Buckaroo

Wanting to rap with one twin 50m rope and a piece of 4 mil 50 meter zip line. Apparently you tie a knot that won't pass through the rap ring and then rap on the single twin and pull with the zip line. What kind of knot do you use or is there some kind of setup with a beaner? Pros and cons?

I don't even use tents anymore except maybe at camp 4 to store gear. Bivy sacks are way lighter, quicker to set up and take up less space. You can climb 5.9 with a 12 oz. bivy sack but not with a 5 lbs. tent. If a blizzard comes in then dig a snow hole. Your not going to sleep in a blizzard even in a tent, but a snow hole is quiet. The only thing you have to get used to is the pikas and mountain rats running over your legs on summit bivies.

""With a C on a Z you've got a 6:1. That means the forces on the anchor will be in excess of 6x the climber's weight."" With a 6 to 1 ratio the pulling force is multiplied 6 times and the pulling rope movement distance is 6 times the distance the load is moved . The anchors will only be loaded with the weight of the fallen climber plus the friction resisting upward movement. The only time you might see 6x load plus on the anchor would be if the fallen climber got stuck and you were able to exert more than the weight of the climber on the pulling rope without the fallen climber moving. Reminds me of the story on Denali. Woman fell in a crevasse they set up a Z pulley and pulled her up to the roof of the crevasse and she got stuck. No one was watching her and they exerted so much force it ripped her harness and she fell and died.

How about a high power cross bow with a night scope. Nice aluminum arrow with big barbs on the razor point. Shoot the suckers right in the ass cheek. They have to go to the hospital to get it removed. Engrave the arrow "Squamish car break in thief, please arrest"

Trip: NE Buttress of Slesse TR Date: 8/16/2003 Trip Report: Well it all started with my partner having to back out on our big trip we had planned to the high Sierras. Apparently his commitments at work couldn't allow enough days off, with the sluggish economy and all, so big stuff on Temple crag and maybe the Croft traverse would have to wait until another time. So that left the question, what to climb? What's big and kewl with bivy ledges on the route, from some viewpoints a distinct spire, has lot's of technical climbing, a remote aspect and absolutely no walk up? In a word, Slesse. I'd already done it once, but usually prefer the second ascent of most climbs and my partner in spite of many years of hard climbing in the NW had never been up Slesse by any route. The first time I climbed it we did the Slesse creek trail descent, so this time just to try something different it was decided to do the Crossover descent. A week before the climb with nothing better to do, a recon of the crossover descent was undertaken. Reversing the descent I climbed to where the descent leaves the Crossover ridge. This went pretty well and gave the opportunity to cairn some key points along the way in case of weather or darkness. A hidden rock gully was also found on the way up, which dramatically decreased the amount of bushwhacking necessary. It would have been near impossible to find on the way down as you wouldn't have known it was even there. On this recon an attempt was also made to discern which was the safest route to the toe of the buttress. At about 4 hour intervals something would break off and come crashing down from one or another of the hanging glaciers on this side of Slesse. It looked like there was a narrow section directly below the toe that would have the least objective hazard, however in the case of the largest of calvings that even this area would not be out of danger. So we leave Seattle Monday evening, and in spite of almost being turned back at the border for no passports, we arrive at the trailhead by dark. Hey, I thought a drivers license was enough?, apparently not with the advent of 911. I turn in early but the partner is up sorta late getting his stuff ready as he just got off work. We awake about 4:00 am and set off up the trail about 5:00. It's a nice grade, an old logging road, something good for climbers past there prime to warm up on. Don't forget though, once you go over the hill you begin to pick up speed, the only question is, which direction are you speeding in? You can't see Slesse on the drive in or from the trailhead, only after some time on the trail do you finally view that magnificent peak and it's beautifully long curving buttress. We stop for a breather at the memorial plaque and contemplate this huge climb which we soon will be committing to, but the weather and time are on our side, at least at this point, and we quickly drop down into the lower cirque for the final part of the approach. We dawdle a little going through the debris field of the plane crash, it seems every time you go through here you find some piece you haven't seen before. This time my partner finds an old leather shoe, the first time I've seen direct evidence of the human aspect of the crash. It's sort of hard to go through here and not be moved in some way. Soon we come to the steep cliff of the lower cirque headwall. We pick a line that looks like it has the least objective hazard and climb this 5.0 section. It's about a pitch of steep smoothish rounded steps with no plant life and many rock scars, it's seems good to solo this exposed section as a sort of test to the commitment higher up. We then proceed across the slabs up to the base of the climb. I don't remember going all out through these cliffs and slabs, we just proceeded at a normal pace through here. I think we would have picked up the pace if we'd known what was soon to happen. There is some question as to which approach and route has more objective hazard. Either the bypass version or the direct climb starting at the toe. At first I thought that even with some of the pocket glacier left that there was little hazard going straight to the toe. After the recon and the second climb however I don't think this is true. However under the conditions I've seen it seems that the direct start involves less time in the exposure zone. Also under certain conditions, like when the pocket glacier is gone but the smaller glacier up and left of the pocket glacier is still present then the bypass is definitely more hazardous. The first time I climbed it this smaller glacier came off and came down across the bypass route. EmCay got the first lead as it was the crux of the lower buttress and he had his full on rock shoes, myself only equipped with my guide-tens, having decided to go light as possible. It's a fun little cracky slab, the best pitch of the lower section. I told him where I thought the belay was but he ended being just right of that location as he was looking for shade. Apparently the heat wave predicted for western Washington was making itself be known up into Canada. It was about eight and you could already really feel the cooking coming on, and who wants to carry 3 quarts on technical ground? I got the next full on bushwhack pitch although I've never seen all the moss that Becky describes, and there is actually only a couple bushes you have to climb through and luckily ended in a shady tree. EmCay got the pitch with the hand crack that goes up onto the slabs but diverted before that crack seeking the shade. We crossed the slabs and worked our way up to the trees, luckily always finding shade at the belays. Somewhere along here, maybe the bushwhack section, the bypass glacier started a serious round of calving. The first time it hit our slab traverse (into the toe of the buttress) with a pretty good fusillade of icy chunks up to about basketball size. It looked like you could have dodged back and forth a bit and maybe avoided getting hit. About 20 minutes later, just like I've read described before, there was a shudder in the air. Something unleashed, moving, you can't quite put your finger on it... and then the ungodly crashing commences. A large section of the bypass glacier shears off and comes thundering down the slabs, gaining speed and force, it separates into very many sized ice chunks up to a meter wide and proceeds to completely and utterly obliterate our slab approach and the steep pitch of the cirque headwall. Timing is everything that matters. A few minutes slower out of bed, some unexpected hang-up on the approach, two climbers would have been crushed senseless, smashed off the slabs and hurled down the cliffs below. Dead... f**king... meat! Well here we go on up, dup dup de dup, luckily we shouldn't have to cross that again. Sort of gives just a little extra incentive to get up and off the back side of this thing. It is duly noted that of the three times going to this area this is the largest and closest spacing time wise that the glaciers have calved off, and the only thing different this time was the unusual heat. Having always thought that cliff glacier calving was most closely related to a time aspect only, this thought enforced by a 4:00 am calving on the previous recon to the area, this thought may be re-evaluated to include weather. Specifically heat as a probable trigger to large calvings, especially on smaller glaciers, maybe specifically on slabs. We started simuling as soon as we hit the trees but made the mistake of not short roping, the full length of the 10.5 60 stratos and the terrain conspired to add a lead weight to my efforts. Nothing like some 5.0 in the sun while dragging a 50 pound anchor uphill. We stopped, coiled the rope and proceeded soloing through this 5.0 section, something highly recommended, not much exposure and lots of dirt. The amount of dirt in this section is more readily climbed with a shoe sole with some kind of tread. Even with the guide tens somewhat knobby sole there's quit a bit of slip sliding going on. EmCay's feet slip in this section and catching himself with his hands says he felt his shoulder pull partially out of the socket. It's troubling news and hoped it isn't serious, a retreat would be gripping to say the least, with only one 60 and the objective death crossing waiting with a sharp scythe below. We reach the Gendarme at the base of the first technical pitch past the trees. This pitch is sort of run-out and kind of loose, once again EmCay gets the call with the better shoes and besides it's his turn anyway. We decide to belay right below the climbing quite a ways over from the gendarme although we really have to scrounge a belay here. He dispatches it quickly, even 5.7 will get your attention if you add looseness and no gear, it gets better after about 30 feet and he reaches the good bivy ledges of the next pitch. This was the high point on the first day of the first time I climbed it so we're feeling good as it's only about three o'clock. Another good story about only a small patch of very dirty snow for melting and a stove pot that got dropped off the ledge and by sheer luck got caught with the feet could be told here, but that's a story of and for another day. I proceed up the steep diagonal hand crack, a very nice pitch but not that enjoyable this time due to the oppressive heat. Your down to your shorts and climbing vertical with a 20 pound pack. It's hot even in the shade, our 2 quarts of water each is almost gone. You could see the snow up on the big bivy ledges from high on the recon a week ago, but since then the majority of the bypass glacier is gone and you can't see the big bivy ledge snow from anywhere on the regular approach or route, you just have to go on being thirsty and hoping it's there. It seems though that we might be short on time, we've done 8 easy pitches in 7 hours and have 7 harder pitches to go with about 6 hours of good light. So we definitely can't slow down in spite of the fact that it's getting steeper and we're parched and about out of water. This is where we pull a couple rabbits out a da hat. Specifically two radios, walkie talkies if you will. I used them on one climb about a year ago but we were nursing the batteries and didn't get the full effect. We've been using them all along on this climb, but at this point they finally come into their own. We start seriously running the 60 to the limit bypassing the next two normal belays with a bit of coordinated simuling in a couple easy spots. EmCay ends up on a irregular hanging belay on the long hand crack before the spot where you crossover the crest. Consequently I then run the next two pitches together also. "Half way", "copy", "25 feet", "copy", "that's it", " need about 10 feet to a good belay, easy ground, will you simul?", "yes" No yelling yourself hoarse and wondering if he really said "off belay" or not, you can fine tune your effort and cut your time with superior communication. If the belays are there your can run a 60 every time no problem. Not being one who usually advocates much of anything, will say that I won't go on another big wall without a radio. The pitch that crosses the crest is a really kewel one, you climb this long slabby hand crack and then some dicey, sort of run-out face, up to the ridge crest. At that point you step out over this huge exposure to a delicate steep rising traverse and a hanging belay below vertical steepness above. Becky notes a "wild view into the Heart of Darkness" above this point, but I think this is where you actually first get that awesome steep exposure. EmCay gets the first really steep pitch with the supposed 5.10 finger crack, which I've never found. He's been climbing mostly granite the last few years and it's his first experience with the metamorphic upper section of Slesse, so he's a little bit hesitant at first when confronted with holds that look totally detached but are actually quite solid. Not that there isn't some looseness on this climb, but it does have these rocks that look like their just perched on the cliff but are actually totally and solidly attached underneath. Another characteristic that takes some getting used to is the run-outs. It seems wherever the climbing gets harder than 5.7 or so the pro is always there, but many times when it gets easier the pro gets sort of sparse in places. Once you get the lead head on, this kind of speeds up things anyway as your not slowing down to overly protect the 5.5 bits. We're dry as a bone and really feeling dehydration's effects. "Can you see any snow", "no", "copy", "you should be able to see it by now", "copy", "let me know when you see it". EmCay gets the long steep pitch to the "gigantic bivy platform" of the 14th (Becky). It's a long vertical pitch and he doesn't see the snow till he pulls the top of the vertical..... "I see snow about 100 feet up", "copy" "please repeat that, do we have snow for melt water?" silence..... "is there snow?" silence..... sometimes EmCay likes to rattle my chain I think, but I don't mind. I follow and pull the last of the vertical section....SNOW!!!!! We scramble up another 50 feet to the most spacious ledges on a route with many ledges, with big bunches of SNOW another 50 foot scramble higher up. The sun is about to set as we break out our bivy stuff and gather some snow for melting. No don't touch that, it's my stove and I know your perfectly competent, but if this canister has a funky connection and blows, I want it to be nobodies fault but mine. Luckily the stove works without a hitch, and... we... have... WATER!! Maybe that's why big alpine is so much different from other types of climbing, it distills life down into it's most basic parts. Time, sunlight, darkness, weather, rock, food, water. Water ahhh water, usually running from a tap with not a thought, but now precious, sparse, and life sustaining, not even remotely unappreciated or taken for granted. Water water water. And then some food, just a plain bagel with maybe some olive oil, heaven, a feast fit for kings. A piece of salmon, or some hot tea, a bit of cheese, a fruit cup?...a banquet from the gods. We watch the sun set and view the surrounding mountains in the serene evening light, comfortable and secure tied into our perch in the sky, drinking, eating and melting snow. It's late by the time were done melting for water, one quart for the night and 2 for the next day each. "How's the arm?" " I think it's gonna be ok." Just before sleep we are treated to a display of northern lights far up in Canada, a little icing on a cake of the surreal. We sleep well and wake early, refreshed for the hard day ahead. We simul the 3 or so pitches to the start of the harder climbing at the base of the final headwall. We each take a lead and it works out about right. I get the leaning pillar and dispatch it quickly in spite of some looseness. This route gets climbed enough that the really loose stuff is gone and if you run across some you may be off route. EmCay gets the rotten pillar but stays close to the crest where the gear and rock are better, he runs 2 together here also. The pitches start to seem to get longer and drag on forever, our energy isn't what it once was. At least the day has been cool and in the shade for the most part unlike the previous. At some point along here idle chat turns to what would happen if you dropped your pack. Being from the Nelson school of going light as possible you really can't afford to lose anything. With the hot weather your down to your shorts, if a pack was dropped it would mean suffer city in a big way. The conversation ends with "I don't want to think about it" and from then on when handling them the packs are held with an extra emphasis on the death grip. Shortly after this though I loose grip of my sun glasses and they start rolling down the sloped ledge we're on right into the hands of my partner, sometimes luck is on your side. . I get the "incredible 5.8" with the loose roof, which is one of the stellar pitches on the route. Your supposed to go to the higher ledge at the top of this pitch but it gets missed by a tiring climber. Once again the radios save the day, the next pitch has an easy last bit to a good ledge but we have to simul a bit to reach it. EmCay has overcome his apprehension of the different rock and conditions and is sending every 60 meter pitch thrown at him. Fittingly he ends up with the final one to the summit and we climb onto that much coveted yet sparsely visited domain. Ahh summits, one of the finer benefits of alpine climbing. We soak in the views for as long as we think we can spare, snap a couple of photos and have some idle chat. Then heading off for the rappels, for every alpine climber knows the summit is only half the way home. This initial descent is difficult to say the least and involves a bit of route finding and exposed scrambling bordering on technical ground for quite a ways. Not something you'd want to try in the dark or limited visibility unless you'd been there before. A running description would be.... scramble across the summit to a cairned descent trail past decoy rappels to two 25 meter raps, scramble down and across about 400 feet to a traverse ledge, some low 5th and more decoy rappels. Traverse the ledge to a gully with 2 more 25 meter raps to another ledge traverse ending in a low 5th down-climb past one more rap point and into a long loose gully that finally gets you on less steep terrain and the trail. This is where the two options for the descent branch off from each other. We passed the trail which is a very dry and steep affair which ends at a road from which you still have to ride a bike or whatever another 15 miles or so, or 25 miles if you forget to take the car keys when you first head out on the bike, don't ask! We decided to take the more direct but more technical crossover descent since it's what we had planned and we still seemed to have the energy, time and weather. We just got lucky hitting all the notches, because there were several along the ridge where only one way would go. It wouldn't have been bad to back up and try the others but it just seemed to go pretty smoothly. There was some pretty steep snow and the technical hikers weren't optimum for kicking steps but the conditions couldn't have been better and with an arrest rock in either hand we proceeded down snow slopes with ever increasingly cold fingers. Looking back on the snow slopes we laughed at how heinous the foreshortening made them appear and marveled at the one path through vertical walls of rock. Along the traverse at some point it became apparent that it was really going to be a worthwhile experience. The views of Slesse and the buttress are premier from this angle as it appears as a sharp pointed symmetrical spire with the profile of the buttress in it's entirety laid out before you on the skyline. And then suddenly and unwittingly, at least on my part, our necks were slipped back into the noose. From the high bivy ledge EmCay had observed a possible way to climb around the suggested rappel on the Crossover descent. When we came upon it, it appeared at first inspection to be a relatively easy drop, traverse, and ascend around steep cliffs. It was an exposed heather and grass slope about 45 to 50 degrees with a distinct death drop off at vertical cliffs below. "This looks do-able", are the famous last words. The drop down part was easy with soft dirt to kick steps but then it got scary. The traverse section consisted of really short and small heather completely covering the ground. Not substantial enough to grab onto, but thick and hard and smooth enough to make it very difficult to kick any steps into the dirt. The tech hikers weren't biting in hardly at all, so I grabbed the titanium cleaning tool and started making hard stabs into the turf for a self belay. This gave just enough confidence to keep from turning around, which with our dwindling time would have been a unfavorable option. Even with the tool it was so gripping that the steep rock above was tried although this slowed the progress even more. Although steeper, at least it was something substantial to hold onto above the slippery exposure. Meanwhile hardman EmCay was waltzing across, apparently his more substantial hikers were getting a better bite, or maintaining a cooler head, he never even stopped to bring out his cleaning tool for arrest. We finally reached the rap gully, coming in about the point where the rap would end. We still had to cross the gully and it didn't look like there was any place to set an anchor, so wanting to get off our little face of death traverse forthwith I headed across the gully and thankfully reached the other side after more steep and somewhat loose rock to be happily greeted by, of all things, a continuation of the descent trail. I then felt the need to scream out loud and subsequently did just that.... NECK OUT OF THE NOOSE! Safely off this little scenic flirting with death bit we made idle chat about what it would be like if you fell. Would you be able to arrest a heinous slide down the slippery slope with a mere cleaning tool? Or if you like fell on your back would your pack just act like a greased skid and send you, gathering speed, off to get the chop? He was rattling my chain again, I just know it. So we continue down an indistinct trail, some snow and talus slopes and then are faced with the final climb up and around the backside of Stumpy hill. It's a variation on the Crossover descent. On the recon it was felt that going behind Stumpy would be easier and less exposed than going in front of it. So now we are faced with the foreshortening effect making the climb up the backside of Stumpy look quite formidable. But it goes easily and we gain the pass north of Stumpy and find our cairn. One rap down from the pass we land just below a large chockstone but not quite off the difficulties, We forgo another rap and jump on steep snow with an arrest rock in each hand. It goes well in spite of our tiring condition, and we gain easy slopes below. The light is fading as we pass the most beautiful Japanese gardens area on the benches below the crossover ridge. Waterfalls and cascades down water worn granite, topped with banzai evergreens sculpted by the effects of the wind and snow. Clear water carved rock pools surrounded by wildflowers and many varieties of vegetation. Serene garden tours, another of the benefits of alpine adventure. Darkness approaches and we don't drop down enough before traversing, the next landmark is missed as we stumble and bushwhack through the gathering gloom. Luckily a landmark tree is spotted and we find the big granite boulder field of the recons bivy spot. EmCay suggests another bivy and seems to think I'm going to be disappointed if we take another night.... NOT, in fact I was going to bring it up myself! I ask, what about the wife and the doghouse? Aren't you supposed to be back tonight? Don't worry my friend, I've been in the doghouse off and on for 20 years. One more night is not going to matter. So we accept a leisurely pace, being over the hill we're not going to participate in speed events any more and couldn't compete if we wanted to anyway. We search out flat spots and settle down for a night among the boulders, marmots, and mosquitos. Sharing the last of our food we settle down to sleep accompanied by the sounds of snowmelt cascades and crashing glaciers. Morning breaks, another clear day with the magnificent Slesse in the colored lights of dawn. We pack up and head down past more cairns and landmarks. A small brook that was followed on the recon has dried up and sections are nearly indistinguishable even in the light of day. So apparently the call to bivy at dark was an accurate one. We find the steep hidden rock gully and proceed down to the basin without incident, once more crossing the debris field we linger, taking some photos of the shattered pieces of plane. We descend the trail accompanied by alpine flies who seem to prefer the scent of GU. We've embarked on a great experience and returned relatively unscathed but certainly not unaffected, and now it's back to the ho-hum of everyday life. Stopping one last time to wave bye to Slesse and that all too brief respite... until next time. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ all Photos Buckaroo's Gallery

Climbed it again on July 29-30-31. 2 weeks ago the bypass glacier was continuous all the way across the bypass route. When we climbed it, only about a 1/4 of it was left and it was in sections. With the hot weather it was calving off like a mad-dog. We did the direct start and crossed the exposure zone at about 7:00 am. By 9:00am a large section came off, by the time it got to where we had crossed it was in big chunks, but it looked like if you were lucky you could have maybe dodged them. 20 minutes later a huge section came off. It obliterated our crossing zone with a fusilade of different size ice chunks up to as big as a kitchen stove. We would have been smashed and knocked off the top of the lower headwall.... dead meat. There's still quite a bit of snow above the 14th pitch "gigantic bivy platform"(Becky), we made it there on the first day and were ECSTATIC to have snow to melt for water as we got cooked on the direct start with the hot weather. did the crossover descent, HEINOUS, and a climb in and of itself. There's a hidden canopied rock gulley to get off the bench below crossover and back into the basin that avoids about 500 vertical of bushwacking. took our time on the way back out through the basin, found quite a few pieces of the crashed plane, even an old leather shoe If I can find time I'll do a better TR and some pics

There's no raptors on the lower wall, there are some for sure on the upper though, lot's of pigeon carcasses below on the right side.

Just to clear up some confusion here >>1st pitch a1-a2 or 2- 5.11a moves > We did a "0th pitch" by soloing across the 3rd class >from the left side, and setting up a belay on some gear >below the long thin crack. correct, a solo start diagnally from the left to the base of a right facing dihedral. One other note, the first roped pitch is 30 meters, so rapping on a single 60 will only get you to the top of this solo section. >>3rd pitch fixed a1 or 5.11d-R long runout on sparse pro. >>the "manky" bashies on the 3rd pitch have been there >for over 10 years. > There were 2 moderately old fixed copperheads >in a row, which looked pretty good. Also a fixed >bashed small stopper that looked pretty new >(i.e. 2003). As mentioned in other posts in this >thread, there is one pretty solid hook move (standard >Chouinard/Black Diamond skyhook) in an enhanced >piton hole. "Old school" ratings give A3 for any hook >move, but probably it is fairer to call it A2. Many fixed >pins. yeah, I last climbed it in '01, it's good that someone left/created a hook move, before it was just clipping fixed bashies. This brings to mind some good stories about this pitch. I climbed it first in '94 and noted 3 or 4 bashies in a row, one of them with a rusted cable. The next time in '98? I climbed it with a partner that wanted to free this pich I told him to not clip the bad bashie, but there was some confusion as to which one it was so he clipped the bad one and passed up one of the good ones. So he was basically climbing 5.11D with a 20 ft runnout. The next time I climbed it in '00 I was (aid) leading this pitch and 4 people were waiting at the ledge below me. I clipped the rusted cable bashie and then started lecturing about how to ease onto suspect placements. Right on cue, just as I finish my lecture I suddenly hear this snapping noise and the rusted cable breaks and much to my chagrin I fall on the bashie below, luckily it holds. Just one side of the loop on the bashie is broken, so knowing everyone's depending on me to get off this thing before dark I hero loop the swage on the bashie and climb through. Now here's the best part, I climb the thing a year later in '01, again leading this pitch, and what do you know, the manky bashie is still there with the broken cable, and my hero loop is still on the thing. >5th 5.8 (FULL 50m pitch, conserve gear) > Perfect description, although the topo we >had said 5.9 and my partner didn't disagree. not by index standards >6th 5.10a (one move) or a1 (rotten block) Another full 50m pitch for us, with my partner belaying on top of the big block. There was a scary semidetached flake below the block, too. correct >>the 3 button bolt "belay" above the rotten block is a >>decoy. If you keep going straight up the dihedral >>there's a nice fat gear belay with a good stance. The >>button bolt "belay" is an old rap station used to get >>down to a bivy ledge when the thing was being seiged. > We belayed at the 3-bolt belay (all 1/4" buttonheads, >but in fairly decent shape; it was the first belay anchor >without at least one big bolt). There is good gear to >back up the bolts as well. We couldn't go any higher >because it was a full 50m to there. It was a nice place >to sit on top of the block, so I thought it was a good >place to stop. It appears that some people stop >about 40' below, where there is a small stance and >a single 1/4" bolt (a second 1/4" bolt is out of reach >on the wall to the right) but good gear in the corner. >This lower belay looked inferior, because the next >pitch would get a lot of rope drag going around >the block. >7th 5.10c (one move) or a1 >We did this as an 80' pitch, up the slick but low >angle dihedral, and stopped at the 2-bolt belay 10' >below the small overhang with the 5.10 move. >Here you stand on a thin semi-detached flake. >This was the "2 bad 1/4" bolts" belay mentioned in >some trip reports This is the bad/decoy belay I was talking about, on the next (7th) pitch, above not beside the rotten block, I may have been confused about the number of bolts. If you stay right in the dihedral and climb past the roof/overhang you can belay on a comfortable ledge with good gear. >>8th , 9th, 10th 5.6 (can be simuled) >>11th 5.9 (60m required if you belay from the tree >ledge.) >We did these pitches as follows: >8th 5.10 move at the roof, you must have missed something, maybe a stem, this roof/overhang has always been 5.8 or 5.9 for me, I've led it 3 times now. >9th >10th >11th at the end of the 3 short 5.6 pitches you climb to the last big tree/ ledge below a left facing dihedral-slab, from here a 60m reaches to the end of the roped climbing.

the becky guide and back of the new guide, "Sky Valley Rock" by Darryl Cramer

oh WHATEVER, let me guess, you sell real estate It's OK, you don't have to be defensive, I PROMISE not to come down and embarass the locals by onsighting all the "sandbag" routes ______________________ no, mechanic nothin personal, but what if someone who never climbed at squamish told you it was crap?

> "I won't speculate on the grade (ha, ha), but it is "all there"...decent > finger locks the entire way with feet that would be considered very good > by Indian Creek standards." > (re: City Park @ Index) City Park DOES NOT have decent finger locks, unless your fingers are the size of Lynn Hill's. For anyone with normal or large fingers it's a 5.15. I don't think it's ever had a clean free ascent placing gear on lead. > "Finally, Washington ain't exactly the center of the universe for hard > free climbing. good rock climbers don't live there, and they don't > travel there either..." depends what you call "hard free climbing" and "good free climbers" Are you talking your average "hard climb/climber" like say Greg Child or the 1/10th of 1/10th of 1/10th of 1 percent like Andy DeKlerk? > Index is, I dunno, that's correct > We all know Index is to Squamish as Exit 38 is to Smiff. What this "we" you got a turd in your pocket? I've climbed at Squamish AND Index, have you? How can you accurately comment about a crag you've never even been to? > cause i am a professional and will require payment to suffer through the > dirt and moss and GNS gapers I hear reportedly infest Index. I'll give you .50 cents to stay away... it'll be your loss. > not to > mention rain, less than squamish > slugs, are you afraid? > rockfall, no more than any where else > fogs, sorry, never seen fog at Index > drunken locals, there may be but I've never seen them, actually it's not a redneck town, more like old hippies. > poor cuisine, Zeke's ostrich menu rules, there are several eateries just down the road and Seattle is one hour away. > roast pig heads and axle greased cracks.... trad climbers defending the lower wall... a classic trad area, and cheating SPEWMEISTER Todd Skinner deserves whatever he gets. > SQUAMISH: bouldering. INDEX: no bouldering worth speaking of I thought we were talking climbing? > SQUAMISH: sport routes of all grades 5.6-5.14c INDEX: only 5.11 and up > basically; no 5.14s but several classics in that range > SQUAMISH: over 1,000 pitches of TRAD from 1 to 23 pitches in length > including WORLD CLASSICS. INDEX: a few hundred pitches of trad, > multipitch is only 5-6 p. long unless you count Mt Baring. heavily > concentrated in the 5.10 to 5.12 range basically mostly 5.9 to 5.12 Good climbers are heavily concentrated in that range, the 1/10th of 1/10th of 1/10th of 1 percent will have to go somewhere else, so sad. > SQUAMISH: clean on popular routes. INDEX: vegetated/mossy on even > semipopular routes everything worth climbing is clean > SQUAMISH: a town to hang out in INDEX: a quarry converted to > redneckville to camp out in good free camping, seattle is one hour away > SQUAMISH REST DAY ACTIVITY: windsurf, mountainbike, hike, smoke good > Canadian weed. all close by, windsurf one hour away > INDEX REST DAY ACTIVITY: Reptile Zoo. is a one hour drive that difficult for you? If you could drive with your mouth, you'd be there in 10 minutes. > SQUAMISH AID: about 2 dozen routes from 1-12 pitches and C1 to A4+. > INDEX AID: mostly single pitch, dirty, or aiding free routes 2- classic 6 pitch climbs on upper wall, 24 pitch North Norwegian Buttress VI 5.9 A3+ on Index peak is (I believe) unrepeated. > you guys are trying the reverse psychology, "oh don't throw me in that > briar patch" approach to get me to avoid index cause you know I would > own the crag and your weak, softly graded routes would bow down before > me.... I've climbed from Jasper Alberta to southern CA, Index has to be the most sandbagged crag I've climbed at. Try Sagittarius, 1st pitch of Lamplighter, Sloe Children, just to name a few. If you jump on something that's rated at the limit of your ability chances are good your going to get your ass KICKED. I would say as far as quality Squamish and Index are about equal, Index might have a slightly higher percentage of quality routes in the good climbers range, the only thing Squamish really has over Index is quantity, and I say that after having climbed at both crags. Until you've climbed at Index all your talk is just.... talk. Variety is the spice of life, part of climbing is trying different places, so Index is out of the way, it does have world class climbing, the world just doesn't know it.

"tell me about the crux on liberty crack please" WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TOO MUCH BETA the worse crux is the psychological one. The climbing cruxes depend on how hard you can free climb. 1st pitch a1-a2 or 2- 5.11a moves 2nd pitch straightforward a1 unless you've never aided a roof (or 5.13) 3rd pitch fixed a1 or 5.11d-R long runout on sparse pro. the "manky" bashies on the 3rd pitch have been there for over 10 years. 4th a1 or 5.10b 5th 5.8 (FULL 50m pitch, conserve gear) 6th 5.10a (one move) or a1 (rotten block) 7th 5.10c (one move) or a1 8th , 9th, 10th 5.6 (can be simuled) 11th 5.9 (60m required if you belay from the tree ledge.) the 3 button bolt "belay" above the rotten block is a decoy. If you keep going straight up the dihedral there's a nice fat gear belay with a good stance. The button bolt "belay" is an old rap station used to get down to a bivy ledge when the thing was being seiged. the hardest, slowest climbing is in the first 3 pitches, once you get past those it just keeps getting easier. Take only one 60 meter rope, you can retreat from anywhere below the 8th pitch without leaving gear. Regular rack, set camalots to #3, set TCU's, doubles of 2 or 3 midsize cams, set nuts, set HB offsets, maybe a few extra midsize nuts. you don't need an axe on the descent anytime after march, the snow gets soft, and is probably gone by now do the 50m rap in 2 separate 25m raps to avoid the hangup dead tree, which you will anyway if you only bring one 60m. The bolted rap is about even height with the top of the last pitch, dead center above the top of the notch between spires and on a large vertical face above a same sized ledge. If you park at the base and not the descent trailhead, you can shortcut over a mile of trail/pavement. The trail makes a long descent towards the road, then turns left toward the trailhead and parallels the road for about a mile. Right where it turns left it's very close to the road (100 yds.) Listen carefully and you will hear the cars close by. You saved hiking that section of trail down and walking back up the pavement.

It was like having sex with death. It's sort of like having fun but not. To find adventure on a tame planet, the children of comfort plunge themselves into ever more bizarre escapades. Wilhelm Bittorf Don't knock on death's door, ring the doorbell and run away, death hates that.

Was out at Index yesterday. Partner was working the start of Zoom with a single locker on the first bolt. He couldn't get it so I went ahead and led the pitch. About halfway up the hanger on the first bolt slides down the rope to the belay. Apparently the nut spun off the bolt. We found the hanger but couldn't find the nut as it was getting dark. Anyone going out there who has a 3/8-16 NC stainless nut could you please replace it. We left the hanger on a piece of webbing hanging on the tree at the base. Thanks

Just to clarify I'm looking for a belay device for rope solo free climbing on lead. I have the Wren Soloist, it works good for aid, but with free climbing the rope tends to start feeding through by itself, after you get past half way, causing slack. When I use the soloist I either leave the slack rope at the belay or carry it with me in a rope bag tied to the harness depending on conditions, ledge size, wind, keeper flakes. The Yates Rocker looks good weight and price wise , but can it be used for free climb lead rope solo? thanks again for the responses

Was just over at Bellevue Marmot and got a look at the rope solo belay device "silent partner" that's recommended as the only good device in certain gear books. The only thing that bothers me is it weighs a ton, and requires that 2 beeners are used to clip to your harness. Seriously, it weighs one pound, and add the weight of 2 beeners to clip it on. It's also pretty spendy at 225.00. Was wondering if anyone here has experience with the modified Gri-Gri as a self belay device. I am familiar with how to modify it, but not exactly with how it's used. I have some video of Catherine Destivelle on Devils Tower using the gri-gri anchored down at the belay. It binds up when she's halfway up the pitch and she unties and continues on. This is bogus it must just be a gimmick for the camera. I'm just wondering how well it works, do you have to feed the rope or is it more or less self feeding? Do you carry the rope with you or just let it loop down to the belay? any info appreciated.

Has anyone been to three o'clock rock yet this year? I was wondering if the road is clear to the trailhead and passable for a honda civic.

Watch that first pitch. I remember it being difficult route finding and sandbagged. Becky's says it's 5.8 but I felt like it was 5.9. That's as far as I've gotten on it for a variety of reasons, one being a partner that fell on the first pitch and broke his ankle. The only thing that kept him from groundfall was a #2 TCU.

I recommend taking less climbing gear and more food. We did it in 11 days and exited at Holden village. I was out of food on the whole last day, not fun. I think after about 5 or 7 days you start to eat more than normal. Also take something with a lot of fat in it, like olive oil or butter. We had this old timer on our trip and he had one pound of butter, we were all laughing at him at the start and mooching his butter at the end. Did it in august and never had to melt snow, as there was running water at all camps. The most dangerous part of the trip is the glacier crossings with the worst near the end on the chickamin glacier.

""This was, far and away, the most miserable part of the climb for me. Sitting at this belay for what seemed like hours (probably more like 30 or 40 minutes) caused me to lose feeling in my left toes and pretty much both of my hands. This sucked ass, needless to say."" ""It was here where I learned the true origin of the term "the screaming barfies" My hands hurt so @#(* bad that for about 5 minutes I was pretty damn sure I was going to puke. I have never experienced the barfies this bad and hope to never again."" You should be very careful and realize what was happening here. You were experiencing the onset of mild hypothermia. When the body becomes too cold it constricts blood flow to the extremities, to keep the core temperatures normal. Consequently the blood in the extremities becomes chilled and acidotic from lack of circulation . When you start moving again the chilled acidotic blood circulates to the core and causes nausea and, in severe hypothermia cases, heart attack. The nausea is the bodies way of saying "stop what your doing". Anytime you stop at a belay when it's very cold you should put on more layers and/or keep up some kind of movement. If your hands are cold flex the muscles or shake your hands and arms. Running in place works to keep the feet warm. Just shaking your legs in general keeps the body warm. That's what shivering is, muscle activity to maintain body warmth. Some kind of physical activity, don't just stand still. Belayed climbing in cold conditions is sort of tricky in that periods of intense warming activity are alternated by inactivity. You have to have a system to maintain warmth at belays. Mark Twight in his book "Extreme Alpinism" recommends wearing your shell jacket when climbing and putting on your pile jacket over the shell at belays. Not the conventional way these items are worn but a real time saver. You don't even want to know about severe hypothermia, it's very hard to treat in a remote situation, the only real treatment is avoidance.

JJ, the Eve Dearborn Mem. Route is on the NW face of North Peak, I believe it's just to the right of the gully your looking at in the Becky guide. I think the gully your looking at is the one that Eve and her partner fell in. I don't think it's been climbed. EDM is "in" less than drury. It requires COLD temps, like Arctic front, as all these gullies are garbage chutes, and can only be climbed if frozen. It's lower elevation too so that makes it even worse. I believe it was climbed last year, I heard Nelson was there but backed off because 2 teams got on it in front of him. Coincidentally I was just up there today hiking the approach, I think it needs to be snow covered otherwise it's vertical bushwhacking. I soloed the North face 2 summers ago and downclimbed it so I would know the descent for EDM, man there's some manky rap anchors. Nelson said it took most of a day just to get down the thing in winter. I would go with Nelson's date of Feb 88 on the first ascent as he was one of the ones that was on it. (Unless he made a mistake in his own book, which is possible.)

""michael_layton"" ""How are AVY conditions?"" considerable (click on Jasper National Park) http://www.avalanche.ca/weather/bulletins/index.html Polar Circus and Slipstream are notorious for being the worse avalanche terrain of all the ice climbs in the area. Maybe why they are also the most coveted?

Anyone who is serious about climbing Drury should check this web page. You can link to a remote weather station located in Tumwater canyon just across from Drury Falls, and get real time weather readings and a 10 day history of those readings. http://www.nwac.noaa.gov/mountain_data_sites__navigation.htm under the heading North Central Cascades click on Tumwater Canyon--Past You can see that on 2-25 and 2-26 it was cold enough to form, now all we need is about a week of these temps.... good luck.

Climbed Shasta on Sept 8th and 9th. Did the Hotlum -Wintun Ridge with the RH snow gully variation at the top. The "snow" was smooth alpine hard water ice. Sort of interesting with flexible leather boots, lightweight strap-on's and a Grivel "Mont Blanc" toy ice axe. I came back down on the rock. Nice long bouldery rock ridge this time of year. Hardly any scree or snow on the ridge. Quite a bit different from Rainier in that the area is quite a bit drier, vegetation, snow and size of glaciers. It was way easier altitude wise as I had been in Yosemite and high sierras so was aclimatized somewhat. Shasta City is at 4,000' so aclimatization is easier. Also the trailhead is at 7,000' so it's closer to the summit. Recommend the ridge this time of year, it was good for soloing in that no glacier crossing is required. Plenty of nice bivy spots from 9,500 to 12,000, including some tent spots. I looked at Hotlum-Bolum ridge but it had big shrunds and lots more mandatory ice slopes. It was pretty warm, never even used the ski gloves, and clear as a bell, excellent summit views.

A-5 bird beaks camhooks small tri-cams (first 4 sizes) micro cams HB brass offsets slider ball nuts assorted hooks and last but not least the new Metolius sliding buckle aiders "easy aiders" city park went from 21 placements to 18 just because the last step is always as short as possible and not constrained by a fixed step as with conventional aiders. And the best thing about them... no daisies!