jshamster

Will be there March 14-28. Subaru wagon & Dodge Caravan with WA plates. Look us up y'all. Hidden Valley most likely. Hopefully it'll be warmer than December.

...and Kearney's Cascade guide. I forget the name. Seems like by the time I got around to climbing Clean Break I had three or four topos to compare. Enjoy the climb!

Hardware Sales in B'ham did me right on home wall supplies.

Mt. Stuart

I'm looking in to enrolling in one in Bellingham Dec. 13-22 at WWU. Link: www.remotemedicn.com. They are certified through WMI.

I have often wondered why I find myself back at this godforsaken cliff at least once a year. I guess 'cause it stays dry. Bad excuse for playing sandstone roulette.

My brother-in-law & I were on Godzilla during the earthquake a couple of years ago. He was belaying me from the anchors, I was just below on a small ledge when it hit. Granite basically turned to the consistancy of Jello. Cracks expanding & contracting right before our eyes and the whole wall kinda waving & warbling. Massive rockfall ocurred to the right & left of us, but not on top of us. This is the most scared I have ever been, and we both pretty much thought we'd be seeing each other on the other side. The next day I drove out to Frenchman's Coulee to meet some friends. I seriously expected to see columns laying on their side, but all was intact. At least as intact as it usually is. As freaking scary as this event was, it never crossed my mind to stop climbing or anything. I mean, what are the chances it will happen again?

I don't like online polls, but I love reading trip reports. It's also 'bout the only thing I post on this board too.

How about that cool pitch above when you yard on that chopper flake/block that is gonna kill someone someday. Word! A thought provoking block for sure. I miss T-Meadows. Think I'll go next week.

My fave so far is Banana Peel-Pig Dogs-UE. Squishy Butt has too much BS for one good pitch.

I'd have to agree with jeffski. It's pretty easy to figure out equivalent grades at different areas, and it's kinda fun. Even if ya want to push grades ya just do it at different areas. I'm stoked to do a J-tree 10c, and I'm stoked to climb 11a/b in Squish. At Index/Yos it's more like 10a, sometimes 10b. It's all in the local grading, and especially (I think) in technique required for the type of climbing. climb hard, have fun.

First pitch Reg. route Fairview Dome. Slippery!

Some major Search & Rescue ops goin' on up there today. The rescue battalion wasn't too forethcoming with details, but it sounded like rockfall (possible broken leg?). Hope it wasn't any of y'all. Whoever, get well soon. The heliocopter landed at the Monte Cristo town site just as we got there. Had to wait until chopper took off before proceeding. I was just takin' a dayhike up the the Basin, but that spire looks great. Gonna have to climb it soon.

1. Climb anything in the Valley (been to Tuolomne plenty) 2. Evolution Traverse 3. Canadian Alpine Pretty broad, I know, but that's what it's narrowed down to so far. Still to come this summer: Life on Earth if weather cooperates in the next week.

I can neither confirm nor deny any of the above statements. I did forget to mention that on the third rappel down glacier couloir our rope became stuck. As it was getting dark at this point, we cut the rope a proceeded down. Lost about a third of a good 9.8mm, but this summer was its last season anyway.

1. Clean Break 2. Dragontail - Backbone Ridge 3. tie - N. Ridge Stuart/many solos of moderate Cascade alpine climbs Gee - can you guess who I climb with from above list?

Frosty_the_tradman & I headed to WA Pass on Monday to climb Liberty Crack, but the rain & cold destroyed all motivation. After a few minutes of standing around wondering how to salvage the next couple of days we grabbed a brew and a bit of , and headed for Leavenworth. By the time we got to Pateros the rain (and smoke) had cleared & our spirits were definately rising. Arriving in the Icicle about 3:30pm we quickly racked up & headed up the Bale/Kramer on Careno Crag. Damn fine face climbing with a crack thrown in for good measure. Pocketmeister finish is excellent. Now, what to do with Tuesdsay? The weather is okay, but is it good enough for an all day alpine adventure, or do we stay at the crags? Ah, fuck it, Dragontail is calling & we cannot ignore it. Next day, awake at 4am, hiking at 5:15am. So far the weather is cooperating more than we hoped for . The trail flies by, and before we know it we're at Colchuck Lake. At the lake we ditch one pack and a few unessentials, and head up the hill to the base of Backbone Ridge. Officially on route at 8:15am, we quickly solo up to the base of the 5.9 offwidth. Now generally offwidths and the word fun are not used in the same sentence, but that is one FUN 6" crack. Great stemming on the right hand wall make this a very straightforward pitch. We did end up taking the mighty six inch cam just for this pitch. Never thought that bad boy would see the alpine! After the wide crack a few 5.7-5.8 steps lead up to easy ground. At this point we are pretty much just leading until the rope runs out, and then simuling the 4th & 5th to the base of the Fin. Our plan was to do the Fin direct which looks pretty simple on the topo, but we managed to get off route. We went to the crest of the Fin instead of contouring up the righthand face, and eventually reached an impasse. Frosty did a great job of climbing up & down looking for a way up, but everything was total manky lichen. At this point it is time to get up to get down, so we rappeled into the gully to the left of the Fin and quickly scrambled up to the summit. It is now 5pm and we can't see a damn thing. Pretty much the whole second half of the route we were inside of clouds with snow flurries coming down regularly. The entire summit area is very low visibility, and we have to find our way off of this mountain. We have directions according to Kearney for those who don't carry axe or crampons, but we can't find the raps that he describes. We do happen to find the Snow Creen galcier so we know we're close, but how to get down? We finally agree on a large snow filled couloir leading down to flat glacier, and start rappeling. The first rap was a slung block at the top of the couloir. We stayed on the edge of the snow and the second rap was a single red tricam in a slot. That rap took us into the first 'schrund moat which we walked through to get to the other side of the couloir. Third rap is off of frozen slung block down into the next 'schrund, out the other side and 40 feet down the glacier. After a bit of snow downclimbing with nut tool in hand, Frosty turned around, sat down and did the icy glissade to the bottom. I soon followed, and minutes later we reached the top of Asgard Pass. It is now getting dark quickly. Luckily the trail from the pass to the lake is easy to follow by Tika. We reached Colchuck Lake at 9:20pm. Finally! The bean & cheese burritos and fat joint at the lake have us somewhat revived for the walk back to the car. 2 1/2 delirious hours later we arrived back at the car just in time to wish frosty_the_tradman a happy birthday! Highlights: Full moon & Mars rising at the same time Six inch crack Snowing on route in early September Great route with a great partner All in all a highly enjoyable day of avoiding the westside rain.

Now $65.76.

I hiked in on Tuesday & climbed N. face yesterday. Super fun. Pretty strange to be climbing firm snow & ice in 65 degree temps, but conditions were great. There are now no continuous snow or ice fingers. I had about 40 feet of dirt & mud scrambling about 2/3 up the route. Descended the hikers route then made a high traverse back to Leroy Basin & bivy gear. Fun fun.

You can bypass the entire interglacier by hiking over Mt. Ruth. Nothing but tennies needed. Have fun.

Nice job guys. One of my faves is WA. I have heard that the route can get crowded, but in my four times up there I have only seen one other party. I think the bolts are in perfectly logical places if you think about drilling on lead on a slab. Glad y'all had fun.

Yo TLG - The Leap is awesome! I have climbed there extensively for the past two years, and love it. My faves are: the Line .9, Hospital Corner .10a, Surrealistic Pillar .7, Corrugation Corner .7, & Traveler Buttress .9. Stay away from Psychedelic Tree. Fun route, but the loose blocks are gonna take someone out one of these days. As erik said, camping is free. If you show up on a weekday, camping is plentiful. If you show up on a weekend, you're hosed. The S.F.er's take over on the weekends. Tons o' moderate fun to be had, and the temps aren't too bad in the morning. Have fun. If I'm down there I'll show up & climb.

more deets pleeze. chuckanut crack? South Dihedral (aka Chuckanut Crack)

Newhalem sport climbin'!!