John Frieh

Spungdeeper: If you think that is hot you should check out astro elephant (5.10- ; 10 pitches) on the perch (one valley over)... hotness... I’ll try to dig out some slides. IF: I’m a little embarrassed about the visor… I am a huge helmet advocate as I haven’t met anyone willing to feed me apple sauce the rest of my life assuming I do take a head shot sans a helmet but... in a rush to get out of town I forgot it... best I could do was the visor... When you headed out? Got some routes picked out?

Easily worth the 9 hour drive (10 with time zone change) from PDX... And if one considers the other climbs in the sawtooths it's amazing the area doesn't see more traffic (I have never seen anyone else on the finger).

Climb: Liberty Bell/North Early Winter Spire-LB: nw face/NEWS: w face & nw corner Date of Climb: 7/17/2004 Trip Report: Brock, Mackenzie and I climbed first the w. face of NEWS, followed by the nw corner of NEWS and finally the NW face of LB. Employing the use of 70 m half ropes we were able to link a number of pitches in a single lead: For the w. face of NEWS we linked: - 1 and 2 (easily done with a 60 m) - 3, 4 and 5 (with a 60 m one might be able to reproduce this though it would be close… at least 3 and 4 with a 60 m) - 6 and 7 (unlikely to link with a 60 m though I expect most will free solo 7 as it goes at 5.0). For the nw corner of NEWS we linked: - 1 and 2 again (nw corner shares first pitch with w. face) - we did not link pitch 3 to anything - ran 4 and 5 together (barely… not recommended due to rope drag issues; I think linking 3 and 4 would be better) For the NW face of LB we linked: - 1 and 2 (unlikely with a 60 m) - 3 and most of 4 (3 is almost 60 m on its own) Misc: - simul seconded all pitches using a reverso - Brock and McKenzie's first time on all 3 routes! w00t! Gear Notes: LB nw face: gear to 3ish" NEWS w face: gear to 3ish" NEWS nw corner: gear to 4ish" (Mac placed his 4.5 camalot for the first time!) Approach Notes: Mosquitoes!

Sorry these took so long (full size in my gallery)… I have some more slides I need to find and scan from 2003. I can’t emphasize how awesome this climb is… I hope the pics give you somewhat of an idea… pm me if you want any other info. Approach: start of 2: Top of 2: Pitch 5 porn: More pitch 5 porn: Pandora following 5: Top of 5/summit block:

Belay slave.

Hindsight is 20/20. I apologize to all for my ego… it’s both an asset and a handicap for me and something I constantly work at decreasing… (obviously I’m still working at it). If you want to heckle/tease/fight/etc me in person I will be at Seattle pub club tonight (7/13). I honestly do have the biner and would swap it with the owner for a story.

Congrats Jens! Do you do the ice cliff or drop in from the N. ridge? I'd love to do the route again; how about we team up for a run?

Headed there this weekend and probably next weekend (maybe we can connect?). I have topos for all the routes on Elephants perch, finger of fate, etc etc for routes that are just scrambles up to 5.11 multipitch. PM me with a email address and I can email them to you.

So I should go ahead and post 50+ photos of belay ledges, etc? My though was with this large amount of info that I could mail a CD to anyone who asked. Sorry if this comes across as secretive...

That is the second and third pitch. I traversed left after that pic was taken. Hence the clean description.

1) No. I suck. Flame on… 2) The pillar itself (the 3 pitches after the bivy ledge) appeared unaltered to me and would lead me to conclude that the piece that fell off was not part of the pillar. I did manage to pull off some loose shit on the first pitch on the pillar (largest piece being the size of my torso). Furthermore I pulled through some serious looseness that stayed in place mid pitch. On that note I would encourage people to pull test all gear (especially cams) prior to moving along as I found a few when pulled on generated some expando. For reference the first pitch is the one pictured in the Nelson book (being aided in the winter; the leader is roughly 30 ft off the belay ledge in the pic). I would say the first pillar pitch is thee dirties of the 3 (some plants and moss, choss in cracks… but well worth it I would say). The second two are cleaner than just about any pitch on the n. ridge and for that matter cleaner than many at most crags (11worth, smith, etc.). In regard to the 2 16 y.o. comments; I agree that most of the guidebook descriptions out there are vague (I think “poor” was there comment - correct?). Nelson negated to rate the first pitch; it felt 10+ to me. Obviously whether or not Nelson or any other guidebook author out there should or shouldn’t provide this information is a debate that belongs somewhere else on this page. Like I said in my TR above I agree with this move as it puts more of the burden and responsibility on the party. In response to the vagueness issue: Ron and I have enough photos to draw a topo as well as create a pictorial representation of points of interest on both the pillar as well as the n. ridge access we used. I hesitate to post it here after the abuse I received… but then again I probably deserved it… he who exults himself shall be humbled. Like I said earlier: if you are considering an ascent and want beta contact me. I can share all I have as well as give you the names of people who helped me (thanks again to those people). Finally (and I’m still trying to determine this… I will probably go climb the pillar again in the next month to try and confirm this) I believe Ron and I gained the pillar differently than most people do (I think we traversed in more instead of a more direct line); as we approached the pillar we saw 2 potential access lines and chose the cleaner looking one (which it was). Additionally I think we topped out differently also (we didn’t find any 5.8). But who knows?

Sweet climb, huh?

Last time I checked rainier doesn't have any climbing routes on it... unless you think hiking at altitude is climbing... Good work boss and captain tim!

got some dirt on my shoulder...

Car to car is the only way to go!

Addendum: Slander, Self promotion, slander, and NOLSe party lines Mad props/shout outs to: - Girth Pillar was Ron’s 1st grade V! w00t! - Illini (Jason another newbie to the site but not climbing) for hooking Ron up with some gear he needed for the trip. - Skyclimb and GregD (welcome to the site Greg!) for both the laugh and time conformation in the middle of my mind numbing last lead on the pillar as well as putting up with my “jesus saves brother” and cowboy yee haws that echoed through the cirque during my leads -GregD for the sweet photo he snagged of Ron and I on the pillar: link - The poop gods for blessing me and especially Ron with regular timely visits that didn’t interfere with other scheduled activities (like leading) - Everyone (you know who you are) who hooked me up with beta (true or not), encouragement, skepticism (quote: “I completely disagree with your strategy”), and pictures. People like you make this site worth while. No love for: - Me for forgetting the iodine tabs. - Ron for deciding to save weight mid trip by removing (see: losing) the bite valve to his camelbak - Emergency space blankets are so suck and windproof for about 10 minutes. Mmmm… open bivies. Etc. - I opted to take a 900 c.i. bag for 2 days. As this amounted to not much storage (even though I didn’t bring a sleeping bag among other things), I had to literally wear just about everything the entire trip (rack, ropes, jackets around my wasted, socks on my harness, etc) so I looked like a walking yard sale most of the weekend. Gaper!

Climb: Mt. Stuart-girth pillar Date of Climb: 7/3/2004 Trip Report: First things first: I debated posting this for a number of reasons - I have never personally posted a TR (unless you count this one). - I already chest beat way too much as it is. - Finally a few other cc users have climbed this route and opted to not post a TR (which I still kinda question why… I wonder if I am breaking some commandment with this TR). But… as you can see at the end of the day I decided too as I feel other possible pillar suitors would benefit from the beta I obtained from both climbing this route as well as the large amount that was offered to me from some truly kind, humble (something I could learn) users of this site (more on that below). I attempted to quarantine my self advertisement to the addendum (which appears below) such that one can quantify their own conclusions about gp without having to wade through lines of self promotion, slander, and NOLSe party lines (though I don’t know how successful I was). As this is my first official TR; please feel free to communicate feedback to me: publicly or privately. Finally, between Ron K. (Ron just joined the site yesterday as castlecrag) and myself; we took over 100 photos of the route, either on the pillar or from the N. Ridge. Of these almost all are either overview shots (the entire pillar, the ice cliff, etc.) which could be used for route finding or are close ups of individual landmarks on the route (belay stations ledges, bivy ledges, etc) so that one can easily recognize it once on the route. If you look at any of the current guide books that feature gp, you will find a (in my layman opinion) lack of specifics for the route. I’m not criticizing this decision; if anything I agree with it as it prevents gumpy punters (that’s for you ML) from bootin’ up on the route (“d00d… it’s only 5.11c… I onsited that at PRG last week… we can just rent some axes from REI”). However it will save those who do try some time and brain activity by avoiding the question “am I off route”? With that said: get a hold of me if you are planning on this route. I will try to help you as much as I can with photos and beta. So with out further ado: Approched from Teanaway River road (Cle Elum/South) side to Goat pass. Traversed Stuart Glacier and gained N. Ridge via the north ridge access couloir (on east side of ridge). Descended from almost the exact point where access couloir tops the ridge (where a few of the bivy sites are… no climbing on the actual ridge was done) via mostly 4th class rock (mostly solid) with the occasional 5th class move. If you try to reproduce this; chances are your mileage (difficulty) of downclimbing will vary as a number of options existed. Generally Ron and I traversed slightly to the right as we descended. I do have a number of photos from both the top of the ridge looking down, in the middle of the descent, and looking at it from the pillar that I can share. We opted to do a short 20 m rap (though it was not required) onto the ice cliff glacier as a healthy moat existed so this was the safest option to gain the glacier. This descent deposited us above the bulk of the ice cliff difficulties so that only mellow glacier travel (two crevasse end runs were all of the technicalities) separated us from the pillar access point (so mellow that Ron did the snow portion in sneakers with old skool smc strap on crampons…style points!). I should point out that where one gains the upper ice cliff cirque is right in the firing line of the north east slabs (they hold snow until late in the season… if you have ever been on the n. side and heard the cannon shot sounds… that’s them releasing). With that said; one can run through this debris field in under a minute (its small); just time it correctly. As I did not know what to expect from the ice cliff (many people were telling me I had already missed the window this year) I opted for two technical tools, crampons and boots (which matched with my shorts for the weekend earned some funny looks on the trail). I would encourage everyone else to do the same (be prepared for hard ice climbing); it would be a shame to walk all that way only to have to turn around because of one crevasse that one couldn’t climb through as one opted for sneakers. With that said Ron and I could have both done the ice cliff in sneakers and one tool each. In regards to others comments about the ice cliff season being out for the year; I would remind them that the ice cliff was a common hard man climb in Oct. back in the 70’s so if they could back then, anyone should be able to access the girth at any time with modern tools. Following the glacier portion we gained the rock and in 3 short pitches (could have been 2 but we broke it into 3 to reduce rope drag and rope contact with some looseness). Here we found the bivy site which is right below the pillar. Currently a 100 square meter snow patch exists and is available for melting snow. The pillar itself is both everything and nothing I expected. I could go on and on here but it wouldn’t do it any justice… it would be the equivalent of trying to verbalize what Gorecki’s 3rd Symphony sounds like to someone without letting them listen to it. I will say I concur with others impressions of the route: the best route in the cascades I have climbed. Minor details: I was able to run the 2nd and 3rd pitch together with a beal (I mention this only because I know 70 m lengths vary from vendor to vendor) 70 m rope. I wish I had brought doubles in orange alien, # 1 and 2 camalots. Pure granite pornography. Following the pillar top out; we simuled to the top: once again mileage (difficulty) will vary. Ron and I found low to mid 5th class terrain to the top. We sorted gear, giggled and descended via the standard Cascadian couloir to Longs and out. Upper cirque access from NR via downclimbing: It's gotta be the da shoes! Burritos + curry = warm (natural gas) and happy First pitch Ron tops the pillar: Gear Notes: - extra medium rock rack to 3 “ (largest piece we took was a 3.5 camalot which we used a couple times)… I would encourage one to err on the side of a larger rack - 8.1 mm 70 m half ropes - 2 technical tools, crampons (both for me… I could have gotten by with one standard axe) - 1 standard ice axe, strap ons (Ron) - 2 ice screws, 2 pickets (didn’t use either) - supervillain bandanas! Approach Notes: see above

Lambone: I try and return booty I find as it's no use to me (I don't know the items history so using it would be asking for it). On the other hand; the individual that left/lost the item does know the items history so they can make the decision whether or not they will continue to use it. Normally I toss bail biners, but this one was obviously new(er) due to both the make of the biner as well as the lack of fading on the tape. So perhaps its still usable… And above all; I'd just like to track down the previous owner so I can trade some stories... getting beta for this route was like pulling teeth... so swapping someone their biner for a good story is a win win (at least in my book). Sorry to waste everyone's time trying to return something to someone. GregW: as long as Layton is on this page there will be no pub club booty for me… boys got a monopoly

"What time is it?" I was wondering where you guys were on Saturday… Ron and I thought we saw you (or at least your headlamps) around 3 am near Ingalls Lake from Stuart Pass... must have been some else. Good work on the climb; I took some photos of you 2 on the slab pitch... once I get my slides back and scanned I can email them to you if you want.

d) all of the above You will make a good lawyer d00d!

Whatever. It's called karma.

Guess which route I climbed... Here's a hint: 1st pitch:

Whose system? BD or Petzl?

Found on second pitch attached to a # 7 BD stopper. Couldn't get the nut but I got your biner. Identify the taping scheme (colors & pattern) and I'll gladly return it.