tanstaafl

That's definitely ryan lurie, the ginger Jesus. I sent him a link, hopefully you'll hear from him soon.

PM sent

PM sent

Ken Ford, Micah L. and I climbed this route yesterday in far less snowy conditions on Ken's last available climbing day before he heads back to Ethiopia. None of us remembered to take a camera but Micah took a couple of photos with his cell phone. If he sends them to me I'll add some. We did the lower chimneys in 3 pitches, with the third pitch being the crux in 2 out of 3 people's opinions. The only one who disagreed was Ken, who led it, so take that for what it's worth. The mid-height snowfield yielded several hundred feet of scrambling, and we too avoided the final "rotten chimney" pitches by climbing a pitch and a half to the left of the chimney -- one straight up and one traversing leftward, to meet the standard route trail. We found a fixed wire at the base of our final pitch that had been there for quite some time. We felt the rating of 5.7 was fair, but sparse (sometimes extremely sparse) protection that often wasn't great even when you could get it made us agree that you might not be that happy on it if 5.7 is your limit. A couple of Micah's photos below: Ken leading the third pitch; also deceptively challenging in summer Me on short fourth pitch next to upper chimneys

Rolf took photos??!? Nice work you two, looks "fun."

From the Forest Service website: FS 26 closed to motorized traffic beyond mile 11.6. Ongoing repair work will cause delays and closures limiting access through the summer of 2014 Currently open to foot, bicycle and horse travel beyond the gate to Green Mountain Road (FS Road 2680. NOTICE: Beginning June 2, at milepost 20.8, the road will be closed to ALL TRAFFIC, including foot and bike traffic from 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday–Friday. NOTICE: Downey Creek bridge will be removed for replacement beginning June 9. There will be no bridge access until work is completed. Please respect the hazardous nature of this construction area.

He's a fashionable guy.

Excellent video, Jason; thanks for the lunchtime entertainment -- and thanks Adam for posting the link. There was probably too much snow for you to stumble across the massive frickin metal milk can at one of the little lakes between Bacon and Hagan. Don't know who packed that thing in there. We went in the opposite direction from you (and obviously later in the year), but it seems like you did it the right way on skis for sure. I definitely remember thinking how much that long schwack-down-and-stumble-around-lost-in-the woods part from Blum to Baker River would have sucked carrying skis.

Perhaps you could try tearing your shirt off at the bottom of each route. I went to a bouldering comp once and I noticed that's what Sharma did.

kick ass. thanks for posting that.

The Lamplighter is one block further west on 85th and is very large indeed. Used to be Sweet Lou's Tavern but changed hands recently.

It ain't big; be prepared for standing/milling about a lot. But there are also a few tables outside and a food truck in the parking lot. It's actually on the corner of 85th and 8th Ave NW. The parking lot is tiny so you'll be parking off 85th on the neighborhood streets.

I have no photos as everyone I climb with is terrible about taking pictures, including me. I'm on the part of the totem pole of climbers that is buried under the ground, but I managed to get out and have a good time this year nonetheless. Some of the highlights of the past year include: 1 Four days at Smith Rock with my sweetie to celebrate my March birthday: Amazingly, hardly anyone was there and we were able to get on many classics I've always just walked past since they're always such a gong show, including Five Gallons Buckets and Zebra-Zion. So much fun. 2 Finding an excellent new partner in Otto, who provided a sweet introduction to Squire Creek Wall. He actually does take photos, but he also already posted them. 3 Two – TWO!! – weekends in a row climbing with Ken Ford: Squire Creek Wall with Otto and a great weekend in Squamish that included a romp up Angel's Crest, during which he graciously let me lead all the best pitches. Since I normally get to see Ken once a year for one day, this was pretty awesome. 4 Finally climbing with telemarker, even if it was just cragging. 5 A month in Australia climbing in the Grampians, Arapiles, and Blue Mountains, getting my ass kicked repeatedly. The bummer was that every time we started to get used to the rock and style of climbing in an area, it was time to move on. If only we'd had three months instead of one, we could have done so much more climbing AND could have made it to Tasmania, but there is no such thing as the perfect trip, only the trip you can take now. 6 Summitting Kosciuszko, the highest peak in (mainland) Australia, putting me at two for seven re the easiest possible version of the Seven Summits. Also used the highest toilet in Australia on the way up. Is there a badge for highest seven toilets? 7 A leisurely four days on the Klawatti Icecap traverse, tagging Eldorado, Klawatti, Austera, Primus, and Tricouni in near-perfect weather. Here's to more and better in 2014.

Sent you a pm.

I totally would, it's on my list, but I've only got Fri - Sun. Good luck.

Nice report E$; love the Desolation Angels quotes. It's always entertaining to hear your versions of these trips after the more, er, condensed versions. Congrats and glad you two survived yet another climb/huddle n cuddle bivy together. How are your feet doing?

good lord, time flies. Wasn't he just born yesterday? I have a buddy whose daughter is almost three and her first season on her own skis instead of in a backpack was last winter. I'll ask him if she's already outgrown her skis, or if he has any suggestions on where to find em cheap.

Way to kill it. I wanna hear about the Devil's Thumb climb....

Nice job getting the kids out; that's what it's all about. It's one of my lasting regrets that I didn't start climbing until my dad was 72, and as a result never got to take him climbing with me.

Yeah, it was fab to get out with Ken again. He was killing it in Squamish this past weekend as well.

Otto, thanks for a most excellent and relaxing weekend of climbing, drinking, and elbow rehab. And special thanks for letting me have all the leads! Looking forward to exploring up Squire Creek some more in the future. But why didn't you post the blue steel pic??

oof -- I did Dreamer in 2007; my memory is suspect under the best conditions and six years is far too long for me to make any useful comparisons. I can say the Squire Creek approach was both easier and took less time than I expected. I can't really remember a damn thing about the Dreamer approach except that it was kinda brushy here and there.

Ivan, It helps to do the approach in the pouring rain on Friday. I would say too bad you didn't head up to Squire Creek Wall but it's clearly for the best as we only had five liters of wine and two flasks of bourbon for the weekend, which was barely sufficient for just us.

I've been kind of surprised by that myself. Congratulations on broadening your horizons!

So does that mean you found a willing victim for your SCW outing on saturday then?