cluck

Trail is a highway to Snowgrass flats... one very small snow field to walk across on PCT, but short and not steep.......trail to summit of Old Snowy is easy to follow. Info as of 8/1/04

come on.... two bivys to climb the Sisters? Whatever floats your boat but I thought the common concept of a 3 Sister's Marathon was to do in in a day in a single push.

Never done it and I'm sure lots of "marathoners" will weigh in. From most I've talked to and what I've read, it starts at Pole Creek, up North via South/Southeast ridge (get most difficult peak down when you are fresh), down to Prouty Point and up North Ridge of Middle Sis on easy terrain. Down South ridge of Middle, over and then up North ridge route on South (can be a little tricky when tired so I hear). Walk off to road via trail highway & drive back (via your other wheels) to the starting place.

Climb: Rooster Rock and Chicken-Napped!!! Date of Climb: 7/26/2004 Trip Report: It is a sad day in the PNW climbing community (by "climbing community" I mean my friends and I). Cluck, our beloved mascot climbing chicken has been kidnapped. He was chillin' downtown Portland in the back of my jeep last night while I gorged myself with some late-night happy hour after another glorious ascent of the Rooster when car thieves/terrorists broke in and nabbed him (along with my climbing pack full of gear). I returned from dinner to find the jeep with lights-a-flashing and horn-a-blaring with broken glass and tiny yellow feathers littering the sidewalk. The police quickly assembled an elite Chicken Recovery Task Force and locked down the city. Within hours, they had arrested the terrorists responsible for this heinous crime and recovered my climbing gear, but tragically Cluck was nowhere to be found. Most likely, he had already been sold into chicken-slavery on the black market. So if you spot some crackhead lurking around downtown PDX sporting a badass climbing chicken mascot, do me a favor and punch him in the head. Meanwhile, we'll be pulling our reserve mascot up from the minor leagues to fill in as Cluck-2. Also lost in this incident were 3 Hamm's tall-boys. They are still missing and presumed drank - RIP guys.

Apparently, the Guard had a Blackhawk in T-line parking lot, but they chose to do a ground evac instead. I guess they're still a little uneasy about flying up in the crater, and with non life-threatening injuries there's no need to risk it. Makes more work for the rescuers though.

I've gotta disagree with you on that one. I thought the Southeast Ridge was a tedious slog up a scree-covered, gendarme-infested ridge. You have to be wary of every single footfall as there is hardly a solid stone on the entire mountain. The snow covered traverse was fun and the 50 foot scramble from the top of the bowling alley to the summit was nice, but the ridge slog totally blew. This one would definitely be better in winter.

Been wanting to do this route. Any pics to share?

From what I hear, the road is open all the way to Cloud Cap.

Ahh yes. Now I understand what yer talking about. From the belay ledge the rock looks good, but peering down from the summit all you can see is super-steep moss and weeds in that direction. The start would be great, but the finish looked terrible.

I've never been up there, but from what I gather, the rock is actually descent and takes pro OK. But the scrambling is 4th class so you probably won't bother placing too much gear. But I'm sure there's plenty others around here who have first hand experience and might be a bit more helpful.

I tried the east face last summer that looked do-able. First pitch was easy 5th to a belay on a broken tree leaning up against the rock. It has several slings on it so it should be easy to recognize. After that the climbing got harder and the rock was unnervingly loose so we bailed and found the easier south side route.

I would consider it extraordinarily silly to haul motorized scooters into the woods for sole the purpose of shaving off a few miles on the approach. However, I'd probably bring my mountain bike for a washed out road, but I enjoy mountain biking and would consider it part of the adventure rather than a way to cheat.

Haven't done the Exum direct, but I thought the upper Exum ridge was fantastic. Mostly 3rd and 4th class scrambling on excellent rock. There are a couple of low 5th class pitches (Unsoeld's Lieback, Friction Pitch) but there are plenty of opportunities for variations to make it as hard as you like. Make sure you've got the route wired as many parties waste time wandering off route and you don't want to be up high when the afternoon thunderstorms come rolling in. Descend the Owen-Spalding route and Bring 2 ropes for the long, overhanging rappel.

If you are looking for "easy" on Rainier... go do Emmons Glacier. Climbing isn't steep. As a long as your party climbs on a rope and knows how to haul someone out of a crevasse, you should be OK. Once this route is "in", it is well marked and climbing Emmons is a case of "follow the trench." Less crowded than DC, but still pretty busy. Food for thought.

I've climbed Unicorn Peak and Rooster Rock a bunch of times just because it's fun to take beginners there. Easy enough that most anyone can make it up, but cool enough that newb's get totally psyched.

Holy shit, Griz! How do you're partners feel about climbing with a genetically predispositioned lightning rod??? Glad you're folks and bro are ok. That's pretty amazing.

I've heard people on cascadeclimbers.com refer to something called "bail webbing." Is this the same thing as bailing twine? Like the kind used to tie bails of hay? Because I've been using that stuff for setting up topropes and it works great. Super lightweight too!

Nice work. Also enjoyed the long-winded versions of both TRs at your site.

Right in MRNP is Tatoosh range. Directly south from Paradise. Lots of fun climbs up 6000' peaks.... anything from hike to 4th class scrambles. If you go to Tatoosh Range, Unicorn would be the "not to miss" climb. Some info here: http://www.summitpost.org/mountains/mountain_link.pl?mountain_id=1274

Inspired by a stuffed mascot chicken that often hangs from my pack. That's one badass climbing chicken.

Ouch. It always sucks making the decision to turn back, but at least the weather proved you made the right call. The worst is when the weather doesn't turn bad and you spend the next few weeks/months second-guessing your decision. to smart climbing

I think what TomTom's trying to say is you might be able to entice hoards of potential searchers up that route if you tell everyone that route is in ideal shape and the corn is ready for harvest. One time I dropped my digi camera off the N Ridge on Broken Top. As I watched in horror, it rolled off a cliff, bounced down a scree slope and slid accross a snowfield, finally coming to rest in some rocks about 600 feet below. I was pissed but the camera was in a padded leather case and I figured at least the flash cards would be salvagable. I rapped down, got the thing, and to my amazement, it still worked! I still use it today. Sometimes it pays to be a cheap bastard.

I'm not Sketch but have done the hike lots of times. If is a really nice one. On the way up, lots of ridge hiking, which I like. Couple of places - one with the awe inspiring name of the "cat walk" - are even 3rd class with a little exposurure. No crowds, somewhat off the beaten path. Long hard grind up to the Bensen plateau that is great for conditioning. Once on the plateau, cross a little creek and angle NW a couple hundred yards to you cross the Ruckel creek trail and do it as a loop. Better views and quicker going coming down the Ruckel Creek side.

Nah, that was before my time. I'm new to this whole rescue shizzle. The show was sort of cool to watch. Of course, it was overly sensationalized and melodramatic, but that's what you expect from the media. It even had a nifty computer-generated re-enactment of the fall. Scary.