fredrogers

Sail Away and it's neighbor- both go at 5.8-/+. Dairy Queen wall is a great place to spend a day. There was one wall in Real Hidden Valley that had a bunch of 5.9's and tens that was a lot of fun, but can't remeber what it's called. I'll look at the guidebook tonight. We used a combination of Swain and Vogel- I honetly can't remember what was best- we were glad to have both.

Had a blast at Smith this weekend with TimL. Saturday we woke to drizzle but it cleared up and even got sunny. Climbed from the early morning and rapped off Lion's Jaw at dusk. Awesome day. Sunday was colder and wetter, but still climable. Thanks to Tim's stoke, I on-sighted my first 5.9 (Phone Calls from Satan) in a drizzle and wind. Hood was alittle dodgy on the way back, but made it home in 5 hours. Here's to one (or more weekends) of nubbin grubbin. Here's also to RUMR for his marathon one day trip to Smith- now there's dedication.

Josh- you are to be congratulated for your spirit of self-less volunteerism.

Rudy- Try Powder Pigs. They're based out of Snoqualmie, so it's close and pretty convenient. They have their own lift and chalet. And your kid will be easy to spot in his bright red jacket. And no, I don't have kids, but I used to instruct for them.

Found a first aid kit and assorted gear at the base Karate Wall on Sunday- think it belongs to a couple of guys from Vancouver, BC. PM with description and I'll send it to you.

All discussions aside of whether the climbing in the Icicle or Tumwater is better, you might also consider checking out the following in the Icicle: Pearly Gates- tons of stuff around 5.9-5.10, mostly cracks and slab. Duty Dome area: lots of new routes around 5.9-5.10, both bolted and gear and the classic 5.10A slab pitch called Off-Duty. Also has one of the best "sport" routes I've done in Leavenworth called Jazzy Document 5.9. It's far enough off the beaten path that you probably won't see other people there.

Actually, if I read the ticket correctly, it was for the "Placing camping equipment in a place not designated for camping." whatever that means.

Compared to the last time he busted me, he was quite cordial. He was still an ass. And Alex, I was with you.

Yeah, well it was a dumb place to camp, but I blame Tim, it was his idea.

We had parked behind Barney's Rubble and threw our bags out on top hidden, or so we thought, by some boulders.

Well, it was about 11PM when he rousted us last weekend for our "illegal" bivvy. Maybe he should have spent some time in the Snow Creek oparking lot, along with the 2 other rangers who showed up to help write tickets.

Anyone have any feedback on the Scarpa Thermo Cerro Torre? I'm looking for aomething a little more comfortable and nimble that my Invernos, but need to keep my tooties warm due to previous frostbite.

Pick up a copy of John Zilly's "Kissing the Trail"- all sots of rides within an hour of Seattle. Out of those, The Carnation-Duvall portion of the Iron Horse sounds like a winner, the CCC road out by Si, etc.. He has a number of rides he rates kid friendly.

Try caling Second Ascent. I think I saw some copies of Burdo's book there in the not so distant past.

Silver Star is 3rd class. I did it about this time last year and we didn't bother to rope on the glacier. Definitely gets your cardio in, though. There's also the N Face of Kangaroo Temple. I think it's 5.4 or 5.5. A little loose down low and the traverse around onto the west face might be a little spicy sans cord, but it's also in a beautiful setting. Bring a rope to rap. Or you could do the S Arete on SEWS...

The gully went easy, but would be pretty unsavory after it's completely melted out. The downclimb from the top of the gully would also be pretty crappy when it's melted out. We did not take a rope, nor did we need one. Tons of stuff to scramble- most of it with some pretty cool exposure down the N. Face of Dragontail.

Climbed Colchuck via the Colchuck Glacier and Dragontail from the Colchuck Col by the "snow gully' in the Beckey book yesterday. In spite of warms temps at the lake Weds. night, the snow on the glacier was very firm at 6:30 AM. Was glad to have crampons for the 2 steeper sections. Glacier is still in good shape and was straightforward. Summited Colchuck at 8:15 AM, beautiful day with every peak imaginable out. Descended to the col to go check out the snow gully, which looked like it had melted out just above the bottom. A short scramble led us to the first snow finger- which was still firm at 9:30. That led up to a short, loose 3rd class scramble until we were able to regain the snow higher in the gully. A short downclimb of 50-60 snow led us out on to the snow slopes on the W end of Dragontail ridge were we tagged the summit and descended in the blazing sun back to Colchuck lake and out to the car and cold beers. Great trip in spite of the bugs and the heat.

"It doesn't matter if they made it to the top or not. They didnt make it back. You lose points for dying." Eric Simonson in reference to Mallory and Irvine.

While looking through Burdo's N Cascades Rock last weekend, I noticed two nice, long (13 pitch), 5.9 routes on Cedar Creek Wall- Solitude and Estatic Cling. Wondering if anyone has done either of these routes and has any beta. TIA.

cool tr. i too have "thrutched" my way up a couple of climbs [at index] -- one a sorry excuse for a chimney. yet, i cannot find this word in the dictionary ... I have always defined "thrutch" as a combination of "throw" and "clutch"- resulting in very jerky climbing just on the edge of peeling. Much like obscenity, one does know it when one sees it.

With the shitty weather forecast, TimL, our friend Fred H and I went east of the crest, hoping to help Fred ease back into the climbing game after a 15 year hiatus. With a sucessful sumitt of the Tooth under his belt 2 weeks ago, Fred was raring to go... as was Tim after spending a week in seminars in Chicago. With sinking hearts we drove over Highway 20 and arrived to cold and snow flurries at the Blue Lake TH. My immediate thought was "This sucks, let's go sport cragging in Mazama", but I was over-ruled and we headed up to "have a look." Given the unsettled weather (and the snow falling) we thought that the SW Arete would be our first objective, because we could climb it in boots and it was easy to bail if the weather shitted out completely. We arrived at the base to see the usual cluster of Mounties crawling their way up the route in boots, carrying full expedition packs on their first alpine climb ever. One of their leaders announced that they were a total of 4 parties of two (or similar numbers) but said we could play through along the way. Which, thanks to TimL's deft passing skills, we did, managing to head them off at the Whaleback. I do have to say that this group of Mounties (Tacoma branch), were perhaps the most easy-going group from the Mounties I have ever met in the Mountains. Very cool about letting us play through on the way up and down with very little delay for either group. We met one other party of three at the top of the 1st pitch who were also accomodating and let us rap through... With the weather looking better and better (not snowing as hard) we decide to go over and check out the Beckey route on Liberty Bell. On the traverse, my trick knee starts acting up and I lag behind Tim and Fred. I arrive shortly after them at the base of the route and we behold something I have never seen in that area before: no one else. We done every scrap of clothing we have with us and our rock shoes. Tim sets off to the first belay, bringing Fred and I up on twin ropes with a reverso (way cool way to climb with 3). From the first belay, the chimney looks icy, and, since I had the pack on, hard. The pin at the base of the chimney has gone missing (or broken off), but some kind soul hase slung a block about 2/3 of the way up with a long blue sling. Tim clips this and works his way up in usual RopeGun style. By the Tim he calls off belay, niether Fred nor I can feel our feet and my hands have gone numb since I forgot my gloves. Fred thrutches his way up the chiney and I follow about 20 feet behind him. With a size 47 jacket shoulders and the pack, not to mention frozen feet and hands, the chimney is cruel. Very cruel. I resolve that this is the third and last time that I carry a pack on that pitch and yard on the sling to get through. I arrive at the belay with clubs for hands and feet, but Fred takes pity on me and loans me his gloves (he did have a down jacket, afterall). Tim sets off again and makes short work of the third pitch. Fred and I follow him into a forest of rimed up trees and the next thing we know we're on the summit, hunkered down, deperately trying to get the feeling back into our feet. it works and we decide that it's time to get back to town- as it's about 7:30PM and getting darker and colder. We get our rope stuck right above the friction slab while rapping off- fuck. Tim solos the slab in his boots and we're back in action. The 2 raps back to the col go smoothly and we're packing up and headed down the snow-filled upper gulley. Both Tim and I slip on the way down, he stops his fall by sliding out onto the rocks at the base of the snow and I self-arrest, setting my knee off in the progress. We limp back down the gulley and follow the trail out, arriving back at the car at 10PM to a couple of nice cold beers and the thought of warm beds and food in Mazama. Given what we heard about conditions in the pass the day before and on Sunday (gleaned cragging in the sun at Fun Rock), we were lucky to have gone for it on Saturday. Super-fun in that kind of "It doesn't have to be fun to be fun" kinda way.

I dragged a couple of old farts up the South Face of the Tooth on Friday. You'll be on snow from the source lake turnoff all the way to Pineapple pass. It's suncupped, but was so slushy in the 80 degree heat on the way down it would have been a decent ski. It was a great glissade.

here's a TR for the white slabs: http://www.mountainwerks.org/cma/2000/scwall.htm

Looks like NW Corners on NEWS. But Erik's comments about bolts makes me wonder...

The Burnt Finger does rock. Lat year the proprietor was bitten on the finger by a huge rattler, so the locals were calling it the "Bit Finger." Defintely a hard place to be a vegitarian at... Did the SW Coulior on SEWS still look climable? I meant to go check it out, but got ended up hiking and cragging at Fun Rock with the fiancee.