Off_White

Hey, if we're not willing to pay for access to public lands, buy the tool a new truck, or help keep Archers Daniel Midland rolling in dough, then the terrorists will have already won!

quote: Originally posted by mvs: I was just looking at that route in the book, and thinking to go up there. When/If (big If now!) I do, I'll take your advice to heart. --Michael Soon would be my advice, the slide alder/vine maple/devil's club is just out with the first set of leaves, 3 weeks from now it'll be thick. If its just you solo, NE Face could be fun. If you've got a partner & rope, E Ridge looks good, and that buttress to the right of the Big Creek route is quite nice with good rock.

Well, on Sunday I took a whack at the Great Groove route on the north side of Washington. Late Saturday night I drove in with the usual fumbling about on unfamiliar roads with the added joy of fuel pump relays on my Vanagon that would cut out when bumped, not the best situation for washboard roads. Got up a little late on Sunday, but was hiking by 5:30. After 20 minutes of brush bashing and forest traversing I found myself looking down on the road I should have started from. Hmmm, should've turned right back there. Descended to intersect where I thought the trail would be, and found the orange flagging that declares the past presence of Mountaineers. Heading up the valley wasn't bad, stuff still just coming on with the first leaves. Came out into the big avalanche basin under the NE face, and headed over to the right side to try and follow the guide description. Steep timber and a bit of 4th class brush led up to a rock wall, found a ledge leading left. A little poking about took me up and left some more, brush becoming much thicker, until I popped out at the first major stream and waterfall. I found a decent crossing, then more brush & timber, until I came to the next deep stream/waterfall slot. This one looked much more impassible, so I tried looking about for the "great groove." I went up some really nasty high angle technical brush with a death fall runout, followed by 75 feet of rock. I didn't find the promised "clean, sound rock" but instead dealt with mossy wet slightly downsloped 5.0ish high anxiety scrambling. At this point it became apparent there was no stream crossing ahead, no sign of even an "ok groove," and that things were going to get much steeper before they got better. Contemplating the horrors of becoming a post mortem accident dissection thread on this board gave me a new reason to live, so I decided to retreat while I could still downclimb what I had been up. Ahh well, who can complain about a day out in the mountains in good weather? I basked in the sun for awhile then retraced my route. Towards the very bottom, in the initial timber section, I came upon a rap sling on tree, suggesting that I was not the first to be stumped on this route. Later on, driving around and scoping the face with binoculars suggested that there may be a gnarly cedar/slide alder ledge that traversed from somewhere near where I headed up that could get you into the waterfall slot and hopefully something else would get you out the far side and around to the next stream/waterfall. I think I also spied what could be the groove, currently snow filled, which could either make it a cruise or if hollow and rotten a real horrorshow. The upper portion looked lovely, but all that snow was baking in the sun at least until noon, and looked to be a real candidate for wet surface slides unless you were there early. So class, lessons learned: 1: Park at the right spot 2: Advance viewing of the wall from farther up the 2401 road recommended. 3: Since the upper half looks like the most enjoyable portion, consider taking the easier straight forward brush bash of the NE face to access the upper basin and chute faster and earlier. 4: Those charcoal renderings the Olympics Guidebook uses instead of photos? Not worth shit.

Anyone been on the Northside routes on Washington? I'm contemplating the Great Groove for Sunday...

quote: Originally posted by Dru: Bruce Hendricks lost one of his plastics at the bivi ledge on Supercouloir on Mt Deltaform in the 90s and finished the climb (he was soloing) with a crampon strapped on to his foot clad in 6 pairs of wool socks Holy shit. I can just imagine the feeling in the pit of your stomach watching your boot run away on that route. Solo? Wildman.

Fathers Day around 20 years ago (give or take a few years) was the biggest mountain massacre I know of in the NW: 5 dead on the Cooper Spur (one team fell and took out the other, over the convex edge of the spur and down the North Face) and something like 18 dead on the Ingrahm from a serac collapse (while eating lunch). We wound up climbing up the Mt Hood fall line about two weeks after the fact, area was littered with five single mittens, a helicopter pilot's helmet, thermos, water bottles, and most creepy: pieces of an MSR helmet. That was as spooky a time as I've ever had on a bright sunny day. Seems like something about this time of year and the changing conditions just makes for accident potential. It doesn't seem to me that doing the DR on Hood is about glorification of the sport, and the current blush of thin-airish pop mountaineering awareness is not blind to the issue of risk. I sure feel for the folks (and their friends & relatives) involved: whether they are old hands or newly smitten with the sport (as we all once were) the trauma and tragedy feels the same. People try and do the best they can in a fucked up situation, I wish 'em the best... *sigh*

quote: Originally posted by Dru:[/qb]who burned down the White house in the War of 1812??? [/QB] Would you please come do it again?

Oh Dru, how can you hold forth on the Necronomicon (book, not avatar) and not bring up the Evil Dead movies? (I, II, and Army of Darkness). These are some of the best Zombie movies of all time, excepting Dead Alive (Peter Jackson, better known for that hobbit movie) which is hands down the best Zombie film of all time.

quote: Originally posted by pope: Remember that when you chat with Dru, you're chatting with everybody he's ever chatted with. Thats why I always use a condiment...

quote: Originally posted by Dru: You are the Northerners we are the Southerners!!!! Right. And who lost that one?

quote: Originally posted by Dru: I dont mention 4th generation derivatives. [/QB] Well, I'd expect you to jump on the bandwagon about Peter Jackson and Dead Alive. Isn't New Zealand part of the commonwealth? Thats practically Canadian!

quote: Originally posted by Juan: Do you suppose Little Buddy has a copy of the book in his room? Just so long as he doesn't say "Klatuu, Veratuu, Nicktuu"

quote: Originally posted by Dru: [QBQUOTE]AMERICAN $$$ ACCEPTED AT PAR [/QB] Whats the old Shadowy Men from a Shadowy Planet song, "Five American, Six Canadian?" Actually, that's a little generous these days, isn't it? All a part of what makes Canada great if you ask me. Rest assured Dru, all us Southerners are probably just a little jealous of your (more) pallid girls and 6% beer...

quote: Originally posted by Dru: So y'all can stay down there in your little Seattle Pube Club cause we dont need you up here in the southwest.[/QB] PING! Is that the sound of my little pellet rifle winging a round off Dru's glossy glacier clad flanks? Dude, there's always a Greater Range somewhere. I for one am hoping to catch a good draft off your beta for the the North Ridge of Clarke....

So as a relatively new person around here, who's more likely to transmit a ctd (computer transmitted disease), Trask or the Captain? (or Larson, Allison, Steamer, or Dru for that matter, though I don't know if enough of our computers speak Canadian well enough to catch it from him....)

Oh, and Dru, much as you might want to be included and we're supposed to be all touchy feely and politically correct, this is about the Northwest, and I belive you live in the Southwest. Which is not to say that I wouldn't be tickled pink to be Canadian...

quote: Originally posted by iain: [QB...if you're a self-proclaimed avy expert after spending a few years in a maritime snowpack.[/QB] As Dee Molenaar said (If I have to explain him, you're definitely not a NW climber) "All the experts are dead."

...the phrase "pure joy and distinctly alpine" passes through your mind at inappropriate moments. (and hell yes the devils club makes a good handhold, cuz when thats gone all you've got is ferns...)

Well hell, things just haven't been the same anyway since Off Belay and Summit folded. There have been several attempts at both online (Rock and Groove springs to mind) and regional rags (I saw several issues of a Southern California Sport Climbing mag) that I know of. They usually seem to be some underfunded vanity press project, and don't usually stick it out. Seems to me this board serves a lot of the purpose of a regional rag, with trip reports, gear debates, new routes, info, and as much spray as you have time for. Price is right too...

I was just out climbing in Eastern Oregon with children AND a dog. There were about three dogs running loose at the crag (and coincidently, three children with me) but it was one of those pleasant days where everyone got along and no untoward incidents ocurred. I was prepared to leash the dog, but all the dogs became buddies and those climbing nearby assured me our dog was fine when I would anxiously call her back as she would wander off to play ambassador. As for the kids (well, 10 year olds, pretty self contained at that point), after they climbed they removed themselves to the talus field where they drew and (quietly) spun out some fantasy of being on the Oregon Trail. I don't routinely take a dog along climbing, but as this was a 4 day family vacation, complete with unregulated forest service camping (and no NW Forest Pass!)I couldn't leave the beast at home. Seems to me there is no hard fast rule about dogs & kids, other than pay attention and be responsible. I tell ya though, I'd be mortified if my dog (or my daughter) peed on anyone's rope...

I was coming down the gorge, returning from a trip to Spring Mtn. All I could see was the skirts of the volcanos, mere hints at what was hiding in the clouds. We had some awesome rain squalls somewhere around Cascade Locks. I'm surprised the South side of Hood was nice, nothing looked very appealing from down low...

quote: Originally posted by rbw1966: Didn't John Long write about you guys in his book "Close Calls. . "? Were you the guys who broke their water bottles and only had tequila to drink? No, though we did drink a little water of unknown origin from an antifreeze bottle left on the bivy ledge. I haven't read Close Calls, so I couldn't swear we weren't in there. I suppose its possible he could have some embellished version, since I think he was living in San Diego at the time. I should write that whole climb up some time, its a hilarious "gumbies on parade" epic. Hilarious I guess because I'm still around to tell it...

another belay horror story... A number (well, a large number) of years ago in Yosemite, we were in mob mode at Middle Cathedral. Galen was leading the first pitch of Stoners Highway, when we heard the clatter of stonefall and took cover. Galen began frantically downclimbing to the last bolt, which he grabbed and cowered while the rocks landed. The rest of us were amazed to find Neil, who had been belaying, in the bushes with us, though not as stunned as Galen was to look down and see the rope in an unaccompanied pile on the ground. Neil, who was a roommate of mine and Galen's, had to endure a raft of abuse until such time as he moved out of the house, out of town, and out of our lives. As another dusty horror story, Bob and I were up around the 12th pitch of a route on Trono Blanco in Canon Tajo as it was getting dark. He led the 5.8 pitch without the rack, since it only had one piece of pro at the start. I had to follow with the bivy gear on my back, and the rack and other stuff in a teardrop pack on kangaroo style, with one EB and one rotten canvas surfer shoe (left the other rock shoe in my driveway) along a diagonal line above a roof that I would plummet over if I fell. At the belay, I found Bob tied into the only sling he had, my chalkbag sling that had been sewn with cotton thread in a 1926 Sears sewing machine, and wrapped around a small dead tree. That was okay though, cuz on the next pitch (in the dark, belayed on a single #4 stopper that he couldn't see, but must be good because he couldn't get it out) it became apparent that I had not completed my tie in knot down on the big ledge two pitches below, so if I had fallen I probably wouldn't have even weighted the belay before I proceeded to descend the rest of the 1200 feet to the bottom of the canyon. Yes, I still climb with Bob, as well as myself....

quote: Originally posted by Dan Larson: Jane you ignorant slut Whoa Dan, you date yourself! Do you have any idea just how many people don't get the reference? They only know Jane Curtin from 3rd Stone and Chevy Chase from the National Lampoon movies. (there, I've dated myself too)

quote: Originally posted by mattp: The basin at treeline that you pass through before climbing that last slope to the col is also not a bad place to camp. Again, this will be dry after mid-season. If you mean the basin below the West Peak of Silver Star, before the grind up alongside the Wine Spires, we've found dependable water in a trickles at the toe of Silver Star, pumpable into a bottle with a filter. Good bivy at a big boulder near there too. You have to split off from the Burgandy Col approach a fair ways though. Better suited to climbs on that side of the Spires.