goatboy

Give it up. What's the best pitch in the alpine that you've climbed? I'm not fishing for your resume, or looking to flaunt my own meager one, just curious what INDIVIDUAL pitches stand out in the minds of this community of alpinists. For example, you might say, "The last pitch on the south face of Prussik Peak." Or some might say, "the first gendarme pitch on the N. Ridge of Stuart." You might chime in with, "the fifth pitch on the East Face of the Minuteman" Something like that . . . hopefully more interesting or unique than my examples. Thanks for playing....

Leavenworth Rock by Viktor Kramar My opinion on the Smoot book: Useful as couch reading to find a place to go check out, all but useless at the climbing area. See the utterly laughable Washington Pass section as perhaps the worst example of topos. The drawings are bad. Other useful guides include Jim Nelson's Selected Climbs in the North Cascades vols. I and II.

Sahale sunset....what a day! This was NOT recently, by the way.

Smith - 7th St Brewery in Redmond WA Pass - Winthrop Brewpub Joshua Tree- the JT Saloon, free Tacos on Wed night and $1 drinks!

How's Cascade Pass road for snow? Still open all the way up?

J Tree was indeed snowy for the first few days. Temps turned to lovely and blue, windfree, for about 3 days, then started getting windier as we packed up to leave. Highlights included seeing my mates take a whack at "Imaginary Voyage," a sick huge roof with a 5-inch crack, and seeing my lovely wife lead a bunch of 5.9 cracks including Cake Walk, Touch and Go, and Nobody Walks in LA. She pretty much kicked ass and took names. J tree is now charging for campsites, and patrolling to enforce the 14-day stay limit...

Got a phone call this morning reporting knee-deep snow in Joshua Tree this morning! Strange days, indeed .. . . . I'm heading down there next week, so will report back on any "Mojave freshies" I encounter. - GB

Link Cam Site I met Jeff Lowe this past weekend -- he introduced me to this new cam design that he had been involved with -- and seemed to be very positive about this new camming innovation. See link to LINK CAMs above. Looks very interesting to me. Discuss!

1. Outer Space 2. NW Corner, NEWS 3. North Ridge, Stuart with Gendarme 4. Forbidden, West Ridge 5. NE Ridge, Triumph If this had been a Top 10 list: Sahale Arm, Sharkfin Tower, W Ridge Prussik, NBC Colchuck, Torment-Forbidden Traverse

Climb: Castleton Tower - LIGHTING! -Kor-Ingalls Date of Climb: 10/17/2004 Trip Report: I got my ass kicked on Castleton Tower yesterday! After slogging up the big scree trail to the base of the Tower yesterday, we arrived to find a party of two leading the first pitch. The wind was absolutely HOWLING and we put on all our clothes for what looked to be a long day. We were a party of three. I was thrutching through the chimney on pitch one when BOOM - thunder rumbles from the approaching black clouds and sheets of rain coming our way across the valley. We rig ropes and begin to retreat. Within minutes, it's driving rain, sideways hail, and lightning crashing down on the valley floor and slopes leading up to the tower. We are terrified. We race downhill in the pelting hail as lightning continues to crash around us. Eventually, within 15 minutes, all is calm again. The other party has also retreated, without incident. We were VERY lucky -- that spire is a lightning rod and I can't believe it didn't turn out worse than it did . . . Exciting day, good to be alive! I actually kind of enjoyed the whole thing -- how many hundreds of people a year climb the Kor-Ingalls -- and while I could have been one of them, this story will somehow stay with me longer and be more of a learning experience for me. Good to be here! Gear Notes: Needed better raingear Approach Notes: hail pellets on trail!

Interesting how this thread has become all about passing other climbers, which has little to do with the original post (waiting for, and then climbing behind other climbers on a 1 pitch route and offending them).

Wow, sounds like an overwhelming response, so far, of "She was being a little uptight." Thanks for the reality check. I guess we didn't do anything SERIOUSLY wrong, this time at least.

I was at Smith a few weeks ago with my wife and father-in-law. We rapped off of Cinnamon Slab and there was a party of two -- one male, one female -- hanging out. As we started getting ready to get on Karate Crack, I asked them if they were planning on doing it (they were nowhere near it at the time). They responded that they were in fact getting ready to climb it. We told them we'd wait, or go elsewhere. They did not seem to be in much of a hurry, so we decided to go elsewhere after a snack. The fellow lead it and his partner followed. Done with our snack, we decided to go ahead and climb the route instead of leaving. This was to be my wife's first time leading Karate Crack, or any 5.10 crack for that matter. The female climber in the party ahead of us had reached the hand traverse section at the top of the route and I suggested that my wife go ahead and get started, as there was no chance in hell that she was going to catch up to or get anywhere near the climber ahead of her. My wife went ahead and lead the route, resting a few times on gear . . . not a bad effort for her first shot at leading such a steep, strenuous route....Meanwhile, the female climber ahead rested on the rope a few times at the strenuous hand traverse section, but otherwise climbed through and down to the belay station just fine, not saying anything to us. Anyway, when the other party rapped off, the female climber was visibly and verbally upset with us for starting up the route while she was still on it. I was surprised, and apologized to her. She stated that we had "gotten right in the middle of her climb" and "completely blown her concentration" and continued to mutter to herself the word "lame" afterwards. When I apologized again, she stated that "this is the reason why I don't climb at Smith." What I learned from this encounter is that it would have been best for us to ask her if she minded us following her up the route, though it seems like a pretty standard practice to me to get started up a popular route as long as you're not breathing down someone's neck, climbing over them, or endangering them. My question for the cascadeclimebrs is: Were we in the wrong to have started up the route as the other party neared the end? If the party referred to in this post reads this message, I apologize again for negatively impacting your climbing experience. It was not my intention to do so.

uh, hmmmm...... thank you for inquiring . . . . all our crack identification agents are , uh, busy right now, please know that your request is important to us, and we will take your request in the order in which it was received . . . . please continue to hold. Meanwhile, please loan me all your 2-inch cams while we go do some "research" on your inquiry . . . .

Click below for this morning's changing news on Helen -- exciting! web page

Here's a look back at Torment from just beyond the difficult bergschrund. May provide helpful beta for folks! We rappelled off the ridge crest down to the glacier, then negotiated the schrund as follows: 1) My partner lowered me off of two pickets to the bottom end of the schrund (about 20 feet down, past overhanging ice) 2) He then poked all around the schrund, eventually "worming" his way through an ice tunnel and popping up beside me, scaring me half to death . . . . A non-traditional way to deal with it for sure . . . .

That's pretty funny, given that I used to teach English in a former life . . . . Thanks, I believe I have corrected the spelling now . . . Anyway, back to Buckner . . . ???

Good question, pms . . . I can see how new snow would possibly blanket or contain loose rock, but wouldn't loose, unconsolidated new snow in some ways make the climb harder? I'd love to hear more about the relative merits of new snow -- I guess I always think of a steep route like this being benefitted by older, consolidated snow and alpine ice . . . Any thoughts???

I haven't seen or heard of many folks climbing Buckner lately. I know one party attempted the NF Couloir a few weeks ago and encountered what was, for them, insurmountable challenges at the schrund. Curious if anyone has any recent photos or experience up there that could persuade or dissuade. I have climbed the NF and am familiar with the area and the approach, etc. I have not climbed the Couloir route and am wondering if anyone else has been turned around by the schrund this season??? (I know, I know, "go look for yourself and use your judgment...") Thanks for any info.

Getting from car to ridge crest is the slow part, in my experience. We soloed a third of the ridge and simul-climbed the rest, making it from the top of the W Ridge Couloir to the summit in 30 minutes. The East Ledges Descent, if soloed, can take about 1.5 to 2 hours including the rappels . . . . Most of your time will be eaten up gaining all the elevation from car to ridge, I would say. The climb itself doesn't take that long if simulclimbed. This time of year, when snow is gone, the approach and descent may be even slower. I would guess a competent party of fit folk could do it in about 12 hours car to car.

Well written, amusing trip report. So much talent, no wonder the paparazzi were chasing you, eh??? Thanks for the photos and funny stories.

It's interesting to me, and more than a little bit hypocritical, to log onto a discussion website such as this one -- a place you go in order to hear other people's ideas, and share your own -- and then tell people to STFU. If you don't want to hear other people's ideas, then why in the world would you bother to log on, and double click on things that open up to show you other people's ideas? Wouldn't that be like paying for a ticket to a concert and then being surprised at all the noise and screaming at the musicians to be quiet?

I have to confess that I was the one who dropped the pencil in the summit talus . . . . I felt awful when I did it, actually. If someone could leave another one there, I would be redeemed. Thanks!

Hey y'all, Just wanted to point out that this climb would be a good choice in late season, now that the W Ridge Couloir is more problematic. I don't think it's a BETTER climb than the W Ridge, but part of the beauty of the W Ridge dissipates after to couloir gets ugly. Go get it!

I did comment on this to my friend when I was up there a few weeks ago . . . the Sill presents itself as a small horizontal patch of ice still clinging to the wall, but is much less imposing than in previous years . . .