the_mule

saw a part of northwest backroads on tv that talked about a place called "down east crags" near mazama in eastern wa. the climber was geof childs and it seemed remote yet interesting- good granite. anyone know specifically how to get there (down east crags)?

saw a part of northwest backroads on tv that talked about a place called "down east crags" near mazama in eastern wa. the climber was geof childs and it seemed remote yet interesting- good granite. anyone know specifically how to get there (down east crags)?

i'm game- sent you a pm.

their website says the liquidation sale starts this friday at 10am and goes through the weekend. is this wednesday a "secret" day for valued customers?

i have this wed/thurs/fri off and looking to do some low scale (scramble to 5.8) alpine rock climbing. looking at things from ingalls to s early winters or any other suggestions. pm me if interested.

climbed this route solo on 07/23-24. trip reports at the ranger station said the route was not climbable due to crevasses and weak snow bridges. ranger said it dependes on your comfort level. i liked his advice. left the schreibers meadow parking lot at 4pm and reached the the railroad grade trail at 6pm. trail leads onto the moraines and several campsites with numerous scenic toilets. camped on the last piece of rock before hitting the glacier. the glacier looked pretty broken up and intimidating, but i thought i saw a doable line with a possible boot track. spent a beautiful night with a small rodent that enjoyed running back and forth over my face. left camp at 5am and followed a faint snow melted track onto the glacier. snow was just firm enough to make my crampons useful. between 7-8000 ft had to step/hop over several crevasses, but they could all have been avoided with minimal traversing. around 8800 feet there is a 6 ft snow bridge that is about 2 feet wide and 9 feet deep. it was made more exciting by the fact that the wind really started to pick up here. some people have avoided it by making a very long traverse east (very long). the route was uneventful from 9000 ft on. the steam vents were interesting- a group of french research scientists were working there and had made some nice camp sites. the roman headwall had a couple of 30 degree sections but the trail was great. minimal rockfall noted. summit views were fantasitic, and thanks to whoever took the time to make the ice house up there. summited at 730am and was back to camp a couple hours later. snow was softening up by 9am. can definantly be done in a day, but i would have felt much less comfortable doing it solo in soft snow- especially crossing that snow bridge. overall an excellent climb with some incredible scenery.

60m worked well for us, allowed us to rappel down the east gully of pineapple pass

did this "climb" with my "seasoned" aunt on 07/20. trail was good all the way to source lake. traverse across the talus to the base of the cliff and take a climbers path up the left side of the basin to the notch left of the gendarme. a little snow still left in the basin, but can be easily avoided. follow the trail around and then back up to the obviuos notch (pineapple pass) at the base of the climb. fun and easy low 5th class climbing (could be free climbed, except there is heavy traffic on it with a greater potential of getting hit with something). there are several variations on the last pitch (we did three). summit views are great. we were on the trail at 6am and climbing by 8am with no one else there until about 9am. it got hot and crowded pretty quick. would suggest doing this one early in the am and during the week. nothing hard about the climb, but definantly worth doing once with the ones you love. also sounds like it would be a fun winter climb.

did this climb with my friend peter on 07/18-07/19. was at the trail at 8am and the parking area was already crowded. trail was good all the way up. reached snow level at 4,700 ft and the 1st of four guided groups(explained all the cars). climbed up through the col and past second guided group. traversed snow via obvious path to camp at base of sulfide glacier (5,700 ft). we set up camp and notied it was only 1pm (5 hours from car at a very relaxed pace), and since i forgot to bring the scrabble board, we decided to summit that day. took a light pack and no rope and started up. a couple of crevases were starting to open up, but easy to avoid and overall a pretty straight shot up the glacier. passed the other two guided groups who told us the central gully had a lot of steep, soft snow and wet rock, and advised us to place some protection. excellent advice, but we had read that it was an easy 3rd/4th class scramble and thus had brought no gear. we decided to check it out anyways. reached the pyramid in 3 hours. they hadn't lied, but there were good boot steps kicked in and we both felt ok about the rock, so up we went. it was fairly challenging, nothing i would suggest a basic climber try, but very doable. took us an hour to summit and we hung out awhile enjoying the view. the down climb was actually easier than going up since we stayed more on the rock. took us about 2-3 hours to get back to camp. one of the guided groups had some leftovers they kindly shared with us (thank you cece and tracy). later that night i used the snow free outdoor facilities under a full moon with a superb view of the surrounding mountains. next morning got up in time to see the sunrise mountain glow (alpenglow?), made breakfast and headed out past the hordes coming up the mountain. would suggest doing this hike during the week to avoid the crowds. could probably do it in a long day, but was very happy we camped overnight.

how do i reach you? address/phone #?

would advise using crampons- still pretty icy until noon, and there are not many "good" steps kicked in.

climbed mt adams via mazama glacier on july 2-3. road was good and clear to cold springs campground, except for the very "bumpy" first 3 miles. took south climb trail 1.5 miles to sign for bird creek meadows. trail was snow covered and difficult to find, but just hiked around and slightly up. i stayed above the huge pumice rock fields and below the moraines to the meadow (snow covered also). there is small notch at the far end of the meadow that leads up to the base of mazama glacier (sunrise camp). i camped on a rocky outcropping with some goats- so keep your gear close. beautiful night and sunrise from here. went up the far right side of the glacier avoiding some crevasses that were opening up. chance of rockfall, especially later in day, so wear a helmet. thought about hiking over to the castle, but had started climbing a little later than planed. i continued climbing up, staying far right to avoid people on the south spur for as long as possible. steepest part was only 25-30 degrees, so ice ax and crampons were fine. decended the south spur so i could do some glacading. took me 5 hours driving from seattle, 3 hours from cold springs to sunrise camp, 4 hours to the summit, and 3 hours back to the parking lot. that was going at a very moderate pace. side note- they were checking for volcano permits when i reached the parking lot, but you don't need a pass from the reservation if you go this route from cold springs.

check out tr by cm3 on 8-19. good beta, even if is a month old