Jens

the later.

Soloed 14 pitches at castle today, then climbed MFdirect,damnation,& devil's fright with James "crack" (not cracked),and then proceeded to get my ass spanked at swiftwater for about 45 minutes. And I would have gladly traded my budlight for your merlot. How was the approach to the molegroup? Which way did you go? PS.traffic sucked on i-90 going home!

Mine: (somewhat climbing related) 1. Those who don't follow the "slower traffic keep right" for those of us driving to our climbs. 2.OR Seattle Sombrerro Hats 3. Subaru Drivers 4. Sleeping at parking lots of trailheads 5. Those that drive 5mph down the middle of the Cascade River Road or any similar road and won't let us through (happens ALL the time.) 6. Unleashed dogs at the crags or on the trails 7.Some of the newish long multipitched bolted climbs that have more clips than moves (don't ask me which ones). 7. AT gear or backcountry tele gear at lift areas and staying "in bounds". 8.Rangers that pretend to be nice so that they can really find out what rules we broke and what permits we didn't have and then nail us. and last but not least: 9. A "first ski descent" where some of the skiing was belayed and/ or sections were rapped.-not even considered a FSD in my book.

And ...reports of snow falling on pavement at I-90 snoqualmie pass very very early this morning. (or at least that is what the morning news said.) I'd put my chips on that we are looking at 18" or so of new snow and elevated avy danger at popular destiantions (like lets say any given Rainier climb-which a lot of people have on their minds at this time of year). Be careful out there.

-never heard of anybody repeating that givler's thing. One guy who did a bunch of hangdogging on it mentioned to me that it felt more like .13?

We always talk about particular routes that are harder if you are short, but never the opposite. What are some local climbs that are quite simply much easier for shorter climbers? I thought that this might be good food for thought? One that really stands out: (i'm only 5'7") Brass Balls Care to start adding to the list? Some say that overhangs, cracks, underclings,gastons, and limestone favor shorter climbers-- whereas vertical routes, slab routes, granite face routes, iron cross moves, stemming between towers, and dynamics favor taller climbers. Any thoughts?- local routes?

Has anyone ever skiied this route from the summit area? Did Ben and crew ski from the notch? I jogged in for a short evening solo Saturday and couldn't help but notice that the their was enough snow above the notch to be skiied. Anyone have any idea?

I dunnno maybee.... Chimney Rock. Cool area... cool icefall-closest real glacier to Seattle (as a crow flies?) Any map experts? Little Mac Spire (the best of the three Mc. Spires in the Pickets inmho). Rock- Easter Overhang or Dagobah system (midnight)

It is a great idea but I think they screwed up? The far edge of the green would lose some holding power. I would be curious to see how much pull testing was done? I wish Ray Jardine was reading he could back me up on this. Anone in the know?

WC forged friend- Best cam available. It would be even better if you could find someobody to tie those skinny little mammut slings (doubled) through the hole for two different clipping options. Is that a couple years off?

If you are going do that route in a day, have a good line to calm the nerves of all the people you are going have to pass. Or don't say anything at all. When I was on that route we had at least 3 parties behind us and bunch more ahead of us. Have fun.

* Castle or Midnight Rock in Leavenwworth on a cool but sunny late fall morning. Smell of pines and dusting of snow on the ridgetops. * Mt.Shuksan

38 sucks but I still climb at the trestle area or nevermind a lot because if I have only 3 hours to kill door to door,I can get a lot of pitches in. And 38 is 100 times better than a pracice rock or pulling plastic indoors in my humble opinion. Once it took me 1 hour and 45minutes to get to index! (from Renton/Issaquah) -traffic. I've darn near made it Leavenworth in that time. ____ 38 has climbs up to 5.13 (hard enough for anyone on this Bboard)

Ever thought about going back and taking the mandatory air to the climber's right of the constriction? It would be about a 35-40 foot launch. Hairball in the mountains but seen at lift areas a lot. Right now a yardsale landing might even be OK becasue the schrund is filled in.

Loren & I's plan was to climb the NW face couloir but we didn't see any ice hardly at all on the thing so we we went for this climb instead. I think the picture just made it look like ice? Forrest, If you guys climbed it last year under these conditions, nice work. (And I at least consider myself a wannabee M-number chaser) Kind of weird how freeze-thaw makes ice up there. Another new possible line I have been scouting up there had less ice on it then I have seen June 1st of another year.

Nice climbing!

I agree 100%. I think it is the best truly moderate multi-pitch route in the state.

on the other hand...... It is kinda nice though to get more vertical in a day than 95% of backcountry ski mountaineers get in a season. That is if you are hitting the high speed quads and skiing alone. And Blackcomb "glacier" lift skiing is kinda fun. ____ Wouldn't Mt.Daniel make a sweet lift area?.

That Issaquah Rogue Brew Pub may bring some cc'ers out that live a ways out and don't normally do "pub clubs"? It is a great place.

West Tiger Mt. cable line is good.

Leavenworth kicks butt! It's got the best of everything! Got to love that rainshadow!

I'll bet Chris gets at least eight pm offers.

It would be not a lof of fun if you were guiding with a thinner rope and your obese client fell off at the start of the second pitch of Canary. If you had some slack and rope stretch, the client might be haning 30 feet down in space and scared to death. And if your belay was high enough on castle, you wouldn't be able to lower them to the deck.

Since this seems to morphing into a what is hard thread, I might guess that the hardest wide routes might still be yet to be discovered? Perhaps it is hidden in some gully or in some obscure drainiage in the greater Mt.Stuart batholith region? Or it could be hidden under some granitic roof in the same region? As for the hardest I've done on TR, Supercrack at 11worth. To narrow for Leavittation and arching to the right in an odd way that leading with the feet wasn't in the cards. It might seem that basalt, andesite, and other such formations provide lots of face holds to get through tough sections? Anybody ever puke in a wide crack out of sheer full body exhaustion?

And Whore of Babylon is an awesome looking line! ________ There are a lot of hard unrepeated mountain routes in the cascades. _______ Interesting thread