goatboy

How long is this snow section, approximately (at least, when you encountered it)? S

Sorry the picture doesn't just appear, you can click the link that says "attachment" by my previous post to make it come up. Rating? Since I couldn't lead it, I lowered off and never finished it, so I can't say. What I hear from folks here averages around 5.11. Certainly no 5.10a! I don't have his email address, but hopefully he'll check out this thread?

Like most people reading this thread, I haven't done the T-F Traverse. But I do like to carry rock shoes to move on long alpine rock ridges -- the security and efficiency of moving over class 5 rock in rock shoes is worth the added weight, to me, because I feel that I can climb so much quicker (and safer, assuming simul-climbing). If it were a ridge that went back and forth often between snow and rock, then it would seem more inefficient to stop and change footwear several times . . . But something like N Ridge Stuart or W Ridge Forbidden, I enjoy having my rock shoes on to move mo' fastah. On the other hand, I totally support the argument that light is right and if you can cruise it in your approach boots, more power to you.

Here's an image of me flailing on the "10a." Hope Viktor gives it a more appropriate rating in the new guidebook. I would love to see someone actually send this thing in good style. I didn't. IPA at Gustav's sure was good though. Anyone know when the new L-worth guidebook is coming out? Viktor?

Mostly 30-degrees, steepest part is in the 40-45 degree range as I recall -- the route starts off steep, then kicks back in the middle above the chockstone, then steepens again through the upper part where it narrows. The upper part of the route is the most aesthetic part. Yes, I'd think one axe would do fine for many folks, thought I've seen people use two tools for this route. I'd take one. Hope you have a good trip and post a trip report. Steve

I have alphas -- I like them a lot -- the insoles that came with them are paper-thin crap -- but I replaced them with "SuperFeet" insoles. I got the green (winter) insoles and have found them to be fairly warm and effective. Steve

I have climbed this route in May and June, and actually never encountered ice, per se -- but have encountered lots of firm (and some fluffy) snow. I'm sure ice is possible, but I just haven't encountered it. I'm curious who has seen ice on this route, and at what time of year. Both times I climbed it, the chockstone was buried in snow, and not even visible. We walked right over it. I would say the actual crux is climbing the snowy rocks (quite easy when dry, but slick when wet/snowy) exiting the couloir and attaining the summit area. Beware the very corniced snowpatch overhanging the East Face at the very top of the couloir!!! I've seen footprints leading out onto it before . . . This is a great climb in an awesome position. Approaching via the hairpin (rather than slogging up the blue lake trail) early in the morning gives good firm snow to hike up on and a great glissade back to the car . . . Mo Fastah mo bettah! See attached image of route if you like. Have fun, Steve

Nice work on Guinness -- I heard beer is better without ice anyway, and Guinness is better room temperature (as it was that day) . . . Nice to hear that my message "worked" for some of the truckers. See you again sometime in the moooontins. But probably not THIS weekend, given the freaking rain! I had enough rain in canada in January. Whatever. To PDX-ers: Hope to meet some of y'all at the show tonight. Steve

Hey Erik, Clearly you would never be one to write absurd things on someone's vehicle . . . I can understand why that would be offensive to you. So, how did it "get crazy?" The drytooling I saw going on was enough for me . . . As I recall, you took off to hike up and bypass the rock, did y'all get on the route? It was noonish when we bailed . . . We got RAINED on the next day, by the way . . . what a weird trip. And I'm STILL trying to find out when the PDX slideshow is tonight . . .

Dear Know Fear, Thanks for advertising your slideshow on the night of the 12th (see EVENTS) but I didn't see any mention of when it takes place. Please inform. Is there any charge or anything to the general public? Thanks, Steve

Interesting question. In the original scenario, you never designated if the entire rope was stretched out between you and your unconcscious second. If so, that complicates things. If you have spare rope, as you often might when belaying, you could conceivably escape the belay (tying off the unconscious second with a munter mule knot or what have you) and use the slack (coiled on the ledge beside you) to rap down to them (or maybe at least close to them) to assess their situation. If there's no slack to work with, then maybe think about lowering them until you have some slack in the rope OR down-aiding to figure out what happened to them. If there's a mechanism of serious injury (i.e. you incurred or observed massive rockfall right before they went unconscious) then that's info that might influence what you do, eh? Thanks for bringing up this interesting topic. Steve

Yeah, the link-up would be good . . . I assume you're referring to the two routes in Nelson's book, the NW Corner and West Face. What are your thoughts on how you'd do the link up? What order would you do the routes in, and how would you get from the top of one to the other? Especially since they share the same first pitches... Seems like climbing one in its entirety, doing the long-ish descent, and then climbing the other route followed again by the standard descent, would be a lot of time. Is that plan your vision, or would you foresee rapping off one of the routes to access the other? Just curious, having done both routes but not linked them. Steve

Hey y'all, thanks for all the info and thanks for asking, Craig, if I went. The answer . . . . NO. I didn't. I'd like to, though. Ended up taking advantage of the beautiful weather that weekend afforded and going up to attempt Forbidden E Ridge . . . though got there too late to get a permit. Sadness. Had a glorious consolation prize: A hike up the Sahale Arm with my lovely climbing partner and girlfriend, and a nice climb of Sahale, Thai noodles at our high camp, and a great sunset. I love that place. Still hope to swing it on Adams . . . I heard a rumor that it's not going anywhere too soon. Thanks to all for the info, I'm sure I'll ask for more soon. Steve

ANOTHER vote for the Reverso. I frequently climb in a party of 3 with it and lead on double ropes (8.5 mm), then belay both seconds at once with the Reverso. Petzl advises being aware of the orientation of the carabiner when using it in this application -- see instructions that come with the Reverso -- and it's great. Almost as fast as climbing in party of 2. Have used this strategy in party of three on Snow Creek Wall, Zebra/Zion at Smith, and in other places. I love it. No complaints about the Reverso here. Steve

Thanks for the TR, it's always good to hear route reports and conditions. One question: Freeman writes, "Nice exposed climbing, fair to great rock, class 3 to 5 easy (call it all class 4)" Hmm, having been on that peak, and been very underwhelmed by the rock quality (though impressed by the quantity), I must ask, fair to great rock compared to WHAT? Steve

I did this route last september in marginal conditions, cloudy and quite windy, over labor day weekend. I am glad to have done it, due to the fact that you get wonderful views of Goode, and that now I will never have to do it again. The rock quality is poor at first, and gets a bit better as you get higher. The climbing is not very challenging, though the exposure and views are great. I agree that the south route just sucks in the fall, though I imagine Nelson included it as an early season route, when it may be much better. In all, it is a very scenic place and fun to be up there, though the climb itself I am unlikely to ever return to. Steve

Hello folks, I'm looking to go up on Hood and practice crevasse rescue, and ideally, do some ice climbing on the seracs. Does anyone have any recommendations as to a good area to go check out? I'm hoping for something relatively approachable so we can maximize our time practicing instead of approaching. Any suggestions are welcome, especially if you have recent condition reports. Thanks very much! Steve

Thanks, y'all! It was a great trip, and the photos don't start to do it justice. Juan gives himself a hard time saying that he did "the easy route" -- seems like there's no such thing as an easy route in the Pickets! Good work Juan! We descended the SE Glacier in a whiteout and I would not call it an "easy route" by any means. Alan Kearney's new book says that more people have expressed a desire to climb Fury than any other wall in the range. All I can say is, I'm glad I've done it because I'm not inclined to rush back for round two too soon! Hope some of you cascadeclimber folks get a chance to have a go at it next year, cuz it's good!

A duel between goats? Okay . . . Seems like there ARE too many goat boys out there . . . But as has been mentioned, I was the first and original one on cc choosing that ridiculous and ultimately meaningless member name. Soooooo, to all the other goat boys out there, go think up your own dumb names and I'll just keep my original dumb name to myself. OR, maybe we could have our own feeding trough at the fall rope-up where all the goat-oriented members can jostle for scraps of sausage and lukewarm beer from Gustavs? Are we done dueling yet? Goatboy, member 294 "I've been stupid a lot longer than you have!"

I'm curious if anyone can speak to the conditions on the Mazama Glacier this time of year, and if it is a reasonable and enjoyable -- ahem -- objective this late in the summer. Hey! It's not officially autumn for a few more days, eh? Anyway, thanks in advance for any info -- or especially any recent digital images showing conditions. Also, is it feasibly to camp at Sunrise Camp and climb the Mazama Glacier to where it intersects the regular route, then drop packs and summit, returning to get packs and descend the standard route? I'm hoping to expedite the descent rather than returning to Sunrise Camp. I know this sounds like a lot of work . . . Thanks -- I've never been on this particular mountain so I appreciate any wisdom from those who are more familiar with it than I am. Steve

Cell phone calls have been made successfully from the top of Blue Lake Peak (just southwest of Liberty Bell in the Blue Lake Basin). Makes me think it might work from Liberty Bell, since the closest cell phone tower is in Twisp, I believe. Just guessing, I think it depends on your cell phone service network. I hate cell phones. Steve

Okay, here's my attempt at posting some images of the NE Face of Fury: Fury photos Please note, I'm using this shutterfly link in order to share my images with other climbers, not to encourage anyone to buy any prints or anything else from shutterfly. The route was among the best I've ever done -- it was the entire package deal: Bushwhacking, cramponing across steep wet heather, icefall, steep snow and ice, bad weather, good weather, incredible views of the Pickets North and South, glacier travel, whiteout, lightning, high bivies and heavy loads, and a glorious summit day. We took a week to do it. I was worked when we were done, and was glad to have had a week to do it all in. Day 1 -- take boat from Ross Lake Dam to Big Beaver and camp at 39 mile camp Day 2 -- Schwack up Access Creek and camp Day 3 -- Over two passes and drop down to Luna Lake (via Luna/Fury Col) Day 4 -- Climb Fury Glacier icefall, traverse onto NE Face and finish via North Buttress snow arete and short rock section; descend to 8000 feet and make camp on SE Glacier Day 5 -- Descend SE Glacier in whiteout, camp on ridge above Access Creek Day 6 -- Drop into Access creek and schwack down to 39 mile Day 7 -- Boat picks us up at noon, steak and a beer This did involve a carry over from Luna Lake to the SE Glacier, so we tried to go as light as possible -- took a 30 meter rope, 6 screws (used em in the icefall), 2 pickets each, about 6 stoppers and a larger tri cam, 6 slings -- it was a perfect rack for the conditions we found. I can't recommend the route highly enough. Sorry it took me awhile to get these pictures up. Steve [ 09-18-2002, 06:19 PM: Message edited by: goatboy ]

Thank you. Steve

Specifically, WHERE is it? Thanks, Goatboy

I have images of the NE Face of Fury from our climb last week. We climbed from Luna Lake to a camp high on the SE Glacier route in 13 hours camp to camp, through the Fury Icefall and rock bands onto the ice shield, joining the snow arete of the upper N Buttress near the summit ridge. Outstanding route, great snow/ice conditions and a very narrow window of weather in otherwise crappy weather. Encountered whiteout on the glacier the next morning, made for an "interesting " descent. PM me for more info if anyone is interested. I would post images here but don't know how to do so without having a URL for them -- I just have them on my hard drive. Steve