lunger

ivan is smack talking at me--smart ass.

Trip: Lemolo Peak (erstwhile Hardest Mox) - NE Buttress ("After Hours") V 5.10- R Date: 9/12/2008 Trip Report: Summary: On 9/12 and 9/13/2008, Rolf Larson and Eric Wehrly climbed the NE Buttress of the 8501' summit to the E of SE Mox Peak. The NE buttress on right division of dark and light, John Scurlock photo: A shot from the other side on our descent: From what we can tell, our route shares several pitches with Layton and Wolfe's E Face line "The Devil's Club", somewhere in the middle third of the ascent. "After Hours" (appropriate for several reasons) takes a direct start on the NE Buttress toe, and ends at the summit of what some have referred to as "Hardest Mox", the apparently heretofore unclimbed peak to the E of SE Mox. We continued to SE Mox Peak from there, adding a bit more engaging climbing. I believe that we are the first ascentionists of this peak, and hence can derive a little fun naming it. If this is the case, in keeping with the naming convention of Mox ("twin") Peaks, we propose Lemolo Peak; "Lemolo" is Chinook jargon for wild, or untamed. Klone (Chinook for "three") Peak would also be appropriate, but is already taken in Washington. If this summit is not worthy of a separate name, then no sweat--I already had my fun. I think that Rolf (aka the Bard of Leavenworth) is crafting a TR in iambic pentameter; until then, the following must do... Overview: Day 1, approach from Little Beaver to c. 5000' bivy in Perry Creek basin; 9 hours. Day 2, finish approach to 6000' rock start, and climb to 8200' bivy; 13.5 hours. Day 3, proceed to 8501' summit, then ridge traverse to SE Mox 8504', and descend to camp via gullies and unnamed glacier SE of Mox; 9 hours (ish?). Day 4, thrash homeward; 7 hours even, every minute fun. More detailed notes and pictures (I took all pictures; when the Bard isn't writing, his other job is male supermodel): On morning approach day 1, Jack Mtn and Nohokomeen Gl: Early part of roped climbing on day 2, somewhere around 7000': I was pretty worked from the day 1 approach, and started to get some hand cramps about 1000' into the climb; so Rolf took up the yoke and led the majority of the steep headwall in the middle third of the climb. He drew the crux pitch, which among its cruxes, included pulling a roof over suspect gear. Rolf reached into his puny reservoir of Solid and cruised the pitch—-one of the most impressive leads I'll witness. It was here that I believe he threw an alpine berserker gang-sign. No time for pics, but after following the pitch, I took a shot back at its traverse element: You might be able to make out some tat from MnE's rap 3 years ago. Additionally, looking at this pic from Mike's report, I surmise that while those guys went up and left from that point, we went up and right, cutting back left eventually. Here's Rolf making his way through more roofs: Some exposure from this belay, looking down at the buttress: At about 7500', I led what we jokingly referred to as a "comeback pitch" left and then up one of the few clean splitters we encountered, very exposed, then Rolf zagged back right across the buttress crest: The climbing was exposed and a lot of fun; I like the Bard's term for it, "cerebral", ha. Another shot a bit higher, ~8000': We had enough daylight to search around for bivy sites between 8000 and 8300, and settled on a then-windless site at 8200'. Temps were dropping a bit more steeply than we expected; we'd left our sleeping bags in favor of a lighter jacket-and-backpack bivy, and paid for our insouciance. We were so giddy about our situation, that we giggled convulsively through the night. Here's the alpine rat burrowing in for Led Zeppelin's "you shook me" all night long: Took some solace from the views; underexposed Picket Range: After the sun came up and I drank from my partially frozen water, we scrambled up and roped up for teetering stacked blocks to the summit (Mt. Spickard background): Last pitch to the yet-unclimbed 8501' summit: Shot of Pickets from tippy-top: Now we have to go over there--SE Mox: The traverse involved a 60m rap, a scoot around a gendarme, then a few more pitches of climbing on a ridge--actually very cool climbing. Even more pics, first is looking back at Rolf and the gendarme, I think: Then Rolf leading toward SE Mox, Mt Redoubt background and NW Mox foreground: Finally, views of 1) Lemolo from the summit SE Mox; 2) Challenger et al; 3) Bear's NF etc.: Then the ultra-brutal chossy galore descent of several gullies to the glacier: This tried our dessicated patience. Staggered into a deserved camp celebration of the finest 2-course meal (I guess everything does taste better with tuna), brews, bourbon, chocolate. Last day parting shot: And then beers and plunges at Ross Lake while waiting for our boat; deeeeluxe. I can now fully appreciate and salute Mike and Erik's journey into the unknown 3 years ago. Pretty certain I'd not take 4 days off to go after this big endeavor without their information posted here--thanks fellas. I remember reading about the brotherhood you guys shared, and held hope for similar with Rolf--nope. Our partnership is built on mutual disrespect and loathing; we share a vile and putrid love, and feed most from each other's misery. I'm not happy until you're not happy. Nevertheless, the Bard is a solid partner and I look forward to future adventures--this was an exceptionally stellar one. Gear Notes: -medium rack, with pins that did not get used. tri-cams employed often. -while no metal used, much extracted; our route intersected rap stations enough such that we bootied bountifully. -no plants were harmed in the development of our product. Approach Notes: Jungle fever Nihilism (or Zen Buddhism, according to one’s preference)

right on guys, looks like a fun climb and solid effort. my curiousity re: that route was piqued at a Roper slideshow years ago, but i didn't follow through and it faded into the recesses of my mind. good to see someone mustering up! a few weeks ago, i recall looking over from Tillie's Towers at that area (S side), and there are lots of craggy peaks. how high is the summit (trying to locate on the map)?

on Sunday on the NW side of the mtn it snowed off and on, mostly on, into the evening, then cleared up after nightfall. we didn't crest 10k, but my guess is that viz sucked pretty high. check turns-all-year.com too, i'm sure you'll get more info there re: the S side.

v. cool, fellas.

Thanks guys...yeah Mike, that's a long ways to go for an unknown quantity, but it worked out great. Oh, and 'staafl (nullum gratuitum prandium): what I meant was that our team is one man and one monkey, not 2 half-monkeys. Backhanded compliment(?) to the man-monkey. Sorry for any confusion. You can see there are more lines to be had on that N facing wall, hope someone gets back there, would like to hear about it. There's also a good-looking long-ish ridge climb with gendarmes off to looker's left (not visible in first pic, but the ridge toe is in the pic preceding the McAllister Icefall pic), so lots of options...

Trip: Tillie's Towers - Austera Ridge - W Tillie's Tower N Arete Date: 8/17/2008 Trip Report: Inspired by J. Scurlock's photo, Rolf Larson and I climbed an approx. 1100' route (6.5 rope-stretch cysmastfu pitches) on the half-sunlit arete of the right hand tower, just left of center in pic below: credit: J. Scurlock. Tillie's Towers are basically the most prominent NW terminus of Austera Ridge or Austera Towers (point 8260' on USGS map), of which Beckey comments: "The name is for austere, barren rock towers consisting of many massive rock blocks and spires. The N flank of the western towers is above an unnamed glacier where there is the steepest wall of the ridge...These are two impressive towers..." We found solid, mostly clean and featured rock--Eldorado Orthogneiss--offering both nice cracks and gear-protected face climbing. The route featured gobs of 5.8 and .7 climbing, with a few moves of .9 sprinkled along the way. Joking about a route name, I liked "Nutmeg Tilly" (you better lay your nutmeg down), but Rolf rightly observed re our route: "an unearthed obscurity destined to return to obscurity." "Unearthed Obscurity" is better because the adjacent Piltdown Tower (see pic below) refers to Piltdown Man, an archaelogical hoax comprised of part man, part monkey--like our team. This is an out-of-the way rugged corner of the NCNP; I dug the cool position and alpine ambiance. Pardon the pictorial play-by-play, I got a few decent pics--wildfire haze has its pros and cons...but the rock and area are photogenic. After hot long hike in from Colonial Cr Campground on Aug 16, sunset light on Primus peak and Borealis Gl from our camp: On up/down/up approach morning Aug. 17, it started raining, but we decided to go to the base of the route and see what the weather decided. Looking back at Tricouni at sunrise, Ragged Ridge L background: Showers stopped, we ascended over blue glacial ice to base, and were stoked to get on it. Pitch 1, crack and face on neat-O rock: We generally stayed either on or w/in spitting distance of the Arete. However, on pitch 2, I did a curve right to access a chimney system to bypass an overhanging pillar. Belay from cleft, top p. 2, hard to see Shuksan in background: Rolf heading up scrappy .9 section of p. 3, from deluxe alcove belay: I drew these nice cracks on pitch 4: Pitches 1-4 are pretty steep; from 5 on the arete backs off a bit. Here's a shot looking down 6 at the glacier: From the summit, views of the McAllister Gl icefall and Austera Ridge (towers): Descent beta: rap S face c. 100', then traverse E and downclimb steep 4th to gully between the Towers. Descend gully only a little, looking to ascend/traverse E to Austera ridge crest. Find your way down and onto to N Klawatti Gl (deep moat). On rap, half man half monkey Piltdown Tower: Tag E Tillie for good measure (dry Buckner background): We had time, and a poor next-day forecast seemed to prohibit climbing the N side of Primus, so we went over Primus en route to camp. Along the way, snuck a pic of contemplative curmudgeon with more Eldo Orthogneiss, rare opp to avoid the finger: From summit Primus, view of our camp at outlet of Borealis Gl: Lightning and thunderstorm that night, with next morning dawning temporarily clear: Such a purty place, with a dapper Pinocchio to boot: (clem done found him a tattered hat) Parting shot of Tricouni and Primus, happy to hike in the rain: Having only cragged once this year in March (long ski season, busy summer), this was an ideal alpine shot in the arm with--dare I say it--an easy-going and downright fun-to-hate partner. The route's certainly not destined for any guidebook, but if you like untrammeled lines, a fine place. In light of all that, prob. moot title: West Tillie's Tower - N Arete ("Unearthed Obscurity") III 5.9 Gear Notes: med. alpine rack, brought pins did not use them axe and crampons 4 12 oz. Rainier 1 flask bourbon (Porter: can you guess?) Approach Notes: icy hot become what you hate destroy what you love

Entertaining write-up. When I read, "...was all downhill from here - just scramble down the Cascadian Couloir and then traverse back around the mountain to our bivi. It was about 4:30 pm. " I thought, here we go...big mtn, you would've been hard pressed to make it in daylight if you knew the route back. That is a great "short" route on Stuart, with a nice variety of alpine climbing. Thanks for the re-visit.

Jim Beam Black is all that is right with America. I'll try to get some pics posted next couple days, got a few good ones.

green is approx. location of our line--the smaller features hard to pick out in this pic. as i understand it, DOE starts just just right of where our route leaves the fat ledge; where we found a nice licheny splitter then traversed left to the crest, DOE goes straight up those split roofs. blue is the way we went the first time on way to Dragonfly--perhaps w/ more variation to R or L (?). I recommend our pitches to the ledge, generally good rock and steeper climbing than the ramp.

as of sunday 7/7, the N face was still in shape to ski (and climb)--Sky posted our trip on turnsallyear. looks like it had at least a week or so of life in it for a climber.

holy crap! sickness.

(beta alert) re Dragonfly (and options), as best as I can recollect: when DH and I failed on this route, we started left of where you started in a R-facing corner in good rock, then trended left a bit and up. result was steep .10 (+ or -) climbing for 2 long pitches or 3 shorter ones, from start to big ledge. then as W says, an obvious OW off to the right; we linked this with the 10c above for a long strenuous pitch. (there's small gear--blue tcu comes to mind--somewhere along the OW, which felt pretty secure if you're into that kinda thing; i believe a large cam was employed too) when I set off on the 11 corner LB shooting up and right from under the roofs, the feet were all grainy kittylitter, and i was weak. after flailing a bit in too-hot temps and dropping sun, we bailed from under the roof. unfinished business. the next trip we more or less replicated the start, but moved even farther left to gain the big ledge, encountering steep and engaging climbing (trip report somewhere on here--our line to left of Wayne's, which looked excellent, for you toughguys). then, DH led us up and left to the crest of the buttress, a cool line and viable option for you if D-fly starts biting. as W relates, once up the c. 900' or so of steepness to where the crest relents, it's an uninspiring but scenic ramble to the top. we bootied a bunch of nice gear near the summit in that rotten rock! the steep part of the N face of teh NE buttress holds many appealing lines in good rock--seems a good candidate for alpine cragging, if some generous soul were to install a couple gear anchors for rapping (not advocating drilling). we donated a couple once, haha.

nice pics, cool report.

Sounds fun - if you like that kind of shit.

climbs are generally "more vertical for the grade" there, as most have tons of features (horizontal dikes) vs. more pure crack climbs a la Index. that said, ratings seem on par with Leavenworth, for whatever that's worth (i.e., you'll encounter variation depending on when the route was put up). V. fun place to climb.

hey E. briefly overhanging. bigger gear. strenuous, 10+ or 11-. fun outing. E

thank you for your enlightening and artful prose and pictures. aesthetic. H O T to boot. in a deliverance sorta way.

depending on weather in L-worth, might end up at the coulee this wknd. can't remember when last there. searched and turned up dated stuff. Qs: 1) still need a parking permit? guessing yes, those posts not quite as dated. anybody been cited recently? 2) can you camp behind the Feathers? Where are the good spots to camp within a decent drive? thanks for any info.

deeeee-luuuuuxxe

i would've taken credit for those gut-bombs, proud pieces of work they were. but i can't, as much as i feel they were a fitting tribute to the odious and odiferous dr layton. bon voyage kevin bacon/t-rex!

that looks pretty darn similar to a route m'lady and i took up there several years ago--definitely quality adventure climbing, w/ dinner plate dancing. did you pass a huge, thin flake at some point, jutting upwards?

hard to understand some of the responses. seems a legitimate point: if you don't properly train your dog for the environment you take it to, keep it leashed until trained, or don't take it. duh. i'm a new dog owner, and this makes sense to me--the initial knee-jerk reactions were heavy on the jerk. as for poop, pick that shite up, it's one of those things responsible people do out of consideration for fellow folk, just like, um, staying in the right lane except to pass. or turning off the cell phone in restaurants. riiiiight. bottom line: be a good ant in the colony, not a pissant.

thanks to all for the good info. It's been quite a few years. yeah i'm concerned re: snakes too--hope they are less active in the predicted cool(er) temps. also will prob. have to leash our curious (but not overly geeky in-your-face) puppy/dog. oh, reminds me, i recall reading about a bridge out (req. tyrolean) or somesuch nonsense--prob. repaired by now. we'll just have a look. thanks again.

For those with Local Knowledge, please help fill in some gaps for me, in order of importance (much thanks in advance): Q1: Do you still need a stupid permit to park near the Bend or Royal Col areas, and if so, where do you get it? ( Last time I was there, it was a diff. permit than the trial pass used 'round the Cascades--and I got a $60 ticket from the feds. ) Q2: Are dogs verboten at the crags? Q3: Camping suggestions? Camped at Windy last time, lived up to its name and then some. Q4: Hiking/trail running 'round there? The dog needs his exercise.