Sol

looks like the cap rock that pokes our from the top of midnight. reminds me that i have a somewhat dangerous commute.

if you email r and i they will photocopy the article and send it to you, they have done so with several articles for me in the past.

Ben, yeah those bolts on T & C are pretty shady, time-bombs for sure. 20+ years old, rusty, some 1/4 inchers, bunch of leeper hangers, alot of them have eroded out bolt-holes from people yarding on them. Would be a good community service job to replace them, but really the anchors are the sketchiest part of the deal, lots of dead trees, small bushes, etc. I'm sure we could banter about what is and what is not alpine for 10, 12, 20 pages... But really, I think we think-tanked a pretty killer list of the technically hard alpine style rock climbs in WA. Thanks for all the input folks, let's let this horse die without beating it into submission.

Just my opinion, but I thought the direct east buttress of SEWS sucked, big-time! I also wouldn't add hyperspace, that belongs more with the UTW climbs at Index (Green Dragon, Heaven's Gate, etc.); lowland cragging.

Interesting tidbit of info concerning Liberty Crack courtesy of bigwallben: Just thought I would let you know that Brooke definitely freed that thing. In detailed email correspondence he explained that the alleged rope was used to back up the shitty old 1/4" bolts. His free ascent followed the original bolt ladder (now upgraded), and he clipped his draws through the old hangers, which were in turn backed up with a rope from above. His rationale was that he didn't want to rebolt the ladder because of historical precedence and for the possibility that it would become the subject of much ire amongst the "old gaurd" alpine crowd. Recently Mikey climbed the route and freed a variation out right of the original bolt line with a fixed line with knots for protection; however, this is very much different than what Brooke had done in my opinion. It is too bad that Brooke's ascent was never recognized by locals. But, whatever.

I agree with you Mike, there are plenty of big gnarly alpine rock routes in WA that have serious 5.9, 5.10 pitches, that would challenge nearly any climber regardless of what grade they climb. If they could even make it to the face. It's a different style, different list, just as challenging...

Great list Matt. Swap out one of the redundant Passenger routes (11 and 14) for the firefighter, and that pretty much sums it up; the tick list. Should be some additions in the next couple seasons. Speaking of The Firefighter, anybody ever get on that thing? jb, nothing wrong with tooth and claw (except maybe the last two pitches), it just didn't make my top 10. Is there no 5.12 in the Wine Spires?

take off 3 months, rest and ice

I didn't include Liberty Bell, cuz it just doesn't seem like it had been truly freed. If I remember correctly Brooke Sandahl protected sections of the climb by clipping loops of rope that was fixed from an anchor above. Well this doesn't seem completely legit, Ill let it slide and add it to the list. I limited the Baring climb's to Vanishing Point because I haven't seen/heard any info about the myriad of Doorish routes up there (or for that matter Vanishing Point too). If anybody can confirm their difficulty or quality I would love to add them to the list. Kimmo, have you climbed VP? I've only heard of these dudes climb it, and an attempt by Fitz Cahall and the late Ryan Triplett. Still waiting for that beta and topo Fitz... I'll drop it to 12-. Grade on Tempest Wall changed. Girth Pillar knocked off the list. By "Top" I mean quality routes. A couple harder climbs that didn't make the list due to lack of quality: Tooth and Claw, North Face of SEWS (might by a good route, but a weird start and such). Doesn't it seems like WA state is lacking in higher end alpine free climbs? It's just not a very big list.

people have been climbing ice all week in ltown...

1. Libery Crack/Freedom or Death, Liberty Bell, 12+/13- 2. Thin Red Line, Liberty Bell 12+ 3. The Tempest Wall, Colchuck Balanced Rock 12- 4. Vanishing Point, Dolomite Tower, Mt. Baring 12- 5. Independence Route, Liberty Bell, 12- 6. Dragons of Eden, Dragontail Pk. 12- 7. Der Sportsmen, Prusik Pk. 11+ 8. West Face, Main Gunsight Pk. 11+ 9. The Passenger, South Early Winter Spire 11+ 10. West Face, Colchuck Balanced Rock 11+ *edited to reflect changes Any thoughts? What's missing?

I would!

you can have good days at vantage all winter long if you only go when it's sunny and not so windy.

It tried to rain only briefly at the base of Stevens, around 2PM on Friday the 1st (it never really did). It snowed off and on all day. Really weird snow conditions up there. We did some backside runs and some slack-country, and found funky breakable crust from the night before on the top half of the runs, and fun lighter powder without a crust on the bottom half of the runs. On our last slackcountry run we did set off a few isolated slabs in the trees on steeper terrain (things had warmed up).

SOLD

i've lost and kept off 15-20lbs in the last year by roughly following the zone diet. noticed a major increase in energy when i follow the zone as well.

For sale: On pair of Spark R&D medium fuse splitboard baseplates, brand new, color black. $215 + shipping Baseplates are brand new, never been ridden. If you are interested in this product I am sure that you are aware that Spark R&D is way, way, way, backordered. You cannot currently purchase these anywhere. Most likely you will not be able to purchase these anywhere for at least a couple of months without at least pre-ordering and pre-paying for them from one of their dealers. I ordered the medium months ago, but they were too small, so I sold an organ (not really, but had to do some major finaggling) to get a size large. So, I am offering these medium baseplates for retail as the item is scarce and they are brand new, you pay shipping, ill figure it out and give you a total The Baseplate The Complete Binding *note item for sale is just the baseplate PM with any questions.

Ha, been gated for a 6-8 weeks by now. 4-5 mile trudge or 10 minute snowmobile ride.

I am in no way endorsing cross-fit as a means to become a better rock climber. But... Tommy Cross-Fits One has to understand the wide spectrum in specializing in rock climbing. Kimmo sending hard redpoints at the Equinox and WW Walls, while Tommy is freeing the hardest el cap routes in a day could both be considered specialized rock climbing but would require different programs. With Tommy having to focus a significant portion of his training on gaining all day and multi-day endurance. Interesting though that the core of each program focus's on many many hours on a steep woody pulling on plastic. Such simple training, yet for many, so hard to execute with consistency and discipline. BTW, Kimmo, been having a blast climbing static style, really makes you focus on your body position and really helps gaining lock-off strength.

What a year, if only I could finish it with some backcountry splitboarding... The Highlights: Passed the WA State EMT-B Exam My wife and I purchased our first home Began nursing school pre-req's Bouldering my first V9 (soft), couple of V8's and a handful of 7's Great week at WA Pass with my bro Tyree Sunny early morning summit of Stuart after unplanned shiver bivy while completing the FA of Gorillas in the Mist w/ Jens and Blake Climbing the 2nd ascent of GITM with my off-the-couch wifey Hanging with good friends and family at Colchuck Lake the night before... ...watching Jens go for broke on the FFA of DOE A few 11+ trad and sport onsights Climbed 6 summits on an attempt at the Souther Pickets Traverse. Narrowly avoided the axe (a giant block) on Inspiration. And nailed the descent off the Barrier and the 4000' schwack down Terror Creek in a whiteout Having all my friends come home safe and sound (and sending) from their adventures in AK The pics: Already very stoked for the 2010 alpine rock season. Tick list has been made, gear list amassed, off to train...

agreed, be safe out there folks. hard to resist the pow fever, ecspecially this early in the season.

not so good