OlympicMtnBoy

And if your pick penetrates the ice as far as your screw you have a problem. The fractures from your pick hopefully don't go anywhere near that deep.

Trip: Dragontail - Backbone with Fin Direct Date: 8/9/2008 Trip Report: I didn't want to mess with reports on the Backbone discussing the recent tragic loss of Andy Basque, so this is a little late. I'm sure you've all read enough TRs on Dragontail to not need anymore beta, but here are a few pics for the armchair mountaineers and others stuck at work: http://picasaweb.google.com/matthiesen/DragontailBackboneClimbAndEnchantmentsHike Natalie, Cat, and I hiked in on Friday afternoon and warmed up with the second ascent of a nice short 5.8 near the lake that MountainMatt put up. Maybe he'll post a topo later as it was a fun close to the lake little climb that was great to do before dinner. Matt showed up later that evening with more gear so we could climb Dtail the next day. The ranger had told me there was a fatality there when I picked up my permit, but didn't know which route or anything, so we just went with the plan. It rained several times that night so we woke early with strong thoughts of checking the weather and going beck to bed. It looked questionable, but not terrible, so we headed out anyways and it improved with daybreak as we reached the base of the route. We took aluminum crampons for the approach and ice axes for the descent but probably could have done it without either. The route was super fun. I got the offwidth and used the #5 (old numbering) camalot and a #3 big bro that we hauled up there. It wasn't bad but the big gear was appreciated. I think for several pitches above that I stayed on or near the crest in fun 5.8-9 cracks but they sure were licheny and mossy so maybe most folks drop left into the gully? There are lots of options up there anyways. Mat took a surprise toprope whipper in the offwidth following me. I had led a full 67 meter pitch (my rope after an ice tool hit) and a big guy can stretch a 9.1 quite a ways even on TR. This put him in a grumpy mood, but we still did fine. The Fin is everything people say it is. We headed up a little too soon and Matt got to do some runout lichen face climbing on the first pitch, but the rest were super cool, fun, exposed, well protected, etc. We made it to the top and enjoyed some fine Cuben cigars (thanks Matt) before heading down. It took us about 12:45 from camp at the lake to the top and back to camp. We had some yummy phad thai and sunchips, a couple glasses of wine, and then hit the sack. Sunday Matt was kind enough to haul out the hardware and rope and Nat, Cat, and I finished via a pleasant hike through the Enchantments on Sunday and Monday. Overall it was a pretty cool trip. My condolances to Andy's friends and family. Be safe in the mountains.

Nice job on the CNR Lisa!

Nice, that rock looks like fun. I need to do another Olympics trip soon!

Nice, thanks for the TR!

Love the hitchhiker pic!

Someone has to ask, so how did you lose your pants??

We just rapped down to the thin ledge with the natural anchor and then downclimbed the last 15 feet to the big ledge, didn't seem like a big deal or a reason to haul a second rope up there. The natural anchor didn't look that bad except for the ratty webbing that i didn't feel like replacing.

Alpindustria in Moscow, Russia stocks them. Just a short walk from the Izmailovskaya metro station. Alvo Titanium who used to make them for Ushba is still around. Scroll to the bottom of http://www.alpindustria.ru/catalog/alp/spare_p/1395/ to see a few, but there were more varieties when I was in the store a couple years ago. Good luck trying to order them online though. ;-)

Nice Chad, we missed you guys in the Alpine Lakes, but it looks like you were having good fun. :-)

Many or most of the trad routes at Smith also have bolted belays, although it's kinda hot there right now.

More pics of our climb are online here: http://picasaweb.google.com/matthiesen/SEButtressOfCutthroat

Cool, looks like a fun day of scrambling!

BTW Geoff, all my pics are online here: http://picasaweb.google.com/matthiesen/EastFaceOfLexington There are a few more of you guys on Liberty Crack.

Hi Dan! Get better soon! :-)

Wow, there is nothing left to add as Mal just covered my list. I'd also second his recommendation of picking an area or a route with little info and going for it. What the Olympics lack in solid rock is more than made up for in adventure, scenery, and solitude. You're unlikely to find another party any of these routes except maybe Cruiser on a weekend. Check out the Constance Massif for some rock FA potential too (there is more detailed info on the 5.7 route in the book too, as well as some likely unrepeated 5.10 spires).

Rough story. Condolences and best wishes for sure.

Sweet! I'm glad you'll get your shoe back Lisa. I was bummed when we knocked it into the moat.

I did it many years ago when i think my entire rack was 4 cams, 9 nuts, and some draws (which is more than you need for that route anyways). I think I just had one 50m rope too. I don't recall it being too difficult to get down. I think it was just about 80 ft to rap the 5.0 pitch to the little ledge.

All of your questions are miraculously answered in this thread here from the frontpage. :-)

Nice job guys, I love Olympic rock climbing!

The boy was legs with lungs in college, and he hadn't been guiding yet. We got him to carry a whole full size watermelon in his pack into the Olympics once back then, so I'd like to take credit for helping him train. ;-)

Nice job, one of these days I'm gonna get in there!

Nice lookin route! I was doing Angels Crest a couple weekends ago and I kept looking across the gully at your route thinking how cool it looked! Maybe someday I'll be able to do it. :-)

SMC Himalayan Hammer? I think that may be only up to 55 cm though. What are you on that is steep enough to need to pound pins but not need a second light tool? If you just want the axe for easy snow on the approach, just get used to using a short one. I find anything longer than 50 cm gets in my way while rock climbing anyways and I can arrest fine with a short axe.