OlympicMtnBoy

Holy photo blast batman! Nice pics though, that is a great way to do it. Makes a nicer loop I think. Kinda pretty crags I'd love to check out some time above Young Lakes too.

It's pretty easy to see why it's harder to have the waist prusik below the foot loops if you try it, especially if the rope is not heavily weighted below you. If you have the waist prusik on top you can "rest" on it while you fiddle to get the foot prusik up. If you have the foot prusik on top and the rope below you is slack you have to spend a lot more energy to balance yourself on your feet while you try to slide the lower waist prusik up. If you are using a gri-gri or similar it's not an issue because you can just pull up on the slack line (or down if you use an extra pulley like ivan). If you are using a normal jumar or a prusik it will be a bitch.

BUMP! We're still looking, called a few of the craigslist postings but no luck yet. We'll be over next Sunday-Monday to do some more exploring, bulletin board checking, and driving around looking for signs. Anyone who still lives there seen/heard anything? Or just want to give a friendly hello? :-) - Stewart

Having climbed in Russia and run into Russian expeditions in Central Asia, I think there is also a difference in organizational knowledge. The old soviet style of training climbers and more formally organized outings continues in some degree (varies regionally I think) and more of these "Russian Big Wall Project" climbs are able to take advantage of years of expedition experience and older climbers and put them together with younger folks willing to tough stuff out. Most American expeditions today are organized more or less in a vacuum (comparatively) and you tend to see smaller parties which often don't have multiple generations participating, organizing things largely on their own. Or maybe this just points to my own experiences?

So after many happy years in our little enclave of Fremont it is time to turn up the moving music and jump out of the rut! My girlfriend has completed her Master's degree and just gotten a job in Leavenworth starting mid-November. Having spent a fair bit of time in the mountains there I'm really excited for the move although I really don't know the town all that well. We're looking for a cool place to live, as we have to give up the greatest apartment ever in Fremont, so I thought you folks might have some suggestions or inside info on something. It's just her and I, no kids or pets, but I'd really like to have a garage or workspace since my work schedule leaves me home a lot and I always have little tinkering projects going on. We have two cars and a Chinook (camper) at the moment so parking is important too. Maybe a small house or something? <$1300/mo without too much of a crazy winter commute to Icicle Rd. Ideas? Also since we don't know anyone in town we'd love to meet up with some of the local climbers or other interesting folks. I'll have lots of free time (weekdays too) for climbing, ice climbing, skiing (although I'm a mediocre BC skier), etc, but we're also into good food and beer. We're nice people! She starts around November 14th so we'll probably have a couple of weekend trips soon to look at houses/apartments and stuff and then moving. Let me know if you've got a line on either good living spots or good people. :-) Cheers, Stewart

Cool, looks like fun!

12 years or so ago it wasn't too bad and there was a hand line strung across. The girls fording in their undies made the water seem less cold too. ;-)

The newer Foretrex 401 is a pretty good replacement unit, almost exactly the same as the geko but with the newer better receiver and some other minor improvements. Just in case it doesn't turn up . . .

Sweet! What a great trip and good clean style! Way to go on your first Cap'n solo! I might be talked into a winter trip to Zodiac too if you're still feeling it in a few months. ;-)

Yeah, great climb! Although I kind of felt the first pitch was the crux for me, hehehe, classic Index. It's a great route and you can leave all your trad gear at the first belay. Rap with a 70.

I am logged into google stuff and I still get a "That page was not found" error. Check the albums security settings so it's public. Sometimes it gets changed automatically to private when you do certain stuff.

I use a gold and green link cam extensivly for easy-moderate alpine stuff. Often I use those same two cams for a "second set" on slightly harder stuff or mixed (bolt) climbs like Darrington where it can be nice to have that extra one for the belay. I agree with the sentiment that they are slightly more specialized and can break more easily when placed incorrectly (like in flared pockets, etc). When I'm using them for easy-moderate stuff I'm almost always able to find a good place for them, and take the time to get them placed in the direction of fall. They aren't mindlessly plug and go, but neither are nuts. I'm willing to make the trade off for a lighter rack (fewer pieces) on some climbs. I also normally have a few smaller aliens with me. I haven't used the red size as much because it overlaps too much with the gold. The purple size seems a bit tiny and too easy to get stuck but I haven't climbed with one either.

Bummer, hopefully someone gets up there to get it for ya. For others I'd note you can rap that easily with a single 60 and avoid such heartache, plenty of anchors up there.

Come one, come all, it's always a good time! Trailer: Venue: Egyptian Theatre Date: Thurs 10/06 Show Time: 7:00 pm Tickets: $12 in advance from Feathered Friends, Second Ascent, and Vertical World. $15 at the door. Presented by Feathered Friends, Second Ascent, and Vertical World. More info at www.reelrocktour.com

Wow, looks like another classic Olympics trip. Great pics! I love that range for these sort of amazing moderate scrambles!

More pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/matthiesen/MtShuksanFisherChimneysWithMatt?authuser=0&feat=directlink I also thought it was a great climb, all pretty easy-moderate but several different types of climbing made for a very interesting and fun trip. Although doable in a long day the high bivy was well worth hauling some light sleep gear and it was nice to get the summit pyramid at the end of the day with all the crowds already headed down. Here are a couple more pics of the bivy on the ridge. Oh and to add to Matt's gear notes, we did use two tools downclimbing the glacier ice since the rocks on it were kind of like ball bearings under our crampons. I think it would have been easier to downclimb the rock there.

Actually, I think Buckaroo is describing what we did, except after passing that chimney on the right we continues up instead of heading far enough right to the bowl. I still think this route is different from the route DPS is describing (the "standard route" as you don't have to go up the slab past the fixed pins and tatty rope at all, you just sneak around right shortly after the left hand exposed corner. We found this on the way down. We didn't want to rap off crappy twigs, we just kept heading up and tieing them off for pro. ;-)

Hehe, sounds like our trip was a bit more fun than some of your's, that's quite a story Maniac. I think if we hadn't missed the hidden traverse back right it would have been much easier with less brush (basically the path we took down) although the brush has it's own glory in hindsight. ;-) I'm curious how much the line we took up holds snow/ice in winter. A few more pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/104708573545176184583/MtIndexNorthPeakWithJames

Trip: Mt. Index, North Peak - North Face (NE Rib?) Date: 9/3/2011 Trip Report: Like most climbers who have driven over Stevens Pass I have ogled the inspiring jagged peaks of Mt. Index from the highway ever since I first set my eyes on them. For years I have scraped my way up the classic cracks of the Index Town Walls all the while glancing behind me at the majestic peaks towering above, wondering what might be found there and why it wasn’t climbed more often. Lake many others I had pored over the North Norwegian Buttress topo and imagined myself (then a newbie 5.9 A2 climber) heading up what looked to be a fairly moderate route (jk). I even hiked up the base one spring to check things out where I was promptly turned away by fairly constant falling rock and the ugly looking start. Yet the spark didn’t die. Somehow Beckey’s descriptions including words like “imitate a gorilla” inspired me further after my years of practice in the Olympics. So this labor day weekend with many friends heading off for 3 day trips further afield I decided to stick to my own backyard for a shorter climb and give the North Face of the North Peak a shot. James was game, probably because he had no idea what the climbing was like. He even earned a climbing partner “gold star” by showing up the afternoon before with a cooler full of fresh tuna to grill. We had various evening plans so finally made it to the Lake Serene TH at the alpine start hour of 11:30 AM. No problem, we packed light for a planned bivy and brought some extra water containers to bring up the dry face. Hiking up to the lake was warm but quick so we chilled out and went for a swim and loaded up on water (5.5 liters for myself plus a can of Guiness and a Starbucks double shot, hey you gotta carry the fluid anyways). We started up the nasty talus field and soon found the beginning of the tunnels through the brush to the base of the ridge. We continued up the brushy steps, occasionally cursing and occasionally snagging a salmon berry until we reached the base of the exposed corner pitch and step around left. Here we roped up and easily negotiated the exposed bit and began the real fun (ie: immediately got off route). (I think the sloping ledge behind James was the hidden path back right here) We headed too far up the gully than negotiated some mid-5th slabby face with plenty of tat on it, missing the hidden sledge step back right. No problem, we continued upwards figuring we’d hit the north face bowl anyways. We kept heading up, fighting rope drag through the bushes, avoiding looser rock, and in general realizing it took a lot of energy to imitate a gorilla. We probably would have been better off unroped but every once in a while hit a spot where it was a nice psychological help while pulling on increasingly smaller plants. We followed our ridge and brush patches (the first variation in Beckey’s description) until we eventually topped out on a small pinnacle. We had to rap 40 feet down the other side to a tiny saddle and then regroup. It was after 6:30 and after some reconnaissance we could see that we were just left of the top of the North Face Bowl, still below the “real climbing” on the North Rib and below the rumored bivy sites up there. We didn’t feel like climbing in the dark so decided to make the best of our tiny saddle in the daylight, have some good food and sleep, and continue in the morning. The “best” as it turned out was one vaguely flat spot just big enough for James to curl up in the fetal position in with steep slopes on both sides right at the saddle, and one longer but narrow dirt ledge that sloped fairly steeply towards my feet. I did my best to pile up some branches and the rope to get my feet high enough to be able to sleep. The Guinness really hit the spot and before we went to bed the attitude had changed from “this sucks, we’ll think about continuing in the morning” to “we’re already this far, we might as well go up!”. We woke a little while after the sun and packed up. Now we were faced with a short but crappy looking traverse to some rap anchors on the standard route, then some more ugly looking gully climbing with poor pro. After examining the options (and not having a good mental picture of the route), we opted to continue forging up the vegetated ridge we were on, thinking we’d hit the North Rib farther up. Thus commenced the steepest brush I have ever climbed. If it was rooted we pulled on it, if it had a branch we slung it for pro (sometimes several branches in the classic brush tieback). We flailed upwards in the nasty green streak passing the occaisional 20+ year old crusty sling in a tree, pushing through a loose 5.5 rock constriction, and finally reaching easier ground several pitches up. Once we reached easier ground we quickly realized we had skipped most of the standard North Face Route, staying entirely to the left of the bowl and the North Rib (NE Rib?). We joyfully scrambled over the false summit and on to the true North Peak Summit, pleased to be done with the brush if only for a few moments. We had an early lunch and chilled out on top. No summit register was found. After our brief respite from the brush we headed back down, picking up the correct route on the way down with several double rope rappels back in to the North Face Bowl. We scrambled down a ways, did a few more rappels, then made it back to our rope up point. From here we made a few more long rappels back down angling towards the lake and off the ridge crest which seemed a little shorter and probably the way I would come up if I ever venture this way again. A total of 11 double rope rappels and we were back on the ground, scrambling back down the loose talus to the lake to jump in once again. (the pinnacle and saddle where we bivied) We may have missed most of the “rock” on this climb, but it was still one to remember, even if I don’t go back for a while (maybe when it’s snowy next time). Now I know why gorillas are shaped the way they are. ;-) Gear Notes: Took a single rack to #2 and it was plenty, although we skipped most of the rock pitches so YMMV. Lots of slings for trees and some tat to replace rap anchors if needed. TWO ropes for the rappels. Approach Notes: Hike up to Lake Serene, head up the talus slope to the ridge crest and go up.

Nice, great pics. Looks like a good summer!

Sounds kinda like my experience. I thought the route was quite fun and not as intimidating as I expected. I though the first pitch or two with the slabby bits and less gear was the scariest (although I hadn't been doing much slab climbing then). Nice job!

The approach up Nada Creek was good and we had a great couple of days exploring the back side of Temple Ridge and the Black Pyramid a couple years ago, exiting via Toketie (which sucked). Permits will be your biggest problem though and I hear they have increased patrols and are including visits to areas off the primary enchantments loop. Hiking up to Yellowjacket Tower and then up Hook Creek wasn't that bad in my opinion, the worst brush only took 20 mins or so and then it was a lot of walking on fallen trees (if you have good balance it can be allright). That would get you to Edwards Plateau near the Mole.

Nice, I watched it again.

Yer less than an hour from North Conway with Cathedral Ledge and Whitehorse. I was there a couple weeks ago for the first time and had a great time, plenty of stuff to keep you busy whether you want steep cracks or more slab. Likely there are routes on Forist as well, lots of old school stuff tucked away in that State but you'll have to find the local beta. The Kancamagus highway had some cool stuff off it as well a bit farther south.

Had a good experience with the Sawyer inline filter bottle in the Sierras this year. My buddy brought one and we shared it to drink out of streams and didn't have to carry much water with us. We pulled the filter out and used it as a gravity filter to fill our water bladders for our summit day. Worked really well, I'm going to get one as my trusty sweetwater finally died this weekend. I also use Aqua Mira but I've developed the ability to taste it pretty easily and I kind of like to taste the "pure" mountain water instead. I use it for backup or for situations where I will only need a liter or two for a day trip or something. I used a steri-pen once, worked fine but I have yet to get over the batteries needed thing.