Greg_W

Hmmm...let's talk tonight.

Lost my partner for Mt. Stuart this weekend...I don't know where he went. I swear he was around here somewhere...probably the same place all my socks go in the dryer. Anyway, looking for a partner for maybe Squamish, or Darrington, or some alpine rock. PM me if you're interested and we'll talk. Greg_W

You better get your haircut Greg! You are starting to lose cred on the right wing side of things... Yeah, and about those clogs and earrings..... Shhh...I'm part of an undercover, liberal infiltration project by the Cato Institute.

Only thing that broke was my little bottle of water purification tablets; I don't know why they put those in glass bottles still.

What are you going to do? Punch him in the kneecap?

Wrong Fred. Flintstone? Tough interviewing a cartoon.

It is true that you pack like a girl, but odds are you would have left the bolt gun next to your tent...back home.

Wow, Fred Beckey got written up in Climbing? Cool!!! Way to go NW Climbing god!!

Stephen, Yes, it would. We discussed this as one option. Given that jugging a rope can create a lot of bouncing and stress, we weren't sure that it would be a good idea to stress the rap slings in place. The downclimbing wasn't horrifying, just nervewracking. Greg_W

Climb: WA Pass-Liberty Bell, Concord Tower Date of Climb: 6/19/2004 Trip Report: Myself and jja decided to traverse the Liberty Bell group this past weekend. And it all started out just fine… We had a decent bivy at the Blue Lake Trailhead after minimum difficulty on the drive. The sun rose early, and we were moving shortly after 5 a.m. Lucky for us, we were ahead of a group of Mounties and we avoided getting trundled on. John led the first pitch up the Beckey Route, bitching about cold hands. I didn’t really recall asking about the condition of his hands, but okay. I followed, and led the second pitch; I recall that my hands weren’t cold. Maybe John has circulation issues, I don’t know. Anyway, John took off on the third pitch and then we dropped the rope and soloed to the summit. The sun was nice and warm; took pics and headed down. We rapped back to the col without incident and warmed up and had a snack. Number 2: Concord Tower N. Face. We swung leads with John taking pitches 1 & 3. This is a fun climb and we finally got into the sun. During the climb I ignored John’s cries about cold hands, because mine were cold, too. Instant karma from the last route was probably fucking with me. Now, the spice is about to start. I had received beta a year or so ago that it was possible to rappel with a single rope from the notch due West of the summit block and get to the Concord-Lexington notch in a couple rappels. So, we headed over to do that. We set up the rap and John went first. It seemed like he took forever to get down a single rope rap. Finally, I heard, “OFF RAPPEL, it’s sorta spicy, though.” I thought to myself, “what’s so spicy about a rappel?” I soon found out. I started rapping down and soon found John perched on a ledge clipped in to one nasty anchor (A 1” diameter bush, a booty’d tri-cam, and a cam). I perched myself on a protrusion about the size of a dinner plate and clipped to the anchor. After some debate, we decided to use this anchor and rappel down. We went to pull the rope…no dice. After several attempts, we realized we were fucked. I swung out on rappel and saw the rope stuck fast in a crack. What to do, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. I rapped to the end of the rope (another 12’ below John’s anchor) and set up an anchor. It wasn’t one I was too proud of, but it was all that was there. John came down and built a better anchor in a crack at my feet that I hadn’t seen. We thought we could down-climb with some assistance, so we strung together all the slings (about 7) and two cordelettes and John went down tied in with a Munter hitch. As an editorial note, the Munter passed the girth hitches rather well. At the end of the “line”, John was at some flakes that he could down-climb (5.2?); first he pitched his pack. Rather morbid, I thought, to use the pack to see where you broken body would land if you fell. But, to each his own. Down without incident, I followed. After several interesting moves, I reached the “pack toss” point and heaved the bitch out into space. John caught this on video (hopefully he’ll link it to this TR). Finally, I was down and all was well. Phew!! We met Mika & John, who thought they were in the Beckey Gully. Oops. Day two: Rescue Operation. With a borrowed rope, we decided to climb the South Face – East side (5.4) route on Concord to retrieve John’s rope and gear. After much debate, we decided we knew where the route was and racked up. I started up and then backed off of the lead; my head was other places that morning. I handed the rack to John and he headed up. I remember thinking that he was placing a lot of gear for a 5.4, but oh well. He surmounted a 10’ near-vertical wide crack and set up a hanging belay. He brought me up and I gained a new appreciation for his reasoning in placing so much gear. 5.4, my ass!!! Well, I thought I saw the way and I started on the second pitch: a leftward, rising traverse along a finger-to-hand crack with descent feet. There were loose blocks, lichen, and dirt – Yummy!! Soon, I noticed I was placing a lot of gear. About 2/3 up the pitch, I had to abandon the crack I was in and traverse right to another crack system. I by-passed a small roof by continuing along the crack and then traversing back right above it; John pulled the roof directly and said it wasn’t bad. I got a questionable .75 Camalot in and an even more questionable nut above that. I was out of slings. I looked above and the ground looked pretty moderate, so I kept going up. About 30’ more and I was lurching over onto a large platform below the summit block. I set up a bomber anchor with the meager holdings I had left on my rack and belayed John up. The climbing was 5.7-5.9, and reminiscent of the crux section of Outer Space with better feet and more dirt. We rested and then I led up to the summit. We quickly got organized and continued to the rescue effort at hand. Down at the rappel station in question, we rigged a long cordelette off the main anchor and threaded it through a groove to avoid the crack that had tripped us up before. This done, we uneventfully rapped to the ledge, got out gear, and got back to our packs. It was a long day, as the sun was relentless, but we accomplished our mission and did some spicy climbing. Looking at the route description afterwards, we figure we climbed the “South Face – Center” route (5.7 A3) according to Beckey’s book. Don’t know if it’s been freed, but we had fun on it. Gear Notes: Standard rack, with some doubles, lots of slings, cordelettes, rope from a friend. Approach Notes: Fairly snow free.

So, on accident, jja and I climbed the South Face, Center Route on Concord Tower (TR on why we did this will come later). Beckey has limited information, but still calls it 5.7 A3. We encountered some 5.9 climbing, loose shit, and general WA Pass rottenness. Does anyone have any information on if this route has been freed? I would presume that it has, but we were curious. Note: I wouldn't descend this route. A more sure-fire descent would be the South Face, East side route. Thanks Greg_W

I have no feminine side. I reject the notion that "sensitivity" is a purely "feminine" trait. I am in touch with the ability to be sensative AND be masculine. Striking the balance is hard work; one I work on every day, believe me.

Are you addressing me? Young blood, I'm not. Your post is proof you don't have a fucking clue.

Hot button. Sorry for the rant. Lance, you give away your balls and she'll NEVER respect you...ever...ever. The tip-off was when he offered to buy her something...wow, that really is a hot button for you! hey...have a good weekend! No, when he voluntarily emasculated himself by calling himself stupid and asked for "forgiveness" for simply being a man. THAT was the hotbutton. At the heart of it, why be sorry for being who you are? For being a MAN? Don't think you can't be a sensative, caring guy AND a masculine dude. I find it weird that so many people think the two are not compatible.

Newbies don't necessarily have this developed yet. In my own experience, my intuition to back off or whatever has been sharpened by my previous experiences. Despite that, I agree that some people are especially attuned to their gut instincts.

Hot button. Sorry for the rant. Lance, you give away your balls and she'll NEVER respect you...ever...ever.

lancegranite, this is the biggest example of the pussification of men in America. You make me fucking sick. You probably drive a minivan and carry a "man-purse", too. Women "put up with" our antics??? Is that how low you think of yourself? Guys like you make me shake my head in sadness. Grow some balls and stand up for yourself. This coming from a clog wearing, gun toting, Metallica listening real man. You don't know me. I've been through my own shit and seen enough to know what I'm talking about.

She is. You know her? Huh, small world.

No shit; my Sweetheart gets a capital 'S'.

Sorry for jumping down your throat, Breezy; I didn't realize you were new, or a newbie. However, as a newbie, what can be gained by a bunch of "what-if" opinions and speculation? For you, sweetheart, the best advice I can give you is EDUCATE YOURSELF. Learn about snow conditions, weather systems, snow consolidation, etc., and THEN draw your own conclusions when you get out in it. All you will gain from this discussion is the jism of our mental masturbation on what MIGHT have happened. And, really, you probably could do without that drycleaning bill. See you out there.

Sorry, but this is one of the all-time stupidest questions I've seen on this board. Worse than, "what flavor Clif Bar makes my shit green?" There are so many variables that come into play on such a route, who's to say? It'd just be a bunch of "maybe...possibly...coulda, shoulda, woulda, mental masturbation. Who fucking cares? Just make sure YOU are safe when you go out.

Dude, shut the fuck up already. Fuck your armchair quarterbacking and coffeebar philosophizing. This thread is about an accident, and the unfortunate loss of fellow climbers. Take your analysis to another thread. Peace to their families. Jim, I hope it wasn't your friend. Greg_W

lancegranite, this is the biggest example of the pussification of men in America. You make me fucking sick. You probably drive a minivan and carry a "man-purse", too. Women "put up with" our antics??? Is that how low you think of yourself? Guys like you make me shake my head in sadness. Grow some balls and stand up for yourself.

yes but if the "friend" is breathing she could get most of the single guys on this site. Breathing and has nice cans. C'mon, there ARE standards after all. Or regularly shearable in the winter. you shear sheep in the late spring... not the winter. you might end up with a frostbitten ewe if you sheared ewe in the winter! Sheep sheep sheep Nobody ever wants to a Goat! (actually, I just wanted to keep one of these quote pryamids going...like in the "old days") I miss the old days quit living in the past "it's all the same fucking day" -Janice Joplin All those pyramids are tripping me out. I'm starting to have seizures. Seizure attack! well lets test the system a little further Is this what you want to stop, catbirdseat? Or this? Maybe I got it wrong. Is THIS what you want to stop?