tanstaafl

That is a great story (and sounds like a full value climb), David; thanks for posting it. Even though I met Chuck almost 20 years ago, I first got to know him through the TRs he posted on rec.climbing, in the dark ages of the internet, and he was indeed a fine writer.

Hey Matt, I would be interested in carpooling; sent you a pm since I don't have your #.

yeah, that made me laugh too when Nelson said that. Now that I've done it, I'm totally ready for Hozomeen! CPesci, you really don't need any info that's not in my original post to do the route -- find the start by continuing on past the SW Face trad route to a low angle corner with bolts, then follow the bolts. You're not going to get lost on it, unless you're highly skilled at not seeing bolts! But if it helps, the bolt count is as follows: P1 6 bolts. P2-13. P3-5. P4-7. P5-9. P6-5. P7-1.

Just to clarify -- the Thursday evening event is at Denny Creek campground up by Snoqualmie Pass. It is not in Leavenworth. As far as I know, there is no Leavenworth event planned.

Trip: Das Toof - The Tooth Fairy, 5.9+ Trip Date: 08/15/2019 Trip Report: Got out Friday on this new(ish) Nelson/Whitelaw route; if you're looking for a quick alpine hit you should give it a try. To find the start, go past the SW Face trad route and continue a short distance to a low angle corner with bolts. Easy to find. The route is generously bolted, no need for gear. It's seven 30m pitches -- we combined 6&7 and you could easily combine 3&4 as well, but I think running 1&2 together would give you some unpleasant rope drag. I skipped or unclipped a couple of bolts on P2 and still had a little drag at the end of the pitch. P5 is the crux. Rap the route with a 60 or downclimb the South Face and circle back around for your gear. Fun day out and as I'm told "it's a good training route for anything on Hozomeen." We ran into Jake the Brit as we were downclimbing the South Face, he said I should post a TR and he'd nag Whitelaw for a topo. You really don't need one though, just follow the bolts. Action shot looking down P2: Gear Notes: 13 draws, rope Approach Notes: the usual

I first met Chuck in 2001 in the Blue Lake parking lot, waiting out a rainstorm. We didn't do a lot of trips together, but the ones we did were good ones. Here he is on the North Ridge of Sherpa in July (Ken Ford photo), leading what we thought was the crux. He was a great guy; so sad that he's gone.

It wasn't Shipley, *him* I'd heard of! It was Al McDonald, or a name close to that.

I read Warren Harding's "Downward Bound" earlier this summer and there's an index of climbers in the back, rating them by their moral purity. Chouinard was the purest of course, and I believe that Bridwell was pretty pure but "lacks the overall pizzazz to be God." One climber I'd never heard of was mentioned, with a note that he'd found climbing too dull and had recently taken up whitewater kayaking, concluding that "we don't expect he'll be with us for long."

Never used them myself, but one of my partners swears by Komito's in Estes Park CO and has used them for upwards of 40 years.

Classic route indeed! That was one of my earliest alpine routes; it was memorable for two reasons: (1) we came across a bear halfway up the chimneys who took one look at us and vanished uphill at blinding speed, and (2) we bivied below the chimneys and in the morning my partners' alarm failed to go off, meaning that we got a late start, and they both had to catch a 5 am flight the next morning to Boston for a meeting , so it made for an exceedingly long day. I'm pretty sure they were completely worthless at that meeting. Jealous of you for getting into the alpine, I could only find cragging partners this weekend and the heat in Leavenworth was enervating. We didn't get much done.

Thing is they won't get any more revenue, as the parking lots are jammed completely full as it is. That is *why* people are parking down the road, at least next to the trailheads. It's just a way of limiting access in a backdoor way while cutting out that undesirable "public comment and collaboration."

Nice! You sure do get out; I'm jealous. Looks like a stellar day. Weekend before last I did a multipitch route with three people, one rope, and two harnesses between us, so don't feel alone in forgetting some equipment and making do anyway.

We climbed Magic and Mixup to celebrate our first wedding anniversary ( we did an entertaining corkscrew girdle traverse of Magic, that was...loose) and as I recall the summit registers on both peaks made for great reading. Lots of local history in there.

That's a lot of Smoots! I look forward to the pics of this weekend's installment.

Thanks; but I sure do feel it! You might think differently if you'd seen me gimping around camp after a couple of days at Tieton this weekend. wtf, body? You used to work so much better. After an enforced six-plus months of sedentary life last year when I tore my rotator cuff, this year's birthday challenge is the 4x52: 52 days each of climbing, skiing, and biking, and 52 yoga classes. Even if I fail to achieve my goal, I should at least be fit again by the time I turn 53. I hope.

I hope you got some rad bouldering in at Shelter Rock. You must be getting close to 100 with the Smoots by now; how many do you have left?

fantastic, thanks Jon! And thanks for all the years of public service, I well know that I have no idea what it takes to keep a site like this running.

Are there any plans to bring back the old trip report tool, where you could sort by type of report (alpine/cragging/etc.), geographic location, user, etc.? That was great and super useful. Right now all you can do in the trip report search is to insert a key word, so I'm having some issues drilling down to what I really want. Also in my most recent search, a number of the links that said they were for the route I wanted weren't even to trip reports, but to old threads in spray or the climber's board. It was interesting, but not what I was looking for.

Not sure how much traffic these routes get these days, though the boulders in the forest have been scrubbed clean clean clean. Climbed Romantica on Saturday; it was a little scruffy but at least as clean as Training Day. Most everything on the left side looked pretty damn mossy though (from the ground at least) as compared to TEN years ago, which was apparently the last time I was there. If you go, consider bringing a wire brush and tidying up a little.

I climbed 50 peaks the year I was 50 years old, and a couple of times I just went ahead and signed registers 33/50 because why not?

Um, it *can* be that expensive in Seattle, for sure, but a cursory look at Craigslist will turn up a number of houses in north Seattle (Greenwood/Maple Leaf/etc.) renting for $2000 or less right now. If you're willing to live with one or more others, obviously you could pay quite a bit less. I've lived in Seattle since 1991, in eight different apartments/houses, alone or with only one roommate/housemate, and until two years ago never paid more than $600/month in rent. My current rent is more than that, but still WAY under the prices being quoted in this thread. There are always deals.

no worries, it's hardly a time-critical question!

So I just read through this thread and would like to confirm I correct in assuming there's no way to browse a user's old gallery, right?

Oh, I remember the climb itself clearly enough -- I was with Jens who was so comfortable soloing that by the time I decided I wouldn't mind a belay for a ropelength or two, he was 200 feet above me and I had our 30-m rope. Fortunately I didn't want it so bad I was afraid to move or anything. And he was all about going to Columbia Crest and I couldn't have cared less, so I laid on my pack in the sun while he scampered up there and like for you, it was weirdly calm -- I didn't even need a puffy. But as far as dates and so forth? Not so much.

Damn, you guys have impressive memories. I had to go look it up to even remember what *year* I climbed Liberty Ridge, and I have no idea how many other parties there were, though about six sounds about right.