Rad

But this is a non-discovery. The wobble data predict a planet-like object with the mass range indicated, but they haven't found it yet! Maybe it's in Central Orygun...

Not even close. You need a personal attack on one or more posters involving at least three of the following ingredients: random internet memes, animals, reference to body parts inserted into said animals, reference to female family members, uninformed political generalizations, or discussion of bolting. You did get the dripping sarcasm, so that's a start.

Goodness, folks seem a little uptight. I think it's awesome you went exploring, found something really cool (I don't really care if others have been there or not), and have convinced someone to take beautiful video and photos so they can share the beauty with others who likely will never see it in person. In a way, this is what a lot of climbing videos and photos are all about. Enjoy your 15 minutes of fame. What may be rubbing people the wrong way is your perceived sense of ownership over the "discovery" and the hyperbolic descriptions you laid on us without any details to back them up. So the snarky comments you're getting are a result of BOTH your own behavior AND the reactions you've elicited in the posters. This is the bed you've made for yourself.

I would like an Almond Roca sponsor! Will wear Powered by Almond Roca logo on my helmet. Anyone? Anyone?

Guillaume Mondet in Font. For mortals the deadpoint to the lip might be the crux, but Guillaume thinks the mantle is the hardest part. The slab highball finish looks like it gets your attention too. A proud line.

Oh, I'll bite. 2015: 1 - Got to thrash through the brush and climb beautiful rock with two good friends while developing two new alpine routes (Mile High Club and Faith). 2 - Discovered, developed, and FAd two excellent single pitch lines (Ship of Fools and The Minotaur) and got to share the experience with great partners. 3 - Met some new partners and have planted the seeds for adventures to share in 2016. 4 - Kids are starting to get into climbing, did some comps, and have qualified for Divisionals next weekend in Portland. 5 - Got to do a VW slide show with several other cascade alpine new routers. Great turnout, great energy. 6 - No major injuries. 2016: 1 - No major injuries. 2 - Complete the FA of a single pitch project that thwarted me in October. 3 - Thrash in the PNW mountains and crags with good friends again and hopefully FA one or more great lines. 4 - Discover, develop, and unlock at least one great single pitch line. 5 - Help a friend successfully launch a new climbing gym and help another friend successfully launch a new guidebook. 6 - Take kids (mine and others) outside to experience the joy of climbing. 7 - Bugaboos if weather and schedules permit.

Cool adventure. No bugs?

I added the crazy cave demon website link because it's a good one to mess w your head and seemed to fit. It has nothing to do with the OP, of course. So for those of us who don't watch OR local TV how can we see the episode?

Search suspended due to poor weather. Heartbreaking.

You can hear a few FA tales at this VW event on Dec 10th at 7:30pm. 2015 cascades FAs event at VW

Sounds interesting. What kinds of FAs are you talking about? Alpine summits via all routes, including class 2-4 scrambles? multi-pitch rock routes? Ice? Single pitch rock? Alpine mixed? You'll likely get different answers for each category. I suspect pulling data for any one will involve sleuthing through AAJ, Beckey guides and other books, and more modern internet sources. Look forward to seeing the results.

I'm on iPhone and love GAIA GPS. I don't use even a fraction of the functions, but it's pretty amazing and has proven VERY useful for cross country travel situations. No more taking the wrong gully, ridge, creek, spur trail, logging road, etc etc. No more troubles finding your way to spots where you've dropped a pin.

Biographie/Realization. At least Ondra couldn't do it.

Hidden Dragon at Shangri La Far Side Exit 38. Devious 30m 11c w multiple cruxes.

I also appreciate the humor and contrasting opinions and am certainly not seeking feckless praise or asking anyone to approve our actions. These are important topics for discussion because rock is a precious resource for all to share. It's easy to go through life these days only interacting with people and content that align with your own views. Google, Facebook, and other IT learning systems are designed to enclose each of us in cozy data/content cocoons so they can quietly suck money out of us as spiders suck the life-juice out of flies. I am glad to break out of that w-w-web and hear a wide range of views presented and defended. So thank you for sharing your thoughts and humor. Perhaps we'll cross paths at a pub club at some point. ps. I do not consider myself a route-setter. Mother Nature set the routes long, long ago. We're all just trying to discover, experience, and share them.

Good news: Starbucks will build a chalet at the top of pitch 3, place laminated copies of Freedom of the Hills at every belay station, and install blue LEDs to guide people up and down the route at night. They will launch an APP that allows you to book your route start times from your phone, order your pitch 3 coffee so it's ready when you get there, and have Siri talk you through rappelling at night. Caffeine plus LEDs plus Siri should get everyone down safely. Until these are ready, climbers will be on their own. They should learn and practice multi-pitch anchor transitions, rappelling, and basic mountain safety before attempting this route. A simple mistake in the wrong place at the wrong time can kill you no matter how clever or experienced you are.

Many good points above. I made far too many generalizations, so I'll edit to remove some that really aren't relevant. Yes, there are plenty of great ground up routes. MHC was bolted on rappel. It is not in wilderness. It is not as adventurous as trad routes of similar grade. It absolutely has alpine hazards and some of these, such as climber-induced rockfall, may be exacerbated by being popular.

Very cool Bill. Thanks for sharing. I posted a TR here: Mile High Club TR

Separate thread on MHC and multi-pitch first ascents

This comment seemed very elitist and misguided to me: “Perhaps a mixed line on such a route might have discouraged eager folks with less experience from perhaps getting in over their heads up there.” If this comment comes from genuine concern for the safety of newbie alpine climbers please skip the next paragraph. Implicit in this comment is the idea that sport climbers don't belong in the mountains, they don't deserve to be there, and that the mountains are the exclusive domain of wise, tough men who eat nails for breakfast. Get over yourselves. I, for one, am happy to share the mountains with anyone who wants to be there. The next generation may start in the gym, but they are going to push the envelope in the trad/alpine world. Just look at LeClerc, Caldwell, Lama, Honnold. We all started out as “folks with less experience”. Most of us got ourselves “over our heads” at one point or another. Otherwise we wouldn’t have grown and developed as climbers. Much of our effort on MHC focused on removing loose rock that might have harmed people. I really hope no one gets hurt or dies, but it's possible people will. There is no such thing as complete safety in the mountains. I believe that climbers must be empowered to make their own choices and accept the consequences of their own actions. That's part of what makes climbing so rich. Why should we try to deny people that experience or protect them from it? If this route, in addition to being a ton of fun, can give new climbers a taste of the magic and inspiration of the mountains that would be cool. If it also provides a stepping stone in their path to being able to think for themselves and take responsibility for the safety of themselves, their partners, and other teams around them that's even better.

Some people asked about Mile High Club. Here are a few thoughts on developing rock routes, including MHC. My views have grown out of 25 years of climbing and 10 years of doing first ascents. These opinions are my own. My partners have their own views that may or may not be the same as mine. It is very rare for route developers to share their philosophy or defend their work because it’s easy for armchair quarterbacks to throw anonymous internet stones. Some will probably drive this thread into spray. That’s OK. I’ve got my helmet strapped down tightly. Hopefully others will find something interesting. So here goes: One might consider two questions in evaluating rock climb first ascents: A – What is the type of protection? It could be: 1 - Removable protection (called trad by many); 2 - fixed protection (including bolts and pitons); or 3 – a combination of fixed and removable protection (mixed). B – Was the first ascent ground-up or top-down? This seems binary, but it’s not always that simple. By multiplying these we might define six types of rock routes. Each has pros and cons. We have all types in Washington, and often several different types within one climbing area (e.g. Darrington, Index, X38, WA Pass, Leavenworth). I’ve done five types of first ascents. Each was the result of thoughtful consideration for the route itself, the style of the area, the views of my partners, and other factors. Ironically, the style that people respect the most, ground-up trad, is actually the easiest to do. Walk up to a wall, find a line, climb and protect as you go up, end at the top, walk away. Often there is very little cleaning done along the way. When you go ground-up you tend to take the path of least resistance, and because you don’t know what’s above you may wander around to link good climbing sections. You may miss the best climbing altogether. Bolts placed ground-up are often put in places that don’t make sense for parties that follow. They are typically placed from a good stance, which can mean a hook or a ledge or other feature. In a number of cases, bolts on ground-up routes occur from a rest stance AFTER the hard moves. Bolts may be placed in locations that provide sparse and/or poor protection for subsequent climbers. Placing pitons doesn't make sense to me. They protect the first ascensionist and those who follow for a few years, perhaps decades, but they damage the rock as much or more than bolts and degrade over time until they are eventually useless. Trad protection is viewed by some as morally superior to bolts when cracks or other protectable features are available. To a large extent I agree. On certain cliffs, however, including the Mile High buttress, cracks are mainly found behind blocks in varying states of attachment to the wall. A lead fall on a cam places far more outward force on a block than one can generate with a hammer or short crowbar, so blocks that seem safe during route development could be levered off the wall and injure or kill the climber and/or belayer and/or cut the team’s rope if a cam is placed behind them. Experienced leaders may spot such hazards and avoid them, but not everyone is that savvy. Mile High Club has a few sections that could be protected by removable gear by an experienced leader. Other sections that look like protectable cracks are behind blocks of varying size that couldn’t be easily pried off using a hammer but might explode off the wall if a leader placed a cam behind them and fell on it. We could have developed a mixed route with mostly bolts and a few trad placements. I advocated that if the vast majority of the route was going to need bolts to be safely climbed AND an inexperienced leader with a trad rack might place cams in spots that would endanger themselves and others, as noted above, then bolting the whole thing would be the best way to go. That’s what we did. If you don’t like the bolts don’t clip them. My goals for Mile High Club were: #1 – Develop an outstanding route that follows the best quality climbing to the Mile High Summit. #2 – Make the route safe for climbers who follow us, including those who are new to alpine climbing. #3 – Open a route that people will climb and enjoy for decades to come. Mile High Club has seen about ten repeats in the past ten days. Feedback from those who’ve climbed the route has been positive (feel free to PM constructive criticism). If you don’t want to climb a bolted alpine route that could attract fledgling mountain rock climbers I suggest you go climb Fire on the Mountain on Sloan that Blake and I put up in 2009. It’s an amazing 5.10+ trad ground-up alpine rock route to an outstanding peak. You’re very unlikely to have to wait in line because it’s only seen a handful of ascents in the past 6 years. Why? Perhaps because it’s a 5.10+ trad alpine rock route several hours away from a trailhead that’s not super close. At the end of the day, route development is not a consensus activity. It is done by highly motivated individuals or teams that have passion and vision and are willing to invest huge amounts of time, work, and money to create something for others. We hope you enjoy the route. Rad

One data point. http://www.vox.com/2015/10/1/9437187/obama-guns-terrorism-deaths It does not delve into causes. Let's suppose you could solve gun deaths by either revamping gun laws or making a very large investment in mental health care. Which would take effect faster? Which would cost less? Which would be easier to implement? Banning confederate flags? Really? Who thinks that's going to do anything? The conservatives don't have a logical leg to stand on here, but it doesn't seem to matter. And that is deeply disturbing to me.

I am a fan of data-driven, science based approaches. Look forward to seeing the work you produce.

What a bullshit approach.... Calling bullshit on your bullshit. The data are VERY clear. People in the US have easy access to guns and they shoot people. You don't hear of mass stranglings or mass knifings. Control guns and the problem goes away. Any idiot can see that. Moreover, the media gives dead killers huge amounts of attention so future would-be gunmen see fame and glory through infamy as their end. And the media makes money, the gun companies make money. Yes, changing gun laws is the obvious solution. If you've figured out a way to do that I'd love to hear it. One very simple way to act is to not let the media monetize these tragedies. Avert your electronic gaze. If killers get no attention the prospect of internet fame will be removed as a lure to would be killers. Maybe you have better ideas.