Billy

Sky- I think the reverso has to be facing down in order to auto lock, ie: belaying two climbers coming up to you who are following. It seems like it might be hard to get the device to be properly oriented on your harness for TR soloing. But it will be interesting to see how it works after you try it.

Yea Wayne, way to go. I just gotta ask the question...was it as committing as the Turkey Monster? The Pickets rule! I'd love to hear the timeline on how it all went....you know, just to get an idea of how fast the second ascentionists need to move.

I wonder how Joe Retard gets lint off of his goretex? Since is a hiker, he probably knows how.

Hal Burton told me that he pinkpointed it. By the way, does any one know a good method of removing lint and dog hair off goretex? If so, will the same method work on schoeller fabric?

Yocum in November and the North Face in late June??? WTF??? No wonder you're worried about the wife and kids.....

Sorry Dave- I'm not talking slander about your routes, the facts speak for themselves. When you can clip more than 1 bolt from a stance, then this constitutes overbolting. When there are bolts next to cracks, this constitutes a bolted crack. I'm also sorry about the comment I made about you needing to leave the area to find to bring some depth to your new routing, but I really think it would help you. This is made not meaning to attack you, but to give you some food for thought.

I have seen the work of Dave at a few places, and it has consisted of overbolted face climbs as well as bolted cracks. He clearly is not able to distinguish where to place bolts, and where not to. He needs to get out of Oregon and go to some other climbing areas, to get a better handle on new-routing. Only then will he understand what everyone is complaining about.

Sorry Desey, snivel away you little trailbreaker. You'll get no sympathy for even venturing over there. Maybe you should hone your seemingly supernatural powers of observation.

The snow right now is pretty horrible on some parts of the mountain except the hogsback route (climber compacted) There is breakable crust on top of sugar. Leutholds might need some time yet.

I'd have to agree with RBW. The best way to do the marathon is to climb the Hayden glacier to col between Middle and North. The Pole Creek approach is way faster and easier than the west side approach. Forget about that ugly SE ridge on North. Leave skis at the col. Climb North and come back. Wizz up North Ridge of Middle w/skis and ski the SE Ridge of Middle as far down as possible. Skin up to Prouty Headwall, continue booting as it steepens up, go to the summit of South, ski the standard South Sister route back to the Cascade Lakes Highway. Easy hitchhike to Bend to the pub. The best time to do it is right when the Cascade Lakes highway opens. Could be any time now. They may open the section to Devils Lake TH before the whole thing opens.

Mystery Towers on the auction block Though not as famous the neighboring Fisher Towers, the Mystery Towers, in the Onion Creek drainage north of Moab, Utah, are an established destination on the desert horror-show circuit. However, if a proposed State Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) sale goes through, these tottering sandstone pinnacles could be purchased by a private party who might declare the towers off limits. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has made a bid on the land in order to keep access public and according to the Access Fund, the TNC needs your support: Please write a letter to SITLA, at the following address, urging them to support conservation and access to public lands by selling the “Onion Hill parcel” to the TNC. Surface SITLA Kim Christy, Assistant Director 675 East 500 South, Suite 500 Salt Lake City, Utah 84102 or e-mail: kimchristy@utah.gov

spring or late fall?

Rumsfeld is a jackass. And Gregw, you shouldn't believe the propaganda. There are plenty of other governments who supress and brutalize, yet we aren't messing with them. We are messing with Iraq because we can and because there is oil for our american SUV's at stake.

I think the route (SE Couloir)is totally happening right now. The weather is obviously not happening, but you should be able to drive to the Jack Lake Trailhead now, which makes it a unique time to go do it. Usually, by the time the trailhead melts out, the route is out of shape.

Why not buy a leash with a buckle? Skip the water knot. Thats old school dude...

Nice job you guys. I have seen that "east moraine of the coe" in the fall before and there is a lot of potential. That sounds like a great route. I think sometimes those routes come in in Nov/Dec when its cold enough. There is a goldmine in there.

Wow, that is some detailed report. One thing you left out is how many pickets you need for the rappels?

Apparent lack of ice in Oregon? I don't think so, Cracked and Klenke, you just have to know where to look. Hint: its not all on Mt Hood. Down there in hick country, Oregon climbers have been harvesting for awhile. Perhaps the Starbucks is getting to you?

Two friends of mine just climbed a cool ice route on the NE face of Middle on wednesday. It lies just to the left of the NE Face route as shown in the guide and flows down over the rock band. The first pitch was WI 4+ followed by a second pitch of WI 4. Protection was sparse. The rest of the route was 55-60 deg neve to the top. I've never seen this route in before, but may be in high pressure winters like the ours, it forms. Its very cool looking.

Yesterday we attempted the East Buttress of North Sister. We wanted to climb the entire buttress from the bottom to the top as I'm not sure if its been done. The guidebook shows that the route bypasses the whole lower section, so we thought maybe we could climb some new pitches on the lower half and make it a complete ascent. The ice at the lower toe wasn't completely in, so we skirted around to the north side and climbed two 70 meter pitches of WI3 stepped terrain with some mixed thrown in. Another pitch of 60 meter of 55 deg neve/ice led us onto to the top of the lower east buttress. Decent rock anchors were used for belays. Then we unroped and climbed up the ridge to where it looked like it would merge into the main face. It didn't. We found ourselves crowned out on the high point of the lower buttress. We had to downclimb off the north side and get on to the main East Buttress Route. This feature is not apparent from any of the photos that I've seen before. Then we entered the normal East Buttress route as shown in the guidebook. This section (300 meters) was completely awesome 50-55 deg neve, with several short ice steps which we climbed unroped as the wind was howling and we wanted to keep moving. The gulley system narrows and then begins to get technical again. The mixed pitches above looked like the business and had thin ice over rock. At this point we decided not climb ourselves into a black hole, as we only had one rope for retreat and felt like these pitched looked time consuming to summit out on Glisan Pinnacle. It was late in the day and we decided that we didn't want to have to be looking for the trail in the woods in the dark. We downclimbed this couloir section as anchors are hard to come by. When we got back down, we could see that we had got to within 3 or 4 pitches of Glisan Pinnacle. It would have been really cool to have made it, but sometimes it just doesn't feel right. The complete ascent of the route is surely one of the finest winter routes of its type in Oregon. I haven't heard of anyone ever climbing the lower buttress before, but who knows. There is ice everywhere in the Sisters and the NE Face of Middle looks sweet. Mixed climbing abounds everywhere. Right now, it is too cold in the mountains for ice formation, but there is a lot there already, and when it gets warmer again and then colder, things are going to improve. Also, you can drive to Pole Creek trailhead and there is barely enough snow to ski on at the start of the trail. I'd imagine that it is possible to drive to the Pamelia Lake trailhead for Jefferson as well.

Does anyone know who makes the lightest bivy sack these days? Thanks for any info

I did Ham and Eggs last April, and conditions were excellent. From what I've heard that route and Shaken are best done early season. Some people (in AK) have told me that Ham and Eggs can be out of condition by mid-May. I guess alot depends on the particular year though. Have fun up there.

Rob- It took about 2:15 from the Mt Bach nordic center on skis.

We climbed a really cool route on the east facing crater wall on Broken Top on wednesday. After skiing into the entrance to the crater, the route starts in a broad couloir, narrows into a chimney, and then opens up again and ends at the most southwesterly summit. The first 150 meters starts low angle and then steepens to 55 deg. Then there is a short mixed pitch that goes up and right to gain the main narrow chimney which is about 20 meters. We made a rock belay on the right with pitons, but some stoppers and small tricams would be real helpful. The next pitch is the business, consisting of 60 meters of difficult mixed climbing, with alot of hooking on suspect cobbles and shaky pins for pro. Luckily for me, my partner lead this pitch.At the top of the hard stuff, we escaped on a ramp to the right. Then finally, there is about another 120 meters of 55 deg neve to the shoulder, with a short romp to that SW summit. I have seen the route with more ice, and it should be bettter later in the year, ie: spring. The crux pitch would be a beautiful WI 3 or 4 at that time. All in all an excellent outing with about 350 meters of climbing. When I get my pictures developed I'll try to post them if they are any good. I know of at least one other ascent of this climb in spring conditions, and one other possible ascent in winter conditions.

I climbed it in 1997, and attempted Pik Pobeda. PM me, and I can give you some info, and mail you a packet of info that's a little dated, but may be of some use. Also, a search on the internet will yield a few useful sites. Have fun.