Blake

Two years ago, Tim Halder and I traversed from Dark Peak to Bonanza via Pt. 8599' and the West summit. However, we added a couple rocks to the top of pt. 8599' and it is now just pt. 8,600'

Do you know which lake they are talking about? (Chehalis, HArrison, or Statlu) and which direction from said lake? The local Chilliwack district office and the "Teal Cedar Forest Products" phone numbers just ring and ring, with no human answer. It's like a game of 20 questions trying to figure out where the road effectively ends at.

Squamish during may, july, aug, and sept is pretty unbeatable. Steep, slabby, sport, trad, long routes, aid climbs, splitter cracks that never end... it's got it all! Plus generally very easy descents, low commitment, no need for tons of gear, beautiful scenery, well-protected and solid rock, and interesting routes. However, for the size of the crag and approaches, I think both main walls at index are stellar in the 5.10-5.12 range.

I know that the main/traditional access road along Chehalis lake is blocked, but I understand that you can drive northward along the West shore of HArrison Lake, then west on Mystery Creek road and eventually get to the same area (near Statlu Lake). However, I read that the Mystery creek road is drivable but recently gated because they don't want people in the area of the landslide, so I'm just trying to figure out how far the gate is from the beginning of the hiking.

I'm interested in getting into Bardan/Vienesse area via Mystery creek. Apparently it's gated. Does anyone know how far the gate is from where one would normally stop driving? Is this section bikeable? Thanks!

I heard that dude turned 22 and lost all his youthful ambition (or at least TR-writing motivation).

The first pitch of a new route on the North Face of Amphitheater Mountain in the Pasayten. My girlfriend and I had been eyeing the line for 3 days, noting some nice looking cracks and corners, especially higher up. However, after some initial splitter climbing, the pitch moved into a corner, past two stacked blocks/flakes that I was amazed to see stay put. The corner continued for ~40m of very sustained thin edging, laybacks, jamming, and moss and scruffyness. Forced to move out of the corner when the crack widened, I followed incipient seems and pockets, which allowed just enough gear to make the commiting moves somewhat safe. I finally reached a decent/protectable belay ledge, but with just one cam and one nut remaining, one of which we'd bootied on Cathedral the day before. Amazingly, both pieces fit perfectly at the belay, and the gear sling I had them racked on just barely reached to connect them for a belay anchor below a beautiful hand crack on P2.

"Flight of the Falcon" on Salish peak (7 pitches, 5.11a) has no slab, but Ross and Mike L thought it was overbolted.

On Horrors of Ivan at Murrin Park in Squamish, i made it to the 1/2way cave totally pumped, with more overhanging climbing to go. I couldn't find a way to take my hands off the rock until I worked out a way to stick my head into the little cave alcove and press it up against the roof. Only then could I actually let go of the rock and rest my arms. Not only did this weird-looking pose provide my climbing partners with a laugh, but it let me de-pump and eventually extricate my noggin from the jam and finish the remainder of the climb. I'd say the all-time best rest (although not too creative because this is a well-known route feature) is on the route "1080 and the Letter G" at Payne's ford New Zealand. After pulling an .11c roof, you can stick both feet into an enormous limestone pocket and hang upside down in a hands-free rest.

There's a profile of "hot climbing town" Leavenworth, WA in the current Rock & Ice. (P.74) However, they chose a fairly bad picture of a Squamish climber in Vantage?? for the accompanying photo, managed to spell Mt Stuart incorrectly, and made no mention of ice climbing. Anyone want to check out the North Ridge of Mt. Stewart???

You might need two kits. You can trim the patches to work across a long/skinny tear. Normal Seam grip has a hard time on silicone-impregnated fabrics.

Nice, great pictures! You have a good outlook on life to call those CBR chimneys 'a hoot'. We were above you on CBR that Sunday, and I walked past you guys on the Blue Lake Trail this Saturday, when you were coming back down with gear still on.

I've got a new-in-box Mens Medium IceBreaker "altitude Crew" shirt. CLICK LINK It's got handy little thumb loops and everything! It's this color, but slightly lighter grey for the bulk of it. Never worn, in box, with tags. $50 OBO.

I think something fell out of my car while organizing gear in the gravel near the Blue Lake trailhead, but not in the parking lot. If anyone has any plans to head up there in the next week, PLEASE let me know and I'll describe item/location. Thanks, very appreciated!

I think something fell out of my car while organizing gear in the gravel near the Blue Lake trailhead, but not in the parking lot. If anyone has any plans to head up there in the next week, PLEASE let me know and I'll describe item/location. Thanks!

Rain Retreat Return Renew Rock CBR it is.

and

Nice working making it happen, Sol and Jens! Sol/DirtyHarry/Lunger... you guys have enough memory to trace your routes on this thing? I'd especially be curious to see the line of Dragons of Eden VS Dragonfly.

Steep Finger cracks?

Nice Rat. Now maybe my enthusiasm has been dampened. Did you do the first 5.11 bolted pitch, or bypass it? Any key route-finding notes you want to share?

Chris/ BackcountryDog: Thanks for cleaning it up! Also cool of you to post on this spray-infested den of craziness. I had tons of fun on the newly cleaned route. It's longer than it looks (I think you need a 70m to TR it). For what it's worth from one random climber, I thought the bolt was perfectly fine. There is a spot below it where you can get in a good .5 camalot/red alien for your first piece, by reaching around the fin from the left. Kinda a blind placement, but it's good. Above that, it seems totally appropriate for a bolt to be in place. I remember it as a flaring corner with no crack in it, and groundfall potential mantling onto the first big ledge if there were no bolt there. Flashclimber... if you want to talk about bolted cracks @ Index, check out Angorra Grotto, not Tatoosh.

Yes. It's now clean and quite good. Lots of finger cracks. I stepped right from Thin Fingers just a few feet up (below the lone bolt). The whole route could probably be led on 7 yellow or green aliens.

Firstly, I think Index is far from a bastion of old-school trad climbing purity. However, it is unbelievably good spot for climbing, and most of the routes seem bolted (or unbolted) appropriately. However, there are several bolted cracks at index. Angorro Grotto, for example. Blocks and flakes like those on Cunning Stunt have a tendency to be a bit dangerous with cams behind them on that wall. (Or so I've been told by folks who know more about this stuff than I do.) Routes at "The country" like Frank Presley, Kite Flying blind, Climax Control, and Tunnel Vision all seem as though they could be lead safely with fewer bolts and gear in places. Perhaps their bolting was the result of wanting to just climb with a rack of QDs and not have to taken along 3 -5 pieces of gear for an (otherwise) sport climb. Next time check out 'zoom'... another .10d near cunning stunt with bolts where you need them, and no bolts where gear can be had. I'd personally like it if some of the other routes at "The Country" were like this. However, I should probably become more familiar with the ability of flakes and cracks on those nearby routes to safely hold gear before getting too worked up. The main section of the LTW has more unbolted crack climbs, and less sport climbing.

No pins needed. 2 in place. I'd describe it as a 5.8 climb for a 5.10 climber.