curtveld

...which is all you need from that one. Repetitive, grim and tedious IMHO. A much more enjoyable Harrer read is Seven Years in Tibet.

I was up there on Wed and the county crew was digging it out. A pretty big chunk of the road is gone, but they were hoping to get a temporary crossing in the next couple of days. It may be in by now but not sure if they are letting the public through.

Speaking of, spotted a Shuksan poster at a trekking lodge on the Everest trek in Nepal!

Awesome! Will probably get you nominated for 2010 CC.com awards in two categories: 1. Best second post, and 2. Best ‘encounter with a legend’ story.

Great stuff, Jimbo!

That's an impressive amount of solid climbing! The second best thing about the Sierra (after the weather) is you don't have to burn up all that much energy doing approaches.

Nice sampler trip, looks like. The clearing storm shots in your Flickr album are great.

Wow, beautiful! So much less vegetation than on the other Darrington crags.

Beautiful! Looks like there has been enough fresh snow up there that all the summer tracks are buried.

Really a fantastic climb - thanks Matt and Dave! And a fairly moderate one - for tall guys, hardly a move harder than 10a if you find the best lines thru the cruxes. Which I clearly didn't do on #8. I retrieved my #3 camelot, but you will find use for a couple 2-3" cams on pitch #4. That must have been pretty weird yarding on and slinging bushes to get up that thing BITD.

Problem solved

Nice shots of some good routes Not surprising, since the FA was by long-time Index climber Cal Folsom. His partner was a guy named Holbeck, which sheds light on the route's name.....

I would think so too and have heard October angling can be quite good up there. This year, I'd guess that stocking history is less of an issue than the cool weather we've had. As the water temps cool, fish activity levels slow down for the winter.

Left a #3 (blue) Camelot clipped at the first belay yesterday (10-13). Beers and good karma provided on its safe return. A related fact: From the second belay, you can reach the ground with 60m ropes, saving you a rappel!

Very interesting, but they skirted the most vexing hypothesis posed by generations of climbing's greatest minds: Whether, indeed, a climber is "just as likely to get injured driving home from the crag as he is while climbing".

Pretty funny having a pissing match break out over who is OLDER....and both acting like four-year-olds in the process.

Appreciate the heads up, rbwen. So even though costs must be minimal (occasional garbage and porta-potty maintenance), the Pinnacles generates zero revenue, unlike state parks with campgrounds. I wonder if there is any way they could reduce the maintenance load (remove garbage cans) or possibly let a climbing group fund it or take it on themselves?

Great call for a late season route. And with Spam, anything is possible! And great larch color in shots #6 and 7

Yup...hell of a lunch spot too

Stronghold still life, January 2010

Only when there is rock, snow or climbers above me. In other words, always! In climbing, there are too many risks completely outside my control to not keep the top of my head covered.

What?!? Isn't the team's photographer also responsible for sending the photos around to the rest of the team? But this part created a nice visual - those meadows are still nice when they brown up in the late season!

Wow, Steph, a nasty accident, but almost SO much worse. Pretty sobering that a couple of very solid climbers could go up a reasonably tame route, do absolutely everything right, and almost end up losing a foot! Hope the rehab goes smoothly.

I think it'd be a great place, especially the West side! This is near the Isle of Ewe cragging area. Lots of camping that is unimproved (no tables, toilets etc.) but also free and pretty unrestricted. Lots of hiking and exploring for the non-climbers. You'd have to be geared up for variable weather, but your odds of sun would be better than most anywhere else in the lower 48. I was there last January and despite stormy El Nino weather, we climbed 4 days out of 6. There are a bunch of winter Stronghold TRs in the archives.

Good route! Last summer we encountered a few avoidable wet spots the day after a thundershower. A good rule might be to give it a week after significant precip.