Otto

That was a great read, thanks.

Thanks for the thoughtful work, Matt, and the reply. I'm hoping to climb a couple more routes up there next year, and will check it out!

Myself, I wouldn't miss going to the top. Both times I've been up there, after doing Dark Rythm with chucK, and the West Buttress, I've had a great time finding ways to the top with the gear on hand. There was no need for bolts either time. Where is the desire for adventure if not here? Why bolt it?

Sloth asked about bivy ledges on the route, and Argus mentioned the high ledge. David and Dan were pleased to find this great ledge at the top of what is now pitch 11, just below the Feature. It proved to be the key to spending large amounts of time within reach of the upper pitches. It is called the Balcony Bivy. Here is a typical morning coffee time on a typical working day, June 24, 2008: Zack and Otto packing up to go down after the same work session. Note the yellow river-rafting dry bags lined up at the storage bolt in the bush. First two bags were purchased and deployed, found useful, and then another, and yet another. We didn't leave them up over the winter, but they worked out great during each of the last two seasons. The ledge is broad and flat in three places, for comfortable sleeping. There is not a lot of water available on it, with just a little puddle, but there are good pools two pitches down. We fixed lines and jugged back up with 2.5 gallon bottles filled to stock the ledge.

What a nice introduction to mountaineering for the lad. Way to go! Beautiful photos, as always.

This might make sense if you meant, "Lost Ipod...", instead of "Post Ipod...". Is that what you meant? Also, did you mean "911 signal", instead of "9-11 signal"?

Well, that makes my reply look rather silly, now, doesn't it? Complete with typo glaring out at ya! "attendace" = attendance, ha ha! Never seen a thread quite like this one. Could it be the Darrington Effect?

Yes. There were at least two parties on separate lines on the wall. I was half of one of those parties. And I do mean party! Elijah Craig was in attendace, helping us celebrate the new route. Details will be posted Real Soon Now.

Nice work! I thought it might be a bit late in the year for this route, but you did it. Congrats!

Did someone say feet stacks? Pigeon Spire, Cooper-Kor, pitch 1 Briefly considered a layback. Settled on feet stacks and arm bars.

Joanne, you say "Most of the aid pitch are fixed and bolt ladder..." but your web site mentions no bolt ladder. Are there really bolts on Liberty Crack now? Please say "No".

Right you are, G, I didn't read the link. "Coincidently, the old raps stations on that side of the col had been removed the previous day because of rockfall concerns". Classic timing!

Nice trip, Mark, and excellent photos. That bivy on Adamant looks wild. What a lot of good peak bagging! Did you get thunder storms on Tuesday night, 8/4? We got hail in the Bugs that night, and scattered rain squalls Mon. through Wed. Looks like you guys had a bunch of fun, nice work!

Thanks for the good picture. Just curious, the red dots are "Removed rappel stations", but were they removed by the rockslide or by human intention?

It must have been a bit longer, maybe an hour or two, with more glacier travel and crevasses to pass. But one party that started out with us made the summit at 12:30, approaching the West Ridge that way. So, still a reasonable day from the hut.

Trip: Pigeon Spire - Cooper-Kor Date: 8/6/2009 Trip Report: Ever since seeing the East Face of Pigeon Spire from the summit of Snowpatch in 1993, with Mark_L, I've wanted to do this route. The smooth upward sweep of it burned visions of gradually steepening, crack-split slabs into my imagination. The reality was a day of hard work, problem-solving, and worry on this challenging route. Arriving at Kain Hut on Sunday, 8/2, we had big plans to do this and two other routes in succession, under clear skies and the blessings of the bluebirds. Monday, Tuesday, and then Wednesday we spent doing a lot of reading. An entire fat murder novel and every climbing rag in the hut passed before me. 60, then 70 PoP and TS was the forecast, so we sat. It finally changed, we packed up and were out at 4:30 next morning. Moving around the South end of Snowpatch Spire in early light Dubious was Otto, without crampons, having forgotten to bring them. This is Madcap hitting the ice Initial view of the objective The schrund proved easy to go around, and the slope not too steep for those without crampons The start of the route is seen here as the thin, left-slanting line at the right side of the photo The Snowpatch/Pigeon col has a newly-bolted rappel route, down the cliff on the right side of this picture. From the dirty spot on the top-most ice, six single-rope raps gets one down. We paid close attention to this as it was to be our return route at day's end Madcap gearing up Otto relieved to be off the ice Wideness at the start. We had glossed over this 6" crack when reading the topo, and had only one #4 cam There would be no wandering off-route on the second pitch The end of the 4th class ledge The standard way up the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col was reportedly very melted out and dangerous. Instead, folks were coming around the South side of Snowpatch and Pigeon to do the Pigeon West Ridge Snowpatch Spire from the 4th class ledge Blocks and flakes lead up to the headwall On the high traverse, the first available pro comes at 30 feet out Carefully moving right down the ledge On the next pitch, Madcap following the tension traverse weighting the green rope. Leading it was easier the more rope was let out, so Otto kept calling for slack until more than 30 feet below the pendulum point. The rope rubbed over an edge, making one think about the sheath Pigeontoe from above, photog playing with the 15x zoom The next-to-last pitch finishes the wet groove with blocky ledges to pull over Bugaboo Spire We changed into mountain boots here for the scramble to the top Walking up ramps to the summit Snowpatch West face behind Near the summit, with the Howsers behind The Vowells One couldn't help but look at Bugaboo again Garden near the trail back to Kain Hut We barrelled home on the highway next day, listening to Emmylou and Knopfler and some other twang, merging it with thoughts of the climb... "This is us, on a high traverse This is us, hope it doesn't get worse Standing on a sloping ledge, gliding out along the edge Connected by a looping line, hoping that it turns out fine" photos: Bill Enger Gear Notes: Double rack to 3.5" and one 4", would have used a 5" Approach Notes: The snow on the glacier around Snowpatch is fast disappearing, slots are opening up fast. We saw one leader go in up to the armpits on the glacier between Snowpatch and Pigeon.

To the original poster: I would suggest Damnation Crack on Castle Rock is more similar to the Gendarme than any of the previous suggestions. If not, go climb it anyway, it'll be good for your Gendarme project. Edit: except Godforsaken Land, haven't done it...

To me, "tat" has had a negative meaning, useless trash that has to be cleaned away. But sometimes we happen upon something special, we'd like to imbue with nostalgic meaning. Here's some cool tat we found on a forlorn and neglected cliff... This was left by some "ledge walkers" long ago, adventurous dads of a bygone era, who must have been fearless rapellers.

Don't let your climbing partner borrow your fancy new chock pick to clean out a crack or few. You might end up with something like this: Sheesh! Now it's a spatula.

By now you've heard that they will no longer manufacture Kodachrome film. In honor of that ultimate expression of its day's technology, I offer something that the Mt. Rainier aspirants on this forum may enjoy. This is from the May, 1958 edition of National Geographic Magazine. The photographer was Ruth Kirk, original caption follows.

Ah, the Bush House. I ate lunch there, once. It's fun to watch it recede slowly into the forest...

Just curious, what climbing area is that?

Sol, what is der sportsmen on Prusik? Is it on the South Face? Please forgive my ignorance, but I'm at work with no reference books handy. Details?

Big fun in the Sun! Way to go, and thanks for the pics.

It was cool to see a photo of ~24 year old Fred, with ~84 year old Fred there in the audience... Among other things. Lots of great photos there, of heros and fireballs. I especially liked the early shots of Dihedral Wall, his 3rd ascent of the Nose, and the blankness of NA Wall.