TimL

Not counting Squishy, wonder what would be the hardest aid pitch in the NW? Something on one of the North Norweigan Buttresses on Index, Dolemite Tower, something on the Upper Town Wall or something on the Diamond on Bear Mountain? I dunno. But it is an interesting question. Excluding Squishy, is there even an A5 pitch in the NW?

Just be careful with Ironhorse. I've seen many people both free and aid zipper pieces on that route after not placing a directional piece at the bottom. Granted I've only done it once on aid, but I think its a spicer aid route then free.

10% is a really good short aid route that can introduce you to cam hooking and thin nutting.

A very well written and insightful article. I bumped into Brian for the first time a couple years ago on the Ptarmigan Traverse. Hopefully his recovery will be quick and he will be able to return to the mountains soon.

Nevertheless, thanks for sharing the story and the pictures. It was a great read and the pictures are inspiring!

Funny thing about this place. I've had some extremely good customer service experiences, then I've had some bad ones as well. Although I will say that when we ordered a really expensive tent and it came in damaged, they solved the problem quickly and handled everything very well and were freindly to boot!

I only wish I couldn't feel the abrasion. There have been several times that I have felt the blood trickle down my leg and especially ankle only to know that I still had 10 meters left. I guess it comes to a point in which you have to just grin and bear.

The last pitch of Narrow Arrow at Index is a short, full on OW. Bring something bigger than a 4 to protect it!

I've walked past this route. Looks really nice, but really, really dirty with a tree growing out of it. Bet it would be a fine route if someone wanted a cleaning project.

yeah there are sooooo many 5000 to 7500m peaks there! guess i'm just not a mountain dork. thanks for pointing that out

What about Baffin Island or Greenland?

Thanks for the relpys. I've received the info in which I was looking for.

I bet there is more stuff around the Enchantments adn Stuart, you might just have to look at it in a different light?

I'm told he's living in Spain and since I'll be shortly taking an "extended" trip to the area, I wanted to see if I could obtain some information. If you have any means of contacting him then please PM me. Thanks, Tim

Nice climb. Gets morning sun. If I remember correctly, 3 pitches. You could maybe run pitches together but with the middle pitch there would be a lot of rope drag. Bring cams to 3 or 3.5 I believe as it might get wider at the top. The decent is off the backside of the Smith Rock Group that faces the main highway and you only need one 60 meter rope. From the end of the route, scramble up to some huge chains. Its pretty easy.

I'm not sure if the name has been released yet, but a group of us including Eric started climbing and bouldering in the summer way back in the day at Marymoore Park. I can always remeber running into Eric at Marymoore and around Redmond. Although I was never close to him, I remeber him to be a very positive, upbeat and nice person. It is a shame that he left us at such a young age. Condolences to his family. RIP Eric

i agree with rumr. there is a bolt where you need it and they are weell spaced, but the climbing is solid. amazing route.

Thanks for the replys and the information! It is very useful. MM - We were climbing in Bancroft. Pretty much everything was in. Rollorcoaster and the climbs above. Hidden Gully and Amazing Glaze. I climbed Dirty Harry and it was around M5 WI4-. It was about 8 meters of rock and ice to get to the ice. Fun climb.

Last Sunday I was climbing ice in -25c for most of the day. Like almost every time in cold weather I got the screaming barffies a couple of times, but towards the end of the day, I was belaying the last pitch and I felt my fingers get really cold then numb. Nothing unusual happens all the time. I tried to warm them up a little, but since it was the last pitch and the car was a five minute walk away, I figured I would just wait until I got to the car. Got to the car and I warmed my fingers up and I noticed the tips pinky, ring and middle fingers were totally numb after I warmed them up and devoid of sensation but they were very sensitive once I put them under warm or cold water. Now four days later, I regained sensation in my middle fingers, but the tips of my pinky and rings fingers on both hands are still numb, although a little better than Sunday. First I thought it could be frostbite, but there is no discoloration, blisters or any other signs. Then I thought that I could have bashed them really hard while climbing, but they are not swollen or discolored. This would only lead me to believe that I got frostnip and maybe a little nerve damage. Has anyone ever had this happen before or have any experience with frostbite/frostnip? What happened? What did you do about it? What do you do to prevent it in the future? I am concerned about it especially since I'll be in the Canadian Rockies next week. Thanks, T

If you have a good vehicle, try This House of Sky in the Ghost. You won't be dissapointed. The Balfour Wall on the Icefields Parkway is good. Guiness Gulley is really good with a hard WI3 pitch at the end. Grotto Falls is nice, with a good walk to the area, but it will likely be packed with people. 2 o'clock Falls is a nice WI2 and SARS thru 5.7.0 gives a couple of good lines to climb in a day. Lady Wilsons Clevage thru Wilson Major would be good, but has serious avy hazard. Have fun!

1.) Climb a bunch of ice routes in the Rockies over the New Years Holiday. 2.) Climb in January the Black Dike, Cannon Cliff & Pinnacle Gulley on Mt. Washington in NH. 3.) Finish my solo aid and free projects at Index. 4.) Climb as more of the classic routes in the Cascades that I have yet to do when I come back: Clean Break, W Face CBR, NF of Shuksan, etc, etc, etc 5.) Start exploring the mountains around my possible new Euro home: Picos De Europa, French Alps and the Pyrenes. 6.) Work on improving my onsight level.

R - No offense, don't say something like that cause I call bullshit. Having been up there last week, I think the route will go at least to the bolt ladder. You might have to scratch around for features around the bolt ladder, or add a variation. I for sure think it will go, but it will be really, really hard. I say this because there are a lot of features to work with on the aid sections of the route. Granted, it'll take some time and be really, really hard.

to the B.A.S.E. jumper who launched right over me as I was soloing Town Crier today. Just finished the pendulum/tension traverse and was hanging on two tiny rp's when I hear this crazy noise and look up to see this guys chute open not more than 70 feet above me and 30 feet away from the wall. By far one of the most amazing things I've seen.

Thinking about heading into the hills on Thursday for a long day climb. Eldo, Hood... PM me if interested.