Off_White

I did a hybrid version, starting on the '51 route (or probably even further left), up the lower brush to the snow patch, then somewhere above the snowpatch climbing to the right to get onto the '57 rib which was a cruise as long as you didn't worry about things. We didn't flake a rope out until we got to the rap into the gully and up to the snow arete. Gully was swell, though its long out of fashion, but I think it was more fun that the rock climbing over to the left sounds like. The old thread of neve did give an ominous "Whumpf" and settle about 6" while we were in it. Of course, that was 35 years ago so its old info and possibly a little fuzzy. We descended straight down the south side (lots of sketchy scrambling and two pitches of down leading) and around to the west ridge, over that and down the steep timber. It wasn't easy, and we did get benighted after we got down the technical stuff and the steep snow cone, but it was a cush bivy with as much firewood as we wanted. Sounds like the current East Ridge/Dougs Direct is no picnic either.

My home wall came with the property.

Well, at least the 120' tall summit block withe the Beckey Bolt Ladder on it did. Massive trundle. Here's the hilarious video shot from the lake below (you might want to turn the volume down a little bit): https://youtu.be/W2NlEZmT0MQ Also, this news article has a cool before/after photo, the kind you wipe from one side to the other. KTVB article Damn, should have climbed it last year, now it's keeping company with the Trigger Finger.

I have no info, though it sounds like a cool option. "Off the beaten path" is well worth pursing these days. Surely John Scurlock has a stunning aerial photo of that side?

Yeah, tell me about it kid...

That would be this remix...

Hah, I had a grim descent of the Sherpa Couloir in early September one year after doing the full NR. We'd thought to down climb it, but just had boots and axes. We checked out the top and found an inch of slub over rock hard neve and immediately concluded we'd have to rap it, so despite still having an hour of light we decided to just bivy on the shoulder. After a miserable night we made a bunch of rappels. Someone had done this recently, there was a new red sling with the same initials at each rap, but everyone was super sketchy and badly placed. A little excavation and hunting around while still on the last rappel would produce a bomber slung something or other, usually within a 3' radius. For all that it was a wee bit epic, but we felt like we made good decisions all along the way. This was all pre-internet decades ago, so the only conditions report we had was the Beckey guide and we didn't know anyone who'd done the route and descent. A memorable outing.

This looks like lots of fun, thanks for sharing!

There's a Tim Wilson - John Wason winter route over on the right side of Dragontail, sort of in the Boving route zone. I'm not sure it's ever had a second ascent, but it's mentioned in the Beckey guide. I'm in pretty frequent contact with John Wason, I'll see if I can squeeze any details out of him.

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

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.

I'm thinking G-spotter is your best source of current info, seems like I saw something somewhere recently from him on those roads. '

Olympia is a good area, though with the same cost increases afflicting much of the west coast. Similar to Bellingham as a city, but further from the Cascades, and for the most part further from good rock climbing. I do like living here though.