markwebster

If you can lead moonshine, you can get up Cruel Sister (10A/B), which is quite possibly the best hand crack at Smith. I'm not sure about the TR...you may have to slog up it with some aid, and then TR. There are some easier ones, 7, 8, 9, down to the left past the catwalk, as well as a super cool offwidth...bring a 4, 5 and a big bro.

I unlocked my ham radio so it can transmit on all the channels it's not supposed to. Like marine and the government channels. It's a simple firmware update. I don't know if I can talk to airplanes. But 5 Watts is all the rangers have. Search for ham test online. it helps you pass the test. Radio waves can go uphill better than a cell signal.but height is always king.

There are several ham radio repeaters south of Mt. Rainier. And you can find the rangers frequency if you do some research, though it is illegal to transmit on that frequency...rumor has it they will ignore you unless it is a real emergency. In an emergency, it is legal to transmit on ham bands, even if you don't have a license. My friend Todd (owner of edgeworks) told me that my ham radio: http://www.powerwerx.com/wouxun-radios/kg-uv3d-dual-band.html should reach a Portland repeater from Paradise. I've just recently programmed in all the repeaters south of Rainier. I plan to test it out. A $100 ham radio is a lot cheaper than the alternatives. 7 year old girls have passed the license test, it's easy. From Gig Harbor, I've talked to a guy in Spokane, via the Tiger Mountain repeater with that radio. They are 5 watts, which beats the heck out of those little "20 mile" radios at REI. Cell phones transmit at a maximum power of 3 watts. I've sold all my long range ham gear...but I'm keeping that little Wouxan...that thing is cool.

smith does look bad. Vantage is looking ok, though there will be less sun than two weeks ago. Bring warm clothes and hand warmers. I'm going to be at Vantage, probably at the sunshine wall.

You can come up with statistics that answer that question regarding driving, see above. But common sense pokes a big flaw in statistics. Statistically, I am overdue for an accident. I haven't bent a car since 1979, nor has my wife, or either of my kids. Chances are I will hit someone on the drive home tonight. But tonight, just like every night I will keep my eyes on the road, I won't answer my cell phone if it rings, and I will constantly check my mirrors for aggressive drivers putting me in peril. So even though statistics and "the odds" are telling me I am overdue for an accident, I will continue driving carefully, and probably be ok. Same thing with climbing. I've overdue to break another ankle...did that in '79, must have been a bad year. But as I do every time I rope up, I will obsessively check all knots and harnesses. I will tie through my chalk bag back up harness. I will place twice as much pro as my partners. I will retire my ropes twice as early. And I will climb like an old lady...a bold old lady. I'll probably be ok, even though I'm sure the odds are against me. I know a lot of older climbers with decades of experience. We don't get hurt, we just get old, like Fred. There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots. Anyone wanna' go climbing with an old lady? Presidents day at Vantage or Smith, be there or be square!

This is one of the better threads in a while. Some great writing about this dangerous sport we love...to death in some cases. About 4 years ago I was at the base of Sunnyside Jam crack, 5.9 in Yosemite with my wife. We had just rapped down and I saw a guy walk up to do the climb who looked familiar. Then I noticed the hair, and the blue jeans and realized it was one of my heroes: Ron Kauk. I asked him if his last name was Kauk, he said yes, and we began to talk. I'd read that his son was climbing too, so I told him I also had a son, and wondered how he dealt with the stress of sending a son up a cliff. I'm paraphrasing, but this is what I said: you spend their whole life holding their hand at cross walks, keeping them safe from danger. Then they grow up and want to take up the family sport...and decide they are ready to lead something that is under protected...with a ledge fall potential. Ron pondered this for a while, and replied that while climbing is dangerous, at least our sons were headed toward something potentially positive, and healthy, as opposed to drugs, or many other directions teenagers can go. I've gotten to the acceptance stage. I accept that climbing may kill, or gravely injure me...but the benefits out weigh the risks. I do what I can to make it as safe as possible using all the usual common sense tricks...and then I just climb. Don't overthink it, go climbing, nobody gets out alive anyway.

Just to play devils advocate here... If you had to choose just one thing, spend the 300 on a couple avalanche awareness classes. You need both the class and the beacon...but...if you learn enough to ski safely and stay off dangerous slopes, you don't necessarily have to have the beacon. People skied for years in perfect safety before beacons were invented. Common sense and knowledge can take you a long ways. That's been our approach. We did buy old pieps beacons 30 years ago, but they don't work with the new ones. Rather than buy new beacons, we stay on slopes under 30 degrees, and don't ski in dangerous avy conditions. This of course means we have a very limited terrain. Years ago we took an avy class from Ray Smutek. He took us up the skyline trail at Paradise to the base of Pan pt where we dug a snow pit. We traversed East below Pan down the Edith Creek drainage, over the wood bridge and back to Paradise. He told us that if the road was open, that loop would always be safe based on the slope angles. He said that if that loop was dangerous...they'd have the road closed because everything would be sliding. We've been living by that for the last 30 years of backcountry skiing. For you adventurous souls who ski the steep stuff...definitely buy the new beacons, shovels and probes. Learn to dig a pit and analyze the snow...and remember that if you are caught in an avalanche, there is a pretty big chance that your beacon will just make the body recovery faster. Avoiding steep slopes is our choice...unless we are skiing the lifts.

For winter climbing, look for highs upper thirties, sunny, no wind and check those traffic cams for fog. Vantage was awesome Sunday. Girls in tank tops, and a couple guys with no shirts. Just what the doctor ordered. Not sure what the actual air temp was, but I was too hot most of the day in sweats and a long sleeve shirt. There is a reflector oven effect that raises the forecast temperature. But, please, stay home and stay warm. We like our empty cliffs :-)

Hey Mike! I climbed with Austin this summer at Index and Squamish and asked him where you went, he didn't know. He is back in China now. China looks awesome! Crystal and I climbed at Vantage recently too, she graduates from medical school this March.Great to hear from you.

The crack climbing at Royal Columns at Tieton is ideal for a new crack climber. I've seen snakes in the sun at the base, but not on top. There is frequently loose rock there, but only as you top out. I guess the tops of the columns weather first? The cracks themselves are stellar. Where else can you find 5 cracks together under 5.8? The cracks undulate in and out, forming pockets that are perfect for hexes and stoppers. That 5.7 route called "mushmaker" is superb. Takes a ton of hand and fist sized gear, and it's basically a splitter, so you climb the crack or you don't get up. Also the cracks at Tieton don't have as much of that fractured look that is such a problem at Vantage. As long as you are extra cautious as you top out, and avoid the obvious loose blocks all will be good. I can't speak to the sport climbing at Tieton as I've never done any of it, but I have friends who love it. photos and trip report here about Tieton tieton tr

Some great input here on where to learn crack climbing, but one I've not seen mentioned yet is the new Vertical World gym in downtown Seattle. They have 4 cracks up there in most of the important sizes. There is a perfect handcrack like Classic Crack in Leavenworth...but better and longer. All the cracks are full wall height, which is around 45-ish feet. There is an off hands crack of about 1.25 inches. It's green camalot sized. You can't get your hands inside, you have to to use ringlocks or finger stacks. Next is the finger crack. Continuous perfect fingers for 45 feet...it may well be the best finger crack in the state. Last but not least is a layback flake, tons of fun. No, you can't lead them, but for practicing your technique, they are perfect. I've never been able to master ringlocks, but after 5 trips up that crack at Vertical World...I'm getting a lot better. It's a great place to spend a rainy day on the weekend, which is all we seem to be getting lately. Oh, the lead walls are very cool too, if you don't mind leading on plastic. Those 55 foot walls are tall! When you fall up there climbing across the ceiling it's some serious air time. When I was in jtree for xmas I saw a guy lead Orphan (5.9 offwidth) in hand jammies I'd always thought those things were a joke as only beginners wore them. He was very good, and said he wore them up the nose. I bought a pair on a whim and like them a lot. The savings in tape and convenience alone make them practical. They make that crack at Vertical World super easy, though people will laugh at you. But screw them. I've not given them a good workout on real rock yet, but I suspect they will be great. Pictures here: seattle vertical world gym on wordpress blog

LowLife...dude, where you been? Call me. We are heading up to one of the Seattle gyms Sunday. Too cold at Vantage. Craig took a bunch more climbing shots...he has them on Facebook.

forgot the best picture of the trip. Time exposure of site 27, hidden valley campground:

It's so lame to be sitting at this big glass screen, pushing on these little plastic keys. How can this compare to the happy go lucky life of a dirt bag rock climber? Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, but it doesn’t hold a candle to living the life of a dirt bag climber. The photos in this TR are more about the people I met climbing, rather than just the climbs we did together. For me, the camaraderie of climbing is just as important as the routes we did. So here it is, my yearly jtree for christmas TR: Do you know this Joni Mitchell song? “It’s coming on Christmas they’re cutting down trees Putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace I wish I had a river I could skate away on.” If you know that song, then you will understand when I say that Jtree was my river this year. I drove down with Merica and we climbed for a week in puffy weather. I exchanged Merica for Randy and Sue (my wife) on Christmas at the Palm Springs airport. Craig, Ashlie, Michael, Ammon McNeely, Vladimir and Des also showed up and stayed for all or parts of the trip. Merica showing me her rack...er, I mean her cams: Merica is a lovely, lovely girl. It amazes me that climber women like this are still single. What is wrong with you guys? Are there any gentlemen left out there anymore? On the walk back through the campground, Merica saw some climbers leaving site 27 and we snagged it for the duration. On Monday we were climbing at Quail Spring Picnic Area and Craig walked up, having driven down in 19 hours, including a 3 hour nap. That means he shaved 6 hours off our time. He says he just drove faster, but that doesn’t seem possible. I think he got abducted by aliens. Ashley showed up in a few days with Michael and Ammon McNeely. Ammon McNeely on Wings of Steel at Rock and Ice magazine Ashley, Michael and Ammon are all living and working in the skydiving industry in Lodi, California. Ammon has been called the best aid climber in the world and a google search will return many great stories. He is a master story teller. We spent many nights around the campfire listening to his adventures on El Cap, and his close calls base jumping. His best story was about the time he and two others jumped off a 500 foot electric power transmission tower. Here is Ammon’s story, as remembered by me: ——— They had a less experienced jumper with them who had not bothered to pack his chute. He was supposed to hold it in his hand until they flew through the wires, and then release it for inflation. Instead, he released the chute early, before they had fallen through the wires. His chute partially inflated and the lines caught in Ammons shoe. Ammon says he thinks he saved the guys life because Ammon pulled him away from the powerline. But then they were both falling toward the ground, and neither could open their chutes due to the tangle. Ammon was frantically trying to pull his foot out of the other guys chute lines as he watched the ground rush towards him at terminal velocity. He said he was looking at the ground rushing toward them, spinning around and around and thinking: *This is what it's like to die*. Finally he pointed his toes and his foot popped clear. The other guys chute was able to open and Ammon pulled his rip cord…at 55 feet. He said his chute popped, he flared, and he landed, all in about 2 seconds. His first thought on the ground was: “Oh my God, I almost died. But…that was so cool!” ——– Ammon had many other stories, too many to recount here, but I will say that the story about his 80 foot rope solo whipper, and the denied rescue attempt on El Cap was fantastic. They told him to hold up two hands for no, and one for yes, but all he wanted to do was have a drink and a smoke. Merica and I had to wear puffys and carry my handwarmers to stay warm, but we had a great time warming up on the many easy Joshua Tree rock climbs. By the time Randy and Sue arrived Christmas weekend I was starting on the 5.9′s. Joshua Tree has old school ratings, which means that you may find, as I did, that you can get gripped out of your gourd on a 5.5. Double Dip is a case in point. I led Merica up that one thinking it would be a cruise. I got totally bugged out at the 30 foot runnout. The fall would have meant a hospital stay. My friction skills were rusty and climbing up those friction holds with the bolt gettting further and further away was unnerving. I don’t know if it was the weirdness of the climbing, or my whining, but Merica didn’t want to climb anything else there after Double Dip. We left and headed over to Toe Jam, which she liked a lot better. I also took Merica up Bat Crack. Bat is a long 5.4 that goes all the way up Intersection Rock in one long pitch. Merica on top of Bat Crack during the first week before it got hot. Bat Crack starts out in a cool body slot chimney, passes a 10,000 year old car sized pile of bat dung, traverses some thin face climbing and finishes with 30 meters of wide crack. It’s a very lovely pitch. Merica climbed it in her puffy coat. My wife Sue and I first climbed Bat Crack in 1980 with hexes. I have pictures of us standing on top with a rack full of hexes and stoppers. Because it gets dark and cold at 5pm there is a lot of time to kill each evening. Dinner and a campfire is nice, but wood is expensive so we went out exploring in the desert on night hikes. A prime hiking destination from Hidden Valley campground is the famous Iron Door cave. Legend has it that a frustrated parent locked his developmentally disabled teenage son in the cave back in the last century. He would shove food in through holes in the sides of the locked cave and then leave. Craig and I tried to find it one night and gave up after wandering around in the desert for two hours. We stayed warm, but never found the Iron Door cave despite my having been there before in the day light. Ammon took 4 of us there a couple nights later and he gave me landmarks as we walked, which burned it into my memory. The trick is to stay on the wash as you walk north out between the blob and outhouse rock. Head towards the *v* notch on the north horizon until you step up onto 60 foot wide shelf of rock. Go down the "stairs" in front, turn right and go through the 70 foot narrow corridor lined with bouldering problems. You are within 100 feet of the cave. Here are photos of us in the cave: Michael passing the roach to Ammon. Note, I was an observer here, my days of wacky tabacky are four decades back in the past. I captured this photo by having Craig sit in the cave with his red headlamp shining on the door. It set my Cannon 50D on a rock with a 10 second delay to about a 5 second exposure. During the exposure, I painted the rocks with my led headlamp, hence the blue coloring. I did not do any post processing in Photoshop. It came out of the camera like this. Ammon sitting outside the entrance to the Iron Door cave: After hanging out at the Iron Door cave, Ammon offered to take us to the Hobbit Hole. These pictures are from our first visit to the Hobbit Hole: Ammon never went anywhere without a can of brew. He said he had hurt his shoulder and was trying to relax for a while. That's not to say he wasn't climbing. He cruised up all the hard boulder problems at # 27, our campsite...in tennis shoes. I could tell he was a very, very good climber. It was an honor to share a campsite with him, and hear his amazing stories about big wall climbing and base jumping. The man can tell a story like no one else. The girls had wisely decided not to accompany on our first night time hiking adventure. After leaving the Hobbit Hole, we headed back through the dark starry night towards the campground. Ammon, our guide, had imbibed rather heavily and was unsure of the way. All the desert mounds look similar at night and we soon realized we were lost. I located the north star and thought we could simply walk south. We would be bound to eventually hit one of the roads leading out from Intersection Rock. But after wandering south for a while, Ammon came to life and decided we were too far East. He took the lead again and we walked South West for half an hour until we saw a white spot reflecting light on the horizon. It turned out to be a 25 MPH speed limit sign on a road…but what road? And which direction should we walk on said road? We turned right and walked for 10 minutes but decided it was the wrong direction. We turned around and walked the other way, eventually spotting the campfires of Hidden Valley campground. I was completely turned around by that time and had no idea where we were until we walked into the actual campground. The next day was windy so we drove down to Indian Cove for warmer climbing, food and showers. Merica shows Craig some Yoga: Craig leading me up some 5.11 nightmare at the Feudal Wall, Indian Cove Merica following Toe Jam. I saw...I think it was Lisa Rands...free solo this one morning around 7AM. She downclimbed via the East side sort of near the Deviant. Merica, I love this woman's smile!...rapping down Bearded Cabbage. Merica following Double Cross...Jtrees best moderate hand crack. We climbed almost everything here: Dogleg, Double Cross, Sexy Grandma, Dandelion, Toe Jam and Bearded Cabbage. Merica and Ashley at Sexy Grandma, love that climb! Craig and I had an awesome day during the first week where we ended the day with half an hour of light left. We realized we just had time to sail up Damper over on Chimney rock. We hot footed it over there and he led it with just two pieces of gear. I raced up it quickly thanks to my fat feet and hands. At the top we had time for a exactly 4 photos before the sun dropped below the horizon and the temperature dropped 20 degrees. There is no anchor up there, and if you don’t know your Joshua Tree descents it can get desperate. Someone had rapped off a brand new yellow Metolius cam and Craig snagged it. If only I hadn’t blown the rock paper scissors that cam would have been mine. Me atop Damper on Chimney rock, last climb on another perfect day. Friday night was Merica’s last night before her flight home. A couple Swiss guys joined the 7 of us for a grand tour of the night time hotspots. We headed towards the Iron Door cave again, this time with me in the lead. Ammon walked behind me double checking my navigation in the moon light. I nailed it first try, he was a good teacher. The Iron Door cave is only an 8 minute walk from the campground if you know the way. Starting from the left is Michael, who works as a sky diving instructor in Lodi. Second from left is Ammon McNeely. Ammon and Michael know each other through Base Jumping. Ashlie is also trying to break into skydiving as a career and knows them from Lodi. Merica, my climbing partner is in the blue coat is surounded by the two Swiss guys, whose names I don’t remember. They were super nice guys, and very talented climbers on a 3 month climbing trip between college and career. Here we have moved the party over to the Hobbit Hole. We had 7 people in there, and we stayed for so long the place warmed up and filled with smoke. It's funny the things you can entertain yourself with on a long, cold night in the desert. We found our way back to the campground successfully that night. I was ready to call it quits as I had to pick up Sue at the airport the next day but everyone insisted I couldn’t break up the team…so we headed off for the Chasm of Doom. This is normally done without headlamps as a sort of exercise in trust. You are supposed to climb through it with a guide in pitch darkness, holding onto the person infront and behind, with each person telling the next where to place their feet and hands. The Chasm starts at the bottom of a rock tower and climbs up though the center of the tower in a hidden tunnel. It’s a bizarre formation that has occasional glimpses of the stars over head, but is mostly completely enclosed by overhanding boulders and huge slabs of rock. With headlamps it’s a lot safer and we made our way quickly up through the chasm until the birthing canal. This is a body sized chimney that ascends to the balcony overlooking true hidden valley. A fall here would not be pleasant and I was wishing I had not worn my chaco sandals. The drop down the chimney is about 35 feet, and it would take some caving specialists to extract you from a fall at the wrong moment. This is Merica in the easy part of the Chasm. Craig on the best moderate climb on Intersection: The Flake, 5.8. Don't head up this route unless you have your chimney skills in order, it's got a wide one at the bottom. My lovely wife Sue showed up halfway through...man it was good to see her. My wife likes to ham it up. Randy and I took Sue up the Bong. Craig gets all the action: Chimney Rock before the rangers busted the bluegrass hoedown. That place was hoppin' We saw the blue lights and the singer shouted: "Everyone split, no more than 6 people per site...now!" On the last day we tried to lead O’Kelley’s crack, but couldn’t get past the bouldery start. We should have just done a hand stand, or climbed Wangerbanger…but decided to go do something we could easily get up before starting the epic drive home. We found this little outcropping at the Lost Horse road intersection and we all led some nice moderate climbs followed by this finger eater. I love jtree...

I took a couple avalanche classes from Ray Smutek back in the eighties. Ray advised us to go to a farm supply store and buy a big aluminum grain scoop. Then buy a door knob hole saw and drill it full of holes, being careful not to weaken it too much. I've been carrying that thing ever since on our backcountry ski trips. It's dug many a cave and trench in good snow and bad. Tip: if you stomp down the snow, and then let it sit for twenty minutes before starting your cave or igloo, you will have a more stable structure.

nice work! We got there on the 18th (Sunday) and it stayed cold all week, climbing in puffies. But the following week (last week) it got hot...really hot for some of the best weather I've seen there in years. We literally had to climb in the shade or get baked. Mental Physics looks good. I'm going to check that one out next year.

I wonder if women like climbing guys because they are almost guaranteed to hook up if they go to the gym...assuming they are in shape. Also, climbers are not as obsessed with possessions as the average shallow American. Most good climbers I know are always pursuing the craft of climbing, as opposed to the elusive American Dream. Climbed at Vantage this last weekend. The weather was hot and awesome. No one was there...weird.

I have the size zero purple master cam and like it a lot. My partner took a 7 foot fall on it on Lazybum in the valley, held fine. Mastercams are less flexible than Aliens, but with a sling, who cares. The machine work looks far better than Aliens. The single stem wire on mastercams looks like it might be more susceptible to bending, but I've also bent a bunch of my camalots where the wire meets the head, so that's also really just me being leery of a new design. For a small finger sized cam, I love the "u" shaped 4 cam metolius units. I bought two of the 3 cam version back in 1982 when they were selling them out of a pickup in Yosemite. They have stood the test of time. I was still using both of them a couple years ago, they hadn't even broken a trigger wire. http://www.rei.com/product/737372/metolius-ultralight-range-finder-power-cams The "u" stem four cam metolius units seem very stable and able to grab uneven shaped cracks. You will usually need to sling them due to the relatively rigid stems. It's nice to have a mix of different brands of cams, I think all the big name cams are fine. And bottom line, nothing beats a well set wired nut. I see people place wiggly cams in a perfect v shaped slot where a wired nut would hold a truck...

I'm headed down to Joshua Tree for Christmas again December 17th to January 2. I have a RAV4 that seats 5. I'm mostly a trad climber, though I have been known to climb bolts as well. I love a good hand crack in the 5.8 to easy 10 range. pm me if you want to go. Leaving Tacoma evening of Friday December 16th. jtree Christmas 2010 You can see trip reports from the last 4 Christmas's at Jtree here: climbing webpage

Sweet! Thanks for posting. I checked out all the videos for the Vantage turbines...I think it's Puget Sound Power and light. Cool to see a clean business like that take off. Lots of jobs.

Did you leave your rock shoes at Vantage Sunday under Throbbing Gristle? Near Sinsemilla. We found them. We think we might know who you are. Describe yourself and the shoes and I will send them to you. We also found a black synthetic shirt.

Nope, I still do a waist belay, and even tie in with a bowline on a coil if we are scrambling up some dangerous approach and someone wants a belay, but isn't wearing their harness. It's a great way to shock the new sport monkeys. They can't believe a waist belay can hold a fall. The old ways still work...

Yes, I used to see Yoder all the time at the Pinnacles back in the early eighties, along with RainDawg, The McNerthny brothers, Jim Donini and bunch of other regulars. The Pinnacles used to be quite the hangout, you had to wait in line for the good routes...which are still there, but empty. I like to think of it as my private climbing area, practically a wilderness experience :-) Yoder did put 3 new routes on Sunset Slab at the Pinnacles. I climbed them all last weekend and they are great, safe bolting, minimal run outs and new anchors. He did an awesome job!

Gibsons crack up the icicle is where I take my new trad leaders. Just upstream half a block is Mountaineer buttress where there are some great beginner trad climbs. But Castle Rock 5 minutes West of Leavenworth has everything a beginner trad leader needs. Multipitch (three pitches) 5.4 (Saber and Midway) plus routes that are just a bit harder at 5.6 (Midway Direct, and Winter Solstice). When those beginner routes get too easy, there is plenty more to keep you busy. Castle Rock also has awesome views because you start from Loggers Ledge, which is halfway up.

awesome!