Rad

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.

Thanks for sharing Ira. It's good to push the limits a bit. That's how we grow.

Hey Blake, Maybe I'll see you in Stehekin in the next week... Darin and I climbed a line up the E face of Skookum almost a year ago. There were two nice pitches down low and two up high. In between was choss hiking and scambling: look after Stovepipe in the TR There may be more sustained lines on the face right of where we went. If Darin posts a closer photo of the face I'd trace our line. I don't have the pics. Rad

I didn't realize starring was democratic. I voted

If a non-moderator had posted this would it have three stars? Discuss.

Ah, the range of light. The last shot looks like the back of halfdome in the background with the Snake dike on the left skyline. Good memories...

I'm in 4 Thursday. We can talk about destinations at the QFC lot. There are good arguments both ways. R

Last year I buddy and I went up there with a single 50m rope, instead of a 60m rope, in an effort to save weight on the trip. We came up short on several raps and had to set intermediate anchors and do unroped downclimbing to reach rap stations. I'd recommend you take a single 60m rope. Have fun. Rad

Nice job. Bummer about the moat pucker factor. Your report confirmed my suspicions about the gully. We went up the buttress to the right, and the rock was good and protectable where needed.

Thank you for commenting on the Environmental Assessment regarding the Upper Stehekin Valley Road from Car Wash Falls (MP 12.9) to Cottonwood Camp (MP 22.8) in North Cascades National Park. The Environmental Assessment for this proposal considered four alternatives: A. No Action B. Permanently close the Stehekin Valley Road above Car Wash Falls C. Reconstruct the Stehekin Valley Road from Car Wash Falls (Mile Post 12.9) to Glory (Mile Post 20.1) D. Reroute the Stehekin Valley Road from Car Wash Falls to Bridge Creek and from Glory to Cottonwood Camp (road end) The decision documented in the Finding of No Significant Impact is to implement alternative B. You may obtain an electronic version of this document, including Errata and a Public Comment and Response Report at the NPS Planning, Environmental and Public Comment (PEPC) website: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/noca. Should you wish to receive a hard copy of the document, you may reply to this e-mail, call the park (360.856.5700 ext. 351) or send a written request to: Superintendent North Cascades NPS Complex 810 State Route 20 Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284 Sincerely, William F. Paleck Superintendent

Yep. The ones in the distance. The trail runs right across the top of them. The slabs are South facing just East (right in your photo) of Red mtn (Red Mtn is, you know, the red one). Just to be clear, I have never climbed on them myself, just looked down them on the way to and from Thompson. There are numerous ledges, and they are fairly low angle, but they are quite tall - perhaps more than 60m? - and the rock looks decent. Someone MUST have climbed them before, given the thousands that walk past. Let us know what you find!

Great trip report Allison! Rad

Throw a toprope down the slabs at the Kendall Katwalk? They look low angle but maybe they'd be fun. There are also some fins of rock on the S end of Red Mtn right off the trail that might be fun to scramble.

The big detractor for the Beckey route is the gully. If you go make sure you're the first one up it so you don't have people knocking rocks on your noggin.

Something tells me this thread is headed for potty humor. Blue bags would've been better. Iodine breaks the cycle.