cluck

Went back yesterday with a rope and 2 partners and got up the bunny ears. While the climb is certainly on poor quality rock and isn't very aesthetic, the summit was pretty neat and it beats a day not climbing. Only one low 5th class move that was tough only because it was the key traverse into the gully between the ears, on portable holds and a little exposed. Got an OK cam in to add some protection (psychological only maybe). Easy scramble up to the higher east ear. As mentioned in Nonanon's post, good rap anchor on East ear. 2X60M takes you all the way back to the top of the dirt gully. Finished off a day "barn yard" climbing in the Gorge by zipping up super easy route on Rooster Rock and watching the sunset from there. I'll post a couple pics of rabbit ears in a bit.

Yikes! Don't people read the avi report?!? Or just choose to climb anyway? NWAC certainly called for dangerous climbing conditions. True, they pointed out the wind loaded NE slabs as being the most likely trigger points, but still indicated overall dangerous conditions. I've never seen any slides there personally, but I've heard that the slope below Hogsback and Crater rock does avalanche periodically. Hood's South Side route normally has lower avi danger than surrounding areas, but it is not immune. Ballsy going up with a forecast like that... I guess Glad everyone made it down safely, and thanks for the avi beta

Yeah - that was awesome. I could have gone for some more gratuitous climbing shots, but the story was totally riveting. One thing I found interesting was that Tommy was all broken up about how he killed a guy. Then, the guy turns up alive, but is captured and sentanced to death anyway. His point was it didn't really matter that the guy didn't actually die, or even that he deserved it. But that he was able to force himself to kill another human being; and that scared the shit out of him.

Try opening the picture up in Microsoft Photo Editor or something. When you view it at 100% scale, is it larger than the screen? If so, resize it until it all fits on the screen. That should keep the file size smaller. Also, check to see what resolution you're scanning. 300 DPI or less ought to keep your file size more reasonable....I think. Lower DPI = lower image quality = smaller filesize.

Nice work! Sounds like you guys had a nice climb. That's pretty funny (OK, scary) that some dude decided to sprint up uproped without knowing how to self arrest. When people like that get hurt, it gives all climbers a bad rap.

(The Rabbit Ears aren't in Oregon either!) Thanks for the beta. You are right of course, the ears are all Washington. However, with the proximity to PDX and the fact that there is so much more and better climbing in Washington, figured this post would be lost and a waste for most of our Seattle area brothers and sisters to the North

Another vote for Unicorn.... but check the road conditions. Last year we climbed late May and the Steven's Canyon road had only opened a day before we went in. Without access to Steven's Canyon road, you are looking for an approach that is 12-15 miles. If it stops snowing now, you might get lucky, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Climb: Rabbit ears - Columbia River Gorge-choss scramble Date of Climb: 3/21/2004 Trip Report: In 70 degree sunshine, headed up Table Mountain trail to recon the Rabbit Ears (also known as Sacagawea/Papoose Rock) with my pal Cluck, the stuffed mascot climbing chicken. 45 minute hike got us to the intersection with the shorter more commonly used hikers trail we used and the longer PCT approach where we turned off towards a rock that looked very little to me like a brave Indian explorer and her infant child. 15-20 minutes of wandering, occassionaly passing by someone's ancient flagging, we were at the base of the gully. Portland Rock book describes it as 85' of of steep dirt and so it was. Hands and feet pulling at dirt, moss, treess and the like. Two steps up and one slide down. You guys know the drill. From a scenic little gap, the scambling began. About 3rd class and not too exposed - but just as loose as one of Shred's craps - about 80' up to another viewpoint. This one was equiped with some very solid looking bolts for rap anchors which I was happy to use on the way down. Next was a wander on an exposed crappy loose ledge to the right to some more 3rd class choss. Headed up this past one old fixed pin. I put the location of this pin in the brain bank for future attempts as this pile of junk that is doing an impression of a rodent's ears didn't have many obvious gear placements that would be worth stopping to place (the pin might be manky too, but could be better than nothing). Got to a place just below the saddle between the ears that was cruxy for me in free solo mode. Only a short move of about 5.4-5.5, but since all the holds looked portable and the obvious place for a high boot was covered in loose crap and slopy too, I took pause before continuing on. At this point Cluck, who had been leisurely riding on my pack the entire time, start to call me a pussy and volunteered to unclip, solo to the top and take a glory shot of himself using the timer on my digital camera. Figured it would be OK to hand over the lead to a stuffed animal at this point, even though I though he was brave for wanting to send, unroped, hauling a camera that outweighed him by at least 4 times. But, Cluck is hardcore after all and that is what we expect from him. As I started to hand over the camera, I realized that I had foolishly left the flash medi card back home, which made the glory shot impossible. Hearing that, Cluck thumbed his nose at a 5.4 exposed scamble and opted to just hang out on my pack and see if I would suck it up and climb or not. Even with Cluck taunts raining down on me, mostly questioning the size of my manhood, I decided to turn tail maybe 50 vert. feet from the top of the ears and live to climb another day. Since I want to go back another day and scratch the top of the bunny's ears, hoping some one will reply or PM me with beta for the top. I heard the climbing from between the ears to the top was on better rock and no big deal but have no beta on if a rap past my "danger crux" is possible or if I have to suck it up for a loose exposed down climb. Anything reasonable to build an anchor for a rap off the top? Surely Wayne of some of you other "adventure scramble Gorge hard men" must have a little knowledge to share? If nothing else, whomever labored so hard for the rap anchors must have this choos heap wired. Nice day to be out of the house. Gear Notes: Next time will bring live partner and rock rack. Approach Notes: It is easy to get from PCT / hiker's trail merge over to the base of the bunny ears this time of year. No time for bushes to grow yet so no bush whacking required. Some interesting giant boulders that would be great to send if someone cleaned them and they were made of reasonable rock, not choss

I may be wrong, but this must be the most discussed single turd in the history of the Web. Nice going guys.

Damn, that pitch looks waaaay run out! ....Scary PS - bitchin thread revival

sure we are interested.... Give it up.

Agreed Catturd. However, the post above by Timcb mentioned he had climbed LC and I was interested in beta. Please excuse me from curiousity and thread drift. Since we are on the subject, climbed LC last Friday and found it to be a nice climb. We lucked out and had almost zero ice fall bombardment that is common on the route and that nailed the hoards that hit it Saturday.

We made the summit around 1:30 - a rather pathetic 9 hours the parking lot. Fortunately, it stayed extremely cold all day and icefall was almost non-existant. We had hoped to do this route on Saturday under blue skies, but decided to go a day early when we realized how many people were headed that way. The solitude was great (didn't see any climbers all day) but the whiteout and ferocious wind was the tradeoff. Glad everyone made it safe on Saturday

Holy shit. Circumnavigate the mountain and then climb up from the north side. That's one way to do it!

Yeah, you barely notice the graffiti, trash, beer cans, broken glass, and condom wrappers.... but the bolts REALLY ruin the ambiance.

I guess you've probably figured it out by now... but no, the bergie isn't open. In fact, you can hardly even make out where it is supposed to be.

Leuthold's is in OK shape right now. The snow is an interesting mixture of neve, rime, and sugar. Avi conditions were very low (on Friday) and mercifully little icefall. This is a shot looking up at the hourglass: Just above the hourglass we were engulfed in clouds and the wind picked up considerably. Having no clear view of where the route went, we just headed up hill. An eternity later we emerged from the clouds, covered in rime ice, just below the summit ridge. The route was a lot of fun, but more physically demanding and less technically challenging than we had expected. Basically, it's like going up the Hogsback/Pearly Gates for 3000 feet. The coolest part was the knife-edge ridge leading to the summit. WOW! Looking forward to hearing from all the folks who headed up there today

Right on. Thanks!! Sounds like it might be busy up there this weekend. Enjoy!

Thanks for posting the pic, Shred. Just to get my bearings...the notch in the middle is Leuthold's, right?

Would that $85 pass be good in place of NW Forest and Sno Park passes as well?

Oooohhh.... Rabbit Ears. I've heard folks talk about the Rabbit Ears but I thought they were referring to something down south in the Menagerie. That explains why I couldn't find it in the book. Thanks a ton for you info. I'll be sure to rack up some rebar and a sledge hammer for the first pitch.

Very interesting... really. However, if rep. Brown had said that she had specific issues with people on the commission based upon their POV and historical ties to groups that she felt had an agenda she couldn't support, she would have come off as intelligent and rational. Maybe the commission that met on Haiti was callous and out of touch, but as per my original statement, it is not because they weren't African American. I would suggest that logic and fact based statements would have been more valuable in this case than the convenient and illogical random tossing out of the "race card". If she thought the people she was working with were bigots and racists and that is the reason why she didn't value their contribution.... I get it. But saying adding African Americans to the panel is what was necessary to insure people who were "in touch with Haiti" is still a bunch of bunk. Just because you are black, doesn't mean you know shit about Haiti.

The weather looks suck for climbing and BC riding so I'm looking to do some Gorge adventure thrashing. On a hike to Table Mountain (WA side of Gorge near Bonneville Dam) I spied some cool rock spire that I think is called Sacagawea Rock or Papoose Rock. Anyone ever heard of these? Anyone ever climbed these? Any idea if they are a simple scramble or a 5th class moss & choss death voyage ? Preemptive thanks!

That Mounties' link has a bunch of good basic climbs, but I consider a good "Basic Climb" different from a good "Newbie Climb." For example - I think newbies would enjoy Shuksan (Sulphide Glacier), Sahale (Sahale Arm), Hood (S Slog), and Adams (S spur or Mazama Glacier). However, I don't think newbies would enjoy Little Tahoma, Rainier, or Shuksan via Fisher Chimneys. Obviously, the experience of the newbies is a large factor.

95% haitians are of African descent, no people on commision of African descent, commission therefore callous and out of touch with needs cultural and otherwise of Haitian people? Sorry, but I just don't understand this logic? By this logic is it fair to say that people who don't have the same ethnic heritage can't be objective, thoughtful, and be capable for forming fair and rational opinions or policies? I say again, what does being from African descent have to do with being "in touch" with needs of Haitian people or for that matter of African people unless the person is only a 1st or 2nd generation American and came from the place in question? Maybe I'm just obtuse, but I can't see how an average African American person would have any better capability to be in touch with people from Haiti that any other American. Again, my thought is that the person on the commission from Cuba (Caribbian island nation with oppressive government) is probably likely to be "in touch" with the situation. Sure, an African American with special ties or knowledge of current political and cultural events in Haiti might be great for the commission, but because the person had exceptional relevant knowledge of Haiti and not because they happened to be of African descent. My thought is that having experts in politics in a region is more important that counting and judging people's intentions and capabilities based 100% on a person's historical ethic hertitage of the place of origin of their ancestors.