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Crackman

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Everything posted by Crackman

  1. Nice pics & TR - you captured it well. My buddy H and I climbed RTL just yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Beautiful climb in a beautiful setting.
  2. Way to go tall dude ! Nice read and super photos. Jeff Park was one of my all time most enjoyable climbs back on 6-1-2002 - back when Hood was closed because of the rescue chopper crash/fiasco. The knife edge ridge was mixed and the summit pinacle was completely plastered with super solid rime. Fun fun fun!!!
  3. I might swing by after my son's b-ball game, if it's not too late, and see if I can catch a lap or 2 with you all. If not a few traverses up top will suffice.
  4. Good times indeed. Here's a few more pics. Donnie starting up the first pitch on the south side This gives some idee of the angle at the base of the route on the north side Starting up the 1st pitch Donnie at the belay Starting up the 2nd pitch One of our brief glimpses of Yokum - mmmmm lovely At the end of the climb, a disappointed Donnie, wishing he would have stayed in rainy PDX that day.
  5. WOW - now that's a climb!!! Inspirational choss & moss TR at its finest. My utmost respect for you and your predecessors on the strength of your mental game. Thanks for sharing.
  6. Have fun PDX crew. Wish I could join you all but will be heading north for some BC ice.
  7. Right on Bill and UJ With all this rain, some fun in the sun would be really nice right now. Thanks for the momentary escape enjoying the pics!
  8. It's been too long, since the last PDX PC. I hope to be there.
  9. We discovered this morning that the Road to Cload Cap is now gated at the Tilly Jane trailhead.
  10. Here is our route (red) relative to the Sunshine (green) which starts from snowdome and goes around horseshoe rock (usually the right side but sometimes left) and then up the ridge. Wayne, Is this the BS secret topo? If so, like Rob said, you already posted it. I think we came down near the purple line on the far right. http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/upload/148804-Black%20Spider.jpg
  11. Trip: Mt Hood - Eliot Glacier (minus the HW plus the BS) Date: 11/2/2007 Trip Report: Laura was the only one willing to take me up on my offer to go check things out on the N side last Friday and see what might unfold. Well, we ended up getting in a fun route up and a not so fun route down. Going up, we reached the base of the N face gullies at dawn and found them to be, as others had warned, “not in” So we kept traversing around the base of the N Cleaver and crossed a massive ramp between two large open crevasses to reach the upper Eliot glacier. We continued up the center of glacier weaving a path of least resistance around and over numerous crevasses. The HW did not have any ice routes to offer us so we climbed solid ice and snow on the far right side to join the ridge above the Queens chair. I don’t think we climbed the actual HW (shown as route 7 in Thomas’ Oregon High photo) but skirted it to the right. Anyway, beautiful conditions on the summit, never saw another soul. Ok here’s where it get’s interesting (but mostly embarrassing). I have never been up or down Cooper Spur before but didn’t expect it to be difficult to find and follow with clear conditions. Well I was wrong. We passed up going down the ridge and and left here And instead, headed down the right side here After some initial easy down-climbing on perfect Styrofoam, we eventually dead ended at a small cliff band that appeared to connect with another snow slope not to far down below. I assumed we were on the route but that it had not yet filled in all the way with snow. We committed to a rap and soon discovered that this cliff led to more of the same and that we were in the midst of a very large, steep, chossy gully system that I now suspect is one of the notorious Black Spider routes. I lost count but it took around 10-12 raps with our single 60m rope, some dicey down climbing, and the rest of our daylight, to finally reach the Newton Clark glacier. It was constant challenge to balance moving fast and efficient with being methodical and safe. We were also very fortunate. Somehow, in the midst of this endless sea of choss, I always managed to locate a solid rock horn for the next rap anchor (even if it did require carving out the rubble behind it. There were also more close calls with rock fall and getting the rope stuck than I care to think about. This descent was a whole new level of adventure for Laura but she was a champ and really kept it together. We were both very happy to have it behind us and make the final hike back to Cloud Cap before friends and family got too worried.
  12. Funny, I was just thinking of sharing that experience. Confession is good for the soul - and for getting flammed!
  13. Well done Josh and Dan . Enjoyed the TR immensely. Nice that your GF was willing to hang out and take pictures, she got some really nice shots of you guys. WOW, it’s been almost 25 years since I did that climb. Reading about your adventure brought back the memories. My own experience and feelings closely matched yours. It was my first aid climb and I remember well the slow, strenuous, awkward, movement up the ladder, struggling to “be rational” about the exposure, and when it was finally all over, loving it. It also was a dawn to dark event.
  14. Would like to go up and check things out on the North Side while the weather is still good. At a minimum, climb some of the lower spur ice flows, but if one of the NF gullies or Eliot HW looks good, then go for the summit. Either way, it's gotta be better than just another day at work. PM me if interested
  15. OK Joseph, that weather report trick worked. I'm going to have skip out of work early and climb while it's still dry. I'll probably be out there around 3 or so and hopefully can hook up with someone?
  16. Sorry man, but Thur was my day to tend to the domestic dutes. More of it on Mon. Tue just might work, if I can escape from the land of cubicles early enough.
  17. Ivan or anyone else? It's way too nice out. I could blow out of work and by ready to go by 2:30. I'm able to lead up to 9s and follow 10s
  18. I'm heading over today after work. Anyone up for some laps.
  19. Think I'll stick to Rocky B for tonight. Maybe try CS later when it gets wet and dark out.
  20. Hmmmm... Women's night a club sport sounds tempting... and begs a lot of questions. Do you need to be a member? What's the cost? What time are you going? Would I have to go in drag?
  21. I'm going to try and get out there tonight, but I have a few other things to tend to that could prevent it. If I can hook up with anyone, say before 6pm, for some TR laps that would be great, if not, there's always bouldering up top.
  22. Thin face moves up and right will get you to the belay.
  23. Trip: Southern Pickets, Inspiration Peak - East Ridge Date: 8/22/2007 Trip Report: Four of us (Todd, Fred, Tommy, and myself) joined up for a weeklong trip to the Southern Pickets, with plans to climb the E ridge of Inspiration and the N buttress of Terror. The last weather forecast showed it clearing by mid day on Monday. So we decided to be optimistic and hope that we would only get rain on the approach. Sun: Headed up the Goodell Creek trail at noon under a steady rain. Bivied part way up. Mon: Awoke to more rain. Finished the approach to the beautiful campsite below the notch. Set-up camp and hoped it would clear soon. Never did. Tue: Rained all day with limited visbility. While we stuck to the tents, another group of 4 made an attempt on West side of W McMillian Spire, making it all the way to the base of the route before turning back. A peak at the Pickets between showers Wed: Finally clear skies. Headed out from camp ~7:30. Glacier crossing involved some crevasse navigation with a couple steeper sections to access the base of the route. Pitch 1: fun clean granite ~ 5.4 Pitch 2,3: Chossy & mossy Pitch 4: Clean, blocky climbing up to the E ridge proper Pitch 5,6: Broke into 2 short pitches to avoid rope drag and confirm route direction. Easily combined into a single pitch Pitch 7: The crux and highlight of the climb. We stuck to the perfect left handcrack only Pitch 8,9 Up to and around the East summit Pitch 10: Downclimb and traverse to the notch between the 2 summits Pitch 11: 4th class to the true summit The sun was setting as we topped out. The view of the N Pickets was spectacular. We began rapping down the W ridge with double 60m ropes. Things were going smoothly until the end of the 3rd rap, just above the exit gully, where we could not locate the next rap station. After all four of us had given up searching across loose slabs in the dark, we set up our own anchor and rapped off into the nastiest gully I've been in for years. Despite our best efforts, the darkness made it difficult to avoid launching unstable rocks and dodge them when we did. A couple of near misses convinced us to hunker down on a small ledge until the sun came up. Thur: We passed a few cold hours telling stories and watching for shooting stars. At dawn, a couple more raps took us down to the glacier. We climbed out of the moat and made a took a new path down through the crevasses to the slabs below. Spent the rest of the chillin at camp, catching up on sleep and food. Friday: A beautiful last day. We packed up, hiked out, and gorged ourselves on Buffalo steaks and beers :brew:in Marblemount. Gear Notes: We did the 4 man circus act with 3 ropes and 1 medium rack Approach Notes: Trail is well established all the way
  24. Except for rain the first 3 days, the Pickets were fantastic. I'm working on a TR that I hope to post soon. Sorry you can't make it tonight Mel. We'll catch you next time. Bill, Blueberry jam is good with me - maybe toothpick too!
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