Jim_T

Sweet!! Awesome photos! Where were they taken from?

Nice shots Martin! That Rye Crisp climb looks awesome!

Nope - sorry - no green bus in my past!!

We went cross-country to the lake, but then generally followed the trail around the lake, onto the ridge, and up to the summit. You're right - you could shave off some miles by taking a direct line from the lake, but it is much steeper and it looked like there could be a small rock band near the top. Probably doable, but we were skinning up so we took the gentler approach. Have fun!

Fettster - the snow is disappearing FAST. The SW(?) ridge of the mountain is completely melted out although there is still snow on the north side. When we were up there it was very soft in the afternoon. If you were up very early in the morning an ice axe might be nice but there's nothing too technical.

We climbed and skied Strawberry Mtn two weekends ago from the trailhead that goes to Strawberry Lake. From Prairie City, we drove on FR60 to within a mile of the trailhead. By now, I'm sure it's melted out completely to the TH. Hope this helps ...

Nice TR and awesome pics. Someone mentioned this climb earlier this summer so it's cool to get more info about it - thanks for posting! Last fall I was also in that area during "manzanita pollination season". We made some stupid decision to go cross country rather than follow a trail. Damn, my scars are just now healing up!

Does anyone know what was going on at Smith on Sat, at the river below Monkey Face? We saw a bunch of emergency vehicles pull up in the field across the river, and a litter was transported across the river and into an ambulance. It looked bad, but we are hoping it was just some kind of training.

I agree ... who knows! Last Thanksgiving I went to Yosemite. The first day it snowed, and rained, and hailed - total mess in the valley. That night, though, it cleared up (& got COLD) but dried out. The next day I was climbing warm rock in the sun! I think chances are pretty good for decent weather in early Nov.

Nice pictures and great trip report! Those upper pitches look awesome! Thanks for posting ...

Agreed - that third pic is awesome! Are thunderstorms still a problem at this time of year?

tinsley - there is still webbing on the ridge. We didn't need to add any for the descent, although we did add a biner to one of the stations. Two ropes makes the descent faster, since you can rap directly down into the Great Notch rather than downclimbing or rapping the heather slopes. But Alpinfox is right - it can be done with a single rope as well, with more downclimbing.

Thanks for the info, folks. Maybe I will trade in the 600 for the 800 - sounds like it isn't a bad bag. I saw the 600g at Next Adventure for $99, but not the 800 - that's a pretty good deal!

Thanks Macson! I wish the online stores would give a little more detail when giving their temperature rating. This 37 degree bag they are selling could, in the hands of "inexperienced users", results in hypothermia after a few hours!

So I wasted a couple of nights surfing the web, looking for an ultralight, cheap, summer bag, and finally ordered the LaFuma Warm'n Light 600g. According to their website, this is a 1.5 pound 37 degree down bag. Now I didn't really believe the 37 degree rating, but ... I get it in the mail yesterday, and the tag says 51 degree. WTF??? There are actually three temps listed on the tag: comfort, limited comfort, and extreme, and NONE of them is 37 - they are all above 40. Where does this 37 number come from? Is there some translation problem from French? Anyone have the LaFuma Warm'n Light 600g or 800g and care to comment how warm they are? thanks ...!