Pencil_Pusher

I don't know nor remember for the times. Maybe 2-3hours till you reach the notch, I guess. There's plenty of running water along the way. We used a 60m but we pretty much running belayed it the whole way. I brought a picket thinking a different picture than what we encountered. The glacier wasn't going to take it anyway, things were pretty hardened up, so bring your crampons. Anyhow, there's a nice crevasse waiting for you if you slip... you'll see. We went to the end of the finger above that crevasse and there we were able to hop onto the rock. I suppose we could have ducked under the glacier and gotten onto the route proper, but I was happy just to be rid of that damn crevasse exposure. For pro, we used pretty much all cams. Down low on the first pitches you could get away with passive gear, but from the 4th class ledge access to the route and above, it's pretty much all horizontal cracks for pro. #2, 1, .75, .5, and one smaller were the camalot sizes I used. You could bring the stoppers and hexes and clove hitch the two pieces together on the horizontal crack as a poor-man's way of placing pro. Or you could stick to the corner where you could probably plop in some stoppers or hexes and such, it seemed there was a nice 1-2 inch crack in the corner all the way to the top. Paul said there was quite a bit of moss on the north face route. You should try and get there early so you can go up the top half a few times... it really was some fun climbing on a nice slab. Just watch out for the rocks on the trail between the car and Headlee. Maybe someone coated them with Slick 50, they were unusually slick. When you lose the route due to some old avy crap and snow, follow the boot path for maybe 100 meters then the trail is off to the right. From the junction with the big stream, above Headlee Pass, the hikers cross it to hike, the climbers go right and up a shoulder, with the lake off to your right. From the notch you'll get your first glimpse of the route. I think someone tossed the summit register because I found it with scattered shards of the pvc pipe it was in at the base of the upper slab. I put the register back at the top so maybe you could bring in a container for it? Have fun. Times, it took us a little over two hours on the rock and maybe two hours to get on down to the car. [ 09-20-2002, 04:32 PM: Message edited by: Pencil Pusher ]

Hey Erden, that is an informative post as to the Mountaineers. I didn't mean to downplay your organization in my post. Rather, to point out the differences between the Boealps ICC and the Mountaineers ICC. Of the two groups I have met that were out on Mountaineers ICC trips, one group indicated they did not have leading experience prior to the ICC (this was on Beckey Route of Liberty Bell). The Boealps ICC is held every other weekend, for clarification. The 2-5 year Mtnr ICC estimate was taken from the Mtnr website. To me it seems that the Boealps ICC is a bit more broad in techniques taught and applied during its six month duration. Out of curiousity, why is summiting so important to the Mountaineers and their ICC? I seem to recall that they don't get credit for their climb unless they summitted. -David Hamilton Psst, wanna buy some pencils? They're HOT!

The Boeing Alpine Society www.boealps.org has an ICC that teaches similar self-rescue stuff. Unlike the 2-5yr class length of the mounties, this one's about six months long. Also unlike the mounties ICC, most students come into the class with prior leading experience. Ice, rock, snow, aid, self-rescue, and a whole slew of other things taught by some cool and experienced people. The next class should be in March. I think the class limit is around 15 or so.

Was this my last trip of the summer? What with the dropping temps... maybe. The hike was pleasant and we left the beer in the creek where the climber's path splits. The glacier made me glad to have crampons. It was close to glacier ice with a nice, fat crevasse waiting for us as we traversed to the route. Well, bring either Nelson or Beckey, not both. We were pretty confused for a while before we quit trying to decide and just started climbing. Turns out we were about 40 feet to the right of the Nelson route from the glacier. Up the buttress we went via running belays. While belaying Paul from our start, I got to chat with some unfortunate guys who didn't bring crampons and were debating as to their alternatives. At least they found the humor in my comment about having plenty of time to self-arrest before the crevasse swallowed them. They opted to go for the ledges instead of the glacier crossing. Running belays brought us to the flat spot where Paul swapped leads with me. That lower climbing was fun and the stuff ahead was so darned fun, I wanted to lower back down and do it again via another way. Sure, it's run out, but you don't care. 30 feet till another pro opportunity but who really cares? Off to another crack and now 60 foot runout... who cares... it seems the rope runouts were on the average about 60-70 feet but you can lessen this if you want. Maybe if I drank the beer BEFORE climbing, I would've protected it more. But the climbing is so darned fun, you don't want to stop to place a piece. Too bad it had to end so quickly. I placed about ten pieces total on our running belay to the top. We met the cramponless dudes on the ledge down below as we were climbing up. They must've brought a 20 foot rope or something. I mean, we dinked around on top, met a few guys bivying up there and belayed one of them down a rope length so he could climb up... and still those two cramponless dudes were down yonder. As we left, I yelled down like a smart-ass inquiring whether they had headlamps or not. They definitely would need them. All in all, a kick ass trip to end the summer. The beer was nice and cold. Warning though, the rocks on that trail are slicker than snot. I give this route a two thumbs and two big toes up... alot of fun.

We headed up that coulior with the big chockstones on the south side, per Beckey's "climbers shun going up this" paragraph. Pretty quick route with a cool free rappel coming off the giant chockstone. Our 60m rope seemed to be just the right length for the rappels. We also went up S Early Winter Spire and went out to the southernmost part of the ridgeline. Cool views and exposure there.

Whatever turned out to be the consensus on the issue of placing rappel bolts on the Tooth to save the shrubs? Was that how that dead tree on the top of the second pitch was killed? No trolling here, just curiousity.

Well, the date is August 18th. Terminal, shoot me an e-mail and we'll talk. So I guess I'm getting in touch with my inner being now? Why? Because I think I can. I like Voight in Runaway Train, some quote about you not knowing what you can and what you can't do. Right before he flies like a little tweety bird... And what the hell is a chronic gumby? Yeah, it'll be lots of pain, I'm no marathon runner. But I figure if we do 2-3mph, in seven or eight hours we'll hit the glacier. The blue pill is Aleve, magical stuff. I too heard about some dude doing it in 16 hours... wow. I'll save my jogging for the exit. Now my partners, why they could probably jog the whole thing... No bikes, not too ethical. And since it's my only mode of transpo nowadays, short the Nike express, I don't need anyone taking the monkey wrench to it.

They're out climbing all over the US together on some five month exodus. Maybe even sharing a bivy sack for all I know. Anyone know their status?

Anyone interested? Take the blue pill and turn on the Tikka. pencil_pusher@hotmail.com

That was funny, Mr. Radon and partner had "Boeing Sucks" written on all their gear. But I will say you two were hardcore ascending in crappy weather when everyone else was hunkered down in their tents. We met quite a few of those folks as they came down, after successfully spending many-a-night in crappy weather, but no summit. What a cool trip it must have been going down rescue gully. We saw a couple of people on that line on our 13,5 cache day. Our trip to 14 brought us to one russkie putting in fixed line at windy corner. Just shy of the 14 camp, we saw a couple of the climbers on their ski-chairs descending and we all grunted to each other in pig-latin, each trying to understand the other's language. A thumb's up and a smile seemed to work best for the both of us. That's also where I met a team of three descending, female at the lead. She whips out her funnel, starts fiddling with her crotch zippers and fabric...all the while engaging me in conversation at 15 feet or so...and begins her pee fest. Holy moly, that woman's been on the mountain a little tooooo long. I left your book at our Ski Hill cache, it's somewhere in Talkeetna now. The three others on my team weren't related, we're all just part of the Boealps. They summitted on the 24th while I was down at 11 killing time. They had about the same summit weather as you did, from what they tell me. Whiteout, following wands. Quite different on our day. The rangers, pj's, and quite a few guided teams all headed out en-mass to the summit. Pig Hill sucked the big one too. Only because it was such a nice day did I decide to go for the true summit. Drank some colt 45 or whatever the west rib calls that beer they have.

Park with a klootch???? Hey after Hape at 14, I parked with a klootch at 11 for two days. Took the diamox, peed like hell, then up to 14, the next day to 16 with a new partner, the next day to 17, and the next on the summit (about 30 summitted that day; nice, clear and low wind). June 28th around 7 or 8pm. Kicked my ass and we still had to descend. The only crevasse problems were below Ski Hill where, at times, the place was like a minefield. THANK YOU to Mike from Alpine Ascents who had the foresight to use a damn GPS going down. We were pretty depressed at 9400 after getting there via guessing and someone else's wands in total frickin' whiteout from 11. Quite a few miles to go over terrain none of us had seen in three weeks and the forecast called for 6-12" new snow overnight. Then Mike and crew came along and we followed shortly thereafter. Heartbreak Hill sucked the big one. Kudos to Tony Bagudonuts for keeping the humor via the forecast. Sorry for Mike who was a nice guy.

Hah! Eight hours... try three days for a few of us sorry saps. Or better yet those poor suckers who got stuck in the crappy weather prior to June 11 (or after July 30th for that matter). Basecamp closed (they leave the radio so you can get a plane) on July 4th. Or the three dudes who got dumped at Kahiltna because of bad weather trying to get to Huntington. They eventually made it there... after two days of tourists being flown around sightseeing in the planes they were waiting for. Spoke with one guy who got plucked on the 5th of July and McKinley Air Service (two chicks and one plane) is the way to go. Both on the 4th (when the forecast wasn't for a clearing till the 9th) and on the 5th, Julie from that air service was the first plane in, opening the door for the other planes to follow. Kudos to her.

Fuhrer Finger on the 14th. Great bivy sites at 9200. Some exposed crevasse issues, icy up towards top, then back to soft snow where Kautz connects. No problems with bergschrund at 13850 as detailed in prior trip report here. Kautz descent left things to be desired. Very icy at headwall. Wound up running belay to broad ledge above cliffs where we tied ropes together and lowered party off one at a time with last rapping off ice bollards. Running water at Camp Hazard with insanely fun glissades on the way down.

I don't remember even though I just saw it on the 23rd. I think the snow wasn't broken up on that finger but...foggy memory. Horseflies abound from parking lot to Cascade Pass to 6000. Running water was plentiful all the way up to the 7500ft camp (via Sahale Arm), on the approach to Buckner, and on the descent. Nice toilet too. Those little critters are smart, so bury your food well if you leave some behind. The N Face of Buckner was just a few picket placements, especially in the soft snow. The last 200ft was 1-2ft of soft snow over ice, so maybe in a couple of weeks you can justify the ice screws but we didn't need them. In fact, we read a trip report of one crew that went the whole way without a picket placement... I think they went on the 20th. One other thing, the snow may be melted out after ascending past the 6400ft mark on your return, somewhere around 6800ft I'd guess.

Liberty Bell two weekends ago, there's snow filling the approach gully. Made for a quick approach albeit hairy one for those without ice axes. Route free of snow. Tooth has snow on approach, making for similar conditions.

Got to push those pencils up yonder.

In gallons and dollars, sportsfans. How much do you think it would cost to drive there? Seattle to Anchorage is 2272 miles from the source I got. My sorry-butt can't afford the dinero for the plane ticket now, so I guess I'm driving. I've checked with some auto driveaway companies. The ferry is way too expensive, even without the car! Anyone know of any bulletin boards for sailing or driving folks (where I can hitch a ride in lieu of scrubbing the decks, etc)? Short of that, anyone want to split the gas with me? I'm leaving June 7, headed to Talkeetna from Seattle. Thanks, -David pencil_pusher@hotmail.com

MW Alpine Hero, I'll second whomever's vote for climbing up at the Liberty Bell group, up at Washington Pass off Highway 20. Short approach and scenic climbing. The drive from Seattle is long but very scenic. Or try the Tooth up near Snoqualmie Pass off Interstate 90. Same with getting the Selected Climbs in the Cascades books someone previously mentioned, lots of good ideas there.

Holy frijoles! You've got a 149mm fist?! Man, I hope I never get on your wrong side.

Well, I've held one and the thing is small. Go grab one and hold it next to a #4 Camalot. Besides, that data is exactly what WildCountry sent me, they said it was a formatting error their catalogue designers did not catch.

Kudos to Mountain Gear's latest catalog and the multitude of specs they've edited. Still Rockcentrics ranges in mm are incorrectly listed. Not even two #9's stacked together could fill the 149mm stated range for that piece.Here's the list I got from Wild Country in May of last year: #3 24-31mm#4 28-36mm#5 33-41mm#6 38-48mm#7 45-55mm#8 52-64mm#9 61-73mm

There are many lines up the Tooth, Ingalls Peak, and others. Get creative and pass slow groups up if it's a mob scene. Go your own line and be as accomodating to others as you expect them to be towards you.

Wanna have the hut to your team? Go up on a crappy weekend. Worked for me.

Too late to matter, but we were up there for the lovely weekend. Sunday was the best day for you skiers/boarders with the whole Muir snowfield having cherry powder conditions, five inches at the least to just over a foot for quite a ways. That allegedly 13" at Paradise is probably accurate. I was kinda hoping to see some posts of folks who summitted. We spent Fri night with two boarders at Muir, but saw no one Sat. Sun brought a hord of folks heading up for summit pushes. Looks like they had good weather Mon and Tues for it too.

Hey Mike, we're checking out your book for the Kautz later on. For now though, do regular folks do running belays through the Gibraltar Ledges on that route? The solo dude didn't make any mention of this... 'cause he was solo I guess. Anyone have any route specific info that Van Steen or Beckey don't point out in their books? This would be for a winter ascent.