Northwest_Lunacy

Hey Tex I posted a quick TR of the Crown Jewel under Ice Conditions.

Here's a quick TR from climbing the Crown Jewel yesterday. It's a little difficult to type since my left pinky hasn't regained consciousness from the cold. Mark & I skated from work yesterday under the premise that everyone would stay home for the day. First we drove out and scoped the Crown Jewel but the wind was howling so hard that we headed towards Multonomah falls in hopes of finding something more sheltered. There was a line up the right side of the falls but A) it looked illegal and B) without any bolts/pins your belays would suck. So we decided to head back toward the Crown Jewel. The wind couldn't be that bad. O' contraire! It was 12 degrees and blowing at 50+ miles per hour. I figured that climbing in the Gorge is a once in a lifetime experience. What we underestimated was the havoc that a windchill of -11 would play on my ropes and ice screws. Once we finally arrived at the bottom the first pitch went great. There's a rap ring barely sticking out of the left wall that you can belay from. The first pitch was still somewhat protected by the wind although we still couldn't yell to each other because it was so loud. The second pitch was rough. Twice while climbing the rope froze solid to the waterfall. In other words it became part of the waterfall while I stopped to place both ice screws. I would have placed one more but I couldn't get the ice out of the inside or off the outside of the threads. I finally resorted to sucking on it (Dumb and Dumber 'esque) which cleared the ice inside the screw but coated the threads with more ice. Multiple times the wind almost blew me off the side of the cliff. At around 40 meters the rope finally froze solid. It had 1/2 inch of ice caked to it and was embedded into the waterfall. I couldn't move another inch so I headed over to the wall and lasso'd a rock. A hour later another guy lead up and free'd our rope but then his become frozen to the wall also. Soon both of us were anchored to my small runner. It was a bonding experience. Since the rope had 1/2 inch of ice on it I couldn't get it though the ATC so the only option was a hip belay which held inspite of one fall. Finally around 1pm we summitted to winds so strong that we occasionally opted to crawl up the gully rather than walk. More than once we got blown off our feet. It was a relief to see the Crown Jewel. By the time we returned to the car at 3pm the entire Columbia River gorge was closed to cars. My smallest two fingers on my left hand are still numb. I'll post a photo if they turn black and fall off. Mark also took some photos with a disposable camera. If they survived the conditions then we'll post one. And to the girl that was ice climbing for her first time... you're amazing. My wife would have left me at the top of the first pitch.

I've done all the routes on the G. Teton car to car in a day without any problem. (although the N. Face was a long day. Texplorer was begging for a 15 minute nap.) The East Ridge is probably my favorite route and can be easily done in a day, car to car. Starting from Lupine at 1:30am it's easy to follow the trail to Surprise Lake in the dark. On the back side of S. Lake ascend the ridge to the only notch. From the notch there's a steep trail that heads down. If you miss the notch and trail you're screwed. There isn't any other way into the canyon! It's all enormous cliffs. The trail will send you into the boulder field where you'll scramble to the obvious start of the East Ridge. There isn't one single line up the E. Ridge, especially at the bottom. Just scramble. My brother and I climbed un- ropped to the giant chockstone at the top of the first couloir. Once we did get the rope out we just simu-climbed. It's been a few years since we climbed it but the last pinnacle below the snowfield didn't seem very difficult. Just plan on climbing right up a notch at the bottom of pinnacle, drop down through the notch then traverse across the right side until you get to the final snow field that's below the summit block. We summitted about 20 minutes after our friends that climbed the Upper Exum, who left the car at the same time. Good luck.

Since I moved to the NW a couple of years ago I've been considering a multi-event weekend. You could climb Beacon Rock in the early afternoon, windsurf in the late afternoon, then do a road ride from Hood River to Timberline, climb Hood, and finally ski down. Why? Because you can. So Friday 7/18 after not planning anything fun for the weekend, I caught a ride to H. River with a couple of friends and started the adventure. They dropped me off at the H. River Event site (elevation 100) and by 8pm I was starting the journey up Hwy 35 with my MP3 player blasting. It was amazing to watch the sun set slowly on Hood. Just after midnight I finished the 49 mile 5,000+ ft climb to Timberline. While I had planned on climbing solo (since I couldn't find anyone to join me at H. River), late Friday afternoon a couple of friends decided to join me for the climb. Since it was their first climbing experience the South was perfect, and I was slower than normal after the ride. They didn't get to Timberline to 1am which put us on the trail about 1:30am. It was hot! I decided to hike in a t-shirt and running shoes and carry my tele-boots and skis on my pack. I ended up hiking like that all the way to the hogs-back. At the H. Back we decided the rope wasn't necessary and then blazed to the summit by around 6am. The B-shrund was easy, but may collapse one of these warm days. We hung out on the summit for 45 minutes. The frozen sun cups would have been impossible to ski down from the Hogs Back so I walked down a 800 ft before doing some "battle" skiing back to Palmer for a final groomer to Timberline. I arrived back at Timberline at 9am, 13 hours after I started. Now you have another option some day if you're really bored and the South slog alone doesn't sound that appealing. 11,0000 ft in 10 hours. This satisfies one of the previous post requirements that you start all climbs at/near sea-level.

Aliens are sold now also! Namaste_

JF3 The screws are sold. These are all pro purchases so I can pass on the deals. Email me directly if your still interested in the Aliens. Brad.Petersen@comcast.net

Three BD Express ice screws: 2 x16cm, 1 x 22cm. Only used a couple of times. They still have the net and end caps. $25 each Five Aliens cam's: Orange, Red, Yellow, Green, Blue in very good condition. Used very little! $35 each. Shipping is extra. Call with questions or for photos. (503) 705-4210 Brad in Beaverton, OR

Two BD Express 16cm ice screws. Only used a couple of times. They still have the net and end caps. $25 each Five Aliens cam's: Orange, Red, Yellow, Green, Blue in very good condition. Used very little! $35 each. Shipping is extra. Call with questions. (503) 705-4210 Brad in Beaverton, OR