Der_Wanderer

Glad you all enjoyed the movie. Yes, Michael, the application for adding motion to still is called "Imaginate" by Cannopus. It only does that one thing but it does a great job. The little secret (hee hee) to the video is that I went flying with a friend over the mountains shortly after the New Year with video camera in hand.

Here's a short tribute to Mount Terror I put together recently. There's some special footage that I'm sure folks will enjoy. You'll know it when you see it. http://www.theronwelch.com/movies/terror_lo.wmv And a little movie poster: Hope y'all enjoy.

Thanks for the compliments. Here's a quick link to the movie for others to enjoy. I don't think I'd do that route again, but I'm very glad to have done it. It really lends itself to a "one-time" ascent! "no Tool" Ha ha!

Gad! Those are incredible. I now have new wallpaper. Thanks so much for sharing.

Everything sounds reasonable except for the approaches. Big Beaver and Wiley in a day would be horrid. Access to Luna col would be easier because it's shorter, but still...too much for me. Here are a couple of more pictures from the trip. Sunset over Whatcom Peak from the base of the Challenger Glacier. View of Fury from the southeast peak ("Outrigger"). Our descent was talus on the left then the steep icy snow (would have been easier to go way around on the right). On the way to Picket Pass. This is the ridge descent off of Outrigger Peak, which is very pleasant except for two spots where the rope was needed - one for a rappel, the other (this one) for an exposed section of 4th class.

Actually, getting from Challenger Arm to Luna Cirque wasn't bad at all. It was a long west-trending descent from the edge of the Challenger Glacier and Challenger Arm. There were no scary downclimbs or anything. There is a camp down there - a sandy flat area devoid of water (you can go fetch it not far away) in the middle of the moraine. As for Juan's question about Terror being over-rated, not at all! It was stellar. There was a section or two of licheny loose stuff, but overall it was surprisingly solid and there were some very memorable pitches. Definitely worthwhile, IMHO.

OK, I've made a cursory pass through my slides and picked some choice samples. So here are some pics from the fun week : (above) From Day 2: A view of Challenger near the end of Wiley Ridge From Day 3: HighClimb scoots up the rock pitch on Challenger From Day 4: Der Wanderer on an exposed section of Fury's north buttress From Day 4: MVS and HighClimb on an exposed ledge on the middle of Fury's north buttress. From Day 4: HighClimb high on Fury's snow arete. From Day 5: Camp on the summit of Fury From Day 5: Der Wanderer ponders the north face of Mount Terror From Day 6: MVS and HighClimb follow a fun dihedral on Terror. From Day 6: HighClimb and Der Wanderer on the final technical pitch on Terror. From Day 6: McMillan Valley and Luna Peak from the summit of Mount Terror.

Hey! Der Wanderer is gonna post some pictures too (as well as a TR) as soon as I get these slides developed and scanned! Some things I'd add about the two big buttresses: Fury is the harder of the two - longer w/ more mixed climbing and lots more objective dangers. The best pitches are right in the middle, directly on the crest. For Terror, maybe there is a "3rd class" route on Terror (I doubt it), but you'd have to be an *awesome* routefinder to locate it all the way up. Either way, it's hugely exposed for the entire route.

Yes, it was a special trip. Here are a cupla quick pics: (above) Jungle Belays Out of the thick brush on the upper buttress On the short knife edge before the rap pin On the snow arete Aw man, it's spelled "Johannesburg"! Better get that in in case someone wants to search.

Yeah, I heartily endorse "Doug's Direct" too! The way mvs and I found it was to gain the long rige of Mixup on the leftmost (north) side, approached by a long slope of steep heather directly to the right of three prominent high snow patches. From there, it was a reasonable descent down mostly 3rd class slopes to Cache Glacier. Thanks, Doug!

Kick axe trip and report, y'all.

Whoever it is, they're crazy worthless tools. 'Nuff said. Thanks for the heads up.

Hey Wayne, I thought I recognized you when I saw you at the lake but I couldn't recall until a few steps away...I saw your Pickets enchainment slideshow a few months ago. Good seeing you there. -Theron

Yeah man...it's a Panasonic PV-GS70. It's a teeny 3CCD camera.

Kick axe, Colin. Gonna post some pics?

Oh wow yeah, will have to check that out, bust out maps, and so on.

If you were really confident about excellent snow conditions you could try ascending Terror Creek. The route would then at least be straightforward, but man, that long under hanging snow? Anyway, just a thought. OK, Aidan...we'll be keeping our eye out for a good winter weekend!

Yeah, 4 at White Rock! We didn't see anyone else come down Spire Col after our climb of Dome and Dynaflow Tower. I guess there was just a glut that day. Ah well, made for good conversation and the sharing of our bottle! Dome was cool, FYI. It's pretty easy/straightforward to get over there. The last 40 feet are really exposed! Good meetin' ya, Dan and Will!