rat

worthleavin' public service announcement: like alpinemonkey said, as of 12/16 there wasn't much straightup ice climbing in the icicle. plenty to do if you don't mind mixing it up. start to hubba hubba was formed but snowcovered above that. drury and the pencil are coming along but drury still had some holes and was looking wet. the drip was not close to touching. chandelier was thick. hidden lake climbs were coming along but appeared to have some holes as of 12/15. approx. 4" of snow since this morning and still coming down. be prepared to dig if you're heading this way.

embarrassing.

Trip: buck mountain - firs: buckshot (an easy way up the north side) Date: 12/3-5/2008 Trip Report: first internet recorded spray (attempt at hype deflation): on 12/4, cappellini and i climbed the line marked in red on the accompanying photo (photo used with permission of john scurlock: http://www.pbase.com/nolock/mountains ). we found conditions thinner than shown on john's photo from 12/7/05. we pitched out the first 4 ropelengths (wi3, wi4, wi4+, wi3). 3 simul-climbing blocks followed (quite a few wi2/3 sections separated by snow slopes). late in the day we were at the head of the main gully below some overhangs (the uppermost point of the blue line in the photo). overcome with a recurrence of alpine chicken syndrome, we downclimbed a couple hundred feet and simul-zigged right up steep sugar snow and neve to a belay. a zag left for 2 pitches (a bit of m4/5?)in the dark led to the ridge. dan was unwilling to slog up to the summit so we descended the west slopes and back to the tent on the moraine. in retrospect, we should have finished up the a ramp system roughly marked by the green line (more sustained and aesthetic) and slogged to the summit. to my knowledge the only photos dan took were during the hike out. as wayne noted, there are other lines to be climbed here. a line of smears directly up the north face would be a fantastic addition. ice forms early and those willing to play roulette with the road condition will be rewarded. watch for cornices (very small this year compared to previous years that i have seen it) and wind deposition. buckshot: iv, wi4+ plus a little bit of m4/5(?) Gear Notes: screws, rack to 2.5" plus kb's/la's Approach Notes: call the usfs wenatchee river ranger station at 548-6977 to make sure all gates are open on the chiwawa river road. 4wd and/or chains highly recommended.

fixed raps on that? fatwhitefuck convenience. given the increased popularity, tat will show up regardless. clean it on the way up.

cool blog report. met eli in cochamo last february...quite a character. he and his friends looked like whipped dogs after reconning one of the many bamboo-infested approaches.

grivel 2f crampons w/black antibottes--$25+postage. well used so the front points are a bit short for vertical water ice but still fine for easier ice and mountaineering. front bale lacks the dampening design and rear bale is not micro-adjustable. need some sharpening. #1 rigid-stemmed friend--$5+postage. extra old stock (hex nuts on the spindle) but plenty fine for a desert rack. unslung, trigger a-ok, no cam lobe play. #0.5 twin-stemmed camalot--$10+postage. old style, unslung, fine shape. a5 etrier set--$20+postage. one 4-step + one 5-step, alternate colors, sub-steps on top two steps and clip-in points. good shape. w.c. #6 technical friend--$100+postage. used a few times but close to new. sorry, no photos. located in leavenworth. may be in seattle within the week if you would prefer to view the stuff beforehand.

agree with paulb regarding boots being the likely source of the problem. that said, many skis have a line on the topsheet or side where the mid-point of your boot should be when mounted.

evidently i was not clear enough when responding to drep's comment about fish barriers. i agreed that, yes, the dam is a barrier to anadromous fish but resident non-t/e fish exist in the lake. rainbow and cutthroat can spawn in streams feeding the lake. drink, spew, fight.

http://www.snopud.com/Content/External/Documents/relicensing/Study%20Reports/Jackson2157_SP4_Final_Technical_Report_Dec2007.PDF anadromous species, yes. resident (and some interloper) species, no. help them out and go kill a few bullheads other than me.

pulling culverts and re-contouring the road prisms helps minimize future blow-outs and can open up fish habitat on roads that will not be used in the near future. it's sometimes stupid they have to essentially re-open the road to get to the neglected culverts but most often it's money well spent. thanks for the route maintenance and approach update.

i think peter and i climbed more along the line of the north buttress to where it appears to intersect the kearney route at the ledge (about 2/3 height) then somewhere between the north butt and north face to the top. quite a bit of 4th class at bottom and top. lots easier to approach via terror creek earlier in the season....maybe they were concerned about the mcmillan glacier being broken up or just wanted to get acquainted with some new brush. more kearney loot for the next party....

1. short rap from large ponderosa pine to bolts at the top of rotc. 2. 30m rap to bolts on ledge at base of rotc. 3. 30m to vw ledge. walking/scrambling off to climbers' left from the top is not too bad but, as was mentioned elsewhere, has deteriorated a bit since the '94 fire.

interesting terrain and cool photos. trading your machete for a roto-hammer will probably yield the same results.

i suspect there are quite a few people who post or lurk here that would enjoy this route and probably could do it in a very long day rt from camp. difficulties are concentrated in the middle third. the remainder has climbing up to 5.8 or so. we bivvied in the 3rd class terrain near the snowpatch shown on john roper's photo. this would just be a standard route in the canadian rockies. thanks to john roper and john scurlock for the photos.

so that bolt at your bivvy must be the button head you mentioned since you rapped from it. we didn't find any wad of tat lying around. glad to hear this was a joke: "The small amounts of aid we all freed by the leader or the 2nd, but due to the poor pro and funky placements, we felt it a bit harder than A1, but a bit easier than A2." rock on.

piddling historical question: 1. mike and erik mention passing a button head contraction bolt near a tree with a sling on the first third of the route. we did not see this because we were off to the right, but i did pass an old 1" sling on a tree and old pin-equipped rap station that i don't think they placed (they were using skinny red webbing). these were enroute to what i suspect was the bivvy site that they used below the crux portion (photo labeled "is it gonna go" in mike's cc.com tr: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/495850/fpart/1 ). there is a 1/4", maybe 5/16", expansion bolt at this tree-less bivvy site (no longer backed up with a kb, thanks) from which they eventually rapped. no mention of this in the tr. seems like this was the logical high point of the 1958 attempt (as per the nwmj: http://www.mountaineers.org/NWMJ/06/061_Mox.html ) but the bolt and lower rap anchor looked newer. anyone else out there have a story to tell about moxie? unsuprisingly after 3 years, we didn't see the joker. we were bivvied slightly left at that point. the real prize is the central east face. the far left side is a rotting overhanging pile. luckily for me, eric's ability to slum exceeds his vocabulary. the approach, when dry that is, is not half as bad as detailed in mike's tr.

doug klewin & mike martin, late 1980's, A3+ish.

my opinion is grade inflation in school and on the rocks is rampant. on the few routes i've helped climb, i try to adhere to index/midnight grades for cracks and older dogtown/der/peshastin grades for slab/face. contrive-o-meter ratings can be a help. filthyhank would have had to traverse quite a ways on mt. alberta to find a 4th class gully.

cool. just a bit of spray on a serious topic. i'll stop.

no shit. you'll get no more respect there than you will here.

straight up from the vicinity of dog dome....patches of sea-of-no-fun but not bad. shrink wrap cat is about 5 pitches up to .9+ or .10-. pitch 2 had some rambling. pitches 3-4 were in a right facing corner and pitch 5 was excellent finger/hand cracks. not sure how it compares with pipe dreams.

we bypassed it. it looked nice but sort of contrived. i'll leave the route finding to you. have fun.

more adventurous than gato negro even with offwhite's topo....more granola and lichen than we were expecting....engaging climbing on the harder pitches....head colds and lack of enthusiasm had us bypassing the last pitch (5.11-) on the tower with an easy traverse left and 5.8-5.9 pitch directly to the notch....perhaps that bypassed pitch was the "stellar" that "eclipsed" the other pitches?....i think we belayed about 7 pitches total...ice axes were useful on the descent off the backside....appears you may be able to descend the whine spire gully....a worthwhile route that could use more traffic.

do yourself a favor next time and start up the trail to yellow jacket tower (east side of hook cr.). the west face of the blockhouse and south face of the mole are best approached from hook creek. rat creek is longer, brushier and has more jackstrawed trees.

i was working on cultus mountain last week and saw a suitably large choss pile in the lake cavanaugh area. i think it might be called bald mountain. walker valley is also supposed to have some choss climbing potential.