fenderfour

Who cares? no one is forcing you to read shitty trip reports.

I'm going to propel this into spray very quickly. slacktivism

stupid and awesome.

we must have been right behind you on the Zipper. The snow to the summit was NBD. A little bit of a windslab that you had to knock away to get to a more consolidated layer. Man, was it a great day to be out there.

Not two weeks ago

I didn't mean to imply that guides make a lot of money. I think we all know that is not the case. I was pointing out that there is a trade off. Choose what is more important to you and get on with it.

I get to struggle at getting better climbing because I do not have the time to do it full time. Unfortunately, my boss just won't give be enough time off to be able to crush 5.13. Those who have the time frequently struggle with the monetary means to support their habit. Fortunately for them, they frequently work as guides or at gear shops where they can get pro deals helping with their difficulty. I'm just a cynical old bastard. Adversity breeds ingenuity and perseverance. Both are very important in climbing.

I've currently got a BD and a Forrest Mjollinor. I've had the Cassin in the past. I wouldn't mind getting an A5.

Thanks everyone, that was a ton of fun!

The show is tonight! We have some great raffle prizes from Second Ascent, OR, Pro Mountain Sports, Mountain Tools and others. Come see the show, buy some raffle tickets and go to sleep easy tonight knowing that all of it goes to the WCC.

If you want to pre-order tickets, send me a PM. I will probably buy them with my own money (to keep things on the up-and-up) on the night of the show and you can reimburse me when you arrive.

another -bump- $10 goes to the LTW, you get to see Timmy and you get a chance to win gear Don't worry. You won't have to put your name on your helmet to get in. Gaiters are encouraged, but not required.

-bump- If you have seen Timmy before, you know this will be a fun event.

Boealps is helping raise funds for the Washington Climber's Coalition and the Index Lower Town Wall. We are holding a slide show and raffle on Friday November 6th at the Mountaineers Clubhouse at Sandpoint. Timmy O'Neill is the featured speaker. He will be talking about a 6 climbs on 5 continents in 6 months. He will also be talking about climbing with his paraplegic brother, Sean on El Capitan and in the Ruth Gorge in Alaska. The Mountaineers will provide a Cash Bar w/ID (aka BEER will be available) Come out to see the show and raise some money for Index! *All money taken at the door and through the raffle will go directly to the WCC.

Argus and I were down in the Valley last week getting spanked by the big walls. We did a lap on Snake Dike. Fun route, but it's not really for a 5.7 leader. I like the description for the top out "Second class slabs FOREVER"

How did you like "Them"? What about Index Air Force?

"excellence" is rappelling into an icefall? WTF?

Trip: Index UTW - Green Drag-On and Wateray P1 Date: 9/14/2009 Trip Report: Green Drag-on Argus and I took a quick trip up the Drag-on on Saturday. It was hot as balls. The heat was shocking. I started on the first pitch of Town Crier. This is a fun start that adds a pitch of sustained aid climbing. IMO, it's a much better way to get off the ground on the Drag-on Argus sent the second pitch in about 45 minutes. For not having done a ton of aid, he moved very quickly. As I was cleaning the pitch, I came across a very new bashie in the C1 corner. It was chumming a nice cam hook or small brass placement. Leave the bashies and pins at home when you are climbing this route. There is no reason to add any fixed gear. I would have removed the offending nug of aluminum, but it was set deeply and I left the funkness and chisel in the car. On a side note, there are ways to place bashies that do not involve beating the crap out of the surrounding rock. P3 was fun even though I took a short fall. A yellow/red Alien caught me. I should have died. Argus got on P4 (the roof) and was moving very well again. After a while, I heard "Ah, ah aaaaaaahahhhhh!" and I was jerked out of my heat-induced slumber. Argus got to tick "Aid fall" off his list of things to do for the weekend. It was a 20 footer. I was right there when Argus rudely woke me up. We stopped after P4 to reclaim our tallboys hiding in the shade at the base of the wall. Waterway P1 This is a good pitch. I haven't gotten above it on the Waterway because I had alternate agendas both times I've climbed it. The guide calls this pitch A3, but it didn't seem that hard. Granted, I haven't climbed a whole lot of A3, but it didn't feel any more difficult than the third pitch of Green Drag-on which I had climbed the day before C2+F maybe? Start You need to do some 5.6 ish free climbing on dirty slopers to get to the first piece. Not a big deal, but kinda sketchy. From there, it's up and over a roof-like feature into a groove You could place a lot of Lost Arrows and Angles on this pitch. Offset Aliens and the two smallest ballnuts made this unnecessary. I don't want to destroy too much of the mystery. Let's just say it goes from there. Bring a big hook (ring angle size) and a couple of cams in the #2 territory to sort it out and be prepared for some sketchy free climbing to the anchor. Once complete, Counterfeitfake cleaned the pitch and helped me replace the anchor at the beginning of Abraxus P3 and Golden Arch P3. There was one 1.5" long buttonhead, one 1" long threaded spring bolt, and one 1/4" unknown stainless bolt (it snapped). We pulled all three, redrilled one of them to 1/2" and made a new 1/2" hole a bit further out. We thought about re-drilling one of the other holes, but it was only about 6" away from the first. CFF getting all crazy: The plan was to replace the anchor, then investigate the "rotten bolt ladder" on the Golden Arch's lower pitches. After a rappel into the wrong area and subsequent jugging back to the anchor, we were too gassed to get any more work done. We got the hell out of the sun and drank some beer in the shade. FF doing the piggy dance Go donate some money to the ASCA. They provided the bolts and hangers for this project. http://www.safeclimbing.org/ It was a good weekend on the UTW.

The gri-gri is key for aid climbing. Put any old hammer in the pack. You will inevitably place a nut and it will get fixed. A carefully placed nut tool and a few taps of the hammer will keep your gear "yours".

I think sometimes people either lose track of time or want to sound more badass. Parking anywhere past the TH doesn't really make sense. You can't drive a whole lot faster than a walk unless you really don't like your car. A bike wouldn't get you much farther. A few slides have come down and make it decent 'schwack. 3 hours at our leisurely pace that day, 2 hours if you were working. If you asking about the approach with concern for your lady, budget 3 hours. I bet offthehook could get it done in like 15 minutes.

Really? An organization paid thousands of dollars to build a facility that they then donated to the public so that people like you and me can climb there, and you are going to bitch about it. What about the 5.11 climbers? Should they be pissed too? You can pay to access an area that will challenge a 5.9 leader. It's called Vertical World in Magnolia. I think dues are $50 a month. I'm not a mountie, I just think it's ridiculous when people complain about getting free stuff. On a more positive note - there is a bolt ladder/aid playground on the other side of the building. There are inserts and plates for hooking, questionable rivets through brick sections and tat for the desperate reach. Stick clip or shoulder stand to get to the first bolt.

Yeah. Go to Private Idaho and climb that stuff. Magic Fern 5.9 Senior Citizens in Space 5.7 Istanbul 5.9 Battered Sandwich 5.9 5 minutes away is Peanuts to Serve you 5.9 Them 5.9 and Index Airforce 5.10 Easily TR'd if you don't want to lead it. Bring a normal rack with at least one #4. There isn't any offwidth per se, but the #4 is nice to protect some sections.

Sometimes dreams take longer than one summer and include more personal effort. This is asking quite a lot from a stranger. You could contact one of the guide services for a custom trip. AAI does a bunch of private trips.

Man is that climb good. Nice pics and thanks for sharing. The first roof is very fun and not as hard as it looks. The second roof is pretty damn hard, pulling over on a rattly finger lock.