OlympicMtnBoy

If yer talkin about the Sawtooth Ridge in the Olympics I'd be in. I was up to do Cruiser a couple years ago and have wanted to go back. Might be a month or so tillI have any time though.

Anyone wanna blow off work and go climb Green Dragon or something with me? I'd be open to trad cragging too. I can drive from Seattle and have plenty of gear. If you want to learn something (or just laught at my antics) I've got a spare pair of aiders if you're new and want to belay and follow as well. - OMB

Hey folks, anybody wanna head into the Enchantments with me on 7/22-7/26 (saturday-wednesday)? I had a partner bail, was hoping to do the north ridge of stuart and south face of prussik, but I'm open to any other options in that region. Anyways, let me know if you're interested. :-) - OMB

The topo we had (from supertopo.com in the oddities section) lists the long pitch (and the overall route grade) after the 4th class bit as 5.10+. We didn't get that far, only climbing a pitch labeled 5.10. I've heard it was 10b too, but can't say since we didn't finish it this time.

Ok, so my partner bailed, even after buying plane tickets from PA. We were planning on the North Ridge of Stuart and something else, maybe the South Face of Prussik. I've already got the permit for 2 people in the Enchantments zone (so you can camp in any zone up there). I can be flexible on objective if you have some other random obsure tower in mind. I'm probably still only leading 5.9 or so right now, but can follow a bit harder if you so desire. You must have at least moderate experience, no newbies this time. Also I'd really like to be out there the whole time, and since it's a 5 day trip, if I haven't met you before I'd like to get together for a beer/coffee ahead of time (I'm in Fremont). PM me here or call me, 360-301-2585.

Hey Mike, it was a good climb anyways though, thanks for going along with my crazy idea to bivy on the thing, it's a beautiful place to camp up there. We'll have to go up there again when you're feeling up for it. For anyone else, just be prepared for the traverse. I was feeling good, but we really slowed down on the last couple pitches where it gets chossy and vegitated. Next time I'd just simul climb everything after the first 5.10 pitch.

Thanks everyone for the invites, it looks like a beautiful weekend and everyone is heading out for fun stuff. I've got a partner now and am headed for the North Ridge of Baker. It's not rock, but it'll be good training for Rainier plans later. Have fun out there. :-)

Ok, I just had two different partners bail for two different trips in the last 6 hours. Damn their girlfriends and wives. I just want to get out and hit some crack somewhere. I can drive if you don't mind my 87 Subaru with no stereo or AC. I've got a rack, rope, etc. I really need to climb some cracks (5.9+, or you lead harder). I can do sat or sunday or monday, or two of those if you've got an alpine target. PM me or call 360-301-2585. - OMB

Forgot to post this earlier, ran up the tooth tuesday last week with a friend. Found a PMI belay glove on a ledge on the second pitch. Torn clip loop looks like it got caught on something and ripped off. Describe it and it's yours. :-)

Yep, I almost ruined my sewing machine that way, but it will work for a bit. I hear it's better if you have an old gear driven machine, and sometimes youcan pickthose up for cheap. I was able to sew something that looked a lotlike a bar tack using the same method as fenderfour. My stitching tests held decent bounce tests, so would be strong enough for your aiders. Just try not to sew too many layers and don't use yer mom's machine in case you blow it up. Sometimes you can find a used industrial machine on craigs list or ebay for ~$300 too which would be better, still too much for my tiny projects though (and small apartment).

Cheap cams here: http://cgi.ebay.com/1-Camalot-Camalots-c...1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/Set-of-4-Camalot-Cam...1QQcmdZViewItem Double axle even! :-) But then I still use my Russian cams.

Nice Fenderfour, I've had a pair I brought back myself a couple years ago, I've been using them almost exclusivly since then. You're right, the hook is a thing of beauty and the straps are pretty poor. Russian climbing gear is an interesting beast (and I have a bunch). I still love mine though, haven't really done more than 20 or 30 pitches with mine, but haven't had the problems AlpineDave has, except for bending some of the aid tree rings by bounch testing on them (been doing more butt bounces lately). I did mangle a wiregate biner when jugging cause I clipped it to my cuff and it got caught in the hook somehow. Use solid gate or lockers (better) for that. I'd like to see Fish start making them, but I heard he got stymied by the hook, couldn't find a source for one that was up to par. He just sells the aid trees now. FYI, the Russians don't use aid trees like that, they often swage up a pair from cable, or use a long chain of biners. I've also seen something that looked like an adjustable daisy with a metal ring on one end and a fifi hook on the other that supposedly can be used like an adjustable aider with these. Never seen one actually in use though.

Sounds like fun, I was there doing the same thing a few weeks ago up the the flake anchors, then built a new anchor and did arachnid arch to the anchors you ended at. Hooking is great fun on solo lead isn't it. ;-) Sounds like you had a nice beefy anchor too, I think I just slung a couple good boulders and called it good.

Don't tell me no one is going out there this weekend? C'mon, the weather is gonna be crappy, you're all gonna wish you were sittin on the beach for the few moments the sun is out rather than on some wet slimy choss fest. You know you are. Camp fires and cigars all the way!

So it's not a "climb", but is anyone else heading to the coast. I'm going out with my girlfriend to do the south coast from Oil City to La Push/Third Beach and we're looking for someone interested in doing a car shuttle with us, or maybe someone just heading to one of those trailheads who might give us a ride from near the other one. It'd be nice to not have to hitch hike, especially giventhe questionable weather. WIll compensate with or $ for gas.

Thanks Treetoad, that looks nice up there. I definately need to head up and do more hiking there. I think this time we're gonna head to the coast though. I didn't realize they didn't have quotas on the south coast hike from Oil City to La Push, so we're going to brave the crowds. My girlfriend likes that beach and relatively flat hikes, hehehe. Is anyone else heading to the coast and might be interested in doing a car shuttle or giving us a ride one way or the other this weekend?

Hey Treetoad, do you know any spots we could hike in and camp up there? Mattp, I'm thinking that might be my backup plan. I haven't been up the Quinnault since 1999, and I've never been up the Queets. How do you think the ford would be with the big snowpack melting? Thanks everyone for your suggestions, except that Erica chick. I'm gonna leave her for Oly, my GF reads pretty well.

Yeah, it was pretty busy up there. We could hear people on the summit from where we were stuck for a bit, kind of funny. Here are a couple more pics. I forgot to resize, so the big ones are in my gallery. VW and Nate approaching the base of the couloir, you can kinda see the 'schrund above us. This one was cool so I posted the big one, VW pulling over the 'schrund. VW going over the cornice.

Here are a few more pics, forgot to resize, but the big ones are in my gallery: Vw and Nate in the first couloir. VW rapping in to the ice runnel. Nate rapping in. VW in the second couloir.

Nice Avi, glad to hear you like the new aiders. I was out practicing my aid solo systems a couple weeks ago at Index too. I'm gonna take you upon that beer and we can do something longer up at Squish some time this summer!

Ok, so it's not climbing, but I want to take my girlfriend out backpacking over memorial day cause she doesn't get many three day weekends. I didn't think of this soon enough or I would have made a reservation out on the Olympic coast. Any suggestions for a nice mellow 3 day trip with NO SNOW (girlfriend is averse to cold) and no reservations required. Is there any place in BC with nice long beach hikes? - OMB

Thanks, images fixed. :-) More to come soon.

Hey, my pictures got tiny, look in the gallery for bigger ones (or tell me how to post them, I'm new to this digi photo thing), you can barely make out the climber dots in the first two.

Climb: Colchuck-Northeast Buttress Couloir Date of Climb: 5/14/2006 Trip Report: After a succesful time on the Triple Couloirs the day before, myself, vw4ever, and masternate32 thought we might give the NEBC of Colchuck a shot. It wasn't as long (in terms of climbing) as the TC, and was supposed to be harder than the North Buttress Couloir, so it sounded like a fun finish to an awesome weekend. The weather was supposed to get warmer so we set our alarm for 3 AM this time in hopes of getting up the route before it warmed up too much. Soft snow and the big cornice we had seen still guarding the top out loomed in our minds. The alarm went off, but everyone hid in their sleeping bags waiting for someone else to get up first. Vw finally opened the tent, sealing me and nates fate. Now we'd have to get up too. After some coffee and oatmeal we wandered out of camp at 4:19 AM. The Colchuck moraine was tedius, but we made good time over that, past the folks camped there, and to the base of the north east buttress couloir. The bergschrund was open all the way across (except for a 6 inch thick bridge) so we took a few minutes deliberating how to get up. On the left there was a crappy looking snow bridge leading to a steep ramp that might go up to a short downclimb back to the couloir, on the right one could reach across the schrund by leaning over the gap, but it was about chest height and would be interesting to get up. While Chad was getting out a picket so we might belay the section, Nate walked over and sent the thing with a couple tool sticks and a funky knee mantle. I watched and decided it didn't look that hard to I did it too. Chad looked up to see us waving at him from the couloir. After a bit of encouragement he made the move as well. Above that the lower part of the couloir was surpisingly fun. There were patches of water ice here and there in the steep sections, interspersed with hard snow. There was more water ice here than in the triple couloirs the day before! We cruised on up until almost the point where you head left up the ramps toward the cornice when the sun came down on us full bore. It wasn't even 7, but here we were roasting, suddenly wondering if this was such a good idea. I guess we were focused elsewhere the day before and didn't notice the sun so early on that part of the face. We stripped down to t-shirts, thinking we would be at the top soon. That's where it started to get steep. Steep and sugary. Like maybe 70 degree unconsolidated shite, the sort of stuff where you dig for footing, cane your tool in at chest height, and then move before your steps collapse sending you down to your death with no chance of self arrest. Ok, maybe not the whole thing, but it was getting scary. I led up a ramp on the right that ended with a little snow ridge. VW passed me while I peed and moved up the very steep sugar on the other side of the snow ridge. Above us we knew there was only about 200-300 vertical feet. In the way was a narrow, near vertical constriction with little snow and a tiny bit of ice, and then an easier slope up to the cornice. Vw thought it would go like the one on triple couloirs, but he got halfway up and encountered more steep sugar on top instead of hard ice. Not wanting to downclimb, and psyched out about going up, we all realized that we needed the rope. Actually I had suggested it about 15 feet lower, but now we REALLY needed it. I was going to check out a left hand option that might avoid the constriction, but got the frantic call to get my ass up there with the rock gear. Vw hung out in the middle of the difficulty on fortunately good holds, with nate right below, while I crawled up into a "thank god" alcove and built a belay with 2 pins and a nut. Nate was in better position so I put Vw on a long tether to the anchor and Nate led up the rock over and past him. He couldn't find a good belay on the easier but still very soft slope above for about 40 meters so I ended up tieing in to the middle of the rope and also climbing over vw who finally got to move from his spindrift shower after me. We got up and regrouped at the belay with nate leading out again to the cornice only 80 feet above us. After a second look he figured out the move through the steep notch and was on top. Vw was crashing fast after the mental and physical stress of being stuck at the crux and showered with ice chunks in his t-shirt so we decided he should go next with support on both side. He woke up from his stupor rapidly once moving again and pulled through the cornice fine with me following shortly. We dropped our gear there and made the happy trek to the summit, thankful we were done with that one. I'm sure the NEBC is a way easier route with better snow conditions, and the constriction we belayed through may be avoidable, but for that day it was far more technical then the TC had been. Also getting out the rope BEFORE we needed it would have certainly left us feeling a little more in control there too. Lessons learned, we got to the top and had fun doing most of it. Olyclimber (who shared our camp the night before and had started a few minute before us to climb the Colchuck glacier) was waiting for us on the summit. I think he was there for like 3 hours waiting so we have him to thank for these neat pictures too. It was good to have company then. The route took us around 4.5 hours from camp with 1-1.5 hours spent on the last couple hundred feet. The descent was quick, with an awesome glisade almost all the way from the top of the moraine to the lake in soft snow. We rested for a bit and then packed up, getting to the car around 3 with cold beers in the snow. We said goodbye to olyclimber and hit the Ducks and Drakes from some much needed food. After 3 days out and two climbs, we all felt like we'd done something that weekend. Thanks to both VW and Nate for an awesome time on both routes! Thanks to Olyclimber for hanging out. All three of us climbing in the upper part of the couloir, photo by olyclimber. Here we're just going over the snow ridge about 50 feet below the difficult constriction. The three of us finally on the summit with Stuart keeping watch. :-) Gear Notes: Used: pins, nuts, pickets Needed: one short screw, more rock gear Approach Notes: Hike up, avoid the snow gators and hungry trees going up and down.

Climb: Dragontail-Triple Couloirs Date of Climb: 5/13/2006 Trip Report: I met up with vw4ever and masternate32 on Friday morning for the drive over to Leavenworth. We started hiking around 2:30 from the Stuart Lake TH and made Colchuck around 5:30 PM. My new Cilogear pack carried pretty well and the boot pack up there was ok, but follows a pretty weird route. As it was already getting pretty chilly (but not like it was in up there in Feb) we boiled some water, ate dinner, and shared a couple of cigars and shots of single malt (vw's group gear contribution ). We all crawled into my 2 man tent at 9. The alarm went off at 4 and it was already light enough to get ready without headlamps. I finally dragged myself out of camp at 5:15 a few minutes after everyone else. The lake was still hard enough to walk on (in most places) so it wasn't long till we were slogging up the hill to the base of the first couloir. The first couloir was longer than we thought (since you can't see it from the lake), but there were bucket steps all the way up so we made quick time again. The ice runnel we were hoping was hiding in there wasn't. We opted to head up a little farther to look for the snow ramps instead of the runout drytooling to find the ice up higher. A short bit up farther up the couloir and we were able to traverse back left and find a rap anchor from an earlier party. After a short break and some looking around we decided the best thing to do was to rap about 30 feet down to the ice runnels and follow them the rest of the way to the second couloir. This was the only time we used the rope or any pro, one nut to back up the nut and pin anchor (which nate dropped while cleaning, if you find a small chouinard nut it's mine). After rapping in to the runnels we climbed up to just below the second couloir. The entrance to the second couloir was blocked by a constriction with very little ice, but a few mixed moves in slightly cramped quarters found us all in nice snow again with a bit of an ice crust. I got a couple nice shiners from stuff nate kicked down before we got smart and started climbing closer together. The second couloir ended with another mostly snow covered ramp up right and a short but rather exposed mixed traverse up into the third couloir. From there it was just a final push up the snow slopes to the ridge crest not far from the summit. The snow was still hard enough that we could make out ski tracks from teleross's earlier descent. Bursting into the sun at the ridge we took a short break for water and food and checked the watch, only 9:30 AM. I guess you move faster when you're not bothering with the rope and pro, didn't think I was gonna be simul-soloing the whole thing. We made the short walk to the summit, took the mandatory pictures, and enjoyed the sun for a few mins. It was awesome to finally be on top after such a beautiful route. We'd all been eyeing that line on the mountain for a while. Then we started the long walk down to Asgard Pass. Sadly the pass was still too icy for and glissading, so it was more long and painful downhill walking to get back to camp. We returned to the sunny lakeshore rocks a little while after 11. Returning rather earlier than we expected we spent a lot of time hanging out and napping, enjoying more cigars and scotch, and wishing we had all brought books to read. Later in the evening Olyclimber made an appearance and we invited him to join our camp as the lakeside was filling up fast. VW, Nate, and I decided we were all still feeling good and that we ought to try something on Colchuck the next day. For that though you'll have to see the next TR. We crawled back into the tent a 8 and we soon snoring away again. Unfortunately I still live in film camera land, but hopefully we'll get some pictures in here soon. Gear Notes: Brought: 60m half rope, 6 nuts, 4 cams, 5 pins, 5 short screws, 2 pickets. Used: rope (needed 30m max), 1 small nut Approach Notes: Can drive to the TH now, trail is still mostly snow, watch for the snow gators and hungry trees.