Rad

My thoughts exactly, but perhaps they were tasty. This is an early example where fast and light not only won the day but allowed the victors to come home alive. Scott's journal excerpts are powerful, but my hat's off to Amundson.

Sol, I'd like to learn that stretch too. Can you post a pic? Thx Rad

Radiating numbness/tingling definitely suggests a nerve issue. It may be more likely to be your spine/cervical disc than your elbow that's causing the impingement. Definitely see a doc or a well-trained PT. Funny enough, nerves are like muscles: use em or lose em and train em to make em work better. Prolonged nerve disuse leads to atrophy and can result in permanent conditions (e.g. drop foot) so definitely get checked.

Sorry to hear that Darin. There is a lot of good info on epicondylitis (inflammation of the elbow). Mostly it is medial. I believe pain is usually restricted to the elbow in a very specific spot just below the arrow in this image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golfer's_elbow Because this is an inflammatory condition, NSAIDs (and RICE) can be very helpful in quieting down the localized overactive inflammatory response. Rest alone won't always do it. I've found that it is important to ramp up activity gradually over time and learn what activities cause more inflammation. Personally, I have to be careful with weighted pullups. I can do them but have to ramp up to higher weights, warm up, and not do it for long periods. Climbing is usually not a problem unless I overdo it. Sufficient rest between hard training sessions (48-72 hours depending on intensity) is important for me. Low intensity endurance training sessions can actually be helpful if pain is not too high. I don't know what the elbow elastic does, though I've seen some people wearing those. Be wary of relying on using this or NSAIDS to reduce your pain so you can climb. If I know I have a big day that might stress the system, I might take ibuprofen in the early morning beforehand. Perhaps Sol can tell you about opposing muscle training, though I'm not sure that will necessarily help for this condition. Layton will probably chime in soon...

Excellent films this year. See it if you can.

Kevork has rescued a number of people over the years, including yahoos and climbers and climber yahoos. We should be thankful for the service that he and Kelly and the rest of the team do. They certainly don't do it for the money. Sharing views in a relatively benign public forum like this is a good thing. Hopefully this will be a two-way street. Non-communication followed by deliberate non-compliance of regulations may seem like the easiest path to free access, but it's probably the fastest way to bring the hammer down on all of us.

It may be possible to climb this wall using natural features (cracks, shrubs) for protection, but you would probably not follow the IB route closely. Go ground up and tell us how it goes. It's pretty featured and not that steep.

Willy might work on cobbles where you have large protrusions to minimize the risk of "wiping", but on smoother walls that would be scary. If you do the tension thing, consider having a second rope for your locking device/ascenders and use the tensioned line to get close to the wall. Use backups, be safe, be creative, have fun!

Look for this on Rock and Ice's videos webpage soon.

I've done 2 and 3 + intermediate gear. Sometimes multiple ropes are needed to pull yourself from side to side. Tensioned line is harder than you might think.

I understand where Lucky is coming from, though the routes I've done were after the last edition came out. I respect that pulling together a book, even a mediocre one, is a huge amount of work. But it pales in comparison to the amount of time, effort, and money needed to put in all of the routes. A new or updated guide is surely needed that contains route info and grades, approach info, first ascent/history, and any other relevant info on all the climbs. The guidebook author should obtain that info directly from the developers, otherwise important info may be missed. For this reason, the guidebook author should endeavor to build a trusting relationship with developers in order to ensure the best outcome.

Not sure where you're coming from in terms of difficulty or experience, but doing things in the mountains is rather different from doing them at the crag or on smaller hills. It takes more to climb 5.6 on a mountain than 5.6 at a walk-up crag. If you don't have much experience in mountains I'd suggest you go for hikes and scrambles to get dialed into x-country travel. Often no ropes or gear are needed and you can still have great outings. See WA scrambles book for ideas. Then start working the technical elements into the mix. A final word: don't underestimate the weather. It can kick your ass if you're not careful.

I hope someone will pass along some positive feedback and encouragement to Cody. This short is definitely high quality, with good audiovisual story telling, good music, and money climbing shots. And here's hoping Marc has a great fall season at Squish and that some of it gets captured on film to inspire us mortals.

Cool. Thanks for the info. It's been a few years, but I seem to remember the top of that dihedral being 5.7 or 5.8ish and the pitches below it being 5.easy. What fun to launch up onto a big face and encounter lots of options of moderate ways to go, most of them unexplored. Post pics of that arete sometime if you think it's worth repeating.

Right of EB is a 10d that is short but fun. Just right of that is an 11d that is short with a bouldery thin crux. I think the 7/8 you're mentioning is just a bit right of the 11d. This joins the ramp of the 10c. Then down the hill a bit is the 10c (more like 10a), which trends left on a ramp before jogging back right and up to the anchors. There is an excellent 11c that starts at the same spot as the 10c but goes straight up into the hanging corner and then up overhanging jugs. The 10c and 11c share the same anchor so you can toprope the 11c after climbing the 10c, though there is a bit of ropedrag. Right of that is a relatively new line that is 11a/b. It's short but high quality (thanks Jens!). The 10a/10d two pitch line starts quite a bit down and right at the bottom of the formation. It looks OK (I haven't done it yet) but rarely gets climbed. So the photo you linked is out of date and has several errors. Not sure whether Garth is doing any more updates to the website or book. Has anyone heard form him in recent years?

Thanks. So how hard were these 4 pitches you did? Were they good? The last time out we were near the diamond feature, which is still right of your line. The slings were not ours as we walked off the top.

Nice. Way to pull through it. We had a long day out there a few weeks ago on a line to the right of where you were. Will post a TR at some point. Did you get any pics of your variation?

If you'd set the Southern Pickets traverse as your goal you'd be elated, but setting the full S and N traverse as your goal you felt you fell short. In the end, you did what you did, nothing more and nothing less. Congrats on an amazing adventure.

Trip: Mount McGregor - West Ridge Date: 8/26/2011 Trip Report: Rainier, Hood, and Fuji are iconic peaks that loom on the horizon of major cities. Each provides a powerful metaphor for a monumental challenge, often unrelated to climbing. Climbers are drawn to these peaks in droves for the same reason Mallory was drawn to Everest: "Because it’s there”. For those who make it to the top, success is particularly sweet because afterward a mere glimpse of the peak can transport them back to past adventures, partnerships, and dreams fulfilled. For others, the peak is a constant reminder of an unfulfilled promise, a humiliating failure, or a litany of half-baked excuses stacked like unwashed dishes in the sink. My wife grew up in the shadow of Mount Rainier. We climbed it together via the Emmons Glacier in 2003. The following month we got married in Stehekin, a tiny town at the head of Lake Chelan that’s only accessible by ferry, seaplane, or rugged wilderness trails. We visit Stehekin every year, and though our adventures have evolved as Ben, Anna, and Noah and other friends and family have joined us, one thing has remained unchanged: Mount McGregor. As Mount Rainier towers over the Puget Sound, so Mount McGregor towers over Stehekin. Its West Ridge and rocky summit are always visible from the upper reaches of Lake Chelan and the Stehekin valley. We’ve been staring at McGregor for the past eight years as we’ve biked, hiked, kayaked, swam, and explored different parts of the Stehekin valley. It was time to change that, to try to turn a daydream into action. We planned to climb McGregor during our summer trip to Stehekin. The climb involves 16 miles and 6400 feet elevation gain and loss from the trailhead to the 8136-foot summit, and back again. A good trail leads to Heaton Camp at 7000 feet. Above that lies 1000 feet of snow and third class rock. The mileage and elevation would be similar to our 2002 one-day ascent of Mount Constance, the highest peak you see on the Olympic skyline when looking West from our home in Seattle. We tested our fitness on Mailbox Peak a week before our trip to Stehekin. All systems go. The National Park trail report in Stehekin mentioned “treacherous hard snow” above Heaton Camp. I brought two ice axes, a skinny rope, a single harness, and a few runners for technical challenges the mountain might throw at us, but ice could be a show-stopper as we didn’t have sturdy boots or crampons. Hoping to find a rock route that would allow us to avoid the hard snow, I pored over photos of McGregor and tried to guess where the “treacherous” snow might lie. But descriptions were vague and it was unclear where the route went. We would just have to figure it out when we got there. After three wonderful days in Stehekin, we were ready. We quietly slipped out of our cabin at 5:30am to hit the trail in the cool morning hours, leaving friends and family behind to watch over our kids during the day. The miles slipped by easily as we marched up the trail. Just under 7000 feet, we paused at a basin that held the dreaded snowfield. Sure enough, the snow was rock hard. We easily skirted around it and scrambled up toward a ridge that should lead to the summit. The steep slope of pebbles and hard dirt had few stable footholds, but it wasn’t dangerous. Just below the ridgecrest, I paused to take a photo of Beth… And that’s where I saw that we were off track. WAY off track. In my haste, I’d led us up the wrong ridge. The true summit is marked by a tall radio repeater antenna, and it was a long way from where we stood. Linking our ridge to the summit would probably involve several thousand feet of towers with questionable rock. So, we boot skied down the scree and re-joined the trail to Heaton Camp and the proper route to the summit. On the plus side, our detour gave me a good view of the real “treacherous” snowfield (lower left in the photo above), and I spied a direct line on solid-looking rock that would bypass it and lead us directly to the summit. We re-joined the trail to the proper snowfield, drank from a small stream, and found an easy way past the first cliff. Mountain flowers and lichen peppered the rocky upper slopes of the mountain. We ascended third class rock to a shoulder that would bring us over to a gully that should lead straight to the summit. There we found the mental crux of the day: a traverse on down-sloping sandy ledges with loose handholds. I offered Beth a belay, but she crossed before I could toss the end of the rope down to her. We then pranced up solid rock directly to the summit. The sun was warm and the air was perfectly still. We soaked in the views and gorged on delicious treats before heading down. Prominent peaks provide fresh perspectives on familiar landmarks. The descent of the upper mountain went quickly. the miles ticked by easily, and we soon found ourselves back in the forest with a view of Glacier Peak. And one of Dome Peak. Other than a young buck we encountered on our descent, We had the entire mountain to ourselves. Coon Lake is picturesque, but it is a muddy pond best left to bass and beavers. We hit the bakery, plunged in the lake, and enjoyed two more wonderful days with friends and family. When we return to Stehekin next summer we’ll look up at Mount McGregor and remember a perfect day together on a beautiful peak. Maybe someday we’ll take the kids up there with us. Gear Notes: None needed. Approach Notes: Ferry to Stehekin. Bike, shuttle, or car to High Bridge.

I look forward to seeing it and hope that keeping the tree healthy is your top priority.

But Matt, the suspension bridges you encounter hiking usually are anchored in concrete pilings in the ground, not in trees. Maybe some rain forest canopy camps can provide you with some models.

get a job and get some wheels. most things you'll want to do, and there are lots of options, involve driving. If all else fails, move back to CA!

That's not even a real rock. Check out the tiny flake feature photoshopped 8 times in the image. Regardless, I have seen good bolts and questionable bolts at a variety of crags. People need to look carefully and decide what can be trusted and what cannot. Matt's right that it's generally not good practice to belay or rap off a single bolt, at least not when there are other good options available. I understand Alex's point that everyone should find their own comfort level without interference, but sometimes we need to try to keep the kids from killing themselves, even if it sounds annoying. If it prevents an accident it's worthwhile. Lucky, we appreciate the work you and others have done on new routes. While I won't go as far as Raindude, I do feel that placing a bolt is a permanent act of intrusion that should only be done after careful consideration. Does the line merit bolting? Will the bolt protect the moves intended? Is the bolt in solid rock away from cracks or other failure points? Is it placed so the direction of pull is in line with the strongest axis of the hanger? Does the placement minimize ropedrag? Does the bolt put rope, biner, or quickdraws in danger at a sharp edge? Is there a decent clipping stance? Will the route be too closely bolted? Too run out? Is there a good opportunity for natural gear nearby. And on and on. There is no magic formula. I've seen very experienced bolters put bolts in stupid places, and unfortunately, it brings down the quality of the resulting route.

Thanks for pics. X38 does get its share of yahoos. The combination of moderate grades, easy access to Seattle, and closely spaced bolts on many routes seems to attract them. They need mentors to help keep them from making fatal mistakes. Thanks for trying...