genepires

Trip: wine spires - piasano w ridge / burgundy n face Date: 6/28/2013 Trip Report: A little bit late, but better than never for someone who hasn't posted a TR in years. forgive my slothness and lack of skill. What does a middle aged guy do when he can't crag enough to send 5.10 realiably but wants to have a big day on rock? Linkup routes at WA pass of course! Curt Veldhuisen and I went to the wine spires to linkup the west ridge of piasano pinnacle and the north face of burgundy spire. Curt had done both routes on seperate trips and my last time on burgundy was some 12 years previous. Time to step it up. We drove up to the pass after work on thursday with the idea to hike up to the bench to camp. But low clouds, mist and general slothness made easy convincing for a truck bivy at the cutthroat trailhead. But that make the friday a bit longer day and I would pay for that slothness in the future. We made a nice early 5 am start from the hwy and made it to the bench around 7am. There was a couple of folks camped out who apparently wandered in the clouds the day before. After a short rest, the uphill trudge continued to a long traverse across an area of compact dirt to the west ridge proper. [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/thumbs/DSCN2232.JPG/ [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/thumbs/DSCN22352.JPG[/img] [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/thumbs/DSCN2236.JPG[/img] [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/thumbs/DSCN22401.JPG[/img] [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/medium/DSCN2242.JPG[/img] On the 4th pitch, there is a sharp ridgeline with options for either side. Right side had the feet walking on this huge seemingly detached flake which I took. I was a bit too short for the left side but Curt managed to do that side. Take your pick. [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/thumbs/DSCN2245.JPG[/img] Pitch 8 has some runout slab climbing but the rock is clean and grippy. This put us on top paisano around 1pm. A short walking traverse and down climb puts you a little ways up the north face, into that small loose bowl area. We went up the normal way using the 5.8 "awesome" labeled line and yeah, it was awesome. Curt managed the last OW pitch (spooky) to finish off our 5 pitches of Burgundy for a 13 pitch day at around 4pm. Val Zepher and friend was hot on our heals running up the N face. We brought a 70 m single line and this is not the best choice for thte route. No pitch was longer than 40m and there was not enough rope for one of the rappels so we ended up leaving a block slung. (there was another anchor that we could have taken but didn't see it till too late) Double 50m would be ideal. [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/thumbs/DSCN2246.JPG[/img] Back to the col sometime past 6pm. Hustle down. rehydrate and whine about my toes that were in rock shoes too long. hustle down..down...down... Back to the truck and a shot of scotch at 9pm 16 hr day. prolly slow for some people but not bad for some "old guys" sat- to tired to do anything but drive home sun-tired but enough to play with my kid mon-tired at work tues-ditto wed- that was "phun" th- that was really "FUN"! 4 days to recover. damn aging. classic roadside photo of the liberty spires. [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/thumbs/DSCN2247.JPG[/img] Approach Notes: down the hill, cross the creek with a log, up the hill.

it is a alpine route. can't compare apples with oranges. Would you say that clean break is not superb compared to other 13 pitch alpine routes in washington? Oh yeah, we don't have that many.

actually that was a couple years ago. About half way, we eventually got a ride in the back of an open bed, fully packed with stuff, pickup truck from some questionably sober individuals. grateful but maybe not the best judgement to accept for 2 men with families.

awesome. thanks for the stoke! will need to set shoes on that one. Chris and I tried to hitchhike from blue lake TH to the hairpin with less success. Why would anyone pick up a couple middle aged smelly men? But two chika's? never been to the base, but do you think there are other new easier route possibilities to the right or left of clean break? Looks like beckey route terrain form the photos. (blocky and trees)

what do you need? if it is just things like fuel canisters, you may be able to find that in a non climbing store. FF is closer to the hwy than marmot. choose FF and marmot over rei anytime, if possible.

how could the average person remember how to spell Blagovchenskay, no wait Blajovshenkayo, no wait blavochenskookum, no wait blagoveshchenskaya.......? Damn Anastasia is a rainier queen. good job!

change is hard for some people, especially for people who think that marriage is a strictly religous practice. What they fail to realize is that marriage is a contract written for members in society, a stabilizing factor. The whole arguement of the slippery slope leading to marriage with children, animals and inanimate objects is crap since none of those 3 can sign a contract. The slippery slope of marriage with multiple partners and relatives is a possibility though but it is very unlikely that a reasonable arguement can made for those.

very hestitant to suggest any glacier soloing, but the sahale arm way to sahale is a doable solo glacier ascent. Ruth is a little more crevassed but not by much. maybe best to solo this when all the winter snow is gone and hopefully all crevasses are open.

I'm curious, what was your #1 worse Cascades approach? Icicle Canyon: Hook/Rat Creek - Blockhouse West Face in mid july.

we were on paisano friday. (cough cough) sick day (cough cough)

nice! very creative.

nice to meet you guys even if it was brief. are you saying you lead the scary slab after the chimney attempt? sweet!

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1107686/gonew/1/TR_East_Willman_Spire_Standard#UNREAD from a couple days ago.

where you the guy climbing with Val on friday?

for just good plain getting out fun along the mtn loop: hike up pilchuck - not hard but still fun and get some exercise hike up dickerman - same as above but much longer vesper - not the n face but the scramble up the other side which is the descent line. and for stuff I haven't done: what about going up sloan but not thte corkscrew way to avoid glaciers? white chuck - not sure of the road situation but there is a good solo line on the west face. whitehorse? for others: if you are going to solo 5th class routes, I hope you choose well traveled lines to minimize loose rock. I think that the s face of ingals is a nice easy 5th class solo. das toof?

there are two non glacier moraine base camps. I assume you are asking about these. If you base out of the glacier, you will have isolation while camping out. But then you wouldn't be near the toilets which is nice. taking a dump and looking at the twin sisters! The guide outfits do most of their classes midweek. there may be a 3 day summit trip there but those are not as common. If there are other people, it will be regular climbing citizens. The lower moraine camp (not in trees) can hold lots of people and this is where the circus would be. the upper camp can something like 6 tents unless you want to chop a level platform in the snow. There are a couple tent spots before you get to the moraine but they are to close to the parking area to be a decent base camp. Another option is to go beyond the moraine camps and climb up the glacier for a couple hours and camp out on some level ground. Makes your summit day shorter, relatively isolated and a cool experience overall.

been up das toof 4 times, all times it was empty. (relative, one other group on route) 1X summer on a bad forecast but dry day 3X winter but sunny day in a 4 day sunny streak If you want relative isolation, don't go on good weather summer days. the winter time is very nice for das toof. Or do some other line on the peak.

"Pakistani Taliban claimed it carried out the attack at Nanga Parbat to avenge the death of their deputy leader in a U.S. drone strike last month." Not that an attach such as this is warranted in any way, but thier logic is messed up even from a war point of view. USA kills their leader and they shoot up a bunch of non americans? (no way did they know that the Hong Luchin guy was american) Dumb-ass.

in other climbing news, canmore and other alberta towns/cities just went through a brutal flooding situation. Guides asking people to stay out of the area till things are repaired. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06/22/alberta-flooding-2013-pictures_n_3483989.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-alberta

Dan is back in the saddle! sorry bud, but I gotta work all week.

just because swimming pool chemicals had the same result as what happened to his harness doesn't prove that it was the pool maintenance chemicals that did the damage. they tested only a small fraction if the chemicals available. There could easily be something else with the same affect.

I gotta get my climbing gear out of the laundry room.

that looks real nice and uncrowded like the other classics in the area. how would you rate it compared to sir donald?

better that than people getting hurt or dead.

I know there are lots of people skinning up the boundry rd/trail at baker. As long as you are considerate to the paying public, the patrol didn't bother us.