russ

Here's to you if you were able to simul-climb the green line. Not skulls, but certainly attention getting.

Chuck's comments final oriented me to the photo and I realized my arrows above are complete off from what I was trying to show/ask. Thanks, Chuck! I'll try again - on the photo below the green line is the route we took last time. It shows the first 2 pitches and maybe part of the 3rd. The red dot is 5.7 lieback and tie-off cedar bush on pitch 1. The green dot is the 5.8 slot(but you can't see it from this angle). We belayed in the shaded alcove. Then the second pitch which Kearney's warns against continues on the green line and is at the yellow dot. The blue line is the way we went on the first go around, and I THINK is where the 4" crack is. The blue dot area is what I referred to as a 'chimney', but might better be described as simply 'off-width'. My apologies for the misleading arrows on the first photo - it's hell when your brain starts to fail.

Sounds like the way we went the first time was correct (blue arrow). A second party behind us also went that way, but I thought it might have been because they saw us there. btw, the 'wrong' crack on the left does connect nicely with the route above.

I was looking through Kearney's 'Classic Climbs of the Northwest' and his description of the 2nd pitch of the complete hits home. He writes, "From the top of the first pitch you will notice a beautiful, but discontinuous, thin crack up and left on a clean face. Do not be tempted to go that way, as it is quite hard, the pro fades, and it has been the scene of of several long falls and one serious accident. [2] From the belay stance climb right and up to gain a 40-foot 4-inch crack (5.8) above a ledge." In the late '80's, using Beckey's description that "beautiful, thin crack" definitely didn't look 4-inches, so we wander up and right, and end up climbing a chimney section (see blue arrow below). Thought we were off route, but couldn't pick out the crack he meant. A few season ago we went back to attempt it in a day and this time just headed straight for the "beautiful, thin crack", thinking Beckey was wrong on the width. Turned out to be flaring fingers that scared the shit out of me! But in the end I thought I was probably being a wimp and we were on route (red arrow). Now Kearney perfectly describes that pitch and I'm totally confused as to where the 4-inch crack is. Here a photo-I put some color dot's on misc. other features. Anyone care to clear up my confusion?

and make it harder to prussik or haul out, try untying knot when weighted.... and hang up on absol-fucking-lutely-everything! I think the idea with knots between 2 on a rope is to also tie into the middle 45 ft of rope. That way each person has a coiled 55-60 ft they can throw down. Obviously the negative would be having to rig prusiks on the free line while hanging. I first heard of the knots in the rope while in the Alps ski touring. Most of the euro's also carried a couple of ice screws so they could anchor into the sidewall and get situated.

Don't tie ends - tie an individual knot in each.... Safety mantras are good - if only to remind us not to get complacant. After getting dropped ~30 ft because of miscommunication, I'm a lot more aware of what can go wrong and tend to take the extra second to check things out again.

I was fortunate to climb the rotten log pitch - that just means I'm old. Leading it was spooky - started to tie a sling to it, but then thought "shit, I don't want to be hooked to this if it goes!". Shortly after that the log was gone. I heard two rumors 1) a local pwn climbers pushed it off and 2) that a climbing ranger pushed it off. In neither story did they get their asses kick by locals..... Everyone should do the north dome gulley decent at least once , rapping is aid. Also, take a look at the photo in the front entrance of the down town Seattle REI labeled "Royal Arches". No way, maybe E. Face of Whitney or some other eastside Sierra route.

On 8/1 we were able to access the couloir via continuous snow going to the right of the 'guardian' rock. Other parties went on the discontinuous snow to the left of the rock and seemed to work fine. Going right around the rockprobably has gaps by now. Once in the couloir we were able to step onto ledge systems on the left, leading up to the slab. This also will probably be melted so access may need to occur lower down. Good luck.

do (re-emphasized): bring LOTS of runners. for me they always seem to be the limiting factor.

Great site -thanks!

I could do Vesper on 8/18 - can't take off the rest of the time. I've done most of the routes you listed above.

Damn, there was no mention of spankings - maybe I climb with the wrong partners.

This is exactly what the Feathers looked like the first time I saw it. Probably 10 years ago, didn't know anything about the area, drove up at night. As we turned into the pullout the headlights hit the walls and we all went "Wow!". We couldn't tell the scale of things, and as I started to 'hike' up, I thought it was 100-150 yards away. Needless to say I really dissappoint when it turned out it was 100 feet away, and the towers were just over knee high.

Did the w. ridge on Friday. Shrund is split - stepped across to ledges on the left and went up the slab.

I love going light , what did you take to get down that low for a 4 day trip?

Dru - I was looking at the couloirs on the south side of Wedge a couple of weeks ago. Do you know if they have been skied and any idea of the angle?

Glad you made it safely. Reading your tr made me think of this story in the Seattle Times a couple of days ago. Scroll down to "Duncan MacPherson...." http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=digs22&date=20030722&query=Stubaier

Hike into the valley on the north side of Pingora - doesn't see much traffic and is kind of cool. Also the valley to the east of Lizards Head (Bear Lake??) is fun.

I'm a little short on granola bars - what flavor was the one you dropped?

In follow-up I decide on Trango S and S12's, the combo worked well. The boots were plenty warm enough for summer stable weather conditions. The ice on the steep section of the Kautz was hard enough that I was glad I went with the steel crampons.

Looking at climbing the Kautz Glacier this coming weekend - I'm becoming such a weight weenie that I'm consider doing it in Trango S'. Anyone used them on Rainier - are they warm enough?? (with crocadile type gaitors) Was planning on using S12 crampons, but the weight weenie fairy has me considering Stubai Ultralights. The alum. worked great on the Emmons a month ago, but I'd expect the Kautz to be much icier. Any thoughts?

it was still there a couple of week ago

That doesn't make you look like a climber, just a member of the Mountaineers.

I totally disagree with most of you. Ilona clearly established a relationship with Tom expressing her concern that the products would be delivered as promised with check-in calls. One thorough call to his manufacturers verifying the content of the order and status of delivery would have detected the omission error. Tom did an incomplete job - period. I would have asked how long it take to make a bag and try to get him to put it at the front of the queue to meet delivery. Actually, I'm surprised he didn't offer to do that on his own. However, I would only "voice" my displeasure on the internet after someone had asked for feedback on the company, then I would tell my experience. Have a good trip Ilona.

I don't know if they still do slings, but Northwest Repair did some for me several years ago. Northwest Repair 4250 Fremont Ave. North 206 545-8683