitehorse mountain-east face Date of Climb: 2/19/2006 Trip Report: here's the hype: peter and i climbed the major chimney/gully weakness shown in john scurlock's excellent photo http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/40358778 of the east face. the approach into buckeye basin on saturday was straightforward. we left the truck on the squire creek road, crossed squire creek, headed up the ridge and eventually contoured into buckeye basin. good neve through small trees and up avalanche chutes led to the upper basin and a tent site not far from the route. after a short problem over the 'schrund, i think we led seven 60m+/- pitches before simul-climbing ~4 pitches of steep snow to the summit. the climbing was a mixture of good neve/water ice and entertaining snice. pete had a couple fine but short sections of vertical/slightly overhanging snice. pro and belays were good/adequate....a recommended route. downclimbing and 2 raps led down the south face/southeast ridge. being tired of downclimbing, i convinced pete to rap the first descent gully we came to though we both knew we could walk down the next one to the south. anyway, my stupidity won the day and we did three more raps before arriving back at the tent late in the afternoon. we initially thought the route might go in two days roundtrip (still might) but we opted to sleep instead of thrash. i cut the fuel supply a little short so we had to drink our urine. ten hours of sleep and a few hours of walking took us back to the truck. unfortunately, the bedliner i was cleaning as justin and darrin drove up would not fit in my rig. if you need one for a small pickup, it's sitting by the side of squire creek road. pete has some photos that he'll likely share. grade: III/IV, AI 4. Gear Notes: small rack of pins, nuts and cams to 3" plus a handful of screws

Climb: Three Fingers-FWA East Face Couloir Date of Climb: 2/19/2006 Trip Report: Three Fingers East Face Couloir a.k.a. "The Last Hurrah" a.k.a. "Journey to the Heart of the Spirit World" Darin Berdinka and myself climbed the East Face Couloir on Three Fingers. We believe this to be the first winter ascent of the route, which was a fine climb in a spectacular alpine setting, positioned as it is underneath the complex east face. We chose to forego any summit bid, deciding instead to traverse steep sugar snow above a 1500' abyss and descend mysterious snow slopes on the North side of the mountain. One rappel was made on the descent from a picket set as a deadman. No spirits were met at the Heart of the Spirit World, which was a good thing from our perspective. -Justin Thibault oops...picture HERE

Climb: Lake 22 Headwall-NW Chutes, IV, AI4, 13 P Date of Climb: 2/12/2006 Trip Report: Ok- Here goes: 11 years, including 6 attempts of this north facing 2300 foot wall has at last been completed. This is perhaps a new route, one that has held our thoughts and aspirations since a recon hike in 1995. The typical weather patterns of low elevation Puget Sound basin have generally dictated poor unconsolidated snow and ice in recent years. In 2005, however, we noticed a trend towards upper-level inversions, which (presumably) are responsible for the unlikely abundance of Snoqualmie and Lennox Mtn fun stuff. Here is the overview from Lake 22. Leaving the trailhead @ 3 am, we were at the base of route and geared up at 6 am. P1- screws, pickets, veggies, tree belay Pitch 2 was continuation of ramp @ approx.AI 2, with roots, screws, and lousy pickets for pro, tree belay Stephen ready for P3- kind of scary traverse over steep terrain- we have been here before. Ice was noticably thinner than 2003. Stubbies, pickets, trees, hope..., tree belay Sunrise at last... P3 Glacier Peak and Big Four Two simulclimbed steep snow rope lengths followed by an AI3-4 pitch led to a semi-hanging tree belay on an exposed rib. Screws, pickets Stephen had the crux pitch with bulging AI4 for 30M. Screws, pickets to tree belay Lake 22 far below Three Fingers/Liberty Bell group: Gully steepens and constricts. Pickets, simulclimb... Stephen seconds P10- 2 small ice crystal avy's from the sunny summit made for painful reminder of location-Pickets, LA's KB's, cams. KB/LA belay Stephen leads the "Gentlemen's Highway" where we thought the climb ended at the ridge. HaHa- two more pitches to go- pickets, tree belay Top out @ 4:30 pm- Nice views of Rainier, Pilchuck, Vesper, and Index Mt Pilchuck view to west We thought about rappelling the route, then finally decided on the "walkoff' as described in the Kloke Winter 1 Day Ascents. Due to relatively large cornices on the ridge to the East, we were continually cliffed, and ended up rapping in the dark to the Hemple Lake basin. From the basin we had to ascend steep loose snow (1000 ft) to the saddle that overlooks Lake 22 to the north. Descent to the lake was not particularly straightforward in the dark, and required several more sleepy raps. Overall, the descent we took from the climb's summit entailed approx. 2 miles of corniced ridge hiking, 7 hours, 15 headlamp driven 35M rappels, and many vertical to overhanging ravines and gullies. Needless to say, we would strongly recommend descending the route, bringing an extra zip line, bail web, pins, and extra headlamp batteries to get off this "low elevation sub summit". I returned home almost exactly 24 hours from the previous day's departure. Yes- being the good employee, I slept a couple hours and drove to work a full day. Good weather this weekend- Go get it!! Gear Notes: 70M rope, 10-12 screws, screamers, 2 kb's, 2 La's, #1&2 Camalot, 1 set nuts, lotza slings, rap gear Approach Notes: Lake 22 trailhed to lake=2.8 miles, cross lake and follow WSW (.5 mile)to base of climb (left of major gully separating towers from main wall) Begin at rocky right trending ramps. Descend route or be prepared for a very long ridge traverse

Climb: Castle Peak-FA: Sod-On-Me III 5.10+ A2 M4 Date of Climb: 9/29/2005 Trip Report: Well Darin was supposed to write the TR, but i guess he is too busy with the homelife. I'll just add my photos and let him tell the tale. The larches are turning and it was just gorgeous outside just before the storm. Darin is cool, it was very cold, we missed the storm by a hair, and it was the worst route i've ever done up top, one of the best down low. Quote of the trip from Darin, "Oh God what have I done!" after a particularly serious and irreversible moss mantle to a wet blank steep slab runout into drippy moss mushroom land. Very funny in a not so funny kinda way. Do tell the tale of stormin' the castle oh Darin, won't you!?!? Gear Notes: rack up to 3" ice tool for moss mushroom manteling Approach Notes: prettiest damn trail in the world

Climb: Green Creek Wall-Evil Twin Arete - III 5.9 Date of Climb: 10/10/2005 Trip Report: Yesterday David Trippett (AviTripp) and I finished the climb of the Evil Twin. It wasn't fantastic weather, and up high, not fantastic rock either. David lead some wet thin, hard stuff that took major guts. The first pitch begins at the very toe of the rock, and followed a solid vertical crack system for nearly a full rope's length. The crux involved chimneying-becoming-stemming before turning a roof just before the belay. The pitch ends at the shrub atop this roof, just left of the light-colored rock. From here, the next two pitches were steps of low-mid fifth (fun finger cracks) with amounts of easy scrambling between. We simulclimbed these. Pitch 4 is a wide crack, then a broad slab leading to a headwall, with chimneys on the left and right. Take your pic... both about the same difficulty. Left side protects better with smaller gear. Definintely a good pitch. From here we belayed the next pitch in the rain, and I lead out right then back to the ridge crest. Tougher and funner climbing could likely be had by going a more direct way. After a bit more simulcimbing, we got to the base of a steep, soaked corner. Large slabs of smooth green rock lead to the ovious dihedral. I belayed from the shelter of a nice roof, which guarded me from falling rain and rocks. Several times I almost suggested David try to put pro in and lower off, but I held my tongue. His lead through the toughest climbing of the route, and then the most friable rock, definitely made me glad to be on tope-rope. The top couple hundred feet were 4th and low-fifth that we simuled as well. The rock quality deteriorates up high, definitely a lot more exposed to the elements up there. We hit the arete's high point, then did a mostly down-climb descent to the west. The schwack out to the trail couldn't have ended soon enough, it was almost headlamp time in the forest. Green Creek is a beautiful stream. Gear Notes: Medium rack up to 4" I forgot a 3.5 dmm cam somewhere on the top two pitches. It's probably forever lost to humanity. Approach Notes: In early October '05 the Nooksack River changed its course, and the bridge now ends 1/2 way across the stream. Wading back through the water by headlamp was really fun.