scot'teryx

Prusik Peak West Ridge (II 5.7) Left Snow Lakes TH at 1130am on Saturday morning heading up to Upper Snow Lakes for our camp. Arrived around 4pm and found a nice spot on the beach that was nice and soft on the sand. The weather was nice, but once the sun went down it got cold fast, especially being right next to the lake. We awoke at 5am on Sunday morning and headed up to the Lower Enchantments, once we reached Lake Viviane, we followed the climbers trail heading north (right) side of the lake, and then up and to the left of Prusik Peak's South Face. We reached Prusik Pass after some scrambling, and then at the last minute some other climbers ran past us to get on the route first, not sure what the hurry was. A very nice vista of the enchantments from here Prusik Pass was very windy with gusts up to 30mph or so, so we found a small bench below the pass out of the wind and got ready to go. We climbed some class 3 ledges up to the base of the climb where the other group was still at (party of 3). From this point on I had no camera as it fell out of the case somewhere later to be recovered at the base of the climb. I started a variation of the 1st 5.6 pitch, and started right and made my way up some lichen slabs to a 5.7 move that eventually made it up to the belay station. From here Sergio took the next pitch and we started the famous "5.7 unprotectable exposed slab". There was a fixed piton at the base above the belay, but nothing until 10 feet of slab of climbing was accomplished, and then Sergio plugged in a small cam on a flake and continued the climbing on a narrow and exposed ridgeline. The wind was heinous, blowing me back and forth, unable to hear him even with a radio, and rope drag was so bad that communicating via rope was difficult. I followed and met him at the next belay. I started the next pitch up a 5.6 corner, gained a ledge, hit the 5.6 flake which eventually led to the 5.5 chimney on the s. face of the summit. The 5.8 chimney was tempting, but not leading more than (2) 5.8 trad leads I decided to go the easy way up. After inching up I gained the summit and belayed Sergio up with some bad rope drag. John & Craig were following us on another rope and had a few problems of their own as well, but we all made the summit by 1130am. The rappel route is on the North Side and is about 4-5 single rope rappels, with some rap stations not easily seen from the 2nd and 3rd rap stations. After the rappeling we went back to Prusik Pass and got all of our gear. We downclimbed towards Prusik Pass proper, and headed towards Gnome Tarn for some classic pictures of Little A and Prusik and then down to Lake Viviane and went around the south portion of the lake which forced up to do some low 5th class climbing on a short 20 foot ledge to gain a ridge to get us back on trail again. The way out was long and tiring, especially after packing up camp and hiking out the 7 miles with full packs on, and a small portion of it at night. A long weekend, but an awesome alpine summit on a beautiful day in the most incredible area in Washington

that has got to be one of the worst websites I have ever seen in my life. It's horrid! That's what you get when you build a website with MS Office! I wish to get everyone a gift certificate for their products and brownies I used to think this was one of the worst: http://www.myedmonds.com/ [ 10-03-2002, 05:03 PM: Message edited by: scot'teryx ]

Thanks for all that info JayB It was some good reading for sure. Even though I have only been climbing trad for about 4 months now, I have been very obcessive about, and doing as much possible whenever I can. One thing that I can't do, is lead trad like I lead sport, it's just too hard for me - plus I have not taken a fall on my gear yet, so 5.8 is as hard as I will go for now, maybe staying comfortable is not living on the edge, but that's how I play the game for right now.

Went out to Static Point today for the first time and just wanted to make some corrections that Smoot did not cover in his "Washington Rock" book. I have not had a chance to look at "Sky Valley Rock" to see their approach directions, but Smoots will get you all messed up. After driving through about 1 mile of total slide alder car washing up the FR to get to the "wide open parking area", I found out that I need a wax job more than I ever have. There is a huge tree down about 6/10 mile up this road as well, but I was able to get under it in a 4WD with a roof rack. From there the trail description says to "go to the 1st gully and head up and look for the trail that will miraculously materialize". Well that 1st gully takes you nowhere except to slick boulders and a waterfall. The keyword that was used in the book was that you would be able to see the granite dome above, which we did not, but it was the 1st rock gully, so we proceeded, but the wrong one. We came down and followed the trail for much longer than we thought could possibly be correct, since the book says to follow the trail for .6 mile, and we had been going for quite a bit. We finally hit the second gully and were able to barely see the granite above us through the trees. So we headed up the gully, full of slick boulders, slippery tree logs and such, and then we came to the base of a slick slab that towered above us - so all we could do was go up the mud/dirt slope of the canyon for about 100 feet to reach the ridgeline. What'dya know, a trail at the top! We were able to follow this trail all the way to Static Point, and it led right ot the base of Online and Right Line. Since another party reached the route literally minutes before us, we had to abandon going up online (III 5.10b) and head up Rightline (II 5.9+) instead yet it was not in Smoots book, and the other party had the Sky Valley Rock book so we were able to check out the topo in their book. I liked the nostalgic rap ring at the top of the last pitch Remember to bring 2 ropes for the rap down, as we fell 10 feet short of the belay stations even with a 60m rope, that we forgot about. Made it much more interesting though. In a nutshell, from the parking area, it is a brisk 25 minute hike to the 2nd gully (about 15 small gullies in between), and after the last gully, walk across it and continue on the road for 1/4 block, where a cairn on top of a large pipe mark a trail that follows the gullies right side, something we only took advantage of on the descent. The hike up this trail is very reminscent of Mailbox Peak, steep, rooted, and a little hard to follow in spots. About 25 minutes to the 1st routes from the 2nd gully. Expect the approach tobe at least 1 hour, instead of the quoted 20 minutes that I have read out there, and that's keeping a 2-3 mph pace. If you have a car that you actually care about (paintjob at least), bring bikes for the 1 mile of FR that gets you to the trailhead. Nice runouts up there! Hope this helps someone

We went up there September 9th and there was ice and snow all over the ledges to get on the route, as it had snowed the night before down to about 6500 feet Sergio hanging out near some ice at the base of the ridgeline

John Ramuta just did a few pairs for me and I got them back in 3 days! I highly endorse Mr R [ 09-30-2002, 09:50 PM: Message edited by: scot'teryx ]

"it's your world holmes, and I'm just living in it" now name that movie quote!

the texan huh? who's that? texplorer? I guess I spoke to him on top of castle rock as he retrieved my friends biner up midway direct. the texan was leading a damn stout 5.10 crack on lower jello tower as we bailed [ 09-30-2002, 02:03 PM: Message edited by: scot'teryx ]

was anyone at castle rock on saturday morning early afternoon? i saw some folks that might have been cc's but i did not dare reveal myself, but there were tigers in the woods up by ROTC

I'll be out there as well with Mr Verdina if the weather is okay. Had a friend up there this weekend and said they only got up the first fifth class pitch as the wind was blowing at about 40mph, and that it was snowing. We'll be camping at Colchuck Lake on Saturday, probably heading up to do the Witches Tower on Saturday afternoon, then doing Prusik early on Sunday morning. Anyone up for climbing in Leavenworth on Fridat afternoon?

This got me totally psyched for this winter http://mtnphil.com/Winter2002/Winter2002.html Rock on Phil! [ 09-27-2002, 01:12 PM: Message edited by: scot'teryx ]

quote: Originally posted by sketchfest: Scott, you have got to be one of the original mr. tough guys. Normally you don't even have to post and people give you shit, let alone the few times you do offer something up to the masses, you are immediately ridiculed. Dude you got some thick ass skin to keep coming back to this shit. I feed off of this crap, this is nothing I only get stronger!!!!!!!!!!!

quote: Originally posted by Chepe: Gaper'teryx you should get yourself a full on set of body armor for skiing. It seems like it would "suit" your personality well. We would all hate to read the TR on Gape'teryx.org where you break 15 bones tumbling down a 25 degree heinously sustained slope and then got partially buried by an avalanche.

quote: One of the things that Snot has in common with the pika: Coprophagy (eating feces). Snot-tryx, (like Pikas) excretes two kinds of solid waste. The first kind is soft and dark green. Pikas reingest this "waste", which still contains digestible nutrients. Reingestion is either immediate (as it's excreted)or after storage in the haypile. The Snot-tryx has even been reported to ingest feces before it is excreted (see above) due to its peculiar, insatiable affinity for shit-eating. The final scat is a tiny version of the familiar rabbit pellet, round and brown. Pikas don't reingest this scat, so it collects in haypiles over the years. And I thought 47 packets of gu was hard core. Rad Mitch! - I think you spent too much time writing that one out, and it's just plain dumb. Cheers to you though, you got the fighting Irish in ya!

Forgot my radio and almost died... ...of laughter. quote: Go brush your teeth Snot'tryx. That looks like feces on your tongue. Mitch Merriman sucks. I soloed Pilchuck the other day! No Gendarme though Take your..........

quote: Thanks for the proof that you're a dick, Scot'idyBowl. Nice job, Mitch. Greg W Having a bad day Mr W? Where's your

quote: Scotty your the wanker, Retro has climbed more shit than you ever will. When you grow a pair then you can spray about it. Rad! your pissed and I am laughing Lighten up loser, and have some HC!

quote: Originally posted by Greg W: quote:Originally posted by scot'teryx: quote:Originally posted by Greg W: Scot'idyBowl: No for someone calling Retro a "wanker" after such a cool accomplishment. Calling someone a wanker is now against the spray law? So does this mean you can't call me a gaper? Caveman is right, there are no spray laws just sensibilities. I may not call you a gaper, but I might call you the cum-guzzling cougar raper that you are. I have a lot of respect and admiration for Retro's accomplishment; your 'wanker' comment pissed me off. Take it any way you want, I don't care. Greg W Glad your able to take with a grain of salt!

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: There are no spray laws only the whistle on the thread. You are all wankers and lemmings like I. I'd like to say your wrong there Mr Cavey Spary Law #1: When referring to scot'agonia or Larson, one must refer to the "Muir on Saturday" post, or Tigers in the Mountains [ 09-18-2002, 03:27 PM: Message edited by: scot'teryx ]

quote: Originally posted by Chepe: drop some acid and lighten up scotty! I think I would do more than lighten up if I took a 10 strip of 4 way window pane!

quote: Originally posted by Greg W: Scot'idyBowl: No for someone calling Retro a "wanker" after such a cool accomplishment. Calling someone a wanker is now against the spray law? So does this mean you can't call me a gaper?

Did you yank the bolts that were drilled next to the fist crack? It's a sweet sport climb! Hope you had your NW Forest Pass, and out in a few extra dollars to cover the gendarme cleaning expenses for this year. wanker

c ya there losers, that'll be a fun romp up the dirt path with the rest of washington state dont forget your cotton clothing

I'll raise you a chossy pile of o'talus NE Ridge on Right, South Chossy Gullies on Left (out of view) There was some serious FRESHIEZ on the North Face, along with some ice

Timmy! How dare you compare me to slim shady! He climbs much harder than me, sending the 1st Speed ascent of Sabre just last week! See you on Castle Rock this weekend! Going to attempt a speed ascent of the switchbacks in my plastics