Sol

it's rugged over here

Trip: Colchuck Balanced Rock - Let it Burn Date: 9/1/2012 Trip Report: Adam Lawson and myself had a blast on the neo-classic Let it Burn up on CBR a few weeks back. More info on my blog: Let it Burn Gear Notes: Dbl rack purple tcu to #1, single #2 and #3. Single set of nuts.

I'm gonna add my 2cents in as well: EDK all day. Do a test pull, always. Ridonkulous to only bring 1 headlamp for 3 dudes. Often on broken terrain it is much easier to do short single rope raps, passing a station at 25M should have been at least a signal. The first rapper should have finished the dbl rope rap, tried to pull the ropes which wouldn't budge. Yelled up to the team that they were going to stay at the farther station and that the other two should try two single rope raps and see if the ropes pull then. Extend anchors with shoulder length slings if needed. Do more research, beta out there about this exact same situation. Don't set your SPOT off because you're scared to spend a cold night in the hills, shivering from your inexperience. SPOT's are for accidents, not mistakes. I'm sure in retrospect you've thought of all of this.. Nonetheless, nice effort and good work making it down Prusik and out of the hills.

u should post up those pics

That beast looks STOUT and SPICY. Nice work boys!

Trip: Mt. Stuart - West Face Wall - Gorillas in the Blizzard Date: 9/10/2012 Trip Report: I had a super fun (i.e. memorable) birthday climb of GITM a week or so ago. My Blog Gear Notes: Dbl rack to 2 inches, single 3, single set of nuts. Approach Notes: Cold and windy

I think to really answer your question you have to be more specific with what type of climbing your training for and specific goals for each training cycle. "Strength" on a 100 ft crux pitch or strength throughout a 2000ft mixed route. "Endurance" on a 150 ft finger-crack, or endurance on a 26 hr push? I totally agree that Twight's book is awesome (have read it proably 4 times cover to cover in the last 10 years and just loaned it out) and that Gym Jones, Mountain Athlete are premier venues for alpine climbing training/programming. BUT, if we are talking "hard" (defined different for each person) rock climbing, there are much more valuable resources out there and there is a clear distinction in training for the two mediums. I think Rob at Mtn Athlete and Twight at Gym Jones would proabaly agree that training for rock climbing is not their specialty (though it seems like both gyms do do a good job at preparing the alpine climber for the "hard" rock part of their programming, it's not rocket science). Personally, I have to dibble and dabble in each training element at different times of the year. Defined, my specific goal for training is to climb traditional 5.12 rock climbs in the mtns. So, overall I have to train alot for hard rock climbing and a bit for alpine endurance (this changes throuout the year). If i train the enduro alpine game too much I wont send the crux pitches, if i train the hard rock without training the enduro apline side then i'll be too fatigued from the approach to the climb and the approach pitches to send all the crux's (thought on certain climbs I can fudge through with minimal enduro alpine training: E Face of Lib Bell, easy approaches in the Enchantments..) I am definetly not trying to start the classic debate on what training is best, but, if you want to climb hard rock, then Extreme Apinism is not the best resource. Some links to blogs that can help you improve on the rock: Dave McLeod Dave's Climbing Coaching Blog Mark Anderson's Training Blog Eva Lopez Stevie Haston Training Power Climbing Company Blog (Kris Hampton) Alli Rainey Ryan Palo Robot Climbing Books: 9 out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes by Dave McLeod The Rock Warrior's Way by Arno Illgner Performance Rock by Dale Goddard Udo Neumann Mike Anderson's Rock Prodigy Articles

How early? I may be able to give you a shuttle.. shoot me a PM.

oh wow, that looks fun! nice work gentlemen.

it's pretty bad. I could not see wedge mtn from near downtown in the early evening. reports of folks not climbing bcuz the smoke was so bad. nonetheless, it wont stop me from getting out in the am.

That's what Jimbo wrote but I can't remember using it anywhere except the offwidth pitch.

Sorry about that typo montypiton! The event will start at 6PM with a community potluck and we will roll from there. Please come down! Bring a dish to pass or nothing at all, BYOB, we will be providing free hotdogs. Lots of awesome gear will be auctioned and raffled off so bring your wallets: Gri-Gri 2 1 pair of your choice LaSportiva Climbing Shoes 1 pair of your choice LaSportiva Trail Running Shoes 1 pair of your choice 5.10 Climbing Shoes Chalkbags Chalkbuckets Nut Tool Puffy Jkt Metolius PAS Camp Sport Draws Camp Alpine Draws BD Guide ATC-XP Gift Cards for local business Baronness Cellars Wine Pkgs and lots more.. It's gonna be a good one folks, come down and mix with your local outdoor community, watch some great movies, grab some food, and score some gear. We hope to see you there! -Sol Wertkin President, Leavenworth Mountain Association

Woo-hoo, been waiting to see another report on this routes ever since Jimbo and I did the second ascent back in 2005. I've been trying to sandbag my buddies into it every year but haven't been able to convince anybody to give it a burn. NICE JOB! It sounds like you guys had a similar experience to ours: started off on track for a few pitches, got lost somewhere around the chockstone, climbed a couple of off-route scary/loose pitches, got back in track for the flakes and we're thankful they stayed put, fell off the crux d/t dirt and crumbly rock (I don't think it's been freed yet..), then got lost on the descent to the hwy in the dark, bushwacked, swore, then finally hit the hwy after a mysteriously long descent. Classic. My off-route variation pitch I led still stands out as the worst situation i've ever climbed myself into and I am still very thankful that I pulled the horrific mantel with handfuls of kitty litter pebbles 35 ft out from my last piece of pro: FWIW, Jim Nelson apologized to me a few years later for putting the route in his guide book after only one ascent and stated that it would not be included in future additions. You dudes could very well have gotten the 3rd ascent. This picture taken the morning after our climb has always pretty much summed up how I feel about that route:

Call me a hater, but i've never understood the classic status of the NW Corner..

Nice job Eric! Awesome cloudy ridge shots.

What a week! Thanks for the stoke. I'd be psyched to see Verticolorful's 2012 ticklist at the end of the season.

Sickey! Definitely have to get on that at some point in my lifetime.

Danimal!

Awesome work team! So cool to see the mystery of the Soviet Route on Bonanza revealed.

We went left and then right (the monkey traverse) where I think you guys went straight up and bailed. We did see the stamped bolts put up by the Cle Elum climbers on their ground up then top down big wall style attempt, two sets i believe.

Nice. Just when we were about to downgrade the first pitch to 10+, it sounds like it's been holding it's grade. Reports last week of a whipper on the monkey traverse.. If you thought that rock was dirty and loose, I would stay far away from the direct. She's quite virgin compared to OG gorillas (that stone is bomber..) Still unrepeated.. I think the beauty of the line on GITM is that it weaves a moderate path up such a steep intimidating wall. The exposure at the top of the first few pitches is wild.

WOWZA! Unreal. That must be so very cool to sit back with a cold one after a day like that and think about the ground you covered. Haters gonna hate, but wtf have they done lately? Klenke: your post (before you cowardly deleted it), was proabaly the lamest post i've ever seen on this board. Get a life.

Hells to the Yeah!

From our perspective on Dragons of Eden there were no climbers on Acid Baby on monday. Glad to hear you guys are ok!! Props on the self-rescue!