OlympicMtnBoy

PM sent on pants.

The guidebook says Mt. Olympus is awaiting a first winter ascent. I'm pretty sure both the north and south faces of the Nun don't have any routes on them either. 8D There are also many unnamed spires in the interior . . .

Nice, looks like fun!

Nice gear mod! I just use a cheapo CAMP tool with a hammer, weighs about 16 oz, but is longer and still has an alaska type pick (fixed).

Nice, looks like fun. So what's in the CAVE???

Don't tell me these things!

I'm pretty sure something went horribly awry on der interwebs today.

Piggyback! Maybe there are some great climber landlords out there. I'm looking for a place for my girlfriend and I too. We'd like a house or duplex in the Fremont/Wallingford/Phinney/Ballard area (like S. of 85th or so), ideally with a small yard and parking for my camper. ~$1300/mo max. Profession/grad student couple, very reliable and fairly quiet.

Yeah, not one of the three crashes listed in the first length, all military metal skinned planes and only the one on Constance and the opposite side. The other link shows 9 accidents near Quilcene, most of them smaller craft, could be one of them.

Thanks for the link, that is a nice write-up that I hadn't seen before. That crash however was over near Warrior Peak and Inner Constance. I believe that was also a metal skinned aircraft. What we saw looked like shredded fiberglass and was down from the notch on Constance Route 1. Maybe Brendan has a better picture.

My Rossignol Free Trek Ventures are 2800g/pair, it looks like a Swiss company took over the ski: http://www.stc-swiss.ch/ Obviously quite a bit more than the Hagans though, although it seems like a very similar ski. I also have a pair of 130 cm skis with some old Salewa tour bindings on them (releasable) but those are a bit over 3000g/pair.

Thanks Porter, it's kind of cool to see that view. I'm sure I've looked across that way from Constance as well, but I don't think I ever realized I was looking at Destroyer until this trip.

Sounds like a great rainy day outing to me!

Thanks Porter, It was a lot easier to get in there than I thought. Either peak is doable in a day pretty easily. Brendan gets credit for all the good pictures BTW, I took the less cool ones. I think we'll have some more up soon.

Trip: S. Fork of Tunnel Creek - Nun, Destroyer, Enigma Date: 9/12/2009 Trip Report: A month or so ago I was cruising the local Goodwill on a lunch break and I ran across a copy of the 1981 Mountaineer. Flipping through the journal I found an interesting article on Tunnel Creek climbs including the Nun, Destroyer, and Enigma. Being a big fan of the Olympics and not having visited for a while I decided to go check them out. After a Friday lunch meeting I managed to recruit long time climbing partner and veteran of several Olympics trips with me, Brendan, to come along. The forecast was great and it just wasn’t a weekend to stay home and crag. We hit the trail about 9:30 AM, the bushwhack wasn’t too bad for the Olympics, and we made it to camp in a flattish meadow at the head of the S. Fork of Tunnel Creek around 1:00. Along the way we snacked on plentiful huckleberries and found tasty forest treats for dinner. We worried along the way that we wouldn’t have any water after Tunnel Creek disappeared into it’s final tunnel a long ways down the hill, but were lucky to find one small clearish pond still in the meadow. We stashed the bivy gear, hung our food like 30 feet off the ground (Brendan was worried about tall bears), and set off up the hill to the base of the E. Ridge of the Nun. Only a few minutes from camp in the valley and we hit the base and began the mossy 4th class scramble up the ridge. Staying on the ridge proper gave lots of secure“green” belay options, although Brendan opted for the mossy slabs at points. A few old slings were passed in the trees and we soon made it to the base of the summit block. The original route had a long downward traverse around the difficulties, but the summit block direct route looked pretty good and was supposedly only 5.0. I racked up with my meager rack and headed up. The pillow lava on this pitch was actually pretty good and allowed for a couple of small cam placements and a big hex, then the difficulties were over and we were scrambling the ridge over a small false summit to the top. The views were great and we even found an old film canister summit register containing the entries of six other parties including the FA in 1978. After basking in the afternoon sun we headed back down the ridge making one rap on my 67 meter rope (60 would be fine if you go from the right spot) to the base of the summit block, then three more raps down the mossy slabs off of trees. We were soon back at camp cooking dinner with our tasty forest treats. - The East Ridge is the left skyline, although the final pitch is not as steep as it looks from this angle. - After a good sleep and leisurely morning we started up the other side of the valley for Destroyer and Enigma. The hidden rock chute above the boulder field was pretty easy to follow to the upper bench, then a long scree traverse to the base of Destroyer. We had some debate about the proper “ramp” described in the guidebook, but I think our chimney scramble from directly below the summit up and left was correct. Another short steep pitch with some actual cracks and almost decent rock got us to the notch, then another scramble up to the “platform” at the base of the summit pitch. The 1980 piton is still there (as mentioned by Bremerton John), but is of marginal utility. I tied it off and climbed up making a few mid-fifth moves on crappy rock. I had pins and a hammer but I opted for a crappy cam, a decent nut, and a fished through slung hole before reaching the top. Pins would be safer, but the moves were easy. We found the top still slung with a rotting and chewed on red cord and backed it up with another cord. Forgot to bring a summit register, doh! - Destroyer is the obvious pointy thing, Enigma is the unobvious blob just to the left. - - The steep second pitch. - - Brendan enjoys not having led the final pitch. - After enjoying the views and taking pics of Constance (is there an old plane wreck in the canyon there, looked like shredded fiberglass?), we did a single rope rap (60m would be fine) back to the base of the summit tower. We belayed the 4th class move to get around a gendarme to the easy scramble up to the top of Enigma. I guess I didn’t look hard enough, but I didn’t find the summit register there, probably under a rock I didn’t move. We scrambled back down to the Enigma-Destroyer notch and did one more rap to easy ground to the base. The scree was much faster on the way down, and we snacked and packed and booked for the car (not missing bringing a few tasty treats home along the way). Overall another great Olympics rock climbing trip! Maybe not quite as classic (for the Olympics) as Mt. Cruiser or the W. Arete of Mt. Constance, but still a fun trip to a remote spot only a mile or so off the trail (I did hear voices at one point, but never saw anyone else). Thanks to the 1981 Mountaineer and the earlier TR for inspiration. Gear Notes: 4 cams, 5 nuts, 2 hexes, 5 pins, 67 meter rope, lots of slings, string bikini harness. More than enough! Approach Notes: Follow S. Fork of Tunnel creek to just past the Shelter, then follow the creek bed up to campsites at ~4900'. Turn left for the Nun, right for Destroyer.

I just use a drybag like Ivan, I would image a Wag bag or Restop bag would be all the better to toss in the drybag.

I probably won't make it this year since my girlfriend is just getting back to town that weekend and probably won't be excited about going, but I've had lots of fun before so I just wanted to say THANKS PORTER! Thanks for dealing with all this crap on our behalf and organizing us n shit. :-)

Chris! What the hell are you doing in Olympia? We should have a beer and reminisce about Kyrgyzstan. What were you climbing in Chile? - Stewart

Semper Farcisimus!

Yep, it's that time of year again! As summer wanes and fall approaches, come get some extra climbing stoke at what is usually a pretty good show! Thursday, September 17th at the Neptune Theatre 7:00 PM Tickets available at Feathered Friends, 2nd Ascent, and Vertical World (or at the door)

We based that on a wall map back at the chopper base as there was some confusion with the maps Fred was supposed to bring, I thought the Pretender was a tad west of Monarch's summit from the map, but I could well be wrong. BTW, there was the lower half (shaft and spike) of an old wooden ice axe stuck in the summit block of the pretender/serf. I forgot to take a picture and we left it there for posterity. Anyone know if there's a story behind it?

Yeah the rock in the area was highly variable. That pillar high on the N. Face of Monarch looked solid and sweet, getting to the base of it looked much less fun (through long traversing chossy ledges or under the hanging glacier). We could also see a tiny bit of the other side of the Throne that did look better, but no one else seemed motivated to trek around to the other side. Maybe next time.

If you're lucky like me you you can find a nearly new pair of Kaukulators at Second Ascent that fit. Otherwise you've got the Acopa JB (which I also have not been able to try on and thus can't order), the La Sportiva TC Pro which might be easier to find shortly (I think just hit the US recently) but will cost you like $190, or supposedly 5.10 has a new high top coming soon which was spotted at the Summer OR show (check the www.rockclimbing.com posts from the show). I suppose if you're mostly freeing a big wall those'll work, can't say I'd want to aid in any of them though. I use mine for all day alpine and offwidth stuff. I love my high tops!

Anybody happen to see the Nun when you were up there? Anybody been up that way since? I just ran across a 1979 "Mountaineer" that details the Nun FA and was intrigued. Who wants to go for it?

Good job, I thought it was a fun route too!