Gary_Yngve

Seems to me like every parking lot for an approach into NCNP requires a NWFP. Bastards.

Yeah, I spent a while around the crux studying the holds, pro possibilities, testing how Eric's shoes feel on thin edges, peeing in my pants, etc. before I finally caught sight of the "thank-god" hold. And then after the rightward traverse, I protected with a small alien and realized I basically had to have a triple sling on it to cut the rope drag... and then do that crazy mantle... So, Eric, being the third climber, had some time to wait.

That might also have been when Eric8 was fetching his shoes that I tossed down to him...

http://www.mountainwerks.org/cma/2003/shorts.htm#INDEXCLIMBING4 has a description of the crux... it describes a long leftward hand traverse after the rightward traverse and step up. I walked [carefully] across the thin ledge instead of hand-traversing beneath it (which looked much worse)... weird.

TLG, Eric8, and I were there. I was a complete dumbass and left my rockshoes at home, but luckily Eric's fit my feet pretty well. Onsight-flashed Princely Ambitions (quite a heady lead, pretty sustained... I like it!!!), but hung on a piece on Libra Crack (a biner was being feisty and refusing to clip).

Ya, I was living in Atlanta in 1996... I can verify that being a local during the games is hell.

In the Beckey Guide, on of the routes near the Monte Cristo area (can't seem to find it right now) says something to the effect of, climb tree to bypass 30 ft bluffs.

Never mind, I'm a dumbass... I forgot I mentioned the rum in the summit register.

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/index.php?option=articles&task=viewarticle&artid=6

Quite tasty! I assume you know JohnnyQ? Hidden Lake Peak was such a fun trip! Guillaume, a French guy visiting our lab, summed it up quite well while at the summit: "With such great views, the warm sun, and the rum, the only way things could be better is if I were getting a massage from a hot, naked woman!"

I think you're being too hard on them... Shit happens. Small companies don't have the luxuries of huge stockpiles of stuff. They have to rely on other people for some stuff. Maybe the other folks dropped the ball and were late in telling Nunatak. To me it looks like: Shit happens. Tom got screwed over by one of his providers. He notified you immediately, apologized, took all the blame for it, and credited your account. This is much more than you'll get from most other places. You're really being too hard on him (though understandably you're mad).

Just called AAI and spoke to one of the assistants. He was really happy to hear it, and told me that he'd tell Dunham and the rest of the gang.

We ran into a guided group of six today at the steep section of Baker NR. Jay, one of the guides, was a total class act -- very friendly, offered to let us pass, etc. He told that he doesn't read CC.com, but he's good friends with Michael Layton. Anyway, a lot of people post here about the horrors of running into large groups on a climb, and this was not the case here... May all large groups be just like Jay's!

Last July I took some friends up Hidden Lake Peak, and there was a fair amount of snow. Check out the latest reports on wta.org for "snow on trail" warnings.

Ice was great today. Soft snow lower on the ridge. High winds on summit.

I feel that the Metolius curved nuts are a little awkward and can be hard to clean. I like Smiley's Wedgies (basically same as the BDs, and now ABC Huevos or something) and DMM Walnuts.

Dragontail may be in the way. Prusik only goes up to about 8000 feet, while Dragontail is around 8800 or so. But I don't know what the exact view looks like -- we were clouded in a few weeks ago.

I was with the Mounties on Daniel this weekend. We were near Peasoup Lake early Sunday morning with about six inches of freshiez, high winds, and low visibility. We decided to turn around not because the conditions were so bad but because the group dynamics (nine people, some of whom were feeling weak, sick, etc.) combined with the conditions were just too much. It's one of those things were speed is safety -- a small group of experienced climbers would have had no problem summiting, but nine climbers, six of whom were basic students, is a little different. I thnk the whole "sign up weeks in advance for a climb" along with the "need X rock summits and Y glacier summits to graduate" makes people less likely to change destinations and more likely to cancel climbs enroute rather than beforehand.

Yeah, we crossed at the cable car, bushwhacked for a few hours, and then ended up camping back at the campground. The next morning we crossed the river but still couldn't find the trail, so we fought our way straight up Easy Ridge, running into the trail about a hundred feet before the top. Highly not recommended.

I just got a Canon Elph S400. A little pricy, but the sweetest features you can find in a camera for its size.

One simple solution is not to carry such a heavy pack. What all did you have to carry (besides the rope) that made your pack so heavy?

The UW climbing club will be holding a barbecue at the UW Rock. Although the food we purchased is intended for club members, feel free to hang out, play on our slackline, etc. The bbq will be starting at 5 PM.

I hate it when those goddamn Mounties occupy the whole fucking mountain. The Mountaineers suck!

Jule already wrote up a great trip report: After getting all hyped up to climb Liberty Ridge this weekend, but getting (again!) thwarted by the weather, I felt antsy and had to get it out of my system and go climb some other ridge, which turned out to be the S ridge of Kyes Peak. Fortunately Gary came along, to saved me from soloing in a very lonely place. Kyes is one of the peaks of the very cool Monte Cristo group, and at 7227 (or so) the highest. It can be approached from several different directions, including the Upper Pride Glacier which is rumored to be a good ice climb. We took the S ridge, to which you get from the Blanca Lake trailhead. We got to the trailhead Saturday night, walked up to the saddle where you join the ridge and where lovely little Virgin Lake is located, and camped there. It drizzled a bit overnight, and we woke up to profuse cloudiness. Fortunately the ridge is foolproof to follow, because if you don't you fall down many hundred feet on either side. We knew it was a long climb (16 miles round trip), but were still surprised by how long it was! The ridge stretches for about five miles, and most of it was climbing over rolling cornices at the ridgetop, with the occasional interspersed rock outcroppings and cascadesy tree acrobatics. We couldn't see a dang thing most of the way to the summit, but it turns out you don't really see the summit anyway until you get to the false summit, which we reached via a short steep snow finger after a long slush traverse. Once on the summit, the cloud ceiling started lifting slowly, and revealing snippets of awe-inspiring scenery, lofty cragginess and tumbling ice and water. Except for a guy who climbed the peak from Monte Cristo in January (wow), we were the first ones up there this year. On the way back, we followed our footsteps, up and down every bump on the ridge, not wanting any epics caused by clever detours. A very aesthetic, athletic scramble! This picture captures most everything about the day... quintessential Cascades goodness.

Are you the top dot or the bottom dot?