goatboy

Climb: Tour of Moderates - Red Rocks, Nevada- Date of Climb: 3/21/2006 Trip Report: No photos to add while on the road, but here's a quick update of routes and weather for Red Rocks... DAY ONE: Went to Cat in the Hat, but it was (predictably) crowded as hell, so we climbed "Cookie Monster" after starting up the wrong route (to the left). Fun, three-pitch 5.7 which joins Cat in the Hat higher up. Due to huge crowds there, we descended Cookie Monster instead of the regular descent. DAY TWO: Climbed a great route called BIRDLAND (5.7+, 6 pitches). Very fun and kinda spicy for the rating. It's in the new red book by Roxanna Brock. Highly recommended! It looks a lot harder than it is, but feels more like 5.8 or so here and there...probably pretty hard for a 5.7 leader, I would imagine. DAY THREE: Geronimo (5.7), an excellent and direct route featuring several very long pitches (i.e 180-200 feet). DAY FOUR: Rest day, friends went sport-climbing DAY FIVE: Cat in the Hat in a snowstorm At this point, weather turned to shee-ite so we went to friend's house in Cedar City, UT and went skiing at Brian Head... Heading back to Vegas tonight and flying back home tomorrow. Generally, the spring breakers were abundant, 15-passeneger vans all about, the campground was very full and the so-called "campground hosts" were on full alert, patrolling, busting people constantly for minor offenses, and generally making folks feel less-than-welcome. Weather: Bleak at the moment, but supposedly improving later this week to nice again. My evaluation of the routes, best to worst: 1) Birdland was excellent and sustained 2) Geronimo - great long pitches! 3) Cat in the Hat - probably not the 5-star route its hyped to be, but very fun when not crowded 4) Cookie Monster - good alternative to Cat in Hat Gear Notes: Was excited about my new "Link Cam" from Omega, but the damn thing broke after being placed about 5 times. Trigger attachment is super-weak and fragile -- DUMB!

Hmmm, my sense is that this route has been climbed regularly... sounds like you might be thinking of a different route than the Kiwi Route?

The NE Ridge route ends via some steep, heather-covered ledges (described as slippery when wet!) which provide some unsavory downclimbing on the descent....what I didn't know is you can avoid all that by walking to the prominent point overlooking the NE ridge (from the summit area) and finding a rap station there which drops you back onto the notch (just above the "crux" pitch). This would save time and needless vegetable-belaying on the heather section....

Great info, Don -- thanks so much for the details. - Goatboy

Hello, I'd appreciate info from folks out there who have climbed or attempted to climb the Kiwi Route on Waddington, as well as the Great Couloir Route on Combatant. Please reply here or PM. I'm curious about rock pro versus snow/ice pro that you took, time en route, and any general impressions of the quality of the routes. Thanks!!!

Great Pictures, thanks for the report!

Sounds great, Scott - thanks a lot!

Please post a photo showing "the Lead," as well as any beta pertinent to this amazing accomplishment. Long live the Lead!!!! Thanks for the photos and entertaining trip report. Nice work, even if you're both male.

Have you climbed Decafe lately, Scott? Thanks for the great info.

Is the Torment-Forbidden Traverse "over-hyped?"

Very helpful shots, Chad -- thanks! Still too early for Triple C, it sounds like..... Did you ski up to the lake? Snowshoe? Grovel? Thanks for info....

I don't think anyone would post massive congratulations, or be anyone's hero, for climbing This House of Sky....but for what it's worth, I enjoyed the route for what it is -- a long, rambling, fun ice climb in a beautiful wild setting....

Congrats! But this post would have more meaning if there were some context -- like what source did the original partial sentence come from, and who gave the award???

Tex, Perhaps starting a new thread questioning why people congratulate others would be a useful way for you to spend your time. Your insistence on hijacking this thread is tired and inappropriate. Just stop now. Congratulations on a great climb, Hannah.

What's interesting about this presumptuous and sad attack is that Tex is accusing Pandora of bragging when she hasn't actually posted a thing here -- it has all been from others who are rightfully inspired or congratulatory of her accomplishments. Unfortunately, this is the type of embarassing crap that happens all the time on this otherwise useful, interesting website. Tex, if you're trying to downgrade or belittle the significance of a winter ascent of Rainier, solo, then you'll have to try a lot harder. It's impressive, and a lot of people seem to be proud of her accomplishment. What are you proud of?

So, Dru, what's your practical suggestion for improving the situation at UTW -- other than not installing more signs?

Are we talking slides or digital photos or both?

I just received a copy of this issue from powellsbooks.com. Delivered to my house for $13.50. If anyone wants to read it, let me know. - Steve

Thanks, fellows! I searched for "White+Salmon" and got nothing....must be using the search function like a dummy. I would be excited to check this route out sometime if anyone wants to go....in good conditions, hopefully! Going up the NF and down the WS sounds like the best plan....

A search on this site turned up no TR's on this route -- anyone have any reviews of having climbed it in the past?

From the Washington Climber's Coalition site: "The last guide to the area, Bryan Burdo’s North Cascades Rock, was published in 1996. Bryan is rumored to be working on a new guide that may feature these areas." FULL TEXT HERE My understanding is that this rumored guidebook has been in the making forever. Anyone have actual info about this guidebook project, it's timeline (or likelyhood) of actually happening? Seems like there's so much new stuff out that way since 1996, that there would be a lot of interest in a guidebook... Thanks.

I agree with Cobra, with a few exceptions: 1) When climbing as a party of three (leader on doubles, each follower on a single strand) and there's a traverse involving mroe than one piece of pro, if you alternate clips, then you're setting your followers up for large pendulums. Here, I generally clip both ropes into a single piece (with two separate biners, ideally); 2) If the first piece of pro is bomber (i.e. a good bolt or equally good piece of gear placed for upward and downward pull) then at times, I'll clip both ropes into the first piece as a multi-directional first piece. Otherwise, I tend to alternate clips if the route is straight up. If the route follows two completely separate crack systems, I'll stick with one color for the one crack, and the other color for the other crack (i.e. green on the right, red on the left). Seems like this thread comes up about every 6 months or so....

From Nelson's Vol II, p. 130: "The first ascent (of Johannesberg) was made by the famed Ptarmigan Traverse party, one of the greatest mountaineering outings ever made in the Cascades...Starting at Cascade Pass, they traversed under the Triplets and Cascade Peak into the steep C-J Colouir, which leads to the C-J Col. From there, the Ptarmigans climbed the East Ridge of J-berg to the top, and then back to the col, from which they traversed the South Side of the Triplets and Mixup Peak back to Gunsight Notch and eventually back to Cascade Pass. (The next day, these guys went on to do Sahale Peak, Boston, and the North Face of Buckner). There may be no more impressive single mountaineering feat than what this small group accomplished on that trip." Nelson explains that the entire trip took 13 days, back in 1938. More info here: http://www.alpenglow.org/climbing/ptarmigan-1953/index.html From there, exactly what order they do the rest of the traverse is not clear to me...

Great info and thanks very much, all. Gaston, I hope the Alps are treating you well! How about a Chamonix Trip Report when you're done stuffing espresso beans and bon bons down your gullet?

Hello, In the gallery, I found a tasty photo taken by JesseH. I wonder if these are representative of August (or general late-summer) conditions (the photo was posted in August, so I'm just assuming...) Thanks to anyone familiar with the route who might be able to answer.