Coondog

Got invited to join some friends with a permit for 4 days in the Enchantments -- outstanding. First day hiked in via Colchuck & up Aasgard Pass. Second day got late-ish start, dropped down Aasgard to stashed gear, and began Backbone Ridge around 10:30. As noted in Telemarker's TR on Backbone, having a #5 Camalot should allow you to easily ascend the crux OW pitch... I unfortunately believed previous posts to CC.com that a #4 would suffice -- here's the reality: led the OW pitch, placing a piece about 10' up, then my #3.5 about 30' off deck, then began goosing #4 up with me roughly 15' above that piece... the #4 placed fine for about 15', then the OW expanded just enough that I was unable to place, unless you count having a cam wedged diagonally barely hanging between two reasonably chickenhead-ish quartzite cystals "solid." Continued this nonsense tipped out / diagonal on biggest cystals I could find horseshit til the #4 finally popped off from slight rope movement and rattled down the OW about 20', leaving me (more clearly) looking at ground-fall -- huh. Had the deep introspective moment of "okay Coondog, you're turfing if you slip and you're not going to be able to place anything for another 15'. Alright, don't freak and you got this. you cool? woof." Pushed on to the lovely little side crack above, placed two bomber pieces, then finished out. After hitching tree at top of pitch, yelled "Off." Then yelled "F*******K." ***Feel need to highlight for future generations that you do in fact require a #5 for the OW pitch -- don't fall for the "ohh, a #4 will do" b.s.*** After following that pitch Kush was pretty uncomfortable and deferred leading to me... we stayed roped for remainder of climb. Ended up climbing the upper third of BB to prominent major ledge on Fin after dark... actually found it pretty fun leading these moderate pitches by moonshadow... But decided for safety's sake to not attempt 5.9 undercling pitch on Fin in dark; bivied in windbreakers & windpants til around 5:30am , then resumed climb. Found rock outside the undercling in upper pitch on Fin to be very unstable for pro (touch anything and it popped out automatically... booh ). Back in camp around noon-ish after great slush glissade... Quite a day & a half. Moved camp down Enchantment basin that afternoon & rested, and moved camp down near Prusik Pass third day. Fourth day slept in til 9:00 since wind kept us up most of night... left camp around 10:30-ish, climbed Prusik W Ridge in 3 pitches, basked in awesome view. Back down to camp, lunched with mountain goats, then broke camp around 4:00-ish & decided to pound out to L'worth for cold bier since we'd depleted stores of booze. Duckboys around 10:00pm. Found to be cold & plentiful. Regailed folks on deck with story of our (mini-epic) Dragontail bivy... Aside from having a #4 instead of #5 for crux OW pitch of Backbone & having to deal with occasional chill breeze during bivy, an outstanding trip. Will post pics of mountain-goats licking our pee once they're developed... And believe I might be sticking to Pearly Gates for a while... --Coondog.

TR from your jaunt to Backbone??? I'm headed into the Enchantments and interested in your thoughts... since after having read every thread on cc mentioning "dragontail" I still don't have enough juicy beta... Thanks- --Cd.

Dammit -- you & U.T. be doin' all the fun climbing... good thing I'm headed into the Enchantments for a week, get myself all un-jealous... Then be pinging you two about WA Pass and whatever else... aight. --Cd.

As always, a 'n TR from U.T. Note to self #1: Buy U.T. more bier to help him forget things like bolt under my nose in trip report.... Note to self #2: U.T. might already have enough bier given his (surreal) post-climb dusty trail musings... But, if a snafflehound falls in the woods, does he/she hear it or just say "shit" and continue to muse about horsecack while snaffling on? --cd.

Gents- Congrats on still being alive, , paying rent, and whatnot... maybe a few less man-tit TR pics in the future, but hey, guess the ladies of CC.com had it coming after that (botched) attempt to get them all to post their (topless) climbing pics thread... If you guys ever head down to Darrington looking for danger, try Exfoliation Dome, or near the top of Dreamer where a couple nice frig size kickers appear to have trundled... on... --cd.

So this is what a 5-star thread looks like... now I know... Holy crap that's funny sheeeit... funny how you didn't mention that when telling me about how great your trip up there was... --cd.

TLG: you'd asked for something a lil 'harder;' dunno what's 'harder' for you, but I found Serenity Crack (10d, 3p) + Sons of Yesterday (10a, 5p) to be one of the best days I had in the valley. I flailed on leading the crux of Serenity for about 5 min with a couple guys hanging out at the belay 10' above me taking my picture & flippin me shit and still had an awesome time on it... Serenity was sweet climbing up pin scars with a brief crux... If you climb the 5.9 var of Nutcracker BEWARE THE LEDGE! I might have sprained my ankle a wee bit on it when I peeled off the extremely greased holds above the one spot where you can manage to squeeze in an alien... And would suggest doing a 'finale' climb like Snake Dike before you leave, though I'm not sure you could actually carry enough water for it this time o' year... If Camp4 is full, I suggest making friends with folks who have a site... I dirtbagged as a 'friend' of a site for about a week no problem... helps... And everyone's tellin you it'll be packed, too hot, too buggy, they're all sold out of horsecock & bier, or whatever because they're so damn jealous someone's going down there... Be sure to drop the juicy TR to really rub it in. Have an awesome trip. Except for the internet connection, work sucks... --jealous cd.

Tieton River valley weather report, Sunday - June 22nd: 70*, 10-15mph winds from the west... grand total of 8 climbers at Royal Columns... none at The Bend... Enjoyable wade + swim across the Tieton to get back to car & cold bier fast instead of walking all the way to bridge... --Slightly Sunburnt Coondog

Uncle Tricky- Dude, I bought a house at G'lake & I've got open rooms -- Call me or PM me. My gig at MSFT is wrapping up this week, and I'll be doing some house work, but if you need a place to crash for a while no problems... as long as you're up for a little alpine... --Jeff Coondog

I'm finally getting off my fat MSFT contracting butt and getting back into the gym.... I'm trying to hit SG Mon & Weds nights, and swapping belays would be a nice change from bouldering all the time... Drop me a PM if you're interested... maybe have a CC.com SG rope-up night to meet folks... of course that might be too logistically challenging... suggestions of might be req'd to motivate... --cd.

Sold out, so if you've got extra ticks PM me. Will probably -not- subsidize your summers budget of and though... unless you put them up on eBay, cause I'm crazy for a pointless auction. thx- --cd.

Dru, good question -- thanks for the opp to brag up my fav climbs & share the epic stories. Awesome:: 1. Half Dome via Snake Dike... amazing, despite the several hundred gapers at the summit, and made it back to car before sunset 2. Baker via N Ridge... ahhh, 2 pitches of great alpine ice at sunrise, 40+mph wind and skiing out... 3. Heart of Darkness (Lake Louise, BC)... on drive back from AK after not climbing for the month of climbing hoped for... awesome 10b overhang arete... 4. Jardine's Hand... my first 11a climb, on one of the first routes sent with cams 5. Outerspace... Brutal:: 1. Going to Alaska to fly in to the Pika Glacier / Lil Switzerland area to climb granite pinnacles for a week or two, only to get there and not be able to go in because (a) it's been too sunny the past 3 weeks, and (b) it's raining about 1" a day now... then getting shitty drunk in Talkeetna to start the long drive home with a decent hangover. 2. Tearing part of my trapezius and not being able to climb for nearly a month... --cd.

Avoidance being the key, anyone have recommendatinos on the best avalanche awareness course(s) out there? I've had the very basic 38* & leeward slopes = high danger areas, but I'm looking for something a little more in-depth, preferably with single & multi burial pieps use too. Thx- --cd.

These things just look nutty. See the pic in the new BD catalog of Will Gadd hanging upside down on just these goofy spurs?? Must be handy for motivating your snafflehound to move faster too...

Second Ascent does indeed kick some very serious ass, but they don't seem interested in my non-shape slalom boards for trade... I'll have to swing by and see what they've for rand gear since I haven't been by in a while... thx- --cd.

Glad to see there was a rope involved though, you know, for "safety." Anytime I jump into a huge chasm I like to be roped up... And doesn't Mr Plake know that afro's offer substantially more insulation and protection for dumb-ass high-flying death-defying aerials??? That's why I'm starting mine now for this season. --cd. [ 11-08-2002, 09:41 AM: Message edited by: Coondog ]

Looking for used but decent condition randonee boards, preferably with the 'crampon compatible' type bindings that'll fit my Koflachs. Umm, would be willing to trade K2 SLC9.0 200cm slalom boards w/ Marker M51 bindings, and have pair of Raichle slalom race boots size9.5 too... And soon... there's snow in them thar' hills. I hope. I'll check this thread or PM me. Thx- --cd.

So is it safe to assume that I should begin my drinking & whistling like a pig at 7:00-ish, unless you're the fashionably late 11:00-ish type? --cd

Offwidth- After growing up in Sandpoint these shots are a gigantic flashback..... How's the ice-climbing in the Selkirks??? Got to imagine there's a fair bit o' the goodness over there... maybe not yet, but sooooon. --Cd

Used to work for a security software company, and still have hippie friends keeping the likes of us from hacking various secrets -- apparently you eat a lot of goldenseal (vitamin/herbal thingy?) and at the wiz-quiz you tell them you eat a lot of poppy-seed muffins/bagels. Supposedly screws their testing chem up somehow... huh.

Alright alright, so I know this probably isn't a great place to post a want-ad. Fine, flame me. But, if I don't find a roommate, then (a) I probably won't be headed to RedRocks & J-Tree the first two weeks of Nov, and (b) if the new roommate wants to go on the trip that'd be cool. 2 bedroom apmt in upstairs of house near 9th & 63rd NW in Ballard. About 1100', W/D, dishwasher & disposal, etc. Room available is corner w/ 2 large windows and big closet. Please PM me if int'd in room. Thx- --Coondog.

For those of you who don't prusik backup while rappeling, including myself: 2 weeks ago a climber at the Cookie Cliffs in Yosemite died on rappel after being struck by a small rock, which rescuers apparently believe knocked him unconscious and unable to attend to his belay, and he fell to his death... Also, I noticed that many Europeans and guides rappel from a sling girth-hitched to their harness, thus keeping the device & rope well away from clothing & gear while descending... Believe I may be doing both in the future. --cd.

Uncle Tricky- Good to see your plans are on for City. I'm in Bishop after a couple days of fingy-shredding bouldering & sunburning. Headed to Red Rocks, then probably up to Boulder for next weekend... will check & see if I can extend my trip to hang whicha at City, or blow home early to take care of my bidness then head back out whicha... And how would you feel about JTree for a couple weeks afterward? Guessing that "work" might my intervene... Anyway, will see ya soon, and if we don't connect, have an awesome time at City. --Coondog

Somewhere earlier in this thread somebody trash-talked AlpineK -- I'll vouch for the guy since I just saw him a few days ago in the Yosemite Lodge store buying his celebratory beer(s) after climbing Cap's E Buttress. So, my money's on him to place in the Milk Challenge. And w/ regards to name+tape, since the ladies probably still have their mommies sew their names into their thongs, why not just refer to these instead? No wasting good tape. Reporting from Bishop, CA, home of incredibly shredded tips- --Coondog

Will be sunburnt & well-rested after rafting Grand Canyon for a week. Depending on weather, will be interested in spending a week or two climbing in Yose & TM; if it's snowing there, will relocate to RedRocks or J-Tree. Roadtrip will continue N toward City of Rocks if weathers good there too. Will have car & trunk full of gear & beer. PM if int'd. Btw, snafflehounds not welcome, unless they eat Makalu's, in which case they can ride shotgun. --Coondog.