Otto

Thanks for reporting this, Lucky. What climbing area is this in? Also, I'd like to know what "ID ten tee: error" means, just curious.

Thank you for the interesting trip report. I think it is a good use of experimental prose and creative wordplay. Beatiful pictures. Thanks again!

Yep, I just got a PM from Evan confirming the gear and a little about the story of their climb. Congratulations, Evan and Micah! That is true adventure climbing, for sure! I'm looking forward to your TR. If there were even more loose blocks before your arrival, that must have been some delicate climbing! Also, I agree with the 5.8R rating; my .9 move was overcooked. Good on ya both!

Trip: Jet Tower - East Buttress Date: 9/9/2013 Trip Report: I first saw this jagged tooth of a mountain in May of last year, before the snowmelt, with DavidW. Exploring the South Face of Squire Creek Wall, I took my first photos of the surrounding upper basin. I learned from David this was Jet Tower, informally named for a military jet that had crashed into it many years ago. Later in the summer, after shooting it from nearly every stop along the way up our new climb, we planned to climb it next. Not knowing how to get up there, early in this year David and I spent a couple of weekends finding a way into the big timber which would gain access to the upper basin. Later, last Winter, I was getting to know Chris Greyell at our weekly gym training sessions. He, too, was motivated to climb the Tower and was convinced he knew the best way up to it. At the inspiring slide show at his home, he showed us a cool photo and told of his wonder at standing at the base, laying hands on it and looking up. He also said nobody had ever climbed this East face of it. He nearly had me persuaded to climb his Approach Route on the Roan Wall and keep going up into the cirque, traversing North to the Tower. I was afraid he would beat us to it using his approach. But later, as Winter turned to Spring, he allowed that he would be too busy putting up new routes in Waterfall Basin, and said with grace that he would be honored to do the Second Ascent after we succeeded. David and I held firm to our determination to approach from the North. But the way was steep and long, so we decided to change priorities back to Squire Creek Wall and its obvious slab potential. The Tower would have to wait. So when the opportunity arose on Sept. 7, 8 and 9 with our helpful buddy Wes Bevins and a clear weather forecast, I was determined to get up there and at least carry out a reconnaisance trip. The weekend started badly. The sadness at the loss of Chris depressed me, and other partners were not feeling like getting out. Wes was my only companion, and he was coming down from Concrete after camping with his family. He said he would call me at home and we'd meet at the trailhead. All morning I waited, growing more nervous and sunk with each passing hour, until two in the afternoon. The call came and I jumped in the truck. Biking at 4:20, hiking up and camping at 7:00. Not the best way to spend a good weather Saturday. On Sunday morning, after a leisurely start gearing up with bivy and climbing gear including hammer and pins, we started up at 8:00. We carried one of Wes' 8.5mm double ropes each. We skirted under Skeena26 and crossedonly one small snow patch before reaching the canyon crossing. There is a deep gully, or small canyon, separating the West Buttress from the rest of Squire Creek Wall. David and I researched a good way to cross it involving a short rappel into it, and easily walking out. Wes and I slid down a rope 30' and across the gully, into the deep forest on the far side. It turned out that DavidW and I had already gone through the most difficult part of the approach. The steep virgin forest band gave way to boulder slides and easy tree bands, which all gave way to heather alps and finally clean granite benches. It took Wes and I four hours from a camp near the base of Skeena26 to Jet Tower. So, it was seven hours in all from the truck. Wes coming across the heather slopes of the upper basin Being only noon, we had time to procure comfortable bivy sites and have lunch. At 2:00 we set out and I climbed up a good-looking, curving, grassy crack in white granite. This is about 50' left of the extreme toe of the buttress. It was easiest to step right and continue up to a belay close to the buttress edge. Two wired stoppers and a small cam for a belay, I asked Wes if he wanted the next pitch. He seemed happy to say, "No, this is your show", and we switched rope ends. I led straight up to a steeper bulge, the initial low-angle apron was over. I had to step left through 5.9 face moves to get past the bulge on an excellent, solid face riddle with pinch holds. the path of least resistance trended back right, and I pulled onto a small ledge next to a huge flake with a 5" gap behind it, perfect for the extra 4 and 5 Camalots we'd carried up. Slinging the flake with some fine 1" tubular webbing we'd thought to bring along, I built a good belay backed up by the cams. Wes came up leaving the first pitch anchor intact. We fixed each rope to one of the anchors and slid down to dinner. Our starting spot on the white apron, shown after fixing the lines Higher up, blue rope on the first pitch, red on the second Higher still, showing the second pitch Squire Creek Wall, South Face Next morning, Monday, I took a walk around the jet parts field and took photos of the Air Force memorabilia. It was so interesting and widespread that we didn't get out of our bivy camp until 10:30. Wes getting ready to jug up I jugged the lines before Wes started up, to lessen the chance of any loose rock getting knocked off onto him. Arriving without incident, Wes had to protest a little when I stepped back out left to gaze at the wall. "I can't climb that!", he said, and I couldn't, either. It looked hard, as the numerous small dihedrals held only closed seams. We'd arrived at 50' of blank face before it would get to the obvious big cracks leading to the summit point. I had to back off. Around to the right, out onto the North face of this East Buttress, was a broken ramp that went up to the horizon. It was festooned with broken, wedged-in blocks, lichen-covered and menacing. Up this ramp I went, carefully thumping every hold and listening. Delicate stems, nothing difficult but just careful, quiet climbing brought me to an outrageous dirt hump next to cracks for a belay. This third pitch was wild, crusty Cascade climbing at its best. Looking for a route out on the left side of the buttress edge; we backed off from this Whitehorse from the route The belay was two 2" cams in a crack which separated a refrigerator-sized block from the wall. It looked wedged in place at its top and bottom. I backed it up with a good 1" cam on the main wall. We didn't stop to take any pictures. After switching ends, I step up onto our belay block and Wes says he sees it moving. I hop to change feet, and he says it again. I want to get off that block quickly but there are a couple of delicate, steeper moves ahead, and I have to figure them out. Holding our breaths, I ooze upward, off the block, laying back to a dihedral and easier ramp above. Accelerating up some big, solid blocks I soon realize these are the Summit blocks, and there is the Sun just ahead. Wes later said he felt a huge surge of relief and thankfulness when I called out, "I'm on top!" The tableau where I pulled onto the summit Wes enjoying being up there Craig Lakes Three Fingers Summit blocks Glacier Peak Summit portraits The fourth pitch was only 40' long, putting to rest the early surmise that this thing might be five pitches tall. Then just recently, DavidW had cannily revised his estimate to four pitches. So, with an approach of seven hours and bivy sites now ready, one could easily do this route in two days. Hike in and camp at the base the first day, do the climb and hike out the second. I found a modern, sewn webbing loop with two carabiners attached at the exact base of our route. We can only wonder if someone has beat us to it this year. The webbing is in brand-new looking condition. Has anyone you know been up this face, and possibly dropped this? We would love to hear about the exploit, successful or not, in public or not. Send me a PM if you like, and describe to claim your gear! After a lot of photo shooting at the wilderness, we prepared to depart through the trees on the West side. Glacier Peak looked magnificent, Blueberry Hill looked small and far below, Three Fingers and Whitehorse enclosed us. And the huge massif of slender slab ribbons on Squire Creek Wall looked most alluring of all, to me. Even with all the competing stunning terrain, that's still where I want to be. Dropping straight down through the trees folowing the path of least resistance brought us to a boot track that we used as we turned South to Pop Tart Tower. I first heard of this formation from Chris, and didn't ask him about the funny name. Turning a corner around some boulders I suddenly saw the reason for the name. On the far side of Pop Tart Tower is a gully which we downclimbed without need of the rope. It was a relief to be on solid ground. We rested, broke camp and descended to the bikes in five hours and rode out in the dusk. Thank you, Wes, for being ever helpful and enthusiastic. I hear you've had a mishap; heal up fast and stay loose, my friend. Gear Notes: Single rack to 5" Approach Notes: Bushwhacked from the South side of Squire Creek Wall

This weekend I brought an old friend up to climb Skeena26. Jim Daubert and I hiked up on Saturday, and rested by setting up the tent. Our friend Wes arrived and lent us his rack and ropes. Shortly after we blasted up the 12 pitches on that beautiful day, which we greatly enjoyed. Had dinner, got some much needed sleep. Next day while cooking breakfast the stillness was broken by the sound of a helicopter. Wes commented, "That's not a good sign." Then we three jugged up to the high point of the new route, and I finished Pitch 9. Then I started up Pitch 10 and kept going. A beautiful knobby shield, then a cool overlap 2" crack, a couple of vertical crack spots for pro, a ledge for the anchor, and Pitch 10 was in the bag. We returned to civilization to find out that our friend, inspiration, one of the Darrington greats, had died in his beloved valley. Chris Greyell is gone, and our loss is great.

tvash, what's up with the non-sequitur? Even so, I agree with you, Dark Rhythm is an inspiring route. I was intimidated just following chucK up The Flange...

Trip: Squire Creek Wall - Skeena26 Date: 8/3/2013 Trip Report: As my regular partner and FA artist was away on business, I had a chance to climb last year's route with some new friends. This is an amusing benefit of spending all my climbing time hammering away at one objective all year - bringing up some folks to see how they appreciate it. Kellie and Ken were motivated to have a good time on some new ground, and I'm pleased to say we accomplished that. With the forecast chance of precipitation at 70% on our approach day, we drove up in Kellie's small sedan packed with three bikes in the rain. We hiked up in declining mist in three hours. I had just met Ken, and he turned out to be a full suspension Mt. biker who rode right down the new rock steps in the landslide. Astonishing to me, when asked about it later he hadn't even noticed it. The hike up went well as we made camp after only three hours of travel. We relaxed after setting up the tent, as this photo shows, with the three liter bag of fine wine gone nearly flat. Up at 6:30, and not raining at breakfast time, I was glad to see the forecast holding true. A small pool of water sat in my dinner plate, but I knew the fog would lift and we would get sun this day. We moved out at 9:00 after racking up. Ken's knee was mending from some normal, for him, trashing so Kellie led all 12 pitches. She said she really liked the last pitch, with its patina, the crusty cracks and the gear placements. While Ken did all the belaying I took 200 photos, trying to get off to the side and above. A rare treat, to shoot someone other than a gnarly grizzled man who doesn't want to be seen anyway. The first pitch has a technical, smooth couple of moves at the start. A study of the infamous Primal Scream in the rising cloud. Pitch 2 crosses this short overlap. Working the knob. Pitch 4 moves along the wide overlap and then crosses it. Pitch 5 with admirable downpressure technique. Ken and Bill following. Pitch 7 is a good one with small knobs at 5.8. Hand work. The Sun has finally broken through. Pitch 11 During the upper pitches, the large white snag signals the topout. Pitch 12 There is good pro to the left of the overhang. At the top, Kellie and Ken were all smiles. Happy the Sun has warmed it all and we're on top. Thanks to tanstaafl and ken4ord for allowing me to relax and have a fine couple of days with good appreciative partners. May the good times continue to roll! Gear Notes: Standard single rack to 4".

On the Canadian approach, do not follow a line of flags uphill to a mining claim, way too soon. We realized this mistake in time to catch up with a family of picnickers frolicking in the creek... Fail.

I heard about this trip from Chris at the trailhead the next weekend. He was still stoked about it! One big traverse, way to go!

Now that is wild. Thanks for sharing it.

That first photo is a beautiful study in Blue. Thanks for posting it.

Don't overlook Duty Dome. It has a high concentration of good cracks and some slab routes in that range. Off Duty, 10k Motivational Tapes, and all those cracks to the left of Off Duty.

Yes, glad to hear he's still doing that. Several years ago I met him at that market. My wife bought one of his nice wooden earring display racks.

Wanting to read more on this, I had to search Mountain Project for the link. It's buried in a thread about the fate of the proposed fifth volume of Desert Rock. Thread: Desert Rock Series: What Happened? http://www.mountainproject.com/v/desert-rock-series-what-happened/107396367__2

Oh yeah, you guys were having quite a party up there! We watched one straggler climb up after dark, with help from guys above, by headlamp... and the howling!

Squire Creek Wall in November, 2011 The South Face, November 2011 After discovering that this South side of the mighty Squire Creek Wall is divided into several big low-angled buttresses, we still wanted to climb there. After all, how many people had even seen this wall close up, much less climbed on it? The question became, "Which buttress to climb here?". Of course we knew that Zippy had climbed the beautiful Primal Scream buttress. Does that feature have any other name? Who knows? All we knew is that there are acres of lovely white granite, waiting, enduring geologic time and its changes. With snow lapping up against a broad swath of climbable rock, it seemed we could start anywhere. I was amazed to be seeing this, and willing to start anywhere. At first, looking over from the approach trail in the bottom of the valley, it seemed it would be very difficult to get there. Dense brush to the creek crossing, steep forest, unseen terrain above all made it foreboding. Which was just right, I wanted to work hard for this. Previously, I was amused by Greyell's remark that while he was toiling long hours slogging up to the Illusion Wall, we were having it easy on the very nearest end on Slab Daddy and Oso Rodeo. Short approaches! Easy living! This big wall slab stuff is too serene! Well, enough of that. If we wanted to go up on the South Face of this beast, we were going to sweat hard for it. Early probes on skis and snowshoes, Otto in April DavidW skiing up in April Trillium by the roadside The beginning of the bike approach era, on May 19th Once we started approching by bikes, we didn't go without them. The hardware evolved; mine grew a rack and David's lost his, mine grew flat pedals and his grew flat bars Early season's challenging runoff With ski missions in April, snowshoe and boot approaches in May and June, and then bike-assisted approaches later, we bit into this work with repetitious zeal. Every free day was tested - weather any good? partner lined up? days off work approved? special gear needed? - this project was an ever present topic of daydream and worry. We pushed up the wooded hill over and over, flagging a boot track to a new high point for eight trips into July. Unable to find load-carrying helpers, my non-climbing friend Bill Camp went along once for company but no others were able to come through. There was only Whitelaw for the work, and for the company. Into the old growth forest Some approach details About the work David's worries were constant. Battling sore shoulder and ankle, he was often on the verge of giving out or giving up. "I'm gonna hurl!", was his catchphrase as we loaded up from a rest stop more than once. He said he wanted to give up once or twice. I didn't give that credence, knowing his work-hardened frame to be stronger than his head, and we stumbled on. As for the company, there couldn't be better as I knew from other days working with David on the North end of the wall. One time as we thrashed up through the brush, he burst out in a tune with the lyrics, "Stickin' it to the weak!" - which became the jingle of the weekend. His stories about fools who came into the shop where he works demanding refunds for equipment used for years, and tackling jacket thieves trying their escape, kept my mind off the miles trudging up the road. Good trips were kept even more lively with his invention of snow Margaritas at Happy Hour, and the Espresso Cauldron in the mornings. We talked about how we could get 20-something dudes to help bring up the gear to base, happy to take part in a grand project. David said having them along to carry our gear would be "better than robots!" The South Face buttresses in May Near the base of the route, but long before climbing, in June We finally got on the rock on July 7th, my father's birthday, and we knew it was all laid out before us, good times ahead. With snow lapping up against the sloping wall, I had no idea where to begin so David checked it out and decreed that we would go way out to the left and up the easiest looking dirty corners, putting in temporary piton anchors, and swing back into the line a couple of pitches up. So that's just what I did, leading off into the dirty unknown festooned with hammer and pins, full rack and drills, ready for anything but knowing we weren't putting in the "real" pitches. Much later in the year we pulled out the two sets of piton anchors I placed here. This day, I got us over to the route's real line, at the eventual anchor atop Pitch 2. After drilling the bolt anchor, we agreed to rap-bolt the first two pitches, ho hum. When we finally got on rappel, however, I declared I wanted to do Pitch 2 drilling on lead, perplexing David who said, "I don't know what the fook is goin on", or something like that. Was I some kind of ethics prima donna, or what? Well whaddayaknow, a disagreement. Absolutely, I wanted to do every pitch ground up, drilling on lead, on sight, all that good stuff. David agreed, so that's what we did. I led the eventual Pitch 2, placing three bolts, having found about five gear placements, and got to the huge knob in the middle of the white slab. I drilled the hole there, but found I didn't have a bolt. I stuck the drill in the hole, clipped a quickdraw to it, and ran up to the anchor using the brushy edges for security! 4x and gear to 3 1/2". Our first look at Pitch 4, when we realized we had found the line Higher up on Pitch 4, getting ready to drill above the overlap We got better at the communications and planning, and things smoothed out. David has such a clear vision of the true line, we kept on course and left plenty of room to the right and left for future projects. The wavy "brown knobs" on the right were a constant source of wonder between Pitches 5 and 10, and there is plenty of smoother whiteness out to the left. We moved steadily up, doing two or three new pitches each two- or three-day trip, while leaving fixed ropes up as high as the anchors of Pitch 7. Skeena26 in the center Flowers on the way to the base in August Every trip we were hauling up a load without the dreamed-of porters. Finally we got Yale Lewis on board for some hauling and camera help. We got better pictures hanging off to the side on the fixed ropes. We even got some video of leading through the lower established pitches. Too bad there is no way to capture on-sight leading with a neckful of pro and drills, hammer banging your hip, smearing up to the good knob to get the bolt in after a long run. This is the real stuff, why I am doing this after 25 years of cruising the classic routes, someone else's work, all their decisions and worry gone into the distant past. Looking over our pictures now are attempts to keep that feeling fresh, to revisit this time. May it never fail to surprise and twinge the heart with that intense racing feeling of going for broke. Yes, these slabs are low angle and moderate in difficulty. But they are just steep enough to keep in mind the question - what if I went higher without stopping to drill, misjudged where the next stance was, and there was none? We finally got some help in August; Yale Lewis hanging out on Pitch 8 David preparing Pitch 11. The route ends at the large white snag above There is more clean rock around the place In September the snow at the base had finally melted off, and David found the excellent Pitch 1 Finding and building this route made for a fully absorbing season. It should be a pleasant, moderate, full day of climbing for anyone. photos by David Whitelaw, Bill Enger and Yale Lewis

Thanks for posting the photos from the dry lands. Bracing! Those cracks look so inviting.

One more, unable to use IE without hanging, same issue. Windows 7 Home Premium IE 9.0.8112 64-bit Edition Update Versions: 9.0.11 (KB2761451) I'm happy to have this opportunity to try out Chrome, it's working well!

Thaitanium Project: "The Thaitanium Project is a non-profit effort dedicated to providing and installing titanium climbing bolts throughout Thailand. Due to a rare convergence of environmental conditions and minerals contained within the rock itself, Thailand's existing bolts have experienced grossly accelerated metal fatigue and oxidation, leading to unsafe climbing conditions and a substantial increase in the risk associated with climbing many of the popular routes."

What an interesting two days that would be, wish I could go. Love the "Thaitanium Project" name - I wonder what that is all about. Though I'm not sure we need to "Organize, Fund, Operate" bolting efforts, it would be fun to learn about those who do. One thing I really want to know is why doesn't Metolius have a product to compete with the Fixe anchor chain systems. I'd rather buy locally produced stuff, and I like their hangers. I see they are not represented in the agenda, but Fixe is! Anyway, thanks for posting this, have a good trip!

Good writing, nice pics, thanks!

fgw said: There are no bad bolts on Revolver. Only one 5/16" bolt left, it was rebolted last year.

Pitch 5 of Revolver, Three O'Clock Rock. Steep friction to a high reach, then scampering up a cool crack. The first pitch of Gastroblast. A balancing act into a deep hueco! Then more balancing act! Pitch 2 of Dirt Circus. Knobs, knobs, knobs. Recently rebolted. Pitch 19 of Slab Daddy, Squire Creek Wall. Half-pad tips with smearing feet from the anchor into the Arch crack. Then easy crack climbing for a long way. Pitch 22 of Slab Daddy. A mixture of crack styles - layback, fingerlocks, stems and a little wide. Pitch 10 of Oso Rodeo, Squire Creek Wall. An unusually flat plane of slab tilted up to a perfect friction angle, with sills. Good topic. Keep 'em coming folks, I need new ideas for next season.

Thanks for the sweet photos of Autumn light and knobby rock. It's a good stoke to continue exploration of the Comb. The only thing I've done there is Over the Rainbow, which is very good; must get back up there next year. BTW, I was in the general area yesterday, in foot-deep snow at 3200'. The snow started at about 1900'.

There is no need to be disappointed by a lack of gear routes at Vantage. You could climb all weekend there, multiple times, and never clip a bolt. Bob Dylan, Burning Spear, George & Martha, etc. etc.