ivan

Climb: Guye Peak-Improbable Traverse Date of Climb: 3/18/2005 Trip Report: What was a ho-hum push-over in summer turned out to be fantastic day of fun in the dying days of winter. I only had one day to climb this weekend and a partner who'd never been on alpine rock. Figured i should keep it to something basic. Last monday i'd passed through snoqual. pass and noted the total lack of snow there, so thought that a good candidate. Arrived 7 AM Friday to discover a little less than a foot of snow covering everything. Figured this would make the whole thing more interesting, but was annoyed to discover i'd neglected to pack my gaiters. The first portion of the climb, easy though chossy class 3 in summer, quickly set the tone for much of the day. All the crumbly rock was coated in wet snow and verglas. No rope used here of course for there's no pro in the choss - pace was very slow to avoid unfortunate mistakes. Got through the steepest section, where you traverse left to the trees on a slab, to discover more food for fear - still no pro and very poorly bonded snow on the slab. Thought about just backing off there so as not to terrify my newbie, but was happy to see he was eager to continue. To avoid falling and dying on a silly peak i climbed up 30 feet to a tree anchor before starting hte traverse. Happy with the knowledge that a fall wouldn't kill us both, i made the first half of the traverse, getting some gear in, before finding that the last half before the trees was too slippery. climbed up through the rock to another slab then, and found that under an overhang it was dry enough to make quick progress. One more pitch and we were at the lunch ledge and the start of the most enjoyable climbng. Changed from boots to shoes and did it up. I found the second pin on the traverse to be a total joke - it could easily be removed with a pair of pliers, were one so inclined. the traverse is great fun, and not too hard to protect after a few feet. this was the wildest part of the whole climb because the massive roof overhead was shedding verglass, snow-bombs and ice-cicles the whole time, and they were roaring safely past me, about 10 feet behind my back, as i climbed. the ramp above the traverse was sheltered from the snow so was mostly dry. at the top we changed back into boots and resumed the sphincter-tightening 3rd class verglas scramble. did running belays with the rope shortened to 30 meters - tied off a lot of trees and placed many cams by the time this was all done; also found myself thrutching up tree limbs and fistfuls of heather on countless occasions. this portion was painfully slower than last summer, when we just ran up everything solo in tennis shoes. instead this took hours of clearing hand and footholds. on the summit ridge we wended our way up and across all three summit points before dropping down to the saddle. the snow at the summit was very deep (to knees) in places and the trail i'd followed last summer utterly obscured. with evening coming on we searched for the path of least resistance down from the saddle but quickly found the way becoming very steep indeed. rather than reclimbing and trying to find a better way we started rappelling. a half dozen raps down a vertical forest later, we found ourselves doing some more sketchy 3rd class verglas downclimbing in the dark only to emerge onto a talus field. 30 minutes of hik'n'cursing brought us to the road, where walking on concrete on totally benumbed feet (gaiters would have been nice) made me feel like some spastic hobo. all in all, a very cool surprise to find this level of adventure on a usually tame summer climb. the winter conditions made up for the last few weeks of spoiling warmth. pictures to come if my boy will ever get'em to me. Gear Notes: nuts and camalots to #3 dozen slings ice axe (very useful in these conditions) fuk'n'gaitors! Approach Notes: snow, snow, road

gate still closed and i imagine it'll stay that way for at least another month. it's dry for about half the length but wet, and the upper part is pretty thick ice.

ack, that sucks! anyone confirm it's still gated?

drivable for about a mile till you hit that real narrow section w/ the steep drop-off - there's dirt and snow blocking it there (as of a few weeks ago, and i'd imagine a tractor would have to move the rubble even if the snow had melted out). knocks some of the bullshit road hike out though.

that's april 3rd - the day's are already getting a lot longer than they were when this thing started. didn't need the headlamp till 630 or so yesterday.

there's always room; to be safe, bring a hot chick to distract others from climbing so you can get your personal pump on. probably do it next week on thursday. nolse is always chewing the bit though, so pm him and maybe he'll set ya up w/ a personal session

managed to wake up 15 minutes before my first class of the day started...FUCK! good times. next time we should start the slides earlier, have a back-up bulb, and/or do it on a night where folks can hang out later...felt i was able neither to get properly plastered nor pleasingly picqued by other's climbing pix. thanks for hosting chris!

so how many beers had you had prior to ye old mishap, oh nimble-fingered beer-lord?

man, you gotta taking stupid chance w/ your life. if you were to have been killed, who'd be hosting the slide-show tonight?

excellent. thanks for the input. looks like sun and warmth this week so the trail oughta stay pretty good and perhaps improve. looks like ice n' snow routes aren't so good now though...

was up to colchuck a coupe of weeks ago and found deep, dry, unconsolidated snow w/ no trail broken in - anyone know if that's changed lately? i assume the recent warmth hasn't opened up the trailhead road? anyone been in the vicinity lately and have any info to share?

anyone have access to a digital projector? i have some decent pix but they're all on my laptop.

there's no doubt if there's rime on the ridge; all that matters is how solid it is, which seems to matter most on how cold it is when you're there

doesn't wayne live almost as far away from hood as you do steve?

falling on hood routes, w/ a partner or not, is never cool...at least w/o a partner no one can yell at you

laughed me ass off at this one, mike, though i reckon i'd heard all the details before in somewhat less coherent state. bet you were a prick even before it happened though u remind me of hunter s thompson's description of dr gonzo - "some sort of high-powered mutant never even considered for mass production - too wierd to live, too rare to die"

i oughta be there

looking pretty grim for this evening. i can't do anythign the next 2 evenings, but sunday afternoon i'll most likely be free if anyone wants to go then

i'll be at a meeting till a bit later than usual. i'll still show if someone can bring a top-rope setup (as nolse has mine and i didn't bring any extra crap from home).

what be ye implying, fuck-fool? the little block just right of the crack half way up? nothing that a gallon of super-glue couldn't fix seriously, those routes are getting so overclimbed they kinda need to keep falling apart just to keep it interesting.

Climb: Mt. Hood-Crater Rock & Dog Route Date of Climb: 1/30/2005 Trip Report: thought i'd work on my slogging skills sunday instead of pulling tuff. shamefully easy conditions for a winter ascent. lower mountain is very bare. above palmer lifts the track varies from wind-blasted ice/rock to deep powder - made sticking to the moraine key. climbed crater rock 'cuz it's there - enjoyable rime climbing on the eastern side. neat views down into the fumarole and the hog's back - don't think folks go up there too often. broke trail up to the pearly gates. saw a horde of folks a ways behind me and figured i'd go a non-standard way up from there so as to avoid downclimbing through the bumblies, only to find they all followed me anyway...got to come down a virginal pearly gate slope then which made me understand why some might like to ski it. ran into 2 blokes on the summit who'd just climbed the left gully of the north face after camping by the cooper spur. they reported excellent neve snow the whole way, w/ the lower ice-step completely covered and the upper step quite enjoyable. felt jealous - i need more friends so i can stop soloing bullshit (or alternatly, more practice at lying to my wife). again, so little snow up high! saw punchthroughs into the 'schrund on the way down. crevasses and seracs very apparent down on the elliot and coe. thrasador's dog was in attendance on the hogsback again verfying the proper name for the route. relatively small crowd for such a perfectly sunny day - passed about a dozen people or so on the way back to beerland. word for the day: crepuscant tunes for the day: flogging molly Approach Notes: snow is super-suck deep & soft down by t-line - to my balls in places. best for early start on the ski-slopes. i need to learn how to ski for the way down.

see ya'll round 330. who be there?

i'll come wendsday if i can...it's exam week here at school - kinda busy failing people and being the grim, recalcitrant face of death right 'bout now.

let's do it tomorrow then.

nice - thanks for hosting it i'd prefer thursday night but any night will do. who's providing the necessary equipment?