Blake

That seems to describe the vast majority of climbs there. My vote is for "TGS" a 3-pitch 5.9 that goes to the top of the Upper Town Wall, and starts just right of "Biology of small appliances". The 2nd pitch is really good and long, and would be good for a 5.8/5.9 leader. Also, along the Mid-Wall TRail: After passing above the blues cliff, the trail goes over some stairs by a lookout. There are now 2 sets of anchors there, to give access to routes which are rappel-in (or TR) and climb out. The one of the right is 5.9 bolted, meant to be good. I think it'd be cool if everyone got on some of the less-frequently climbed routes there, which might be just as good as the popular ones. When people start to ignore a route, it gets dirtier and more vegetated, which discourages climbing on it, etc etc and everyone lines up for 3 or 4 routes. I was amazed to check out how many sub 5.10 climbs exist in the Sky Valley Rock guidebook, and they are never crowded.

Looks like it, although the book makes it look like Astro Ledge may it might be reachable via the North North Arete or North North Gulley as well.

Eric, There a climb off Astro Ledge in Squamish (Zodiac wall) that follows one crack for two long pitches. The book says it overhangs and widens from fingers to fists over the course of the the first pitch, and on up to chimney width on the 2nd pitch. I haven't done it, but it sure sounds good! "Gone Surfing" .11b ****

given the forecast, I think an air conditioner qualifies as one of the ten essentials.

P3 NAD at Index Julie's Roof Earwax Easter Overhang

A couple years ago I was given a free piece of Tyvek by Mark McKillop, and it served me well on many alpine trips. At this point it has basically been destroyed and I am looking for some more. Ideally a chunk in the ~8'x8' size range. Does anyone know where this stuff can be bought cheaply? Contractors ad builders must get it sourced somewhere without a lot of hassles. There's a spot online where you can pick up an 8'x10' sheet for $30, but that seems kinda steep. http://www.materialconcepts.com/pages/tyvek-ground-sheet.asp Thanks!

I think a 70m rope is really handy at Index. Sorry about the smelly shoes Rad... Good job climbing, was a good day. Way to keep it together on top of "leave my face alone" after the roof was not the crux afterall. Those bolts on the first half of Angorra Grotto should not be there, but it is still fun. What's the real beta on the new climb just Left of Angorra Grotto? Does one NEED a 60m rope to get off "Hairway to Stephan" or p2 of Kite Flying Blind?

RE: rapping on a single rope and 5/6mm cord: another option is to to tie an 8-on-a-bight in the skinny cord, near where the ropes connect. Clip a locker biner into this fig.8 and run the single rope through this locker and down. Then just rappel on the single and when you finish pull the skinny line. If you are rapping off a runner with no rap ring or chain link, this can be problematic as the knot in your ropes slips over the runner and can't be pulled with the skinny cord. I don't think you'll need to make 70m rappels in the alpine very often, and climbing 70m pitches (rather than 60m) doesn't seam super important either. I think often in those cases you can just simulclimb part of the pitch. After trying a couple methods, i think 2 60m 8mm ropes is the way to go. You can bust out just of them them for the glacier/wet sections, have a full rope in case one gets damaged, do 60m rapps without using some skinny static cord, etc. I really like the PMI verglass, which are certified for use as twin or doubles.

The Index slug mascot

Everett and Ida Dar were pretty ambitious and as a female climber, she was way ahead of her time! They owned "The Mountain Shop" on Broadway in PDX, and also had property in Stehekin for many years. They did the first ascent of several major peaks and routes in the NCNP, including Tupshin Peak, Devore Peak, Martin Peak, and the E ridge of Buckner. They also made multiple attempts and near-FAs of Bonanza and Goode. This was all in the late 1930s and 1940s. Puts 'Beth and Tommy' to shame... The 1939 business cards for "The Mountain Shop", placed by Ida and Everett, are still sitting on top of Tupshin and Devore.

For climbs in the 5.8-5.11a range, I think Ozone and Pearly gates are both a lot better than Castle Rock. Maybe better than Careno as well. Midnight has a good routes but not too many of them, and its such a long walk! (and quite difficult to move from climb-to-climb) The pitches that exist though are on par with Index, or Nightmare Rock, in terms of quality.

How stupid... Given the Skaha access situation, that kind of behavior could be especially detrimental.

I think these castings they took in 2003 are evidence of recent activity a few miles east of the Grizzy Bear Recovery Zone. Where'd you get the 12 years from? From the dang 'BearInfo' Site we are all looking at! http://www.bearinfo.org/observations.htm Glacier Peak, 1996 In 1996, a bear biologist saw a grizzly bear on the south side of Glacier Peak in the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area. This is the last recorded Class 1 observation. Those tracks in the mud were in field a few miles south of Canada and between Oroville and Colville, miles from the designated NoCa Recovery Zone.

Yeah but that same source (which favors Grizzly re-introduction and is actively seeking evidence of their presence) lists the most recent observation as a visual encounter (no hair/track/etc)happening 12 years ago! What year was this? If this is accurate, I'm sure the USFS would have records of it. The pro Grizzly groups (linked by Minx) have no record/mention of it even they they work closely with the USFS. The Bearinfo site lists 4 proven observations in the last 20 years, and I bet they would be very glad to hear about any more. I think it'd be cool to have grizzlies around here, but I'm still curious/skeptical about where the "about 10" or "5-20" number comes from. Are there enough Grizzlies who live in Washington for their population to be sufficient for breeding and genetic health, yet no evidence for one has been found in 12 years?

Not trying to jump on your case Rad, but why is it that nobody ever sees a 'small' bear? Seriously, other than seeing a cub, whenever anyone tells you they see a bear, it is always a 'big' one. This was pointed out to me by a long-time Stehekin resident who had listened to hundreds of visitors talk about the 'very big' bear they had seen that day. There was a bear with us at the Index LTW a couple months ago. The most frequent mountain area in which I've always seen them is the N. Fork Bridge Creek. My personal Grizzly view is that most 'Grizzly' sighting in WA are actually black bears (which can of course be many colors). I'd guess that every now and then one might wander in from Canada into the extreme N & NE tips of WA. The last 'Class 1' (verified/proven) Grizzly sighting in WA was 12 years ago. Since that time there have been roughly an equal number of Bigfoot and Grizzly sightings, which make me wonder how groups like Conservation NW get data to claim there are "About 10" grizzlies in Washington.

For-profit companies are going to charge prices in order to maximize profits. This should come as a shock/surprise/insult to nobody. Who determines what profits are healthy vs 'extreme' or 'gouging'? Under McCain's gas-tax holiday, the incentive would exist for gasoline companies to merely increase their pump prices by $.18 (or more) per gallon to make up the difference. As rational price-setters, they know that an $.18 increase (back to normal tax prices) will not result in an inversely proportional drop in demand. If the goal is just to give money to tax payers (which is sort of the case here...), that should be done in a way that WONT increase gasoline demand or oil company profits. It seems like the real goal here is to pander to the economically illiterate or uninformed, just like when G.W. Bush told voters before the 2006 election that a US withdrawal from Iraq would result in a barrel of oil costing $200-$300.

Is Canadian april fools day on 4/30?

After a great 3 day weekend in Skaha, I returned home equally impressed with the climbing and the local Bakery we stumbled upon. It made me think that it would be nice to have a comprehensive list of the best dirtbag/cheap/good spots grouped by region or climbing area. I'm imagining a list of places with food, showers, etc and ideally not a place that everyone already knows about. The least expensive the better, with a personal bias toward Mexican Food: Skaha/Penticton: Bakery - On the east side of Main Street, just south of McDonalds is a strip mall with a big sign for "Roger's Video". The back corner hosts a bakery with awesome deals on pastries, sandwiches, etc. Stuff like a hot Cinnamon Roll and Coffee for $1.95, or day-old Ham/Cheese Croissants for 70 Cents! Around the west side of the lake from the Skaha Bluffs is the Branbury Green camping area, which is $7, has hot running water, soap, free showers, fire areas, etc. Bellingham - On James street, just north of I-5 Exit 254 is 'Deals Only', which sells power/balance/clif bars for .10-15cents and lots of other good climbing or camping food for cheap. Index/Leavenworth - Sultan Bakery, north side of hwy2. Showers at the municipal pool in Leavenworth, on hwy2. Where's the Leavenworth taco stand? Darrington - The gas station gives away all hot food (surprisingly good selection) after 10pm. Winthrop - The "log cabin" style gas station ~1mile west of town has 1/2 priced (or lower) sandwiches and hot foods after 8pm. Haggling encouraged. Seattle - Just West of I-5 at the Northgate mall exit is taco truck with awesome $1 taco heavy on the cilantro. Next to the Chevron... Vancouver, WA - Just east of Exit 5 on I-5, across from WinCo foods is the Super Taco Express... great burritos ~$3. Moab - Hot tub at the Holiday Inn, north end of town. Accessed from parking lot directly. Everywhere - Ikea stores have little restaurants inside, in which people bus their own plates and stack them on shelves when done. It's an easy way to buy cheap food and get those free chicken strips ignored by the yuppies at the next table over.

I think the best PNW rock climb that fits the original definition of "Moderate = .11c or easier" would be Freeway.

Anyone ever notice/climb/hear about info on the large granite bluffs just north of Hwy3, between Hedley and Keremeos? Looks like a little bit of the Pasayten Wilderness that wandered away from home and ended up 5 minutes from the hwy...

You may be thinking of the SW ridge of Aspiring. I think its considered a more difficult route than Liberty Ridge (for a local comparison) and wasn't a moderate day in my mind, but with a nothing harder than WI3 (in condition) it's not technically very difficult.

The Seattle Times agrees...

second Ancient Arts... (5.8 AO & unforgettable) Locally: NW Face of Forbidden Canadianesque: NW Ridge of Sir Donald

This route is now completed with the fixed lines, pitons, air compressor, etc all gone. The architects/first ascentionists tried to climb after removing equipment, but fell, hit a ledge, and caused a bit of (edited to add - their phrase)-> a "rescue operation" lowering off. Sounds like all the mass-cleaning is done, I hope they scrubbed Arrowroot et al...

How have these worked out for you on overnights? Just got a pair in the mail today, as a long overdue gap-filler between the approach shoes and the ten-year-old Makalu's - and I'm hoping they'll work well for day-pack or light-overnight sized loads. They worked great for my uses last summer. They aren't much heavier than most tennis shoes, and lighter than some trail runners. This is really nice for long routes that you wear rock shoes, and carry your boots. They will keep your feet dry for a while on snow, not all day. After a summer they were pretty trashed, but i used them frequently. I have since coated the seams/stitching/etc in Seam Grip, but should have done this when I bought them.