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Great subject. A few of mine. I'm on the right, first time up Rainier 7/20/69, the same day Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon! My buddy Eric skiing the Emmons 2013 (not quite 50 yrs. later). NW face of The Great White Throne, Zion NP, 1975. Looking down the NW face 2014 ("Why the hell did I climb that?") after getting guided up a new route my friends put up on the south face.

Trip: Diptop Peak - South face/rib route - FA - 1,000’, 5.8 Trip Date: 09/27/2025 Trip Report: The complex south (or perhaps SSW) face of Diptop, Jason Hummel photo: “Not too bad for a couple of old guys.” “Not too good either.” The statement and its rejoinder were uttered upon arrival at the truck -- just after dark -- and ended 14 hours of moving, including pioneering a route up (with benefit of hindsight) a questionable objective. Apparently one person’s idea of a good time is another’s idea of a bad time. The exchange echoed an earlier sentiment: “One person’s inspiration is another person's embarrassment”. Diptop is just north of Mt Daniel, and just south of the insta-famous Jade Lake. Rolf sketched our approx route below, fairly borrowed from a Wikipedia image (in turn apparently derived from a pic by Martin Bravenboer): Our "meandering-like-a-drunk" route gained 1,000 vertical feet, and entailed 6 roped pitches (the last one v. short) and a fair bit of soloing. Photos from afar inspired hope that 1. we’d be climbing on granite, and 2. there would be appealing lines on the central buttress of the expansive south face, or on the face itself. Upon closer inspection: 1. the rock was granitic, but one might say it has exfoliated "in an unfriendly manner for free climbing." And 2., while there were cracks and attractive features, it was difficult to ascertain if the seemingly discontinuous lines could be joined. We leave that to more competent and/or bolder parties to figure out. The route was reasonably solid for the alpine, and had its moments of fun. It was mostly scrambling, though it had some contrived steeper climbing and some required steeper climbing. Rolf drew the short final bit -- arguably the crux -- to the ridge crest, not far from the summit. On some of the best rock of the route, although with limited pro, he made a couple of sporty moves with a Vlad-the-Impaler flake threatening his nethers: Despite a "limited alpine skill set", perhaps indeed an “ordinary person accomplishing extraordinary things” is possible, if by extraordinary the speaker meant finding an ignominious way up a fractured granitic face. Maybe they were just “projecting insecurities", since this venture was their pet project. We might have been mildly disappointed with the route, but random insults like “twee”, “cloying”, “piker”, and various vitriolic un-printables kept the mood light. And the surroundings weren’t half bad. A couple more photos below. First roped pitch, after several hundred feet of soloing up to 5th class: Relatively high on the route: An oblique look at the central buttress from the summit area: We approached from the Tonga Ridge/Deception Cr cutoff trailhead. This much shorter approach from the north (vs coming from the south) does require travel up/down some steep timber, duff, and a bit of brush, but offers scenery, solitude (until arrival at Marmot and Jade Lakes), and berries. A little off the optimum route on the last steep stretch of the return, while monkey-bar-jungle-gyming from tree to tree down pine-needle covered duff, someone might have mumbled “we can always rap”. I’m happy to share our approximate track if you’re interested in approaching the scenic lakes without the trail slog. More photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/H1e1ExQ1PTVEohUE8 And more about the rock in the area here (courtesy of Rolf: https://bluemarbleearth.wordpress.com/2024/09/16/tuck-lake-and-jade-lake-geology/ Gear Notes: Took a standard double rack, but a single would do. Approach Notes: See above. To access the south face, wander down from Diptop Gap.

It’s a bit more fiddlly than the inreach (I have a Mini2). Others thing about the mini2 is it has insane battery life, versus a phone (unless you go airplane mode, etc). I also wonder how much longer the satellite messaging will be free…I’m betting it will at some point cost extra. that said if I already had not paid for the garmin I probably wouldn’t at this point. And I’m probably not getting good value for my money given how many times a year I am truly out of cell service. But for now I still pay for the Garmin service. it won’t be long till there won’t be such a thing as “off the grid” or “out of cell service “ … the death of that freedom

Renton Granite.

Frostbite is in one of the volumes (second?) of the red Nelson Potterfield Selected Climbs. But I agree, that one is great.

Alan Kearney's book has this one, and I agree on its status as a mountaineering classic. A plug for his excellent guide that is probably out of print at this point.... I would add the Index Traverse, East Ridge of Jack Mountain, Nohokomeen Headwall on Jack (spring), Lincoln (winter)....will try and think of others. Great idea for a thread!