lunger

yes you are--you love ow/squeeze chims with spice...and the topper 20' of hand/fistcrack makes that pitch oh so worthwhile. Ross is so generous, he let me lead the 2p of off-size fun in exchange for taking the .11 block of 2 pitches up top: a STEEP pitch of stellar and varied fingers and hands; then the wild 'jump on the fumble' move, a strenuous undercling fling to embrace the football chockstone. this was a fun route! a couple pics here, and a couple more in the gallery: "intimidating-looking" L-facing chimney etc: Ross follows p2: Here's the novel football (too busy belaying this strenuous lead to get an action pic): cool cannonhole in big kanga:

Yeah, there were probably 3 20-meter stretches that were decent climbing. (The info. we had was sketchy and conflicting; not to imply that we'd have hit it right w/ perfect info. anyway.) I drew a decent section of steep fingers (maybe 9/10-) and then fun hands (in hindsight, it gets better in recollection all the time, of course.) The best stretch was probably this last headwall pitch, that Ross led at approx .10+: and the next best pitch, downclimbing the descent gully:

right on Ross, thanks for the pics...and the CDs, invaluable for the long drive back! Pos Vibes = spectacular; 'unreal' does describe the high quality of climbing on the Hulk. highly recommend it as a worthy trip from the Valley, or from anywhere for that matter!

cool! thanks for the info!

i can't seem to get PM's to work. re: 7.5 W montrails unless these run small, i'll buy 'em. not sure if my paypal acct still active, but can send check. or meet in seattle, if you are in vicinity.

"The following morning, Don took advantage of two skiers' steps (thanks, guys) to climb Snowfield’s NW face, while..." That was us, you're welcome. Nice trip and report! Looking S from Snowfield def. inspires an urge to return for a tour akin to yours--views hard to beat.

(g)ripper!

hadn't seen these until now, sweet pics! finally the Goldilocks conditions--glad i was there for too little, too much, not just right. riiiiiiggght. bugger!

so that's what the kids are calling it these days. hope to catch you guys there tonight.

wow, tough acts to follow. here's my 11th hour submission--too late to get to my other computer for better... scenic - from this January - winter sunrise on EMS, D Needle, El Dorado skiing - lucky shot - on NF Shuksan, Price Lake background humor - Sky in lately purchased fireman's $10 hard hat atop Chianti craggin' - Direct E Buttress Middle Cathedral - El Cap back alpine - Fin-top traverse, Backbone Ridge on Dragontail - always pretty Colchuck Lake in background

thanks for the pics, i dig the climbing in that canyon. have also been forced to detour around a mature moose en route to a.m. climbing there--intimidating creatures!

on this topic, happened to get this apropos piece just today: THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST ACCORDING TO JEFF FOXWORTHY 1. You know the state flower (Mildew). 2. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash. 3. Use the statement "sun break" and know what it means 4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee. 5. You know more people who own boats rather than air conditioners. 6. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant. 7. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the "Walk" Signal. 8. You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it is not a real mountain. 9. You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and Veneto's. 10. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho and Sockeye salmon. 11. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Issaquah, Oregon, Yakima and Willamette. 12. You consider swimming an indoor sport. 13. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food. 14. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark while only working eight-hour days. 15. You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho. 16. You are not fazed by "Today's forecast: showers followed by rain," and "Tomorrow's forecast: rain followed by showers." 17. You have no concept of humidity without precipitation. 18. You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind. 19. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you cannot see through the cloud cover. 20. You notice, "The mountain is out" when it is a pretty day and you can actually see it. 21. You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still wear your hiking boots and parka 22. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on. 23. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain. 24. You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or tourists. 25. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you cannot find the old ones after such a long time. 26. You measure distance in hours. 27. You often switch from "heat" to "a/c" in the same day. 28. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat. 29. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Raining (Spring), Road Construction (Summer), Deer & Elk season (Fall). 30. You actually understood these jokes and will probably forward them

booker

right on man!

my bad, but not so bad: just looked at the map, and it was >1200', sucka. approx .5 mi short of Marble creek bridge. woulda been higher and dryer (wetter? stuck, anyway) had I listened to you.

2 days ago, got stymied in a Subaru ~ 1600' or so, i.e. ~ 6-7 mi. up the Cascade R. Rd. Prob. a little melt since, and higher clearance would do some better.

right on Colin--looks like a surreal experience.

nicshe work. "a giant among our people," har har! way to tend them rabbits, george and lennie, Lilliputian and Brobdingnagian punks...

you can tell there's no interesting climbing there. Shoshone, so show me, SW butt of Nez Perce = particularly blase. thanks for the TR anyway.

lost: self-esteem please return if found. might find it next to the dregs of a rat's nest.

smart ass!

right on Mike and Ratdog, looks like fun. been wanting to check that route out. please rate approach suckiness and rock quality. edit: posted before I saw the verbiage (your 2nd post). questions answered, thx.

deeeee-luxxxe nice work, love that vagarious d-tail rock "R" designation because of scant pro, copious loose rock, or (both) crappy pro in rotten/loose rock? .11 moves w/ long fall potential (ugh)?

thanks; unfortunately, the camera angles don't capture just how cool that big narrowing chimney is. yeah, it starts out mellow-thrutchy, then gets pretty darn desperate around the roof, but really only for a couple of stiff moves, then gets hard again, but not as hard. The ow then accesses a SWEET thin-hands to hands crack. this whole climb is fun, go get 'er. btw, the previous day after Serpentine, we went on enviro-cleanup patrol: someone had left two chopped-up ropes on the Beckey route. They had rapped down the route from the top of p. 3 below the slab, where you could easily walk to the usual rap station. They didn't have the common courtesy to leave proper booty; the nice 1/2 ropes were both cut in this fiasco, and single-line raps were fixed. (???) we packed 'em out, rando-ropes-a-plenty.

DH and I enjoyed this route on Sunday (9/23) in perfect temps. I haven't been climbing v. hard this summer, so this climb provided some much-needed smelling salt. Having now climbed both the p. 3 ow and the dihedral/traverse options, i prefer the offwidth, both for quality of climbing and security(!?). You might discount this primitive climber's opinion, but even at .11- ow, I think it is easier (and provides more pro) than the ".10d" traverse, which I did not free. ow is straight up; traverse option up corner w/ rotten block on l.h.s., then right at near (visible) top of ow. ugh. The dude (guide?) that leads the 1st pitch (DH) gets the tougher draw each round (good thing i brought the sandwiches), but there's plenty to go around. To complete my humiliation/emasculation, DH ran together the two somewhat-dirtweasel .10 pitches #s 9 and 10, leaving me with the plum, the Medusa roof pitch. Super fun climbing in a striking feature, steep for the grade (juggy .8), and cool exposure as you chimney over a lot of air. looking down while chim-chimneying DH finishing chimney, can be made out (barely) in background. This route deserves more traffic. With no one around, we trundled a bit from the lower pitches. I also kicked down a fist-sized foothold during a loose and cruxy bit on p. 2, proving the wisdom of DH's sheltered p. 1 belay to the left of the corner. Gear notes: we had a rack of nuts, almost double cams to .75", then single cams to 4", supplemented w/ tri-cams. This worked well. Bring big stuff per Mike's above if you choose to ow. As you can see by Mike/Marcus's pics, the rock quality varies, so the smallest cams and rp's are (imo) negligibly useful. Shoulda had: syrah, as counterpoint to sandwiches. Great time. From summit spied this oft-photographed group: