jshamster

Pretty much any pitch of Clean Break. Especially the first two & wide crack connection.

Mythos are great shoes. Just make sure you wear out the rubber as soon as possible. Then get resoled with 5.10 stealth. La Sportiva rubber sucks.

Climb: Slesse/Yak-NEB/Yak Check Date of Climb: 7/25/2004 Trip Report: This is a bit late, but I been outside. frostythetradman & I drove to the Chilliwack River Valley Tuesday afternoon to climb the NEB on Slesse Wednesday. We brought mtn. bikes for the ride back to the car after decent & locked them to a tree near where they are repairing the bridge on the Slesse Creek rd. We then proceeded as far as the Subaru could take us, about 2km from the trailhead. That evening we carried all climbing gear up the trail about 2hrs in order to have an easy hike in the morning. Got a few hours sleep & left the car at 2:15am. Wore short sleeves & knickers from 2:30am on. We reached the gear stash at about 4:15am and roasted the 420. On up to the propeller cairn, over the notch, across the slabs (no glacier), and on route at 7:30. We saw some Albertan hardmen on the East Face about five pitches up & a couple of days to go. Overall the route is pretty straightforward. We did the entire climb in 14 pitch/block type things. Lots of rope stretchers. The top 4 or 5 pitches really make up for the rock quality in general. This route is really all about "the line." So, about halfway up the route we have a kinda funny realization. We have locked our mtn. bikes to a tree and each other, but we left the key to the lock at the car. Fuck!!! Guess we get an extra 15 mile hike after the decent. Oh well, we can deal...right? Route went great, decent went fine. Down to the road/bikes by 8:30pm. Stash all climbing gear with the bikes and it's time to slog the FS roads. About 1.5 miles into the hike, there's a truck! Yes! Chilliwack samaritans agree to take to the blacktop. There's a few miles off the hike. 1/4 mile later another Chillawacker is coming down the road and ends up taking us all the way back to the car! 9:45pm, still light out, and we've climbed Slesse in a day. Great fun. Next day we rolled the Subaru with the dead battery down 4 miles of dirt road & water bars & got a jump from another Chilliwack samaritan. People are awesome up there. Time to head for Yak Peak. Got to the Coquahalla summit area the evening of 7/27, and bivied across the highway from the rest area. After an alpine start of 7am or so we found the trail and headed up Yak Check. This is a very fun route with its fair share of chossy oatmeal & kitty litter, and splitter, easy cracks. The only real downer about Yak Check is that the crux .10a pitches are really 5.8 & 5.7 respectively. Still, a really fun climb. Back to car about 2pm, and home to B'ham. Gear Notes: 8.6mm double ropes. one single rope would be fine. medium rack approch shoes light rain jacket & wind shirt (never used) gu & water & salami samwiches Approach Notes: easy, but time consuming initial slabs after notch are very dirty & slippery river crossing at trailhead is an easy log crossing

Yup. And then a couple thousand feet straight up to the bivy. Super fun route!

Thanks for the info. TR to follow. mmmmm....whiskey.

frostythetradman & I are headed to Goode this week, and have a few questions in the interest of keeping things simple & light: 1. Single or double ropes? Pretty sure that we will simul-climb the entire butress. How 'bout one skinny rope doubled? 2. Boots or approach shoes? Fucking long approach. Like to be comfortable, but maybe boots for glacier? 3. How much ice gear? Tools needed, or just aluminum poons & axe? Screws/pickets? We are approaching from Rainy Pass. Glacier travel & simul-climbing up to 5.7 no problem. I did read the most recent TR, but am interested in other opinions. Thanks for any info. Jimbo

Just checked the NPS website, and they are anticipating a May 14 road opening for both Tioga & Glacier Point roads. Too bad I have to be in San Diego for the next three weeks. After that Tuolumne is on! Anyone coming down this way in June?? Dome climbing . Jimbo

Are you talking about the very large couloir behind Herman? Or the small, rocky ones directly above Bagley Creek? The big one behind Herman is Stoneman's. Most fun approach is to summit Herman, ride backside, and hike straight out to, and up, couloir. You can also skirt around the right side of Herman, but this is a lot more hiking. This is your return route, btw. If'n your talking about the chutes on the face of Herman, I can't imagine there being much snow in those, although they are quite fun in mid-season. Course I don't know what the snow pack up there is like right now. Either way, have fun. Jimbo

Dovals Too small to rack a set of stoppers with, but great for draws.

The top of Walk On The Wild Side at J-Tree at 6am, before the masses show up, with a full thermos of coffee. This was just the latest place for me. And the Bighorn Mating Grotto.

Lover's Leap, Phantom Spires & Sugarloaf should all be climbable this time of year. Maybe cold, but dry rock for sure. Have fun!

There's a couple of very short slab TR's on Bruce's Boulder. 5.llish I think.

5500' is pretty low IMHO. 8K & above is where it's at.

I got a permit on the night of July 3rd for Boston Basin. Climbed W. ridge Forbidden July 4th with only a party of two for company. I camped instead of car-to-car because it's a magnificent place to bivy. Have fun.

Yup. All of the campgrounds have info boards with place for messages on the back. Good way to connect. See y'all in the desert.

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.