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Thanks Jon. Great info. Joe

Thanks Colin! I guess the hunt begins.

Since my local gear store doesn't have them. Can folks here confirm that old quarks will not accept the new quark picks? Thanks, Joe

Thanks for the approach beta scott. That will definitely improve my next hike into that place.

Bump.

Looking for a 2.5 and a 3 in the friends. Rigid or Flexible and preferably a new ish version. Thanks, Joe

Something wrong with those tights really. Dave might allow them in his next short film. "The ping pong smugglers". I heard about the incident at the Hydra. There's a guy around here these days doing the same sort of stuff.

Randy's book show's it 5.9. Splitting hairs really between 5.8D and 5.9A. I thought that the crux of Cooper Hiser, which is gone, was harder. However, the corner is fun and with some creative foot work you can make it pretty chill.

Trip: Chimney Rock - West Face Direct. West Side Girls (TR) Date: 9/9/2012 Trip Report: Did the west face direct yesterday with Dave Fulton. Good fun route right up the center of the west face. It's a little different than the usual lie back stuff on chimney. There's a short bit of off width and chimney type action. It protects well and is lots of fun. I suggest you bring a standard rack and one #4 friend or equivalent. RP's proved useful. On the way down we TR'd west side girls and twin cracks. I thought maybe a lead of west side girls would be sweet. The book suggests thin gear. I have lead on thin gear before. The book should say attempting to place gear is a waste of your time. Dave informed me that Burns "lead" aka free soloed this puppy with Dufford and Purdy way back when. Although it is fairly secure when PROPERLY stemmed it is committing. Good on ya Dane. Also, It appears the recent rock fall activity took out Black Cat and possibly the top of Bergs Breeze. Greystoke ledge has a fuck ton of death cookies on it that could stand to be trundled. Too much hiker traffic yesterday for us to safely mitigate that hazard. All in all it was another spectacular day at Chimney Rock. Perfect weather and some good theater. Go get it before it falls down. Gear Notes: RP's to #4 Friend. Approach Notes: West side hike. Easy.

Glad they made it out ok AND they are getting their kit back. Did this rockfall seriously affect the route?

Need some rock buddies for august 17-24. You don't have to commit to all of the days. I want to do any of the following. Acid Baby GITM Free Rider on the Bell anything at Darrington paisano to NF of Burgundy and/or Rebel Yell on Chianti. That kind of stuff. OR you could come my way and go to the bugs. Have rope, rack, lead 10's and a fairly positive attitude. Willing to do all of the leading but would prefer to swing leads. Feel free to call if I don't reply to PM's during the dates above due to being on the road and not wired. Joe 208-755-9008

Eye of the Tiger was really challenging. I felt pretty good in the fist jams but getting off the Micro Scuzzem ledge was tough. Can't wait to get back and get it clean. The start of the NE Face looked a bit bold.

SAD NEWS!!!!! Went to Chimney today. As we arrived at the base I noticed a ton, probably hundreds of tons, of rock on the snowfield that seemed out of place. Looking up at the East Face I was shocked. The following routes no longer exist!! Except in Dane's slides. Greystoke Magnum Force UNI White Lightning Kimmie Yahoody Pitch 2 of Cooper Hiser The following routes still exist. East Face Direct Canary Legs Cooper Hiser pitch 1 Free Friends Tsunami Illusion/Eye of the Tiger Graymatter NE Face I'll get a pic up later.

Trip: Chimney Rock - Illusions, Eye of the Tiger, Sticky Fingers. Date: 7/5/2012 Trip Report: Weird trip. Daniel and I headed up to chimney to get up the classic link up of Illusions and Eye of the Tiger. If you had been watching us you would have thought we were at exit 38 sport climbing the way we were falling off things. Probably a lead fall on every pitch of the day. Illusions is in perfect condition. Eye of the Tiger schooled us and needs traffic as it is a tad dirty. YOU WILL NEED 3 #3 CAMALOTS OR EQUIVALENT FOR EYE OF THE TIGER. It is very technical and strenuous fist jams for the bulk of the third pitch. After our initial beating was over with we chose to do sticky fingers to the fun roof. The climbing was excellent, the climbers were not. Lots of falling. Great gear!! The good news about Eye of the Tiger is that it will probably be a lot cleaner by the time you go get it due to the lack of routes on the east face these days. The road is clear to the Trailhead. Much snow hiking. Gear Notes: 3 #3 Camalots for the 3rd pitch of Eye of the tiger. Two 0 and 1 TCU's for Illusions.

Trad or sport on wednesday. I'm coming from spokane. Have rope and rack.

Come on over and do some of the back country stuff in North Idaho. You'll appreciate some of the flagging. One nice thing about flagging is it will help keep folks moving in generally the same direction. I agree that it is litter though.

Nice work!! Looks like the runnels on the TC are out. Can anyone confirm this?

Yes Wayne, At least a crappy guidebook can get the desire going even if it doesn't have any useful information in it. If you're gonna do something do it well comes to mind. Gene, You will notice I gave some examples of good work.

There is a little piss ant crag here where I live that is pretty enjoyable to climb at. I learned to climb there and I know a bit about the people and the history of the routes. I have never written a guidebook, but I have read a lot of them and I appreciate the good ones. A good guide book takes a lot of energy to produce but a poor guide book is theft in my opinion and not worth producing. I think a good guide book for climbing should contain the following. 1. Good Directions: To the area. To the routes. To Amenities. 2. Accurate route information: FA info if possible. Gear requirements. I don't have much respect for authors who produce shoddy material. In fact, I had the opportunity to interact with a local "guide book author" at our local crag the other day. We were having a heated discussion about something that is appropriate for an entirely different spray topic, when he says "if you had bought my guide book you would know this". Are you serious? I have perused this guide book. There was no effort to gather FA information. Many route names and ratings are way off. Numerous bits of editorializing about "there are no old trad climbers. they're all dead." The bit about the history of the area leaves out many of the major players in route development in the 90's, which is when this area had a MAJOR boom. So, I am obligated to buy your inaccurate, poorly researched rag in order to stay "up to date" on happenings? Get a life! This guy even went as far as chopping and changing established routes because he's never heard of anyone doing them! He's never heard of anyone doing them because he doesn't ask,doesn't listen, and can't climb them. They are moderate routes to boot, 10's and 11's. A couple of examples of good books, IMHO. Leavenworth Rock. Kramer. Frenchman's Coulee. Ford and Yoder Smith Rock. Watts Skaha. Richardson Winter Dance. Josephson. Bad Book My local area. ANYTHING by Ron Bruckhorst. I will demand my money back if I ever meet him!!

Not once in 20 years of hunting and climbing.

Anyone want to get rid of their 6 Camalot? Joe

I really appreciate all of the help. I am not familiar with Darrington and I really want to give it a go. I would rather be up there in earlier summer like June or July instead of September due to conflicting plans. Thanks Joe

Hey folks. How's the climbing on Exfo dome, Blueberry hill, Three oclock, and Green Giant in early May? Also, I've noticed a bunch of TR's for Slab Daddy in July. Would 75 degrees in Darrington in July make Slab Daddy uncomfortable? Looking for beta since I've NEVER been to Darrington and I am totally psyched to make it happen this year. Thanks, Joe

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