goatboy

Getting back to the original post: 1) What's the consensus of everyone who posts here regarding spray, insults, hijacking, abuse of newbs, etc.? (Opinions of real people, not avatars.) If you want the opinions of real people, ask them in person, face to face. If you want the opinions or spray or "abuse" of avatars, then post your message on a bbs, as you did. This is like asking characters on stage to respond as the actors, not as the characters they're playing. 2) Will the "abusers" voluntarily control themselves if consensus dictates as such? Since when do "abusers" voluntarily control themselves? Do you really want "consensus" or do you want a pre-determined tone or culture which is non-threatening to you? Pop psychiatry moment of the day: I think climbing, and being around climbers, meets certain needs for you that you try to meet through this online community. I think this community fails to meet those needs for you, and you're upset about that. So, how do you suppose that you could meet those needs in a better, more healthy way?

I'm "vibrating with energy" just thinking about the popcorn that I could eat there....so beautiful, so alive....

Great shots and helpful "second edition" of my route overlay. Thanks, telemarker!

You're talking, I believe, about descending the North Side via the NW Buttress, a series of many rappels back to the Stuart Glacier. Not recommended, probably, unless you're familiar with that part of the mountain (i.e. locating it by descending the West Ridge route). Just go down the Cascadian.

Gary, I have a bunch of Desert SW guidebooks and would be happy to let you browse them to see which ones you'd like to purchase for your trip...just PM.

Glorious!

Using the route overlay I drew, can you describe where the undercling goes? Must be to the right somewhere of where we were....

Oct 6-8 it is?

Depends on how you define "accommodate!" I did not bivy on this route, but remember passing several spots that were large enough for this function. After the steep snow traverse, you regain the ridge crest at an obvious, wide flat section -- this would accommodate a large group I'm sure. It's also nice to get all the snow done on the first day, I bet.

Thanks everyone for your kind words about the photos and TR. I have been playing with some photo editing software and put together this annotated panorama of the Enchantments. Please offer feedback if any of my labels are inaccurate! I am curious about the large peak between Prusik and Enchantment on my image. Anyone? Thanks!

Thanks! I may be many things...but I'm no longer a car-to-car fiend. On the other hand, I do like Margaritas...

Climb: Dragontail Peak-Backbone Ridge Date of Climb: 9/2/2006 Trip Report: Three quotes by local guidebook authors resonate in my head as I pack gear for my Dragontail trip: Kearney : "Backbone Ridge is unique as Cascade climbs go because it has a very sustained crack pitch instead of an odd hard move here and there." Beckey: "The route's 21 pitches will possibly force a bivouac...some parties have found easier ways to climb the Fin. Other parties have largely avoided it." Nelson: "The Backbone Ridge on Dragontail is easier to get to than to climb...competent route finding and the ability to travel light and fast are necessary to avoid a bivy on this route." Wondering what my future holds in store for me, I stuff crampons and a #5 camalot into my pack and head to Leavenworth Thursday night... Fri AM: First in line for permit. Get the only remaining Colchuck Permit. Hooah. Meet partner, Robes, who has driven all the way from Klamath Falls to be a ropegun... Robes indicating the size of our largest Camalot hauled up the hill... A leisurely 2.5 hour hike brought us up to Colchuck Lake We made camp at the far end of the lake in a lovely spot nestled between boulders, and caught this look at the peak as the sun set: Sat : Wakeup at 4 AM for coffee and off by 5:20 or so. Crampons helped us crunch across the moderate snow to gain the scrambling on loose ledges, eventually finding our way to the 5.6 corner, which would prove to barely warm us up for the off-width lurking just above: The 5.6 first pitch corner A short jaunt around the corner revealed the O-W (ow!) but it turned out to be much more straightforward than we feared. It was useful to have the 4.5 and the 5, though the climbing was largely secure and even enjoyable. Here's Robes topping out on the OW and preparing to haul the packs: "I might be crazy but I like the in-secur-ity!" Much has been written about the OW. All I have to add is that it was easier than I expected and more secure than I had heard it is. Soon, we were following the ridgecrest and occasionally veering off to either side on much easier, mostly solid rock: Upon reaching easier terrain, simul-climbing took us quickly to the base of the Fin, where we saw this snow feature we called "the Fertile Crescent": Turning back towards Colchuck, we noticed this strange phallic spire sticking out of the margin of the glacier: It was 12:25 and we had our hands on the still-shadowed lower reaches of the Fin...we knew this was where other parties have encountered route-finding challenges and we took way too long reading through route-descriptions and trying to match the features we could see with the written descriptions. Nothing really seemed to make sense or jump out at us, so we decided to simply climb and re-assess at each new belay...anyway, here's the approximate route we ended up finally following: I lead the first pitch up into the loose rock of the lower fin, almost to the first big ledge, and then Robes took us up to the first main ledge where the first red dot is located on the route overlay - and where the rock changes from crumbly white rock to steep, shining clean granite. From this point, face climbing to obvious clean cracks lead upward into the sun to the next big ledge: Robes blasted off leading the next two pitches, taking us up a steep variation (felt like 5.9+) around a flake off the left ridge crest and back onto the face of the Fin again to a belay. From here, it was up and diagonally all the way across and off the Fin via a 70 meter pitch (full 60-M rope plus a little simul-climbing at the end). This was the "handrail" pitch, and yielded striking climbing: From this point, we simul-climbed on the back side of the Fin above the lingering ice of the Third Couloir before popping back out into the sun of the NW side, soon arriving on talus leading to the summit ridge... We made it to the top around 5 PM I think. After enjoying the summit for all-too-brief of a time, we made our way down to the Snow Creek Glacier where, again, crampons were useful crunching down the icy slopes: The slog down Ass-neck Pass went fairly quickly, and soon we were back at the Lake campsite: We had dinner and watched several headlamped parties making their way down Aasgard and the Colchuck Glacier... Sun Morning Coffee and sunrise Heading down to town, we meet my wife Tee-Wa and enjoyed a huge margarita at the mexican place in Leavenworth: Reflecting on my concerns about the climb and the quotes that precede this TR, I would say that this climb is a legitimate Grade IV, never too technically hard but demanding the need to keep moving smoothly over 2000 feet of climbing. The nature of the route, for us, required many more belayed pitches than the neighboring Serpenting Arete warrants. Having said that, climbing standards seem to have changed a bit since Beckey's quote and two other parties started behind us on the route and all made it off without a bivy. In fact, a party of three left the car at 9 and passed us on the route! They gathered speed as they moved up the ridge, leading me to wonder if they had roller-blades on at once point. Perhaps the advent of large cams allows parties to move more quickly on the otherwise time-consuming wide-crack sections??? I highly recommend the route and would definitely want to have the #5 on any future attempts on this route as well. Thanks to Robes for leading many of the vibracious pitches and for a GREAT trip in the mountains. Thanks to the Off-Width Gods for not swallowing us whole! Gear Notes: 1 60-Meter Rope A few Stoppers Cams from small aliens to #5 Camalot, including one 4.5 (with doubles from .5 to 2) Crampons No ice ax needed

I prefer going the other way: 1) Liberty Bell via Beckey or Rapple Grapple 2) N Face Concord (Rap to South) 3) N Face Lex (Rap to South and descend scree) This makes for 7 or 8 pitches of 5.6-ish climbing -- pretty fun link up!

Thanks for the advice -- that's exactly what we did (Fin Direct). Good call.

Has anyone done the finish which Kearney describes to the Fin? Sounds less classic but easier than the "Direct" finish in Nelson's book. Just curious about the comparison, in case anyone has done it this way. For reference, Kearney shows a route following a major ledge system across the fin (not topping out on the Fin as others have described) as follows: "climb a narrow crest (5.8) up to the Fin, then diagonal up and right across the face of the Fin (5.6-5.7) to the far right side. One more pitch climbs a left-facing corner and flakes (5.7) to easy ground below the summit." (219)

True, true...

Done it. Kinda dumb. Lots of walking for some very mediocre climbing. Not recommended by me. Barely two pitches worth of silliness.

Ivan, I personally agree with you, but I'm not an over-zealous by-the-book ranger either... Mike, there's a pooper at the standard (north end) Colchuck Lake campsites (but I think it's about a 20-minute walk or so). You'll see wooden signs for it as you hike in on the trail through the camping area.

Here's the one that really gets me: NIce work and great images!

I really enjoy camping at Burgundy Col -- nice intimate alpine perch with accessible snow and glorious views. Plus, right at the start of several good routes...who said it's "sucky?"

A Leavenworth Backcountry Ranger told you that? That surrpises me...and it would be a hard one to tell a militant ranger (imagine such a thing!) that some other ranger "told me it would be okay..." when the Militant One was about to ticket you or otherwise provide a hard time...

That's the key, in my opinion -- the ease of re-certifying! Problem with WMTC and some of the other smaller operations is their very limited schedule and locations for recertifying. With WMI, you can recert almost anywhere, anytime, within reason...

Just got a small digital so I don't have to keep hauling my Digital SLR (nikon D70 - should be called "D-Heavy") into the mtns. It has a very large LCD monitor, 8.1 megapixel, shoots High-Definition video, and has an optical 5X zoom. Also, a wide-screen shooting feature, and a bunch of other standard shooting modes. Just wanted to say that I'm very happy with it so far.

Agreed that global warming is a bad thing...but, perhaps not unusual or unexpected that this winter snow would melt to gray ice by late August? In other words, perhaps this route is doing what one might expect snow below 8000 feet to do.