iain

Just more evidence that Salem is the worst town in the PNW. What a hole.

Fun report to read, and nice pictures. thanks!

ladies, you don't need no sponsorship for free mountain hardware

why, does he have a handle on some dating site? "Porkchoplovin04: I'm looking for a big bundle-o-love for bivy suggles up high."

It is the natural outcome of using gneiss as toilet paper.

You actually climbed with someone on this site?

It was actually a 60m rope, for what that's worth. Having a bit of distance between us was nice, as it usually allowed for at least a few pieces to be in at any given point.

We borrowed an 8.5" 1/2 rope and doubled it up for the rock stuff and single for the glacier descent. It made for some short pitches when that was necessary, but saved some weight. There was a lot of simul-climbing and it worked out pretty well.

No challenge, just impressed with the line and the mental endurance to get skis up there. The upper section you skied looked good, but the lower section looked very broken. I think there is a lot less snow than when you were there. I read your Degenhart report. Please don't kill yourself.

not sure what's going on there or who those folks are, but if that is indeed a mazda truck in the background the bumper is going to come off w/o any need for mech advantage. nice to see I've been google-stalked as well!

Climb: Mount Fury-North Buttress Date of Climb: 7/4/2004 Trip Report: A small group of friends had their eyes set on Mount Fury this year after gaping at the Luna Cirque last year from Mount Challenger. But what route to do? The NE face was now off-limits for climbing as it had been skied, so we had to do something that those guys probably wouldn't dare ski. So Hal Burton scheduled some time away from his undisclosed location to team up to climb the North Buttress, a supposed "classic" mixed climb of the Picket Range. The other members in our group of friends chose to climb the south glacier route, a fine line in its own right. The dock at Big Beaver Trailhead on Ross Lake. Many an adventure/epic has commenced and ended here. After a hike down to the Ross Lake Resort, the taxi was taken without shame to the Big Beaver Trailhead, where the long hike in to Access Creek began. After passing by the forbidden jungle of McMillan Creek and finding a good log crossing, we found ourselves deep in the devil's club fighting our way up the Access Creek drainage. I just kept saying to myself how much this must have sucked with skis on the pack. Finally emerging from the character-building slide alder of Access Creek into the talus below Luna Peak. We spent the night in the talus below Luna Peak, each of us donating a hearty portion of plasma to the Access Creek mosquito community. The following morning was spent hoofing it up snow gullies to our first view of the southern pickets, an in-your-face shot of the imposing faces of McMillan Spires, Inspiration, Deg, Terror, etc. Heavy clouds occasionally obscured the summits, adding to the alpine feel. We made the mistake of coming around the corner a little low, which put us on steep heather. Mr. Burton actually had to self arrest on the heather at one point. Go high. After a bunch more traversing and climbing of snow and glacier-polished rock, we found ourselves at Luna Col, perhaps one of the finest camp spots in the country. The col is perched between the two massive cirques of McMillan and Luna, with jaw-dropping views all around. Finally getting down to business. Camp at Luna Col. The North Buttress of Fury looms on the right. As we were lounging around enjoying the views and healing the wounds from Access Creek, we hear voices down towards Luna Cirque! Who the hell is out there? None other than "Mr. Pickets" Wayne and some liberal moonbat named Josh. They were looking in good spirits but it was obvious they had just been through some battles up high. Sure enough, they provided a great story of their epic over part of the northern pickets, including what has to be a first descent of an unappealing gulley over by Ghost. They proceeded to make us look lazy by romping up Luna Peak, getting a weather report for us, and heading out for some jungle warfare with Access Creek. The next day was pretty socked in up on Fury, so we decided to hang out and see if the weather improved. We took a lazy trip up Luna Peak, a necessity to tick off because you would never dream of battling your way in there just to climb that chosspile. We Oregonians were right at home on this stuff. Chossy and low-angle, just the way we like it. The next day, there were no excuses. Hal Burton and I headed off down to Luna Lake at 3:30am. The descent proved challenging in the dark, and we wound up downclimbing a hideous steep dirt gulley after being treed repeatedly above steep dropoffs and waterfalls. After several hours we were at the base of one of the couloirs used to access the North Buttress. The intimidating gully used to access a notch in the North Buttress. The snow couloir was gripping. Frequently we had to downclimb into the moats and do vertical snow climbing back out. We could only make it up by chimneying our packs against the rock behind us, as tools just slid through the snow. With only 2 pickets to work with, a fall would be quite serious, and the moats were enormous! Much of the time was spent on poor rock with crampons, or snow bridges threatening to send you into the abyss. Gully fun! This took a lot of time, and we were getting worried that we would be running late. This climb is long! We finally got to the notch, providing incredible exposure to the icefalls below. The climbing above the notch went well, though there were some route-finding issues. Nothing that we were not expecting, but a little nerve-wracking when the clock is ticking. We had both promised that the headlamps would not come out again that day. The climbing went on-and-on for hours, with continuous exposure and uncertainty with what difficulties lay ahead. After the first snow arete, an imposing wall of what looks like miserable, steep rock sits in front of us. We traversed left on steep snow, and then followed a gully full of somewhat tenuous mixed climbing. This finally gave way to full-on snow, and eventually the final, classic, beautiful steep snow arete came into view. The view of Luna, and our camp at the col from high up on the North Buttress of Fury. The final long arete to the summit pinnacles. Icefalls crash far below on both sides. The exposure is staggering! This climb just keeps dishing it out. After endless snow climbing up the arete, we hit the summit ridge, unsure of what was the actual summit. After popping around to the west side of the mountain, we were able to traverse some snow, then up a gully to what we thought was the top. Sure enough, the register was there. Thank goodness we are no longer on the steeps, after 12 hours on the move. The summit of Fury, finally. We topped out at 4:00pm. Our other friends had long since topped out on the south glacier, and thankfully we had a great track laid out for us to get off the mountain and back to the col. Hal Burton's glad to be back on the tame terrain, and heading home! Mac spires are impressive from every angle. Finally, at about 8:00pm, we staggered back into our camp. Fury offered up a beautiful lightshow as we downed more food than I care to disclose. The trip out was a blur of bushwacking, heather, alder, and trail dust. The descent down Access Creek was much better than the ascent! Somehow we found a good line through there this time. By the time we were back on the boat dock waiting for a taxi, people looked a little beat: We made it home, and the next day was a motionless day. It was great to see everyone made it to the summit of this beautiful mountain. Great to put some faces to cc.com names out there too! I can't think of a more fitting location to run into you guys. As for the North Buttress of Fury, I often wonder if "classic" is synonymous with "ass-kicking". It was a long climb for me, with a host of diverse problems to overcome. It is a solid test of your all-around skills in the mountains. Thanks to Wayne for some words of wisdom on the route too. Oh, and I'm supposed to add YEAH BILLY! Thanks for lending some photos to help us along. Gear Notes: Small set of hexes, largest sizes used frequently. Set of nuts, smaller tricams, 2 screws (not used), 2 pickets (would have liked 3). Approach Notes: Brutal.

We're just hanging out in one of the more remote areas of the pickets and all of a sudden two guys come over the col from the lake. Who the f- is that? I was witness to that Luna summit. Sickness. Glad to see you found access creek to be a pain too, otherwise I would think I had gone soft. It is a bitch coming up that thing.

gives new meaning to "in the doghouse"

you are a freakin menace with the digicam

snafflehound souffle drizzled in heavy ego and topped with a dab of cynicism

oh my!

she's high maintenance, yet surprisingly easy to please at the same time

yes I have seen someone trying to self arrest from the chute on mt hood's south side. They were not really doing a very good job, but were sort of in the self arrest position, so it was not too bad. But when they caught their feet, both crampons were immediately ripped off their boots, and the person started airborne ragdolling down the slope, letting out a bloodcurdling scream of someone dying. Never want to see that again!

the bestest climber is in the whois database of fun

I've seen that picture at least 100 times but still bust up every time

one thing to try is 'whois'. then look for the record created field.

this is this thing called 'whois' which might help.

yeah the whois registry would be your best bet. another one from the main dns organization: http://www.internic.org/whois.html or if you are on a unix system, just a whois (domainname.com) will usually work. whois says this domain name was registered on 11-Aug-2000, for example