scott_johnston

Goatboy; No have not climbed Decaf lately but did get a very good look at it 3 days ago while climbing nearby. It is in super well and there are many options once in it to make it more or less difficult. Cord should still be in place on trees for raps but bring some in case. Be advised we are having a major warm up the last two days. I advise waiting for the next cold snap before planning an ice climbing trip to Mazama. Most of the climbs are fat so should survive a few days of warming no problem. Scott

Climb: Mazama Ice- Date of Climb: 2/20/2006 Trip Report: The ice in Mazama is best in the locals' memory right now so get out there. Not everything is in but the stuff that is in is great! In Goat Wall creek: The 2-3 pitch Standard is fat and solid. Its normal WI3/4 X rating is now just WI3+ since the ice is so good. The Coffee climb area is pretty good. From L to R: *Mr Coffee WI5 is not in *The Percolator is not in *Next big column to the R: Espresso is fat and WI4+/5- right now. We finally cleaned all the dead brush at the top so we could lead it and you can safely top out. *Cafe au Lait is a very good short 3+/4 *Decafe is the easy WI2/3 gully at far R and is in well. Except for Mr Coffe these are climbs of 40'-70'. This year they are shorter due to snow pack at the base. These also face south so no telling how long they will last. It has been in the single digits each am so they may hold up a while. Goat's Beard is not in. Gate Creek. No word. The Dagger, visible on the way to the Standard is not touching down yet and the WI6 crux looks skinny compared to the only time it has been climbed. The Czech Gully is filled with snow and the mixed climb that Steve House and I put up in there a couple of years ago is mostly coverd in avy debris. The chockstone has no tunnel behind this year due to all the snow. Get out while the getting is good. Scott Johnston

Yes, the ice is still in. We got the expected big avy cycle over the weekend. Temps since then have been hovering just below freezing. Lots of snow yesterday up high and snowing all day hard here in Mazama today. Friends climbed on the road cut below the spires yesterday. Scott

One of our Mazama locals has a gas Ryobi that kicks ass on my Bosch Annialator. Downsides are that the hot muffler WILL burn your arm and MUST be kept away from the rope. Up sides: It is very powerfull. With a new bit it will drill 20 holes on a pint. My Bosch takes two batteries for the same. Long body so it makes for awkward drilling stances in an already awkward activity. Big down side is that I have heard it is not made any longer so look for it in surplus tool stores. Good luck, Scott

Slaphappy; Great coverage, 50cm of new on the morning of the 23rd. That was over a 50cm layer of faceted snow going to the ground. That combined with a couple of melt freeze layers made for a spooky snowpack. It has warmed significantly and been raining here in Mazama off and on. We need a big avy cycle to clean things out. Skiing has been very good.

Climb: WA pass ice-several Date of Climb: 12/23/2005 Trip Report: The road cuts at WA pass are in great shape these days. Have made a thre trips in the last week before the snow covers them. Most of the 8-10 lines are around 80' and from WI3-5 with some fun TR mixed lines. Conditions are better than last year but the fun WI3/AI3 gullies are too dangerous now. Most lines have trees at thge top or fixed gear that may require digging for. Lib Bell gullies 1&2 had run pretty big and I suspect they will have run again today as it was dumping when we left at 4pm. Rainey lake falls is the biggest I hasve ever seen it. All three lines are in fat but now have major avy hazard. These are climbs of 4-500' and are threatened big time by slopes below the old Lyman galcier. Gear Notes: Snomo, screws, rope,the ususal stuff Approach Notes: snomo to base of climb, belay from there.

still another

More pics

great views at WA pass yesterday

3-4" at Harts pass Monday.

Climbed the south climbers route Sunday the 24th with a group of high schoolers most of whom had never climbed any mountain. We left the trail head at 5:45am and were at the lunch counter at 8:30am and on top at 11:45am. Back at trailhead at 2:15pm. Went with running shoes and ski poles and lots of water. Can't really see what the point is of lugging a tent to 9000' unless you just like to carry a heavy pack and sleep outdoors. It is certainly doable in a relatively easy day from the parking lot. Scott Johnston

Here is a photo taken while working on a new (yes another one) Goat Wall route with Bryan Burdo. It shows the money part of the E Ridge of Silver Star in spring conditions. If this view doesn't set your little alpine heart a twitter than you'd better just stick the sport crags. It also shows pretty well the Silverhorn feature. Scott Johnston

Jedi; We didn't climb the Cassin. It is a long story and since this board is supposed to be for trip reports I don't want to bore folks with an aborted trip report In short the conditions and our super lightweight style caused us/me to bail. Scott

The E Ridge of SS "integrale" as you say is indeed a fine route. It is of a different nature than N ridge of Stuart; more a major traverse than a simple climb. Geof may have pioneered the route some time ago and at this juncture I think he is only man alive to have survived two complete ascents (most recently a month ago). A strong party moving fast on the approach and descent, 3rd classing almost all of the route and carrying a light rope for a few raps and short belayed sections and a minimal rack can expect to spend 14-18 hours on route with all but 3-4 hours of that rock climbing. No H2O is to be found on the route till one reaches the larch bench on the W side of Burg col. Scott

Clint; I just returned from a trip to Denali with Colin Haley and we were on the lower W Rib as part of our approach (descent from 14k camp on the Butt) to the Cassin ridge. The lower rib was in VERY poor and icy conditions. Basically 4000' of blue and black ice. Due to its angle this necessitated front pointing down climbing unroped around 3k. The ice domes were...ice, but easy to French tech down. But none of the plunge stepping in snow that we had heard about and hoped for. The lower "Chicken Gully" which makes up the bottom 500m of the climb was almost melted out. This has been skied but this year was a record low snow fall winter I guess. We only saw one rap station and it was 30' up a side wall and useless. Much of ice in the gully was 1000 year old black glacier ice with lots of rocks imbedded. In one spot the ice was only about 15' wide and to avoid spontaneous rock fall from above we down climbed some of the nastiest frozen 45 degree choss you can imagine. I bent one tool and dulled all my point in that section. Rock fall was very active (TV sized blocks) and we hugged the skier's right side of the gully but still felt very exposed. The lower half of the gully had a major trough and waterfall with a hose of H20 about 24" across and 12" deep flowing fast. The runout zone onto the NE fork was black with rockfall and a major schrund crossed the base of the gully with said waterfall cascading magnificantly over the ice cliff. From what I saw I'd go early in a good snow year. The upper rib is a cruise and still had good snow cover last week. It is fun to do it as an alternative the upper Butt from 14 as a day trip. More direct/shorter. no crowds and really no harder if you like fun 3rd/4th class terrain. Scott Johnston

Guys; Mark is is still in recovery from his traumatic guiding adveture on Big Mack. Not sure he'll ever be the same so being a bit familiar with the territory in question I'll chime in. Pretty darned sure Mark's route on S Tooth was on a feature of Snag Tooth ridge. Silver Horn is a striking feature on the E ridge of the E summit of SStar itself (ref. Red Fred). Pt 8252 referenced above is another interesting rock farther E of S Horn long the E ridge. N The rock on these E ridge fetures is sone of the best in he immediate area. As the photos above show it is more like the Forbidden granite than the typical WApa stuff. As a little aside I will also say that the complete E ridge of S Star is one of the best alpine ridge outings in the WApa areas. Miles of fine granite along a beautiful ridge with great view. Not sure why is not in anyones' guide book. I only know a (very) small handfull of folks who have done it. I honestly believe it deserves to be a classic of the range. To get the full effect you need start at the Cedar Ck parking lot and hike 150m up the regular trail to an unmarked horse packer trial on the right; follow this 3000' steeply up to gain the ridge and continue from there to summit. Trail at first which makes the approach nice then scrambly for a mile or so all the time getting slightly more interesting. When you get to pt 8252 the fun really starts. Count on a long day and be able to climb fast on low to mid 5th terrain. Continue over the E summit and down the S Star glacier over Burg col and down to your second car at the Burg ck parking. If you need to bail rap to the S side of the ridge and schwack down to the Cedar ck trail then back out to the start. Great fun. Peter croft and his Sierras ain't got nothing on us. Scott Johnston

Rockgirl: Having climbed the S ridge of Cutthroat several times I would defintley recommend down climbing and rapping the route. Much more straightforward than dealing with the choss of the W Ridge route. You can also stash gear at the base that way. The S Butt has some fun pitches and the difficult sections are shortish. It will help to be smooth and fast on 3rd and 4th class sections. Rap anchors were in good order last summer. On the approach takle the last gully on the SW toe of the Butt; gain the easy ledges on the right side of gully ASAP and then only re-enter the gully when forced to do so near the top. Easy 2-3rd class that way on decent rock. The crux off width crack on the last pitch is short but it has a lot of exposure and there was a very bad accident there a few years ago requiring a helicopter when strong climbers were soloing that section and one fell out of the off width 100+'. I have had clients really struggle there as it is a slanting crack as well as wide. Unless you are confident in that type of climbing I would recommend protecting the crack with a #4 Camalot. Have a great time. Scott Johnston

Blake; Glad that you enjoyed the Spon. Arete. Go ahead and toss all that ribbon. We can get more when we need it. Larry and I placed that there two years ago when the trail was much less distinct. We wanted to get the trail beaten in and well established so as to avoid the damage that comes from to many lost climbers trying to follow too many vague trails. We figured that someone would remove it when it became obvious where the approach trail was. Remember that we hacked that trail out of nothing and it was pretty rough when we first finished it. I am sure it looked ridiculouly over flagged when you went there but it was done with the best of intentions to minimize impatct. Thaks for removing what has become unnecessary now. Scott

Dirtyleaf; All those routes that have been suggested would be fine choices and certainly both Nelson's Selected book along with the Red Beckey guide could keep one busy for a lifetime. Being a local and someone who has some experience guiding beginner to intermediate rock climbers on alpine rock routes I would suggest the following as routes to cut your alpine rock teeth on. These should avoid the jam ups that can occur on some of the deservedly popular routes at WA pass that can attract several parties of relatively inexperienced climbers on any given sunny weekend day. Nothing wrong with beginners mind you but having many of them on one climb at one time can, at best, lead to a lessening of the quality of the experience for all involved and potentially become dangerous. SO...... 1) check out CC.com for Poster Peak- Blue buttress. Beckey calls this Pica pk in the Reg book and lists vague reports of routes. No doubt his are first ascents but the local history of these offers more recent beta. Search here and on NWMJ for info and photos. 2)Spontaneity Arete on le Petit Cheval. Search CC.com. Better quality than S arete of SEWS. This may be construed as shameless self promotion of a route I helped establish but it is still a fine route for intermediate rock climbers to learn skills in a pretty uncommitting alpine setting. And no waiting in line after walking all the way to SEWS. 3) S Butt of Cuttthroat. I think it was mentioned. 4) N Ridge of Cutthroat. Longish approach from Rainy pass but easy cross country travel in beautiful country. The ridge is great fun and moderate. Use the W approach the E side gulley to the notch is 200' runout of bad rock at around 5.8 (ask me how I found this out while guiding). 5)Avoid the W ridge of Cutthroat except as a descent od last resort. This climb should be saved till your route finding skills are better honed. Some very poor rock in places if one is not careful with route selection. I don't wear a helmet often but I do on that route! 6) A step up from beginner but super quality (the best long moderate at WA pass) is the W butt of Paisano on Silver Star. If your are ok with 5.9 gear (short crux) it is a stellar route and when linked with the normal N face of Burg makes the hike very worthwhile if long day. Beckey barely mentions it in the old book but I think he is using the updated info for his new edition. These might get you started and let you figure stuff out yourself while getting to know the lay of the land up there. Good Luck Scott Johnston

Jim; Snowshoes are hateful! Mine surely were possessed by demons. I almost would rather posthole. Shoulder seasons are a bitch. Give me that pesky wax anyday. Scott

Climb: Silver Star-W face couloir (Allen/Keller) Date of Climb: 4/23/2005 Trip Report: We could wait no more for cold conditions to return to the North Cascades and wanted to get on this route before it went away for the season; so Colin Haley and I headed up to check out the route on the W face of SS that Mark Allen and Anne Keller had done a month or so ago. {Times are given for reference only} We left the road at 6:45 and found pretty ugly snow conditions right off the bat. At Colin's suggestion we doned snow shoes (something I am loathe to admit). It turned out to be a much better idea than skis. We left these infernal devices above the larch bench just as we started our traverse from the Burgandy col trail to out under the W face. Snow here was much firmer and we soon had cramps on for the rest of the way. Finding the right gully start is no biggy if you scope from the road. I knew my way around this area pretty well already as you start up the descent gully for Gato Negro. Started up the main gulley around 9am. Staying in the main couloir we never got out the rack and only used the rope in one spot. The conditions were pretty standard gully stuff. Firm to medium firm snow which allowed usually for 2-3 inches of boot penetration but some sections were on front points only. There has been a ton of snow sliding down this thing recently so conditions were no doubt different than a month ago. Angle is generally around 45 degrees with a couple spots a bit steeper. The first chock stone in the main lower section had only ice on the left edge; none on the right where Anne and Mark seemed to go. Colin soloed up this step (photo)nicely but dislodged a fair bit of the remaining ice and being the thoughtful partner offered to toss down a rope. That 20' section was fun and had enough ice remaining for me to get secure tool placements. Colin felt it was M4 for you numbers guys. Not much pro possibilities though. We packed away the rope again and headed up to the fork where we (like Mark and Anne) also veered right. The left way looks doable but is not the natural line as it ends in a cul d'sac. The second chock stone must have been moslty buried as we encountered a short ice boulder move or three over a 8' step. The finish to the ridge involved a short (80')section of easy rock(photo). We reached the ridge at 10:30 and lounged in the sun for a while. The ridge scramble to the W summit is a blast. The summit is quite airy (photo)and we soon were at the Silver Star saddle and having lunch. Then off to tag the E (main summit). Back over Burgandy col and down to the dreaded snow shoes. The snow on the descent had turned into complete mush. Isothermal to the ground so that sometimes we were going into our crotches before we got to our snow shoes. Back to the car at 2pm If it cools of again (it rained all Sat night and Sun morn in Mazama) it could still be in good shape. It is a very fun route of generally moderate grade with a short hardish crux. It makes for a great tour of an interesting side of one of the more complex mountain massifs in the WA pass area. As Mark noted in his TR the gully is deep and narrow which makes for an unusual perspective. Here is Colin on the crux section. Colin near the top of the couloir Colin on the W summit SS http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/504/2400me_on_SS-med.jpg Climbing along N ridge of W summit SS Gear Notes: short (30-50m) rope Light rack if running belays needed.

Off_White; Thanks for clarifying your route. I thought we might have had a line a photo too but can't find it either. Your photo does much more justice to the route's position than mine did. Perhaps I can even edit the photo to add the Gato Negro route. Scott

Skykilo; OH YEAH! Kangaroo's Pouch on Big Kanga. It was a sweet line but off camber and steep at the top. Could be in good shape right now with the 8" of new we got at the pass last night. Lots of avy debris from the warm up Friday and Sat, Skiing is only a little less stoopid than climbing, wouldn't you agree. Scott

Since I am too dumb to figure out how to include a photo in my post (despite having tried several times) I have attached a photo of the W face of Silver Star. The yellow line is Gato Negro. The green line is where I believe Off White's route to be. This is based on a poor topo and some conversations so it is suspect to say the least. Correct me if I am wrong. Scott

Unc; I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you. You know how possessive we Mazamanites are of our own turf especially with you Twispoids. You are right that ther has been a bit of route development in the valley in the last few years. Some of it is documented on this forum but some is under the radar. What realy needs to happen is that lazy, underacheiver, Burdo needs to get to work and finish his updated guidebook. Actually he needs to come indoors and get off the rock long enough to do some editing. Here is a list of some current and future developments that is no doubt incomplete. Perhaps others can chime in. Starting at the head of the Valley; Mazama area: 1)Robinson Creek-aka Prospect point; A nice steep limestone-like sport crag with about 8 routes in the 5.8 to 11c/d range. Drive out past Lost River like you were going to Harts Pass. About a mile or so after the pavement ends you hit a fire line cut frorm the big fire a couple of years back. At that point look up hill to the right to see the light colored cliff. Park at a small cairn just beyond and follow the trail to a big ledge traversing the cliff. Up and left of the ledge across a gulley are two 10s. The far right end of the ledge has a couple of 5.8/9s (belay anchors there) the goods are in the middle of the ledge. 2)YellowJacket; Solid rumors of a new Burdo bouldering area of vast extent. 3) Goat Wall a) Sysiphus (III 5.11a) bolts- Moderately popular route from 3 years ago. Topo posted on CC.com b) Restless Native (III 5.11a) bolts. 200m left of Sysiphus. Ususally wet early season. c) NW buttress of GW. Under construction. Bryan and I left this one last fall about half done. More details when it is finished. Should end up around 12 pitches III 5.8. Goes to the top of GW. d) Other GW projects are in the works but need a bunch more work so not use going into detail yet. e)Inside the base of the Czech Gulley (see the WA ice guide) above the Mazama Queen mine Steve House and I put up a bolted mixed route a few years ago. Does that count? It is good fun and mostly a rock climb. It might even go inthe summer. 4) Fun Rock area. Several new routes there. Not just the Sun Bug area but also the Canine Crag. I will try to update the posted topo out there soon as it has faded somewhat. Thanks to all you Funsters for not taking it down these last couple of years. With BB's book out of print the locals were getting tired of giving beta to visitors so I made up a little public guide with topos. It needs updating and refreshing. a) Canine Crag -Dog House 5.11c b) Sun Bug- the Buldge 5.10d, Psycholgical crutch 5.10a Chewuch road: 1) Mosquito Coast- Fine steep granite cliff with 3 or 4 routes so far. Equipped with anchors and lead bolts on some routes. Drive out E or W Chewuch roads to their junction. Turn onto dirt FS road across bridge so that you are on the E bank. Go about one mile and pass some houses till you see a large (100') white cliff 100m off the road to the right through the trees. 2)Cowboy Crag. After crossing above bridge turn right at a fork go up hill to a old gravel pit with green gate. Park here walk through pit go uphill to cliff beyond. 2-3 routes of dubious merit. Not sure what Bryan and I were thinking! May be worhty if you are at the Mosquito and need some more. I may well edit this post later to reflect my memory being jogged or my better judgement. WA Pass area 1) Spontaneity Arete II/III 5.8 on Le Petit Cheval: info posted on CC.com Moderate alpine rock route on nice rock with good trail access. Beats the pants off the S arete of SEW for quality and continuousness. 2)Gato Negro IV 5.10+ on Whine Spire W face of Silver Star. Info posted on CC.com 3) Action Potential III 5.10 E face of Burgandy Spire info on CC.com 4) Beautiful Crack III 5.10 variation on above. Info on CC.com. Hope that helps. Scott