markwebster

I met Ammon two years ago in Jtree when he shared our campsite. He is a super fun guy to hang out with. He can tell a story like no one I've ever met. He recently had a base jumping accident. He put a big post on facebook, explaning it all in detail. But he also posted a youtube video. It bears watching. We think our adrenaline sports are safe...but there can be a price to pay. I'm not judging him, or base jumping as an activity...just sharing the news. He needs all the support we can give him. GRUESOME VIDEO - NOT FOR THE WEAK OF STOMACH [video:youtube]

21-ML-94280-ML- The shark has been jumped, and Dwayner's via ferrata photo is the last straw. This thread is now spray.

Good points mostly, I stand corrected. A couple routes I don't see as having tr anchors in your list. Canary doesn't really have a TR anchor...you have to at least put in a directional. Someone will probably "fix" that soon. Damnation doesn't really have a TR anchor, DDD anchor is off to the left...I've never tried to access it as it seems off route. I always go to top of Jello, which I think is too high for a 60 TR? Crack of Doom used to finish off right up towards Canary pitch 2, or that's perhaps just me doing it wrong. It is thin going right. The fault, last time I did it last year just had that bad tied off bush. Is there a new anchor there too? Overall though I think you are right. It will be nice to see some of Castles routes get more traffic. And hell, I like Smith rocks. It's handy to be able to rap off everything. As far as the top ropers, it's the wave of the future. Us old has beens that remember the old days are pointless. Perhaps the same person will finally put a good TR anchor on Penny Lane, no reason not to right? As far as Careno, I have neither bolted, cleaned or climbed the route my friends put up there. I went up one day with them to climb Bale Kramer. On the way down they said they wanted to work on their route. I took some pictures and video of their bolting and cleaning efforts. I suspect it may be a good route, but I don't climb that hard, so I will leave it to others to judge.

Does anyone know why there is a new rap station on South Face Jello tower? It appeared this spring, or last fall. Since it went up, I've been seeing more people top roping South Face, and The Nose, both of which can be accessed from this new rap station. I have mixed feeling about this. I used it to rap off, it's handy. But this makes it even easier for the gangbanger crowd to take over these lovely routes. One leader, do a smith rock sport lower and line up your none leading friends for a morning of Top Roping. If this new station gets left in place, we will soon see one on Damnation, and possibly Angel, not to mention many others. Castle used to be a place where you could only climb if you knew how to lead multipitch routes. Building TR anchors with gear is tedious and exacting, so most people didn't come to Castle for Top Roping. Quite honestly there seemed to be a better class of people up on Castle. You had to know your stuff, pay your dues. There is also a brand new convenience anchor on Brass Balls. Totally unneeded. I can see a king swing going in there once word gets around. This is one of the new anchor bolts on the Brass Balls anchor, perfectly good crack right beside it, and yes, I clipped it: I've never been into bolt chopping...and I have no plans to start now...but this is a trend that could completly change the character of Castle Rock.

One last photo, kind of summs up the trip. Me and a Mikes at the Squamish Rec Center, James in the background.

Yupp, I go through a lot of cabbage. Say howdy next time. It's fun to put a face to the name. I feel like we've met out there somewhere...

The pleasure was mine. I like sharing my photos, and it's a way to give back after enjoying the trip reports from other peoples adventures. I'm sad to report that my skill is already fading away. I've often thought that climbing skill is like cabbage in the refrigerator. Cabbage is best eaten fresh, though you can still use it up to about 2 weeks. After that, forget about it. And the fridge gets worse as you get older. Got spanked leading Brass Balls this weekend. Got up it...but jeez, quite the sh*t show.

Love the climbing life for sure. I'm too old to worry about climbing hard stuff...friends don't let friends climb elevens! Still it's awesome to get comfortable on stuff that usually scares me. I got so I could get in the zone pretty much on demand, and that's hard to do as a weekend warrior. Regarding Boomstick, I did not know that. Be harder to place gear bending down, plus that thing is a super fun handrail. James didn't place any gear for 60 feet, which would have meant a deck for me...but it was so fun I didn't care.

Trip: Squamish - smith - trout - running from the rain Date: 9/1/2013 Trip Report: Now that the rains have arrived I've slowed down enough to post some pictures from my 18 day road trip. I get 9 weeks off a year, and these breaks between quarters are so long I seem to live two separate lives. Not that I'm complaining though. I vividly remember my job hopping years when I was lucky to get one week a year. My plan was to find one partner to accompany me the whole time, but that fell through. I ended up climbing with 9 different partners over the trip. So without further adieu, here is the story and pictures (Canon 6D) I started Labor Day weekend in Squamish with a new partner I met here on CC.com. Internet dating at it's best! I'd never met Aaron before, but he had climbed with Laurel, and any friend of Laurel is a friend of mine. Aaron and I warmed up on cat crack at Neat and Cool, Smoke Bluffs. I saw this guy doing a fine job leading Flying Circus. He said he was a local, but we never managed to hook up so I could get him these photos. A couple weeks later when I was warmed up I also led this fine 10a finger crack, with twice as much gear. The moves on this one are super fun. It looks impossible until you get right up to the jams, they are mostly tiny, just big enough for a couple finger tips. Fortunately the feet never disappear completely. Chris had a spot at the rec center, these guys had an outdoor movie, screen, projector and chinese lanterns. Aaron's friends Andrew and Sheila met us at Penny Lane. Here they team belay Aaron. Earlier that day Andrew had cleanly led Yorkshire Gripper 11b and Crime of the Century 11c. He tried to onsight Split Beaver later that evenin, but the Beaver doesn't give away it's charms easily. I've led that thing twice with a couple hangs and was surprised to find it easy while cleaning Andrews gear. I think I'm ready to lead it cleanly. Chris came up with her growing family. It's always awesome to see her. She has two kids now, but she still manages to make time for climbing. This girl climbs *hard* off the couch. MD, mother, wife, amazing crack climber, I don't know how she does it all so well. Right before the rain chased us all out of Squamish Chris and I did some sport climbing on the dry cliff under Big Show roof at Cheakamus Canyon. I led Savage Beagle 10a, and she led Kigijiushi 10C. I caught some whippers on that one, brave lead! She is wearing my antique helmet, having forgotten hers. That Sterling 10.7 she is tied into has lasted over a year...it's heavy but super burly. With all my partners gone, and rain in Squish, I drove to Tacoma, picked up Kyle and Kevin and headed to Smith. Kevin rapping off Lions Jaw 5.8. Both these guys are firefighters, I'm assuming they work out. His friends call him *Sir Abs-a-lot*. We spent a day at the lower gorge beating ourselves up on Cruel Sister and her cousins. Someday I will lead that darn route clean. Kyle led on sighted Karate in beautiful style. I've been hearing about Trout Creek for years. Sketchy and Laurel offered to give us a tour. Sketchy following a 5.8 at Trout Creek Trout is nice but what they don't tell you is that the approach is so long and steep that you need to leave your gear at the cliff when you leave at night. We only spent one day there, but I didn't feel it was that much better than the lower gorge at Smith, or Royal Columns at Tieton, both of which have much shorter approaches. Distance wise, the car is about where the farthest glimpse of the river is in this photo, though it is actually to skier's right. Kyle leading a 10- at Trout Laurel hanging out at Trout. Between Sketchy and Laurel, I'm guessing one of them knows every rock climber in the state. The weather was improving and Kyle had to go back to work. I drove back to Tacoma and picked up James for the return trip to Squamish where we met Marty and Ed. Ed had just returned from a 9 day backpacking trip in the North Cascades with Yoder. My friend Marty is a pretty amazing guy. He led Liberty ridge on his 60th birthday and climbs hard right off the couch. Someone is on a cool road trip at the smoke bluffs parking lot: Marty leading Delicious Dimples 10b right of Deidre. It's a bit runnout, but seems relatively safe for an apron slab route. Ed following the 10b. Ed has been climbing since Lincoln was president. I used to tease him about bringing lawn chairs tent camping. He's upgraded now to his Airstream Bambi, but he still pulls down pretty hard. He rescued me off a run out slab climb in the city. Guy has some brass ones. After Ed and Marty left, James and I got 3 pitches up Rock On before chickening out. We heard since that you can french free the crux...shoulda' kept going. Next day we discovered the awesome St. Vitus Dance 5.9. This may be the best long hand crack I've ever done. It goes and goes and goes, yellow and blue camalots for over 120 feet. I got over confident, running stuff out since it was so easy, and then it went to offwidth...yikes. Man I love that crack, far better than Calculus crack. James following the stellar layback flake called Karens Math 10a. It ends on Memorial Ledge, right below Memorial Crack, which would put you 8 pitches up. Not a bad pitch in the bunch, and nothing harder than 10a, most 9 and under. Memorial ledge gear sorting and lunch break. James leading Boomstick crack, a lovely 5.8 flake above Broadway ledge. These friend folks had just done Banana Peel, they were celebrating with a beer on top in the evening light: There is a nice Camp 4 like community at the campground below the cheif, the views out over Howe Sound are breathtaking. We made friends with Dave from Seattle, and they guided us over to Malemute the next morning Yuki (and Will) from Ontario, following a cool 10a crack at Malemute. The winds kicked up and got nasty this day, shortly followed by rain. We drove to Leavenworth and spent a fun day on Castle climbing Canary, Damnation and South Face. Damnation felt easy after all that crack climbing at Squamish. On our last day, we climbed Bale-Kramer. That start is getting slick as hell. Six years ago it felt 5.9, now it's more of a desperate boulder problem.Here James is topping out on pitch 2. I had always avoided leading that one after backing off several times. Thanks to Squish it felt easy. James following pitch 3. That 10b crack is stiff when you are rusty, but so easy when you are warmed up. Love that thing. James led the last pitch, which I thought was hard was hell. That thing is desperate for 10a. Gear Notes: I had my standard rack of doubles up two 4, plus a 5, two big bro's and a #9 valley giant. I have 4 yellow #2's for long hand cracks. Regarding border crossings: Don't bring citrus fruit or firewood across the Canadian Border, or if you do, don't admit it. We had a charming visit with the US customs service as they searched my truck for another deadly orange or potato. Approach Notes: Spend a small fortune to buy gas between Squamish, Smith, Squamish, Leavenworth. Someone needs to build a retractable awning over the lower town wall at Index.

Weather permitting, I will be at Squamish starting this Saturday through the 18th. I lead trad up through the nines, a few easy tens. Pictures from my last summer here: http://www.websterart.com/html/summer2012.html I'm on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/unkle.mark.3 253-209-oh seven six six If weather goes bad, I'd be down for smith, or the city, or points south. I've got a car.

A bunch of us from Seattle and Tacoma went up to Squamish for the weekend. We took two video cameras: 7D DSLR and a Fugi rangefinder. We captured some decent footage of Craig leading "Something short", a 10D finger crack at Spiderfly crag, Smoke Bluffs (down below Penny Lane). My footage is shaky in places, left the tripod in the car. This was my first time shooting down the cliff from above my climber. Many of you may know Ritchie, the belayer. He also goes by Sketchy. Click the video to watch it in HD at youtube. [video:youtube]

Great read! For a number of reasons, I use the Metolius Safe Tech Harness. It has one continuous piece of webbing all the way around, though it is sewn at the buckle. Perhaps a bit heavy, but burly as hell. I do love my chalk bag back up harness. One inch webbing, tie into it for both belaying and rapping. This way I always have 5 feet of one inch webbing (water knot) for retreats, or raps off anchors with no chain. And I can pull my chalk around to the front in a chimney. One thing they didn't mention is jumper cables. My buddy had his rope in the trunk one time, laying right on top of the jumper cables. That rope didn't kill us...but something to keep in mind...the trunk of a car is not the safest place. As he said, keep your climbing gear in a bag, maybe even a plastic bin, and away from any chemicals. I also try to never set my gear down on the bare ground in parking lots, or out in garages.

Sue and I will be there a week. White Rav4 with a wood rack on top.

it is just past Smoky Mountain Campground which is here: http://www.nps.gov/ciro/planyourvisit/smoky-mountain-campground.htm For BLM camping, instead of turning left into smoky mountain campground, continue straight up the road, which gets very rocky. Access in a 2 wheel drive car is scary, but people do it. the camping up there is free, and unregulated. People leave their tents up for a week. City of rocks is my new Yosemite. Closer drive, closer bolts, less crowded, great cracks, lots of domes for sun or climbing in the shade, ton's of moderates (under 5.10)...what's not to like? We will be there Friday...site 50, in the city proper. Stop in and say hi!

Nicely written, cool pictures!

I've said this before...but teaching your children how to climb is a mixed bag. As was said above, it gives them a relatively healthy activity. Dangerous, but not as bad many of the other things kids get into, like motocross...or drugs. I had that exact conversation with Ron Kawk at the base of Yosemite falls. We both raised young men who climbed, and experienced similar guilt toward leading them into something other than golf. Kids are going to gravitate toward adrenaline activities anyway. You can do worse than leading them into one that has a lot of built in safety. It hasn't killed us yet right? But don't do it to get a guaranteed partner. My son went his own way, and rarely climbs now. But he did turn out to be a very solid and active young man. My daughter also got a lot out of climbing, and still climbs. It gets them out of the house to experience the beauty of the outdoors, and high places in particular. They learn to be brave, and to put absolute trust in their partners...you can do worse.

Congrats Marty! I was scared to do that one at 30, never mind 60. You da man!

I went over to Leavenworth with a bunch of Tacoma and Seattle climbers for Memorial Day. I'm getting into Video and hauled a camera (7D), mic and monopod up Bale Kramer. My friends are working on a new 4 pitch route on Careno. I have footage of that, plus some fireball inspired music around the campfire. It is in HD. [video:vimeo]67446749 On a related note, I was unhappy with the monopod and just bought a 1.6 pound Gitzo Mountaineer tripod. My next video should be considerably better.

I'm a late arrival to this post, but Bills idea of stuff in the zipper of the chalkbag is awesome. I love that single sheet of tp. Make it a paper towel in a baggie and you'd be set. Larry Kemp taught me years ago to tie my chalk bag on with 1 inch webbing. I use a double loop now. It's long enough to tie around a large tree for emergency rappelling. I also clip/tie into it while rappeling and belaying to avoid a Todd Skinner style accident. I've started making my own chalk bags. There aren't hard. I make them with leather collars on the top and bottom so they last forever.

loverly shot!

Awesome write up! Impressive that you hauled the ski's and a big camera up too. I did that decades ago in January...I still remember the terror of downclimbing Gib chute. One of our guys fell there, we barely stopped him. Well done.

awesome photos!

I like that: "Living a full life". I read an interview with Tony Curtis years ago. He had a great quote: "I'd like to live my life so completely, that when the grim reaper steals into my house like a thief in the night, there will be nothing left for him to steal." Words to live by.

I am definitely a jack of all trades, master of none. But you are right, painting is the trickiest one. I find all kinds of reasons to avoid it...sometimes for years. But somewhere in my head, locked up in a closet is a little artist man. When he starts banging on that door, I have to let him out to play. Of all my hobbies, painting is the most rewarding, with climbing a close second. It's a weird combo. Painting makes something that lasts forever, and exists outside of time. Climbing is totally pointless, will quite likely maim or kill me someday, and is completely forgotten on Monday morning. Go figure...it's a weird old world.

Trip: Joshua Tree for Xmas 2012-13 - many Date: 12/16/2013 Trip Report: I couldn't find a partner for the first week, so I drove down solo in 28 hours, to find Hidden Valley full. I camped at Ryan for two days while I painted landscapes in Hidden Valley and watched for a spot to open up. People are always freaking out about getting a spot down there, but all you have to do is hang out around the loop for a few days and you see when people are packing up to leave. While I was painting, I began to meet the local climbers, who would stop to admire my work. Soon, I had some friends to climb with. By the time I met AJ and Brian, I was having so much fun painting I really didn't care about the climbing. So I'd climb a day, then paint a day, then paint half a day, and climb half a day. It was lovely mixing hobbies. I get no respect at all as a climber. I'm just not very good. I climb ok for an old guy, but I get way more respect as a painter. Not that I need respect...I can paint in a vacuum and be perfectly happy, but it's nice to have people admire my work. It's sort of a validation in a way, that what I am doing is worthwhile. This one took me 3 days, about 4 hours a day 10 am to 2 pm. I climbed for a day, doing routes like double cross and the flake, but I was missing the painting, so I took a day off to paint this second painting. Actually, it was two days, but separated by a few more days of climbing: I may have got a few of the colors wrong, I'll let you decide. This is how my newer camera saw it: I think of my painting backpack as a 400 year old camera with a 10 hour exposure time and a really bad lens. A rest morning. Dave and Brian playing chess, me working on a painting, AJ organizing some boxes. Dave is quite the chess player, I overheard tems like: "The Ivonich start, leading with the kings pawn." I shot this at f 1.8, with my 50mm lens on my Canon 7D. Brian following AJ up the Flake 5.8 Intersection Rock. A.J. is in med school, studying to be a Neurosurgeon. I met them when they saw me painting and asked if they could share my site. They persuaded me to stop painting and go climbing. They needed a someone to show them around. I was happy to oblige :-) These two were fine fellows, and very funny together. They paddled the Mississippi together in a canoe. A.J. leading Double Cross, probably the best moderate hand crack at jtree: Brian coiling rope after Damper on Chimney rock. It really did get that hot: Most of my regular climbing partners showed up after the first week. This is Craig, belaying Ryan on Double Cross. My wife and I did that super easy 6 on the Blob over by Hobbit Roof, this is the view from the rap station. Don't bother rapping, our ropes got stuck bad. Much better to do the normal walk off. Our campsite,#7 is the group of 4 cars, and the yellow tent at the bottom of the photo. I painted Chimney rock from that parking lot. There are 5 great moderate routes on Chimney, we climbed the sunny ones: Pinched Rib, Damper 5.9, and West Face Overhang 5.7. I did that last one in one pitch, bad rope drag. And of course that freakin' space station. There were people free soloing up to that thing at all hours of the night. You can just barely see a few climbers in there in this photo. Toby showed up, a friend of Craigs. Toby is an architectural engineer. Fun lady to hang out with. Merica came down again. She is on a bolt route in Indian Cove: The always entertaining Micah. Here she is plotting how to wake up Craig, who likes to sleep in. My wife Sue in the middle, Ryan on the right. Our neighbor was John G... John is an old school climber. He was scampering around Intersection rock without a rope like it was his back yard. We got used to seeing John and his friends in their climbing duds, he seemed to know everyone. One day we drove up to the site and there he and his lady were, all dressed up. We heard they were going out for a night on the town. That was a pretty spectacular sight to see, they are quite the pair, and they definitely know how to have fun! He had a 7 piece band, complete with 3 guitars, a cello, a slide steel guitar, and a mandolin. They let me sit in on a couple songs with my harp...until the ranger busted us for over 6 people in a site. Craig with his unfinished portrait. We have been plotting this for a couple years. It's boring sitting around the campfire all night, and it's night at 5pm. We concocted a plan last year where he would knit while I painted him by campfire light. It never happened last year, but this year we made it happen. There were about 8 people around the fire while I painted this. We had two coleman lanterns, and the fire for light. My hands froze repeatedly to the point I had to unthaw them by the fire. We did the grand tour one night: Iron Door cave, Hobbit Hole, and Chasm of Doom. This is Craig bouldering at Hobbit Hole, in socks...about 31 degrees. He made it up. Stoners ledge, Chasm of Doom, Midnight, December 30th. Ryan, Nick, Micah, Craig and Dianne and me. I occasionally stumble on moments of absolute perfection...this was one. Good friends, stars for forever and absolute silence. 30 second time exposure by moonlight: Craig leading Pocket Pool, 5.11d, Indian Cove, next to La Reina: Pocket Pool crux: John had a secret santa gift exchange, it was supposed to be a $10 dollar limit, I got this cam. Craig took this shot of me and Sue on top of Indian Cove: And just for fun, here is me and Sue on top of Intersection Rock, 33 years earlier: My best day of climbing was probably the day I led Popes Crack and Touch and Go, with my partner Nick leading Stick To What. Love jtree!! Gear Notes: full rack Approach Notes: short