mattp

If it is beneath you to talk about how to manage a route like the West Ridge, simply start your own thread about what a badass you are.

If somebody wants to replace those bolts on Silent Running, I'd go along to help out. Maybe this Saturday, after digging post holes for the new Kiosk?

The West Ridge of Prusik Peak is moderate and very enjoyable climb and you won't even set foot on snow at that time of year. With flexibility about the permits, you can probably get a "walk in" permit to camp somewhere up there nearby if you start on a weekday.

Nickerson works for me.

I'm not down on that guide (quite the opposite, in fact), but I would say that those pages will do little more than get you lost at this point. "The old classics" are mostly not as they were shown, both because of inaccuracies in the original guidebook as well as because the routes have changed through subsuequent redevelopment and, in some cases, massive rockfall. Even the approach information in that old guide will quickly help you get lost. It'd be a good idea, perhaps, to set them up with some more modern information.

If you go to my site, you'll find a link with David Whitelaw's email address. Darrington Rock Climbing

Watch for a good weather window when it hasn't significantly snowed for six or eight weekds. Make your climb on an itinerary that is just a day after the typical weekend one, and take ski poles with small or no baskets to probe the edges of any crevasses you may encounter.

Is that some kind of shorthand for methamphetamine?

To tie a comfortable harness with fixed leg loops the way that Toast describes, it takes a heck of a lot more then 8 feet. We used to use 20' pieces of 1" tubular for this purpose many years ago and -- you know what? - the fancy harness I bought from a trendy Seattle climbing shop isn't any more comfortable or safer than the old-fashioned hand-tied rig. It just has a couple more features (the gear loops and a belay loop).

There are a couple, though I think maybe most predominantly one, bluffs along that road. I don't think they look like something you really need to pursue, though I've had a couple of friends who have tried climbing there.

An easy way to prevent that problem on the second pitch is to stop and belay right there. This is rarely done but, when you get yourself in trouble by not doing so you would probably have saved time if you'd just stopped there in the first place. If you and your partner are very careful, you can avoid placing pro after that downward flake on less than a very long runner and then flick the rope above the thing when you start climbing more upward again, but then your partner really has to watch to give you enought slack so you can move but not so much that it falls back into the jaws.

I use that #4 in the "blue crack," and if my memory is correct, you'll still have to "run it out" slightly by modern standards even with the #4(it is maybe 10-15 feet from the highest #4 place to the anchor but it is only 5.5). I tink the #3 will fit maybe 6-8 feet below that. The rope drag problems on those pitches can easily be solved by breaking them up. I once suggested moving the belays because they are in poor locations from a rope-management standpoint, but if you are careful you can get by how it is, or you can simply break up the pitches. If you stop and belay at the bottom of the Blue Crack, and then pass by the next hanging belay but stop and belay after the next undercling, you'll eliminate most of the potential problem.

Much of the climb is bolt-protected, but you should bring one piece of every size up to 4", and on the first of the two 5.9 overlap pitches you should hoard you bigger pieces like the #1 - 4 camelots for the "blue crack" (a gold flake). If not, you'll likely use the #1 and #2 lower on that pitch, but you can just as easily use smaller gear if you know to do so. I'd carry five or six stoppers to 3/4" and cams from tiny TCU or Aliens to Camelot #4, but no doubles. Bring at least a couple long runners, and favor trippled up shoulder-lengths over quick-draws. If you plan to rappel the route (most people do), you'll definitely need two ropes.

I don't know what your anchors look like, but if the difference between self-equalized slings and the American Death Triangle is what it takes to make your station "safe," I think I'd rather do a different climb. Obviously, all things considered, it is better to have the anchors equalized than not - but I always find it amusing to see how people go to such lengths to make sure all eight rappel slings are involved in the system and that the GIANT quick link is backed up. You'll often see this on some pair of piece-of-crap anchors when there is a good solid tree not ten feet away.

On the first ascent, Foraker, they used the tree not only to place pro, but actually to climb the route. I believe it was done that way for years and, if memory serves me correct, it was Julie Brugger and Carla Firey who first climbed it without using the tree.

I might have run into you if I'd taken my eight year old nephew up the Granite Sidewalk as I had planned. I had thought he might enjoy a scramble up to that "frog pond" 3/4 the way up. Instead, we went over to 3:00 rock and he did a couple of 5.5 pitches right off the ground.

Sounds pretty good. I'm sorry I didn't make it!

Saturday was way too hot up there. Sunday was much better and yesterday even better. You guys did well to stick with it -- most partiest roast off the thing on a day like Saturday.

I skied that way once and there was only a minimal crevasse problem up at the schrund. I'd be very surprised if you had to do any ice climbing.

For backpacking with someone who may not be into mountain climbing and stuff like that, I think the coastal hikes out on the penninsula are very hard to beat. They get popular in the summer, so I wouldn't expect to find privacy out there over, say, July 4 weekend, but in the Spring or Fall you'll be on your own. It is damn nice kayaking out there, too. See if you can hike it opposite another party who does one of the two major hikes (Ozette-Rialto or LaPush-Hoh) from the other direction and trade car keys in the middle somewhere. Both make a great two-day trip, with lots of seafood to be harvested from the tidepools. (The Gooseneck Barnacles, considered a delicacy in Portugal, are my favorite.) You'll want to drive out there the night before, 'cause it is a fairly long drive. The northern strip is rockier and a little tougher overall, while the southern has a couple of creek crossings that can be troublesome in rainy weather. For a single overnight, without the car-shuttle, I'd just go to Rialto and hike north.

In fact, the road is much better than Hanman's post would suggest. They did a fantastic job with the repair and, at least as far as the Blueberry Hill or 3:00 Rock trailheads, it is smoother than it was last year. See you up there.

I wear cotton on all climbs, big or small. I never subscribed to the "cotton kills" mantra.

That's good camping up on the bench you describe, Timmy, but there is also a magnificant knoll about a mile before the lake that makes an excellent campspot with a panoramic view. It is marked "6450" on the 7.5 minute map, and is just north of Corral Lake. If your dogs are hauling folding chairs and other bulky luggage up there, it is a little easier trip. I think it may also be more convenient to the standard S. Side route on S. Sister, though there is an excellent route up the E. flank of the peak from just beyond the far end of Green Lake where you get three good long runs with some short climbing traversses between them for the descent.

We're a parody of ourselves, allright. You, for example, can't pass up a chance to take a swipe at Catbird. He wrote that "it felt like .10+ ... I must have been having a brain fade on that traverse." They guy simply offers an honest opinion, and one which he knows he may be slammed for, and Szy says his ego must be inflated and you come on acting all indignant that he could post such a thing. I think Szy has it closer to the mark when he says it is 5.9 greasy, though. The footholds are rather polished from having so much traffic over the years and the handholds can be sweaty. Whatever the rating, you can completely sew it up and, as noted, there are plenty of resting stances throughout the traverse if you trust your feet and allow yourself to chill.

Big Time Brewery & Alehouse 4133 University Way NE, Seattle 7:30 pm tonight