OlympicMtnBoy

Trip: Squire Creek - Search for the Holy Grail Date: 7/11/2011 Trip Report: Monday weather looked good so Zizzou and I got together to try something fun up Squire Creek. I had only hiked the road once and he had never been in there but Holy Grail looked like such a great route we headed straight for it. The approach was pretty easy to follow and took us just over 2.5 hours with some shenanigans on the slab (easy hike if you have sticky rubber shoes one, done in 2 hrs then). We made a deal that I'd get all the 5.10 leads to Z headed up P1 and then P2 on fun moderate cracks and pockets. Make sure you have a full 60m rope to work with on P2 or you'll have a few feet to simul. P3 had a fun traverse left through the roof and then some reasonably bolted slab. I took a fall on the 10d slab crux but then figured out the smearing sequence and made it through. P4 had some more super fun knobs up to small ledge. P5 was a highlight of the climb. The "eye popping flake" described in Rattle and Slime was not obvious to us from the belay but it was there above us, then there was a fun undercling that reminded me a bit of part of Sagittarius at Index followed by some improbably knob climbing up through very steep overlaps and face with good bolts. Finally you hit fun 5.8 cracks to the end of an amazing 180 ft pitch. P6 was short but also had a fun crack bit with a long reach and some cool traversing and I'm glad to have "permission" to break in the middle and make P7. Up the fun straight in crack that disappears just as the angle eases for the last fun 10c part and a few more bolts. It was getting into the afternoon and Z was tired (as was I) so we opted to skip the last two 5.8 bushy bits and head down. I guess I'll have to climb Excalibur to make the scramble to the summit next time. The raps were easy and fast, right back to my pack and my shoes. Anybody missing a bolt? It's hanging out on a ledge part way up P2. Wonder where it's from? Overall a GREAT route. Many thanks to the FAs for the hard work. This one ought to get climbed a lot more, nice clean granite, well protected cruxes (for slab), reasonable approach! Sorry for the lack of pics of the best parts, Z didn't bring a camera to capture my bad ass leading skillz (and lack of slab technique). Go get your own! Gear Notes: 2 60m ropes, rack to #3 camalot plus extras in thin fingers-thin hands (we had a #4 that got placed twice but not really needed), ~15 draws/slings. Approach Notes: Hike the Squire Creek trail to the second large stream crossing (the first one has a log bridge now). Cross the creek and turn right following the climbers path down to Squire Creek. Cross on the beautiful log, walk a hundred feet upstream and turn right up the dry creek bed. Follow this several hundred yard up till the climbers track heads into the woods on the right. Go uphill on the trodden path till you hit the bivy site. Head up the slabs past the short fixed rope and then work your way left along the base of the wall traversing till you get to the base of the route (more bivy spots).

What, you followin me around now? And climbing slower than our team of 3. :-p Nice job though, way to get up again after the storm! How did you like the revised version of P10 before the giant rivet ladder? Oh and we used a skinny tag line too, then hauled up the haul line, block roll, etc with a mini-traxion. Kind of complicated but it beat the weight and we were not in a hurry. And definitely a good route to flag a ledge on so you can still stand or sit at belays. I'll be in Tuolumne for a month soon if you want to do some slab climbing in the rest of your break. :-)

I have Monday free, anyone want to do a long route at Darrington/Squire Creek? I'd like to hop on Holy Grail or something similar. I'm happy to lead to mid-10s or follow harder. Have rope, rack, car, etc and am in Fremont. I'd also be open to other day trip suggestions. - Stewart P.S. I'll be away from a computer from ~noon Friday till Sunday afternoon so after Friday you might want to call me at 360-301-2585 or wait for me to get back.

Thanks for the road update Matt, we were happy to learn Sunday night that we wouldn't have to hike the road at all. Had a great mellow day on the Kone and Till Broad Daylight. My first time in that area.

I just used my late 80's Salewa Tour bindings to ski 2800' down the Interglacier on 130 cm skis with my Nepal Extremes. Thank god for soft spring snow! Also not as light as the 404/505s but they work and I got em super cheap.

A few options here that work with mountaineering boots: http://www.wildsnow.com/backcountry-skiing-history/binding-museum/ I think the only ones you can find currently in production are Silvretta.

Found yesterday on the trail when we were coming down around 5 PM. Let me know if it's yours! - Stewart

Partner found.

For me channel 2 is Northwest Cable News which is also affiliated with Channel 5 (KING).

I'm booked with my girlfriend (birthday) and the Seattle International Beer Fest on Saturday. I've got Sunday and Monday (maybe tuesday) to climb but all my friends are heading off on Friday/Saturday for stuff. Anybody up for an adventure Sunday-Monday? I was thinking of Darrington (anything other than Dreamer or Jacobs Ladder since I've done those, Squire Creek?), or maybe a less traveled pinnacle in the Alpine Lakes, but I'm flexible for destination. I could be talked into spring skiing too but I'm not a great skier. Oh and I love choss, chimneys, and high bivies. Have rack, car, etc. Happy to lead mid-10s and follow harder. 15+ years of climbing shit. Drop me a PM with your number. I'll be gone most of Thursday-Friday to help some friends retrieve research gear off Rainier but will check in when I return Friday night. - Stewart

Thanks, I'm going to have to check this out some time. Welcome to the board Martin!

Sent you a PM undermind.

Sounds like a nice tent John, bummer the price has gone up so much since you last bought one. Wasn't it only $20 in 2009? http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/918680/1 This topic got 8 pages of enlightenment last time.

Damn, sounds like a great trip! I need to get out there and bring a boat someday!

Oh, yeah, I guess I did forget the bleached bones, 6K of deadfall and wading through blackberries and slide alder while digging my ice axe into the dirt for insecure footing. Oh and when you get there the Mole is really on 30 ft high, it just looks bigger from below. Colchuck Lake is a much better hike all around. ;-)

Nice job, that's a pretty spot up there. I didn't think the approach was all that bad for the elevation gain when we went up to do the North Face of the Mole last year. It was certainly easier than when Matt and I came down from Toketie. It's a haul though!

I'm free all day, got home from work in Mississippi a week early. Anyone up for climbing anything? I'm open to trad or sport up to 5.11 or so. It will probably be a half day given that I'm posting this at 11:00 PM, but drop me a note here and I'll check when I wake up. - OMB (Stewart)

I've got a Metolius Safe-Tec, brand new in box for $40 if you want it, never worn. I'm in Seattle.

Let me know when you want to do Ship Rock, I'll bring my helmet. - OMB

What Gene said, take out the inner foam liner and cut a notch in it where your crampon lever will meet the heel welt of your boot, might take a couple of tries to get the right amount trimmed, but worked great for my OR Brooks Rangers and Nepal Extremes. Or try a longer strap. If you can't get one you can just find a piece of webbing the right size (Seattle Outdoor Fabrics if the local gear shop doesn't have a skinny enough width). You can tie it on the old strap for extension or replace the old one. Use yer noggin and it should be an easy fix. Or go buy new overboots if you'd rather go the $$ route. :-)

I have some super light short softshell gaiters from Montbell that work well as a really simple gasket to keep the snow/scree out of my shoes in the summer. I've had to replace the bungy cord underfoot several times but it's easy and the softshell fabric is easy to repair for the inevitable tears. They don't like to stay on all my low top shoes though in snow. I'd recommend something similar though, I think MH, OR, and MEC (maybe REI too) make short softshell gaiters that are similar. I opted for not having any sort of velcro/zipper and haven't really regretted it although you have to take your shoe off to put the gaiter on/off.

Dang you guys/gals are OOOOOLD. ;-) I started in the 80's as a wee lad with an old green REI aluminum framed thing where the hip belt ended up just above my knees. Shortly after that my parents got me a state of the art Jansport external frame pack that was small enough to fit. I have fond memories of hiking along the beach on the Ozette Triangle and occaisionally falling between the logs I liked to scramble on and getting stuck as my frame pack would hang up between them with little me dangling underneath. Good times!

Good question, I keep my adjustables daisy and my aiders on the same biner as many (most?) people do. If I have to high step to get to the next placement, but it is a dicey placement, I will often crouch down and step back down a step after placing the piece before fully committing to it. This way you are in a better position to absorb the shork with your body and closer to the lower piece if the upper one blows. If it doesn't blow you are now at a good level to quickly clip the rope and unclip your daisy from the lower piece and move on. You don't want to waste time and energy with this on every placement, but it's good to think about how you will absorb the shock when you are bounce testing. You don't want to just go limp and fall on the daisy, instead use your arms and legs to cushion the fall onto your daisy and aiders.

I think Aerogel needs to be encapsulated by something so you can't really buy a sheet of it to cut down. They do make foot beds with it but they'd be too small to cover the sole of an overboot. I recall the sole material of my OR overboots was a white foam very similar to closed cell sleeping pad (hardman pad style) but thinner. I would just call OR and ask them and they will probably get you some. They do have great service, even if you aren't the original owner I think they'd help out for something like that. Otherwise I think finding a thin sheet of something similar would work just fine. Order a thin hardman pad from one of the ultralight backpacking co's and trim it? Good points on the crampons with those too. I trimmed the foam on the uppers of mine right at the toe and heel bail area so step-in crampon bails didn't have to compress the foam at the welt. They held well after that but you want to make sure you get the fit dialed at home and are careful to get the toe and heel bails on correctly on the mountain.

Town Crier has a decent sloping ledge you can sleep on off to the right of the easy part of P3 if you want to do something with an overnight and not sleep on the ground. I'd probably do that for practice over fixing and firing GD although GD has better climbing slightly. I've only done the first 2.5 pitches of Dana's Arch but I wasn't excited about the hooking above an old quarter in buttonhead and a cam behind a loose flake. Maybe I just wasn't feeling it that day but after p2 it's not well travelled (P1 low anchors really but the first 2 full pitches are fun and mellow). One of these days I have to go finish the whole thing.