Blake

Roy of the Mountains by Bob Nielsen He came to climb and tried and tried from spring through early summer. The object of his hearts desire was Dark: some peaks are much more funner. But Roy, he's tough, he tried again, and finally made the top. You'd think he'd sit and say, or pray "All right, it's time to stop!" But not 'ol Roy, he's got a plan to visit round this state The 100 high points, he'll trod upon, that is 'ol Roy's fate Dark was number 90, he's only 10 to go! And now he asks, do you wanna? I really need to know! So Blake and I, we like the guy he's such a tough 'ol bird. We think we should join up with him and make a little herd of goaty types, to go and see Tupshin and Devore. If we climb those two with Roy, he's only have 8 peaks more. Blake, he's young, and all tuned up, and ready for the climb. And me, I'm game to see the hills just about all the time. On the way, we walk and talk and learn our facts of birth. our spread of ages defies the sages who say it can't be done. To climb and hike and carry on; with peers you'll have more fun. But age is just a state of mind when all is said and done. We hit the scree, toe up the talus and start upon the ramp. We climb and move, step and balance But Roy, he's the champ! He's limber and lithe, graceful and light and almost old as dirt. At 77 you'd think he'd know heaven but he climbs with out getting hurt. Except for a finger, smashed by a dinger but still he carries on. Tupshin is topped, no time to stop onto Devore and bird pond. The traverse is adverse, it's long and perverse, at times it's starting to suck. But finally we land kindly, in a meadow so fine, we feel like we are in luck. An evening of rum, not much, but just some we sup under peak 92. With dawn comes the light, time to make right, and shorten this peak by a few. We bustle and hustle, we get on our goats, and off to Devore here we go. We head up the ridge, shout and yee-haw no time on this day to be low. The face is a-crumble, the rolling rocks rumble, it's "look well to each step or die here!" The morning goes on, the traverse does not end it's turn around time, I do fear. But Roy says "No!", and Blake, he says "YO! I think that the way is right there!" So ramble we do and Roy does too and the rocks they do treat us just fair. And we make the top, so time to stop and read of our friends come before. Who also climbed here, to experience the fear and roll some rocks from Devore Now homeward we go, our legs they are slow But our hearts and our heads are all filled With the sights and the sounds, the taste and the smell, and the times that we almost got killed. But come next December, the things we'll remember will be laughter and sweat and the joy And all of our time in the alpine sublime and our days in the mountains with Roy.

Chriznitch - I am the young guy Chris, mtnfreak - Sept 20ish, I want to go check out Mike and Darrin's "Mythic big wall" you intersted?

Yeah, how are these really different from TCUs by Metolius, DMM, etc?

Thanks guys, hope I didn't sound too much like a Hallmark Card. Next time I think I'll go nuts and write up a Hunter Thompson/Michael Layton style 'gonzo' TR!

IS the Goode from Scurlock's plane? looks a lot like one i've got from Storm King. Did you climb Prusik S. Face in sandals?

Hey Wanker I agree the party was too large for the route, that was an honest mistake by the leader. But you weren't in any position to claim superior style or climbing ability. A couple of points to consider before you toss un-informed ****bombs. It would have been irresponsible and dangerous for us to down climb the gulley with the other parties and you ascending. Remember your comment about being "deadly exposed". We chose to rap from the rappel slings that would keep ascending climbers from being exposed to rockfall. We waited at two rap stations while we let another party do two rappels on our ropes so they could descend Fischer Chimney's while it was still early. And then waited for them to clear the base of the gulley while they were in the kill zone. We also waited for several other parties including yours to ascend so we wouldn't expose you to rockfall. We also waited for your unhelmeted redheaded party member to move after he took a completely zoned out 20 minute break at the base of the gulley. How does the sunburned scalp feel now? The sunscreen helmet wouldn't have done much to stop rockfall. We were bivied at the high camp so time was not our major constraint so we had the luxury of being considerate to the other parties by letting them pass. Have a Jonestown Grape Koolaid on me, I'll buy! What kind of trundle-intensive downclimbing are you doing? I think you'd knock more stuff off when rappelling, because you can't control what the ropes do once you start tugging.

Nice work, how many pitches did your full route end up being?

Hey Brian, Scott, or anyone out there who has your book: could you please reply with the given description for approaching the lakes just North of Devore Peak from the Bird Creek Basin?

Date of Climb: 8/14-8/16 Coalesce : To come together so as to form one whole; unite The Setup: Over the last few months, 77 year old Roy Mcmurtrey has made 4 different attempts to climb Dark Peak, before finally summiting alone on his fifth try. Dark was on Roy's ever-shrinking list of climbs due to its placement as one of the state's highest 100. Roy's perseverance and frequent appearances in Stehekin during his quest for Dark resulted in plans for myself and another local to accompany him when he came back to try Devore and Tupshin Peaks (#91,92 of 100). The team of climbers ended up being as diverse a trio as one could imagine, yet things just seemed to merge together. Exactly 29 years of age separated myself from Bob Nielsen, the local Alpine Guru, and a further 29 years separated Bob from Roy. While talking via radio with the Stehekin Bakery from Tupshin's top, Bob described us aptly as "The youngster, the Oldster, and the Middlester." The Trip: (done counter-clockwise, camps at flags) We hiked up Devore Creek for 5 miles, before going crosscountry about 3,000' to the small basin East of Tupshin peak. Here we were rewarded with a stash of ropes, runners, and other hardware that must have been left by the gear fairy for our climb. We slept out beneath meteors and mountain goats, but were up early Monday morning and ready to tackle Tupshin's easy East Face. The climb can be done in a few ways (Klenke describes a 5-pitch affair on his summitpost page) but having descended that face recently, I knew it could be climbed in two pitches with a bit of scrambling. The first pitch was a rightward sloping ramping/corner up solid slabs if you stayed right. From there, a 15' scramble lets one belay all the way up to the highest belay station. This second pitch had a bit of mid 5th face climbing. From the end of this pitch, it was a fun scramble up a low-angle chimney to the summit. Both pitches are rope-stretchers. We had a long traverse ahead of us, over to the lakes near Devore Peak. Two rappels got us back within a short scramble of talus and our camp. From here we did a long and goaty contour around the head of Bird Creek, in which we made one rappel and belayed one pitch of 4th class through the notch at the very head of the valley. Our camp in the alpine park amidst larch and lakes of Devore Peak was one of those unique mountain locations for which the English language lacks adequate descriptors. How old must a tree be to grow this large at 7,000'? If you are ever in the area, don't miss this gem. Tuesday morning saw us head to the base of Devore North Ridge, from where we contoured up and around the mountain over loose rubble and a lot more scramble country. We climbed to the summit after topping out at a few minor summits to the NW. The summit area looks like a hopeless jumble from that direction, but we just went upward until we ran out of any more "up" and were on the top. This route had two 4th class moves near the top, and lots of sidehilling. Here, as on Tupshin, we were witness to the original registers. These both contain 1930s vintage business cards of Everett Darr, owner of PDX's "The Mountain Shop", who made FAs of both peaks. Tupshin Peak, our lakeside camp, and much of our traversed route can be seen here: From back near the lakes, we decided to take the advice of a guidebook page Roy had brought along, and attempt to descend directly down to Bird Creek. The route description has one staying just skier's left of the stream as it leaves the lake, and Roy assured us that authors mention anything class-3 or harder. The suggested route ends in a cliff and waterfall several hundred feet high... oops! By traversing North as far as possible from the creek, then descending, one can make it to a gulley and the lower basin with a couple exposed rock moves. If wet I'd want to rappel off a tree. The descent down Bird Creek follows game trails for much of the way, and would be best done if you stayed skier's left of water the whole way. The five remaining trail miles along Devore Creek dragged on as we knew they would, but we still made it down and home by "quarter 'til dark." The Result: Who'd have thought that a middle-aged local carpenter, a student not old enough to buy beer, and a retired card-carrying AARP member suddenly work together to do so much? Here's to an unusual(ly good) trip. Gear Notes: Couple of small pieces of protection, two ropes, runners, good boots. Approach Notes: Canoe, Dusty Trail

What MEC says is right, just start up and left of the gulley, and when you feel you are on terrain that you might want a rope on for, rope up. Pretty soon you'll recognize stuff from the topo, see cut branches, or run across rappel slings.

was this class recently?

i took the full paper thingy and mailed it to them. the cannister and a few scraps remain (as of 7/22)

I think you wouldn't really save much time trying to link up the routes.. ie it'd eb tough and time consuming to schwack from the top of 'LE Petit' over to the approach for Burgundy col. Link up Paisano and Burgundy instead.

Nice Pirate shirt Paul.

First of all, see my TR here: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/s...aad4#Post479195 The apprach from Stehekin: if you are limited to the shuttle bus, you can be driven to the 9 mile point on the road, and then bike 8 more miles to the Park Creek TRailhead.. with 8 more miles on trail to park Creek. If you can make connections with a private party in stehekin for a ride and/or bike loan (pm or email me) then you can drive to the 13 mile point on the road. Fremont glacier is an easy walk up with little to no crevasse danger! Storm king should not be approached from park creek pass, or from near the pass as suggested in Beckey and elsewhere. The best bet is to head down park creek trail until the 4.5 mile point, 5 minutes uphill of a giant washout. Turn left through the woods at a 10' snag and small cairn, and follow the climbers' trail up the ridgeline that borders the washout to the meadows below Goode and Storm King. From there Storm king is a 4th class scramble. The SW Coloir on Goode will not have snow, expect choss and loose rock.. nice bivy spots below. Meadows roughyl 1/4 mile on either side of P.C. pass will be nice for camping and have water. I've talked to several people who have come over the pass from Thunder Creek with no bridge difficulties.

Was your soul out of its cage for any period of time?

Thanks for the compliments all, maybe someone should climb the N. Face now. Klenke, there is a third free option for getting over to Weaver Point from Stehekin, other than boat or bridge, if anyone is interested, let me know.

Climb: Tupshin Peak-East Ridge F.A. (III+ 5.7) Date of Climb: 8/9/2005 Trip Report: Living in Stehekin, I am frequently confronted with views to the summit of Tupshin Peak, which rises 7,200 from my front yard. The most distinguishing feature of this highly distinguished peak (Washington's 99th tallest!) is its enormous East ridge. Tim Halder (TheRunningDog) and I met up on Sunday, planning on attempting a first climb of this route to the summit. We took the Devore Creek trail south from Stehekin for one mile, before cutting off cross-country at 2,000' toward our planned bivy. Five hours after leaving our canoe on the Stehekin River, we had reached a camp spot at 6,300' just below the East end of the Ridge. This morning we headed off at 5AM with lots of water, and more than a little apprehension of what types of nastiness might lay ahead on the ridge. Tim had mentioned to me that one of the aerial photos I'd sent him nearly persuaded him not to join in on the trip, so I attempted to hide my personal misgiving beneath a healthy veneer of overconfidence. We were able to simulclimb roughly the first 2/3 of the ridge, up and down gendarmes and around exposed pinnacles. The rock quality varied widely from loose blocks, to nice cracks and corners. The route has a lot of downclimbing, so following does not mean that your moves will be protected. Multiple gendarmes to downclimbwith a couple thousand feet of exposure became a memorable part of the route, and nearly drove Tim insane with frustration. After about 6 hours on the ridge, we had reached the base of the final summit pinnacle, and were pleased to start multiple pitches with nothing to climb back down. Four pitches with pleasant rock up to mid 5th class brought us to the base of a 4th class ramp/chimney whish is part of the more standard route to the summit. This final pitch saw us on the top, at 1:45 this afternoon, 8 hours after roping up. The register dates back to the peak's initial climb by the Darr party of Portland, in 1940. We enjoyed a carefully saved cinnamon roll for lunch, and savored the views before heading down at 3PM. With two ropes, it's possible to descend the East Face in two rappels, beginning 150' below the summit. From this Eastern Basin, we booked it back to Stehekin in a couple hours by descending straight to the Devore Creek trail, and hiking to our canoe stashed across the river from dinner and Gear Notes: Twin ropes, small alpine rack, Hiking Boots, copious amounts of baked goods. Approach Notes: Hot and Dry. 5 hrs from Stehekin Bakery to Base of Route. 3 hrs from end of route back again.

wow, sounds like you put up a FAWER (First Ascent While Enjoying the Route).. nice job!

not very

Stehekin Valley is currently experiencing a small (~150 acre) wildfire between high bridge and bridge creek. Travel between the two points along the trail is not allowed. I doubt this closure will last long, it's not particularly smoky or anything. Fire Started last sunday morning near Shady Camp.

Will Gadd was also in Chelan the other day, at the National Championships of Paragliding.

Alasdair.. where did you go? Back on topic here.. so Peter Croft Soloed NEB Goode?

I'm looking for someone who can climb next mon/tues on a long, prominently exposed, but moderate alpine rock route. Must be able to meet me in Stehekin, but can stay with me here. Alpine experience is more important than ability to climb hard rock grades. PM or Email if interested. The line would be a FA almost for sure.

Cinnamon Rolls