lunger

That's kick ass. Well done and congrats, gents!

Ha, no. Apologies, just credit for the link. His OnlyFans channel is full and closed to new members.

Trip: Diptop Peak - South face/rib route - FA - 1,000’, 5.8 Trip Date: 09/27/2025 Trip Report: The complex south (or perhaps SSW) face of Diptop, Jason Hummel photo: “Not too bad for a couple of old guys.” “Not too good either.” The statement and its rejoinder were uttered upon arrival at the truck -- just after dark -- and ended 14 hours of moving, including pioneering a route up (with benefit of hindsight) a questionable objective. Apparently one person’s idea of a good time is another’s idea of a bad time. The exchange echoed an earlier sentiment: “One person’s inspiration is another person's embarrassment”. Diptop is just north of Mt Daniel, and just south of the insta-famous Jade Lake. Rolf sketched our approx route below, fairly borrowed from a Wikipedia image (in turn apparently derived from a pic by Martin Bravenboer): Our "meandering-like-a-drunk" route gained 1,000 vertical feet, and entailed 6 roped pitches (the last one v. short) and a fair bit of soloing. Photos from afar inspired hope that 1. we’d be climbing on granite, and 2. there would be appealing lines on the central buttress of the expansive south face, or on the face itself. Upon closer inspection: 1. the rock was granitic, but one might say it has exfoliated "in an unfriendly manner for free climbing." And 2., while there were cracks and attractive features, it was difficult to ascertain if the seemingly discontinuous lines could be joined. We leave that to more competent and/or bolder parties to figure out. The route was reasonably solid for the alpine, and had its moments of fun. It was mostly scrambling, though it had some contrived steeper climbing and some required steeper climbing. Rolf drew the short final bit -- arguably the crux -- to the ridge crest, not far from the summit. On some of the best rock of the route, although with limited pro, he made a couple of sporty moves with a Vlad-the-Impaler flake threatening his nethers: Despite a "limited alpine skill set", perhaps indeed an “ordinary person accomplishing extraordinary things” is possible, if by extraordinary the speaker meant finding an ignominious way up a fractured granitic face. Maybe they were just “projecting insecurities", since this venture was their pet project. We might have been mildly disappointed with the route, but random insults like “twee”, “cloying”, “piker”, and various vitriolic un-printables kept the mood light. And the surroundings weren’t half bad. A couple more photos below. First roped pitch, after several hundred feet of soloing up to 5th class: Relatively high on the route: An oblique look at the central buttress from the summit area: We approached from the Tonga Ridge/Deception Cr cutoff trailhead. This much shorter approach from the north (vs coming from the south) does require travel up/down some steep timber, duff, and a bit of brush, but offers scenery, solitude (until arrival at Marmot and Jade Lakes), and berries. A little off the optimum route on the last steep stretch of the return, while monkey-bar-jungle-gyming from tree to tree down pine-needle covered duff, someone might have mumbled “we can always rap”. I’m happy to share our approximate track if you’re interested in approaching the scenic lakes without the trail slog. More photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/H1e1ExQ1PTVEohUE8 And more about the rock in the area here (courtesy of Rolf: https://bluemarbleearth.wordpress.com/2024/09/16/tuck-lake-and-jade-lake-geology/ Gear Notes: Took a standard double rack, but a single would do. Approach Notes: See above. To access the south face, wander down from Diptop Gap.

Nice write-up, Sam. Overcoming the myriad challenges with you two sure was fun. Being up on that wall made me feel small. Reflecting on climbing this and Little J-berg the same summer, a couple things come to mind: 1. the latter's name is apt; and 2. I think I should seek help.

Agree, purty pics, thanks for posting! Sounds like your gamble to not pack the pointy bits paid off. Your TR evokes good memories of that beautiful area -- have been back there a couple of times, and agree that in the summer the Thornton Lakes --> Triumph Pass part of the approach qualifies as tedious. The pilgrim pays the price...

Thanks for the clarification, John @John_Roper -- I've seen it variously referred to with the -burg, the -berg, the full name with either an e or a u, and sometimes the hyphenate J-. Presumably the playful J-berg is truncated to make clear it's a smaller version of the real deal, and refers to a mountain and not a city? Anyway, now we know, J-berg! Fixed it in the title, etc.

Thanks for the photo, Jason -- a much better perspective on our line. You got it, Joe--minimal brush involved to cross the creek to talus, and the creek was easily crossed this time of year.

Trip: North Cascades, Arches Peak aka Little J-berg - North Face Central Buttress, 10 pitches plus soloing, ~1,600 vertical feet, 5.6/7ish Trip Date: 08/03/2025 Trip Report: A couple of weeks ago, Rolf Larson and I climbed a probable* new route on this peak. Anyone cresting Easy Pass has been greeted by the big north face of this peak. There is one reported route on the face from the late 1970s; the party climbed the left-hand "Plumb Line Buttress" 2,700' from the valley floor to the summit, which clocks in at 7,945'. They reported loose rock. (See photo of register page in the album linked below, the AAJ, or Beckey guide.) Of three relatively prominent buttresses, our route climbs to the western false summit (circa 200' west of true summit) via the central buttress -- the most prominent one lit up (furthest left) in the photo below. We believe the 1977 line appears in this photo as a nondescript buttress in the shade further off to the left. Our route wends up the gneissly-featured buttress on pretty good, pretty clean Skagit rock--we began climbing behind the third snow-patch from the right on that prominent shelf, directly below the toe of the sunlit buttress. (Also available here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BV3itCHmqcoo7qL38) We had fun on this route, which thankfully was in shade while we climbed. Didn't take many climbing photos, but snippets of conversation went like this: "How'd you like that section of hand crack?" "I preferred my section of laser-cut finger crack." "Yeah, I went Squamish style and laid it back." Here's Rolf putting in a piece at perhaps mid-height on the face (the rope is out of view, off to the right): The first pitch was probably the steepest and most sustained, fwiw, and had a 5.6 or maybe .7 move. A couple of steep mini-headwalls were also climbed in that range of difficulty, but a person could avoid these if willing to take looser rock. We unroped for a few hundred feet of mellow scrambling after the first pitch or two, but some steeper terrain compelled us to again rope up and resort to pitching and simul-climbing on fourth and low-fifth terrain. The climbing is moderate, but generally solid and fun, with adequate protection. *As you will see in the summit register pics, Roger Jung soloed a route on the north face, but it's hard to say if he took our route -- there is certainly latitude to wander on that big north face. The photo album, which includes some pages from the register: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4JU83LgK6XKFdbSA7 We descended via a walk off to the south and east--no crampons required. The short-ish approach, moderate and generally solid climbing, and straightforward descent (not to mention the blueberries!!) might make this climb more appealing than some of Rolf's and my other routes. I'll wait for Rolf to correct me on any details (which are already fuzzy), downgrade the level of difficulty (as is his crusty wont), etc. etc. Here's an early musing about Arches from the cc.com archives: Gear Notes: Standard rack with emphasis in finger-sized pieces; tri-cams were useful Approach Notes: Via Easy Pass, drop to and cross Fisher Creek, find your way up through the lower cliff bands, wiggle-chimney between moat and rock to the start

Cool trip and nice pics! EMS looks like particularly good rock -- still on the list.

Way to go you two! Each time passing by there, I have wondered about climbing straight up from that spot. Thanks for the illumination, glad you got it done. And Sam, that perspective is valuable in our home range--exploration and freedom are the primary drivers, but you gotta stomach some bad with the good.

This is awesome.

yes, here, a decade ago already (!?):

Thanks @SethKL! I recall being inspired by your Oregonian report, and kudos for the human-powered multi-sport approach, the long way. Yeah, coined "meat rain" not too long ago, while bouldering at the gym, of all places--some intrepid punter traversed below me into meat's air space, and needed a warning re: probability of meat showers. Not sure why the phrase erupted on that spot. Checking back on your trip report, I noticed you said something about an accident on the Soviet Route--do you have a link handy, say to an AAJ article? (Forgive my inferior search skills.) As you mentioned, worth emphasizing to future parties: be aware that there is some nice rock to keep you going, but def choss management too. Beautiful spot for adventure though.

Thanks, all! For location convenience, below is some background info. on the two grade V's to the north of our route. Above, I referred to these both as climbing the NW Buttress, as they climb a vaguely wishbone-like buttress that trends WNW. However, the original Soviet party called their route the North Face, and third ascent party, the West Buttress. The Oregonians characterized their line as on the NW Buttress, which I think is a reasonable reference for the entire buttress. Excerpt from the Oregonian's trip report: SW Bonanza Peak (right) and West Bonanza Peak (left) seen from the west. (Photo: Steph Abegg) 1. NW Buttress, “The Oregonian Route.” 5.9+ V. Keena and Bonnett 2013. 2. W Buttress, "The Soviet Route." 5.9+/5.10 V. Bershov et. al. 1975. (Overlay as documented by 3rd ascent party) Our route, the Cascadian, ascends the West Face off to looker's right of these two routes, topping out just right of the summit. Our first pitch begins at the small caret-shaped (^) snowfield in the pic. Here's Steph Abegg's well-researched and documented account of a third ascent of the Soviet Route, including some interesting route history: https://sites.google.com/stephabegg.com/washington/tripreports/bonanza She rightly characterizes the wall as "rival in size and difficulty to many of the biggest faces in the Cascades". This route felt reminiscent of the routes @rat and I climbed on the Hozomeens, but with a better kind of rock-quality variability, and much easier access. It has my qualified recommendation, fwiw. Here's the view of Bonanza's west wall a couple years ago en route to (or from?) Dark Peak. The Cascadian ascends slightly left of center (begins just right of the tiny snowpatch), the other routes begin out of view at far left margin. The portion of the wall to the right, above the long snowfield, is unclimbed and looks positively atrocioulicious.

Trip: Bonanza Peak's Southwest Summit, West Face - Cascadian Route V 5.10+ Trip Date: 08/26/2023 Here's a couple obligatory John Scurlock photos of the western aspect of Bonanza's Southwest Summit: Trip Report: Summary: Sam Boyce and I took a 3-day weekend to climb a new route* on the West Face of Bonanza’s SW Summit. The Cascadian Route (V 5.10+) ascends Bonanza’s intimidating western wall. Our line gains >2,000 vertical feet over 16 pitches and 2,800’ of climbing. For context, our route is off to looker’s right of its neighbors to the north, the Soviet Route (1976) and the Oregonian Route (2013), both of which ascend the Northwest Buttress (previously also referred to as the "West Buttress", and in 1976 "the North Face") of the SW summit. In a marked up version of Sam's photo below: The approx. Cascadian route in green (each dot approx 3 pitches); the Soviet and Oregonian routes off to the left meet near the 8,700’ subsummit pinnacle on the skyline (red point), before ascending mellower terrain on the peak’s more-northern aspect (out of view; parties apparently traversed left under red roofs of the summit block): On the Scurlock photo, same color scheme (Soviet red, Cascadian green), but with the Oregonian start indicated by an orange dot: From the 9,320’ summit, we descended the Isella Glacier, which (as can be seen on satellite imagery) is split at approx. mid-height by a magically continuous undulating walkway. We were able to walk and downclimb (one low-fifth crux) to roughly 6,900’ without rappelling or touching snow, then used a notch/gully to drop through the peak’s south ridge before circling back up to our 7,000’ camp near the North Star – Bonanza col. Near the col above the bivy, there remains a small snow patch that provides water, even near the end of this hot dry 2023 summer. Report: Several years ago en route to climb Dark Peak with my friend Jon, we crossed (interminable and uniquely annoying scree) under Bonanza’s SW summit and gaped up at the expanse of rock on its western flank. I made a mental note to explore new routes if given the right conditions. Thanks to Sam’s can-do attitude and vision, and the forecasted wildfire smoke that ruled out other candidates, this was the moment. On Friday 25 Aug we made the time-consuming approach (car, Chelan-Lucerne ferry, Holden bus transport, many miles of walking); Saturday we finished the approach, climbed and descended to camp (15 hours, dawn to dusk); and early Sunday boogied out to catch the 10am Holden to Lucerne bus, then ferry, etc., etc. Would you believe the route looked this good all the way up? (Above: Sam follows the pleasurable 5.10a pitch 8, sends a sweet 5.10 corner on pitch 9, and earns his kale on the 5.10+ pitch 13 overhang) That would be a mistake: (Above: Eric confronts the heinous choss band of 5.8+ pitch 4, and the tricky steep delights of 5.10R pitch 12) While there were enjoyable stretches, there were also satiating portions of choss. Roof systems, particularly a large one that spans the west face feature near the top, provided few weaknesses and narrowed free-climbing line options to 1 or maybe 2 in places. We were both concerned about passage near the top, as bailing would be fraught and difficult. The technical highlights were five pitches of 5.10; three of these (pitches 8, 9 & 13) sported steep and fun climbing, but another two (pitches 11 & 12) were horsepuckey. For much of the climbing on these two steep 5.10R puckery pitches, literally not a single hold was loose; nah, haha, two or more were. While the featured rock inspired a kind of upward hope, protection was occasional, creative, and even whimsical—bring your bag of tricks. These pitches offered quality terror-tainment (@rat ©). This was a no meat-rain zone. The rest of the route predominantly ranged from mid-fifth to 5.8 on similarly varying rock quality—any given hold might be probably portable, or revealed as a solid protrusion of the mountain, eternally nonmoving and crank-able. Climbing of this sort can be extremely engaging and stimulating, and while Sam and I enjoyed moving up the route, it might not be to others’ tastes. For interested folks, he took concise notes on the pitches, and will hopefully chime in here with that info. * I encountered a 2.5” Trango Flex-Cam in a crack with a ‘biner attached on pitch 4, after the first heinous choss band but before the most technical climbing. This late-‘90s/early-aughts era cam was in a textbook placement and easily removed. The sling is weathered, perhaps had been sitting there for 10-20 years (hard tellin'). Anyway, given no evidence of passage in the pitches above, we surmise that perhaps this was used for bailing. A search for attempts or climbs of this feature has not borne fruit. However, if anyone knows better, please advise. Here are a few more photos. They don’t really do the route’s position and exposure justice, but they do serve to highlight the area’s rock/choss quality variability. (Above: choose your own adventure, then call your mom) (Above: In a move that typifies much of the climbing, Sam stems out in search of better rock) (Above: Eric following the overhanging section of 5.10+ on pitch 13) Here's an album with more pics, including descent: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8qAiXj6o4BfRSGJm9 Gear Notes: Lots of small gear was helpful, a bag of tricks (ball nuts, tricams) useful, and we also used some pins at belays. No need really for anything larger than a #3. 70m rope. Approach Notes: There are many ways to get there, but we took arguably the easiest starting via the ferry to Lucerne. Good bivy sites just south of the North Star – Bonanza col, around 7,000'

Probably prime season for this line right now. Thanks mostly to Darin, it's quite clean and goes to a cool summit--we climbed it again earlier this month, and imho it's worth repeated trips (plus there's a .10- variation). here's Darin's detailed mtn project page for the route: https://www.mountainproject.com/route/124480260/salad-days folks should get on this and keep it clean!

Thanks for the sweet write-up, Kam--that was a stellar day, and a fantastic tour that folks should check out. (BTW, I'm lunger on this board, hedonaut on the other, fwiw.) The topography of the Sisters range makes for an abundance of worthy ski lines; we were constantly distracted while on the traverse, gaping at all the possibilities. (Did you share our discovery of that other couloir near N Twin earlier this month? Don't see it here, and it's probably coming into better shape this week!) So much more to explore there... I'll add this shot, looking down the canvas of that beautiful Nordwand:

Stellar write-up, Darin, and props for the extensive after-hours work. Really enjoyed finally connecting with @dberdinka to uncover this route, and the climbing was fun even in its raw state--looking forward to going back for the pleasure cruise on the cleaned-up version. As Darin pointed out, there are a lot of promising variations and parallel lines--folks should enjoy exploring up there. And thanks for the sweet track, @kmfoerster

Wow--impressive Cascadian scrub-alpinism, gents! Looks like an instant J-berg classic.

Oly, nice find on SBA--an attack would be bad enough, but to get shoved by a bear off a tall cliff is one sporty way to go. (That narrator's deadpan matter-of-fact delivery gets me every time.) Hey Joe, yeah there could be something to uncover there on that wall with better selection and adequate patience. The ~1400 vf brush bash up from the Methow River wasn't too bad--use the sound of the creek off to the left as a guide rail, and aim for the tongue of talus (over the creek) shown in satellite images that toes down to ~5700'. IIRC, there's a steeper section from 5400-5600' where we meandered a little further away from the creek (rightward uphill), but unsure if the detour was necessary. The remaining ~1000' up to the rock is straightforward talus and moraine (and snow). I agree with Rolf's sour assessment about the route, with the exception of the first pitch, which was double great. His colored-dot route overlays comprise a nice summary of my now superfluous route description. (Well, I guess the description was superfluous from the start, except to serve as a cautionary tale.) Gaining the right-hand rib directly and continuing could be semi-classic.

From my perspective as a fellow AARP-eligible person, thanks for an entertaining TR. Nice ambiance in the pics.

Trip: Holliway Mountain - North Face Route (aka "Scary Bear Attacks") D 5.9+ new route Trip Date: 08/14/2022 Trip Report: Let's start with a John Scurlock photo of this (likely) previously unclimbed face; Holliway's north face is on the left, Golden Horn background right: Here's a shot I took from the trail: Rolf Larson and I bring you a cautionary tale about this attractive nuisance. Our main candidates for an ascent were the two longest ribs that lead up to the two high points you see above (the true summit is on the left, and appears lower). The one on the left had a series of towers that led to the brilliant white -- and largely blank -- spike that forms the summit, while the one on the right appeared more straightforward. We kicked steps up firm snow to the footing of our preferred rib on the right. After futzing around with a difficult moat pitch, and finding a barely passable anchor poised below what looked like a difficult and very spicy next pitch, Rolf wisely downclimbed back to the snow. This cost us 3+ hours. We wandered left on the snow to "scout", and spotted some snow leading up to easy access to the rock, below the second-best left-hand rib and just right of a garbage-chute gully. Standing on the still-hard snow, contemplating the idea of beginning the route at 11:30am, one of us asked "You wouldn't let us do something stupid, would you?". This was a stupid question directed at the wrong person. So both stupidos headed upward to scout. Looking up; we began climbing off on the left, below the high point of the snow, where it makes a prominent triangular nose pointing right. Our false start was the furthest right high snow point. Our top-out on the sub-summit is the high point to the right of the V-notch; the true summit is the white spike on the left. I got the first pitch (5.9+) and it was fantastic, and would be popular if it were at a crag--fun climbing with a little bit of everything on solid rock. The uphill was all downhill from there. Rolf's second pitch (5.8?) went up a chimney that had some fun moves, but also some loose killers that he danced around. Our next several pitches took a left-hand ramp above the gully splitting the two main ribs, a couple more in/across the gully to take ramps on its right, and then we found a way to leave the gully rightward to gain the originally desired right-hand rib to the sub-summit. After pitch 2, the climbing in general wasn't too steep, but there were occasionally difficult moves; and, it was often run out and loose, requiring careful rope management. A few pitches after gaining the right-hand rib, we stood on the 7,920' sub-summit and took in the sunset. We were 9 hours on the route. We descended to the south, hemi-circumnavigated around the east side of the mountain (via headlamp and moonlight) to get back to our packs, then thrashed down to our pleasant camp at the river, arriving at around 2am. Not that anyone will bother, but FWIW, happy to provide details for the descent -- including a plausible more direct route with daylight -- upon request. After the first pitch, due to the loose rock and scarce anchors, bailing would at minimum be risky and costly. Future parties might enjoy exploring the many features on this corrugated face, but should bring a bolt kit and a sense of humor. The line required 10 pitches total. Approx route: More pics here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/zTcs4kQdwBFhEdKc7 Here's the namesake bear (there's a video series of same name too, and on the approach was bear scat and a bear hunter): Gear Notes: We had doubles through 2 when including tri-cams, a single 3, and pins. Rolf used one pin at a belay. A single 70m rope. Approach Notes: West Fork Methow River trail, then PCT (total approx 10 miles) to camp on Methow River; then up a couple thousand feet through brush and forest

I have been roughly your proposed way -- on skis -- a couple times in April and May. With snow, it was a very agreeable way to go, mostly skiing and occasionally poling to cross and contour above Woody Cr and then Grizzly Creek. We crossed Falls creek at 4200'. Seems to be mostly old growth, and pure speculation is that in summer it would be a reasonable way to go, at least until the exit of Grizzly Creek to Bridge Creek; and even then (where the snow thinned) there was still some forest and limited alder. However, not sure what other brush might pop up there once the snow is completely gone. All to say, would definitely recommend that way in the winter and spring, but unsure about the efficiency gain in current conditions. (As an aside: we returned via climbing the Falls Creek drainage to Last Chance Pass, a recommended exit on skis -- some scenic touring in part through an old burn.) Hope this info. helps.

Good to hear from y'all. Yes, I'd say the rock on the route is above average for Skagit alpine, and is one of a few of my FAs that I'd actually recommend to friends. Judging by recent inquiries, might see a repeat as early as this season (?!). Fun to see what seems like above-average Pickets activity this season. geosean, if I recall correctly, it was like 4-4.5 hours to get on the rock, a hustling 6 hours on the climb to the summit, and ~5 for the descent and walk back to camp--with some liberal breaks post-summit. We began our approach an hour or so before dawn. Courtesy of John Roper, here's another perspective of the route, without and with our ascent in green added: And below is another John Scurlock shot of the southern aspects of Himmelgeisterhorn (HGH), West and East Twin Needles (WTN and ETN), etc., with routes annotated by John Roper, that might make the descent description more clear. After climbing up the other side, Sam and I descended from E Twin to Eye Col, then approximately the (red) 1981 route from Eye Col. The main difference: because the lower left hand gully had only intermittent snow and deep moats between, we instead down-climbed and rapped the adjacent ridge just above and right of the gully. (See descent description in original post for more detail.) There are more pics from the trip here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8aqMQN9gohxrTr586

Yes! Stared at that one and thought it probably more difficult. Strong work, team.