Blake

Was any sharkie soup consumed on this trip?

Nice, it's cool to see some more climbing on that area of the pass! I know of a few other groups that have done these as well, so maybe some of the pine needles are getting cleaned up. I wasn't alone on the climbs, just alone in spraying about them. Max Hasson and Dan Hilden were leading the way as well (we had a convention limited to climbers whose last names started with "H") I can't recall too much about the first couple pitches on "Perfect Crime" - as you mention, they were a little more vague and wandering than the top of that route or on the route to the left. - Bigger Topo

Nice Matt and Mike, glad you had a good trip. Isn't that cirque beautiful? And the rock quality not too shabby either. I think Sol's right though, for now the dealio is 5.10 C1. But that's just good incentive for someone else to go in there and enjoy the place on the FFA. We rappelled generally SE (right of all 3 climbs) and I remember joking that we were using Fred B's shoelace for one of our anchors of somesuch. There's plenty of good horns and good rock to rap off, but a bit of tat and some bailable nuts would handy.

can i come too?

copious in-situ tat, rap rings, and horns, would allow you to make it off that thing with a pretty darn short rope and some redecorating given a little creativity. 50m is fine.

Did Tim bring his Vuvuzela? Nice work not knocking rocks off Inspiration.

Gene's right. Scramble down climber's left of the route. If encountering branches with goat fur, you are on the right track.

To lower a hanging climber with any of the auto-blocking devices, just ratchet the belay carabiner up and down. Each time it lets out a little slack and doesn't unlock the device. If you have to give out a BUNCH of slack, then read the directions and do the "formal" method. When I'm bringing up a second climber, I almost never pay much attention to the climber. If the goal is to safely belay your second climber up as they follow the pitch, and this can be done A. safely but with very little effort or concern to the follower or B. somewhat less safely, requiring constant singular focus on the follower, then it just doesn't make sense to always choose A. I bring in the slack as it's available, but that's about as much attention as I give to the second climber. I'd rather take photos, put on a jacket, find that missing snickers bar, re-rack for the next pitch, take a piss, pretend I remember the route description, etc. And I'd rather follow a pitch under the same circumstances, belayed in the same method. A belay device hanging from the anchors will "catch" a falling second as long as it was rigged correctly, which is painfully easy to do. Doesn't matter if the belayer falls asleep, passes out, has an allergic reaction, etc. And as much as I like to trust my partners, I trust simple physics a whole lot more. Plus if you belay like this, and take turns leading, you can save time and superfluous gear because the follower never needs to anchor into the belays.

There are so many knobs, one doesn't even need to touch the crack on OS. What is the best handcrack in the NW? I guess I'd say High Planes Drifter is up there

Hey all, heads up on another event in Bellingham! Malcolm Daly, the alpinist, rock climber, and all around rad guy, is going to be giving a presentation next tuesday (4/27) at 8pm at Backcountry Essentials in Bellingham. Malcolm has climbed for over 40 years, was a founding board-member of the Access Fund and Paradox Sports, and started the climbing company Great Trango Holdings. He's presenting about an epic Alaskan trip in 1999 with Jim Donini, resulting in a 200' fall, being stranded alone for 48 hours while his partner went for help, and the the eventual amputation of a foot. Since then, Malcolm has remained a committed rock climber, ice climber, cyclist, and fly fisher. He definitely doesn't let minor inconveniences likes a missing foot get in the way of having an adventure. Backcountry Essential (downtown on Holly Street) 8pm - Tues 4/27 Here's the facebook link, for those so inclined: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/note.php?note_id=386284474263

Leaping Lizards is clean, feels like mid 5.10 with a mix of styles and has a great stemming finish. It puts you on the ledge system that runs across all the way to the top of Thin Fingers, and between p2 and p3 of Narrow Arrow Direct. I think Lizards and Thin Fingers are both best climbed as similar-grade approach pitches to the LTW's BEST 5.10d/11a - Narrow Arrow Direct p3. On a wall STACKED with good climbs at this grade, I really do think NAD is a must-do.

It might be a combination of hot days and sloppy shoes, but I find the slab crux on Thin Fingers to be harder than any move on Iron Horse or Japanese Gardens. Other than that one move, I don't think any part of Thin Fingers is harder than mid 5.10 And I'm a shorter climber with smaller hands But given that nobody else finds the slab move to be that hard, I credit the difficulty to sloppy technique, rather than epic sandbaggery.

For rock routes from the Torre Valley (Media Luna, El Mocho, Chiaro De Luna on Exupery...) you just need sneakers and maybe some aluminum crampons. Ditto for rock climbs on Guillamet and Mermoz, accessed from the North. For other approaches (Paso Superior, the icecap) or mixed snow/ice climbs, anything similar to the Scarpa Freney, Sportiva Trango Extreme EVO, Mammut Mamook, etc is popular. Basically, lightweight boots that have front and back crampon compatibility.

blake, i think the saying goes "the proof of the pudding is in the tasting" -- unless they've got some other, upside-down way of saying it down in n.z. To quote my favorite Yogi "I never said most of the things I said." All I mean is, go climb the East Face of Gunsight, The Scoop on CBR, The North Face on Castle, or the Thread of Ice on Twin Needles and then see what you think about complementary descriptions of these new routes. And as far as "classic" status... I think the word has come to mean excellent or memorable, not just a tried-and-true favorite. But for reference, both of the Cascades Selected Classics books (Nelson and Kearney) include routes put up by the authors, and by others, which had not seen a second ascent at the time of their inclusion. So describing an unrepeated route as a classic is neither unusual or new.

I thought this one was pretty funny - http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/5720187/ Regarding new routes in the Cascades being of good quality or not, I think that proof is in the pudding. Go climb some of the new routes and then spray away, or dismiss them out of hand and miss out... There's certainly still room for excellent new routes being put up, from Acid Baby at Aasgard Pass, to the Scoop at CBR, and Roan Wall or Salish Peak. Heck, look at Darin's NW Arayete route on Mt. Shuksan. It's been repeated at least a half-dozen times already and is a great route. Alpinist ran a story about it, because that's what alpinist publishes... Alpinism. If the FA party of any of these routes hadn't used the internet to spread word and spray about these climbs, I and others would have missed out on some unforgettable days in the mountains on the CLASSIC new routes! I'm kinda curious what new routes are being alluded to as "soft" grade IV climbs to warrant an AAJ blurb. The few grade IV and V routes I've done in the USA outside of Washington have all taken less time than the grade IV routes around the Cascades. And I'm not talking about aid routes that now go free (and faster) I mean routes originally done as free climbs. Vague generalizations are easy, specifics a little harder...

Woops! Sorry Kim... I still think it's a cool bit of trivia.

At the time, according to the AAJ Thin Red Line and Lib Crack were considered grade V. I just was intrigued to read this in the 1968 AAJ: Liberty Bell, Direct East Face. The first ascent of this marvelous granite face was made in July 1965 (NCCS V, F7, A4). Since then two more V’s have been done, one being a variation of the original route, and the other a hard V on the opposite side of the face. There was still another line that could be done, however, that would go directly up the center of the blankest part of the face. This Kim Schmitz and I climbed in two full days, July 20 and 21, the first grade VI to be done in Washington. The first grade VI in WA, climbed the same season as the first grade VI in the region (Zodiac wall in Squamish) and a mixed-gender FA team... pretty cool story! Has this route fallen into obscurity? Anyone done it?

Do you know specific dates in June? Obviously it's splitting hairs at this point. The climb I was hoping someone would guess was the "Direct East Face" of Liberty Bell, done by Madsen and Schmitz, fresh off a trip from Yos where they set the new speed record (2.5 day!) for The Nose. Their writeup in the 1968 AAJ is a good read, as are a bunch of others from that year in the Cascades. Kukuzka, I think the doorish route on the NNB has been repeated, and a few years ago, Blair williams and some other folks climbed a parallel route on the same feature, and off to the right, with joins up after 8 pitches. For whatever it's worth, this newer route is grade VI as well.

Anyone have their Squamish guide handy that could post the dates of the Zodiac wall ascent? The route I'm thinking of might have been even before this, meaning we could consider BC as well. If not, it was the first VI in Washington and the second in the vaguely-defined "NW". In any case, people are getting pretty close to the answer. (Or at least the answer I gleaned from reading the AAJ)

I was thinking local canadian routes to be "SW", but when was the zodiac done? Nobody has guessed it.

Which Route?

No Doorish route on Bear or Index? Not E. Face of Slesse?

I'd second this sentiment. Isn't this a bit like a restaurant "reviewer" who publishes an article after buying dinner at five places, taking a photo of the dishes after they arrive, and never tasting the food? I think the most interesting piece of information is the disparity between published weight and actual weight, but even that seems generally based on the various fabric and sizing options within a given model. Perhaps a better idea would be for companies to publish the weight of a men's small and a men's large for each item, and one could extrapolate other sizes from there. All this gear talk seems to take away from the focus on climbing. It's great to have good gear, but luckily we live in a time when you can get good gear from all sorts of different places, and even the "bad" stuff is still probably better than the "best" stuff from 10 or 15 years ago. If one were to go back in time, take all of the 2009 AAJ-published alpinists, and make them randomly trade clothes and gear with someone else before their climbs, do you really think their trips wouldn't have been successful? It's a far-flung comparison, but good climbers will succeed not because their synthetic belay jacket has a dead-bird skeleton or an eddie bauer logo on it, but because they were good climbers who picked the right climb at the right time, with the right style of gear. (IE down vs synthetic coats, single-wall tent vs bivy bag, double ropes vs single, etc) Sterling is the 'Right rope for Chris' but I think that's got more to do with them offering him the biggest trip budget than his inability to climb equally hard routes on (XXX BRAND'S) ropes.

I think for "done in a day" alpine rock climbs that an .11a leader would enjoy, especially if they aren't super keen on less-than-perfect stone, you might suggest either the West Face of Colchuck Balanced Rock (With a move of AO at the crux) or else Rebel Yell on Chianti Spire. Both approaches would have snow until Mid-July at least, but nothing too steep. Probably wont require any crampons or ice axe.

I think everyone there prefers blow-up dolls. Mike, sometimes you can get those things are military surplus or general outdoor stores for just a few bucks.