Blake

Too bad it didn't work out. Leaving a new pack full of someone elses's gear just because you don't want to deal with brush which you chose to get into is grounds for bad snaffle karma in the future.

Leor (Off_the_hook) was a long-distance runner in college and is obviouly still at it. That's an awesome accomplishment. What kind of headlamp do you use for night time trail running? (or for when you started at 2:30 am)?

Anyone else want to climb the complete NR of stuart on thurday or friday? Other ideas welcomed.... i'm getting anxious for some alpine rock. -Blake (206) seven 7 9- 7five 2 6

It was a great climb. You guys should post more shots of the overhung ice cliff "it's something"... The accident was caused by me and dan being lazy. After down climbing all the way from the summit, we did one rap at the very end and stood in the fall line while pulling ropes. If we'd both been off to the sides, the whole thing would have been avoided. If entering or leaving Boston Basin on hot days, you have to go several hundred feet upstream from the main crossing in order to ford the stream. (or else your wagon will sink and oxen will drown) Has anyone climbed the rib/arete to the climber's left (East) of the NW face route?

Cool, good job guys. The last 3 pitches were all rumored to be 5.9 as well (crack climbing for much of it) but definitely had some harder bits thrown in. I think it's worth camping in the valley in order to do Salish and Roan as well.

Yesterday it looked fine up to the saddle W of Sahale.

Anyone want to head up to Squamish tomorrow? need a 4th... leaving from Mt. vernon. 206 sevenseven 9 7526 or pm Probably cragging at Murrin...

hint...

On the 2nd to last pitch of the East face (Slab pitch) you can climb up to the very top of the slab part where it steepens and then go straight left. You can get in protection in 2 or 3 places to protect yourself and the second climber on the later part of this pitch if you do that. I noticed a bail biner up above the slab in the steeper section of the E. face, but it did not belong to Sol's group. Either someone did the route as an unpublished FA or its an old relic from the Skoog route. I am pretty sure it was an old oval biner, which would suggest something from the older line, but it'd be interesting for the next group up there to climb up to it and take a look, or rap down from the summit. You can see it between yourself and the summit if you look up while climbing the 1st half of the slab. On the West face, I think the rock is just so untouched that there are some scaley/skin sections which should be flaked away with a wire brush or climbers. There anre't just jumbles of blocks or giant chunks ready to blow. Way to go guys, looks like a really good time. Glad you enjoyed all the windfall as much as we did!

That ridge on Buck looks so classic! too bad it just isn't...

yeah.... that corner in your first picture was soo good! it'd be worth TRing if you climbed up the normal way, cause it is ***** climbing. Someone else must have gotten lost like us.

How's it going Tom, how was Martin peak? I asked you about your approach at a time when I had already done that route 2 times in the past 12 months, I wasn't interested in beta, but curious if you went the way I had gone too. As for your link disapearing in the old post, I have no idea why that happened, but i'd guess it was done for some logical reason(size/bad link?), or out of accident. People spend a lot of time moderating these boards, and I wouldn't be so eager to start swearing at them as you seem to be. As for Dan saying that I know a lot about that area; I can certainly think of a few locals in Stehekin who know more, not to mention tons of NW climbers. It was still a nice thing of him to say though, even if it was an overstatement. I'm sure he'd be glad to delete that part of his TR if it'd make you feel better. Anyhow, it sounds like something sure rubbed you the wrong way, so if you want to talk more about it or benefit from my vast and unrivaled cascades expertise, shoot me an email. BlakeHerringtonATgmail.com -thanks

On the climb Rebel Yell, it seems like the first pitch has a lot of options. When we did this climb last week, our first pitch was stretched out to include a cool overhang move into a very prominent L-facing corner with a fingertip lieback crack in it. This crack/corner went on for quite a bit before a ledge where it became a thrutchy flaring chimney, and eventually a wide crack that you had to grab on above your head, and swing out of the flaring chimney before traversing rightward to the actual route somewhere around p3. Has anyone else ever climbed this variation or know how hard it is? Either way, that's a really good route. The line i am talking about goes up the really prominent left-facing corner to the left of the actual route, in this photo:

I'm 90% sure that the Mary Greene glacier route would be fine right now. I did it mid-august in a lower snow year and it went fine. Stay climber's right.

Anyone climb the other routes on PP more to the left/west side? Rampage and some other crack systems look like they might be fun. NYC007, as Sky mentioned, the whole climb goes quick. We climbed it fine in a short October day.

DBerdinka and a buddy are up there now, so there might be even more climbs to do in the future. judging from the number of PM inquiries i've gottn about approach info, we should plan a Gunsight pub club for august.

Sol, we kinda got off route on the crux. You mentioned a flake, and so we ended up AOing an overhanging flake to the right of what we think is the crux finger crack. From the ledge above, we top-roped the actual crux (I think). It was a Right-facing corner with a perfect finger crack that went through a roof/bulge thing, and suddenly turned into a splitter hand crack for the last 15' to a big ledge. I felt like it was .10d with perfect pro, but it was on TR. you just need to save a hand-sized cam for the last part, which you can't see from below. All the other stuff was onsighted, and the grades felt right on.

Robert, I sent you a message back. Didn't you guys climb along the N ridge of the N Peak after trying the W face?

Trip: Gunsight Peaks Traverse - "Gunrunner" IV 5.10 Date: 7/11/2007 Trip Report: John Scurlock Photo A long-winded TR from a long, windy climb... The Gunsight range is a N-S trending ridgeline of fantastic granite near the southern end of the Ptarmigan Traverse. With four named summits over 8,000' tall and several intermediate pinnacles, it made the perfect candidate for an early July destination. Dan Hilden (Dannible) and I spent 3 full days climbing up there this week, and completed 2 new routes, plus the second ascent of the E. Face. The first day we were tired from the approach, so we didn't aim for anything too big, but found an exciting climb anyhow. I'll let the pictures tell the story... The route begins in the obvious corner which splits the face. We had to downclimb into the icy moat, so the first pitch is about 15' longer than it looks. The first pitch was splitter fingers/hands and ended at a nice ledge. Dan escapes the moat... The next pitch Dan lead around to the right, then straight up through wild loose overhanging chimneys. Here's looking straight down past my shaking toes: The last pitch was an easy romp to the summit where we found great views of Dome and Sinister. Artsy rope throw photo on the descent After playing in the spotlight of a natural cannonhole, we headed back to camp and sorted gear out for the next day. On July 9th we circled around the range along the Chickamin Glacier to the north end, well past the NE peak. We found some great hand cracks which lead to the ridge crest at its terminus and began the traverse. Wide stemming into a perfect hand crack... From the ridge crest we climbed south on fantastic granite above the Chickamin and Blue Glaciers. N->S allows you to climb the steep North faces and descend the south sides of the peaks. Pitch 2 climbs to the left (East) side of the crest and featuresan amazing 5.8 corner and face crack. The day definitely had more of a "climb" feel than a level traverse, and we'd both fully recomend it if you have a complete day in the area. Along the way we had one single rap from the NE peak and one double rap from the middle peak. The fourth pitch on the route was a well-protected face climb leading to an exposed roof on golden rock. We summited the Northeast peak in 7 or 8 pitches, and the climb to there would be a fun grade III. The last pitch to the NE summit actually began by circling around to the right (West) and climbing a chimney and then through the hole in the back of an enormous roof to the top. From there it was on to the North and Middle summits. The West face, in profile on the right, is still awaiting a FFA. There was one spot while climbing up the the North Peak where we were in a face crack which ended, so we pendulumed to the right to join other features. Apart from this bit of aid, the entire climb was done free, and I think we could have avoided it if we had looked ahead more carefully. By the time we summited our third peak (the middle one) I was feeling dehydrated and exhausted, but Dan found his second wind and led on as the sun set. He lead up to the top of the South Peak as the stars came out in force, and we rappeled down onto the Blue Glacier in the dark. The next morning we went to the East Face of the middle peak to climb the route which Sol (Frosty_the_tradman) and friend did last summer. (By the way, congrats to Sol on getting married last weekend, your route is fantastic too!) We broke up the pitches differently, and belayed on comfy ledges. See their trip report for more details. Above this splitter hand crack step right then up the finger crack and continue up the crack in the R-facing corner, over the lip(crux .10d), and to a big ledge. This elminates the need for a hanging belay and as long as you save one hand-sized cam for the last 15', it should be easy gear-wise, because of changing crack sizes. The second to last pitch features a beautiful delicate slab climbing. This face is in shadow all afternoon, and the sunset topout gets a Blake-and-Dan thumbs up. This was a fun trip and Dan is a great partner and camp chef. It was nice climbing with another young punk for once, as we have a combined age of only 41. [edited to add topo -porter] Gear Notes: Single cams Blue alien, #3 Camalot, #4 Camalot Double cams Green alien - #2 Camalot One set of nuts Crampons, Ice axe Should have brought more pringles... Approach Notes: Agnes Creek via Stehekin 3786-3784-Gunrunnertopo.doc

Have you talked to Tana Beus, another WWU grad student doing NCNP goat work this summer? I have her email if you need it.

you aren't allowed to land planes on the lakes in NCNP (other than at the end of Lake Chelan, and maybe Ross/Diablo) basically anywhere remote is a no-go for flying into.

Chris Greyell was thrilled that we combined his two projects and that they might get more traffic. I don't think we'll be getting any threats. From a map, Darin's approach info, and the above pictures, you'd have all teh info you need to do these two climbs. If you have specific questions feel free to ask Darin or myself.

it is the same guy on both climbs... Ken Beane.

I did the right side finger/hand/fist crack which I would have called .10b and very fun. The thing about P.2 is that it is a short pitch with one hard move, but I do think that individual move is 5.9 (pulling out of the undercling) As for the ".10c" boulder problem slab thing, i have not done it either, and there is a dangerous block jutting out that you would land on if you fell. Happy Times!

this route is a pretty impressive looking waterfall right now. Doing it in one push must have been a huge day.