TeleRoss

Maybe I'm just

Here's a photo of some fox cubs....I don't know they look pretty similar to the marten to me?

It just struck me as being fox-like. That was the closest resemblance I could think of. Especially its face and tail. Attached is a photo of a marten from a web search. That is pretty much exactly what it's face looked like.

hmmm. It didn't look like a weasel at all. Much more fox-like. It was up high on the NE Ridge. I had maybe done about 4 raps or so when I saw him. I think I was coming up to a flattish section below a rise. So maybe 2/3 of the way up the ridge. Weird.

All the photos are up in the gallery now.... I'll get some more up from the Bugs soon.

Ok there's an attachment on the original post. Phew....dealing with photos is a frigin pain. There's also photos posted in the gallery.

Yeah sorry about that. The site where I have my photos hosted is a pice of shit. I'll see if I can get them up somewhere else.

Pine Martin was about the only thing that I could think of but I've never seen one before...that's kinda cool. Really curious little guy/gal, came up pretty close before going around a little rib and out of sight. Saw him/her/gal up pretty high on Triumph, wonder what he/she was looking for up there?

Climb: Triumph -NE Ridge Date of Climb: 7/25/2005 Trip Report: Well go figure another weekday and no one available to climb. Jason who I had been with in the Bugs pulled up lame with a bum knee on the way out so we jammed all the way home on Saturday. I still had time off and wanted to climb so off to Triumph I went. I went in to the lakes Sunday evening hoping to do a little fishing while I was up there. Nothing doing on that end...no suprise there I never catch anything. So I set up a nice camp up above the outlet of the middle lake kind of by the big talus field leading over to the steep slope below the notch. I got up and moving around 7:30 this morning and quickly made it up to the notch. The views of the Pickets and Triumph are outstanding. The snow was soft enough that no crampons were needed and crossing the snow and slabs to the base of the climb was no problem. The climbing reminded me of being like the Toof. Like four of them staked up next to each other like a big staircase of Toofs. Except that the exposure was much greater on Triumph. I made the summit by 10:30 and was lounging around in the sun enjoying the views when I finally got the notion to start the series of raps leading back down the thing. Many single rope raps and a few stuck ropes and one interesting encounter with a little critter that I'm not sure what it was led back down to the notch. The glacier tried to use me as a bowling pin with ice chunks on the way back across the basin to the notch but these were pretty much easily avoided. The scree/climbers trail is a big pain on the way down but went quickly. Soon I had camp all packed up and was making hay down the switchbacks toward the car. I made the mandatory stop at Good Food in Marblemount for a Double Whammy and an espresso milkshake and the people there looked at me like I was from another planet cause I hadn't showered for about 9 days. And I looked at them crazy too because they bear an uncanny resemblance to the Adams Family or something weird like that. MMM Good Food. So yummy. Coupla pics:

I saw this little guy up on Triumph today. Kinda like a little skinny fox like thing.

I got up there the day after that happened. The story I heard was that the guy dropped his camera and was rapping to get it when the block pulled. Several climbers were in the area including one EMT or maybe just first responder, and they said that he was dead when they got to him. It really sucks to see this happening so often recently. Condolences to family and friends.

Nolse, are you available wednesday? I went and soloed the NE Ridge of Triumph today, and I'm thinking I'll just chill out tomorrow but I'll be ready to go again on Wed.....drop me a PM.

Who wants to go climb a mountain(s) or something this week? I have Monday-Wednesday.

Climb: A Bugaboo Adventure- Date of Climb: 7/19/2005 Trip Report: Jason and I went up to the Bugs to see about getting in some climbing. The weather had not been promising of late but it looked like there was going to be a few good days mid-week so we decided to give it a go. We left Seattle around 8:30pm on Monday and after sleeping for about 2 hours just across the border we eventually pulled into the parking lot bleary eyed and beaten from the long drive and the beatings from the king sized potholes on the logging road. -The view from near the parking lot We slowly made our way up the steep trail to the Kain Hut and continued on to Applebee Dome where we made our camp amid a city of tents and bivy sacks. We chatted with others who had stories of very windy and cold weather to relate to us, this day was sunny and warm and we enjoyed relaxing around camp playing cards and sipping whiskey. -Snowpath from our camp With the weather looking good for Wednesday and Thursday and maybe Friday, we decided to try the Wildflowers route ont the west face of Snowpatch Spire and then carry on into East Creek where we would bivy and then climb the Beckey-Chouinard on South Howser on Thursday, then likely spend another night in East Creek and return to Applebee Friday morning for more R&R. So after getting plenty of much needed sleep Tuesday we got up early Wednesday and with bivy gear headed up the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col. Upon reaching the col I headed over to the convienently located privy and admired the view. -Howsers from the Bugaboo-Snowpatch privy It was damn cold so we took our time admiring the views and looking at the various routes on the west face of Snowpatch. We finally started the climb and enjoyed numerous 5.9 pitches up a large corner formed by the west face and a large pillar. But damn it was freaking cold. The corner faced north and we didn't see any sun until we made the ledge at the top of the pillar. -Jason climbing the corner -Jason above the pillar near the summit The climb was lots of stemming and cracks in and around the corner and then some groove and cracks above on the face which lead directly to the summit of Snowpatch. -Howsers and Pigeon from the summit From the summit several raps got us back to the glacier and our gear. We slogged our way up to the Pigeon-Howser col an began the descent down into East Creek. Wow what an awesome place. South Howser and the Minaret tower above you and the valley openening up across the way was absolutely amazing. Not a bad place to spend a couple of nights, except for all of the enormous snaffles everywhere that seemed to take a liking to my boots. Several hours on snaffle watch eventually led to a couple hours of sleep. -Jason reading at the bivy -The Minaret in the early morning http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-6/1034374/Minaret.jpg We awoke early Thursday to crystal clear skies and quickly readied and made our way down and around to the buttress. Much scrambling around on blocks and slabs eventually led us to a rope-up spot. -The SW Buttress of S Howser The climbing was stellar. Many crack and corner pitches, mostly 5.8-5.9 with a couple of slightly more difficult sections. -Jason somewhere on the route -Jason on the Great White Headwall The most difficult section was in the 5.9 squeeze, which was completely iced up. Some tenuous ice flake laybacks and icy stemming finally got us through that section. Somehow high on the route we ended up further to the left than we thought and we missed the tension traverse into the gulley. Instead we climbed flakes right up into the gulley. Anyway we finally realized that we were actually in the right gulley and made our way to the top of the gulley where a 30m rap puts you on a ledge from which 4th and 5th class leads to the summit in several hundred feet. That would be easy enough except for all of the snow and ice covering everything. We put on our boots and simuled very delicately up the snowy mess. After what seemed like forever climbing on very sketchy and tenuous ground we topped out and were afforded some awesome views. -Bugaboo -Snowpatch and Pigeon We were able to locate the top rap slings barely melted out of the large cornices perched along the summit ridge. Several raps down the face and over the bergschrund led us back to the glacier. Damn what an awesome day! Spectacular route. We descended quickly back to our bivy in east creek for a much needed meal and a good nights rest. Friday morning we woke up to some high clouds so we decided to take our time getting back to Applebee. We decided to rest Friday, but shortly after getting back to Applebee Dome it started pouring rain. We huddled in the tent playing more rummy and drinking the remainder of our supply of whiskey. The rain continued and the wind kicked up. As we were trying in vain to sleep I was wondering when our tent would be getting ripped to shreds. Fortunately the tent held its own. Unfortunately we awoke to more rain, and with a gloomy forecast related to us from people coming up from the hut we decided to bail. Wow the Bugs are awesome great fun. I am definitely looking foreward to the return trip!

The pointy black pyramid immediately left of Buckner is Goode, the larger massif on the left of the photo is Logan.

Your own legs provide the best access to the backcountry. The lines at the tram were insanely long + you can get to better skiing and backcountry without taking the tram anyway.

I'm heading up there on Monday. We'll be there through the following Tuesday. Most of what we're looking to do is W-SW aspects so hopefully conditions will be ok. 2nd hand info from the hut custodian is that conditions are ok-good and that pretty much everything is in "good" shape.

I swear it was that damn gravy from the Sultan Bakery. That shit is like lead in your gut. How could I possibly be expected to climb after that?

I was totally Libra's biatch today. f'n libra. There was definitely some antics up there

Does anyone know what conditions in the Bugs are like currently? What city's weather forecast might give the best idea of what's going on weather wise up there?

Well, the bad thing about having weekdays off is there's no one else to climb with. surely someone has tomorrow off

Ok who wants to get out tomorrow? N Ridge Stuart? E Face Chianti?

I've found that to be the case on many climbs especially at Royal Columns. Hand cracks are more like fists, and fist cracks more like offwidth to chimneys. Go figure. The FA's must have been some kind of huge dude(s)(ets).

Jim and his shop are great.