Rad

You can climb at WA pass as the road isn't closed until Rainy Pass. Lots of great alpine rock routes there.

Thompson is a short route on a pile of choss a long way from the road. I don't think it deserves classic status. Enchantments would be far better IMHO. Vesper is an excellent outing, but getting on the lower part of the route late season involves crossing hard snow/ice and then crossing a potentially large and dangerous moat. Crampons and ax may be recommended. I think you can get on the route on ledges part way up and bypass the snow/ice but I've never gone that way. E Ridge Direct of Forbidden is outstanding, but road closure may be an issue.

Road to Cascade Pass (goes past BB trailhead) Basin was washed out as well. Not sure where updates on this are. Check WSDOT website for updates on the 20: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades/

ps. maybe you can start a business to teach V4 gym climbers to scramble 4th class. They probably have cash to drop on the right tool/app/person.

D, Kev will jump in shortly to tell your pretty pony to wear a helmet! Yes, this is a pathetic and humorous outcome. I'm just glad it's comedy and not tragedy like the Sharkfin newbie-crushing block incident from a few years back. R

Sure, unfortunate (and sometimes embarrassing) things happen to the very experienced, but that doesn't mean it's the same thing as unfortunate things happening to the inexperienced and naive. There is a difference. Right. We should give newbies more slack and less flack for their mis-steps. Experienced folks should know better. We all make mistakes. Erring on the side of caution, as these folks did, isn't necessarily a bad thing. What should have happened IMHO, is the party of 2 should have gone up to see what was happening. Without communication, they had no way to know their friends weren't injured, so perhaps asking for a rescue was the right call given the circumstances. I was in a somewhat similar situation years ago in Tuolumne. I climbed the Eichorn Pinnacle and was meeting up with friends who had climbed the SW Face of Cathedral. I finished, scrambled up the back side of Cathedral, and waited. They didn't show by sunset so I descended to the base of the route and waited there. Someone flashed lights to us from high on the route. I found another climber and we went up to the summit to check things out. When we got there my friends were just topping out around midnight. They were exhausted and hypothermic from too little clothing and high winds. We helped them down, warmed them, and hiked out without incident. If the party on the rock had had a two-way communication device (sat phone or something else) the heli-rescue would probably not have been needed.

Pathetic, but no one was hurt and they'll be back to climb another day. Having spoken with Kelly Bush about NCNP rescues, I bet she and her team find this annoying and amusing but far more desirable than if the team had tried to come down in the dark and gotten badly injured. Most of us have done something stupid at one point or another. Usually, we come out without getting injured or invoking a rescue. But not always. I know a very experienced climber, who shall remain nameless, who was on the front page photo of one of the East side papers stranded in on a rock in the Tumwater because his crampons poked a hole in the raft his team was using to cross to go climb Drury. Oops.

Way to persevere! Between snow for walking and snow for meltwater, early season looks like a good way to go.

Sweet! The lieback above the crack section on Lamplighter felt harder than anything on Heaven's Gate. Maybe I just didn't know how to approach it. Stepping on the bolt seemed to work though

Green will be faster. Most go that way. You'll miss a short bit of hand crack between yellow 3 and 4. Either will be fine. It's all good. Enjoy!

Headed up tomorrow and wondering if anyone can comment on whether you have to cross hard snow to get to the base if we approach from the Silver Star Creek side. Hoping not to bring ax or crampons. Thx

Goodness that's an old photo. I'm surprised the mountain hasn't washed into the sea since then. I was just up there a week ago for my second time on the route, so I'm definitely not an expert, but I think you'll find tons of bivy sites sprinkled all over the upper NR and WR routes. IMHO the long section leading up to the Gendarme is some of the best climbing so savor it.

Both pitches are short and the haul is clean if you have to do it. Don't be intimidated by these pitches. You'll do fine, and they are easy to protect. Last time out we had a 3 and a 3.5. Place the 3 first from a stemming stance on large foot holds. Unless you're petite, you can get a good fist jam here. Then step up into a constriction that makes a great foot hold. Place the 3.5 from this stance. 3 might also work. 4 is fine but not needed. Edge holds on the side of the crack are there, but not needed. Lieback or jam past until into the next good footholds. Clip the fixed #4. A few more moves and you're in jug city. Have fun!

Yikes! We were out there Saturday and missed the crowds and excitement. I hope he's OK. The only place you could fall any distance on the CAscadian is right at the top gaining the snow or on the upper snow section. Maybe he was in Ulrich's as kevino's observation suggests. Again, hope he's OK. R

Went out yesterday and had a great, if long, day. Bottom line: after botching the Cascadian descent on previous outings in different ways, we finally did it right and it was great. If I go back, I'd gladly do it again. It was boot skiing. Scree skiing. Dirt skiing. All good fun if you have a shoe with a little bit of a hard sole (five tennies great, running shoes not). Beta: from false summit scramble right along the ridge (south) a could hundred feet. Do not follow this ridge too far (a past mistake of mine). Find a logical spot to scramble down some loose rock until able to hop on the snow. Boot ski down many hundreds of feet to small saddle. soft snow in the afternoon. Bear skiers right into the top of the Cascadian. After several vert hundred feet, look for a flattish hill on the right side with low trees. Just above this, head right into the lower cascadian. Follow this down and stay in the central wash all the way to the bottom of the rocks. AVOID side trails to the right when you get low (a past mistake of mine was to take these). At the end of the rocks, look for cairns that lead you in to a trail. The trail goes through brush and grass and drops you right onto the Ingalls Creek trail. Turn right and reach Long's pass trail in 5 minutes. I still can't believe people go UP the Cascadian! That must be an incredible sufferfest. We met two people who did it yesterday. have fun out there! ps. we looked from a distance at the ridge dps mentions above. It looks lovely and we were tempted to try it but didn't this time.

Any good?

OMG, a civilized bolting discussion thread! WA Pass is pretty close to a roadside crag at this point. Sure would be nice to have a gondola to the top of Liberty Bell, or should I call it a telepherique to sound swiss? At minimum a Via Ferrata next to the Beckey route...

Outstanding! Love the fact that you choose adventures where the outcome is uncertain and you're at your limit.

Awesome outing. I've had that one on the list but won't get to it this year. I'm trying to have less type 2 fun (dark, schwackery shenanigans) and more type 1 fun (clean rock, good weather) this year. I must be getting soft.

Thanks guys. Trying to go car to car wo a bivy so I appreciate the tips. Kevino, if you see two old guys simulclimbing that's us (Rad and David). Blake says the #4 is still in the gendarme ow and that we can climb the whole route with nothing larger than a #1. DPS, I remember your recent comments on that. Any special notes (or a photo) on finding the top of the Sherpa gully? thx We sure do live in a great place. I think of friends who travel across the country or world to get to do something as beautiful as the N ridge of Stuart. And we have it here in our backyard!

Headed to do the complete north ridge from Teanaway in a few days. Does anyone have recent beta for conditions (snow needing crampons?) getting over Goat pass? We're thinking of trying Ulrich's instead of Cascrapian on the descent. Any photos or beta or comments on that? Many thanks

I think I went up that dihedral years ago and yes, it felt much harder than 5.4, but it worked. The "approach gully" of the WR is one of the best parts of the route. It's basically 3rd and 4th class soloing for a very long way on EXCELLENT granite. The winding around on the upper half of the route, including tunneling under the flake, is interesting but not very aesthetic. Side question: does anyone have recent beta on Goat pass conditions? Has anyone done Ulrich's that would recommend it for the descent? Thx

"5.10" pitches on IB are fun and soft for the grade, and you're more in danger of z-clipping than having to break out the cheater stick for aiding. It's key to be first on the route and go at night or on a cloudy day to avoid cooking in the S facing sun (though you survived Yos at 90+ so this will be a cake walk).

Amazing outing. Someone should rig a motion sensor on an HD video camera to capture the Pocket Glacier in action. It would be amazing footage.

:tup: