catbirdseat

Climb: Enchantments Climbing-The Temple/ High Priest/ Prusik Date of Climb: 6/4/2005 Trip Report: On Friday, James, Erin, Dawn and I hiked in to Tamarack Meadows via Nada Creek and set up camp on a nice knoll with views (7 hours). We then climbed The Temple (5 hours). That climb involved an ascent of a steep snow finger and a one pitch rock climb of a 5.6 slab protected by one ancient rusty 1/4 inch bolt. Neat summit with a great view. Back to camp by 6 pm. Snow was soft with occasional postholing to hips. On Saturday, we cramponed on nice hard snow to High Priest and did the North Face route. It took 4 pitches even though the guide book says three (50 meter ropes)and we pretty much used all the rope on each pitch. Summit at noon. Bootied a lost belay device from one crack and a carabiner from another using a chock pick taped to a trekking pole. Exciting double rope rap to the descent gully. Found a rodent eaten green jacket that Erin brought back for a laugh. Traversed below the south face of Prusik and climbed the West Ridge. Started at 2 pm and summit at 4 pm. Back to packs by 6 pm. Rather nasty slog back to camp with much postholing in soft snow. James showed good routefinding skills to get us back by 8:30 pm. Went to bed for a well-deserved sleep. Woke up at 4 am to sound of snow on the tent. Pulled our boots inside and closed the door. A little snow had fallen on the ends of our sleeping bags. Dozed a little longer and then got up to a cold, wet camp. It was a very wet and soggy hike back. The wildflowers were incredible. I might have enjoyed them more if my pack weren't so heavy. Met a couple guys on the trail who had hiked in on Saturday to do Prusik and had to leave empty handed. Lunch at Duck Boys and beers all around. Everyone agreed it was a fun and memorable climb. This was Erin's first alpine climb. For Dawn, it was her first alpine lead. For me it was my first alpine climb since last year when my buddy had his accident on Stuart. On the ride back with Dawn, we got a flat tire under the Convention Center. Her crappy tire iron woundn't work, but I finally figured out how to get the nuts loose by bracing the iron on the jack and standing on the iron. Those f'ing mechanics and their air wrenches! Gear Notes: Crampons, Axe, Light Rack Approach Notes: Snow above 7,000 ft

If you go into the hardware store in Naches, don't ask for "biners". You should either ask for "b-eye-ners" or "carabiners". I am not kidding.

You are cruel.

There's a good reason for not liking hexes.

We were well off, but not rich. My Dad, an architect, built the house in 1962 for $40,000. Much of the finish work he did himself. My Mom put her entire pension and life savings of $15,000 into it, and there was an 18 year mortgate of $25,000. The mortgage was paid off in 1980. Since then there has been a significant amount of appreciation in property values, to say the least.

I hadn't heard that term "abackeroff" before. That's amusing.

Work sucks, doesn't it?

We should go after the terrorists only and not entire countries. That way we don't make more terrorists than we are able to kill.

I couldn't remember whether it was Five Summer Stories or Endless Summer, so I googled it. The source I came up with was wrong! I thought the Internet was always the gospel truth! Honk used to do free concerts at UC Irvine. They'd snake power cords out into the brown, grassy fields out back of the campus and jam for the students.

Here's a topo of the affected area. Courtesy of Topozone

The house just left of center at the top of the photo is the one in which I grew up and where my mother still lives. I still have not been able to get in touch with her. I think she has been evacuated. I'm pretty sure the house is going to be okay though. Story and Pictures The one that went down at the left side belonged to Lou Wright. His son had a rock band called Honk that rehearsed in the garage. Honk provided the sound track to the surfing movie Endless Summer.

We're seeing a new aggro E-Rock. What's the matter? Not getting on the rock? SO not putting out?

For types of climbs I do, hexes allow me to get by with only one set of a cams instead of two. As the climbing gets harder and steeper, no question, you don't want to be spending time fiddling with hexes.

Be my guest.

Before reading your post I was imagining that you had invented a pole-mounted device for placing cams. It would have a string for retracting the lobes. You'd use a pair of binoculars to make sure you had a good placement, etc. Here's an opportunity for a clever guy like Bill_Simpkins to patent another new invention.

The Supreme Court decision gives new meaning to the expression "Pyrrhic Victory".

Bug! Long time no see!

Toast, I believe that Motherland is at Overhaul Wall.

Tell someone you climb rocks for fun and they look at you funny because you take such terrible risks. You tell them that you spent a long apprenticeship practicing and learning about safety and how to use equipment properly. Now tell someone you own a gun. Are they going to look at you funny? Not at all. Gun safety takes the same sort of sober vigilance as climbing, but apparently not everyone looks at it that way.

Oh, I thought it was the one about the four year old boy who accidentally walked behind a paper target while wearing camouflage pants and got shot by his father. I was wrong.

Breathtakingly Orwellian, isn't it?

If you are into tricams, then that completely changes the equation. I'd say yes, you could do fine without hexes if you carried tricams. Like hexes, they sometimes work better than cams would and are light for their size. On the other hand, as Selkirk mentioned, in places with inward flaring cracks, nothing works better than hexes.

I suppose it would be a mistake if you were only going to climb at Smith, but I still like them for alpine climbing.

I remember several years ago there was a fellow who came to Seattle for a meeting. He went to Mt. Rainier for a hike. It was spring, if I remember correctly. He was never seen again. They figure he got off trail in the snow, became exhausted and died of exposure.

Well, it looks more featured than Fee Demo Wall, but not by much.