Jens

There used to be one of those motion counters up at exit 38. As you walked on the gravel road toward the trail leading to the cave etc,. it was on your left. On the topic of technology, some of the NPS staff in Yosemite have used night vision goggles to patrol the valley at night (find bandit sleepers?) I've been roused once at dawn for bandit camping down there.

Lot's a classic crack bashing.... a few more WA sandbags INMHO. *Potholes, rated (5.7+) *Carnival Crack , rated (5.10c) -would be 11b in Squamish *Thin Red Line pitch 1 rated, (5.8) *Any bolted face at the upper town wall that has mossed over due to low traffic (almost all of them) *Sting and wasp at midnight, rated(5.10a)

quote: Originally posted by mikeadam: Jens I know you secretly support the Sierra Club... But don't tell them that I pack heat into the Pickets to supplement my rations with wild game. Mountainman.... You should definitely check out the route on Formidable. Also there are several obvious lines that are waiting on the face. It's a lot like the South face of Forbidden only it's twice as high and a lot wider. Well, enough chestbeating for now.

No balanced rock guys? __________________________________ As for soloing, the West ridge would be easy and safe. The part that would probably make the average Joe alpinist to pause would be a 15 foot section of off fingers. Only 5.6, but if your crack leading limit was say... 5.9, You'd better concentrate pretty hard or you're ridin' the range. I guess I sound like a mountie.

I overheard a dude talking on his sattelite phone at the windy corner on Denali, "What do you mean you can't find the mayo? It should be in the drawer below the crisper. And also, the relish should be in the bottom drawer." He was giving directions to the person that was housesitting his apartment during his climb. The housesitter was trying to make a sandwich and was having trouble finding stuff in the climber's crowded fridge. I think the call was going fom Denali to California?

Slightly off topic... but I have been loosely following A. Robert's climbing feats since 1992. This guy is by far the most extreme dude of any of us 7 billion people here on earth. He makes rodeo clowns, alligator wrestlers, base jumpers, 8000 meter unsupported soloists, Harry Houdini, motorcyle racers, or Hollywood stuntmen look like pussies. It's kind of ironic to because he is French and a sport climber. The French were whimps during both world wars and those of us that sport climb are realtively sane. Does anybody remember the feature about him in mountain magazine about 10 years ago? It was the issue with the Index feature. He was doing some crazy stuff. Free soloing 5.14a a thousand feet off the deck in the Verdon gorge. And he had only done some of the climbs a few times on rope before!

Say what you want, but the line looks really sweet! I hiked to the base of it once in the rain before it was bolted. I wanted to do it. I figured a few bolts and lots of small gear. The moves look really cool. More cereberal than the mundane smear, smear, smear, smear of Darrington? Speaking of slabs, what is the hardest slab route in our state? Rotues that have not been overtaken by moss that is.

quote: Originally posted by richard noggin: I have dogs but don't take them to the crag.Dude did you come to climb or walk your #$%!en dog? Or are you trying to pick up chicks with your lame ass mutt? I have friends that bring there dogs to the crag I don't like it but I put up with it . It seems to be the group that,I don't want kids because of responsibility so I get a dog. My real problem is not with the dogs it's the idiot dog owners, Leash it, don't let it run wild and knock rocks on fellow climbers, keep it out of dog fights, clean up its shit , keep it off my rope and out of my belay. Why and @#$% should we have to deal with problems from your pouch Your dog would not be that out of control black mutt named Vader that almost wiped us out with rock fall a few years ago would it I know of the black dog of which you speak named "vader". He pooped all over my sleeping bag . I love dogs and used to bring mine to the crags but have come to the conclusion that no dog should ever go to the crags. Funny story: I have a 12 pound pomeranian, cocker spaniel mix named "peanut". I brought her to smith once. I had her anchored by a #2RP with a 10 foot sling to the seam at the start of Heinous Cling. A big Rot cam by. Peanut shock loaded the RP more vigourously than any aid cleaning funkness device as she tried to kill the Rot. She literally caught air as she dove for the Rot. Miraculously, the RP held! The echo of the barks filled the entire canyon and was probably heard all the way to the parking lot. Eventually the cloud of dust settled. We could all spray dog stories I bet. And the sport climbers with the little whippets, or grayhounds is so cliche'.

Napalm would be the ticket. If you don't want to much brush , but more hiking time, cross the creek and head up onto the wooded ridge on the other side of the valley. If you don't mind battling brush but want a direct route, Go to the junction 50 yards from chair 8? take the left fork which ends in a clearcut. Drop down on the edge of the clearcut to the creek bottom and follow the creek up into the basin. Last time I was in there, Highlander and I brought jeans, long sleeves, and gloves for the brush and then cached them in the basin. We did the NF car to car. The brush sucked. It would have been worse with skiis on our packs though. I would be curious to know what the time would be if the NF was approached from Price Lake? When the trail meets the end of the lake, cut up right to the base of the NF. I could be way off on my judgement but this might work pretty fast? We really need to all make a nice trail into this side of Shuksan. there are a million "lines of surveyor taper" on both sides of the valley. With a good trail, this would be one of, if not the closest from the car areas from yo yo skiing, serracing, and alpine rock around. And no, a trail would be less environmental impact than the current situation. Everybody going their own way. Bellingham climbers, will you guys take the lead on this one? I'll bet 35 people with machete's, loppers, shovels, and picks could build a nice trail in a weekend. If you look on a map, as a crow flies it is a very, very short distance. PS. OFf the subject but since Fisher Chimney was mentioned, INMHO, Fisher chimneys is proabaly the best route on the mountain. And one of the most classic routes in the state at any grade. I'd be happy to guide this route all season. Plus the bouldering at Lake Ann rocks.

I have no clue what happened and am not trying to pass judement, but the news made it sound like they kinda just got scared and whipped out the phone. No injuries and the weather is clear on the day of the "resuce". Cell phones....... gott'a love em' and and gotta' hate em'. Perhaps the details will come out later. Sounds like they were pretty green, but I hope they are going to be OK.

3rd hand information here, I heard that some dude fell in the summit area and was in bad shape. He had finished the south butress route? I could be wrong. I'm sure as people log on later, more details will come out. I hope he will be OK

Forged Friends.... *Superlight *predicatlbe loading *don't walk *last forever *Feature a 70's patent on an optimum cam angle that the other guys drool for. BD got around this by making a double axle but their cams way a ton. *You will only need to tie them off a lot if you climb at the gunks. *are tough Or better yet, get them as booty cams. Seven of the cams on my rack were "stuck" on routes.

[: ...anyone ever do monkey lip, apesville, glory days.. (lower castle),or the 11a of jy's next to cat burglar (on upper castle)??...not sure which finger crack jim went up... Barely remember trying monkey lip a long time ago when I was a freshman at CWU. It had pitons that were painted orange. I did a bunch of hangdogging. The 11a you are refering to is called hangdog. It is a nice TR with a short but sweet crux. Be prepared to fall a ways if you are leading. Anybody done northwind or the north ridge route?

JBERG........ Don't try it...... it will kill you It's tried to kill me five times. The most heinous was when we got avalanched going up the CJ couloir in 95. I threw myself into a bottomless moat and survived. My buddy got hit but surrvived. It was louder than any rock concert I have ever been to times 10. I won't spray about the other four times but they were just as serious. PS. Ran into a grizzly bear on the south side the first time I climbed Jberg. It ain't a black bear either (I used to bowhunt em'). Any wildlife biologists know what the lowdown is with a grizzly there?

Bballs rocks.... Anybody done every single route at Castle? My favs.. 1st place Midway (still the best outing) 2nd MF Direct 3rd BBalls 4rth Canary or Damnation INMHO The icicle blows compared to all the stuff in tumwater canyon. Sport/ Trad/ Bouldering/ ice

Yes, my partner and I did it car to car last fall. Since the route is pretty short but the approach is fairly long, it will come down to how fast of a hiker you are rather than how good of a climber you are. If you go, make SURE you do the balanced rock. It is the best part of the whole climb. Many parties go in and climb the west ridge and skip the balanced rock and then never going back to do Sherpa again. My buddy has a trip report and pictures at: www.cascadeclimber.com (go to the chronological index)

Outdoor recreation and the PNW go hand in hand. It seems that every job I've ever had, I've always run into other climbers. Some of my relatives have stories about climbing back in the 60's etc. Sure a lot of people dabble in the sport but how many climbers are their in this State? The reason I ask is that how many million people live in WA? And everyone and their brother seems to climb but I often run into the same people up in the mountains or at the crags. Let's define "climber" as anyone that gets out at least four times a year. Sorry Oregon and BC folks. Maybe somebody could start another thread on those places.

Yes, I guess congratulations are in order. What are some other climbiing legends that have sent us to the far reaches of the state in search of Coronado's Lost city of Aztec gold? As a teenager at spire rock I heard legend of a secret Cascade hot springs that was accessed from the top of Index' s Upper town wall. Supposedly, after you had finished toppinng out, you could stash your gear and the hot springs was no more than an hour or two hike. After topping out, I have run into motor bikers up there. That would be the way to scout. Imagine topping out and then soaking in some secret hot springs as you watch the sunset over Mt. Index. No this is not a troll.

My in laws have lived about 300 yards from the school for the last 20 years. My father in law called BS on this one. As for new crags in Renton, there is a cliff I've always wanted to check out. It is part of a quarry near the Empire Estates Apartments. If you are driving on I405 near southcenter, when you are near that family fun center, look up the hill towards the skyway area. There is a huge quarry that features several bands of different rock types. the lower terraces are still being actively quarried but the upper levels look like they have been dormant for years. I'm sure the bouldering/ climbing would be of low quality, but if you lived in the area..... Anybody checked this out before?

Never saw it but, 100 foot high columns at vantage knocked over with construction jacks. It would be pretty cool to see and hear. Of course this is before most of the sorry ass routes were established there -sorry I couldn't resist.

quote: Originally posted by Skisports: up for the north ridge of stuart this week looking for some one to do that with in one day Ski sports, do you mean "this midweek"? I am pretty hooked up with weekend partners but am looking for someone for possibly a Mt. Stuart Wed.-Thurs. outing via girth pillar. That is if they haven't closed the road yet.

quote: Originally posted by thelawgoddess: looking for current beta, and "hints" for making it a solo event. As someone said earlier, the route has lots of ledges. There are many spots that if you fell you wouldn't ride the range (but you'd be pretty messed up). And lawgoddess, if you do chose to solo, downclimbing the south face is quicker than downclimbing from the west (I've done both with the stopwatch running.).

Jobe, I feel your pain. It sucks to wait but we have to thank those tourists for helping to keep the costs down for us at least a little. Those pilots work there asses off. As for DG's assertion that the tourist's flights are mostly booked months in advance-- he is probably fibbing a little. I've seen many tourists pull up in the mini van, dad gets out asks some questions about booking a flight and then they are off for a Denali flight 45 minutes later. What the longest anybody has been stranded at KIA ? Anybody know? I bet it is an insane number of days. It helps to bury some high proof whisky at your land/pickup point for your return wait.

I unexpectedly found myself with two free hours this morning before my lunch commitment and figured I'd head up to 38 for some bouldering and soloing by the trestle area. I also brought my rope, to hook up with others. At the I-90 off ramp, I noticed somebody had put up a huge poster that humorously degraded the climbing and climbers at exit 38. I will agree that the place is kinda chossy, and has more clips than moves but it also has some pretty cool stuff going for it. It sure beats bullshitting at the Gym, UW rock, or Marymoor. Sure I'd love to be able to head up to index after work or in the morning for an hour. But if you live in places like Renton, Kent, Auburn, North Bend or Issaquah., that can be sort of tricky to do. The traffic on 405, and highway 2 aboslutely blows. You can have your one lap on Godzilla or iron horse that you've done for the 1001th time. I'll take 8 or 9 garbage pitches at 38 over traversing around a practice rock or getting in 1and and half laps in at index. Or throw your mt. boots on and climb- It's a lot like the North Cascades choss. Besides, 38 has even a few climbs that would give Ron Kauk at least a moderate pump. And not all of the climbs have had their first onsight yet.

You don't need to worry about telling us beffore you jump. Perhaps just scream as you are jumping. I've had jumpers jump past me on the Capitan. Pretty cool to watch. the worse thing that could happen is a climber's heart rate would race into the stratosphere. All you guys need is 300+ feet of vert. to overhanging stone? If that is the case, we've all seen a lifetimes worth in the cascades. Provided you are willing to climb and or rappel to get to takeoff points. Sounds like a cool sport. Have fun