telemarker

Well, Mtguide was right: The boiling water treatment on the wax was very effective. And, it didn't take too much of the glue with it. I only needed to apply adhesive to a few spots. Other than that, thanks for the suggestion. It worked great. BTW, ironically I used one of those ear-wax removal, plastic bulbous deals that has a long, narrow snout. Made for more precise distribution of the boiling water.

Wax is stuck on the adhesive...

Wax is stuck on the skin. Best way to get that crap off so my skins work again?? Any ideas you care to pass along?

Pack it in, pack it out....

So how'd it go for you guys?

Wow. Nice photos.

Personally, I love skinning over urine in the middle of a skin track.

Yes, gorgeous day is an understatement. Hard to choose which was better: Warm sunshine, or calm night with the full moon. Kyle's didn't kveth too much about his back, probably due to his lingering head cold.

Thanks Craig. And nice job on the PE!

Trip: Enchantments, The Flagpole FWA 2-7-2009 - The Flagpole Date: 2/8/2009 Trip Report: Saturday Kyle Flick and I climbed the Flagpole in amazing weather: Warm sun in the day, full moon at night that was our headlamp all the way back to Icicle Road. We started around 4:30am on skis at Bridge Creek Campground. The dirt patch near the start of the road is slowly getting bigger, but the road is still skiable from the trailhead down to that point. We skinned up to the Colchuck Lake turnoff and stashed the skis, since we knew the trail up to the lake is icy and totally not worth the skin nor the ski down. As it turned out, no where in the Enchantements is worth skiing at this point. Maybe in March? We had perfect cramponing up Asgaard, and across the upper plateau. No postholing whatsoever. We climbed Flagpole last Sprng, so we had the approach dialed in. We approached via the dry gully just West of Little Annapurna. By the time we reached the base of the climbing, 10 hours had elapsed. We knew when we started climbing at 2pm we would be deproaching in the dark, but with these perfect conditions we weren't in any hurry. Kyle led the first mixed pitch, easy terrain with a snow/ice ramp to a bush belay. On the second pitch, I threw on my rockshoes, and Ade's lucky legwarmers. The climbing was on warm rock free of any snow or ice, which brought us to the base of the Flagpole's bolt ladder. I clipped through the ladder, using my rivet hangers on the old bolts which don't accept carabiners of any size. The finishing 5.8 offwidth move takes a #5 (new size) camalot, followed by some easy but very exposed moves on the arete. Kyle lowered me off and clip cleaned the ladder. By the time he touched down, it was dusk. Having two ropes for the two raps is very useful. We slogged back out the gully and popped out onto the upper Enchantments in bright moonlight. We would not use the headlamps again until we got into the trees. I've skied the trail from the trail cutoff three times so far this season, and not once have I done it without the skins still on. It's total survival "skiing". We chatted with a couple poor souls walking the road, who had climbed the Colchuck's NBC, which looked okay by the way. There does appear to be a couple rock steps with no ice in it. However, they had no problems surmounting those. By 1:30am 21 hours after starting out, we staggered back to the car, vowing to never slog that road again until the f$@%er is melted out! Contrived mixed hike up Asgaard Pass. This can be easily avoided. The upper Enchantments. Looking South towards Mt. Rainier, Ingalls Creek. Descent down gully. The Flagpole and Pennant Peak On the approach. Kyle on the first mixed pitch. Me starting the second pitch, replete with Ade's lucky legwarmers. Starting the bold ladder. On top. Looking down from the top of the Flagpole. Kyle Flick photo. Looking East from the top of the Flagpole. Kyle Flick photo. Stuart in the sunset. Kyle Flick photo. Thanks to Ade Miller who let us use some critical gear, not least of which were the '80s era legwarmers, which have quite a bit of magic left in them.

We climbed it three years ago. We found the river crossing easy since we went in late September, right at a handy pullout on the river side of the road. The gully leading up to the base is easy boulder hopping and was free of brush. True, the hardest pitch is the last on vertical looseness. The rest of the route was fairly unremarkable. We just lead 55 to 60 meters each pitch, and therefore was only around 6 pitches for us. We didn't find any belay bolts anywhere on route. We just created anchors when the rope ran out. The shitty part of this climb was the rap back down the face, which seemed to take twice as long as the actual climbing, with one 60m rope. Lots for the rope to get caught up on. Not sure I would recommend double ropes for that reason! In my opinion, it's one of those routes you only need to do once because it's there....

That is the Recurve Dihedral. About five pitches, 5.8. Mostly mid 5th.

Hi Kevin, Can you send me a few photos of the pack? Include the hole that you mention please. Send it to: touring29@gmail.com Thanks!! John

Legwarmers are Ade.

Kyle Flick and I did that variation a few years ago too. You're right, the corner was very much choked with snow and ice this time around!

Additional photos from the climb...

...and that's how the Great Gendarme got its name.

Puff!! Nice photo. And I've heard good things about that W. Face Monkey's Head.

What's wrong bro? Your car break down again?

The Shrew is a great summit straddle! The rap chord in situ that we rapped from was nearly brand new.

Oh, that Dirtyleaf is something else isn't he? A ski descent down Hook. Hope you had coverage. Ron spoke of an east face route on the blockhouse, then contouring over onto the N. Ridge/Face. I've been by it a couple times this year and it looked fun. Here's a link to a trip Valerie and I up there earlier this year, combining the Shrew and N. Face Mole. Shre and Mole TR And yeah, all the adventure and dirt climbing Craig has done, I think he deserves his fires. Besides, there's nothing to freaking burn in Hook Creek anymore.

Note where the pod is, and the alien. Climber: Kyle Flick

Mark, What the hell are you talking about? Jesus! There is a pod 15 feet up that takes either a small stopper or small alien, an off set alien green/yellow fits perfectly in it. 7 feet above that pod there's more pro. Then 4 feet above that ther's a horizontal that you can plug up to your heart's content. The chimnying is perfect knee to toe. You're not going to fall. Yes, you're being a pussy. No piton. John

For Sale Marmot 8000 Meter Pant. Pic is the same, but mine are red and black. Never been worn, still almost new. Were bought for Denali. $300.00 PM me if interested. Size is Xtra Large.

Very inspiring photos. Thanks for sharing. I want to jump on that one!