wrench

Thanks. Wow, pretty unspectacular climb. Hard to believe such nice granite can have so much loose shit all over the place. Awesome bivy on that rock though.

thanks for the report, dustin. and nice pics. we're going this weekend -- did you come across any snow up there? wondering about crampons/axes. thanks!

Heh. yeah we were glad not to have skis -- we might have ditched them at Koolaid Lake! My report didn't go into the details of the emotional stress and panic we were feeling anytime there was a cloud within view. It wasn't exactly a relaxing trip, most of the time.

Here are low-res versions of the images I posted to the gallery. Here's the link to my gallery if you want to see higher-res versions: my gallery Formidable from Koolaid Lake relaxing on the way to the Middle Cascade Glacier. Eldorado and Forbidden peek out from behind south-of-cascade-river-road peaks. La Conte Glacier from Spider-Formidable Col. Old Guard is the peak directly above the glacier, and Sentinel is just to its right. The long, snowy face is the NE Face. La Conte Peak is on the right margin. Gunsight, Sinister, and Dome from White Rock Lakes Bushwacking down Batchelor Creek.

Yeah, I got tons of pictures -- I will post a few of the good ones next time I get on my home computer.

Climb: Ptarmigan Traverse; 7/3 - 7/10/04 Trip Report: Just finished the traverse with my girlfriend this past Saturday. Quick trip/conditions report here: the additional 3 miles of hiking on Cascade Rv Rd was a little harder on us than we expected. (noted that the washouts are nearly fixed -- if it wasn't the gov't at work, I would suggest the road was driveable NOW, but i'd wager it'll be at least another month or two before they finally open it.) With our 8 nights of gear, we were fairly knackered by the time we reached Cache Glacier, so we plopped down and camped on the lower glacier near some rocks with running water. This was our only camp on snow. The rest of the primary campsites are all dry. There were no other parties on the traverse last week at all! We were pretty surprised by this, but then the forecast wasn't exactly perfect. There were no moat/schrund problems anywhere on the route (i.e. Cache col, red ledges, La Conte glacier). There is very little snow coverage below 6,000 feet, and about half coverage above 6. There was also no running water at the high bivy sites yet (Cache Col, below Formidable, below Sentinel). Itswoot Ridge probably had some somewhere, but we bolted straight for Cub Lake b/c weather was nasty up there. We got stuck at the buggy, swampy Yang Yang Lakes for 3 nights due to bad weather. It actually snowed about 4 inches above 6,000 feet Tues night/Wed morning. We got some at Y.Y. but it didn't stick long. Nasty weather that day though -- sleet blowing sideways into the tent. At times wondering if we would ever be able to leave. Finally got some clearing Thursday and moved to White Rock Lakes. La Conte glacier in good shape: some fun bits of crevasse negotiating, but plenty of snow coverage to make easy enough. actually got to pull out the 3rd tool I hauled in to pound in a picket at one point, as we crossed a narrow snow bridge onto a steep 50+ degree slope directly above a crevasse. (note: NE face of Sentinel looks in great shape -- would be fun to do that steep snow/firn climb this time of year.) Alas, no peak bagging for us this trip -- it was all about getting through and staying dry. Had a beautiful Thurs evening/ Fri morning at W.R. Lakes! Absolutely jaw-dropping views here. I would plan on spending 2 nights here just to relax and take in the views if I do the traverse again. Friday we were supposed to meet friends coming in to do Dome at Itswoot Ridge, so we bolted Friday morning. Nasty clouds approaching from the east, turned to whiteout by the time we reached Dome-Spire col. And Friday was forecasted to be nice a week before. We had enough of camping in shit weather, so we said f&*k Itswoot Ridge and Dome, we descended to Cub Lake and hoped to meet friends there. Turns out they had trouble with the shwack up Batchelor Creek and only made it to the 11-mile camp--that's a hell of a day going uphill!! I suppose not as many people are going in possibly b/c of the bridge washout and maybe the brush is not being tamed very often. Anyway, weather was crap again Saturday, so we headed down and ran into them in the middle of the slide debris. Very welcome site, seeing 3 good friends in the middle of the worst part of the descent, after no human contact and lots of bad weather for 7 days! We bushwacked out together and gave Marcus the nickname "Swedish Chef" (from the Muppets) because of his two ski-pole onslaught of the bush and the vegetation flying up in his wake. It poured rain the whole time, we got totally soaked and decided to hump it all the way out instead of camping part way. made it out at 7pm, and after shredding a tire on the way down, stopped at La Hacienda in Arlington and ate some darn tasty Mexican. The ladder down from the Downey Creek bridge is no problem, even with big packs. It's a little bouncy, but pretty strong. If you are concerned, however, it would be easy enough to toss your pack down off the bridge. If you were STILL concerned, you could even easily rap off the bridge. In summary, this was our first time on the Traverse, and it is an amazing route, with stunning views and fun terrain, just wish we had paid more attention to the forecast. I would probably do it a little later in the summer next time, but I would still plan on an entire week. Too beautiful to be rushed! Gear Notes: brought 3 pickets, glacier rope, 4 ice screws and a 3rd tool. Didn't need the ice screws at all this time of year. pickets were nice and the 3rd tool was handy one time. Most important piece of gear was the altimeter though. Several times, a couple in whiteouts, we were able to keep moving just by saying "ok, we just keep traversing at 6100' for a while."

Thanks for the responses. looks like it'll go one way or another and shouldn't be a huge issue.

Has anyone crossed Downey Creek where the bridge approach is washed out on Suiattle Rv Rd? Or is everyone waiting for someone else to post info like I am? NFS web site says "Downey Creek cannot be crossed" but I figure it's gotta be just a CYA. NFS road damage repair The picture of the creek in this link doesn't make a crossing look very difficult at all! Thanks!

i've used several dovals for a couple years and i like them a lot for alpine draws. nice gate-opening clearance, light, etc. biggest drawback i've experienced is they are so symmetrical that it's hard to tell which end of the gate opens. i've gotten used to it, but sometimes my partners get frustrated with them. for the mountie class, if you really want to go with wire gates, i'd recommend the BD oval wiregates. they are more likely to be RCMP (royal cascadian mountie police) approved. re carabiner brake: who cares?! use a munter hitch!

um, have any of you ever touched a knife to a weighted rope? you don't need to hit the core to make the whole thing snap like butter under tension (yes, personal experience -- no, i don't know how you would put butter under tension). the sheath is VERY integral to the rope's overall strength (vague recollection: ~30-50% of overall strength?). not trying to start a argument, just warning people, when you decide to fuck around with your rope, don't assume the sheath is functionally just a "cover" for the core... and maybe someone could chime in with a useful reference to some research that's been done if they feel it's worth continuing.

thanks for the info. in the end, we opted for a day at vantage and then a dayhike to colchuck lake. here's the lake sunday, with the base of dragontail in the bg and aasgard pass on the left

thank you. when were you there? how does the approach up the colchuck glacier look (instead of going around via Aasgard Pass)?

the sabretooths have that nice double-point 2nd row, but seemed to me like they were too short to be super effective on steeper ice (i know you've all pointed to world class climbers climbing hard shit in 'em, but to me that's not evidence that they'll be effective for a beginner). i went with the G12's b/c that 2nd row is wicked long and burly. i think they make for a nice all-around crampon b/c they're not specialized for steep ice so you would still take them on glaciers, but they're also excellent steep ice climbing crampons so you don't need to shell out $150-200 for vertical frames. also, the anti-bott plates kick ass. they are easy to get on and off w/o disassembling the crampons, and they shed snow better than any plates i've seen. the adjustment mechanism is very convenient too -- and you can replace it with a screw if you want to save weight. i like the newmatic attachment system (heel clips, toe straps) -- quicker than all straps and more secure than all clips.

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My girlfriend and I are thinking of heading into the freezing-ass cold region of the Enchantments this weekend -- it originally started as a backpacking trip to cure our need for exercise after a month of cragging on the weekends (and b/c the Enchantments are neat). But now we're thinking of throwing in the walk-up on Dragontail. Does anyone have any beta on conditions there? Any info on the conditions of the roads, trails, passes, glacier, col, route, sanity, etc. would be muy fantastico! btw, i got the beta on lady bugs from teleross's post so don't worry about that one.

super slab is gear route, not a sport route. yes, wherever i may roam is left of asterix pass -- about 100 feet, starts at base of large detached black buttress. there is another, newer ~5 pitch, ~5.8 sport route on Dance of the Lepers called First Kiss. supposed to be pretty sweet, but never been there myself -- don't even know where the wall is. if you do pioneer route on monkey face, do the new line out of the mouth -- a 5.8 traversing pitch that takes you straight to the top. it's way more interesting and airy than the old way up. other recommendation: helter skelter: 10c-ish. extremely runout (but not right off the deck) b/c retro-bolted so someone could get easy access to their project on upper pitch. got an old piton, that i shamefully had to hang on. no one climbs it, not even any chalk on the route when i did it. thus: very interesting!

'scuse me, just double-checked my statments w/ w.c.'s cam book online: http://www.wildcountry.co.uk/pdfs/cam_book/Wild_Country_Cam_Book_2Mb.pdf looks like i was wrong in that the larger the cam angle, the greater the expansion range, not "the greater the stability." tendency to walk is more of a function of type of spring used and overall head-width of the cam. so size of angle is function for determining amount of outward-force vs. expansion range. see also more interesting info from metolius: http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/camshome.htm#holding power blah blah blah i'll shut up now.

slightly different way of looking at it: w.c. explains the angle as being a compromise b/w stability and force. w.c.'s 13.75-deg angle is sort of the benchmark that other manufacturer's use. the smaller the angle, the greater the outward force the lobes apply to the rock. the large the angle, the greater the stability of the lobes in the rock. metolius uses a slightly smaller angle (according to their web-site), which then makes them apply more outward force to the rock (stronger fall-holding potential), but makes them a little less stable, which should explain why they walk more. w.c. uses the analogy of a ladder -- the steeper you lean it against the wall, the less force against the wall but more stability, while the shallower you lean it, the more force against the wall but less stability. re: depth of placement, one other potential pitfall of smaller angles and thus more outward force applied to the rock is that the cams could theoretically pulverise the rock, in which case a shallow placement could track out of the crack. so the quality of the rock should be another consideration in deciding how deep to place your pieces. in any case, it is true (for the 20th time in this thread) that all cams are designed with a 'constant cam angle,' so the force the cams put on the rock is the same within most of the range of the cams expansion.

cool. thanks for the info. and nice work on the climb.

DB: was it smokey in the stuart area? haven't been over there since 4th of july but might be there this weekend. just wondering if i should leave the bottled oxygen at home or not.

i'm having a hard time picturing what you're describing except what you said at the end. the only way i've done it i went straight up the double cracks past the pins up to the webbing, then yes, encountered very awkward moves to exit out from under the roof. but i thought they were just awkward, not significantly hard. and if you do it right, it's actually not that bad. the 2nd time i did it was much less ugly than the 1st.

damn. mike gauthier got caught in a thunderstorm there last summer. we had a little weather hit us on it a week after mike's incident -- makes me feel very lucky! gotta get off that upper mountain before the afternoon for sure.

i played organized sports all my life (even div-I football for a couple yrs in college [i sucked at that level though -- thus only "a couple yrs"]). continued to play organized sports in one form or another until i climbed that rock wall in blackcomb village with a couple friends when i was 23. i was totally hooked. i realized i was getting sick of the emotional highs and lows and general ugliness of human nature caused by direct competition with other humans. in climbing i found the competition was against mother nature and yourself, which is a far more peaceful, fulfilling pursuit. and the skills required were vastly new and different--i only lead low 11's sport and 5.8 gear, so obviously there does not appear to be a direct correlation with being 'athletic' in the popular sense and being a good climber (at least in my case). back to the original topic: stimson is tha shiznit.

mmm, not sure exactly. just heard there's a gross traverse. maybe getting onto the face. i think it was kearny said something bout severing the rope of hte party below him with a rock they sent down. i assumed when you said "crap" you were talking about the same place.

snow all the way up the couloir to LJT, with some little streams from melt providing running water. at LJT no running water, but accessible snow. at least one more possible source of snowmelt b/w LJT & west ridge notch (depending on your route), and lots of snow in the gullies. on descent, we saw no running water in cascadian couloir (but LOTS of snow). this was this last weekend.