skykilo

All the ice will be buried in bountiful SNOW.

Entertaining stuff. Love hearing about the big whippers, especially when the leader is both physically sound after the fact and able to finish the pitch. Keep on rockin' in the free world.

The upper part is definitely stellar, in position, exposure, ambiance, climbing, and quality of rock. But I thought we were both on route and on some very shitty rock on the lower buttress for a couple pitches there. Oh well, to each his own...

I didn't bitch when you posted the picture of the lip-locked dudes in cowboy suits. That was real cool. Let's see some more of those, eh?

How about pulling the roof instead of traversing right for the crux pitch? I damn near went all the way up there to pull the roof. Maybe I'll go do it again just to hit the roof; it definitely looked like it would take gear. Yes, everybody, PM me for the topo of my new, 1-pitch 5.10- variation on the direct!

FUCK YOU AND YOUR CARTOON PENIS! I'LL SICK MY DOG ON YOU BITCH! HATE, HOMOPHOBIA, CRUSH, KILL, DESTROY!!!

I didn't mind the cartoon penis as much as the geeky guys next to it. I didn't understand its message and it made me angry. Care to explain? I remember it said something about 'greek' or 'frat', both of which are likely to get my ire. Whatever...

He just doesn't like the flash in his eyes.

My dog is so fucking awesome.

Dude, this totally goes. What, you want to rap?

Damn that was a fun climb. I don't understand the rumours (note Canadian-influenced spelling, eh?) about better rock on Bear than Slesse. The upper North Buttress may have superior rock, but nothing on Slesse ever felt as nasty to me as parts of the lower DNB route. Hey Eric, Newfangled Digitalis camera is like poison to my already-retarded brain. I accidentally deleted all those pics. Tried to PM you but you're full. I really need some of those shots of me in tights for all the blood-thirsty females harassing me. E-MAIL 'EM TO ME, if you don't mind... skykilo AT g mail DOT come on, pretty baby, let yourself go!

The rock quality was fine, it was the quarter-inch layer of lichen that covered everything that made it unpleasant. The lichen would appear suddenly in places on the rock and then remain for a couple hundred feet before disappearing again, so we couldn't just follow clean rock to stay on route. I had to scrape it out of cracks to place pro and clean it off the footholds to climb in some places. Now that sounds fun! I was pissed to see a big chalk trail on portions of Slesse... It's a good thing I managed to climb off route in a few places to keep it adventurous. Just joshing you though, definitely a nice piece of work for your 'first alpine climb'.

I'll go to the true summit when I have skis and a FatBoy in tow. That should be plenty entertaining. The views should be that much better with snow everywhere. Plus lotsa crying and a retort to just "grin and Bear it."

I thought the rock on the Lower North Ridge was excellent. If you think that's bad, you should really go hit some climbs in the North Cascades...

But don't you know that's ski season???

All the more reason to do it without the heli... FIRST HELI-FREE WINTER ASCENT!

Hit the ridge and go on summa (cum laude) dat in-a-hurry bullshit. Beer or Bear? Beer. That's cool you decided to post for such a crucial matter.

Let's not forget those brilliant moments toward the end of a (20+)-hour day when you're walking down the trail, the endorphins are killing all pain, the trees and plants appear to move and do strange things like animals, and there is not a rational thought in your head. I find moments like these very zen. I could care less about anything and my elation is absolute. Holy shit I gotta go...

Necessity is the mother of invention. Lack of time-> fast. Lack of money-> no light bag. Heavy bulky bag? No thanks, no bag. Donations?

I go on lots of trips that I realistically shouldn't, given stupid things like responsibilities. This means that I can only take a small chunk of time. I also have great difficulty making myself think small. Add megalomaniacal tendencies to these initial conditions and the obvious outcome is the bigness with the quickness. Got a day? Let's make it happen. To quote Nas from his second album (as opposed to the kick-ass first one with Life's a bitch and then you die, that's why we get high... ): I never sleep, 'cuz sleep is the cousin of death. Or was that actually on the first and then sampled on the second? I digress. And like BenMan would say, "Sleep is for pu$$!#s. You can sleep during the work week." Time is a luxury. Enjoy it. Josh, where was your time when I was in CO hoser???

Hey Fox did it look like this? That's a picture of the chute above the 'schrund from Oct. 02. Fun fun fun, but stupid to do it despite the rockfall...

That looks like an all-around awesome experience. And that must be some straight sativa in those equatorial climes eh???

We were never actually anywhere near 'the route' of which you speak. The dotted line at the top is more suggestive than anything else. Still had fun though!

My best estimate is 21. For the full tedium of a blow-by-blow account, see here.

Climb: Early Morning Spire-So Big Retard Date of Climb: 8/14/2005 Trip Report: Hannah's a sport. She followed me on some retarded goose chase up Early Morning Spire when I blew it and got on the rock about 1k below the proper start. Here's a photo by Lowell Skoog: The upper dot shows the approximate location of the start to the route in Kearney's book. We started at the other dot to make it a real climb. Crappy disposable photo that shows the first seven pitches of what we did and some of the much higher pitches: Some crappy climbing photos: Gear Notes: Shoulda had the Courvoisier I left at camp for the unplanned bivy. Approach Notes: Trail, firn, scramble, firn, climb, glacier, scramble...