OlympicMtnBoy

Most of those sharp edges are pretty easily dealt with with a hammer. Sometimes a chisel may be necessary to really knock them down. You shouldn't need to leave any ugly bits of tape. ;-) Thanks for the reminder to leave no trace and pack out what you pack in (or up).

Way cool, maybe I'll get up there one of these days now that that's a little better worked out again!

Super job guys! Too bad we missed crossing paths! You guys got on some of the super classics, it's taken me three trips down there to tick most of those. I'm not going to let Matt have any more rest days on our trips since I know he can climb for a week straight now! Curt, it sounds like they did the full Matthes Crest as described in the Supertopo guide, but not the entire ridge. I believe the full ridge goes at like 5.8R or something but doesn't require any rappels to get off. I don't think many folks go all the way since the pro gets kinda crappy after the north summit.

Yeah, it looks like someone on ebay has been cutting pins out of u-shaped titanium channel and selling them for less than $10. No idea how they actually perform though. The USHBA ones are super nice and shiny. If anyone is headed to Moscow, Russia I'll give you directions on how to find the various mountain shops. They were like $3 for the less shiny knife blades and stuff and $10 for the Ural Alp/Ushba shiny cool lookin ones, but that was a few years ago. At $30 I'd better have a real good and hard project for em to justify the cost, I still don't take the few I own out very often since I seem to end up fixing them for rap anchors and stuff sometimes.

Trip: Tyler to Walkinshaw to Needles to Martin Traverse - a whole lotta ridge Date: 7/23/2010 Trip Report: The Needles range in the Olympic have always held a certain appeal to me, probably not least because they contain a variety of rock climbing routes and are visible as some prominent spikes through the binoculars from my parents house. In 2004 I set out along the ridge from Mt. Baldy solo to check them out. Unfortunately snow and an engulfing cloud layer cut that trip short at the top of Mt. Walkinshaw and I retreated to the Royal Basin trail and home. The idea sat idle for a few years as I explored other areas until it popped back into my head this spring. After trading some messages with Bremerton John who had been in the area a few years earlier a trip plan was hatched. Terry had similar thoughts and called John up and was thus added to the party, and then so was his friend Tyler (who would be making his alpine climbing and Olympics rock debut). The four of us gathered at the trailhead on Thursday night for some gear sorting and an early start. We decided to do as much of the ridge as possible, starting with Tyler Peak and heading roughly south-west along the crest traversing the Needles and perhaps ending with Mt. Deception if time allowed. We packed light for climbing with packs on, but brought a classic Olympics rack including a few pins to be able to catch the little spires and pinnacles along the way. Around 6:40 AM we walked about 200 feet of level road to the end of the parking area then caught the Tyler Peak climbers trail roughly straight up the hill for the next few thousand feet, soon breaking from the trees and finding our own path up broken slopes to peak #1 (and Johns 50th Olympic summit). The views and the weather were simply amazing and we lost little time traversing to Baldy with only a short dip from the ridge to refill our water bottles at a small creek. Here we ran into a single day hiker, our only company on the ridge, who forged ahead with us to the North Peak of Graywolf Ridge. Dropping down again, and then back up on the ridge and up a snow slope, we made it to the south peak of Graywolf. The hot day and hard work of talus slogging made us stop to melt snow and refill water again. Now mid afternoon but with time looking good we heading down again on the ridge and up to Mt. Walkinshaw where the nature of the ridge become craggy and much more exciting. Some snow moat stemming took the place of the slabby ledge traverse I had done before low on the north side, but this led to the same weakness up and left and then easy slabs and scrambling to the summit. To my joy I discovered my 2004 summit register entry was still there in the log anchored to the summit with a piton. In 2008 a new notebook was added with 5 parties shown since then (one earlier this year). This was our goal for the day, but we hoped we might be able to continue on the Adelaide. Some route finding down and left (S) of the summit, a quick traverse over to the next gully, and a fun foot ledge got us to the easier ridge crest on the way to Adelaide. Here we took a wrong turn attempting the north side of the ridge and had to backtrack before descending steep snow and ledges to the south and finally making it to the unnamed summit between Adelaide and Walkinshaw around 8PM. We dug out some relatively flat bivy spots, melted snow for water, and crashed for the night (at least until Terry woke us trying to kill a rat with his ice axe). The next morning we slept in a bit and then started the super fun steep ridge scramble towards Adelaide. Not knowing of any routes on this side of the peak and not wanting to drop down and traverse, we broke out the rope for one section of exposed scrambling and then belayed a fun 5.4 steep crack on the NE face of the peak from the ridge. This got us into a gully and a short walk to the summit with a register but no pencil. Now a bit behind schedule we dropped onto the snow in Belvedere Basin (and Tyler’s first ever glissade) and traversed towards Mt. Clark aiming for the 5.0 route on the NE side. Spotting a gully/chimney leading up from a snow ramp we decided to again check out unknown territory and found a reasonable 3rd class route all the way up to the summit block (this route went from the upper left side of the snow ramp and may not be as easy with lower snow levels). We scrambled up the gash on the east face of the summit block but chose to rappel back down. Sadly the summit register there is broken and the Ziploc that was placed in the unsealed tub had been shredded by rodents. Not wanting to corkscrew down the standard route we descended a steep gully and made on 60 meter rap through overhanging chock stones and then scrambled down to the snow and the Clark-Johnson Col. Here we entered territory John had covered before so he guided us to the standard route up toward Sweat Spire and Gasp Pinnacle and the easy 5th class route to the notch right between them. There were three named spires here (Sweat, Gasp, and the Devil’s Fang) and we wanted to tag them all before moving on. We were not a bit behind schedule from the earlier rope work and route finding so decided to bivy here and get a few spire climbs in before dark. I made quick work of the “4th class” route up Gasp Pinnacle and brought everyone else up then we slung a horn and backed it up with a pin to get down. Next I led up John’s 5.6 crack on Sweat Spire and set up a TR for the rest since it was less than 30 meters. Everyone chipped in on melting snow and leveling bivy sites when not climbing and it was soon dark and time for dinner. The rats visited again as well. We had planned to make it to near Martin Peak the day before but still had several summits to go so we arose just after dawn and John did the short pitch up Devil’s Fang for breakfast (the only summit he hadn’t done before in the area) and then we packed up and hiked to the Johnson summit block. We quickly roped up the steep chimney (well I soloed and belayed) and then tackled the complex looking ridge towards the Incisor. Amazingly we found a decent route almost entirely near the ridge crest with very little extra descent necessary. We hit the north side of the Incisor and I contemplated climbing a cool looking crack between the Incisor and a large block until I realized it would end about 2/3 up on a blank face and we traversed around to the standard route. John elected to take a nap having been here before and I should have taken this as a sign but instead racked up and set out up the pillowy face. Protection was sparse through the middle although the climbing was easy enough. I hit the summit ridge and brought Tyler and Terry up, then we rapped back down to the packs. This was my least favorite of the pitches, but it’s a cool summit nonetheless. From here the going was fairly easy to the summit of Martin Peak via a ramp and snow traverse on the south side under the summit and back. Martin Peak made our 13th summit of the trip but now mid afternoon with a long descent and hike back to the car still looming we realized we might not make it up Deception and home before dark. Having had such an amazing trip so far we opted for the slightly more relaxed option and chose to leave that one for another day. Hey, it’s not officially part of the Needles anyways. ;-) Some scree skiing and ugly gullys from below Martin Peak led to the snow and some great glissades almost down to the upper tarn in Royal Basin. We cruised on out the rest of the way pausing only briefly to dunk our heads in the creek and snack and then slog up the Lower Maynard Burn Trail and back out to the car around 7:30. A great trip through some awesome terrain with better than usual weather an even mostly fun rock! What more could you ask! I had a great time finally climbing something with John, Terry was great, and Tyler lost his Olympics alpine virginity (I think he’ll be back though)! Thanks guys! Gear Notes: Standard Olympics rack (nuts, cams to #2 and a few pins), ice axes. Approach Notes: Head off the spur road to the right just before the Dungeness trailhead, from the end of that (parking) there is a trail that goes straight up hill to Tyler Peak, or follow the old road (closed) toward Baldy Peak and the Maynard Burn Trail.

Love the pic, hehe.

Having had multiple partners lose crampons that were "well strapped" to their packs, mine go inside if possible. Otherwise make sure a strap runs THROUGH the crampon frame so you don't lose it even if it works loose. I made my own plastic crampon box out of a couple of 1/2 gallon milk jugs and a plastic sheet cutting board (cut the jugs in half, use both bottoms, cutting board piece for the middle joint, duct tape plus a strap to hold it together. It's lighter than the commercial ones and has held up for 5 or six years (the milk jugs are breaking down now though). Kind of hokey looking but worked great for my M-10s. The G-12s may have less volume. You could also find a scrap of neoprene or thin sleeping pad and make a crampon taco with it.

The high top is essential for me for alpine. I always manage to scrape up my ankles in the usual offwidth pitch otherwise. I also like a higher top because it keeps the gravel out better on those ridge climbs that always have a short walking bit somewhere along the way. I love my old blue Kaukulators but a little bit more modern shape like the TC Pro would be nice. I hear the 5.10 Grandstones are alright too and way cheaper, but I haven't tried either one. Leather vs. synthetic doesn't matter much although I like leather. I don't know how you could do anything other than laces for lots of crack climbing.

Cool, thanks for that little tidbit! The cracks on the Owl looked pretty nice with pretty large continuous blocks making some good splitters. Peak 1 and 2 served that same nice afternoon climb role since we were camped just below Peak 1 at the creek. Also on closer inspection of Beckey I think Peak 1 and 2 are the "Nada Creek Crags" that anchor the end of Temple Ridge but aren't labeled in his pic.

Nice, looks like some fun and speedy work!

Crampons but no axe sounds like a good way to get yerself on something steep with no way out. I'd go the other way and just bring the axe if it were me. The snow as of last weekend would take steps with a little work and your axe will keep you from taking too much of a ride. Besides, an aluminum axe is lighter than aluminum crampons. :-)

How was the snow? Did you need crampons or just your axes?

Lots more pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/matthiesen/BlackPyramidAndPrussikWithMatt#

I have the older non-goretex Nepal Extremes but have use the above mentioned wax stuff for years with no problems. I do try to work it in to the seams and stitches pretty well, but haven't used a real "seam sealer" for it. The wax stuff may impair the breathability a bit but I haven't noticed it that much, my feet still generally stay much drier than in my impermeable double boot lines, so it must be breathing a little bit. On my leather and fabric hiking boots I use a combination of wax on the leather parts and the aquaseal fabric stuff on the fabric bits (get the fabric wet first) and it seems to work ok. Ultimately no amount of goretex and sealer will keep any breathable boot totally dry after a day in really wet snow, at least in my experience. Those things help stave it off though.

Count me 3! Maybe we can get a cc.com group discount somewhere!

Sounds like a great adventure! Did you get any pictures?

almost regardless of anchor type Option 1: lower through the anchors = small wear on the anchor which can be noticeable over time Option 2: rappel from the anchors = no wear on the anchor I always try to have the lowest impact possible (in climbing and many other things). Always seemed pretty straight forward to me. Unless you are on a crag where you are involved in replacing the anchors yourself, or at a gym where you are paying others for the upkeep.

Woohoo, nice dood! So what are we getting on next?

Much of the route fell down (we're talking train car sized blocks). I'm not sure it has been climbed since then, it looks scary with loose block and would likely be mostly new route now. Here is a picture from last year, look at the large whitish scarred area on the left side, that is where the route used to be as far as I can tell. I would love to hear a report if someone goes and does it, as long as it's not an accident report. Sounds like it used to be a fairly moderate line in a cool location.

The looks like it ought to hold for a while. I always like the before and after pics on these things. You ever gonna tell the exciting story of how this happened? ;-)

The looks like it ought to hold for a while. I always like the before and after pics on these things. You ever gonna tell the exciting story of how this happened? ;-)

Nice to see it public now! Looks great! I've got more pictures if you need em. :-) Or we can go take some!

I know we soloed the summit block and used the rope as a hand line/body rap to get down, but it is exposed and probably worth having a few medium pieces for anyone not as comfortable, or in case you get weird weather.

I was up there a few years ago on a sunny May weekend and climbed Triple Couloirs one day and the NE Couloir on Colchuck the next. Weather was warm and sunny, snow was great on Dragontail and mush on Colchuck. The aspects aren't exactly the same but I figured it was close enough and the snow would be better on Aasgard than Colchuck Glacier. Fortunately I wasn't too far off. :-)

Here are the pics from our trip a week and a half ago, a couple pics of Dragontail in there, but it's kind of falling down. http://picasaweb.google.com/matthiesen/EnchantmentsTripWithCourtneyAmyAndBrendan#