skyclimb

Climb: Colchuck Balanced Rock-West Face Date of Climb: 8/30/2004 Trip Report: The END- In a tight spot I belayed Mike across the floor and under the roof as he made a viscious mantel. It was truely spectacular as he hoisted himself up to the bar for one more round. Although the bartender looked doubtful, and the patrons looked disgusted, Mike was able to regain his composure for 1 more drink, completing the henious lead. This was followed by our filming of a late night irish spring commercial in the waterfall at the local put-putt course in town. The Start- 6:00 a.m. -We departed the car to do colchuck balanced rock -west face. Mike and I made quick time to the lake, and then the base of the route arriving at 10:00. The approach we took is via the assgard pass trail. We cut across to the approach gully approx. 300 feet up assgard pass. From here bushwacking and scrambling ensued as we made our way up the boulder strewn approach gully. At the base of the wall, shown here, we sorted our gear and departed for the climb. By 11:00 I was on lead, doing a 5.8 pitch and a 5.7 pitch. We decided to split the route into blocks with me leading the first half(except the 5.10+), and Mike leading the second half. The 5.8 first pitch had a nice belay as did the 5.7 pitch. Mike then took the lead for a short 5.10+ off-finger sized crack, that was powerful. From here another 5.7 pitch followed with a chimney. The chimney leads to a belay on top of a pillar. There is no place for gear here except a shitty nut, so be prepared to sling the pillar with the excess rope for the belay. This lead was followed by a stellar 5.9 crack system for 130 feet, ending with two roofs of moss. The crack system was very dirty for the first 40 feet or so, forcing me to do some gardening to get finger locks. This led to another 50 feet of double cracks that were very enjoyable. The belay at the top of this pitch was good as well. This took me into the next lead which was a short 5.7 leading to a tree ledge at the start of the steep 5.11 corner. This was the first half of the route, and the easier half. We enjoyed a redbull, and some pizza as we admired the north ridge of stuart. Now begins the business, three pitches of very technical climbing. With Mike on lead things were flowing nicely, as he made steady progress up the crazy hand crack. He jamed out the whole crack, but had to resort to aid for the last 15 feet as it was seeping water. The belay here was spectacular, and very solid. The belay is capped by a 30 foot roof, that is MASSIVE. It is a very unique position, that is second to none for belay stances. Mike then began the next lead moving out left under the roof, with precision foot work(5.11), and quickly had me on belay. This lead was very technical, because the crack would close off and then open back up requiring face climbing. Mike had me on belay, at which point I began the traverse. A short time later I took a 20 foot pendulum fall, that resulted with a hang in space 600 feet off the deck! I set up a prussik, and regained the next piece(probably easier then climbing the damn thing). From here I reached the belay without further adrenaline surges. Mike on the 5.9, beautiful arching corner, capped by the A1 roof. This pitch was stellar and the aid wasn't too intricate due to a fixed nut at the lip of the roof. The aid was probably harder here to follow than to lead. Now for the last HARD pitch. This pitch is something neither Mike or I will forget, because of its difficulty and exposure. It was awe inspiring to watch as Mike laid back until inverted and then threw his right leg into the chimney knee bar fashion. This move resulted in a upside down view of the ground, with nothing but air below. This chimney was followed by another chimney of equal difficulty. From here one more 250 foot 5.7 simul-climb took us to the summit as the sun sank into the mountains and the west. We made one rappel and decended scree to the packs. On our exit we ran into many friends camped at the lake both preparing for and winding down from their own adventures. The hike out, also know as the "assgard death march" was consumed by scary anaconda's and flying white birds under the full moon. Pizza and beer ENDED with me belaying Mike across that bar, and showers at the local put-putt. 19 hours car-to-car Pics-(disregard dates as all were taken on 8/30)

Routes are very meandering right now... yesterday cloud deck was at 8,000 feet... previous 4 days the park saw about 10 inches of rain I would expect upwards of a foot on the upper mountain, with as much as 3 feet due to all the rain and precipe in the last week.

Gonna be Great Pullin tuff

Partner found

I am looking for a partner to do some alpine rock.... Dragontail-backbone ridge....or something else fun and worthwhile Could also be persuaded to hit index or wa pass. Send me a PM.

Interesting about the history of the colorado springs area climbing scene....a great book is Climb! the new edition. It has great stories about the underground atmosphere of climbing around the springs area. For a long time the sole climbing shope in town recorded all the FA's, and basically was the guidebook for the area. not much has changed about that atmosphere through-out the decades.

Better watch it smart ass, penalty slack is starting to build...next thing you know wake up call will be 1:30 with the sweet aroma of Hot Carl fouling the air Ahh the weekend is approaching people, time for hot carls, and riding bikes across the pickets, ain't life grand

You gonna do it on a bike you dirty bastard

Damn She's gettin after it. AlpinFox, you lived around the south platte area for quite a few years eh? I hear there is some good granite down in those parts, and sandstone for that matter.

How the fuck did you get out to the bugaboos you psycho semantic crazy muther fucker Travelin foo' WORD

Alpine Rock- N. Ridge of Stuart-Great gendarme is spectacular Southwest buttress of S.E.W.S. Dreamer- amazing friction and crazy face climbing way up near the top Zebra Zion-Smith-Fucking amazing Leuthold variation for Snow and Ice-Hood Moonshine Dihedral-Sickness Route on the JY crag in icicle canyon-200 ft pitch, first half 5.9 friction, second half 5.9 crack Sport-wherever I may roam-smith Love fest 2004 aww yeah fooos

web page http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/53768/page/2/view/collapsed/sb/6/o/all/fpart/1

You gotta spike it focker, SPIKE IT

BUMP BUMP BUMP CLIMBING IN THE ALPINE..........

Do the south-face shown above, walk off via the southwest ridge.

Correction: 9th, 10th, 11th

Just got home from climbing the nisqually again today I was up there from 12:00 to 5:00(the heat fo the day) today, and 5:00 to 8:00 yesterday. Everything is VERY solid, and I wasn't worried about icefall at all, however that is the nisqually, which has a very safe area for "seracing" . On the Elliot, i can't say. I personally wasn't worried about icefall other than party inflicted.... have fun and be safe

Myself and Mark_Husbands were up on that pitch yesterday...60 degree going 100...probably same serac... man did I get my ass worked, as mark goes "latida..latida" Shit But if felt good to have the water running down on you as the sun was blazing....Nisqually is good right now...Going there in 10 minutes Lots of ice "bouldering" opportunities.... can you say bouldering for ice, maybe more like "seracing"! Thats much better... ice "seracing" Also seems like a fun approach to the kautz route, if you wanna play around on the approach Take moraine trail for best access..most efficient. Thank you for allowing coffee indulging psycho to post

I am looking for an experienced partner to do a long moderate alpine Rock route with... Also considering the North Ridge on Baker and having an adventure. Call Five Four One-231-48four ohhhh... I will be away from the office for the next 8 days, so call the phone. Lets get after some shizza Nick

Danner...leather mt. shasta model boots. Climb fairly well, and are versatile for everything...hiking...snow...skiing(silvrettas), crampons(strap-ons)....I have been happy so far.

Quit your jobs, and if you don't have one Alpine something....must climb....torment-forbidden...something...north ridge-baker.....adventure please...Experienced partner

Long moderate(5.8-5.10) rock partner for the next three days. Shoot me PM if you wanna get after some shit Nick

Climb: Old Desolate-South face(hang dog ally) [FA] Date of Climb: 7/24/2004 Trip Report: The black denotes scree sloggin' blue is 3rd class polished andesite that is continous and very solid magenta is 4th class Red is as Alan Kearney would say "5th ish" slab climbing The magenta is 4th to the top with bush pulling I haven't heard or seen any other reports of this huge slab ever being climbed. Anyway you cut it, it is a fun route that allowed me to find deep mental focus. There are no cracks, so it must be free-soloed. I also found that rock shoes didn't work due to grit on the slabs. The approach is either via itsup creek(8 miles), or sunrise(8 miles) to Mystic lake. From Mystic lake this 1300 ft face is facing you(south). From the route views are bountiful to the nearby willis wall and liberty ridge. Also note that there is a more sustained, and probably more technical line to the left(west), that I assume hasn't been done either. Hang Dog Ally Grade: II, low 5th slab, no protection (there are more pics in the gallery of different angles)

Nice TR and Pics! Sounds like blast

Pic in the gallery of the gully to gain the ridge.