colt45

I found 5 draws on the ground at the base of Cherche La Femme today (8/15/13). PM me a description and I'll get them back to you.

The road is indeed open and drivable to the 3 o'clock rock trailhead (and ~1.2 miles beyond). We had a great time climbing Total Soul, the route (and most of 3OC) was totally dry. There is a lot of snow at the base and an ice axe was useful -- no need for crampons though, as the snow was soft even at 8am. Exfolation Dome looked pretty dry as well. We did not look at Green Giant Buttress.

Anyone been to Darrington lately? I am wondering about road access & specifically whether Green Giant Buttress or 3 o'clock rock have a reasonable chance of being dry....

To the left of the aforementioned hand crack is a full-on OW (5.10+??) Tilting the hydraulic wall would make it a 105 degree overhanging offwidth, now that would be a good workout!!

Looks like a great day out! My wife and I were an Excalibur on Saturday (by the way, did that photo turn out?) and we were amazed at how much rock is in that valley--it's definitely one of the most impressive areas I have been in Washington.

I am posting to get in contact with the party that was on Sloe Children on Thursday 6/9/11. If you see this post, I have your gear--PM me and we can figure out when to meet. Thanks!

That's an awesome project!! I imagine that the CT scan would not make it to the final HAPE susceptibility testing protocol for multiple reasons, although I have heard that there are simplified versions of spirometry that are cheap and that can be easily performed in a non-hospital setting. For the purposes of the research study, it should be interesting to see whether the various physiologic parameters that are measured end up correlating with anatomic findings on the CT. Let us know what you find!

Sounds great! Yuko and I will contribute $200.

Thanks for the "pre-spray", Pax! I posted some photos from our trip here: http://mikes2500.blogspot.com By the way, we thought of you during the trip as we were checking out the La Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires:

There were free hanging daggers on the far left as well, not nearly as large as the curtain but still big enough to cause some serious damage if they failed. In this photo it looks like there might even be an old fracture line above the left side icicles:

One detail I forgot to mention is the significant amount of debris (partially snow covered) at the base of the climb when we hiked in, possibly indicating a separate collapse earlier in the season. The ice chunks seemed far too large to be due to climber-induced icefall. We totally ignored this warning sign, but fortunately luck was on our side... In addition, I found other reports of Louise Falls partially collapsing in the past: --------- "A large portion of the hanging pillar on the right had fallen a few days before, causing minor injuries and sudden bowel release to a couple of climbers below it" [link] --------- "the next day the pillar collapsed and killed another ice climber." [link] ---------

Trip: Canadian Rockies - Various Date: 1/6/2009 Trip Report: I had a great time on my first trip to the Rockies. I was also fortunate enough to survive, allowing for a possible future trip. During the week we hiked in to climb the uber-classic Louise Falls: While leading the pitch, I briefly considered belaying at the ledge 30m up, but elected to continue onwards. After traversing to the left about 20 feet, the entire right side of the climb collapsed in a massive roar. I ducked and held on tight as many tons of ice flew past, incredibly not harming me or my belayer. The rope stretching diagonally between us was buried by basketball-sized ice chunks though... It is fortunate that I did not cut the pitch short, as both Frank and I would have almost surely been squished by ice at the fixed belay directly below the ice curtain. We decided not to push our luck with the free-standing pillar of the second pitch, so we rappelled off at its base. Louise Falls is an enjoyable climb in an easily accessed, scenic location but I probably would not climb it again if there were free-hanging daggers present. More photos from our trip are here: http://mikes2500.blogspot.com

Anyone had problems with bees in the Pressure Chamber? There seemed to be a sizable swarm near the top of the pitch on Saturday, so we opted to rap down and finish via Iconoclast/Outer Space (which is a pretty awesome option by the way).

To descend, we went north along the ridge, mostly utilizing a system of ledges a few feet down from the crest to the east. The ledge system led south initially before dropping down and heading north for a couple hundred feet. This led to a flat area of the north ridge where we contoured around to the west side. Starting down from the summit. This is near where we angled to the right (east) to access the ledge system: We then rapped from an established station to the glacier to the west, clearing a huge moat en route: We then walked north a little bit on this glacier to access the notch at the base of EMS's north ridge. We descended a loose gully to access the glacier to the east (2 more single rope raps). On our climb (9/14/08) this involved a mandatory horizontal jump over a 4-foot wide schrund (partially visible at the bottom of the photo). Other photos are here in case anyone is interested.

hey Aaron, Check your PM's.

Is this the way you went? The horn in the foreground broke off in my hand, and the climbing was pretty steep (5.10ish) Also can anyone identify these routes: Route 1 and Route 2. Both are located to the left of the south face route. Based on Beckey it looks like the right-facing dihedral is supposed to be 5.10+ and the left-facing one is 5.8, but it sure looks harder than 5.8 (or maybe the book said 5.9, I don't have it with me at the moment).

Sounds like a great trip! My two cents is that the upper pitches and walkoff are both enjoyable and highly worthwhile, although I can see skipping them if you are in a hurry. Logistically, walking off doesn't take much more time than rapping (~3 hours for the walkoff vs. ~1 hour to rap the route + 1.5-2 hours to hike out after rapping). The walkoff takes you to the base of the ramp although not the base of the climb. Of course, if you bring all your non climbing stuff with you on the route (which consists of only your approach shoes if you travel light) there is really no need to return to the base. I was able to fill my water bottle on the way down each time I have done the walkoff (March, April, & May in different years).

WM bags are highly regarded, but I wonder about this too. $300+ is big outlay for something that might not hold up too well. The fabric might "look" flimsy, but my WM highlite (16 oz; 35 degree rating) still seems brand new after dozens of nights out and often using it on bare rock with a lightweight pad. I am comfortable in this bag down to freezing temps without a tent when wearing my normal climbing clothes & micropuff pullover. Also the hood fits me better than any other brand, so it probably comes down to whether FF or WM fits you best. You really can't go wrong with either.

Nice! Looks like the conditions you encountered on the route were better than what I encountered at work...

That's the west face of Klawatti. Here are some other photos from the trip: Improvising sunglasses from spare lenses, duct tape and a stuff sack draw cord... Nice steeper section of frozen snow: Higher on the ridge:

Trip: Bugaboos - B-C, Cooper-Kor, etc. Date: 7/23/2007 Trip Report: After our first trip to the Bugaboos last year, Yuko and I were psyched to return. Incredibly, we had 9 consecutive days of perfect weather. Here's a brief overview: Mon: Drive up & hike to Applebee Tues: Hike to East Creek Wed: Beckey-Chouinard (20p 5.10) Thurs: Surf's Up (9p 5.9). Hike to Applebee. Fri: NW Ridge Eastpost Spire (4th class) Sat: Sunshine Crack (11p 5.11-) Sun: Paddle Flake Direct (6p 5.10). Go to car for spare rope. Mon: Rest day in camp. Tues: Cooper-Kor (18p 5.9 A0) Wed: Snowpatch Route (19p 5.8) Thurs: Hike out & drive back to Seattle. As if the impeccable granite and perfect weather were not enough, additional excitement during the trip included our rope getting a core shot exactly at the middle mark, and a near-accident when one falling climber grabbed the lead rope of another climber. A long trip report with photos is here.

It was great to run into you last weekend (sorry we didn't hang out for a while before rapping off--we thought you were waiting for us to head down so you could use the rap anchors!) This wall is amazing, just the approach up the "granite sidewalk" feels like a long slab route. Rainman was a stellar route with a nice mix of slab & crack climbing, highly recommended. It's pretty sustained at 5.10 and we both fell along the way so we'll need to try it again some time for a "clean" ascent. Looking across at Matt's party: Looking down on lots of clean granite during the descent:

Here is a (somewhat distant) photo from Sunday. The mosquitos were AWFUL throughout silver star creek, but maybe you can avoid them via burgandy col.

Thanks Dave. Where can I get this information directly? I am hoping to leave for the bugs in a couple of days, but maybe that plan will need to change...

For the bugaboo spire descent, there is no advantage to a second rope--the Kain route has bolted rap stations set up for a single 60m. I have heard from a reputable source that the Snowpatch descent also goes easily with a single 60m rope, but I have not done this myself.