Matt_Alford

Cool. Looks like a fun year. Thanks for sharing, it reminds me that the summer will come again!

Trip: Mount Maude - North Face Date: 8/16/2011 Trip Report: Perfect Ne've' on the North Face of Mount Maude. Solid sticks and burning calf muscles. Great partner, cool climb & lots of booze and food. Livin' the Dream. Gear Notes: Ice tools and steel pons Approach Notes: Used the 7 Fingered Jack/Maude Col approach as described by Nelson. It sucked a little getting on the North Face proper. The end of the Phelps Creek Road is terrible. Tire destroyed on sharp rock at low speed.

Cadillac route in a pristine setting. Varied, interesting, and sustained, but not extreme climbing. Thanks for the stoke D!

Healthy pallet of responsibilities? Check. Now if I could only remember how to tie in.... Well done D.

Very Cool Sol.

I have always camped out at Lovell Canyon about 20 minutes W of Red Rocks. It's free, but always interesting out there. You kind of get the feeling that bodies are buried in shallow graves all around. I say it still beats the RR Camp Ground which is the Biggest Suck about climbing at RR.

Ah Wayne...my rules apply only to myself... You can be a Alpinist again if you go tick all the hard 5.10s at Nevermind. Deal?

Most of my wife's colorful language was reserved for the flies, slide alder, and avalanche slides of Bachelor Creek.

A club for the mentally disturbed.

I will likely remember a couple different things about this route in 40 years. Mucho respect for both Alex and Scott.

Trip: Ptarmigan Traverse with the wives - Date: 8/14/2009 Trip Report: Dave, Jill, Jen and I spent August 14th-18th on the Ptarmigan Traverse. I have always thought that one cannot consider oneself a true Cascade Alpinist until completing the Ptarmigan Traverse. While bivied on top of Goode last year Dave and I hatched the plan to do the Traverse with our lovely wives. Great trip with the best of company! Basically the view for the first two days Day 3 dawns clear Middle Cascade Glacier Happy Couple who will make cute and smart babies Alpine Dancer Pose LaConte cheerleader pose Laconte Glacier Both Dave and I married up Dome Peak from White Rocks Lakes High on the Dana Camp was ok after Spire Col Although the views of Dome were little obstructed Cub lake in need of a Ski boat Bachelor Creek was a highlight of the trip Suiattle River 9 mile walk stoke! Gear Notes: Unreasonable amounts of food will keep your wife coming back to the mountains! Approach Notes: The longest 1/4 mile in the Cascades

Trip: Nooksack Tower - North Face Date: 8/24/2009 Trip Report: Eric Murphy and I climbed the North Face of the Nooksack Tower on August 24th. Seven years ago Eric and I almost pulled off a car-to-summit push on the Beckey Route and got our asses thoroughly handed to us in a two day descent epic in a storm. I was again humbled by this mountain and the seriousness of this route. Gear Notes: Pack a full set of Alpine skills, tat, and read up on rappel anchors Approach Notes: Price Lake

Rad work fellas! Looks like a good adventure with good friends in the hills!

I have some video of the descent that I am working on loading. I could look at the map and tell you what not to do (what we did) and what I think might be another option. Let me know if you want details.

Oh, no inferiority complex. Plenty of lines out there Blake ;-) I have a nice arete scoped out to name after Ella. Another Classic Cascade Mountain with an overlooked line.

Ok fellows, I feel the need to chime in. This was fully Darin's project that I was fortunate enough to sign up for. When Darin and climbed the route, I led pitch 2 on sight without a bolt kit by my side and digging out pockets for TCU's. As anyone who has climbed the route knows, hanging just isn't an option. I am not a hardman by any stretch of the imagination, and I am not beating my chest here, but the experience that I had on that climb with Darin would be devalued to me by bolts on the route. I don't really care if the route ever attains a "Classic" status or not, my friend Darin and I had a rad experience climbing an untouched piece of rock on one of the most beautiful mountains in the Cascades. That said, I would hate to hear about someone getting hurt on the route because they take their 5.9 climbing at Vantage and try to apply it to the NW Arayete. Hopefully folks will do their homework before hoping on a route! Wayne, thanks for bringing up the discussion, It seems with the traffic on the route the discussion is warranted. For the record though, I say no bolts. Matt

Geno The Peak on the left is either Fallen Angel or Point 6840. Blake, you know?

Should have listened to you Blake, but I thought there might be something decent on the Trapezoid. Oh well, don't know until you go and have a peak!

Trip: Teebone Ridge - Complete Traverse Date: 8/1/2009 Trip Report: Dave Svilar and I completed the Teebone Ridge Traverse starting at the Cascade River Road and ending at the Newhalem Creek Trailhead 2 1/2 days later. The route featured steep heather side hilling, 3rd & 4th class rock, steep snow and ice, and a memorable bushwack/rappel fest/ canyoneering epic to top it all off. Dave and I spent 7 hours descending 3000 feet from the north tip of Teebone to the Newhalem Creek Trail. Rad Descent!!! Beyond Little Devil Peak we encountered no evidence on humans, pretty unique for the the proximity to the Cascade River Road. All and all a great trip with outstanding positions and unforgettable bivi's. Gear Notes: Brought lots with intentions of new routes. Used the ropes to rappel cliff bands and waterfalls. Approach Notes: Monogram Lake Trail and head north towards Little Devil Peak.

Sweet Wayne! Good to see our route get a little traffic and that you found it enjoyable!

pm sent.

Trip: Eldorado - East Ridge Date: 7/21/2009 Trip Report: I was lucky enough to spend my 32nd Birthday climbing in the National Park with my wife Jenny. Don't let her sweet looks fool you, she is tough as nails. It was pretty rad to share what is such a large part of my life with my lovely wife. Great partner in life and the mountains! Jen testing out our her new pack liner that Dave and Jill brought from NZ. I have been using the same one for 12 years. Nothing was fast or light about this trip. Shot of 151, dry lemonade mix, two cups of water, couple handfuls of snow. Hagen Alpine Mojito. That smile doesn't lie. Alpine Yoga Good spot. Summit stoke! Gear Notes: Bacardi 151, Country Time Lemonade, lots of food, sunscreen. Approach Notes: Sucks as bad as I remember. Hot & steep. Payoff is good.

Trip: Dragontail - Backbone Date: 7/19/2009 Trip Report: Jobs, babies, houses,bum knees, blah, blah, blah...all grown up and it just seems harder and harder to get out with all my buddies any more. Geno Pires and I squeezed in a car-to-car on Backbone Ridge yesterday in about 15 hours. Thankful for time in the mountains with a good friend.

Breakfast of champions

Trip: Silverstar-Whine Spire - El Gato Negro Date: 7/14/2009 Trip Report: Alan K and I climbed El Gato Negro on Whine Spire on Tuesday. Overall we found the climb enjoyable with several high quality alpine pitches. A fair bit of the rock was of less good quality and climbing, but generally took gear well. The 10a bolted 2nd pitch was full value first thing in the morning with cold fingers and toes! The off-width to double cracks crux pictch was memorable a well as the "double roofs" pitch 8. The 5.10 crack on the false summit was money and a classy finish to the climb. I agree with Sol that the climbing falls about 10b and would benefit from a bit more traffic. 6 pack and a foot soak in Early Winters Creek was nice end to the trip. Descent was um.....a little bit of an adventure. Three 30m raps brought us to the gully and several hundred feet of loose downclimbing, 2 more raps and 500 more feet of loose downclimbing brought us back to the packs. Keep your helmet on for the descent on this one. Email me if you want more details. Alan on the 10a slab pitch Alan getting it on with a real alpine chimney/OW! Good stuff! Alan following "Double Roofs" pitch 8. View back from the top of the false summit pitch. Rad Finish! Alan, a man in his element. Didn't even have to use our headlamps...close though. Livin' the Dream! Gear Notes: Doubles to #2, #3, #3.5, #4.5 Approach Notes: Burgundy Creek Trail to Bench and head South under West Face of Silverstar.