JoshK

Nice job guys, and great photos, what an amazing looking area!!

Haha!! Awesome Pat, this was a great video! I love the Audi's cameo! ;-)

The Monte Cristo area is a really neat place, both for the natural scenery and the interesting historical aspects. Nice job, Tom.

Trip: Forbidden Peak - North Ridge Date: 9/5/2008 Trip Report: Late last week Dave K and I climbed the full North Ridge of Forbidden Peak. This is not the NW face of N ridge variation described in Jim's book, but rather the entire ridge route. I highly recommend the pure ridge as it features roughly 3x the climbing on the ridge proper. I had wanted to climb this route for years and it suited or goals of something fun and alpine but without a pickets-like approach, which I wasn't in the mood for. The route itself was great fun. Getting to it was a different story. We took a small notch just east of Sharkfin Col, which is one of the most god awful gullies I have ever climbed. We had new snow from the prior storm, so it was a mud/snow thrutch up. However, the 5.7 moves to get up to sharkfin would have been worse as running water was streaming down pretty much everything. One 30m rap got us down to the Boston Glacier, where a relatively short glacier slog got us to the beginning of our route. We stuck to the ridge proper, where it is mostly 4th and 5th class, with the hardest moves being maybe 5.6 tops. While the climbing is not hard, the narrow ridge has incredible views which made it a lot of fun. The wide open views towards Buckner, the entire Boston glacier, Moraine Lake, Eldorado, and the rest of the ridge itself are some of the best i have experienced. The weather threatened the entire day and we summited in thick clouds, but thankfully no rain fell. We went to bed under clear skies Thursday and unfortunately woke up to a total fog-out and rain. A few hours of skittering down slick slabs and then a wet brush-fuck out the Boston Basin trail brought us back to the car looking like we had fallen in a swimming pool. Thankfully crappy Mexican beer (seems redundent, huh) was waiting for us. All and all, I really enjoyed this climb. While not technically challenging, it makes for a great all-around alpine mountaineering trip. Included below are some photos. Gear Notes: Ice axe, crampons, small alpine rack, one 60m rope. Approach Notes: Standard Boston Basin trail is very fast and short for a NCNP approach. we used a small notch east of Sharkfin Col, which I highly recommend despite how crappy that gully is.

Well, unfortunately the good republicunts would definitely not be in today's republicunt party. The republican party of today is not the party of Abe Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt. I'd be willing to bet the majority of Republicunts don't even know what basic principals their party is *supposed* to champion.

Pretty much any grade IV+? Obviously other routes of that difficulty won't have the extra challenge of higher altitude. Maybe some of the harder pickets routes would interest you? If nothing else the approaches will give you a good workout.

We're not in Wisconsin any more, Toto...

That view from Fortress truly is one of the best

Cool TR, and some amazing pictures. That looks like some great exploratory climbing!

Yeah, those were not our butts. The smell of my tent testifies to the usage of 60 butts for the purpose of Ivan's ground insulation. Thankfully that EPIC fabric airs out well. Good work documenting the crime though, did you include that work in the split times? Lowell, I definitely can agree that bivy site is a tad excessive, which is why it looks damn comfortable. At the same time, there is validity in the idea that one or two set and established bivies in popular spots can help isolate abuse. Camping on the ground certainly is far more comfortable than camping on the snow. Hopefully most people can excercise common sense and minimize the damage to non-durable surfaces as best as possible. -j

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Very cool TR. I've always wondered what that part of the range looked like up close, but I had a feeling it would be very difficult to get in to. It seems that is case! Nice job making it happen and thanks for the pics.

Thanks for the great TR and pics. I have had this traverse on my list for a long, long time. This may add a bit of motivation. -j

I can only guess they were soloing on the lower part of the route considering I, and I'm sure plenty of others, have chosen to solo those lower pitches. This is so terrible to hear. -j

Oh god, this is so sad to hear, especially considering the previous accident. My condolences to the family and friends, my thoughts are with you all and those involved with the accident. -j

Please explain Obama's evilness... While I don't exactly think McSame is "evil", your fact is a good illustration of why he is a dipshit. Considering GW has been an unarguable (real word?) failure, I'd say siding with him 95% of the time is reason enough for people not to vote for him. Unfortunately a good portion of the country votes only thinking of the 3 Gs, guns, god, and gays. So, other than simply disagreeing with his policies, how has Obama demonstrated "evil" intent? That's laughable, even from you. I labeled him as a "newbie" evil. Meaning he has yet to be changed by the corporations. All in good time. He is now saying shit that moves him towards the middle. I am fine with that….. joshk and boner arguing, now that's laughable. ? and why is that? I happen to know what i'm talking about, as sad as that may be for you to accept. You may not like my opinions, but i'm willing to bet i'm a bucket of IQ points ahead of you.

Well, time will tell if you are right, and likely you won't be. In any event, considering our current administration is practically owned by corporations and practices politics of business first, people second, I'm willing to place my bet that he'll be a huge improvement. On the other hand, McCain is already touting yet more trickle-down economic policies, despite the fact that we have years of evidence now showing that they are complete bullshit and the only thing that trickles down is piss.

Please explain Obama's evilness... While I don't exactly think McSame is "evil", your fact is a good illustration of why he is a dipshit. Considering GW has been an unarguable (real word?) failure, I'd say siding with him 95% of the time is reason enough for people not to vote for him. Unfortunately a good portion of the country votes only thinking of the 3 Gs, guns, god, and gays. So, other than simply disagreeing with his policies, how has Obama demonstrated "evil" intent? That's laughable, even from you.

He could rape 100 8 year olds and you would say WTF? You pervert. Apparently you are the one saying that, not me. By the way, I thought you had no comment?

Eric and Dave deserve a donation. I know them, so, um, you can send it to me, and i'll make sure it gets there... An interesting note on your text message comment, Noah: In the pickets a few weeks ago Wayne and I had wanted to call friends to let them know we wanted to stay up another day. Even with Verizon (best mtn coverage in WA, bar none) a phone call wouldn't go out. Text messages did arrive successfully and gave us the peace of mind knowing arriving a bit late wouldn't worry anyone. Glad to hear Clive is doing well! -j

More to the point: Obama has the solid beginnings of an actual energy strategy. McSame's = offshore drilling and nuclear power, in other words, no change whatsoever.

...so, you massage other guys for a living? I didn't realize we were issuing L-1 visas for that particular, um, eh, er, "skill". LOL, its true i've never heard anybody brag about massaging other men so much. Bob, if you think you are such an expert on the human body you may want to look in to an actual medical profession to put your talents to work rather than giving massages. The fact that these schools advertise constantly on raidio stations should give you a clue about the rigorous standards (or lack thereof) "students" are put to. Bust out the flamethrower!!!

Sounds like Lisa needs to gain a better understanding on what climbing a well established, VERY popular route is about. You don't go to the Stuart Range's known climbs for solitude. What were you supposed to do - sit there and wait as slower climbers moved at their pace instead of persuing your own pace? And yes, climbing with Wayne is aid. Nice job guys. -j

Grats Klenke!! I know you've been working on the lists fora while so good to see you finish them up. So what's next? I vote you go to Colorado and show those punks what a bagger of real peaks (as opposed to their hills) looks like! ;-) :brew: BTW, I'm with you...volcanoes are to be avoided at all costs! -j