goatboy

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.

According to the same thread on RC.com, there were 3 accidents within 30 minutes in hidden valley. 1 fellow is now dead from head trauma. Bleak news from the southern california capitol of accidents...

You're not referring to Marty Bland's book which is already out, are you? An inland washington guidebook -- christ, the thing must be thicker than a phonebook!

How about "Summit AND die?"

Curious if any women watched the K2 show? Seemed pretty anti-women, to me . . . - GB

Thanks for posting this cautionary tale, Mr. D. Anyone with more avy. training/assessment skills than me want to respond to a general question about skiing trees vs. open slopes? My understanding is that trees on suspect slopes can provide a false sense of security -- in other words, if the trees are widely spaced enough to ski through, they're probably not anchoring the slope as well as one might assume? I know this question is wide open and subjective, and different snowpacks could provide a myriad of different answers -- but I'm looking for a "rule of thumb" or just confirmation that trees don't always equal an adequate snowpack anchor..... - Also, Glad that you and your party is okay, Mr. D!

Winter, Where did you "capture" the gif file of this excellent Steeler play?

While I understand all of the points and tangents being made, the original poster said he wants a medical training to work at a "summer camp" and a WFR would be considered industry-standard for that particular role. No need for EMT or any higher levels of training to work at a summer camp... I'm wondering what an example is of a WFR-skill which would get you in trouble for doing it "on the job"?

Great example of professional and pro-active response by Mountain Gear...

Isn't bird shit white? Anyway, what I saw was definitely dark red blood stains, what appeared to be liters of it...

I climbed the Swift over Thanksgiving and there was more blood spewed over about 50 feet of that route than I have ever seen anyhwhere -- it was like someone was absolutely gushing blood all over the place ??? Must have been a bad scene...If anyone knows what happened there, I wish them the best.

I thought meatgrinder was easy for 5.10, assuming you know how to jam... Speaking of jam, how about some j tree climbs: 5.6 - leapin leanna (desperate for the grade, with huge groundfall right off the bat) 5.7 - Double Cross (aka "pumpkin head" to the locals - ever notice the bloodstains at the base of this thing?) 5.9 - Touch and Go (slick and steep!) 10a - The EXORCIST

You could take a Glacier Training course with North Cascade Mountain Guides, see ncmountainguides.com Great folks, good instruction, more personal than the bigger companies like AAI, I would think.

I wonder if this thread is about ethics, really, or judgment. When I saw "ethics" I imagined it having to do with style of ascent, using fixed gear, perhaps damaging trees to rap off, that sort of conversation. What it appears to be about is judgment -- did people make choices that wound up in injury. I suppose the idea of taking apparent novices climbing can wind up as an ethical decision, however, especially when an injury results. My thoughts on your question: Sorry your buddy got hurt. Glad he's alive! Would your take on the accident be any different if it was two expert climbers (or a bad-ass free soloist) who dislodged the piece that hit your buddy? Would your buddy want to beat them up, too? I ask because as Jason mentioned, you guys chose to rap down below them, having already assessed that they were less experienced than you. I understand the need to get out of 40 MPH winds, but in the end, which was more dangerous -- the wind, or getting creamed by a huge block of ice? Looking back at it, would you do anything differently in the future? What would you recommend the other party do differently? Again, best wishes for you and your buddy in recovery. Injuries suck, but we often learn more from them than we do by getting away with things....

Hey Jim, Is the climber on Loose Lady at J Tree?

Joshua Tree -- about 8 years ago now . . . I walk into the smoky bar about 5 PM, in anticipation of the $1 drink/free taco deal that they do every Wed night, under the administration of "taco Tammy" who used to work there in those days -- good shit, free food, cheap drinks, great stuff after a day of crack climbing, hot sun or cold wind -- anyway, there was a very large, 60-year old gray haired woman sitting at the bar, wearing a curtain-like blue dress and draped in turquoise......she takes a grandmotherly-style interest in me at first, asks me what I'm doing in JT, tells me about her son who looks like me (she claims), and so forth . . . . finally, after downing a shot of gin (yuck!) she turns her bar stool to me abrubtly, reaches DOWN the front of my shirt and grabs my belt, practically lifts me off the bar stool as she pulls me into her face and hisses, "DO YOU WANT TO FUCK ME???? DO - YOU - WANT - TO - FUCK - MEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!??!?!?!?" "No, no fuck NO!" I scream, squirming away as best I can...she shakes me like a rag doll, suddenly looming above me out of her seat -- she is huge . . . . Eventually, I escape and flee into the cold Mojave night . . . . True story --- if you ever go to the J Tree Saloon, beware the "Lady in the Blue Dress..."

Icicle Creek Road is fine -- a few patches of snow or ice here or there (a lot like the climbing in the area!). Then, you can park on the road and simply walk up to the climb, took us about 45 min or perhaps an hour due to the wallowing nature of the unconsolidated snow over talus/bushes... I was surprised to see that the Bridge Creek road itself is actually un-gated, and saw a few vehicles going up and down it -- though I am not sure how FAR up you can get . . . lots of snowmobile tracks around, too . . . Nelson's guidebook calls Hubba Hubba a WI 3/4 depending on conditions, and I wonder what the parties who climbed it this weekend would call it in its current state?

Climb: Leavenworth Ice-Hubba Hubba Central Flow Date of Climb: 12/11/2005 Trip Report: Climbed Hubba Hubba yesterday in clear, cold conditions. Ice is surprisingly fat for this time of year, but also quite different (and overall, thinner) than last time I was up there last year. Because it's early season, there is very little evidence of previous ascents, so it's not "stepped out" or "picked out" like I've seen it in the past. This makes for more strenuous climbing and it feels like honest WI3+ for the first pitch. We climbed to the big pillar/rock outcrop on the right side, about 40 feet shy of the top-out into the snow, and rapped off from there, as the nature of the ice towards the top seemed to change and was generally thinner. There is a two-piece equalized anchor there with rap rings, FYI. Two 60 meter ropes needed for the rappel. It's probably better to just top out and walk off, but we didn't like the looks of the last section...It seemed to pose no problem for the fellow who soloed up behind us, and cruised past as we were rigging the rappel, however....humbling! Sorry, no pictures this time. EDIT: PICTURE FROM OTHER THREAD: Gear Notes: An assortment of screws from 22-cm to very short, plus stoppers (didn't use them) 3 Screamers Approach Notes: Very unconsolidated snow on the way up -- found the nice bootpack on the descent, however. Lots of evidence of tracks on the way up, including elk, marten, dogs, people, and lots of little critters

But....um.....not to split hairs,but actually, Wanaka IS North of Queenstown. Perhaps being in the Southern Hemisphere makes those cardinal directions a bit confusing?

If you find Intuition Liners on sale, let me know -- I have Scarpa Alphas and love them, but am due for a new liner sooner than later. . .