goatboy

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I wanted to go to Sardinia for my honeymoon but my lovely wife demonstrated to me that I married the right woman by suggesting we go ice climbing in Ouray instead . . . . which we did! Anyway, it looks great and maybe we'll go there for our anniversary sometime! Thanks for the pictures...

I ascertain from your post that you're thumbing through Beckey's book trying to find routes to climb. It's a hard way to start, because his book is so comprehensive, and rarely offers judgment as to which routes are better than others. I suggest you refer to Jim Nelson's first guidebook which offers a more selective grouping of peaks, including lots of easy peaks appropriate for the climber you describe your brother to be.

To be at Vantage for 5 straight days would drive me nuts, personally. I suggest checking out other things in the area such as Tieton (not far from Vantage) or Leavenworth as well.

A year or more ago I heard about a documentary which was being made on Fred, with interviews with old partners, Helmy, etc. Anyone know updates on this? It was going to be at Telluride Film Fest, but as far as I know, it was never finished . . . .

PLEASE be sure to paint white dots on the landscape, periodically, to indicate where the "trail" goes (and distinguish it from nearby campsites and "user trails." THANK you.

Yes, you can use rubbing alcohol for these stoves.

For those of you who haven't seen this already: Outdoors NW Article

True, True. SCW is in the brown book.

You could definitely camp atop the Glacier, at or near the Boston/Sahale Col -- though I doubt it's exactly legal by Park Standards to do so -- or more specifically, I'm not sure which permit you need to do so (BB, Sahale, X-C Zone, etc), if you care...

When new, the Pack retailed for $450. It's well used but still highly useable and I will sell it for highest offer received within a week. I am in the PDX area. Will ship elsewhere if you pay for it. See image of (new) pack at WEBSITE PM Me any offers, or post here with questions. Let the bidding began - Goatboy

When was this?

Hmm, let me try: 1) S Pickets from Luna 2) Somewhere along Ptarmigan Traverse 3) Eldorado Peak 4) Ptarmigan Traverse? 5) Challenger from Luna Cirque 6) Southern Pickets from near Luna Peak 7) Ptarmigan Traverse again 8) Mt Fury (at center) and Luna Cirque 9) Eldorado (at left) from near Torment? 10) Johannesburg? 11) Ptarmigan again? 12) Luna Lake 13) Eldorado (in distance at center) 14) Luna Cirque 15) More Ptarmigan 16) Don't Know 17) Southern Pickets 18) Forbidden Peak from Eldorado 19) S Pickets from the North 20) Eldorado Snow Arete 21) Not sure 22) Summit of Forbidden 23) Logan? 24) Shuksan 25) Moraine Lake 26) Baker and Shuksan in background -- 27) Purple Flower (duh!) 28) Eldorado? 29) Pickets 30) Ptarmigan Traverse Any corrections or additions? Great photos -- thanks for making them available!

I imagine, from previous experience, that one could easily access the E Ridge now -- though it's a significantly more sustained and technically harder climb -- much more challenging climbing than the relatively scrambly W Ridge - The real plus side of the E Ridge is leaving your boots, Ice Ax, whatever else at the notch and returning to it via the NE Face Descent route . . .

Hmmm.....now that you mention it, no, I don't think there was any fixed gear or signs of previous ascents . . . . though it's so compelling, I'd be surprised if it hasn't been climbed before....

Climb: Southern Pickets-E Ridge Inspiration (Epic!) and W Ridge McMillan Date of Climb: 8/24/2005 Trip Report: Spent 5 days in the Southern Pickets with my pals Gaston and Fajgha ("Dave"). It was a magnificent trip under clear blue skies, complete with exhilarating successes, knife-edge traverses on clean granite, sweeping ridgelines, and full-on grovelling on steep loose terrain in the darkness. Read on for the epic . . . 8/24 - Day One: Left Mazama and drove to trailhead, pausing to eat a morning bratwurst at the Newhalem Store around 8 AM or so. Dave loses his wallet between the store and the trailhead, somehow, so has to drive back to the store looking for it -- it never turns up, so undaunted, he shoulder his pack and heads out onto the well-defined trail up Goodell Creek. The Nelson description is excellent, and we found the trail to be very manageable (though steep and relentless for 5000 feet or so). Felt a lot like the hike up Eldorado Creek, to me . . . Arriving at the "heather benches" Nelson mentions, we gained our first good look at the Peaks of the Southern Pickets: That night, we made our plans and opted to attempt the West Ridge of Inspiration, to avoid having to carry over gear, and also to assess the state of the glacier, the approach, etc. We also figured that being a party of three, we would be wise to start with the less-ambitious W Ridge rather than the longer, more challenging E Ridge... 8/25 - Day Two: Left camp at 7 AM and found our way past the glacial lake and up onto the slabs below the Terror Glacier. Soon, we made our way onto the Glacier: It was very broken up, and the occasional serac would whoompf or collapse. We found the bergschrund to be impassable, and soon realized that we would be unable to get onto the West Ridge as we hoped . . . this lead us to (impulsively) decide to climb the East Ridge instead, despite our relatively late start for that particular route. We noted (and agreed) that we were being both impulsive and ambitious, but the weather was so good we felt compelled to commit, despite the factors stacked against us. Looking up at the South Face of Inspiration, East Ridge on Right Skyline (we climbed the gully to gain the notch on the East Ridge): I took the first lead (60 meters of low fifth) and after a long simulclimbing pitch brought us to the notch, where Dave lead out: Soon, we arrived at the base of the steep and strenuos layback, which Gaston dispatched of very efficiently, even with his full pack: Following Gaston, suddenly we arrived at a heart-stoppingly beautiful pitch, which I wanted but Dave got! Here is Gaston following Dave's lead and helping free up the pack which Dave is hauling: Looking across from the belay ledge, the SE Glacier on Fury stared back at us: This pitch gave way to easier terrain, where I again took the lead and we simul-climbed for a long ways traversing towards the summit: Dave took over as the summit came into view: Summit shot as the sun is fading - Gaston, Fajgha, Goatboy: We located the first of 6 rappels as the golden sunset poured over the Cascades: At this point, we knew we were in for it as the rappels became increasingly hard to locate in the fading late. We ended up chasing rappel anchors down the "Bowling Alley" gully pictured here (courtesy of RAD's photography skills): Long story short: We made it back to camp at 4 AM after many hours of rappelling, building new rappels, downclimbing manky choss in the gully, sending large loose blocks down, dodging shrapnel from above, and traversing way West on the Glacier to gain the slabs far from where we started . . . It was a very long and wonderful day with two great partners in a wild and alpine place. 8/26 - Day 3: Slept in and rested, ate, drank 8/27 - Day 4: Climbed W Ridge McMillan (Will add photos later) 8/28 - Day 5: Hiked out and went to Twisp Brewpub for Larger size photos in my gallery: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showgallery.php?ppuser=298&cat=500 Gear Notes: 2 50 meter 8.5 mm ropes Single Cams to 3" - should have had doubles of 1, 2, and 3 for the Crux pitch! Axe, Crampons Approach Notes: Dry approach Terror Glacier difficult to navigate! I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM OTHERS WHO HAVE DESCENDED THE WEST RIDGE WHAT THEY THOUGHT ABOUT THE ESTABLISHED RAPPEL ROUTE, overall position and quality of the rap stations, etc.

Any guess as to when the PDX show might be? Thanks, Goatboy

How many days total? What was the original strategy, and what lead to the forced bivy? Nice photos and thanks for the info.

Hmm, I'm not sure I get your point here -- Are you suggesting that they should solo sections of the route, because they're not experienced enough to simul-climb while roped up? If that's the case, should they be on this particular route at all? In my mind, here's the spectrum: Soloing = faster but more risky Simul-climbing = pretty fast, but moderates risk to some extent Belaying = slow, but much safer. Thoughts?

Looks bleak . . . .

Latest Narrative: Two drops of fire retardant along with water delivered by a light and a medium helicopter and the work of NPS firefighters together with U.S. Forest Service wildland engines and a 12-person crew largely knocked the fire down late yesterday afternoon. Water drops, line building, and use of hoses continues today. The North Cascades Highway is open (alternating single lane).

I think they're easily avoided, but certainly considerable! SEE large images HERE

Being willing to solo much of the route is not a bad plan, but not necessary for a one-day ascent, either. We belayed or simulclimbed 90% of the route, and only soloed the first third of Forbidden's West Ridge (from the W Ridge Couloir up). We went camp to camp (in Boston Basin) in a day.