CPOly

Yep, that's the Hercules quarry. You're right, it is pretty awesome. When you can crank like Drederek, who cares how your ass looks

I went cross country skiing with a couple of friends of mine up the Duckabush drainage on Wed. 11/16. We parked the car at about 2200' where there was a few inches of snow and we could not get any further on the road with the car we had. We turned around at Trap Pass which is about 2.5 mi. east of The Brothers at an elevation of about 3800'. At the pass there was a little over a foot of snow. We were able to ski from the back of the car to the turn around without having to walk for thin spots, it was a great trip. There are nice long, straight streches of road making this a great cross country ski trip in the eastern Olympics. Hope this helps, have fun.

Yet another great evening at the Olympia pub club. It's always a pleasure spending time with such amazing individuals. Thanks again everyone.

Things pretty wet out there Off?

Excellent! Craig and I are looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Looking for a partner for a little cragging in Leavenworth on 5/25. Any experience level welcome from complete noob to seasoned honemaster. Have rope and rack and a couple of extra harnesses if needed. Send PM or reply to post, I'll be checking back tomorrow.

Here you go Don.

The trail is still there in bits and pieces John. Just past the old wooden bridge described in the guidebook, the trail heads up on the N side of the creek. It makes a rising traverse until you get to a basin and somewhat of a headwall below the lower lake. We figure it's best to stay high on the hillside to the right of the headwall. It seems to be steep open forest on this side as opposed to steep schwacking. Either way it's still a viable option to get into that alpine area.

Yeah, we opted to bring a long sling as suggested in the CGOM not knowing what to expect.

We finally made it in to hit the snatch. It was a little loose and dirty but enjoyable nonetheless. CL and I left Olympia last Thursday at 4am. I had two soccer games the night before, one at 9pm and one at 11pm. By the time I got home and finished packing it was about 2am. CL only got about an hour of sleep as well. It would be a delerious couple of days. We arrived at the old road near the Putvin Trail around 5:20am to stash the bikes for the ride down. Then back down to the Lena Lake Trailhead where we did some sorting of gear and packing. This is when we realized we forgot to bring a fuel canister for the stove. Also not knowing how much snow had fallen in the last couple of days I decided to bring lightweight hikers instead of heavier boots, strike two. And finally we realized that we had only one pair of sunglasses between the two of us. Oh well, up we go. The first 3 miles to the lower lake was uneventful as usual. After a small break we kept going to the upper lake. Here's the false summit of Bretherton and Upper Lena Lake: We then continued around the lake to the ridge west of the lake. We decided to follow the ridge SW staying on top until we reached the highest point. There we spotted somewhat of a good spot to bivy for the night. After we stomped out a little platform to sleep on, we found a little water source to filter some water for the next day. We crashed pretty early that night as we were both exhausted. Up at about 7am the next morning feeling very refreshed. We were both physically pretty sore but mentally renewed. It took us about two hours to arrive at the base of the spire. This is CP on the approach: Once at the base of the spire we geared up and I set out to lead the first pitch. This turned out to be a 4th class gully with mixed rock, snow and ice. We both climbed this in crampons which neither of us have done before, it was a good experience. I then setup a belay and brought CL up. From here we could see the route described in the guidebook as an open book 5.6, but we couldn't see the standard route. The 5.6 corner looked to have good pro so CL decided to give that a go. He had an excellent lead on what turned out to be a fun pitch. Once on top we found the rap anchor, slung the big chunk 'o stone, and started to make our way down. After the first rap, we donned crampons again, found another anchor, salvaged a rap ring to use, and rapped down to the base. Here's a shot of the spire: We then loaded up the pack and started back to where we stashed the other pack. We took a little break and started our way down and out. We had contemplated heading up and over St. Peter's Gate and coming out the Putvin Trail but decided we didn't want to go up anymore. So we traversed over to the small lakes east of Mt. Stone known as Ullin's Bathtubs. Here we finally filled up on water again and kept going down. We basically followed the creek that drains the small lakes staying on the East and then North side of the creek. We had come in here a couple of weeks before just to scope things out and so we knew the descent pretty well. Darkness had set in luckily after we got through the steep forested area. We then finally made it out to the old road for the easy part of the descent. At the point where the way trail reaches the old road, there is an old wooden bridge. I dropped my pack on the bridge and walked around to the creek to fill up my waterbottle. I noticed something in the bushes near the creek. At that exact moment, CL yells "Chris, you gotta see this!" I walk back to the bridge and he points to a cell phone and notepad sitting on the bridge. This isn't just any cell phone and notepad, it's HIS! He had lost both the last time we were up here and surprisingly it was still there. He had no idea where he had lost them and we were joking throughout the whole trip that we might find his phone somewhere along the way. Amazing. Then I went back to find out what I had spotted in the bushes when he called me over. There I found a pretty nice PUR water filter. After the excitement we started heading down the nice knee-saving graded roadbed. Eventually we made it back down to the bikes and the main road. From here it was a downhill coast back to the car. All in all this was an amazing trip. Definitely an experience builder as this was our first "alpine rock" climb. Sorry it was so long winded.

Oh hey, someone needed to put me in my place, that is one point of reference that I never checked while determining my "STEELO". I always "Bow down" when it comes to the d o gg y d o gg ya see.

Hey I'm the same way, except I left out the Beyatch and just left the BOOYAA!!!!

Hammer/Pax - Maybe it was your comment on the trail regitser. "Booya Beyatch" or something along those lines. Classy

Don't forget the zombies, maybe those played into the chosen name a bit?

Check Here

I'm not exactly sure what conditions are like right now, but I think that with all of this fresh snow that has fallen recently self arrest would be pretty easy even without an ice axe. The soft snow would probably facilitate easier learning as it wouldn't take as much to stop yourself.

I'm not sure what the road conditions are like right now up to the Upper Big Quilcene Trailhead (for Marmot Pass) but I would think that the road into Staircase would be more reliable.

There's not really any avy danger up to the lakes as you're in the trees the whole time. Should you decide to venture up higher from there you'll probably run into some questionable slopes, but it's easy to stay in safe terrain. Have fun wherever you go.

Now now Sobo, he hasn't bolted the crap out of it , most placements have been chosen wisely. But he will have good tips.

Is that a recent photo?

Another idea would be to buy a chunk of plywood, drill holes, insert t-nuts, and use gym holds. This would be much more versatile but probably wouldn't look as pretty.

Link

First the speeding ticket, now an accident (probably not your fault ) Either you have really bad luck or you're a horrible driver.

Did you read that link that wazzumountaineer posted? By the way thanks for that link.