Off_White

Whoa, 13 years later you dust off the avatar and this is what we get? Less than 40 minutes elapsed since you posted and then thought better of it!

Nice TR and photos, thanks for posting. That peak has always loomed large in my mind since I had a friend die up there in 1980 after the first alpine style ascent of the Messner route on the South Face. Your way actually looks attractive, until I recall how much I didn't enjoy myself at 18,800 on Orizaba

Hmm. Both events I think of are rather involved tales. Coming untied 1800 feet off the deck as it was almost dark on an early ascent of The Happy Hooker V 5.10 A3 on Trono Blanco in Northern Baja was the peak moment of a very formative climb which included a monster fall leading my first aid pitch ever. Being on Mt Rainier with Willi Unsoeld when he and student Janie Diepenbrock died in an avalanche was pretty influential also. They're both kind of magazine article length stories perhaps best told over a campfire.

That would be fun!

Oh my, what an outstanding TR on such an amazing classic route! Glad things went so well for you and the weather was so great. What's up for next year, was you mention of the Grand Central Couloir on Kitchner a bit of foreshadowing? ;-) Thanks so much, I really loved the diversion of reading this.

Woah, guess I've been asleep at the wheel, totally missed this. Any hardware upgrades on the few things I did on 3 0'clock are fine by me, I love that place. Seeing ChucK respond here really made my heart twitch, I'm so sorry he's gone.

Holy shit, I have pretty much no memory of this thread. I'm pretty sure no one maintains multiple avatars on this board anymore, but I'd guess some old timers still have the keys to their old puppets.

Training is going to be your thing. I've a limited sample of training guides, but I think Mike Layton's book is as good as anything, plus he's one of our own. It's worth checking out, a fat book full of info: https://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Stronger-Faster-Healthier-Beyond/dp/149965667X

I reckon there are a few things to check out. I can't imagine no one has ever put up a route on this essentially roadside crag, but I can't find any record of it.

It was my understanding that Ramuta was just on temporary leave as they're hiking the PCT this year, perhaps they'll be back in the swing come fall. I had a bad boot resole from Dave Page. In 1982. I guess I should let go of that one, ya think?

Hah, of course. I haven't been in that trailhead in years, but I leapt to my conclusion because I'm the kind of tightwad who has resisted paying that user fee since the days of the NW Forest pass. If I'd ever seen any evidence that money went to things like expanding parking and facilities at popular and important trailheads like Mountaineer Creek I might feel differently about the user fee. It seems we all agree there is some sort of hidden agenda beyond emergency vehicle access.

Yeah, I'm sure it's not because you can park on the road below the sign without having a discovery pass, no way would revenue be a consideration here.

Not mentioned yet, but as it turns to fall think about Royal Columns in the Tieton. There are a lot of moderate routes, but you mostly need to be ready to learn to crack climb. Took my daughter there years ago and we had a blast. Western Front is a great 5.4 that you actually have to jam, a good introduction. Rattlesnakes though, but that's also a good thing to learn about.

I'm gonna hope that they rapped on double ropes and that was the knot on the tail they forgot to untie, rather than their single rope rappel program.