Rad

Good question. I tried to climb B to B on Friday, and since looked at the guide (old Bruce version). Here is my assessment: There are three routes/variations right of Insomnia. They are: 1 - B to B. This starts in the hand crack (shared with Insomnia), goes up two bolts, veers slightly right into a 5.easy crack up high, and traverses right under the roof, clips a bolt at the lip of the roof, and goes to the chains. The very last moves under the roof that are the crux and the rest is much easier. 2 - Start at the anchor at the base of Insomnia, start up on a slanting chossy band, climb straight up quite soon on some highly textured black rock with few features (5.10 something) past two bolts, continue up past the left edge of a giant flake (#3 camalot at its top works here), clip one more bolt, place one piece (#1 camalot) in the upper crack, traverse right under the roof (joins B to B here), clip bolt at roof lip, up to chains. This is a fun climb that is more varied and runout than other routes in this area, and I thought that was a nice change. The moves under the roof are not the crux. 3 - Start as for 2 but keep diagonalling right on the crappy band (don't fall here as pro is not available), pass a small tree/bush (sling or you are looking at groundfall), over a small roof past two bolts, up the face with 1.5"-2" gear in a shallow crack, come straight up to the final roof-lip bolt (join 1 and 2 here), and up to the chains. 2 and 3 are not in the old addition of the NB guide. I climbed 2, sort of, and it was pretty fun. I followed what seemed the natural line for 2, which was diagonalling right on the ramp and then up onto the face. The problem was that this left me traversing back to the 2nd bolt, making 5.10 moves and looking at a fall that would have dropped me onto the broken rock below. If you know who put in the bolts please send me a pm as I have a question. WARNING! There is a giant block that you layback on the left route. When my partner was following I noticed the block rocks as he pulled on it. This block is 4' x 6' x 1' and it seems to only be held in place by a small corner down and right. It would be REALLY bad if this comes off while people are on the route. It would also likely obliterate several bolts and much of the route(s) below. FYI, you can link the lower approach pitch with any of the upper routes, but consider using long slings to manage ropedrag. You can rap to the ground with a single 60m rope from the chains. Go get some.

In Yosemite the words to fear are "squeeze" and "slot" Ericandlucie thanks for the beta/report. Were the bugs bad?

Matt, Absolutely! There is no certification required to play outside. That said, different people learn in different ways. Some learn best by reading, others by watching, others by doing etc. Moreover, people will have different comfort zones that determine how fast they are willing to push their own boundaries. Each must find his/her own way with a little help from their friends. Glad to see you're getting out on the rock again. Rad

You should be fine. There will be a lot of trails near the lunch counter as people explore to find campsites there. Just go uphill and you'll soon be past them. Here are a few suggestions, meant kindly: - Head up until there is no more up. - Find the path of least resistance between the face to the East and the steep slope to the West. This path is likely a well-worn boot pack. - Take a compass just in case the clouds move in. - Take a GPS if that will ease your mind, but you really don't need it and it will frequently remind you how little you have traveled since you last checked it. -Pay attention to the weather forecast and consider changing your plans if a storm is coming. -Glissade when you can, but take the crampons off as they can do serious damage to you and your clothes. BTW, glissading is sliding downhill on your butt while whooping for joy. - It will probably take you much longer to ascend the last 2000 feet than the first 2000 feet on summit day due to the elevation. Plan accordingly. I don't mean to sound trite. You should be perfectly fine. That said, this is the second biggest mountain in WA (almost 12, 500) and it can be dangerous if the weather turns on you. Have a great time.

Great TR. Please post the next adventure.

Bummer. You should probably be fine eventually, but it will take some time. I had an AC separation back in 2001 diving for a disc in an ultimate tourney in HI. I got a big natural dose of adrenaline and a big dose of pain. I thought it was dislocated but it wasn't. Recovery and prognosis depends on how severe it is. They are divided into classes 1-5. Mine was class 3 (completely severed two sets of ligaments, but I don't recall class defns, check webmd.com). Class 4 or 5 may require surgery. An X-ray will tell what you have. I had immobilization and pain killers and anti-inflammatories for about 4 weeks. PT and anti-inflammatories after that. I was climbing gently (no gastons or hard pulls) within a few months. Playing disc about the same time. It was nearly a year before I could do regular pushups as that seemed to press in all the wrong directions. I bet you will be able to climb before you can kayak. The ligaments (severed in my case) don't regrow. Your body adjusts to compensate, which is why PT is important. I did have a curious bump from the displaced clavicle, and that went down a bit over time. I have no long term pain or mobility loss or consequences that I can tell. Talk to your doc and PT and see what they say. Good luck.

Great job. We all look forward to more pics.

Approximate times to a few trailheads: 45 minutes: Northbend (exit 32 and 38). Mostly sport, some trad. 75 minutes: Index town wall. Mostly trad, some sport. 90 minutes: Nason Ridge. Sport. 120-150 minutes: Darrington, Leavenworth, Erie. Sport and trad. 140-200 minutes: Washington Pass, Vantage, Tieton, numerous alpine backcountry. Mostly trad, some sport. 200-240 minutes: Squamish BC. Sport and trad. Others can comment on ice.

DPS, I've only met you once but appreciate your positive energy and good attitude. I believe that we get what we give, and if you give smiles and kind words and good conversation you should should be repaid with the same...at least from me and many here. Maybe another lesson you can help modern society learn is that good things can come to those who SLOOOOW DOOOOWN!!!! Don't worry Ivan, you're already immortal on the CC interweb!

Went to Nevermind today. We could not discern any damage to the routes in question (climbed SS, and looked carefully at the lower sxns of other two) and there was no obvious pile of rubble at the base to suggest anything bad happened. SS is definitely going to be harder when (not if) that undercling flake eventually cuts loose. Also, the jug at the first clip of the 10a is rattly. Not sure if it was before or not.

Next time pack the wing suit:

Yikes! A few years ago the start for Steep Street and Under Arrest changed substantially when a large block (3' x 3' x 2') fell off the wall. Now you step up into a committing undercling on a fin/flake that looks like if could pop off pretty easily. There will probably be more there. Don't like the current routes? Just wait a few months and check back to see if they have changed.

Bump. Anyone been out here this summer?

This is what I use: Hilti KB3 bolts at MEC There are many other ones that can work. Note: you can find the same bolts at big box hardware stores, and might be tempted to get them as they are cheaper. I've been told that the more expensive ones are individually tested/checked and getting the hardware stores ones is more risky.

Great job. Thanks for posting. Your nice pics suggest this route is more solid than I had been lead to believe. Welcome to CC!

E ledges beta: Rap until you it get to a cairn at a good ledge. Last time we didn't go far enough and had to go back and do more raps. A rope really won't help you on the E ledges (other than for the raps) as there isn't really anywhere to place gear so put it away after the raps. I'd recommend a slightly rising traverse on the path of least resistance across the ledges. This will bring you out right at the top of the gully. If you get to the loose gully at the end of the traverse don't climb in it. Rock on the right side of it is more solid. You may feel more comfortable with your rock shoes on, but it's certainly not required. Just keep your head about you and you'll be perfectly fine. Finally, start early enough that you're not hurried on the E ledges or traversing them for the first time in the dark. Have fun!

Get up early and wait in line at the station. Be flexible with your backcountry plans. You might get in that way.

Don't worry Gene, you can Cinch my Edelweiss any time. When we last spoke you were off to sit in a tent in the rain on a foggy glacier with a bunch of hyperactive toddlers. How did that go?

If they can hold a myriad of classes on this crag that should free up Classic Crack so RUMR can finally get his pinkpoint.

Correct. 2 points.

Actually, that was from middle school, but let's not hijack the thread. ...... West Mac bivy sounds like a great vantage to watch sunrise and sunset. My partner and I bivied on the summit of Inspiration and it was very cool.

For the record, Mr. Bee, "its" should have an apostrophe for your use. This is a common spelling error. As a possessive there is no apostrophe: "That cam will never hold because its lobes are tipped out." As a contraction there is an apostrophe "It's the fifth time I've asked you to stop farting in the tent, now get out!"

JH, thanks for useful links. Malcolm Daly of Trango says don't use either the Cinch or the Gri-gri for soloing, so I don't understand why people latched onto the former and ignored the latter. Neither is approved or designed for that use. Dmuja, on TR the rope will run from the ground to the anchor and back down to the climber, just as in a regular TR, so I don't see why you think the fall factors would be longer than on lead. In my case, I know I'll be falling on TR and strongly doubt that I'll fall leading the moderate route. Feck, thanks for tips. This is a sport crag so I don't know if there are gear anchor possibilities. I'll have to think hard about what device to use. Recommendations accepted. Thanks so far.

Congrats on slots and dry heaves. Perhaps this should move to the Pirates forum due to picture piracy, but I'm glad you inserted them.

My books are in storage so I thought I'd ask here about solo roped climbing. I've been climbing for many years but have never done this before and would be grateful for tips/corrections. I want to lead a moderate line to TR a harder line and was thinking something like this: 1 - Climb moderate to first bolt, clip a bight of rope end to the first bolt using a locking biner. Rope feeds from biner to my Cinch (auto-locking device similar to a gri-gri) which is on my locking biner on my harness. As I climb I pay out rope through the Cinch and clip bolts as I pass them until I get to the chains (shared with harder route). 2 - Lower down hard route on Cinch, clipping the rope through Q draws as I go as this route is rather overhanging. Once on the ground, I'd fix the end of the rope to a tree not too far away. 3 - Then climb the moderate route again, cleaning the rope and draws from it. The Cinch is now protecting me like a TR. 4 - Then I'd lower straight down the steep route, fix THAT end of the rope, and tie myself into the end that I'd tied to the tree previously (which runs through the Qdraws). 5 - Finally, climb hard route on TR with Cinch as belay. This requires pulling rope through the device whenever there is a spot to free one arm to do that. Lower or rappel (with separate device) to get off. That's what I envision, but I am a noob and welcome your suggestions/corrections. If you want to spray that's fine but please post some useful tips too.