TeleRoss

Beckey-Chouinard I thought was generally more sustained all around, and the rock is waaayyy better and the climbing more aesthetic. I agree with jb that Bear does have a certain "wilderness" feel that the Howsers do not. Probably because there are so many people in the Bugs. On the "wandering 5.9" pitch we kinda went straight up for a bit then around left and up some wild face climbing.

Yeah dog, you take those bad boys and roll them up in a little tortilla...funky fish taco. Make your breath smell for days. But damn, so good, ultimate summit food.

Don't believe the hype Josh, it's super cruiser fun action. It is definitely a damn fine, big route, but I've got to say that whomever Kevin Mclane is referring to in his Alpine Select book in the quote "likened in quality by one ascensionist to the Beckey-Chouinard in the Bugaboos" is clearly smoking crack or has not climbed both routes or both. Because the DNB on Bear IMHO does not even belong in the same class as the B/C route. But that's just me.

Thanks

Nice TR man. Sounds like you guys had a great trip.

Climb: Bear-DNB Date of Climb: 8/22/2005 Trip Report: Climbed the Direct North Buttress on Bear Mountain with Sky. We decided on doing a two day trip. Leaving Seattle early in the morning and doing the approach the first day, then doing the climb and hike out on the second. Sounded like a great plan to the both of us. So...we leave Seattle around 4am on Sunday and headed for the border with our friends to the north. We were slightly apprehensive, and Sky had a few butterflies as we neared Sumas, due apparently to some run-ins with the RCMP and Whatcom Co. Sheriffs Office from a few years prior. However we were greeted by a very friendly Canadian beauty who's only question was what took so long coming back up to visit... Once through the crux of the route everything else seemed like a breeze...we were home free now. Except...true to form we lost the trail as soon as we were on it and found ourselves in a marshy wasteland cursing as we sunk ankle deep into the murk. This was followed by some nice hiking in old growth cedar forest, and then by some seriously heinous bushwhacking through more murky swampy vinemaple and devilsclub thickets. After a few miles we located the trail again shortly before Bear Creek. Up the ridge and into amazing blueberry grazing grounds where we, and especially Sky, indulged in natures bounty. We weren't sure if there was going to be water up at camp, but Ruta Lake seemed out of the way, so we decided to chance it and head straight to camp. At the saddle we could hear a water trickle coming off a buttress a little higher and went to water up. The next morning we awoke at 4:45 to clouds and fog, and slowly ate and got shit ready. Decending the scree/talus slope down and around the NW Buttress was easy but tedious, and as we rounded the buttress the immense N side of Bear became visible. Shrouded in swirling fog and cloud it looked ominous, feeling super tiny with this enourmous wall with huge buttresses dropping down around us I felt truely in the hall of the mountain king. We put on crampons to cross and ascend the glacier to the toe of the buttress, up a little farther we found a nice place to access the slabs. We didn't waste much time getting off the glacier with all the ice popping and creaking and Sky and I both standing on a precarious looking/feeling block of ice. I started up the slabs while Sky made himself a bit lighter. I tried to kill him with a 30lb trundle but failed because Sky even while squatting has the reflexes of a cat and quickly jumped out of the way to safety. With that excitement over we made our way up the slabs and did a bit of spicy moves in the tennis shoes before stopping to belay. Sky led a pitch up to the top of a pedestal and then up to the base of the prominent dihedral. I got the dihedral pitches which went as one long rope stretcher. Super fun climbing with a little bulge to pass. We did one pitch for every two on the Kearney topo and quickly found ourselves on the big snow patch ledge. We continued linking pitches up improving rock and climbing. Sky got the great corner fist crack pitch which we both thought was the best of the route...not technically difficult but nice and sustained on probably the best rock of the route. Up up up, and soon enough we were on top after 8.5 hours on the rock. My first thought after topping out was "That's it?" WTF?...I had come expecting sustained hardish climbing and instead found mostly moderate climbing with a couple little cruxy spots. The only thing I could think of was the great line from Chuck D. and Flava: "Don't Believe the Hype!" Quickly back to camp for a feast of smoked sardines, trout and crackers and we were ready for the long haul out. This time we were able to actually follow the trail most of the way which makes life way better....then it got dark. We took turns intermittently following and then losing the trail,backtracking,bushwhacking and generally wandering in circles until we stumbled out and onto the end of the abandoned road...phew! What a relief. Back in Chilliwak we hit the pub for beers and Miccydees for burgers and fries and headed for home. Gear Notes: 60m 9mm Largish rack including some tiny stoppers shoulda had: more tequila Approach Notes: Trail was hard for us to follow cause we're retards and bushwhacking is way more fun.

I've had a Beal Flyer for a couple years now and it's held up well to plenty of abuse. I recently got a Joker and while definitely not as durable, is super light and handles well. I like it. Why would you care about fuzziness? It's a rope it's gonna get fuzzy and frayed, unless it just sits in your closet all summer...

Does anyone know how bad the road is to get to the approach to the Finger of Fate in ID? I've read that 4WD is needed, but is it really that bad?

not super sure, but it didn't look like it would be bad going from the NE Ridge notch. Maybe a rap here or there but it seems like way easier than Triumph Pass.

Kick-ass!! Question: have you done the E Pillar on Slesse?

Dude, you just gotta go ski

That's because those routes suck.

I'm sure there are numerous threads about this already, but with the recent "5 worst" thought it'd be nice to talk about everyone's favorite climb. So....what is your all time favorite? I'd say mine's got to be the Beckey-Chouinard on South Howser....mmmmm good.

8mm 30 knows no limits

Goddamn I hate Coldplay. That f'n prissy, whiny wanker music blows.

I was stuck on the HWY 2 parking lot yesterday. 5mph from Index to the light in Sultan....super lame.

Anyone around here interested in the S Face of the Big Roo or Clean Break or something tomorrow?

Do the complete NR. No crampons nor and axe are needed. I think the Ingalls approach is easier due to the ease of descent. Although going Stuart Lake is easy too. And if you're planning on spending the night after the climb it is easier to return to your camp than the Ingalls approach. 1 60m is enough. No water on route, although there is plenty at the base of the route. There was water in the Cascadian a couple weeks ago and the other day there was a dripping snowpatch on the N side of the W Ridge somewhere when we were coming down. The #4 comes in handy. We brought a fairly large rack for the route to allow us to simul long distances without having to rerack...super nice.

Teewinot by Jack Turner.

We were somewhat close to the SGC. There's the SGC, then some broken terrain, then a little bulge, then a large left facing corner. Left of the corner we climbed the first of three nearly parallel finger cracks leading kind of up and left. The one we climbed went up to near a large off-colored roof. I led the second pitch left around the roof and then up and right into the grassy corner. Sounds like maybe you guys were farther to the left?

My running route is simple. Start: my apt. Finish: Teddy's total dist: .3 mi

I had an explosion like that once after eating the red mole at the Red Iguana...

Good thing the GPS held out, it might have turned epic. WTF?

I think we started the first pitch from the original spot. It involved a bit of bullshit to get up to that point though. The glacier is melting but there was a whole bunch of broken, big ass snow blocks perched all over the place with enormous moats. Anyway, I thought the first pitch was more like 10- although Sky might have a differing opinion