Rad

Thanks to Chris and Brian for letting me TR Overture yesterday at Exit 38. I accidentally left with one of your Qdraws. Send me a pm and we'll figure out how to get it back to you. Rad

Several of you have raised interesting questions. What does Fred want or not want? Why name peaks at all? Isn't there already some peak in Alaska named after him? Would Martin Luther King Junior have wanted schools and monuments galore named after him? Would John Muir or Ansel Adams have wanted wilderness areas named after them? Probably not. This leads to a more broad question: what is the point of a memorial? Perhaps it is to inspire others to do great things. If this is true, then perhaps the goals and desires of the individual being memorialized are less important than the world's view of how that person might inspire future generations of environmental advocates, human rights advocates, or climbers. Thanks to those of you who have shared your vision of how Fred fits into our collective psyche.

The forecast suggested it might be semi-decent. We (or the forecast) were obviously wrong. I've never been good at sitting in front of the tube watching sports all day like normal people.

All of the above is true. Look for an open area/campsite 100yds past the creek around 4 miles out. The trail heads straight up. It's marked with a cairn and sticks in an arrow.

Was up at X38 today retrieving some stashed gear. The only wall in the Deception area that had dry climbs was the Nevermind wall. WWI at X32 is also a good bet if it's wet. FYI, both walls have mostly 5.10 and 5.11s - cue soft grade comments from RUMR

Yes Mike. That's why I'm making you a permanent member not requiring nomination.

I certainly expected a dose of spray here. That's fine. Maybe some ideas will filter out of the phlegm, maybe not. At least the idea will be out there. So here's a different question: if you were asked to assemble a committee to make this decision who would you nominate (other than Mike Spray-ton)?

We were traversing from the camping area to the base of Terror Glacier and took a ledge too high. We did the short downclimb/scramble you see to get back on track.

Someone once said to me that it would be fitting to rename a Cascade peak after Fred Beckey. I agree and hope that one day the NW climbing community will rally together to make it happen. If you were on the selection committee, which peak would you nominate and why? I think it should meet the following criteria: 1 - Be in the US (or at least have a green card). 2 - Be in the North Cascades. 3 - Not be named after another individual. 4 - Have a lame name at present. 5 - Be substantial (interpret as you will). 6 - Be the site of a significant first ascent by Fred. My nomination: Bear. What are your thoughts? Rad ps. If you are reluctant to post your nomination in this forum you can send it to me by PM. I will save these anonymous nominations for future discussions.

Climb: Terror basin – exposed to the elements. Date of Climb: 9/16/2006 Trip Report: West MacMillan Spire in a day. It sounded good on paper, but the paper got wet, drenched in fact. It misted, rained, sleeted, hailed, and snowed on us. West Mac spire was socked in all day and we never even saw it. We topped out on a knob on the saddle above Azure lake. Swirling clouds, precipitation at the snowline, and wet rock may make for poor climbing, but they make for great photography. ................... Lichen in its element. Pickets baptism for Tell. Terror basin treeline. Raindrops and berries. Hey! Shine over here! The terror basin camping area. The closest we came to climbing. Inspiration for future trips. From Terror to Triumph. After fifteen hours on the go, Ed and I barely mustered the energy to push-start the car when we discovered the battery had died. It started, and we headed home. Gear Notes: Ax for possible heather arrests and digging into steep snow covered dirt on the descent to the campsite area. Alas, the harnesses, slings, nuts, and 60m rope were just dead weight on our 7000 feet of elevation gain and loss. Approach Notes: The soaking wet brush, cold conditions, and slick roots made the descent to the overgrown logging road rather unpleasant. 2-4 inches of snow above 5400, but that will change soon. All in all, a fitting Pickets introduction for Tell.

Mauri, Thanks for the glacier data. If I die 40 years from now how many glaciers do you think I will have outlived? Which? Can you get that message through to our President?

Whether truth or fiction, that's a cool tale. Read the hole truth here - it will draw you in

12 hrs. 4 hrs to the base of the route. 3 hours on the route. 2 hours kicking it on the summit and descending back to the notch. 3 hours down (including picking blueberries for the wives, soaking in the scene, and leisurely descending). We pitched out the 5.7 tower and the 5.8 notch, both of which are only about 50-60 feet. The rest of the climb is low fifth that is easy to simulclimb. BTW, I didn't plant that question and we didn't find any neutrinos. The forecast is for 2 inches of snow down to 5000 tomorrow so conditions may change...

Comparing ratings across different styles of climbing is meaningless. Better to compare a 5.8 handcrack with a 5.9 handcrack than with a 5.8 slab or a 5.8 gym monkey route. Most indoor training and X32/38 don't really prepare one for trad crack climbs, which may be why people find them "hard for the grade". Also, cracks are often more strenenuous than face climbs, in part because it usually takes longer to place and clip trad gear than to clip a bolt. It takes practice to efficiently find and place trad gear. Less practice means it takes longer which means you pump out more. The saying I've always heard is "when in doubt run it out." There has to be a calculated balance of consequences, but too much thinking is bad too. If you're only willing to lead routes where you have pro every bodylength then there are a lot of routes you will never do - and you will take forever on longer routes - as we know, in the alpine speed is a big part of safety too. Regarding Jello Tower SF, I didn't think it was sandbagged. I did just what MattP suggested, place gear and go. Just as I was reaching the rest I looked down to see my supposedly solid nut had come out. Thankfully, I didn't fall.

No Mike, the climbing was icing on a large slice of Cali-cake. Haystack was one of my first 5.8 leads. My partners fell at the crux lip and we were unable to remove the bomber hex I had been belaying through despite some bashing. Now I use cams at the belay when possible. The Line is definitely awesome.

Hey Blake, We saw the smoke filling the Stehekin valley. Sad. Alex was kind enough to let me lead most of the razor knife-edge sections that make this route so much fun, and I didn't break out the camera there...so this route is even more spectacular than these photos suggest. You shouldn't have trouble doing it as a day trip if you go light.

Climb: Forbidden-East Ridge Direct Date of Climb: 9/10/2006 Trip Report: If you’re tired of reading spray about spray scroll down to see Forbidden photos of Alex’s third leg! We climbed Forbidden’s East Ridge direct on Sunday. The rain cleared the air for us, the sun shone, and there was hardly any wind at all. We passed a party of three who were convinced they were headed for an unplanned bivy. I hope they made it out safely. John Scurlock buzzed us on the summit. We waved and he dipped a wing. On to the photos. . .. .... ........ ................ ................................ “Head in the clouds, feet on the ground, it’s OK, I know nothing’s wrong” (TH) Window of opportunity. Sadly, it looks like Forbidden’s unnamed glacier (South side) is going to go the way of Slesse’s Pocket glacier in a few years (compare Nelson guide photos to the ones below). A party descending the West Ridge route. Note naked rock. Does anyone know why the Quien Sabe glacier carved these regular bumps and troughs? I've seen this on hard rock below other glaciers as well (Unnamed and Terror come to mind). Boston's frozen treat. Alpine Inspiration. Plucking the Forbidden fruit. The East Ledges descent is really not bad at all, particularly if you break out the third leg! Gear Notes: You can get to the route without ever touching snow right now so leave your ax and crampons at home. Approach Notes: There are lots of fresh blueberries in the basin. Hit Lorenzo's mexican food in Sedro on the way out!

Come back and visit.

I think the tower in the photo, posted and then removed, was Minuteman. Yes?

Nice outing. I remember that block. It looked suspect so we hardly touched it, but I bet a lot of people have pulled on it.

Sweet! I can't wait to get back and do it again. I asked the same IV vs V question Alpine grades thread Whether you call it IV or V or VII I still think it's a phenomenal route.

Nice work, er play. Glad you could enjoy the mountains and the margaritas in style. I can't speak for others, but when my lovely wife is generously watching the kids while I play Sylvester Stallone in the mountains it's not about car-to-car so much as diaper-duty to diaper-duty...so she can get her turn to play Steph Davis... Hopefully the kids will get there too someday.

Any Peter Croft might do it in an hour... Granted, some will climb faster or harder than others. We each work out our own pacing relative to the times in Nelson/Beckey and plan accordingly. I thought the whole point of ratings was that they were intrinsic to the route, derived from consensus, not subject to up or downgrading based on the ability of each climber.

So if the upper North Ridge of Stuart is IV what grade you'd give for the full North Ridge? (Dirty Harry, you know which line I'm talking about) It felt longer than Backbone (given IV+), and longer than Northeast Buttress Upper Cathedral (benchmark Yosemite IV). not that it really matters...but I'm curious.

There's a trail skier's right of the Cascadian snowfield. It's not too bad. No ax reqd there.