RichardKorry

I've had two low end Polar models and they've worked well. I've done my own battery replacement on the watch with varying results. If I were to get another one I'd definitely look for one that are designed for you to replace your own battery. The battery for the chest monitor can not be replaced so you have to replace the entire unit.

Note that there's a new trail put in this year going up from the lake to the Ledges. It's apparently about twice as long as the old one (I never did the old one). It may or may not coincide with the marked trail on Bryan's guide. The trail up to the Ledges is very popular on weekends (think Mt Si) so one should be careful if pulling off loose stuff that is going tumbling into the woods. Rattlesnake Lake is administered by Seattle Public Utilities. The Ledges might be part of the Cedar River Watershed that is open to the public. If you continue on the trail to Rattlesnake Mt East Peak you pass into WA DNR lands. So, there might be a patchwork of ownership.

Nice job,guys. I think MattP and I took around 22 hours tent-to-tent. We left around 5am, started climbing around 7 or 8am, summitted around 6pm, got off rock onto snow around 9pm, switched on the headlamps, got onto the glacier around midnight, and stumbled back to the tent around 3am. It was certainly the longest day I've done. Descending the snow listening to stuff come tumbling down in the dark was one of my more scary experiences. I was glad I couldn't see the shrund below us as we downclimbed. It's a great climb.

Climb: Cathedral Pk; MMG traverse; (7/9/05-7/15/05)-SE Buttress Date of Climb: 7/14/2005 Trip Report: As responsible parents, Chris and I don't get as much as we used to. In general we try to have one multi-day mountaineering trip per year. Sometimes the weather cooperates, sometimes it doesn't. This year we decided to head to the Cathedral Peak area in the Pasayten Wilderness. Neither of us had done much climbing this year so we were really just getting off the couch while attempting some challenging climbs. Cathedral Pk is a long way off (16 to 20 miles) from every trailhead on the US side. It is a bit closer from the Canadian side though. I had done a recon day hike of the area with Susan Bolton in the early 1990s one rainy July 4th weekend. Susan and I, after being rained out of Squamish and Skaha, drove to the Centennial Trail trailhead on the Ashnola River in Cathedral Prov Park in BC and camped in a primitive campground. The next morning we crossed the river on a small foot bridge and headed up Wall Creek, up over the Deacon, over the border, circumnavigated Cathedral Pk and headed out Cathedral Fork back to the Centennial Trail - 12 hours and 20 miles of trails, bushwacking, and hurdling hundreds of blow downs. We had lousy weather but we got peek-a-boo views of many peaks: Grimface, Macacbre, Matriarch, The Deacon and Cathedral. So Chris and I agreed to go in and do some climbing in the area and checked Beckey and cascadeclimbers for beta. In particular, we received some excellent information plus pictures and a map from Darin Berdinka of Bellingham. Darin and his partner did a similar trip last year and wrote an excellent trip report on cascadeclimbers that provided us with lots of inspiration. Their beta on the return hike and their route, Pilgrimage To Mecca, proved excellent. Thanks Darin! The weather wasn't looking so appetizing for our first day out, Sunday 7/9, so we decided to drive SR2 and try to go cragging somewhere to get some of the rust out. We ended up at Castle Rock where Chris discovered that his harness was not in his duffle. Duoh! We drove over to Der Sportsman in nearby Leavenworth where Chris purchased 20 feet of 1" webbing for his retro harness and we were back in business. We started in the lower cliffs and climbed a 5.6 chimney and Catapult, a really nice 5.8 crack. We then climbed Century, a 5.8 face climb protected by old pins. This is a nice climb which used to get 3 stars but the pins are all but useless at this point and should be removed or replaced. We then packed up and drove up US 97 to the Canadian border. After being asked a few questions we continued, bought some fresh food at a grocery store and headed for the trailhead. We drove through the beautiful Similkameen Valley to Keremeos. The valley appeared to consist primarily of organic farm/orchard/vineyards, quite a contrast to the US side. We crossed the Similkameen River and drove the 42km to the trail head - most of which was gravel road. We missed the foot bridge in the dark and kept driving. The road used to end 1km past the footbridge but BC logging has pushed it to within shouting distance of the border. We realized our mistake and headed back. Turns out the old bridge was lost in a flood a few years back and a new super-industrial version replaced it. The campground no longer exists either, replaced by clear cuts. We headed out on Monday and followed the Centennial Trail and then Wall Creek trail for 4 hours to a beautiful meadow filled with flowers. The trail appeared to be pretty well maintained for not being an official trail. Someone had done a lot of work cutting down all the blowdowns. In some of the very wet and boggy areas someone had lined trees up into a makeshift boardwalk. Nonetheless, we found it a very wet trail; a real surprise for the Okanagan. There were many flowers along the trail which was a nice bonus. The campsite was one of the most scenic I've been in: a flat area with trees for shade, nearby stream, flowers everywhere, a giant boulder to play on, great views all around. Only the thousands of mosquitos made it less than ideal. We set up camp, ate lunch and then headed up towards Grimface, just above us. We climbed the 1200' to just below the col and began to read the descriptions of the multi-pitch routes on Grimface's SW Face trying to match that with the reality we saw. We never did fully match up description to reality and decided to play around on some other cliff that would better fit our available time. Unfortunately, the rock to the west in the notch was less than stellar (i.e. it actually fell apart as you pulled on it) so we declared victory and headed back down. The next morning we headed up to do the traverse of Matriarch-Macacbre-Grimface. This route isn't very technical (~5.5-5.6?) on nice solid rock. It consists primarily of ridge walking and doing short raps into knotches and climbing back out. Overall it was an excellent day with lots of fun, great views and no mosquitos! We finished it in 5 hours and headed back down to camp. While in camp, an older man hiked by and stopped to ask us what we had climbed. He turned out to be Bob Cuthbert, one of the pioneers of climbing in the area. We invited Bob for tea and cookies after dinner and spent a few hours listening to his tales of climbing in the area and learning a lot about the history of the Park and valley. It was a very enjoyable time. Bob comes to Wall Ck every year to get the kinks out before heading out to the Canadian Rockies. On Wednesday morning we followed a fine trail to the head of Wall Creek and onto col between The Deacon and Matriarch. We followed the ridge all the way up to be just NW of the summit of The Deacon. From there we scoped out the rest of the route around the NW part of Cathedral Peak. We hiked through bogs, open forests and larch to Uppper Cathedral Lake in about 4 hours swatting at mosquitos the entire time. We continued to see many different types of wild flowers. We made camp just east of the lake away from a large party of boisterous boy scouts. We then headed up a route we found on cascadeclimbers, Ka'aba Buttress of Amphitheatre Peak. The start of the route was literally a few hundred yards from our tent. The route, called "Pilgrimage to Mecca", was described as 4 pitches (5.7,5.9,5.8+,5.8) with solid rock and at least one 4 star pitch. The rock is pretty solid but there are loose blocks that one has to be very careful of. The weather was cool (50s) and overcast and we were in the shadows the whole climb while a very cold wind blew constantly. Chris led every pitch and consequently I got so cold my hands and feet went completely numb and I began to have some involuntary shivers even tho I was wearing all the clothes I had. Unfortunately I didn't get to enjoy some of the finer pitches as I tried to climb as quickly as possible to ward off hyperthermia. It was probably the coldest rock climb I can remember doing. It's a very nice route and should improve as it sees more traffic. Thursday we got headed up SE Buttress of Cathedral, III 5.9. We used some beta from cascadeclimbers to climb a nice 5.9 crack off the ground (A1 Canadian variation in Beckey). The steep, rentless cracks were broken up periodically with grass benches and steps. In general the climbing was excellent but it was definitely at the edge of what Chris could lead and I could follow. We skipped the 5.9 offwidth on the headwall and took a very nice 5.7 variation to the right (marked with a cairn). The Beckey topo implies this is a chimney but it's mostly a dihedral with maybe two chimney moves. The summit register was replaced in 2004 so we couldn't peruse history. However, the SE Buttress was done 3 times last year with perhaps 10 total parties summitting last year. This year only one person had seen the summit. Definitely not The Tooth. Getting off Cathedral is definitely not a gimme. There is a 3 foot chasm w/ 1000' drop below that you have to take the leap of faith onto a table sized block. Chris did it without a problem but I asked and received a belay. The rest of the descent was still very interesting. I think the West Ridge would be a fun ascent route. The next morning we headed back to our car using Darin's map and beta. We retraced our steps onto the flank of the Deacon and then stayed high through scottish moor-like terrain. Wonderful wildflowers were in bloom everywhere. We saw two deer running along a ridge which was magical. Eventually we headed down the ridge, crossed Wall Creek, found "Cowboy camp" and the Wall Ck trail. We crossed the mighty footbridge 5 hours after we left camp just as it started to rain. What a fine trip! The country was beautiful and we didn't run into anyone except Bob Cuthbert. The flowers were fabulous and we had good weather when we needed it. I'd recommend approaching Cathedral via Wall Creek. Although that approach takes a lot longer to drive to the trailhead, its beautiful country with very little signs of human impact. The eastside bushwacking was doable with careful route finding. The rock is generally very solid although lesser done routes appear to have more loose blocks. If you are in the area and are looking for an excellent day hike, going in Wall Ck, up to the Deacon and then returning via our exit route would be a fabulous trip. Gear Notes: - Double 9s (a single rope would work fine) - Full rack with extra big cams or hexs - Extra full length slings - Bug dope! We used an eucalyptus based version (Off! brand) that worked well but was very water soluble which meant you needed to reapply when you sweated or washed your dishes. Approach Notes: Wall Creek: good shape but very soggy w/ LOTS of mosquitos. Non-trail hiking: generally pretty open terrain but many boggy areas. Getting from Cathedral Lake to Wall Ck: Skirt western edge of Cathedral Pk and head up open southern slopes of the Deacon. Traverse west along high ridge Stay high above little hanging valley. As you terrain drops down, startl looking for old cattle trail generally north of small creek. Eventually drop down along nose of ridge (very obvious trail) to Wall Ck. Cross creek and you should be at "Cowboy camp".

After reading a TR of an unexpected bivy on W Ridge of Stuart, I began to wonder what people thought was the route most likely in resulting in an unexpected bivy. The W Ridge on Stuart seems a candidate as it's long, offers many route finding challenges, is often done early in one's alpine career and the descent is very long. Other candidates?

I did RPM/Iconocast/HS ~15 years and I remember that as the second I found wearing a pack made the 10c chimney impossible.So if you bring a pack, have the second clip it to their harness. The route was fun and challenging climbing. I also remember having ticks drop off on my while belaying at a few spots. Yuck!

How did OUR oil end up under THEIR sand? Support your Right to Arm Bears

Camp 6 Point Aluminum Crampons Weight: 8 ounces Price: $60 ProMountain Sports carries them. I do have strap-ons and would like to see a photo of this.

These look like they'd work well for glacier approaches to alpine climbs. Does anyone have these or similar ones that can speak about their experiences? Any problems descending snow since normally you would weight your heels which doesn't have any spikes. Thanks.

Can you explain the issues with not being able to bike this road like Mt Cristo? Thanks

My NF story... I bought a NF VE-24 in 1979. I took great care of the tent, drying it thoroughly and storing it properly. About 1992 the waterproofing began to peel off the fly and the tent. I spent a year repairing it myself until someone suggested I take it back to NF. I did, and they replaced the tent and even let me pay $50 extra to upgrade to a VE-25. I can't say if they'd do that today. I used to buy OR stuff until I got tired of hassling with their Returns folks. I had various gators and mitten covers fail and been accused of abusing them, etc. If using them is abusing them, then guilty as charged. I don't buy OR anymore. Patagonia has been excellent with returns. The best thing is that, in my experience, their stuff rarely fails. I've brought my various MSR stoves over the years to their facility and generally had them fixed and upgraded while I waited. My opinion is that being stingy on returns is very short sighted. Some people will abuse you. However, when I've been stiffed by a company I just stop doing business with them forever and urge my friends to as well.

Here's some old gear that I don't use anymore. If you are looking for an inexpensive way to get into telemarking or skate skiing, check these out. Scarpa T2s Mens 8 Well used but these still have plenty of turns left. $50 Salomon Profil Skate boot Mens 7.5. Well used but still work great. I last skated the Hogloppet (24 miles) with these. $25 Peltonen skate skiis 190cm (these are appropriate for someone between (140-170lbs) These were their top-of-the-line skiis. The have a lot of miles in them but are still in reasonable shape. One side wall has a ding that I've repaired. Comes with Salomon Profil skate bindings. $25 PM me or email me at richk@cray.com

After dropping bucks on the gear absolutely drop some on lessons. Technique, technique, technique. Spend lots of time skating without poles as they tend to mask problems. Be sure your boots fit wonderfully or you'll end up hating the whole experience. Skating in the Methow Valley is fabulous, especially around Mazama. Great grooming, lots of different terrain to pick from. 160km of groomed trails.

Ivan, hope you don't have too many lingering problems from the rock. Just curious, what type of helmet was it?

I climbed the regular N Ridge of Stuart in August 1984. While my partner slowly moved up pitch by pitch <Excuse mode On> I hadn't climbed for 2 years, I led all the pitches, I did it in my mountain boots and we carried over our camping gear <Excuse mode off> we were suprised to watch a fellow walk by in tennis shoes. He said hi, and was off. He changed into rock shoes by the Gendarme, soloed it and spent the afternoon on the summit. An hour later two other Canadians came by in rock shoes and rope simul-climbing. The also did the Gendarme and met their friend on the summit and were off. I've also wondered if that was Peter Croft... I talked to Peter briefly at the AAC annual meeting in Seattle many years ago and he seemed like the nicest fellow, always down playing his amazing feats. Truly an inspiration...

my $0.02... 1. rent gear so you have reasonably good gear to try. then you can see what you like before buying. 2. take a lesson (actually lots of them). xc skiing is very technique intensive. Once you begin to dial in the technique it becomes so much more fun and much less of a struggle. 3. skating is harder at first to learn than classic but ultimately class (aka diagonal or kick-n-glide) requires better technique.

I have a Pentax Optio S4: 4MP, very small (fits into an Altoids box), 3X optical zoom, very good image quality (certainly as good as any 35mm point-n-shoot I've used), easy to use (my wife, self-proclaimed technophobe, uses it). I've had it about 6 months. My only complaint is sometimes it takes too long for it to write to the SD memory. It has a 12MB internal buffer and I don't know if I'm overflowing that or what. The key things for me is that its SO small that I will always bring it along as it fits in my pants pocket comfortably. It's also very easy to operate with one hand which is useful.

And if you are the second and are carrying a pack, either clip it to your harness or have the leader plan on pulling it up. I found the chimney section near impossible to climb with a pack and I french freed the Pressure Chamber all the way.

What parts? How about Roosevelt-Kaleetan ridge traverse and the ridge traverse between Bryant and Chair? Thanks

Very cool. Is the climbing all fourth class or is there a lot of fifth class mixed in?

I'll add my congratulations on a fabulous journal. It was a welcome change from the climbing and bc skiing magazines that show up in my mail box. My only suggestion would be to be able to see larger images of more of the photos. Is there any reason why some you can and others you can't?

We climbed Anderson last year and used Mt bikes to cover the 5 miles of road. It was no big deal and made the whole thing a bit more sporting. It also meant that the whole trail system was less crowded as we didn't see that many folks. I think the extra 5 miles will deter the RV crowd (obviously), and day hikers but not overnight hikers or climbers. I'd like to see the road fixed but it's not like there are guard dogs preventing you from going up the Dose. It just means you need to sweat a bit more to do it. There are dozens of places around now that have access problems due to the latest set of storms last fall. The problem, IN GENERAL, is the LACK of funding, not law suits. I'm sure if my business depended on people heading up the Dose, then I'd be clamoring for a fix as quickly as possible. But, remember, if this area was not Olympic NP but Olympic NF instead, you'd have stumps to hike through rather than old growth.

I took all the wood back to Home Depot because my 2X4 was 1.75X3.75. Can you believe it? Seriously, it is a bitch to consider weight in your purchase and then have the advertised weight be way off. Cloudveil seems to have a problem with this. Kudos to Arc'teryx to admit to the problem, determine the cause, verify that it still isn't a problem, and offer help in getting you what you want (e.g. your money back). They could have given you corporate speak of "screwed ya!".

my 2 cents on RC ratings... One reason they feel so stiff is that the routes are generally dead vertical for the whole pitch. If it's 5.8 it's 5.8 for 100'. I found that cams would often walk as the cracks often have internal flaring - its one place I've found my old hexes useful - especially as the cracks widen towards the top. I found focusing on finding good foot holds key to being able to send a pitch without needing to rest on gear. It's a great place for climbing. I think the area in the Bend by Salmon Song has 5 or 6 A+ climbs in about 30 feet. Watch for rattle snakes - especially the young ones that don't have good "poison" control.

Thumbs up on the Pentax Optio S4. It does fit in an altoids box but I got a small neoprene holder for it that I can clip to my pack or harness. The movie mode is OK not great quality. Reminds me of 8mm movies. The key for me is that it is so light and small I ALWAYS bring it. One hand operation is very easy.