wayne

Trip: Buck Mt. - North Ridge Date: 8/10/2009 Trip Report: This is the tale of the 2 sides of the coin. Only by flipping it and looking at the particular side(sides) , will one know the 2 different stories that can be told. Take the North ridge of Buck Mt. for several lessons from the toss. The west side of the mt is one of the most intimidating features I have seen this side of the Canadian Rockies. Its East side however is much more tame and an easier looking gulley runs up right next to it.. Jim and I where quivering at the thought of coming to grips withe the desperately steep ridge-line that we saw from the High -camp! Jim also may have quivered at the thought of not having his sleeping bag as well. We had much to stew over that night at camp. We we were motivated to bring extra gear and ropes as a nod to the amazing steepness that we saw from the binoculars at high camp.Heck we thought we could easily get shut down just trying to get up the disastrously bad looking gully that we took to get to it. In the dark of early am we were nearly shut down by the gully of doom when Jim pulled off his first in a set of blocks down upon himself. "Worst Gully Ever" Now behind us, We were given the other face of the coin. The first two major towers were easily bypassed with a lovely talus and heather slope on its east aspect. Wow, what a break and at the same time a bit of a let down racing up to try to get on the ridge before we got sucked into the gully just left of the North Ridge. We went onto the wild looking 3rd tower, again though, finding it going well on its left(eastern) side.It took several leads to get to the ridge line and the several to get up "Tower #3" (actually our first tower encountered). There we encountered incredible exposure and "earned pro". The steep 5.8 pitches were actually quite solid and fun as well. Much of the nerves now calm, we settled into swiftly dispensing of 8 pitches before doing a long simo to the vertical 2 pitch finish at the top of the "Hoof" shaped summit. I sought to go right through the notch between the Bucks toes. It was good looking rock and ended up being a most spectacular finish to a worthwhile route after all. After congratulating Jim on surviving yet another overhead trundle as well as his first -first ascent, I began sorting through the very old summit register. What I saw there completely shocked the both of us!!The other side of the coin is shown. After much discussion, we determined that we had indeed made the 2nd ascent of this line!We figure it must be a typo in the Green Beckey guide? Oh well. We werent very put off by that news. We had a great weekend and shot footage for another video as well so check back later..

Nice Steph! Glad you got that

No, we didnt take pins, but a few more fixies and a couple belay fixies might be good?I wanted to start that discussion possibly: Taking the idea a step further..I propose 2-3 bolts be added on 2 pitches? 1-2 on the first pitch. It would take very little to make it an "Outer Space, if thats what is decided. I wanted to start that discussion, possibly. It is such a good line, that it deserves either consideration. When Rain and Poop do solo laps they will say any bolts would be too many. Then there are the 13,000 people who would make it their annual pilgrimage if it were a via-ferrata.It will naturally get more fixies as it get rallied. I can go either way. It is great to have routes with some jitters a-going. I stuck with a small rack half set stopper 1 set cams. Would have taken a few more for the selective belay anchors. I got nervous when I found I had used the perfect size when trying to build belays. One belay took me a while as my partner told me.

Wow, great Dan and Aaron! This one has been on the list for a while. I figured it would be a bit gripping too.

Trip: Shuksan-NW Arayete - Date: 8/5/2009 Trip Report: Last weekend Lane and I were both in a state of exasperation with our respective personal lives. We needed a climb that was interesting yet not too killer of approach or commitment. We found such a route done a couple of years ago by our own Dberdinka and Matt, "The Arayete" was immediatly placed on my hot list as soon as I saw it. It appeared to offer steep, quality climbing, and positioned nicely on one of the great mountains in our country. We took our time getting up to Winnies slide via Fisher Chimneys. We missed the upper trail in the talus part of the trail. Note: Look for large cairn. Glacier view on approach. We were glad we were up there early. We got needed rest and watched the good sites fill up fast. We ended up in good company to camp with. We all laughed and enjoyed an amazing sunset. It was great to see across the glacier right over to the route. It is quite a ridge! about a thousand feet tall, and generally steep for a climbable mountain ridge. hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh h's were used to space the photos. No consonants were harmed during this report. Letting the Hells Hwy folk get up early was a luxury , we set off at the late hour of 7:30 and crossed the glacier to the right hand start of the route. It was very simple to for the non-moat. we belayed at the first good ledge 20' past the moat and kicked into the strainer pitch. I call it that because it will allow only people who can deal with significant run-out. Things would tame out a bunch with a couple of bolts, but the route has sustained a half dozen ascents without any complaints. It is very sweet to work up the rippled and small friction holds. In general it was a little difficult with the chaos of some sections. I am a rhythm climber. This type of route throws me off a bit with the randomness of the some of the moves. Each pitch was earned and offered its own personality. I found the 5.8s to be the mental cruxes. Anchors are earned as well . Be careful not to pass a place to sink a few goodies for them. The topo was dead on , maybe a little unclear in the end though. We did a spicy dihedral finish on the left side of the crest . Again-no complaints, just 9 pitches of Alpine Stoke! Thanks Darin for the great beta and congratulations on a great pioneering effort. And in case you missed the video Trip Report... [video:youtube] Gear Notes: See topo at end of Dberdinks thread

Not a diss, I get much from your input,Thanks

Hello, and welcome to the premiere of the 3rd video in the set. NW Arayete- III+5.9R, is the setting from last weekends trip with Lane. Hope you enjoy, Trip report to follow in the N, Cascades Forum. It is still loading so the quality will improve soon. Please dont expect this with every trip in the future. it took 9 hours to do it- Wayne [video:youtube]

I am now working on the Helmet cam vid of the NW Arayette of Shuksan! Check back tomorrow.

Lane and I did it this last weekend. Very stimulating route! I will be doing a tr and a new video of the route in the next few days, Thanks Darin!

Jeez, I cant even relate climbing and heat together much anymore, Although here I go again this weekend to Shucksan myself. Way to p-vere dudes.

Wild time in the mountains!

watch for bees on Rooster Rock as well.

If you climb 5.10, you will find it very easy and wont need a big piece(boat anchors)

Did the pics not load? Now I got em. Nice. I will have to do this rt someday soone.

Tell us about the new camera gear.

Do you have a mac?/ They are just some standard jingle songs that comes with ilife 09. I need to get my music library off my old computer already.

So nice Matt! No testing you liner anytime soon.

[video:vimeo] Hm.. cant seem to embed it. It is the fa of the Solar Flare route on Incredible Hulk,with Conrad Anker, Friggan awesome line

News Flash Here..

No news flash here..These guys have been on a crazy ripping tear lately. We are just lucky that they modestly tell us a little about it on occasion. Can you say Golden Age Redux? I think they need a nick-name and their own star room in our little hut. It is a dazzling time they are having up there lately! Congrats on your lives, not just some climb!

Ok , Patience is needed here obviously. Take your time.

I am so ready for this....

Righteous! Good for you two! and thanks for TRing. Please though , You must talk about how it felt to see this route though. Was it planned or spontaneous. Did you do the ptarm? Oh Man, I saw and thought about that line, I did a solo of the complete n ridge. GREAT for getting it and I am glad it is a worthy line. (and), What about the ridge to the left?

In an effort to hopefully see more video Trip Reports [video:youtube]

I am waiting for a sample to arrive from a strap business. I will let you know what I find. So far $.33 a foot